Summary: What if Bella didn't fall in love with Edward right away? What if she instinctively shied away like normal humans do, like she was supposed to?

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or any characters. Yeah, whatever, we all know…

CHAPTER 3: INTRIGUED

EPOV

All day. All day I had to put up with excited thoughts about a new student. It was pathetic. And now Forks High had a whopping three hundred and seven students. That was even more pathetic. But really, I shouldn't be complaining about this rainy town. I loved it. It allowed me to be the closest to human I had ever been. I was only forced inside on approximately 25 days out of the year now. We all loved it. It was our favorite town yet.

At the thought of my family, I began to think about what to get Carlisle and Esme for their anniversary. It had been so many decades now, there was really no point in keeping track, but my advanced mind could do the math very quickly. 74 years of love and happiness. Carlisle had found his soul mate in Esme. As soon as I thought that, I was back into this morning's state of bitterness.

You'll make a good choice. I heard suddenly, while a vision of Esme happily laughing in joy and excitement flashed in my head. I looked at Alice and she smiled. I don't know what you're getting her, but she is going to love it.

I grinned, pleased. Well, at least I was on the right track. I had toyed with the idea of cleaning the whole house and decorating it with her favorite flowers, or perhaps those flowers and a weekend getaway for her and Carlisle on her island. I was sure the mini vacation would be more suitable for an anniversary present, it being more romantic. I would save the other idea for her birthday. I was rather proud of myself. I had come up with presents for two different occasions all in seconds. Typically, it took me much longer, even with my extra advantage of knowing what everyone wanted.

Carlisle would be happy as long as Esme was happy, so I didn't need to worry about his present. He needed a break from work anyways, so this would please him too. I had heard thoughts recently from him about wishing he could spend some more time with Esme.

Oh, God. Here we go again. This is why I hate new students. Good thing we don't get them often. This particularly nasty "voice" stood out, and I immediately recognized Lauren Mallory. I welcomed anything that would detract from my incessant boredom at school. I listened toward her trying to figure out what had her aggravated. Not that it was rare. She was like the human version of Rosalie.

Well, there go my chances with her. I heard Mike Newton think. I realized this was about the new girl when I remembered Lauren's thought about a "new student". Great. And here I thought it would be something interesting. Then I heard a thought that made it interesting.

She's finally seen the Cullens. Jessica Stanley.

It was my job as the mind reader of the family to keep a lookout for when someone got suspicious of the Cullen family. And the thoughts when they first saw us. I sighed and expanded my mind out to find the new girl's thoughts. Isabella Swan. I had heard her correct a few people, saying she would like to be called Bella. But I couldn't find her. I looked over, trying to find her location so I could do this easier. It almost made me uneasy, I normally didn't need a visual to find someone and their accompanying thoughts. I didn't get too upset however, because this had happened one or twice before, so I continued looking for the girl.

It wasn't hard finding her. She was staring right at me. The second she caught me catching her, she blushed a bright red and looked down. I zeroed in on her head and prepared for the onslaught of thoughts about us. Nothing.

I heard absolutely nothing. Silence. I furrowed my eyebrows and shoved at her brain in my head, trying to break the silencing barrier. It did nothing. I couldn't hear a single thought. I was so confused. I heard Jasper ask me what was wrong when he felt my sudden mood change. I turned and looked at my family. They were all staring at me.

"What happened?" He asked me simply. I just shrugged, with a dumbfounded expression on my face. I hardly knew myself. This had never happened before. I had always been able to hear every living thing's thoughts, if they had any. And here, this frail little human girl, had withstood my talent. Shock passed through me once again, and I felt Jasper stiffen when he felt the new wave of feeling. This got Alice worried.

"Oh, no Edward! She didn't guess what we were right away did she?!" Alice asked, frightened. Her question made everyone else's thoughts a jumbled mess.

"No." This was all I said. Everyone calmed down at once, but Emmett started asking questions.

"Well then what is it that's got you so freaked, dude? You should have seen your face." He said with a chuckle. I glared at him, and Alice spoke up.

"Though I wouldn't put it that carelessly," she sniffed, "I think we all would like to know what happened."

"I can't hear her."

They all looked at me skeptically. It was well known that I could hear anything's thoughts.

"What do you mean you can't hear her? You can hear everyone! Try harder Edward!" I looked at the aggravated face that those words had just come from.

"I don't know why I can't hear her, Rosalie, and I did try harder. It's not working!" I was getting really frustrated. I needed to find out her thoughts. It went beyond protecting my family, but I don't know why. I found her little head mystery intriguing. Something to pass my time was always welcome.

"Well, try, bro. I don't want to move again. You know how ticked Rose gets." Ah, I did know how ticked Rose got. I turned to smile at Emmett, and reassured him that it would be my first priority. No need to mention my own personal reasons.

I was just about to ask Alice to search the future for if I talked to her when her visions filled my mind. She had seen me about to ask and was already doing so. In a moment, a vision of me talking to Bella in Biology was dancing in front of my eyes. Alice spoke to me then.

She has next period Biology with you. You are going to talk to her. I can't see if it will solve your little "mystery" though.

"Thanks for the information. I'll see you all in the car after school." I stood up in unison with Alice, both of us having seen that the bell would ring in a couple of seconds. Rosalie just glared at me, still fuming about my question to Emmett in the car. She had been insulting me all through lunch, still not over it. I just gave her a big grin and walked over to her, my arms held wide for a hug. She rolled her eyes and smirked, grabbing Emmett's hand as they danced off to 4th period. I turned to catch one more glimpse of the shielded human before I left for class.

Reviews are golden to new authors! Please leave one. :) My love to all who read this!

Kate