Hi! Still with me? I hope so.
So now it's time for school to start, and there's more Edward in this chapter than there was in the last one – I hope you enjoy
~oOo~
Chapter Three
It could be worse.
That's what Edward told himself over and over as he sat on the edge of his bed at the Cullens' house on the first day of school. It could be worse. It could be some stick-up-your-ass private school that they wanted to send him to. There could be people from his old life at this school who would give him hell for turning into a whitewashed asshole.
And he could be back in the hospital recovering from a beating and a bunch of cuts.
Yeah, it could be worse.
Just keep a low profile. Just a year, and then you'll be on your own.
He could do that.
He jumped when someone rapped on his closed door, then internally cursed himself. Pussy. "Hey," called Emmett's voice, "breakfast is ready. Hurry up before I eat it all."
Edward got up without talking and opened his door, but checked when he almost walked into Emmett. Emmett hadn't just delivered his message and left; he'd stayed to wait for Edward. With a smile and a jerk of his head, he motioned towards the stairs. He was wearing his red-and-silver football jersey, and he'd spiked his damn hair.
As they walked together – Emmett wasn't leading Edward, and he wasn't following; he was just next to him – Edward thought about how the whole family automatically assumed they could fix him. Esme even went of her way to include him in any of their 'family activities.' He didn't really care, but it was interesting. Especially since it would all wind up wasted effort.
Suddenly Emmett said, "Rosalie and I have seven classes each, so we've got zero periods."
"Yeah?" Edward replied, because he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say.
"Yeah. I pick her up around six forty-five every morning. That means," he continued as they started down the stairs, "that you are your own ride, and you get either the truck or the compact." He paused and glanced at Edward. "Your pick."
"You have two cars?"
"We have four," Emmett corrected. "Esme's, Carlisle's, my old one, and my truck. We were gonna sell my coupe, but then you came to live with us, so I asked Carlisle if we could keep it. He said sure, and I think we added you to the insurance." He turned to look at Edward. "So you can have either one. You got a valid license, right?"
"Yeah. And, uh… thanks. Whichever you don't want is fine." Edward wasn't sure if Emmett didn't like that he'd be using one of their cars. He felt like telling Emmett that if it was a pain in his ass, he just had to wait until Edward became too much for The Doctor and Esme and they sent him back to the system. He could stick it out a month.
But Edward decided not to say any of that, and it was just as well, because they reached the bottom of the stairs, where the smell of eggs, bacon, onions, and cheese reached them.
"There you are," said The Doctor – Carlisle, Edward mentally kicked myself – and Edward looked up to see him smiling at the two boys. Maybe it was Edward's limited experience with this city, but it seemed like people in Phoenix smiled a lot. Probably all the Botox. "Come, sit down, both of you."
"And hey – where were you yesterday?" Emmett frowned as he gulped coffee. "We missed you at the kickback."
"Oh–" Edward shrugged. "I went running. I didn't know anyone there–"
"Yeah, I know that, and I was trying to fix it." He balled up his napkin and threw it at Edward, who blinked as it glanced off his forehead.
"Emmett," Esme scolded as she set a plate with an omelet and a slice of toast down in front of Edward. "Be nice." Edward knew her being here in the morning wouldn't last; the local community college where she taught gender studies didn't start its semester until next week, but when it did, she'd have to leave early to get ready for her 8:30 class.
"So," she said briskly, changing the subject, "are you riding together today?"
Edward looked up at Emmett sharply; hadn't he just told him about zero periods and shit?
"Yeah," said Emmett through a mouthful of egg. "Since zeros don't start until tomorrow–" oh "–and we gotta get our schedules today, and I don't think there's after-school sports on the first day of school, we might as well. But we gotta get going so we're not late for Rosalie."
Edward kept eating in silence.
