Chapter 18: Peers

"Miss. Swan? Is everything alright?" Professor Weitz from the next class over asked as he was walking by.

I had heard his approach so when he was close, I released Edward from the wall so he could compose himself before being seen. Even still, it seems our stare off was enough to garner the professor's attention.

"Everything is fine Professor Weitz." I replied to him with a smile, turning toward him hoping it would be enough to convince him.

He looked between the two of us for a few moments and then with a nod said "Alright, but if you need anything Bella, I'm just right next door." He was looking at me seriously before turning to Edward "All you have to do is holler." He finished saying, giving me a polite smile, while at the same time Edward rolled his eyes and tried to hid his smirk.

"Thank you, sir." I said to him sincerely. He was a nice man; always kind to me, never looking at me in an unprofessional way or saying anything that would affect my opinion of him. I appreciated his concern; regardless of its validity, it was still nice.

He nodded at me once more and then slowly turned back around and walked away.

Professor Weitz had only made it a few feet away when Edward let that cocky smile take over his face while trying miserably to hold back laughter.

"What is your problem?" I hissed at him, turning back around to face him.

"I don't have a problem Bella"

"Then what's so funny?" I snapped. "Is it the attention you are drawing to us? or is it Professor Weitz and his attention to detail that is causing you to act like a fool? I may not need his protection, but I will protect him from you."

The statement sobered him. Edward looked at me intently for a moment before replying; "Quite the opposite actually. I appreciate his concern for you." He said to me seriously. "He deserves your protection, and I respect him because of his."

I wasn't expecting his response, and I didn't know what to make of it.

We stood staring at each other again, just as we had been for the five minutes before Professor Weitz had shown up.

"You need to leave." I finally told him once I realized that our stare down was getting us nowhere and class would be starting soon.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Bella; I've already signed up for this class and spoken with Professor Hardwick. She's really excited about having me."

"What?" I demanded.

"I've taken this class before -in the states of course." He began walking slowly around the room. "When I talked to her and told her this; explaining that I wanted to take the class here, she was excited by the idea of what I would be able to contribute."

"No." I said to him and myself, disbelief, confusion and demand all wrapped up in the single word.

Edward didn't answer me, instead turned around with that cocky grin of his and raised an eyebrow at me before going and taking a seat.

I took a few steps forward intending to make him leave the room immediately when I heard the laughter and chatter of a group walking through the door. The sound stopped me dead in my tracks, I couldn't very well throw him out now; knowing he would surely cause a scene. He knew he had me and gave me a quick wink before I turned around to greet the students, but not before I sent him a death glare.

Once the first set of students came the rest soon followed and I didn't have time to pay attention to Edward after that. Professor Hardwick showed up at her expected ten-minutes late and took over orientation from there.

Apparently, Edward had known to pick the perfect seat in which he could stare at me the whole time rather than the front of the class like the rest of the student body.

He was really getting on my nerves.

"You're supposed to be here to learn something and pay attention to the teacher – not stare at me." I told him at one point.

"I can do both." He snickered.

"Are you trying to irritate me to death?"

He didn't answer me; instead deciding to chuckle to himself in lieu of replying. My palms tingled – I wanted to hit something so badly. I was surprised by at my reaction, I usually was a nonviolent vampire; unless I was on duty, and even then, I never participated.

The rest of the class passed by relatively quickly – despite the burning stare.

When it was as close to over as I could wait, I gathered my things –pointing to a stack of papers while walking past Professor Hardwick and with a nod she excused me as I continued out the door and out of the classroom.

I was almost giddy with freedom as I walked too fast down the empty hallway and towards my next class.

My Economics class was delightfully dull and boring accompanied by no awkward staring.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for my History class.

"Hi Bella!" She chirped as soon as she came through the door.

I looked up lazily "Alice, right?" I said sarcastically, already bored with this game.

"That's right!" She beamed, coming to take the seat next to me. "I'm so excited we have this class together."

"I'm sure you are. As I'm sure it was a complete coincidence." I said while continuing to read ahead in the text book.

As I knew she would Alice ignored my statements. "Maybe we can get together sometime and study." She giggled.

"No thanks."

"Are you free tonight? We could get together and do our assignments for the rest of the semester. Then if there is time left, we could go hunting afterward?" She babbled on with the conversation as if we were old friends and that this would have been something I normally would have agreed to.

"Sorry, I'll be busy informing the Volturi of your and Edwards presence here. I'm afraid I won't have any time."

"No, you won't." She informed me with an eye roll.

I didn't say anything to her, instead just looked at her like the crazy person I thought she was.

"I can see that you won't be informing the Volturi of anything, at least not for a while, and even then, you're undecided so I'm almost sure you won't." She told me in a very smug tone.

"Of course, I'll inform them Alice."

"Bella..." She crooned and lightly tapped on her temple. "I know that you aren't going to, so there's no sense in trying to lie to me. I'll see either way, if you decide to or not."

"Right." I deadpanned. "You're the future seer aren't you."

With that she smiled and then went on to tell me all the assignments we would be having for the rest of the semester; not that I'd asked.

By the end of class I was multitasking and wishing I had the ability to control time. Alice didn't bother to stop talking once during the entire class, so along with that, listening to Professor Slade and going through and starting our first assignment I was almost mentally exhausted by the time class was dismissed.

I had tried to tell her several times that all I wanted to do was listen to the professor and work, but like she had every time before she just ignored me and kept right on with whatever she was yapping about.

Alice was annoyingly enduring, I found myself chuckling at her a few times despite myself, but by the end of the class I was severely relieved to be out of mind and out of sight of Alice Cullen.

(4/17/11)