I'm so sorry I took such a long time to write up chapter four. I had to wait for the weekend before I'm finally free. This week was horribly long—I was emo, almost went for counseling, but I got cheered up when I went out with an old best friend and last night, I had this terrifyingly exciting dream which was too real for good. Well, then here's my chapter four. I hope the story's coming along fine for you!

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Disclaimer: Yes, it's my story… but only in my dreams. ):

Chapter Four

By the time Edward reached his house, he had slowly regained mastery over his own body. The moment he got off the car, he ran towards the forest and immediately started hunting, being more aggressive than he ever was. Even when he was already full, Edward continued stuffing himself with animal blood, as if wanting to wash away the guilt that haunted him. His eyes were a pure gold when he finally stopped and panted slightly from how vigorous he had hunted. Then, Edward raced back home, back to the family members who were worrying about him so much.

Esme was pacing back and forth at the front porch and was the first one to hear Edward's running. She looked out for her beloved son, and upon catching sight of him, she would've cried if she could. She hugged Edward tightly, relieved that he was perfect alright. "Are you okay now?" She asked gently, eyes exuding motherly love for him. Edward smiled and nodded his head, assuring his mother. As Esme stepped aside for Edward to enter the house, he heard a booming voice, "Let me take a look at my brother!" Emmett stepped out and patted Edward on the back. Again, Edward nodded his head, indicating that he was fine. Then he finally opened his mouth for the first time, "Thanks for what you did back there." Emmett shrugged it off, "Nah, you'd have done the same for me… right?" Edward couldn't help but laugh at Emmett's suspicious glance. And Emmett smiled, triumphant that he had made Edward laugh.

When he stepped into his house, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Carlisle all showed their concern one by one. Edward had never felt so loved before. When he was finally allowed to rest alone in his room, there was a knock on the door. "Hey, it's Rosalie here." Edward allowed her entry and she came into the room, with a guilty look on her face. She leaned against the doorframe and then started, "Look. I'm sorry about that immature dare. You know, that one about dating all the girls in school? I just thought that it would be something that you would enjoy doing, seeing how you're always mesmerizing girls. But I'm calling off that dare now. So rest wel—" Edward interrupted with a frown, "No. There's no need to do that. I'm fine now, really!"

"It's not about that, Edward. You haven't been through that before, you have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Are you saying that I can't overcome this little obstacle?"

"Dammit, Edward. Why can't you listen? You know I don't mean it in that way. I just want you to be safe, okay? I don't want to see you being destroyed because of my stupid dare!"

"… Thanks for the concern, Rose. But I can really manage. At least let me try. I'll back off once I can't take it anymore, that I can promise you. There's nothing Edward the Great can't handle, right?"

Rosalie opened her mouth to say something, but then thought the better of it. She smiled and nodded.

Bella lay in bed and stared up at the stars, reflecting back on the first day of school. Charlie had asked about it the moment she stepped into the house, and automatically, she'd put on a big smile and nodded her head energetically. He somehow looked relieved. Her face changed as soon as she entered her room, though. She looked tired and lonely. Jessica was a nice distraction from her homesickness, but that's just it. Bella can't really relate or connect to Jessica. It was as if Jessica would laugh at Bella for missing home, or that she was worrying for nothing. Yes, Jessica was like that.

Mike. He was a nice guy. But too nice. Bella never interacted much with boys a lot; it was mainly her and her girlfriends. She could tell that Mike was being friendly, and maybe likes her a little. Bella smiled and shook her own head. She was thinking too much once again. Bella would have to be careful of Mike. Her heart is one of extreme fragileness and gullibility; she couldn't risk another relationship.

Edward. Bella narrowed her eyes at the stars as they all morphed into the black eyes of Edward's hate. What was his problem anyway? What did she ever do to him? Bella's eyes filled up with tears of anger at the memory of his reaction. She swiped them away ferociously, why is she crying? Who cared about Edward? Me, a small voice at the back of her head answered quietly. I cared that he didn't treat me the same as he did other girls. Why couldn't he talk to me nicely? I won't even mind of he flirted with me. Horrified at her inner thoughts, she shook her head until she felt dizzy. What was that all about? Edward's a horrible guy, a downright despicable idiot who toys with feelings of others. She hates him, for goodness' sake, so what was she thinking about?

As Bella continued to deny her self-denial, the stars twinkled at her, luring her to sleep. Her eyes drooped and she murmured to herself, "I hate Edward. I hate Edward."