"Are you both finished?" asked Esme excitedly a couple minutes later, and to Edward's horror she pulled out a camera. He wasn't the only one; the camera got a groan from Emmett, but he sounded more joking than serious. "Oh, come on!" she smiled, taking Emmett's arm to pull him up. Even though he had at least a head on her, he went good-naturedly. "In front of the fireplace. Up, you," she added, grinning at Edward, and took his wrist to pull him over to Emmett. She slipped one arm around his waist and the other around Emmett's. Edward hadn't noticed how small she was before.
"Good!" said Carlisle, picking up the camera from where she'd left it on the table. "Now Edward, smile."
Edward forced a grin on his face and the flash clicked. "One more," Esme begged, and Carlisle nodded. Click.
"All right!" shouted Emmett. "Senior year. Just ten more months to go." He pumped his fist in the air as Carlisle scooped up a set of car keys from an end table and handed them to him.
"Yes, but you have at least another four years after that, for which you must pay a third," he pointed out. "I've already told you that we won't cover all of it – you're responsible for scholarships and loans. Or have you forgotten?"
"I'm not going to college," Emmett told him as all four of them walked through the backyard to the detached garage. "I'm gonna fill out a job application at the Home Depot."
"Which is of course why we spent almost three hundred fifty dollars on your AP exams over the last two years?" asked his father, his eyebrows raised.
"Yep." Emmett grinned, and Edward wondered if he was serious.
The garage door rose, and Edward stepped back as Emmett remotely unlocked a fifty-grand coupe. Jesus – fucking showoff. And it was parked between a huge red truck and Dr. Cullen's Beemer, on the other side of a shiny silver Infiniti. The only car Edward had seen so far had been Carlisle's. But there was over two hundred thousand dollars worth of car in that garage.
Esme hugged both of the boys; Edward hesitated a little when she got to him and was a second late returning it. "You both have a wonderful time today!" she said, stepping back with a smile. "I want to hear all about it this afternoon."
Emmett used the remote key thing to pop the trunk and slung his backpack in. Edward put his next to it. It bothered him a little to see his ratty old backpack up against Emmett's brand-new one, but he reminded himself that he hadn't wanted the Cullens spending money on him. It didn't matter.
Still, though, he was glad that his scars and tats were covered up by his clothes.
He decided to sit in the back seat because when Emmett picked up Rosalie, he was sure they'd both want her in the front. And sure enough, when they pulled up to her house, Emmett tapped the horn once and got out, going around the car to open her door for her. Rosalie was in her cheerleading uniform, and Edward thought the two of them looked just so damn fake as she settled herself in the front passenger seat. She glanced at the rearview mirror to fix her makeup, and saw Edward's reflection.
"Hi, Edward," she smiled as Emmett got back in and started the car.
"Hey," he muttered, looking out the window again.
The damn coupe made it feel like Edward's ass was literally sitting on the road. The other two spent the whole trip talking about teachers and classes and schedules and shit like that. Edward sat there, not saying anything, trying really hard not to be nervous.
It could be worse.
When Emmett pulled into the student parking lot, Edward had a really hard time believing they were at a high school. As Emmett crawled up and down the aisles looking for a spot, Edward counted off luxury brands in his head: Lexus… Mercedes… Infiniti… Is that an Escalade? What high school kid needs an SUV that seats ten?
This year was gonna be fun, he could tell.
Emmett found an open spot next to what looked like a beat-up '65 Ford convertible, and pulled in as Rosalie said, "Alice really needs to trade in her POS car."
"Why?" Emmett asked, surprised. "I've always liked her car."
Alice… the name sounded familiar. "The girl from registration?" Edward blurted out.
"Yeah," Emmett told him. "Her brother Riley's a good friend of mine. She's Bella Swan's best friend or something, too – they were both at the kickback yesterday." He shot Edward a look he ignored. Whatever.
They all got out, but once they got their bags from the trunk, Emmett put his hand on Edward's shoulder and pulled him back as bunch of cheerleaders, in matching red-and-silver uniforms, rushed up to Rosalie and started squealing. "Can I ask you something?" he muttered, waving Rosalie off when she turned around to look for where he'd gone. The guys followed her and her newly-formed posse, but not close.
