I couldn't have told anyone what happened in my last class, what any of my siblings had been thinking on the car ride home, or what I music I listened to that night. My thoughts were full of Bella. She'd talked to me. She'd apologized. She'd thanked me for my help. She'd turned my attempts at a lecture-within-a-lecture into a simple tutoring exercise. And she'd talked to me.

I was more excited about it than I should have been, given the way she'd been ignoring me for weeks, but the part of me that wanted to forgive her was rather strong. Even not knowing what it was she'd been afraid of, I could appreciate that fear might cause her to pull away from me. And I of course could understand pushing people away in order to keep secrets.

My distraction lasted up until I met my siblings at the car the next morning for class, but then I shaken out of it by realizing something was off. "Where's Jasper?"

Rosalie snorted and thought something derogatory I didn't pay attention to. Alice raised an eyebrow. "Blood typing day, remember?"

Oh yes, Alice and I had brought the release forms home a week ago. We'd both been excused by Carlisle, of course. Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper, being upperclassmen, didn't have the class; but Jasper was too worried he'd lose control even without being in the class and opted to stay home.

As for me, I was just supposed to go do homework in the library. But the library wasn't where Bella was going to be, and I'd been thinking all night of where she was going to be - in her chair in biology, which was next to mine. And now mine would be empty, completely unlike how I'd imagined today's biology hour going. What if whatever delicate thing we'd started yesterday was crushed by my absence? Or worse, by that Mike creature?

I was on pins and needles the whole day, unable to pay attention in classes, barely remembering to breathe. I could only look forward to lunch, where I would do... what, exactly? I had no clue. I just had a vague hope that somehow, when I saw her in the crowded cafeteria, I'd be able to do... something.

In the cafeteria I slumped in my chair, not even bothering to pick at my food, waiting for Bella's arrival. She came in with Jessica, as usual, and I sought out the other girl's mind, hoping for something that I could use to get to talk to Bella. To my surprise and dismay, I found out that Bella wasn't even planning on staying in the room - she was making her excuses to Jessica. She wasn't feeling well; she'd probably go visit the nurse, maybe even just go home.

Jessica left her to get in line. I was already out of her mind, trying to think of how I could casually run into Bella at the nurse's office without looking too much like a stalker. But Bella didn't leave immediately. Instead, she watched Jessica go, then quickly scanned the room.

Our eyes met. She smiled a little. I couldn't help a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth in response. She looked away from me, glancing toward the windows lining one wall that showed the gray outside. She met my eyes again and nodded her head just slightly toward the windows, then turned abruptly and left the room.

I was torn for approximately six seconds - What if I'd imagined it? Wouldn't she have opened her mind to me if she really wanted me to follow her? - but the desire to see her again, and the worry of what she'd think if she did want me to follow her and I didn't, won out. I stood. "I'm heading to the library now," I said. The phrase shouldn't catch Rosalie's attention; the library was in the direction Bella had indicated, and it was where I was supposed to spend my next class period anyway. My siblings merely nodded, and I dumped my tray and left.

I caught Bella's scent quickly, and followed it not to the library or indeed any of the school buildings but instead to the forest which grew close to the school on this side. I'd only gone a few yards into the trees when I came upon the girl herself, sitting on a fallen tree with a packed lunch in her lap.

She looked up as I approached, but looked down again almost immediately. "Hi," she said, her voice a mere whisper.

"Hi."

We were quiet for a moment. I looked at her. She looked at the sandwich she held in her hand. Finally I had to break the silence, to soothe my own apprehension. "I wasn't imagining things, was I? You asked me to follow you out here?"

She nodded. "I thought - we could talk, maybe. Away from class, and from everyone else. And I knew you weren't eating anyway..." she trailed off, glancing nervously up at me.

Of course you did. I kept my face impassive. "You know, don't you. What I am."

Another nod.

"You've known since the first day."

"Yeah." She bit her lip a moment, then added, "But you can trust me."

I didn't need Rosalie here to know she was telling the truth. She'd had plenty of time to spill our secret if she wanted, and instead she'd kept incredibly silent and was now inviting me out for private talks in the woods. "I know."

She gestured to her side, without looking up from her sandwich. "You can sit. If you want."

There was plenty of room on the log. I sat about a foot from her, turned sideways with one leg up on the log so I could still watch her. Without her mind her expressions and body language were all I had to help me interpret the words she spoke. Thankfully today her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, giving me a clear view of her face.

She'd taken a bite while I was arranging myself, and was now chewing thoughtfully, her eyes still on the ground. She swallowed, glanced at me, bit her lip, put the sandwich aside. I waited. She'd invited me out here; she'd speak first.

"I-I wanted to apologize." She hunched her shoulders a little. "Again. What I said that day was... well, I don't like to remember what I said. And then I accepted your help for weeks without even thanking you. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," I said. And waited.