But does she, really? Bella fell into a wonderful dream of talking to Edward

The next morning came quickly. Sunlight filtered into her room, dust swirling around Bella's head. The alarm rang loudly, screaming for her to wake up. When she didn't, the sunlight helped by piercing her eyes, and the dust tickled her nose.

Bella sneezed loudly, the momentum throwing her into a sitting position. She covered her sleepy eyes as they opened a little, testing the intensity of the bright light. The sunlight retreated upon completing its job and Bella's eyes opened fully. They wandered to the clock and the time jolted her body into action. She gave a little squeak before rushing into the toilet, washing up hurriedly. Brushing her teeth with great gusto and speed, she used her toes to turn the tap on. As the tap finally jerked upwards with a stream of warm water gushing out, she lost her balance and a streak of toothpaste traveled across her cheeks. A strangled cry came somewhere from her throat as she suppressed the profanities raging within her.

After rinsing the toothpaste off her cheeks, she ran back into the room and snatched random clothes off their hangers. Anything would suffice at a time like this. Jumping into the tub and jumping out seconds later, she considered that a finished bath as she began putting on her clothes, fingers fumbling over buttons and zips.

As she emerged from the bathroom, she ran the comb over her hair once and patted it distractedly, thinking that her hair would tame if she did so. Flying down the stairs, she missed a step and alas, tumbled down the steps and into the arms of Charlie. She looked up, disorientated, at her saviour, and then grinned sheepishly, "Good morning, Dad!" Charlie shook her head a defeated man and greeted her back. As Bella hopped around on one foot, trying to cram her feet into their shoes, Charlie fitted one toast into her mouth. Chewing on it, she regained her balance after wearing her shoes properly. She grabbed her bag and another toast before running out of the house.

Charlie smiled as he picked up the keys to Bella's truck. He walked over to the door and held it out. Sure enough, Bella could be seen rushing back, and then relief spreading through her face when she caught sight of her dad… with the keys. She took the keys from her dad and thanked him profusely. "Have a nice day at school!" Charlie waved goodbye to the truck reversing out of their driveway.

Bella tried speeding the truck up, but it was useless. The truck only moved at one speed—the speed of snails. She bit back her frustrations and concentrated on driving to school. She hoped to arrive in one whole piece.

Parking her truck in a totally illegal manner, she jumped off the truck, crossing her fingers when she landed. Yes! No sprained ankles. No time for a victory dance though, she was already very late. As she burst into the classroom, her excuse was already well-memorized in her mind. "I'm sorry, M'am! I assure you that there will not be a second time. My truck had broken down you see, and I had to try starting it up all over again…" The whole class, and their teacher, looked on as Bella's mouth moved rapidly, excuses flowing out.

The teacher held up her hand, stopping Bella's excuses. "Okay, I believe you, I think. But, please, go to your seat so we can continue the lesson after hearing your explanation for ten minutes."

Bella flushed a deep red as she smiled awkwardly to a few friends on the way to her seat. At least she was spared. Bella couldn't bring herself to imagine how her death would be like should it be History she was late for. She shuddered lightly, and then pushed her fringe away from her face, putting on her expression of concentration.

Just like that, a period of forty minutes went past and Bella stood up, stretching herself. She gathered her books and then went out of the classroom, consulting her timetable to check what her next lesson was. She sighed; realizing life was all a routine, and a boring one at that. But then she pulled herself together, at least she had her friends here in Forks. Or she'd die. Really.

The day moved on slowly. At each lesson, Bella sat next to people she knew. And if there were none, make new ones! A boring day became an interesting one as she made new friends, finding out so much more about them. At each lesson, she took down notes and then chatted with the new friend that sat beside her. She had long forgotten the fun of making new friends. And when it was finally lunch break, Bella flew down to the cafeteria to meet up with Jessica and Angela.

Angela was another new best friend, whom Bella made. While Jessica gossips aplenty, Angela's as quiet as a dormouse. Like how Jessica talks so much that the others don't have a chance to open their mouth, Bella's like that to Angela. Except that Angela doesn't mind at all. Bella found how she enjoyed Angela's presence more than Jessica. She could often talk about life back at home and it interested Angela a lot, because she had never stepped out of Forks before. And at times, when Bella didn't feel like talking, then both of them would bask in the silence, enjoying it. Silence can be such a pleasure sometimes you know.

