Author's Notes : I'm so sorry, I'm very very late. More than 2 months I know but honestly, I was beginning to lack seriously of inspiration and MJ's death had my mind very busy actually. I'm very sorry but here's chapter 2, I hope you like it ! And I have lots of ideas for the following chapters ! ^^

Karine

Chapter 2 :

Did I really want to go to Denali actually ? Wouldn't I rather be alone ? Yes. Loneliness helped me to think most of the time. I decided to drive and drive again until I'll have to go to the gas station. I opened the windows, the wind coming quickly helped me clear my mind.

So let's sum up : this boy I couldn't seem to erase from my mind – and not only because of his blood – had almost died during Biology II. Because of me. Because of what I am. A vampire. A monster craving for blood. But do I want to be a monster ? Do I want to cross this line between murder and restraint ? Definitely not. I only want to go on with my existence the way it was before Edward Masen came in Forks. Could I come back to Forks and act as if nothing had happened ? As if my throat didn't burn everytime he was near me ?

This feeling of protection that I had felt when Alice had shown me Jessica's talking to him was new to me. And it worried me a little. Why should I care about what Jessica wanted to do ? I must admit that for a human, this boy is incredibly gorgeous but it shouldn't be allowed. I can't ever imagine a second something between him and me. It was wrong. And I didn't want to hurt him. Nor my family. So what to do ?

My family would be ready to leave if it was necessary but Rosalie won't be happy because she was okay in this town. And so was I. We could finally live normally in Forks. So we could leave and start from scratch somewhere else. Or I could stop lying to myself the way I'm doing since the beginning and accept the fact that I couldn't stay away from him.

Don't be mat at me please

Alice had just appeared next to me in the car. She had an innocent smile on her face.

"What are you doing here Alice ?" I tried to keep my voice nice.

"Look I know you don't want me to be here, you wanna be alone but let me show you this at least," she said.

Before I could ask her if she followed me, she showed me. Edward and I talking during class, walking together to another class, even holding hands, kissing…

I cut it off. "Oh please Alice, don't you see that it's impossible ?! I can't do this, I can't threaten him this way. I don't want this."

"Don't you ?" She asked me.

I glared at her and she carried on : "Listen to me Bella, you can't keep on ignoring what is real. I can see that there's something between you and him even though you never talked to him. You should try I think."

"To kill him finally ??"

"I can't see anything like this Bella."

I stared at her in disbelief, did she think that I was so strong ? "Really ?"

"Really, I think you should give it a thought, don't underestimate yourself Bella, I'm going now, do you need anything ?"

I shook my head and thanked her.

She was right and I knew it but it annoyed me anyway. I parked my car on the right and thought. But when I closed my eyes, I could only see his face. His green eyes, his smile, his straight and perfect features… I shook my head. What the hell was happening to me ? Could this be physical attraction ? A vampire and a human ?

I stayed still for a few hours again and then started the engine. I drove until the sun rose. And made up my mind as I went to a gas station. I will stay very careful, I will not allow myself to breathe near him and I'll treat him like any other human. He didn't deserve my anger. But did he deserve a dark future with me ? Argh, I shouldn't be thinking about the future, I should just think about now. I drove back to Forks, how long has it been since I left ?

*******

It was 7 in the morning when I arrived, just an hour before my first class starts. Esme greeted me with a hug.

"Oh Bella, I was so worried ! Are you okay ?"

I nodded saying : "I'm sorry I made you worried."

She smiled at me, then Rosalie appeared in the stairs. "So are you coming back ? You know, it showed on his face that he was surprised not to see you yesterday. And maybe even a bit sad."

"Thank you Rosalie, you're really helping me." I rolled my eyes.

We got into my black Honda Civic and I drove us to school. Edward was already here, I recognized his shiny Volvo. He was on way to his first class, Alice pinched my arm : "Go now, go talk to him !"

"What ? No, I wanna wait for Biology. I don't want to scare him."

She grumbled but didn't insist.

We were at our usual table in the cafeteria when I saw Mike near the check, he looked annoyed. I listened harder to try to know if it was linked to Edward.

"What's wrong Mike ?" I heard Jessica ask him.

"Is this any of his business ?? He doesn't even know her !" And then he glanced up at me. I turned my head toward Alice before he could meet my eyes.

Jessica looked hurt by what he said and then Edward told him : "I was just wondering why she wasn't here yesterday, is it wrong ?" He sounded confused but his eyes were a bit irritated.

"No, no er… I'm sorry man, I'm annoyed by something else, no offense," he faked a smile at Edward.

It made my jaw tighten, Mike wasn't any better than Jessica. I glanced at Edward, he looked tired. Maybe he hasn't slept well, maybe I scared him too much and his sleep was disturbed then. Guilt overwhelmed me. I noticed that he was wearing black jeans and a grey shirt. Grey looked good on him. Then he looked up at me while he was pulling his chair to sit. And he blushed. I smiled at his shyness. I was absolutely sure that I could do my best to make him feel comfortable with me, I just had to talk to him normally.

