Clearing up one thing - Edward is human. This is all-human. Okay? Good. :D On to the chapter!! (This is The Boy in Edward's POV)

Disclaimer: Edward and Bella aren't mine. I'm just pretending they are.. It's not the same...

Edward's POV

I was having a horrible day. It was just an all-around bad day. I'd had another nightmare, and even worse was the fact that Emmett was sympathetic about it. The guy smiled apologetically when he saw the circles underneath my eyes. I knew I shouldn't have told him.

Emmett hadn't believed me when I told him, but after talking to Carlisle, decided that I wasn't lying. Esme didn't hug me this morning. Though I would never admit it to her, that was the time I looked forward to every day. In that moment, I could be who I knew I was inside - the small boy that wanted to be held and comforted. The absence of that small gesture had only added to my misery of the day.

And now I was watching Emmett stare at Tanya Denali again. I swear, he was obsessed with her. Ever since he'd gone out with her a month ago, he'd been following her around like a lost puppy. She had rejected him several times in public, but they still went out occasionally. Students began to crowd, and I wondered what trivial thing had caught their interest this day.

The students of Forks High were easily manipulated into following the newest thing.

I saw Tanya's jaw clench. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and said loudly, "I don't even know why you're staring at her." All heads instantly turned, and I could see who they had been previously fawning over.

A new face - she must have been Chief Swan's daughter. She was the talk of the town. Word had gone around that she was coming back, but many had doubted. At first glance, she was average. Brown hair that went past her shoulders. She had deep brown eyes and pale skin.

And Emmett took a chance. "Hey, babe," he greeted Tanya. I silently wished him luck. I saw the look on Tanya's face. This was a disaster in the making.

"I'm not your babe," she snapped. Emmett did the same thing that he always did. Grinned and a new group of girls surrounded him. I remembered when I used to be that way. Now, looking at it from a different perspective, it was stupid, really.

I took off, sighing. Emmett could catch up if he wanted. We didn't really talk all that much anymore. Not that we ever did.

"Edward," Jasper called. I glanced up. Jasper seemed to be the one person that didn't care who I had been and didn't ask questions why I had changed. He just accepted what I gave him.

"Jasper," I said quietly.

"How are things?" His voice was naturally quiet, and I envied that. I tried to be quiet all the time now. I tried to stay away from people these days.

I shrugged, glancing at the floor. "I've been better," I said truthfully. I always felt like I owed an explanation to him. He was always there when I wanted to talk, but I never could really say what I wanted to say. And he would sit there and just nod, trying to understand my jumbled mess of words that was supposed to be an apology.

He smiled sadly. "Isn't Esme out of town?" he asked, his voice still soothing. It was like he knew Esme was a key point in my life these days.

"Yeah, she is." The words hurt. My chest constricted, and I had to fight back the empty feelings beginning to surface.

"Well, I hope today gets better," he murmured. I nodded in response. "I'll see you around, then."

I looked up. "See you, Jasper."

He nodded and disappeared around a corner.

"Edward," came a girl's low voice. My heart beat faster. I hated it when they did this. Some of the girls couldn't get it through their minds that I had changed.

I turned around and saw a redhead sidled right next to me. She batted her eyelashes at me seductively. Her hair was wild, and her clothes were low-cut. "I'm Victoria."

I'm sure my expression was that of horror or something like it. She was the first one in a while to try to talk to me. Most people recognized the blatant differences in me and, as a result, left me alone.

"Listen, I have to be somewhere -"

She cut me off. "Oh, I know exactly where you have to be." Victoria grabbed my arms, pulling me closer to her.

My chest constricted tightly, and my breathing was going haywire. If she didn't stop, I was going to pass out. "Stop, stop, stop," I hissed. I would have pushed her away, but the fear of this happening was rendering me motionless. This had to be something close to what girls felt like when they were getting raped.

"Hey, leave him alone," Emmett called angrily. I never thought I would say this, but thank God for Emmett.

"Why should I?" she snapped, narrowing her eyes at Emmett.

Emmett got right in her face. "Because I said so. Now let him go."

Victoria scowled at him and let me go. "Fine. Whatever." She stormed off.

I leaned against the lockers, my head in my hands. I was barely restraining curling into a fetal position. My breathing had started to even back out, and the tight feeling in my chest was slowly disappearing. I wasn't even aware how loud my ears had been ringing until she was gone.

"Edward, are you okay?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah," I gasped. I took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine." I rubbed my eyes furiously, then raked my fingers through my hair. Get it together, Edward, I told myself severely.

I finally found the strength and self-control to look up at my adopted brother. The sympathetic, pitying look was written all over his face. I resented it.

"Will you be all right?" Emmett persisted.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Em . . . thanks." As much as I hated thanking him, the idiot had saved me.

He smiled. "You're welcome, Eddie." He smirked wickedly. "Who else is gonna save your ass when it needs saving?"

I scowled. "Emmett, shut up."

My brother grinned. "There's the old Edward. It's nice to see him. Oh, and Esme says that she misses you."

"Tell her I miss her, too," I muttered reluctantly.

"Aw, Eddie loves his mommy," Emmett taunted. Even though Emmett has known for a month, he still makes stupid remarks.

The tightening in my chest came back, and I stared at him with wide, horrified eyes.

