Bonds

Edward and I walked hand in hand to English. Rob didn't turn around once during French to my enormous satisfaction. People stared as we walked down the hall but for once I didn't care. My mind was full of Lacey Wells and what she meant to my family. It was just before we reached the door that it hit me. "How did Alice see Nahuel? I thought she couldn't see him, or Renesmee, because the whole 24 chromosome, hybrid thing?" He stopped walking and looked at me. He shrugged.

"Alice has started to see Renesmee more because she's used to her. We think that, since Nahuel is the same as Ness, Alice has become more sensitive to him as well. It could also contribute to the haziness of her visions." He shrugged again and kept walking, carefully not looking at my face. He knew I hated when they theorized and didn't tell me. I scowled at his smirk.

Lacey Wells was already in her seat when we sat down. She was wearing a deep green v-neck and khakis and her hair was swept in a pony tail. I realized what Edward had been saying about her delicate look and wondered why I hadn't caught that before. She had a different smell too. My throat burned as it always did with humans in such close proximity, but at the same time I didn't want her blood. I shared this thought with Edward and he nodded slightly.

"I like your shirt," Lacey said to me in a small voice. I was surprised and immediately on guard that she talked to me first. Edward gave me a little nudge with his elbow, a gesture that would have sent Lacey flying across the room. I wasn't wearing anything special. Alice had designed this shirt for me. It was a deep blue, the color Edward always liked on me, and cashmere. Was I becoming so spoiled I didn't realize that most people don't have a whole closet row of cashmere, a closet the size of my little house. I'd have to talk to Alice about that. Lacey's blood rushed to her face and I realized I took too long to respond, even to a human. Damage control.

"Oh, thank you so much! My sister designed it for me. She will be so pleased that you like it." I don't know why I said that. How many juniors in high school design clothes? I wasn't too good at this human charade but Edward gave me no sign that this was a bad idea. Lacey smiled then and I assumed she felt better about herself. Maybe I should compliment her shirt, it smelled new, but then she'd think I was just saying I liked it to be nice. I had to be nice in another way. "Did you start the paper yet?"

Lacey frowned and I thought I just put my foot in it somehow. Why was I acting like a complete idiot? Why couldn't I talk like a normal human being? I almost started laughing hysterically at that but then she began to talk. "No, I haven't started it. I don't really have a lot of time you know?" I did not know. Time is one thing I had an abundance of but I nodded anyway. Should I offer to help her or would I sound like a know it all? I was saved from any action by the professor. I smiled at her instead and then looked over to see Edward giving me a bewildered look.

I waited for him to say something as we walked to third period, US History. I took a deep breath and I turned to look at him, "I haven't seen you that confused since you were human." He was smiling but his eyes were still bewildered. I shrugged.

"I know. It was weird. I mean I never had a lot of human girl friends. I didn't want to scare her or anything and I didn't know what to say. You know how socially retarded I can be. You could have chimed in you know, you can probably understand her better than me. You do have a few advantages you know." We were in class and sat to the left of the room, on the opposite side of Rob and his friend Jeremy who was constantly staring at me, it was uncomfortable.

"True." He wouldn't tell me what she was thinking, at least not until I had to know and that day may never come. He was obnoxiously moral sometimes. Jeremy was staring at me again, I could feel it. I darted my eyes over in time to see him make a rude gesture to Rob who laughed half heartedly. Edward tensed and without looking I knew he was giving them his scary face because they both turned white.

The class dragged on, I was never a fan of any History. The teacher called on me to answer a question and of course I wasn't paying any attention so Edward mumbled the answer to me, straight from the teacher's head. No one heard but me and the teacher looked impressed by my perfect answer.

"I'm going to kill them." Edward said through clenched teeth in the lunch line. I looked around confused and spotted Rob and Jeremy looking at us again. What the hell was their problem? I asked Edward and he just shook his head not trusting himself to speak yet. We sat down with the others. They all sensed something was wrong but only Emmett guessed right.

