A/N: It's Monday again and I'm back with a brand new chapter AND some important information!! Firstly, thank you to the couple of you who have left a review! It pleases me very much to know I have readers who are enjoying my story!!

Secondly, thank you Anonymous1511. You have helped me a lot with coming to a decision on what to do about chapter lengths. This reviewer confirmed something that I'd been worrying about: my chapters were a bit too long. Since then, I have gone over all that I've written so far and split pretty much all of them into 2 plus chapters each. I now have a lot of chapters already pre-written, and I'm not even half way through this story yet! So, I hope you are all prepared to come on this long journey with me!! And when I say long, I mean looonnngg!!

The most important thing I want to tell you is something I hope you'll all be very happy about! Instead of one chapter a week, I have decided to begin posting THREE times a week!!! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I will upload a brand new chapter. If I keep with this schedule, I already have enough chapters to have me posting until early November! And like I said before, I'm no where near the end, so this story is going to be going on for a long while yet. I'm keeping up good pace with writing chapters, but in the future, if I seem to be slowing down, I will decrease to two chapters a week. But for now, it'll be three! I hope this has been good news for you all! I know I'm excited!!!

Anyway, let's get into the next chapter. This is the first Edward POV and it's not a short chapter, even though it's been cut down quite a bit! I hope you enjoy!!!

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all connected to it. I only own this story line and any characters not included in her original saga!

I'll Always Find Peace In The Meadow

Chapter Four: 'Like a locked door' (Edward POV)

Monday 17 April 2017

New school: small.

New peers: boring.

New teachers: late.

I'm unimpressed. Like, ridiculously so. I've never had to leave all that I know, all that I'm comfortable with, to join completely new and unknown surroundings. My whole life I've had stability. I've had comfort. I've known what to expect and what to do. This is brand new territory for me.

And I hate it.

I've never joined a new school where I know no other student except my sister, especially not with most of the school year already passed.

From what I've heard from others, from what I've seen in the movies and TV shows or whatever, first days at a new school are meant to be exciting. Right? The chance to make new friends and build new relationships is supposed to be appealing, isn't it? Nerve-wracking, but appealing all the same. What about the new surroundings... they should be something to look forward to, shouldn't they?

Then why don't I feel an ounce of any of that today? I don't feel thrilled or excited to be joining a new high school. It's my first day at Forks High and so far, it's been crap. Simple as that.

This school is so small I'm surprised it can even be called a school. It's so small I don't even need a map to find my way around the halls like I'd probably need in other, larger schools. The number of students enrolled here must be a sixth of those that attended my previous high school in Chicago. I honestly wouldn't have believed it had I been told prior to today. I wouldn't have believed it until I'd seen it with my own eyes. And even now, after I've walked some of the halls and had a look round, I'm finding it hard to fully believe.

But these people are used to this.

Everyone here has known each other their whole lives. More likely than not, they all went to the same nursery and elementary school. They all played on the streets together as kids and attended each other's birthday parties. They are all used to the small town life, where everybody knows everything about everyone.

Intruders, such as me and my family, are unwelcome because we are an anomaly in their tight knit foundation. We are disrupting the peace of what they know, which is probably why most of the students I've seen and come across so far today have kept their distance. At least, I'm assuming that's the reason.

Most are staying away.

On the other hand, there are some that have made the effort to introduce themselves, but then they have proceeded to ask questions. Personal questions. Trying to find out every little detail about me and my life. One person went so far as to ask where I live. Just like that. They walked up to me, introduced themselves and asked outright, "where do you live?". I assume no one knows the answer because our new house is tucked away on the outskirts of Forks, in the thick of the woods that seem to border this tiny town. I'll be surprised if anyone saw where our cars and moving vans went, so our address must be quite a mystery here. I'll be dammed if I divulge that information to anyone.

I guess the Cullen's arrival in Forks has caused quite the stir.

Any hopes to attempt a meaningful and interesting conversation with these people have been squashed. Obliterated. I've only had one lesson, but after about the fifth person introduced themselves to then turn the point of conversation immediately on to me, where I'm from and why I moved here, I realised that all hope was lost. No one has simply said "hi" and asked how I am. Nobody has asked how I'm getting on or if I need any help navigating my way round, not that I do. They are all boring and nosy.

Okay... so I guess I'm being a tad unfair. Like I said, I've only had one lesson and I haven't really given the school or the people in it a chance before I've judged them. However, in my defence, I didn't want to come here in the first place, much less make an effort with anything or anyone. I was perfectly content in Chicago, with people I've known for years.

