AN: Yea so my work comp is impossible. I couldn't find where Chpt 3 was on it's memory so since chpt 3 was so screwed up I've fixed it and rewarding everyone for their patience with chpt 4. :o)

Chapter 4

EPOV

As I pulled up to Forks High School for day three I couldn't help but wonder if Bella was going to be there today. It was weird. I only spent two classes with her and then when she wasn't there for them the next day I felt so alone and lost. Hopefully I would be able to talk more to her today and she wouldn't look as though she were in constant pain either. As I parked my car I saw Angela talking to what looked like a drowned cat. It was already the end of October and it was quite cold out. Who would be outside with wet hair? Emmet and Rose had driven in Emmet's Jeep so that he could have a very late try out for the football team this afternoon and they had just pulled up and parked and didn't look like they had any intentions of leaving the warm jeep anytime soon. Jasper, Alice, and I got out and started walking towards Angela.

As I got closer I could see that the poor drowned cat was actually Bella. Her hair was soaking wet and her lips were purple. Alice got to her first and started firing off a million questions a mile a minute and the poor girl looked like she was about to fall backwards from the verbal assault. Before I could say anything Jasper had piped in and calmed Alice down. I was about to offer Bella my coat because she was obviously freezing but the warning bell sounded and she went running into school to get to class on time.

All through first period I just kept wondering what had led her to be outside with her hair soaking wet. Most women, from what I could tell, were super paranoid about their hair and had to have it fixed perfectly before leaving the house. Not only did it look like someone had dumped a bucket of water on her but she had been outside for quite a bit. Her lips were purple and her teeth were chattering. It just didn't make any sense to me. Bella was a strange case. The first time I met her she looked to be in excruciating pain and now the second time I see her she's freezing her cute little ass off in the parking lot. And what was up with the comment that Angela had made about Bella and her father? I had heard from other students that Bella was a transfer student too and that she and Chief Swan had only moved her about a year ago. May be I could find something about her by looking online. They had told me Bella's mom had been killed in a car accident that Bella herself had been in.

It was so strange though how most of the school just ignored her. To me she was beautiful. Quiet yes, but that just added to her charm. But she was more refined then the other girls who were in the class. She didn't glob on the make up and bat her eyes at anything that had a penis. In fact she seemed to shun the rest of the student body as much as they did her. It was strange. I'd never seen anyone so ostracized from a school like she was. In my old school there were plenty of kids who kept to themselves but they still had their close knit group of friends. It seemed like the only people Bella willingly spoke to were Angela and her boyfriend Ben. May be it just had to do with the size of the school. My old school was much larger then this one. May be the fewer students there are the more each individual one stood out.

Just then the bell rang signaling that first period was over. I walked to my locker and grabbed my books for second and third period and then made my way down the hall towards my second class. I sat in my seat and reflected on yesterday. I couldn't believe Lauren and Jessica took rejection so badly. They must not be used to it it seemed. Every guy around this school seemed willing to take a ride on the town bicycles and the fact that I wasn't interested enraged them. So to take out their anger they sent their big steroid buddy Mike after me. I think I held my own pretty well against him. I only ended up with a busted nose and a swollen lip. Could have been much worse, and I got a few hits on him. None that any one could see today, but I still managed to get a few in. Hopefully that wouldn't turn into a daily routine. It still seemed rather over kill to me though. I had very gently and respectfully turned them both down. I even did it in private so as to keep them from being embarrassed in front of their fellow class mates. What more could they want from me? Of course they'd also already started talking about my siblings and their relationships. Typical. Can't get what they want and so they're going to talk about some of the more "unnatural" aspects of my family's personal life. Not that it matters to them but they're not even related, except for Jasper and Rosalie who were twins. They're just adopted kids who fell for each other. They're just jealous that they have love and all they could get was lust filled one night stands and that I refused to be one of them.

Finally the bell rang and I found myself excited to be going to my third period trig class. Not that I minded trig, I was really good at it actually, but I loved the company around me in it. As I reached the door to my trig class I could see Bella sitting at her desk already, and ready to go with her book and notebook sitting out on top of her desk. She had pulled her hair up into a messy looking bun. Hopefully it was to keep the wet locks off of her and may be keep her from getting sick again. It was bad enough she missed yesterday. I would hate to think of her getting sick again and missing more school.

