AN: 2 chapters in one week - BAM! In other news, over the weekend I slipped on a lemon wedge and injured myself. My Physio told me off :( and said I wasn't allowed to go on lunchtime walks this week. ~ Hannah

Chapter Twenty-Two – Dissecting…No Thanks!

"No, no way."

"Miss Swan you don't have a choice, this is biology. You have to do this."

"No I don't, in fact I refuse. I'm leaving and you cannot force me to stay."

"If you leave class now it will go on your permanent record," warned the teacher.

"Then it seems I have the first mark on my perfect record. You were warned that I wouldn't be able to take this particular class. You let people walk out of blood typing but you won't let me walk out of dissecting? Isn't that a bit of a double standard?"

"This class is essential to your learning career."

"Is it really? Unless I plan to become a vet or go into a career in medicine, I'm never going to need the skill of dissecting. You have a problem with me walking out of the class, take it up with the Principle or better yet, phone my Dad. I'd love to watch him tear you apart."

Collecting my bag, I stormed from the classroom like the eye of a hurricane storm. I hated my biology teacher, he thought he was so much better than everyone else and thought that being a teacher of biology meant he was the be all and end all of the subject. I wish we would get a more competent teacher but I supposed it was inevitable that I should have one teacher that I didn't get on with during my schooling career.

"Heard you walked out of a class, your teacher is practically screaming inside his head right now."

"Well he wouldn't let me leave and was putting up a fuss about how I had to dissect whether I wanted to or not. Naturally I took offense to that."

"Naturally,"

"Wait, why are ditching?"

"For the same reason. Dissecting animals is almost as bad as blood typing day."

"Why is that? I would have thought it would be easier?"

"Well of course it would be easier if humans were sensible about dissecting but someone always gets distracted and then cuts themselves and that's the real issue. Not to mention that the smell coming from the dead frozen animals is disgusting."

"Have you all ditched your classes today then?"

"Yep."

"You're coming back after this hour though?"

"Probably not. I don't know what the others are doing though."

"You're going to leave me here alone?" I asked, pouting and pushing my bottom lip out as far as it could go for maximum effect.

"No, I'm not leaving you, you're coming with me. Come on, let's ditch the whole day together."

"What if we get in trouble?"

"A little ditching is good for your soul Ella. Besides sounds like your Dad's getting a phone call either way from a very angry teacher so what does it matter?"

Ella giggled, Edward was right, it didn't matter in the long term. Her school record had never been as perfect as she made out it was in her biology class. Edward was right about ditching; everyone should do it once in their lives. I'd ditched a lot back in Phoenix but hadn't since I'd come here. Dad actually cared about my life and I didn't want to abuse the trust he had in me. This once however, I reckoned I could get away with it.

"Where are we going then?" I asked as I climbed into Edward's silver car.

He put the heating on for me which I thought was rather considerate. It wasn't cold-cold today but there was a nip in the air. It was definitely jumper weather and I was rocking a very comfy red wool one that I'd matched with light blue skinny jeans and light brown timberlands.

"Alright Mister secret keeper, take me to your lair."

Edward glared at me, "I don't have a lair."

"That's what you think. I've seen your bedroom, it's very lair like. All you'd have to do is paint the walls back and you'd be living in a cave. Caves are very lair like."

"If you don't stop talking I'm going to maim you."

"Edward! Do you talk to Esme like that? Don't make me tattle on you, Esme wouldn't like it if she heard you were attempting to hurt me. Do you want her to hit you with a wooden spoon again?"

"No…" he responded sulkily.

Seeing Esme whack Edward on the back of the head with a spoon a couple of days ago had been hilarious. Even more so when Emmett had commented that it had been nice to see someone else get hit with the spoon. Rose told me it was a regular occurrence to be carried out when Esme was angry at the boys. Of course it didn't really hurt them but it was the principle that mattered.

Edward drove until he parked the car near his house. I already knew where we were going when he took me by the hand and led me towards the forest.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Then hop on."

I looked at him incredulously but it seemed he was serious. He'd even bent down so it would be easier for me to climb on his back. I'd have been worrying about how much I weighted if he hadn't been a vampire. He took off at an incredibly speed once I was secure on his back. Eventually I had to close my eyes as the forest was speeding past so quickly I was feeling nauseous just looking at it. It certainly got us there quicker but I had to hold onto Edward for support after he had set me down on my feet again for my legs were wobbling and I felt rather light headed.

"Sorry, I forgot how that might make you feel."

"It was incredible but I feel a little light headed right now."

Edward sat me down on the ground and made sure I wasn't in danger of passing out before he moved away from me and retrieved a picnic basket that had been hidden from my view.

"You had this planned?"

"Sort of. I had an inkling that I could get you to skip with me."

"Is that inkling called Alice?"

"Touché."

After food, I lay back on the grass and stared up at the canopy of trees and fresh sky above me. I felt Edward lie down next to me and I resisted the temptation to move and rest my head on his stomach. Edward laced our hands together and stroked the back on my hand with his thumb. I never tired of him touching me. I knew his cool touch would repel others but it just made him more unique in my eyes. I knew physical gestures were hard for him, not only because of his beliefs but because he was a vampire. I never felt certain about how I was acting and always worried that I was pushing him too far. He never said however, and hardly ever removed himself from me. I was confident in the knowledge that had I pushed the boundaries too far he would have told me.

Letting Edward into my life was harder than I'd imagined also. In fact, letting in his entire family had been hard but a decision that was well worth any trouble. I was trying to leave my insecurities behind and move on with trust and hope in my heart. I'd found a good life here in Forks and could only wonder how much better my life would have been had Dad kept us in the divorce.