I tried to keep my eyes away from him for the rest of lunchtime but I couldn't, Alice didn't stop smiling whereas Rosalie was glaring at me all the time.

"What's your problem Rose ?" I snapped.

"This is wrong, it's a danger for all of us and you will be responsible if it goes badly," she snapped back.

I stared through the window. I didn't want to hear any more, I would do what it takes to make it turn well. I got up a few minutes after and took my seat in Biology. Alice had reassured me it will go well.

I kept on looking outside the window and after a few moments, I heard the chair move next to me. I turned to look at him, he was looking away from me.

"Hey," I said calmly.

He seemed to hesitate but finally turned his head to me, his eyes were confused and his mouth was a bit open.

"Hi," he replied, his voice unclear.

"I'm Bella," I almost handed my hand as a reflex.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Edward." He replied, confusion even more pronounced in his eyes.

"I'm really sorry I haven't talked to you before," I paused as he smiled politely. "So why did you came here ?"

"I came to live with my mother, as my father remarried and that his new wife travels a lot I wanted to give them more time together," he explained.

"Why does she travel a lot ?"

"She's an archaeologist."

"Oh ok, sounds like a very interesting job," I said.

"It is, she really loves her job, to discover new things everytime you know."

I nodded. And stiffened as I noticed that he had leant toward me as we were speaking : human thing. His scent made my throat burn and I swallowed with difficulty.

"Are you okay ?" he asked me.

His confidence surprised me a bit but I managed to keep a normal expression and said : "Yes."

Then, the teacher told us that we were going to work in pairs to do an essay about one particularity of human cells ; he gave Edward and I the creation and growth of cells. We had 3 weeks to do it. The teacher gave us some papers with advice on them and then told us to get started with our outline and the sketches.

Edward put the papers in the middle of the table and began to read the instructions. I just had to glance at it of course to know what it was written. After a few moments, Edward looked up at me and said : "Should we start by the outline ?"

"Yep, I think we should do creation and then growth. In the introduction, we could talk about cells in a more general view," I proposed.

He nodded and wrote it on his notebook. I felt someone's gaze and looked up, Mike was glaring at Edward again. This was enough, I glared at him back until he met my eyes and hoped he'll understand that he should stop looking at Edward this way. I looked back at Edward and he was staring at me with fear in his eyes. But then, surprised appeared.

"Is there something wrong between Mike and you ?" he suddenly asked.

He was talking to me very coolly since the beginning of the class, had he forgotten about 2 days ago ?? This made me wonder about him.

"Why do you think that ?"

"He seems pretty defensive when it comes to you and doesn't seem to appreciate anyone near you, but apparently you're tired of this," he replied, shrugging.

Was he a mind-reader or something ? I hesitated, trying to find the right words.

"Well, it's true that he's quite annoying but I guess… Er, I don't know," I was completely lost actually. A simple human shouldn't have this power on a vampire, this made me feel uncomfortable.

"Do you have a girlfriend ?" I almost slapped myself as soon as the words came out. Holy crow, why was I asking him this ??

My question seemed to confuse him and he laughed nervously : "Hum… No I don't. Do you have a boyfriend ?"

"No," I replied trying to decipher something behind his cool attitude.

"Why are you asking me this ?" He asked me.

I shrugged and replied : "All the girls seem to have a crush on you, I thought that it was ridiculous if you had someone already."

He nodded, certainly telling himself 'What kind of freak is that girl ?', I turned away from him for a second, breathing.

"What do you do after school ? We could work on the essay at my house," he proposed.

What ? Was my hearing suddenly bad ? I stared at him in wonder, amazed that he looked so at ease with me. He didn't seem to feel the danger. Maybe it was a bit soon for this. I winced.

"Er… I promised my sister we would go shopping after the classes, I'm sorry," I hated myself the second I saw disappointment on his face.

"No, no problem. Tomorrow then ?"

I couldn't say no, it would sound weird. "Yeah, sure, tomorrow, after class," I replied.

We carried on working a bit and then, when the rang bell and that the door was opened, I saw Alice was waiting for me, pretending to go shopping. I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Wow I hadn't seen that Bella !"

"Mmm, me neither. He doesn't react like any other human with us, he should avoid us, his instinct should tell him that there's something different with us… I don't understand him."

"Well, be careful anyway," she warned me.

"Yeah I will," I replied while we went home. Or so I thought until, in the car, Alice showed me a list of clothes to buy.

I sighed : "Oh no, you really want to go shopping, do you ?"

"Of course," she replied shrugging as if it was obvious.

We would stay in the shops until the closing for sure. I sighed again and drove toward Seattle.