I sat down at my desk and noticed that she didn't acknowledge me. I decided to get myself ready for class before I said anything. Mike and Jessica were sitting together and I could hear them talking about how Mike beat me up yesterday. Not like it was much of a fight. He came up behind me and started it before I even knew what had happened. It wasn't very fair, although, it's not like I would have had much more luck if I would have seen it coming either. Luckily though after yesterday I didn't have to worry about Jessica coming over to talk to me and distract me from talking with Bella. Just then I heard her soft voice cut into my thoughts.

"So. How do you like school so far? I see you managed to survive two and half days here now," she asked. I could tell she was teasing but if she'd only known how true that statement was. I'm sure she had no idea what had happened yesterday between Mike and I or with Jessica and Lauren. She didn't strike me as the type of girl who paid any attention to the gossip around the school.

"It's fine. Not much different then any other school. A little more small town 'I know where you live so you better watch what you do,' but overall nothing special," I replied, "Also it's more rainy then what I'm used to. I miss the snow but I'm sure you guys get snow too." Jeez how much more lame could I get. I was talking about the weather for crying out loud. That's what people talk about when they have absolutely nothing better to say.

"Yeah that's the only bad thing about small towns. Very few secrets around them and even less privacy, and yeah we get snow. Normally not until November end of October though," she replied. "You know your nose looks kind of big and your lip looks swollen. Are you ok?"

I blushed at that last part. "Thanks," was all I could say. I noticed then that she turned red realizing how that must have sounded after she had said it.

"Oh no. No. I didn't mean it like that. I mean it looks sore like you ran into something and it was swollen. Not that you have a big nose. I'm sorry. That came out wrong," she started back tracking.

She was cute when she got flustered. All I could do was laugh and shake my head. "No it's alright. I knew what you meant. I just wanted to give you a hard time is all. I got in a fight yesterday and got knocked in the nose and the mouth. No biggie. The swelling is really the only thing that resulted from it. So what was up with you this morning? Your hair was soaking wet and your lips were purple."

"Oh that was nothing. I just woke up late and didn't have time to blow dry my hair. Charlie had said he'd bring me to school and so I had to rush to be ready in time," she replied. Although I could tell just by looking in her eyes that that wasn't what it was at all. But like she said small towns were nearly impossible to keep secrets and I knew eventually what ever it was that she was hiding I would find out soon enough. Whether it was from her or if I had to do some detective work, because leaving your house with wet hair on a morning like this one is not normal and I know no parent would let their child either. Not a good one any ways.

"Well why didn't you just ride with Angela? That would have given you time to dry your hair at least. You looked like you were freezing out there," I probed. I thought may be if I asked the right questions it might get her to tell me the full truth. Heck I had told her about my embarrassing nose incident from yesterday and I was the new guy who had to try to make a good impression. Although some how I didn't really think she cared much about impressions or what others thought.

"I didn't have time to call her and ask. Charlie was in a rush and I just ran out the door not even thinking about if it was cold out or not," she replied. There it was again. That look of pain and pleading for me to just let it go and stop asking.

"Oh," was all I managed to say. Brilliant I know. Something about this young woman just brought out my articulate side.

Just then the teacher started class and I began to take a few notes here and there. Once again though I'd already learned this lesson and was bored. It was nice to have a review but it was nicer still that I could stare at Bella and not have her know it. She was deep in concentration and copying down notes at a break neck speed. May be I could offer to tutor her in math. It seemed to be one of her weaker subjects. A few times she caught me staring and rather then my face blushing hers did. I couldn't get over how beautiful she was. That blue sweater didn't help either. It was old I could tell but the fadedness of it really suited her skin tone. She didn't dress to impress like the women around me did. She dressed for comfort it looked like and I found that to be incredibly sexy. I noticed how she wrote with her right hand and held her stomach and side with her left hand and that she still didn't put any weight on her left leg. It was weird how people could give away little hints about themselves and not even know it. I wonder what happened to her. She hid it well at least from everyone around here who didn't notice or care about her. I wonder what kind of secret she was keeping from this small town. May be Angela would know.