I was excited with the prospect of the summer music camp scholarship we'd recently won. I knew I was young in age but thinking of the summer had me thinking of Edward and our future together. I knew realistically that thinking that far ahead was a bad idea, we were a new couple and had a lot of complications backing our decision to date and things might well change but I couldn't help myself from picturing a future with Edward.

"What are you thinking about so hard that's making you frown like that?" asked Edward.

"I was just thinking about the future."

Even though I wasn't lying on Edward I could still feel it when he tensed and noticed that he stopped caressing my hand.

"What about it?"

"Just what we'd be doing. We'll be spending a lot of time together this summer with the music scholarship camp in Seattle and I just wondered where our futures may lead us and what we might end up doing."

"That's all you were thinking about?" said Edward rather happily.

Confused I thought about what he'd said and what I'd said before I realised where Edward's sudden tension had come from.

"I wasn't thinking of being a vampire Edward. In fact, I haven't thought about that prospect at all. I was just thinking of a future with you at my side."

Edward kissed the side of my head but didn't say anything. I wanted to discuss matters further but knew this wasn't a time to push the subject. Edward had strong opinions of the future and the possibility of me becoming a vampire. We hadn't discussed it but I knew it was something he frowned upon and something he wanted to avoid for as long as possible. I didn't know his transition story yet but I supposed that and his short human upbringing played equal parts in his views now.

"I don't like talking about the future," said Edward. "Human life is too short and we have spent years alienating ourselves so we don't get attached or feel grief. Things are different now but I still cannot think of the future in a glowing light. I can however, concentrate on the present and all that I feel for you."

Edward's words were serious and he had put a lot of thought into them. I was well aware of the issues Edward dealt with. He was the one Cullen that seemed to carry the weight of the world upon his shoulders. He wasn't melancholy just stressed with the thoughts he argued about in his head. Sometimes I worried for Edward and I knew the Cullen's did also. I knew that Edward had mellowed since he'd met me as it was a fact I'd been told many times by others. It was a slightly morbid and sad thought but I felt as though his family viewed Edward as a broken toy, sitting on a shelf and never to be used again. I'd come along and fixed him up, taken him off the shelf and rejuvenated him.

Of course that was all silly. Edward was entitled to his own feelings regardless of what they were. He had worries for the future much like I did. Bella's future with Adrian was already set in stone and it would only be a matter of years before she became a fully immortal fey. Yet my fate wasn't as certain. Edward was my mate but we hadn't ironed out any details or sat down and talked about things. The most obvious one being who I was. Would I remain human or would I become a vampire at some point? It was all up in the air. I was happy being a human for the present. Yet I knew that thought would keep nagging me from the depths of my mind till a decision was reached.

I moved now in the absence of our talking, to rest my head upon Edward's chest. Almost immediately his fingers started running through my hair. It was a calming feeling, a simple touch but feel of longing and passion. The coolness of his fingertips as they grazed my scalp caused me to make purring noises I wasn't aware I could make. I could practically feel Edward's smile upon his face. If we stayed here all day, I'd be quite happy.

Ella was wringing her hands nervously as she stood outside the art room and began pacing backwards and forwards. They'd all been asked to have their paintings set up first thing that morning and then been forewarned that their teacher would be marking their work before their afternoon lesson started. Despite Alice's reassurances that all was fine, Ella couldn't believe her.

She was happy with the first two portraits she'd done of Jasper. They were both interesting and unique in their own right and vastly different from any art work she'd done before. No, she was worried about the full length portrait she'd done of Jasper. In between everything that had happened around the time that she'd started it, she didn't feel like she had done her justice to the painting itself. She had wanted it to look like a painting you might find hanging on a wall in a large English Estate but was fearful that it looked more like a painting by an amateur that had been locked away for how bad it looked.

There had been so much more that she wanted to do with the painting but she had run out of time. If things didn't go favourably with the teacher perhaps she could negotiate an extension and finish the painting the way she wanted. Both Alice and Jasper had tried to get her to stop pacing but her nerves were too strong to heed their advice. She had tried to tone it down however, when she noticed the unease on Jasper's face and realised how much of her emotion he was currently struggling under.

Though it seemed like days it couldn't have been more than minutes when the teacher finally opened the door and allowed her pupils to enter. I rushed over to my section of artwork as quickly as I could without looking ridiculous. The teacher had pinned a small piece of paper in the top right corner of each piece of work with the grade we'd earned upon it. I'd got two B's and one A. The A surprisingly, was from the full-length portrait of Jasper. I was shocked at the grade but it didn't make me feel any better about the painting, I still wanted to improve upon it.

"You don't agree with the grade perhaps?"

The teacher had come up behind me quite silently and scared the hell out of me when she spoke.

"I think I could have painted it better and there is much there I wish to improve on."

"I think it is a fantastic piece of artwork already. Would you ever consider selling it?"

Now I was beyond shocked I could scarcely remember to close my mouth. Getting an A on a piece of work I didn't believe was that good was one thing but having my teacher ask if I'd be willing to sell it was another thing entirely.

"I am afraid this painting already has a wall to be hung on. My Mother has been insistent upon it being hung in our house since she first saw it in its early stages of creation," said Jasper.

"Oh well," said our teacher mournfully. "If your Mother ever tires of it being on her wall, I should rather like it for mine."

I didn't think this afternoon could get even more shocking.

Couldn't Alice have pre-warned me of this outcome?

Up Next: Chapter Twenty-Three - Heated Words