"Sure." Edward looked up at him, but Emmett kept his eyes straight ahead.
"What's your issue with Bella? Not even Bella, but new people in general."
"Look," Edward snapped; he'd been waiting for someone to pull him into this argument. "I barely know you, any of you. Either I can trust you or I can't. I figure it's safest for me to assume–"
Now Emmett looked at Edward, his eyes wide under his eyebrows like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Are you kidding me? You know that's a shit way to live your life, right?"
"Emmett, you don't know me–"
"And whose fault is that?" he demanded, suddenly pissed. "We've been living in the same house for a week now, and this is the first actual conversation we've had."
Edward opened his mouth, and then closed it, noticing something. Emmett was actually hurt. God knew why, though – it's not like it really mattered. "Sorry," Edward told him, surprised into honesty, and interested by how he actually was sorry. "It won't… I'll try to do better. Okay?"
Emmett studied his new brother. "Okay," he finally replied, grinning at him a little. "You didn't have it easy before you came to us – I get it. I've been there." He nudged Edward's arm, and they started walking faster. Edward realized then he didn't know how Emmett got in foster care himself.
As they got closer to the edge of the parking lot, Emmett and Rosalie kept being stopped by people saying hello, and they introduced Edward to everyone. Emmett looked at him sympathetically. "It was this way for me, too," he whispered, "when I first came to live here. Everyone wanted to be friendly." Edward half-smiled… and managed to be distracted for long enough to walk into someone, knocking her bag off her shoulder.
"Jesus, I'm sorry," he said automatically, kneeling down next to her to pick up everything that fell out of her bag.
"Oh, it's okay," she said, taking a notebook out of his hand, and he paused, recognizing her voice. He looked up to Bella Swan's eyes. She smelled like coffee, but not in a bad way.
Glad of an excuse to look down, Edward kept picking up her stuff, stacking a pencil case and a binder, trying to come up with stuff to say. He was glad when Emmett saved him.
"Good job, Edward," he said loudly as he bent to help Bella up. "If you wanted to talk to her, there's easier ways."
"Thanks, Emmett," Edward grumbled as they all stood.
"No problem," Emmett said, either missing the sarcasm or ignoring it. He looked around at the two people with Bella and added, "By the way, you already know Alice" – the black-haired girl smiled big and waved at Edward – "but here's someone you would have met if you'd shown your face at the kickback: Jasper Whitlock, who happens to play basketball with Alice's brother Riley." A blond guy taller than Edward, almost as tall as Emmett, but way skinnier, nodded once. Bella dusted herself off and self-consciously raised her hand to her smooth brown hair. Jesus, did she really feel like she had to fix it? It looked fine anyway.
"Jasper," Emmett continued, "this is my new foster brother, Edward Masen. He's very pleased to meet you, even if he doesn't believe in talking."
Alice hid a laugh behind a cough.
"I'm sorry," Edward stuttered, and flinched internally. He felt like a damn broken record with all these apologies. "Nice to meet you." Jasper held out a hand and Edward shook it.
"And you." Edward noticed that Jasper only had one strap of his backpack on, a hand resting on it, and he tucked his other hand into his pocket. It was so posed. Aren't you cool.
"Speaking of Riley…" Bella interrupted, staring around. "Did anyone see where he got to?"
"Oh, he's right over…" Alice glanced around and then pointed. "There."
A guy who looked a lot like Alice, down to the freckles, pushed through the crowd, grinning and saying, "Sorry, guys. Saw somebody I had to say hi to." Edward glanced away, but looked back when Riley talked to him. "Hey, Edward. You are Edward, right? Alice told me about you."
"Uh, yeah. Hey." Riley held out his hand to Edward too. These weren't handshakes like Edward was used to – these were the things that rich adult people gave each other at business meetings.