The bell rang all too soon and I was pulled from my thoughts about my mysterious neighbor. She flew out the door so fast I didn't even get a chance to tell her bye or see if she wanted to eat lunch with us today. As I was making my way from class to my locker to get my lunch money I felt someone staring at me. I didn't think much of it being the new kid; stares were to be expected at least for the first week or two. I reached my locker and put my books up and grabbed my money. Just as I was turning away I saw that it was Mike again. Great this was going to be a daily ritual for us now it seemed. I wonder what he did before I came along. Who he used to torture during lunch and what had happened to that poor soul? I wonder if they realized he had moved on to someone new and if they were happy about it or felt bad for me.

He wasn't as rough as he was yesterday. Although, it could have been because his personal cheerleading squad wasn't present. He punched me a few good times in the stomach and I collapsed to the floor holding it. It really wasn't that bad at all. I hit the ground more as a distraction then anything. I'd learned after getting several beatings that if they think you're hurt worse then you are they stop sooner. He was the same way but what was I expecting. For once it was good that most people react the same way to similar situations.

After he was done I got up slowly and went to the boy's bathroom to assess any new damages that may be visible. As I looked in the mirror I didn't see anything new. I'm sure I might have a few bruises on my torso later but nothing major. I cleaned up and headed back towards the cafeteria.

As I entered I was searching for my family and for where Bella was. To my surprise they were sitting together along with Ben and Angela and it looked like they were having fun. Emmet had done something and I could see Bella laughing. God she looked beautiful when she did that. Her eyes crinkled up and sparkled and her smile was contagious. I couldn't help but smile at them. Just as I was enjoying her happiness from afar though I saw Lauren come up behind her and say something. That's all it took. I saw all the happiness fad away in an instant and she was looking sad again and embarrassed. I wonder what she could have said to illicit such a sudden reaction and what could have prompted it. Just then Angela said something and I saw relief in Bella's eyes. She gave Angela a grateful look and continued to stare at her food. All of a sudden I saw Rose slap Emmet upside the head and the whole table was laughing. Leave it to Emmet to say something stupid and have Rose call him out on it, but at least they got my girl smiling again. Not the same as before but it was a smile none the less.

I walked over to the table and sat down beside Emmet.

"What happened to you Eddie," Emmet asked.

"Nothing. Just got hung up before getting here, and don't call me Eddie. You know I hate that," I replied.

"So Ed whatcha going to eat," Emmet asked, "Not much time left for you to go stand in line and eat. May be tomorrow you should meet me in the halls and I'll show you how it's done."

"First, Emmet don't call me Ed either. Second, I don't need you to show me how to cram as much food as a little styrofoam tray will hold and then cram what doesn't fit onto my girlfriends neighboring tray," I replied.

At that the whole table burst out laughing again. "Hey it's not my fault you don't know how to get your money's worth," Emmet laughed, "Hey Bella how's about you stand by me tomorrow in line and we'll get some real use out of that golden little card of yours?"

Bella just turned bright red and Rose smacked Emmet again. At that Bella burst out laughing again and the rest of us did too. I wonder what card Emmet was talking about. Whatever it was it seemed to embarrass her to talk about it. I noticed Bella cutting a slice of pizza in half and wondered if she had some weird eating habits and if she was one of those girls who was too neat for picking her pizza up to eat and had to cut it into little bites. Next thing I know she's sliding half of it across the table on a napkin towards me.

"What's that for," I asked.

"What does it look like," she snapped back. Then she was back tracking again in her cute way turning red and stammering, "I just figured you needed something in your stomach. Can't have my lab partner fainting on me during class because he didn't get a chance to eat lunch." Then she did the most amazing thing. She smiled and she winked at me. I know I know I sound like a smitten kitten or whatever dopy things girls come up with each other for when they're in love, but nothing else fit how I was feeling about this girl. She had barely enough food to keep her full and she was sharing it with me. All I could do was smile back at her. Alice was definitely amused by the situation because I could see her going back and forth between the two of us looking for a tell tale reaction to tell her what was going on between us. Angela openly gaped at Bella and Ben just took his finger and pushed her chin up to help close her mouth. Emmet was about to dive on my meager lunch when once again Rosalie smacked him and told him to leave it because it was for his little brother. I swear I don't know how Emmet doesn't have permanent brain damage from all the hits he takes from Rose. A few minutes later with barely enough time for us to eat our pizza the bell rang and we had to go to our fourth period classes.