However, there are the times when Bella still preferred Jessica over Angela. Such times were when she feels like she really needed Jessica's giggling and rantings to distract herself. Not to mention how Bella sometimes needed the Vitamin G—vitamin girliness! They'd have girl night outs and would boy hunt, looking out for handsome guys. But every time a girl night out ends, Bella always found herself thinking about all the past experience with Andrea, and then she ends up crying away under the starlit night sky.

Jessica stopped talking to Angela when she saw Bella and waved with a grin. Angela looked up from her lunch tray and smiled at Bella shyly as a greeting. Bella waved to the two of them with both hands, suddenly feeling that the slow day meant nothing as long as she could see her two best friends during lunch. She sat down at the space which Angela had saved for her and the three of them immediately launched into a bout of complains about teachers, with Angela listening, Bella nodding and Jessica speaking.

Slowly, Jessica began digressing and talking about totally irrelevant stuff. While Angela clung on to every word that came out from Jessica's mouth, Bella had long started to drift away. Her eyes looked at people sitting at different tables and laughed inwardly at the actions they do whenever they gesticulate during speech. Some people do the weirdest things when they think that nobody's looking at them. Like the guy in her Geography class? She actually caught him picking his nose! How gross.

Then her eyes fell on Edward's table. Why was he back in school so quickly? Didn't he have some old illness acting up? Pfft. He looked very healthy, poking at the food uninterestedly. Bella took the chance to take a better look at the others sitting at his table. All of them were similar to Edward in a way, yet different in another. They were all dead pale with perfect features sculpted onto their faces. Their eyes ranged from pale gold to honey brown. Then Bella noticed.

Edward's eyes were not black anymore.

She frowned and tried to recall that nasty incident. She was very sure that it was black eyes which Edward had used to glare at her. She'd never forget such a thing. But it was her very same eyes that saw Edward's golden eyes today. Bella frowned, unable to come up with an appropriate explanation to convince or assure herself with. She felt frustrated again, annoyed that Edward was always so mysterious in his ways. She just couldn't read him as well as she could anybody else. What made him so different from the rest of them? Aren't they all humans?

Bella decided to ignore Edward. She was supposed to be observing his family members. Well, she had thought them to be family members, judging by their looks and how they fetched Edward back home yesterday. But on a closer look, their age didn't exactly add up properly to the family member theory. Bella nudged Angela and asked softly, "Who are those sitting with Edward?" Angela glanced at Edward and his table slightly before answering, "His family members." She saw Bella's disbelieving look and continued, "Edward Cullen, Alice Cullen and Emmett Cullen are siblings. Jasper Hale and Rosalie Hale were adopted by Doctor Carlisle and his wife, Esme." Angela pointed the names to their rightful faces and Bella nodded understandingly. That would explain why their age didn't tally up, because some were adopted!

Bella felt pleased with herself for knowing so much about Edward without even talking to him. But then she stopped short. Pleased? She shook her head at herself. Her emotions were all mixed up. Then the motion of Angela and Jessica standing up snapped Bella out of her daydream. She hastily stood up and threw her lunch tray away, like what the others had done. She walked out with them and as she bade them a pleasant goodbye, it hit her like a blunt arrow.

Her next lesson was Biology.

The moment of truth had arrived for Edward. This was his probable biggest challenge, and even though he was afraid about his own vampire instincts, he felt excited by the huge challenge and that brought him confidence. He entered the Biology lab slowly and immediately knew that Bella was ahead of him by her scent. It wasn't as strong this time. Edward adjusted himself to her scent as he walked towards his set beside her. I can do this!

Edward sat down, and once again, Bella stiffened. She relaxed a little, but he could still feel her guardedness. Was she affected by what happened yesterday? Edward pushed that thought away and prepared himself for the first step—self-introduction. He cleared his throat, and frowned at Bella's lack of response. Not about to be put down by that, he went ahead to open his mouth. "Hello, Bella. I'm Edward Cullen. I'm afraid I haven't officially introduced myself due to the unexpected event yesterday." Even a nod would suffice as a response, but there was absolutely nothing. It was as blank as her thoughts. Thinking that Bella couldn't hear him, or was too engrossed with whatever she was doing, he touched her arm.

Bella jerked, affected by his cold touch. "Wha—?" Then just as quickly as she said that, she had composed herself and kept quiet again. It was obvious to Edward this time that she was purposely not responding. She was ignoring him! But why? Confused, he asked Bella, "Are you angry with me? Why? Did I do something that I should not? I apologize for touching you a while ago."