She heaved a great, shuddering sigh. "I'm sure you know what I mean," she whispered, "if I say something about how hard it is to blend in despite secrets."

"You can trust me."

She glanced at me. "I want to."

"You can."

"But I can't." She wrapped her arms around herself, compacting herself into a tight bundle of tension. "I've gotten in so much trouble, and I don't want to be sent away again." She looked up at me, tears sparkling in her eyes. "You have to understand. I've always been a failure."

I resisted the urge to pull her into my arms and comfort her, a strangely human impulse that I wasn't used to. "I understand," I said in a low voice. "You need me to not try to push you on your secrets."

"Yes." She exhaled loudly and looked down. "And - and in return... I think I can try being friends. If you want."

I couldn't help smiling. If I want? "I've been trying to be your friend for weeks."

"I know. I just... I thought you'd give up. Or that maybe you were just being nice."

"Friends are nice to each other."

"I know! I mean..." she sighed again. "I'm not very good at the friends thing."

I laughed. It almost felt strange to me - I usually laughed very little - but it seemed like the right thing to do. Bella relaxed somewhat and looked back at me. "I'm not very good at the friends thing either," I said. "We can figure it out together."

"Sounds good." She bit her lip again. She seemed to do it whenever she was nervous about whatever she wanted to say. "I have a question."

"Okay."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"What is it?" I asked, smiling encouragingly.

"Um..." She fidgeted with the hem of her sweater, then blurted out, "What does your family eat?"

"I've actually been waiting for this." Of course she'd wonder. I had wanted to kill her the first time I'd met her, after all. "We hunt animals. That doesn't mean we're not tempted," I added, as her brows furrowed. "But we resist taking human life."

She still seemed a little unsure. "Where do you hunt?"

"Deep in the forest. High up in the mountains. As far from civilization as we can get."

She caught a strand from her ponytail and twisted it around her finger. "So... in a case where one of you was within a few miles of town... then you weren't out hunting?"

"No, if we're close to town we're not..." I trailed off as I suddenly remembered the last time I'd been out in the woods a few miles from town. "This isn't a hypothetical, is it."

She looked confused. "Hypo...thet...ical?"

Of course, I'd found when helping her with notes that she struggled with big words. "You asked that because you were thinking of something specific," I clarified. "Such as, say, the Sunday after you first arrived here."

She pressed her lips together and said nothing.

"Yes, I was in the woods close to your house that day. But I wasn't hunting."

"You started tracking me." She was shrinking into herself again.

"Your scent surprised me," I said cautiously. I'd hoped we could get on a little firmer ground, friendship-wise, before I had to get into this. "I've gotten a lot more used to you now. It won't happen again."

"So you weren't out there looking for me."

"Not at all."

She relaxed again, letting out a breath. "Okay. That's what I thought, since you didn't come after me later... but I had to be sure."

"Of course." Thank heavens for Alice and her intervention that night. I'd have to give her a present to say thanks. Like a new car.

We sat in silence a moment. Bella picked up her neglected sandwich and looked at it with a contemplative air. "I guess I'd better either finish this or put it away," she said.

"Yes, I think the warning bell will ring in a few minutes," I said, pushing down my disappointment. Only a few more minutes until she went to class without me.

Bella looked at me with an almost sly smile. "I'm not going to class today."

"Why not?"

"Well..." she bit her lip. "I don't like the smell of blood."

"And?" I said, sensing that that wasn't the full story.

"And... I'm not sure what results I'd get."

I stared at Bella a moment as she packed up her food, debating whether it would be pushing her boundary to state the obvious. "Bella... you aren't human, are you."

"Would I be friends with a vampire if I were?" she teased, but without looking at me. She swung on her backpack and stood, heading out of the trees. I followed.

"So," I said, seeking a change of subject, "if you aren't going to class, what are you doing?"

"Going to the office to get excused for the day for being sick. I hate gym and figured I'd just get out of both classes."

I smirked at her. "I was excused to go sit in the library a week ago."

"Well, aren't you so prepared with your many years of experience."

I shrugged. "If it were up to me, I'd just cut, but Esme gets upset when I do that too much."

"Esme?"

"My mother."

Bella sighed. "I can't risk cutting. I'd get in so much trouble if I was caught."

"Chief Swan cares that much about your schooling?" I asked. I was sure that wasn't it.

Bella stole a glance at me. "No, it's others."

"The ones who sent you here?"

"Yes." She shifted her backpack on her shoulders. I thought I'd pushed too far, but she went on. "I was well on my way to flunking sophomore year at my last school, and here they said they'd be willing to overlook the first half of the year if I could do well this semester." She shook her head. "You've seen how well that's going."

"I saw you got an A- on the last test."

She smiled a little. "Yes, there is exactly one class I'm doing well in."

I smiled too, a plan beginning to form. "Would you like help with your other classes?"

"Would you like to cut class and help me with my other classes right now?"

I grinned at her. She blushed, hard, and started walking a little faster toward the office.