I went to fourth period feeling a little bit better after my half a lunch period and having shared lunch with in my opinion one of the hottest girls in school. I didn't get much out of her at lunch but she was definitely coming out of her shell more. I'd have to thank Emmet for that when he got home tonight. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with his goofy ways. I'd never seen her smile as much as she had at lunch today. Although I've only known her a grand total of a day and a half. May be she was just having a bad week. Who knows? May be this wasn't her true personality and I would find out soon that she was as outgoing as Alice. Oh God help me. Don't let her be as outgoing as Alice. I could just see myself standing there as Bella was bouncing around me and pulling on my arm like Alice does to Jasper. I started laughing to myself at that thought. Finally fourth period was done and I was on my way to my second favorite class, Biology!!!!

As I entered the class room I saw Bella was already at our desk. I sat down beside her and before I could unload my backpack Bella was talking to me.

"So what happened during lunch today," she asked me.

"What do you mean," I responded, "You were there. You gave me half your pizza and Emmet tried to inhale it before I could even process what you'd done." I gave her one of my innocent grins.

"No. I mean why you were late to lunch," she asked.

Damn! She was a perceptive little thing. I had to give her that. She also seemed pretty persistent and that she wouldn't stop asking me until she got an answer.

"I just got held up at my locker is all," I replied. She didn't look like she bought it but she wasn't being fully honest with me so why should I be with her. Besides how pathetic would it sound to say I got beat up again. Two days in a row was just too lame to admit to anybody, much less the girl I was crushing on. By that time she let her hair fall out of the messy bun she'd been keeping it in all day. It looked so soft and touchable. I could smell her shampoo wafting over towards me. It had a fruity smell to it. She was looking kind of flushed in the face and it made me worry again that she might get sick and miss school again. She just laid her head down and seemed to watch as both Jessica and Lauren kept looking my way and laughing.

"I swear those two are insufferable. I turned them both down as nice as I could yesterday and now all they do is talk about me and send their unrequited loves after me," I told her.

"Ah so that's what happened while I was gone yesterday," she said, "No wonder they haven't been following you around all day and you got ruffed up a bit." She started laughing again and said, "Don't you know not to piss the queen bee off?"

"Apparently not. Either that or it's worth having a few stings to keep them away," I chuckled. At that she started laughing again.

"Ok class, settle down now. Today we're going to talk about the science fair coming up. As you know you'll be pairing up with someone in class and working on it for the next 3 months and then not only will you be presenting it in class and getting a grade but you will also enter it into the science fair. Any team that advances to the next level in it will get an extra credit of 10points on their grade. So I suggest you start talking amongst yourselves after class and figure out who you want to pair off with and get working on it," our teacher Mr. Johnson said. With that out of the way he started in on the day's lesson. After a few minutes I composed a very short, simple, and to the point note for Bella. I slid it over towards her as stealthily as I could.

She looked over at me and then down at the note. She picked it up and looked at the simple request:

Partner?

As I looked at her and waited for her answer she had a slight smile cross her face and then she turned and nodded her head yes to me. All I could do was smile back and do silent back flips in my head. I couldn't wait until class was over with so that I could talk to her about doing our project. I finally had a reason to spend time with Bella Swan and get to know her. The bell rang releasing us from fifth period. I stopped Bella when she was going to leave.

"So any ideas on what you'd like to do for the project," I asked her.

She looked at me with wide eyes, "I dunno. I guess we should do some research and see what we might want to do it on. Can we do it at your place though? My dad works till late and he doesn't like me having boys over when he's not around."

"Yeah that's perfect. My mom, Esme, is a stay at home mom. She'd love to meet you. May be we can have dinner first and then work on the project after. Do you want to come by tomorrow night," I asked her. God I sounded so desperate. I can't believe I just said my mom would love to meet her. It gave her the impression that I was talking about her at home too.

"Sure that shouldn't be a problem. I'll check with Charlie tonight and I'll let you know for sure tomorrow," she said.

"Ok well I'll talk to you tomorrow then," I told her as I racked my hand through my hair.

"Alright. Later gator," Bella called.

"In awhile crocodile," I yelled.

As I walked into sixth period Spanish, Emmet was smiling at me. I knew he could tell something was up but he waited until I sat down and got ready for class.