Coming here, moving across states, across the country, was useless. I only have two more years of high school left after the summer, and my sister Alice only has one. I really don't know why our mom couldn't wait just a couple more years, why she couldn't hold off on her dream of living in a small town like Forks until both me and my sister had finished high school. But I guess she couldn't. And here we are.

The bell signalling the end of my first class rang a minute ago. I managed to escape before anyone could trap me into a conversation about myself, yet again. Luckily there are five minutes between each class, so I can work out where I have to be in plenty of time. Not that I need that much time to be honest. Like I've already said, it's a small school.

I look down at the paper in my hand, my schedule, as I walk to my next class, rereading the classroom number and teachers name. Calculus. Yes! After an hour of shitty English where we spoke of nothing but the importance of punctuation (like I don't know any of that already), anything maths related is warmly welcomed.

I fucking love maths. Any and all of it. I could happily spend every lesson doing maths. I'd have more fun in a room on my own with a stack of maths papers than I have at all so far today.

My eyes are still glued to my schedule as I walk. The loud and disturbing sound of laughter fills my ears. Whatever the joke is must be funny, because it seems everyone within the vicinity is laughing their asses off. The laughter distracts me from my schedule and I look up to see what the commotion is all about, but as I lift my head, I'm met with the rapidly approaching form of a petite girl with her long, brunette hair tied up into a pony tail at the back of her head.

Her pace and close proximity is startling. She's moving towards me too quickly and before I can move out of the way, her body comes crashing into mine. She jumps, shocked, and turns to face me suddenly, but loses her footing at the last second. She begins to tumble, off-balance, and I immediately reach out to stop her inevitable fall, circling my arms around her small frame just in time. Guilt fills me when I hear her audible wince, though I don't understand why she's in pain. I didn't grab her that hard.

Once she's back on her feet and steady, she looks up at me, and I have to swallow back my gasp. Her eyes are the deepest chocolate brown I've ever seen. So so brown... and so so beautiful. I can't remove my gaze from hers.

I've always been good at reading people. Always. You can tell a lot about a person based on their eyes. No matter how hard you try to mask your emotions by neutralising your facial expression, your eyes will always reveal what you are feeling.

This girl, however, her eyes... they are like a locked door. A firmly locked door. One with dead bolts and padlocks. Her eyes give me nothing. It's like she has a mask on. The only tell to her emotions is the tears swimming in her eyes. The tears make her eyes glassy, but underneath them it's clear she's hiding every other feeling within her at this moment.

The tears show her hurt, but the rest of her is a blank. Void of any other emotion.

I'm still staring when I feel her trying to pull away. For some absurd reason, my hand involuntarily tightens around her elbow in response. Edward, what are you doing? My body doesn't seem to want to lose contact with this girl just yet, and neither do my eyes want to part from hers. She looks familiar but I can't work out how I know her.

I watch, fascinated by the movement of her eyes and the way the corridor lights above us reflect in them as she scans my face, settling on one feature before jumping to the next. And then, in a sudden jolt, her eyes meet mine. There's a split second where the door is open and a sliver of emotion escapes: embarrassment.

And as if to prove this, she blushes. The red bursts across her cheeks, travelling down her face and onto her neck. I don't allow my eyes to venture any further - that wouldn't be the safest course of action right now. I have to hold back another gasp. The reason I recognise her comes back to my memory as my eyes watch her face heat with her embarrassment. It's as if the final piece falls into place.

I've seen this girl blush before.

She's the one my family tore a shred out of yesterday, when we arrived at our new home. In my opinion, they were a little hard on her. By her skittish behaviour the previous afternoon, it was obvious that she didn't expect to see anyone there, and she wasn't doing any harm. I have to admit, I did find her silence a little strange. The way she refused to speak until my family practically gave her no choice. But to be fair, I'd be afraid to talk if I was met with the same level of hostility from my family that she had been. They can be rather intimidating.

I want to say something, anything to her. To ease the uncomfortable fidgeting in her stance or to open the door in her shimmering brown eyes for just one more second. The only thing to come out of my mouth, however, is, "Hey, aren't you the girl from the forest yesterday?"

It's a reasonable question. One that is absurdly met with a roar of laughter from everyone around us. Huh. I'd forgotten about them.

My focus is still on her face and I watch, confused as her eyes fill with fresh tears. She forcefully pulls her elbow from my grip as she takes a step back. I wanted emotion, but I didn't expect this. "Yes, I am! Now just drop it, okay?" she shouts at me, before marching away, down the corridor where I was just coming from.