Realization dawned on his face. His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. "Shit, I didn't mean it like that."

"I know," I muttered, standing up straight. "I know you didn't, Emmett." The bell rang, saving me from a humiliating explanation. "I'll see you later, Emmett."

"See you," he said uncertainly, heading to his first class.

Until lunch, my day had been normal. Teachers had left me alone, girls had stared longingly, sighing every now and again. I got a bottled water and left the cafeteria. I hated being around so many people. It was one thing I couldn't stand now. Before, I had reveled in being so popular. I thought it was what I wanted. Not so much.

I sighed. Things were so different. My mind immediately took me back to the night Carlisle had told me what happened. I'd screamed and cursed at him, told him he was full of shit. Then my mind caught up with my body, and I went limp. Instead of screaming, I was almost silent. I whispered that it couldn't be true, there was no way.

And Carlisle just watched me, his mouth set into a frown. "I'm sorry, Edward," he had whispered. And I had just sat there like an ass. I pushed him away. For those first few months, I had pushed everyone away. I didn't want to see anyone after that. For the rest of lunch, I was lost in my own thoughts, oblivious to the surrounding world.

When I came back to reality, tears were flowing down my cheeks, and I was huddled against the building, rocking slightly. I looked up, and Chief Swan's daughter was coming out of the cafeteria. Isabella, wasn't it? Jasper was right behind her. I moved so that I was hidden and quickly wiped my tears away.

I couldn't hear what Jasper was saying, but his mouth moved so I knew he was speaking. I stood up and checked my phone. We had about three minutes before class started. I headed for the Biology room.

I sat in my seat as the bell rang and watched as the students filed in talking about their weekends. Amongst them was Isabella. I turned my head, staring blankly at my book. I had to admit it - she was beautiful. But that wasn't who I was. I didn't date the first girl I saw. I didn't have contests with Emmett to see who could date the most girls in a week.

The chair next to me moved, and my chest tightened automatically. Not another one. But then Isabella sat next to me, and I knew that she would have to sit next to me. She had nowhere else to sit. So with a soft, inaudible sigh, I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to endure her presence. Thankfully, she didn't seem interested in talking to me.

The teacher began to speak, and I calmed myself slightly. She seemed like a good person. A person who wouldn't like to get caught talking during class. Now all I had to do was get out of here before she could say anything to me after class. I felt her eyes on me a few times during class, but I never returned her glances. Encouraging her would only make things worse for myself.

She seemed like a nice girl, but I couldn't afford to have anyone get close to me now. Finally, the bell rang, and I flew for the door, thankful that my personal hell hadn't been as horrible as I had anticipated. I went to study hall, sitting at my usual seat, next to Jasper.

"Are you all right?" he asked, concern etched into his voice.

I nodded, taking a deep breath. "Who was the girl you talked to at the end of lunch?" Even if I couldn't speak to her directly, I could still get information about her.

Jasper had a slightly amused expression on his face. "Isabella Swan. The chief's daughter. Rosalie scared her."

"Typical," I muttered. "We have Biology together."

My only friend, if that was what you would call him, snickered. "Looks like it's not the only thing you have together." He motioned with his head to a table twenty feet from us. Isabella was there with Jasper's crush, Alice Brandon.

I put my head in my hands. "Why must she torment me?" I mumbled.

"Isabella told me the strangest thing at lunch," Jasper said thoughtfully.

"What's that?"

"She said that she heard that someone with the initials A. B. likes me. You think she meant Alice?" Hope was woven through his voice. And there really weren't that many people with the same initials as Alice. Isabella seemed like she was friends with her, too.

"It might be possible, Jasper."

He smiled a little, watching Alice talk animatedly with Isabella. Alice was a flurry of black hair and hands as her body moved with whatever she was saying. Isabella was the complete opposite. She seemed reserved, yet her eyes were loyally trained on Alice's every movement. Her eyebrows dipped in response to something Alice had said.

Alice and Isabella carried on a conversation for a while before they both laughed and looked back down at their books. The bell rang, and Alice and Isabella left together. Jasper and I went our separate ways.

I met up with Emmett at his Jeep. I rarely drove anymore. Emmett was silent as he drove home, an odd occurrence for him.

"You're . . . friends with Jasper Hale, right?" Emmett asked cautiously as he pulled into the driveway.

"Yeah, I guess. Why?"

"Because his sister is hot." He grinned hugely, as if expecting me to agree.

"Whatever, Emmett. What do you want?"

"Hook me up with his sister. You need to have some fun anyway."

I gritted my teeth. "I'll work on that for you. No guarantees, though. Rosalie might be a bitch, but she's still Jasper's sister. He's not exactly going to give her up to Forks High's most notorious bad boy," I mocked.

Emmett grinned. "Just do what you can, Eddie. I think Esme's going to be home tonight."

I nodded absentmindedly. That would make things easier. But all I could see was Isabella Swan's face lighting up in amusement. Perhaps it would be harder to ignore her than I had anticipated.

Tell me what you think! I thought it would be kind of cool to have Edward be almost everywhere Bella was without her even realizing it. But that's just me. Tell me what you thought, PLEASE.

P.S. - Has anyone seen New Moon? I saw it yesterday, and loved it. Sorry, Catherine Hardwicke, but Christ Weitz did it way better.

Review, and tell me what you thought about New Moon.

Later.

-J