"So Eddie, what has you in such a good mood," Emmet asked.

"I just got paired off for my science fair project and she'll be coming by the house tomorrow night for dinner. I'll also get to spend a lot of extra one on one time with her," I told him.

"Oh really," he asked wiggling his eyebrows, "And who is she?"

"Bella," I smiled.

"So you like her then do ya Eddie boy," he teased.

"She intrigues me and I find her to be very sweet and beautiful," I told him.

Just then the teacher walked in and the final bell sounded. We made it through a long hour of review. I swear sometimes I felt like Emmet and I could teach this class better then the teacher was. This was all basic stuff and this shmuck was making it sound like Greek even to me. Luckily I already knew this and I just tuned him out because he had no idea what he was doing. Finally the bell rang and I rushed out of class and yelled over my shoulder, "Good luck Emmet with try outs."

As I walked out to my car I unlocked it and threw my bag in the trunk. I was waiting on Jasper and Alice when I saw Angela walking out with Bella. I forgot that I'd see her out here. Man I had it bad if my heart was skipping a beat just at the thought of see her in the parking lot when I thought I wouldn't see her again until tomorrow. They got to Angela's car and I walked over to talk while I waited on Jasper and Alice. Was it more or did Bella smile a little at seeing me again?

Just then Alice and Jasper came up and were busy throwing their things into the trunk when Bella called, "Hey Alice I'll see ya tomorrow night. Make sure to have everything in your room out that you've been bragging about."

"You're coming to the house? Since when? What time? Ohhhhh I can't wait to show you around the house. It's so cool. You can almost get lost in it," Alice cried. She was so excited she was jumping from foot to foot and grabbing Jasper and yanking his arm up and down with each hop she made. Again that image of it being Bella doing it to me one day popped into my head and I began laughing again. Poor guy all I could do was laugh at his facial features to each excited yelp she made.

"Alice! Sweetie! You've got to calm down before you rip my arm out of socket," Jasper chided her.

"Oh. Oops. Sorry baby. You know me, I just get so excited I get carried away and forget that you're so breakable," Alice responded, "So Bella when are you coming over?"

"Tomorrow night for dinner, and then afterwards Edward and I have to work on our Science Fair project. But I should have some room for Alice time," Bella responded.

"Oh boy oh boy! I can't wait. Come on Edward we need to get home so I can start getting everything ready," Alice cried.

"Ok well see you tomorrow Bella. Bye Angela," I said.

"Bye," they both said in unison.

After we got home I found Esme in the kitchen. "Hey mom," I said as I entered.

"Hey sweetie. How did school go today? Was your little friend there today that you and Alice like so much," she asked.

"Yeah and we decided to be partners for the science fair, so you'll be seeing a lot of her since she and I will have to be working on it a lot. We decided to do most of the work here since her dad's the police chief and is at work most afternoons. She said he doesn't like her having guys over when he's not home. Is it alright if she comes over for dinner tomorrow night and then after we can get started on our project," I asked.

"Well I don't see why not. She seems like a very nice girl from what you and Alice have said. Do you know what kind of food she likes so I have an idea of what to make for dinner," Esme asked.

"I honestly don't know. Pizza always is a safe bet though mom," I told her.

"Edward I asked what she'd like not what you like. Why don't you call her and find out what she'd like for dinner," she suggested.

"Well I kind of forgot to get her number mom."

"Well we do have a phone book son and you do know her father's name. I don't think there are too many Charles Swan's in the phone book in this small town. Do you?"

Wow Esme was being smart with me. I couldn't believe it. Either that or my stupid emotions were keeping me from thinking straight which is a very large possibility since normally I would just think to look her up in the phone book on my own. Man she's seriously messing with my head and she doesn't even know it. I grabbed the phone book and high tailed it back up to my room on the third floor. I shut the door so Alice wouldn't know who I was calling and started flipping through to the S's.

Five minutes later I was calling the Swan residence and waiting for the phone to be answered. After about 5 rings and all of my courage gone I was about to hang up when the phone was answered.

"Hello," I heard her breathy voice reply. I couldn't do it. I lost my nerve and hung up. A few minutes later my cell phone started buzzing and I realized she must have caller ID or star 69ed me. I was about to let it go to voice mail but then I realized she'd know it was me because of my message. I answered at the last possible minute.