"Where were you during the kickback?" Riley asked Edward now.
Rosalie, who'd been talking to one of her cheerleader friends, met back up with the group before Edward had to answer. "Guys, we need to get in line." She jerked her head over to where several tables were set up in front of what Edward figured was the gym. "First period starts in half an hour."
That got everyone's attention, and the girls, Riley, and Emmett each headed off in a different direction (but Edward saw another girl meet up with Bella, and Bella hugged her, smiling). "Hey," said a voice, and he looked up to see Jasper standing in front of him. "You're a junior?"
"Yeah," Edward answered, suspicious for some reason.
Jasper nodded and smiled (Jesus, again with the smiling). "Then we're in the same line." He walked forward like he expected Edward to follow. Edward figured he could use the help in finding his way around, and he knew better than to turn down free help, so he went after him.
He worried for a minute about not knowing what to say – it'd be rude, if nothing else, to ignore this guy after he'd knocked his friend's bag down – but Jasper opened his mouth first. "So I was kind of expecting to meet you yesterday – Bella said the Cullens had a new foster kid, and she'd already met you at registration."
Bella had talked about him? "Uh, yeah." Edward looked straight ahead, trying not to look uncomfortable. "I'm not good with new people."
Jasper nodded. "I get that. But you went out for cross country, right? That's cool."
"Only because Emmett made me."
"So you didn't run before?"
Edward shrugged. "It's always been how I liked to work out, but I wasn't on the team at my old school." He didn't mention that, at his old school, he'd been too busy making drug deliveries and trying not to get shot to do any sports.
"Still, though," Jasper said as they joined the back of one of the lines.
"Wait," Edward said, realizing something. "How'd you know I'm in cross country?"
"Dude, you're news," Jasper laughed. "Brown letting a walk-on into Varsity? That's, like, never happened. Bella told me after registration, and Emmett told me again at the kickback. You're a big deal."
Edward frowned. He did not want to be a big deal.
Jasper reached the front of the line and slipped his ID card onto the table. The fat PTA lady on the other side of it checked his name and flipped through the box of schedules in front of her, eventually handing him one. He took it and moved off to the side, waiting for Edward.
These people were weird – Edward had known Jasper for less than five minutes and already he felt like he had to wait for him. Edward pulled out his card like Jasper had done, and got his own schedule. He glanced down at it and groaned. AP chemistry, US history, and English, along with honors physiology and pre-calculus.
He barely had time to see that before Jasper took his schedule and compared it to his own. "Cool, we've got English together," he told Edward, just as Alice fought her way through the crowd over to them.
"Gimmie," she snapped, seizing Jasper's schedule. "Oh damn, they didn't put us in calc together." She looked up at Edward. "I never would've gotten my B in pre-calc if it hadn't been for him," she told him like he cared, before going back to the schedules. "But we've got Honors Physics along with AP Spanish and English."
"Edward's in that class," Jasper said, grinning at him. "Is your physics a zero?" he asked her now.
"Yeah. So's yours, I see. It's inhumane, making an academic class a zero. Not fair."
"Get over yourself, drama queen." He reached out and she ducked before he could mess up her hair. Edward wondered what was going on between them. "But it looks like you and Edward have APUSH together."
"Apush?" Edward asked, confused.
Alice explained. "Advanced Placement United States History. A-P-U-S-H." She shrugged. "The acronym's easier to say, but you don't see anybody calling AP English Language and Composition APELAC. Don't bother trying to figure it out – it'll just give you a headache. Bella!" she suddenly shouted, waving her arm over her head.
Edward throat tightened. What, just because he was new, Alice thought he shouldn't bother trying to work out their retarded nickname system? He realized he was holding his breath as Bella fought her way over to the circle they'd made. "Sixth period English," she said proudly. "That's always the smallest class, isn't it? Because everyone's in athletics?"
"Yep. Glad that I, as an athlete, could do my part to make your schedule more bearable," Alice replied, and held Bella's schedule up to compare them. Without making it obvious, Edward read over her shoulder.