"Hey!" I try getting the girl's attention. "Wait!" I shout. She doesn't acknowledge me, only continues her march down the corridor.

What the hell just happened?

I watch her hurry away, my eyes not leaving her escaping form until I can no longer see her. Once she disappears round the corner at the end of the corridor, I turn to the gathering of people. The laughter has died down now, with only a few of them chuckling at whatever was funny. Though after the last couple of minutes, I have a pretty good idea as to what that whatever was.

My sister is stood ten feet away, in the center of the corridor. Another three girls stand with her, all of whom have shit eating grins on their faces.

Alice smiles widely and waves at me, signalling me to go to her. I do. I can't exactly ignore my own sister... she'd never let it go.

As soon as I'm only a few feet away, she starts with her usual shit, fitting her typical role of Gossip Queen. "Edward, can you believe that weirdo from yesterday goes to school here?" she giggles, looking over my shoulder in the general direction the girl stalked off in.

"Yes I can believe it, Ali, because if you hadn't noticed already, this town only has one high school," I say with a roll of my eyes. She narrows hers at me slightly. "And what do you mean 'weirdo'? You don't even know her."

I hate when she does this. She gets it from our parents; judges someone before she gets to know them. It angers me to no end.

"I know enough," she scoffs, then looks up at the tall blonde stood beside her and rolls her eyes. I choose to ignore that statement, my thoughts returning to the events of not too long ago.

"Will she be okay? What did I do?" I ask aloud, looking behind me even though I know she's no longer there. My thoughts are muddled. I am completely and utterly baffled. What did I do wrong? I only asked a question.

"Don't waste your time worrying about her. She's a lost cause, something you'll come to learn fairly quickly," the blonde says to me, all the while looking me over from head to toe. "You must be Alice's brother. I'm Rosalie. Rosalie Hale," she introduces herself, holding her hand out to me. The emphasis on her surname doesn't go unnoticed by me.

I reach out to take her hand in mine, shaking it. "Um, hi..." I say unsurely, trying to figure out in my whirlwind of thoughts if I should recognise this Rosalie's last name. After a few seconds of awkward silence, my hand still shaking hers, I decide to go for honesty. As they say, it's the best policy. "Should I know who you are?" I question. Her lips thin as her hand falls away from mine.

Alice gasps. "I am so sorry," she hastens to a now sour faced Rosalie, before turning her glaring eyes to me. "Edward, don't be so rude," she snaps. "Rosalie is the Mayor's daughter. She and I had first class together and got chatting." She says it like it's a fantastic achievement that I should be applauding.

"Cool..." I drawl, not really knowing what else to say to that. Congrats? "Well, it was lovely to meet you," I say, noting my desperate eagerness to get away from my sister and her new friends.

I go to step around them, but I'm stopped by one of the other girls my sister is stood with. This girl looks up at me, biting her bottom lip as she flicks her silver blonde hair over one shoulder, causing her scent to waft towards me. Woah! Her perfume is extremely overpowering, burning my nostrils and stinging my eyes. I try to hide any signs of harm she is causing, and offer a small smile.

"Alice," she begins without removing her predatory eyes from mine, "aren't you going to introduce us all to your brother?" A coy smile appears on her lips as she tilts her heard to the side, twisting a lock of hair between her thumb and forefinger.

"Of course," Alice says cheerily, stepping towards me with a flourish. She swivels to face her new friends, looping her arm through mine. I want to pull away. "Ladies, this is my younger brother, Edward. Eddie, this is Rosalie Hale, but you know that already. She's a junior, like me," she says, pointing to the blonde who still hasn't smiled since my attempt to leave. I try my hardest to remove the scowl that appeared on my face upon hearing Alice use my ridiculous nickname. She's been trying to force it on me since I was five. I hated it then and I hate it now. "And these two are sophomores, like you. This is Lauren McCarthy," she gestures to the overly fragranced girl that stopped me from leaving, who winks at me as she's introduced. I have to fight hard to hide my grimace. "And this is Jessica Stanley," she finishes, pointing to the other girl, who smirks and waves at me, the look in her eyes matching Lauren's.

Jessica and Lauren could be twins, or at the very least related. They both have different coloured hair; Lauren's is silver blonde, and Jessica's is a mousy brown. Their hairstyles, on the other hand, are identical. And their clothes are too similar for it to be a coincidence.

"Oh, goody! You're in our year. Let me see your schedule, maybe we share a class," Jessica says excitedly as she snatches the sheet of paper out of my hand before I can respond. I almost groan when I see her eyes light up.