This time, she simply nodded; a sign which indicated that she had accepted his apology. But she still wasn't speaking. Frustrated, Edward persisted in his questions, only to be met by a wall of utter silence. He was starting to think that Bella was mute. He stared helplessly at the curtain of her hair, which separated them. He couldn't see her face. It was hard enough as it is that he couldn't hear her thoughts. Now he couldn't read her expressions too. This Bella must be some incredibly smart girl.

Again, he felt like he had underestimated Bella. He had to hand it to her, this Bella.

Bella felt like slapping herself for making that slip. But then again, she didn't expect Edward to touch her and as much as she wants to rub the spot he had touched her, she refused to do that in front of him.

Oh dear, Edward's speaking again. I don't understand him at all. Why is he speaking to me all of a sudden? "Unexpected event yesterday?" Bella scoffed mentally. Yeah right. Like he didn't know why I'm really angry. Who in their right mind would still be friends right after you shoot them some killer stare? Crazy.

"Bella? Can you please respond? Are you feeling alright? Are you sick? Is that why you're not talking to me? Because you're in too much pain? Please speak, Bella. Something, anything!" Edward really sounded desperate now. And even though Bella would gladly leave him in this state, it wouldn't be long before he drove her crazy.

Bella whipped her head around and glared at him with all her might, hoping that she looked as intimidating as she thought she would be. "Shut up, okay?! I'm perfectly fine, other than the fact that you totally electrocuted me with that touch." Bella hissed through her teeth. "And, don't call me Bella. I'm Isabella Swan. So that's Isabella for you!"

Edward had this triumphant grin on his face, like he had won in making Bella speak. She added, feeling that it was necessary. "I wouldn't respond at all if not for the fact that you're making Mr. Cleft frown in our direction a lot."

"So you did hear what I said just now? Everything?"

"Yes."

"But why didn't you want to talk to me? Did I do something wrong?"

Bella sighed. Here we go all over again. "Just stop asking, okay? I can stop talking to you any minute now if I feel like it."

"No, don't! I'll shut up." He looked as if he were really afraid of her not responding. Bella found this fact amusing. Then, her mouth opened on its own.

"Your eyes are not black anymore."

"I'm sorry?"

Bella shut her eyes tightly, pissed at herself. This was not the plan. Having a conversation with Edward was not the plan. Neither was expressing concern about his damned eyes. She opened her eyes to find Edward looking at her, a small smile on his lips.

She turned away, letting her hair fall in between them again. "Nothing."

He did it again. He must have infuriated her somehow. If not, why was she ignoring him again? He had obviously heard her question, why didn't he just answer it?

Edward panicked slightly. "I got contacts. That's why my eyes are not black anymore, Bella."

"Isabella." Bella corrected.

Right. Isabella. "But why?" Edward had to know. Everybody else called her Bella. He couldn't be wrong, could he?

"Why what?" Bella was still replying within three syllables.

"Why must I call you Isabella?" Edward risked a question, hoping that she wouldn't ignore him again. He hated it, this fear of offending Bella. But he couldn't help it. Coward! He scolded himself mentally. He had indeed lost his skills of flirting.

Edward heard Bella sigh. "Am I calling you Eddie?"

Eddie, indeed! How… childish! "No!"

"So why are you calling me Bella?"

Edward hesitated. How was he supposed to answer? Oh, I read minds. And in every one of them, you appeared to them as Bella. "Because everybody else calls you that." Edward answered, with a tone that said 'duh".

"I told them to. I didn't tell you to."

Edward was again speechless. He had never had such a conversation in his entire one hundred years of living. Afraid of giving the wrong answer, not being able to answer properly, what is wrong with him? No, why does Bella have such an effect on him? Edward felt extremely discouraged. He was the one to get his way. Smile a little, then dazzle her maybe. But how was he supposed to do that with her hair being a shield? Edward wanted to roar his frustrations out. No, he will not let her get the better of him.

"Yes. Isabella it is." Oh god. Edward felt like murdering himself. Instead of being a lion, he was now a meek lamb.

Bella did a mental victory dance. Twice in a row, she had rendered Edward speechless. And his last answer could very well be replaced by him waving a white flag for surrender! Bella felt very pleased at herself, forgetting her slip-up the first time round. But his answer for her question didn't satisfy her. It was just this annoying thing nibbling away in her mind. Somehow, her instinct told her that he wasn't telling the truth. And Bella hated being lied to.

He obviously had something to hide. And Bella was going to find out what it was.