"Hello," I answered.

"Um yeah someone just called from this number," she said a little confused.

"Oh hey Bella. It's me Edward. Sorry it rang and rang and I must have hung up just as you answered," I told her. Smooth Cullen. Real smooth I thought.

"Oh hey Edward. What'd ya need." She asked.

Well she didn't sound irritated or scared that some stalker was calling her at home to a number she didn't give out.

"Well I was talking to Esme, my mom, about you coming over for dinner tomorrow and she started asking me what you'd like to eat and I had to tell her I had no idea. So she suggested I look up your number and call and find out so she could make something that you'll enjoy," I told her. There put all the blame on Esme for how and why I was calling her. Mom wouldn't mind at all.

"OH! Um well I don't know. I like just about anything. Except for beans and peas. That whole texture thing just grosses me out," she said.

I started laughing about the whole texture thing because I knew exactly what she was talking about because I had the same problem.

"Well as helpful as that is I think she'd rather you give her a few actual meal ideas," I told her.

"Oh hmmmm well… I like lasagna, and chicken and dumplings are always good. Pizza is always a simple one too. I really don't want to her to go to any trouble with it. In fact I can even eat before I come if that would be easier. I'm going to make Charlie's dinner before I leave any ways so I can just have some of it."

"Oh no you don't. Esme loves having someone new to cook for. Besides we already decided earlier that you'd be here for dinner. No weaseling out now," I told her, "I think I have an idea though. I'll let you go. I have to go let Esme know. See you tomorrow. Bye"

"Alright. Bye Edward. Talk to you tomorrow."

Click.

Well that wasn't so bad. And it didn't even seem really stalkerish. I had to go downstairs now and let Esme know about what she had said.

After going downstairs to talk to Esme about what Bella and I had talked about on the phone I was hanging out and helping her with tonight's dinner when Emmet and Rose came in. Emmet had a huge shit eating grin on his face which I knew could only mean one thing. He had made the football team. Not that I was surprised. He was an amazing player and for his size he could move pretty quickly down the field. Of course that wasn't the only reason he was smiling. Oh no with Emmet there was always an ulterior motive.

"So Emmy…What's up with the big shit eating grin on your face," I asked.

"Don't call me Emmy," he said as his smile fell a bit, "you know I hate that he said. But of course yours truly made the team. They had me do both offense and defense try outs to see what I could do. When I was on defense though, I got to tackle your good buddy Newton several times."

"Well Emmy… you know I hate your little pet names that you call me and you still use them. So tough luck," I said.

"You should have seen it Edward," Rose piped in, "He hit Newton so hard one time that his helmet flew off about 10 yards away and all Newton could do is lay there in shock. It was hysterical"

We were all laughing as Emmet imitated Mike's reaction to the hit. I knew I'd probably be paying for it tomorrow but it was still funny to think about right now. After that we all went up stairs and did our homework until dinner was ready. Alice was bouncing in her seat talking about what all she had planned for tomorrow night when Emmet and Rose finally asked what she was talking about. Alice explained about Bella coming over and how we were partners and that she'd be over a bunch now since we only had three months to work on our project. Emmet just turned and gave me a sly smile and wiggled his eyebrows. I just rolled my eyes at him.

"Oh come on Eddie," He said, "We all know you like her. Besides she's a cutie. Nice little butt on her. Although she doesn't say much or dress as fashionably as most girls."

"Don't talk about her that way," I said. I was beginning to see red. Who was he to talk about her butt or the way she dressed. I liked the way she dressed. It set her apart from all the other skanks around Fork's High.

"Emmet! I thought I raised you better then that. You shouldn't talk about a lady like that," Esme cut in.

"Sorry mom," Emmet replied.

I just stuck my tongue out at him and of course when mom and dad weren't looking he just had to make an obscene response with his fingers and tongue. Rose just smacked him on the back of the head.

After dinner I went upstairs to work on ideas for the science fair project and get ready for bed. Finally after a few hours of research I crashed into bed and thought about Bella.

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AN: ok so let me know if you guys like the alternating pov's or not. I do it so that it gives both perspectives on what they're thinking but I know it can be kind of repetitive too. Leave reviews so I know if I should continue it or not.