"Yay!" she exclaims, jumping up and down on the spot while clapping her hands excitedly, crinkling my schedule in the process. "You have Biology with us," she exclaims, a blinding smile on her small face. I don't know how to respond. This is all a bit bizarre. Remaining silent, I simply smile back at her, hoping it doesn't appear as more of a grimace.

"That's great. You can sit with us," Lauren suggests, stepping close to me to place her hand on my arm, a smile matching Jessica's on her face. Alright, that's it. I've had enough! I step away from both my sister and Lauren, losing all contact with them.

Providing all four girls with what I hope is a polite smile, I retrieve my schedule from Jessica and take another cautious step back.

"We'll have to see when the time comes," I say in response to Lauren's suggestion. "But right now I have a class to get to. I don't want to be late. See you around," I say with a nod and another tight-lipped smile.

Finally I get away, quickly walking to my next class. I sit down at an empty desk near the front of the classroom. Aaah. Peace. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long.

"Hey! Asshole! That's my seat," a stern voice bellows from the doorway. I startle and look up to see the owner of the voice as he walks towards me. He's tall, I'd waver a guess at somewhere around six foot, with tan skin and short brown hair.

I raise an eyebrow and sit up straighter in my seat, readying to answer him. I don't get the chance. "Wait. Aren't you the new kid?" he asks, stopping once he's in front of what is apparently his desk. I nod once. "Shit, man. I didn't realise. Don't worry about it then. It's cool. But just so you know, after today, that's where I sit," he says. I nod wordlessly again.

In the end, he sits in the empty seat to my right. He falls into the chair ungracefully, dropping his bag with a thud on the floor under the table. Then he turns to me. "I'm Tyler Crowley," he says. Uh-oh. Here it comes. He's introduced himself. Now follow the questions.

I hold back my sigh as I answer, "Edward Cullen."

When all he does is smile and face the front of the class, I feel a little caught off guard. Umm... I turn to face the front, too, puzzled yet relieved. I feel like I should say something. He's the first person to not fish for information, so maybe he'd be a good person to interact with. I can't go through all of school ignoring everybody. My thoughts, however, are preoccupied with my run in with that girl in the corridor. I can't seem to think of much else. I'm still confused as to what I did wrong.

"I just hate this lesson, don't you?" Tyler asks me after a few moments of wonderful silence. I turn to look at him again. He's staring at me with a bored expression.

"Um, no, I don't. I actually enjoy calculus," I answer truthfully. In Chicago, this statement would have been met with agreement from most of my classmates. Unsurprisingly, Tyler shows his disgust, scrunching his nose up at my words.

"Dude... how? It's the most shittiest fifty minutes of my day. And d'ya know what makes it worse?" I shake my head and shrug. "This is my second year taking this class." I feel my eyebrows practically raise to my hairline. "Yeah, I know. Complete bullshit," he huffs, throwing his hands up in the air while shaking his head.

"You mean you're a junior?" I ask, trying not to sound too shocked. Tyler sighs and nods his head slowly.

"Yep," he says in an overly jovial voice - too jovial to be admitting to the fact he's a year behind in this class, if you ask me. "Calculus just doesn't agree with me, but I need to pass it." I don't know what to say, so I turn back to face the front again. I look at the clock that's above the teachers desk and see its already two minutes into the lesson period. Where's the teacher?

Tyler's hand slapping the back of my shoulder startles me. My head whips to face him. "I have an idea! You could tutor me!" he says loudly. Most of the now full class of people turns to stare at us for a second, before quickly going back to their own conversations.

"I could do what?" I ask incredulously.

"You. Could. Tutor. Me," he states, deliberately slowing his words.

"No I couldn't," I answer matter-of-factly, throwing a humourless chuckle in for good measure. Tyler begins nodding before I've even finished my sentence.

"Yes, you could. You said you love this class. Well, I hate it, but I really need to pass. You could help me," he says. What he really means is, I could dothe work for him, so he can pass easily and without doing anything at all. That is absolutely not going to happen.

"I'm sorry, Tyler, but tutoring isn't really my thing. You'll have to find someone else," I answer. His face falls, his disappointment showing.

"Aaah, it's okay. I'd probably piss you off in no time. I am really shit at it," he replies. Surely he can't be that bad.

A/N: So as I said in the Author's Note of my the first chapter, I am British, and here there is no such thing as having to retake a class if you fail it. So I hope I got that part right. If not, then I apologise.

Next chapter leads straight on from this one, and it's another EPOV! Leave me some reviews, please. See you one Wednesday!! Thanks for reading!