"Yeah, I overheard those punks talking." He cut his eyes to Rob's table. "They were planning some kind of prank or something because we're new. That's what they do to new kids." He laughed, "Like they could surprise us." Edward nodded but I knew that wasn't the only problem. He wouldn't act like this over a practical joke, unless it caused someone harm, or had the intention of harm rather. I let it go for now.

"Oh!" Alice's head shot up and she smiled. "Lacey just decided to come over here. Apparently you forgot a pen in English class and she's returning it to you Bella." Alice looked confused along with everyone else at the table. We don't just forget things. I thought back to that class and knew for sure I had not forgotten anything, even in my confused state. Edward was smiling.

"What, you know something?" It was an accusation and he nodded.

"She was trying to figure out a way to talk to you at lunch, Bella. Well not just you, me too and she wanted a close up of the others. I'm telling you this girl is strange. She's…curious." He took my hand and I wasn't sure if he did this because of Lacey's thoughts, Jeremy's thoughts or his own inclination. Maybe all three.

"Bella?" Lacey asked and I turned to see her trying to look discrete as she glanced at Alice and Jasper and Emmett and Rosalie.

"Hi Lacey, how are you?" I asked trying to make her feel more comfortable. Edward smiled at her and surprisingly she simply smiled back.

"Hi Edward." She said in a more confident voice than she had talked to me. I saw the corner of Edwards mouth twitch up but ignored him. "I'm good, I just wanted to return your pen, I saw you left it in English class." Her shaky hand held out a pen that looked just like the ones I had. I took it even though it was not mine and she knew it.

"Oh! Thanks. Have you met the others?" Why not just give her what she wants. She looked slightly excited as she shook her head. What a weird girl, even I was intimidated and even a little scared of Emmett and Rose when I first them. "This is Jasper and Rosalie Hale," Jasper nodded at her quickly and returned a fascinated stare to his uneaten food. Rosalie did not look despite Emmett's kick to her shin. Lacey blushed at her rudeness. "That's Emmett, this is Alice and you know Edward Cullen." Emmett smiled and winked and received a return kick from Rose. Alice beamed and offered her hand, Edward just smiled.

"Nice to meet you all," she said breathlessly. I could see most of the cafeteria staring at her in surprise. She was braver than Rob. Her friends at her usual table were just as shocked. Lacey seemed to feel the eyes on her and her blush deepened. "I have to go." She mumbled quickly and turned around so fast she almost fell. Edward's mouth twitched again.

"What was that about?" Emmett asked. He was looking at Edward's amused half smile.

"She really likes Bella, finds her…fascinating." Edward said. Emmett let out a booming laughter and I wanted to leap across the table and strangle him. Edward laughed too but I failed to see the funny. "Oh, come on love, it's not a bad thing. She wants to be your friend but she's terrified of you. She's more scared of you than she is of Emmett." This shut Emmett up. He growled only half playfully and it was my turn to laugh at him.

"That makes no sense. Rob and Jeremy aren't afraid of me." It was the wrong thing to say. Edward stiffened. His voice was controlled when he answered though.

"They are, but for a different reason. They don't understand you, us, and they're afraid of that and unconsciously afraid of what we are. They handle their fright differently. Lacey is simply afraid you won't like her. She wants your approval, your acceptance." Edward shrugged. "You do have some odd power to attract humans, Bella. I think she's just the first one to recognize that you're attracting her." Go figure. Edward would discuss his theories with Carlisle. I didn't really care about the why. How could she be scared of me and not Emmett? I was a little offended that she thought I was scary but also a little proud of myself. Shows them for making fun of me.