Damn. AP sections of chemistry, Spanish, US history, English, and calculus, along with honors physics and leadership. Jasper noticed too, and he let out a low whistle. "You working hard enough, Bella?"
"No. I could have taken honors physics online, and signed up for AP Environmental Science as a campus class instead."
Edward looked at her for some trace of humor, but she was completely serious. Jesus. Was being perfect so damn important to her? What white girl takes AP Spanish?
Jasper rolled his eyes, but Alice said, "Jasper, this is, after all, the girl who took two AP classes as a frosh."
"Right. Forgot about that. And Bella, we've got calc together. We already knew that the three of us would be in the same Spanish class, since there's only one AP section. And aren't there only two sections of AP chemistry?"
"Yeah."
"Well, if Edward isn't in our class, he's got to be in Bella's."
Bella looked up at him. "First period?"
"Uh." Edward glanced back down at his schedule, even though he didn't need the reminder. "Uh, yeah."
"Oh, good," she looked relieved. "I'll have someone to help me. I'm horrible at chemistry–"
"'Horrible' here having the meaning of, 'I almost got down to a B-plus in honors," Alice added, rolling her eyes. "Bella, shut up, you couldn't be horrible at anything if you tried." Bella blushed and looked away, biting her lower lip as she did. Edward managed not to snort.
"Hey, kids," said another girl's voice, and Edward looked around to see Rosalie and one of her cheerleader friends meeting up with their group. The other cheerleader, this one Latina, was staring up at Edward; he shifted and looked away. Thank God a second later she said she saw another friend and disappeared after hugging Rosalie goodbye, like they were gonna be apart for days. Rosalie didn't look impressed, just nodding as the other girl disappeared.
Without a second glance, she looked back at all of them and asked, "Anything interesting? I think the only overlapping class that any of us have is calc, right? Because you're nerd juniors? I have it fifth."
"Me too," said Jasper and Bella at the same time, before glancing at each other, amused. Bella continued, "But if you're going to call me a nerd, I'm not going to help you." Rosalie made a face at her.
Bella laughed and kept looking at everyone else's schedules. She frowned at Jasper and Alice's. "Figures. You two have physics together and I've got it fourth."
Poor you, Edward thought, irritated. If that was the worst she ever had to live through, she could just count her damn blessings, couldn't she?
"Oh," said Jasper, staring over the girls' heads like he wasn't really part of the conversation. "Maria!"
Edward turned in the direction Jasper was looking and saw a dark, curvy girl with long black hair look up and wave, then turn away as the guy with her wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Alice exhaled loudly as Jasper kind of deflated.
"She has a boyfriend?" he asked, his voice a lot quieter than it had been a second ago.
Bella and Alice looked at each other. "Is this the part where we pretend like nothing happened and hurry to class?" Alice stage-whispered.
Bella rolled her eyes. "And your middle name is 'tact,'" she snapped, not bothering to lower her voice. "Jasper, it's okay. High school relationships aren't forever."
"You should've asked her out when you had the–"
"Alice," Bella interrupted, and the glare she gave her friend seemed really out of place on her soft features. Alice shrugged, but fell silent. Bella glanced quickly up at Edward, like she was worried about what he was thinking. He looked away, over the crowd, wondering where Emmett was. Why should Bella think he'd care about this? He didn't even know Jasper.
"Um," said Rosalie, and Edward could almost hear her brain working to find a new subject. "We should probably get to class. I'm headed for AP Bio – is anyone else going that way?"
"I guess we are," Bella said, looking at Edward. "Chem's in that same building. Jasper?"
"APUSH." He busied himself with putting his ID card away so he wouldn't have to look at any of the others. For somebody so tall, he was doing a good job of making himself unnoticeable.
"And I'm going to calc." Alice rolled her eyes. "See you all later."
"Yeah," nodded Bella, surreptitiously squeezing Jasper's hand. "See you."
She and Rosalie walked toward the corner of campus; Edward followed them, looking back once to see Alice whispering something to Jasper and him nodding. He turned and overheard Bella and Rosalie talking about Jasper and the girl, Maria.
"I didn't even know that he liked her," Rosalie was saying, surprised.
Bella sighed. "He's had it bad for her since freshman year. And what sucks is that he's had more than a couple of opportunities to ask her out, and he just… hasn't."
Rosalie made an oh-that's-too-bad face as Edward caught them. This school was a lot smaller than his school in Tucson, and there was also just something different about the students – most of them reeked of money and privilege. This wasn't a place he'd ever belong at, he was sure.
"Oh, no," Bella said suddenly, handing her binder to Rosalie and frantically digging around in her bag.
"What's wrong?" Rosalie asked, moving closer to her. "Did you forget something?"
"No." But Bella kept her head down.
"Then what–" Rosalie looked around, and her whole face changed, hardened. "Ah. Cheating ex-boyfriend at four o'clock."
Interested, Edward followed her gaze, wanting to see the guy with a dick so big he'd cheat on Miss Perfect. "Plaid shirt, bleached hair?" he asked, and Rosalie scowled, which he guessed meant 'yes.'
The guy was standing, hands in his pockets, in the middle of a group of other fake people, including a bunch of girls. He shot Bella one scornful look and made a big show of turning his back, so everyone saw him dis her.
"Thinks he's hot shit, doesn't he?" Edward said, forgetting for a second that Bella had dated this asshole, had once cared about him, and Edward might hurt her. Well, too bad. He pissed Edward off.
"The hair's new," Rosalie told him, disgusted. "Probably wanted to make himself over so we wouldn't think he actually felt bad about screwing with someone else while his girlfriend was visiting her family."
"Okay, new subject now," Bella said, taking her binder back and walking to the science building. Her face was bright red.
Rosalie caught up with her, and Edward thought she was about to apologize, but the bell rang. She hugged Bella and then, before he could get ready for it, him too. "Good luck!" she whispered.
"Thanks," he muttered, and she waved and disappeared into a classroom in front of a bunch of other people.
"Shall we go in?" Bella asked him, gesturing towards another open door, through which other students were already passing. Edward shrugged and let her lead him into class.
He had to make a concentrated effort of not noticing how cute her little ass was. Dammit.
That was not really what Bella needed on my first day of school, she fumed quietly. To be publicly snubbed by her ex-boyfriend right in front of Edward Masen. Wonderful. As far as omens went, she didn't really see how it could get any worse. She sighed and Edward looked at her. She avoided his eyes as they entered the classroom.
Bella had had Miss Somerset last year for honors chem, and she'd been one of her favorite teachers – her style was really straightforward and organized. Bella got the feeling that she'd appreciate some order first period if she was to have leadership for her zero period class.
She figured that, since he was new, Edward wouldn't really know anyone and might be grateful of a friendly face, even one belonging to someone who could barely form a coherent sentence around him. "Be my lab partner?" she asked, forcing a smile. And then she blushed, because what if asking him that was tacky?
But he said, "Sure," and she thought he almost smiled.
"Great," she said, trying not to sound too bright, and before she could make an even bigger fool of herself, she led him through the crowded room to her old lab table and set her bag down. She turned back to Edward, even though she had no idea what to say, but just then she was set upon by some friends, a couple of whom had been at Emmett's kickback yesterday. She hugged them all as Edward set his stuff down beside hers, before introducing him.
"Guys, this is Edward Masen – he's new here. Edward, this is Megan, Nicole, Brandon, and Cheyenne – not that you have to remember all their names or anything," she added, and then mentally kicked herself. What if he thought she was insulting his ability to remember? And why was she suddenly second-guessing everything?
From the corner of her eye, she saw his gaze drift to the cover of her binder, where a little drawing of an otter that Alice had made for her in eighth grade was frolicking. Blushing, Bella shifted her hand to cover it.