I decided just before the end of lunch to walk with Lacey to Calculus, the sooner Alice's visions clear up the better I told myself. Alice looked at me and nodded slightly, probably seeing my course of action. Alice looked a little pained. The blurry and constantly changing visions of Nahuel were probably giving her a headache. She was trying to see too much at once. I let Edward hear this thought as I got up to walk over to Lacey. He nodded and walked with Alice out of the Cafeteria. He would take care of her.

Lacey jumped when I said her name, spilling her milk over on her tray. She blushed and I cursed myself. I forgot she wouldn't be able to hear me approach. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Oh, it's okay, I'm just clumsy."

"Do you want to walk with me to Calculus?"

"Um…sure…thanks." Why was she thanking me? I waited for her to ditch her lunch tray and gather her backpack. I matched her pace as we walked down the hall. People were staring but I was sure it was because of Lacey this time. I could see it in their faces; they were jealous of her. I remembered the first time I walked down the hall with Edward holding my hand. The stares were almost unbearable. This was different though, I was sure. Lacey didn't seem bothered. I should say something to her. "Do you like it here?" She beat me to it.

I shrugged. "It's okay." Gee that was brilliant. She nodded gravely though as if I just said something of utter importance. I was starting to judge her a little.

"Your…er…brothers and sisters? Do they like it?" I smiled at her confusion. I had thought what she thought at one point, how strange that we are all together.

"Yeah they like it, it's a nice change from France."

She laughed, "I can't believe that. You would rather be here in this little town than in France?" She was incredulous and I found myself laughing with her.

"France isn't that great. Cheese, wine, rude people." The last wasn't quite true. No one was really rude to us, we all spoke perfect French and were well aware of French customs, but I knew that the general people thought the French to be rude so I decided to indulge her. She laughed again.

"Even so. It's still France." She was right, it was still France.

We didn't talk again until after class. Edward was waiting at the door for me. She walked with us for a few minutes in silence. Finally she had to take a left to go to her class. She stopped though and looked at me. "It was nice talking to you Bella, see you tomorrow?" I looked at Edward from the corner of my eyes and his head shook the slightest amount.

"Not tomorrow, we're starting the weekend early, going on a camping trip. I'll see you Monday though."

"Where are you going, I heard there are bears in the woods to the North." I would've smiled at the ironic comment if it wasn't so strange. Why did she care? I've barely talked to the girl.

"No, we plan on hiking east, towards the New Hampshire border." Edward lied smoothly. I squeezed his hands in thanks.

"Oh good. Well have fun." She bounced off down the hall. Edward looked slightly disturbed and we walked in silence to Biology.

Alice was waiting outside of Biology for us but her eyes were slightly wild. "Alice, are you okay?" I was concerned but she had a fierce smile on her lips.

"You did something right Bella. I can't talk about it here, Jasper is waiting at the car for us."

Apparently she couldn't talk about it in the car either. No one talked as we drove quickly home. When we were all finally in the main house and gathered on the couches she breathed a sigh of relief. "I talked to Carlisle and he talked to Zafrina. Zafrina is coming here with Huilen and Nahuel because they want to see Ness, mostly. Senna and Kachiri don't have the same interest and know that it would be difficult for us to have them all here, so they're visiting other friends.

"After Bella walked with Lacey, I saw her at the house with Renesmee and Nahuel. She was there but I don't think she knew anything about what we really are. There were a few different scenarios of them meeting but they will meet."

I looked around at the serene faces. Were they crazy? Why didn't they see that we had to move? We can't risk Lacey finding out. I can't risk seeing the Volturi again, no one wanted that so why was this a good thing. They were all looking at me and I realized I was on my feet and pacing so fast I must have been a blur even to them. Alice seemed to realize something after looking at Jasper who just looked a little confused.

"Oh!" She laughed, "Oops, didn't I mention? Lacey and Nahuel get off to a great start, a really really great start." She giggled again. "Don't worry about it yet, Bella. I don't know how it all ties in but I'm sure it does. By the way, you should tell the other's that Ness is coming home for break. Esme will be so pleased."