"Take your seats," called out Miss Somerset from the front of the room, and Bella's four friends scrambled off to find places. "My name is Miss Somerset, and welcome to AP Chemistry. I know I had most of you last year in honors, but you'll have to bear with me for the lesson plan and suchlike. Get your schedules out; I'm going to come around and sign them and fill in the seating chart. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves until I'm done."
As chatter broke out around them, Bella faced Edward, still not knowing what to say, but feeling like she should say something. The sleeve of his T-shirt rode up a little, and she thought she saw a scar. She glanced away when he turned back to her and asked hastily, "So, um, is this your first AP class?" she asked, figuring it was a reasonable question, since Santa Inez students had heard things about the academic program of the Tucson school district, and none of it was really all that complimentary.
"Yeah, but I'm good at science." He smirked. "Don't worry, I won't bring down your GPA."
"That's not what I meant," she said, aghast. "Really. I was just curious."
"Yeah, well," he muttered, looking away from her as she scrambled around for something else to say, to fix whatever she'd done wrong. Then Edward grimaced. "Sorry," he said, his voice low. "That was… I was an asshole."
"No, no, it's fine," Bella hurried to reassure him. "I just…" she made myself shut up before she could make it worse.
"Yeah, it's my first AP class," he repeated, meeting my eyes; she could tell he was trying again. "My old school didn't really challenge its students. But Esme – my foster mom – thinks my transcripts prove I can handle challenging coursework."
She felt a small smile lift the corners of her mouth. "That sounds verbatim."
"It is. Right out of the argument we had."
"Ah," Bella said, as Miss Somerset signed their schedules, wrote their names down on her seating chart, and moved on. Bella noticed that she and Edward didn't have any other classes together, although he was also taking APUSH and AP English Language/Comp. So, he didn't want to be here. "Well, I'm sure you'll do fine. It's all about studying."
"Yeah." He looked down at the desk. "That's what everybody keeps saying. Like I don't know that." Suddenly he sounded bitter.
"Um, what–"
"Look, Bella, you seem nice and everything, but you don't have to talk to me like I'm five," he snapped without really looking at her; it was as if a wall had come up, breaking whatever tentative conversation they were managing. "I'm fine."
"Edward, I–"
"Just forget it."
And that was all he said to her that day. He looked straight at the chalkboard as Miss Somerset took the class through her syllabus and talked about the AP exam. When the bell rang, he left without saying goodbye.
Bella tried to be upbeat for the rest of the day; it was expected of her as class president. She kept smiling, saying hi to everyone, sat up in class. Her act was so good that even Jasper didn't pick up on how much Edward had bothered her when she saw him in Spanish and again in Calc. After school, she remembered to run by the leadership room and grab a calendar of all her functions.
And why did Edward bother her so much? She didn't know him; he wasn't anything to her. She'd barely met him; he was just her lab partner, who was the foster brother of one of her friends. And he just happened to be really good-looking.
Bella shook her head in disgust as she drove home at the end of the day. Was that it? Did he fluster her so much just because he was pretty? Hmm. She'd thought she was better than that.
It didn't matter. She'd never have to be alone with him; if and when she ever saw him outside of school, it'd probably be within a big group of people, and she could easily avoid him. As far as chem went, they could maintain a degree of academic professionalism. It didn't matter if he didn't like her. They could work together without bothering each other.
She guided her car into the garage and killed the engine, before slumping in her seat.
God, it was going to be a long year.
~oOo~
Oh, dear. But the real world is like that – you don't just suddenly love somebody. I understand that some high school girls are, but I wasn't. and Edward is scared right now – even if he won't admit it. Give them time, please?
And then Maria. Yes, there is a Maria. Sorry.
I hope you're still enjoying this, and if you're following "Everything's On Fire," you'll be delighted to know that chapter 3 is FINALLY with the dearly beloved beta reader JenRar and pre-reader Drotuno.