Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

A/N: Just so you're aware, this story will take place over the course of one day. It's basically a love at first sight sort of thing. I can understand that some people don't like that kind of storyline, so if you dont, now's your chance to stop reading.

Once again, thank you to my beta icrodriguez. She also helped a lot with the new summary, b/c I suck at those things. ;)

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2 - Revelations

Edward took Alice's advice and decided to talk to Angela, though he wasn't exactly sure what he was going to say. He had been told that the lab table was empty before he came along, but if the mysterious girl had chosen to sit in the stool next to him, perhaps it had once been occupied after all. Was she a spirit? Surely that was a preposterous idea. If she were a ghost, he wouldn't have been able to touch her earlier or hear her heartbeat.

Just the thought of touching her brought a smile to Edward's lips. He had never felt anything so amazing in all his life than when he touched her. The fact that Edward was thinking back on it, reveling in the memory of her warm skin against his ice-cold body, startled him immensely. He quickly wiped the smile from his face, feeling a fool for reacting in such a way. He didn't even know the girl. He didn't know who or what she was, but he could already feel himself growing strangely attached. This scared him.

Luckily, it seemed Edward had last period with Ms. Weber - AP Literature. This would be the perfect time to confront her with a few questions, albeit random and strange questions. As he entered the class he noticed her seated in the front of the room. He strode up to her leisurely, not wanting to startle her, and introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Edward Cullen," he said politely.

She looked up at him, her eyes wide in shock and awe. "A-Angela," she stuttered.

My, he's very handsome, she thought. A little frightening…..but still very handsome.

He smiled, holding in his laughter, and made sure not to reveal his teeth. It was not his intention to frighten the poor girl - especially since he needed her help - and revealing his canines would most certainly do that. It usually did.

"I wanted to apologize for my rude behavior in Biology. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," Edward stifled a laugh at his little joke. "Not that that is any excuse, but I still wanted to give my apologies. I was very irritable before, and I should never have taken it out on you."

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "It's alright." Her eyes danced all over the room, to the blackboard, out the window - anywhere but on Edward. She really was frightened of him.

"Well, thank you for accepting. I felt awful for the way I came off. I'm not normally like that, I assure you." He winked at her, hoping a little flirting would ease the tension. It seemed to work, but only slightly. Her thoughts told him that she was somewhat wary of him, and still a little afraid - as she should have been. Normally this would please Edward, but today he needed her compliant.

"I wanted to ask you a question about Biology," he continued. No point in dancing around the subject any longer. She obviously wanted to end this conversation as quickly as he did.

"Do you need some notes?" she asked confused, making a move for her books on the floor.

"No, no," he assured her. "I was just wondering if you can recall anyone ever having sat at my lab table before I came along. I was told that it has been empty all year, but I have a hunch that it wasn't."

She leaned back in her seat and stuck out her bottom lip, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion. "Why would you need to know something like that?" she asked, cocking her head slightly to the side.

"I don't need to, but I was just wondering." Though, the truth was, he did need to know, and badly at that.

She thought for a moment, but it didn't take long before she had her answer. "No, I don't think so. I can't remember anyone."

"Are you sure?" he asked, imploring her with his eyes to think harder – to delve deeper into her mind. Perhaps her subconscious was hiding something that she could not immediately recall.

She nodded slowly, but it was an unsure kind of movement - as if she were starting to remember something, but having a difficult time doing so. "I'm positive…I think." She frowned.

"A girl perhaps?" he continued, goading her gently.

Angela's eyes seemed to widen slightly with a sudden epiphany. "Yes, now I remember. There was a girl who sat at your table. She was very quiet, always kept to herself," she said. "I think she had brown hair, kind of long. She always had a book with her, and sat alone at lunch. I'm pretty sure she was in my year." There was an image of the girl in Angela's mind, but it was blurry at best as she could not seem to remember her very clearly, so her memory was of no use to him.

Edward was beginning to grow anxious and thoroughly excited now that she remembered. "Do you remember her name?"

She thought about that for a moment. "Barbara? No, that's not it. Betty? No, that doesn't sound right, either," she mumbled, more to herself than to him.

Edward was starting to get increasingly impatient. "Are you sure it starts with a B?" he asked a little harshly, though Angela was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed him snap at her - again.

Then, there it was. Edward heard the name in her thoughts just before she said it aloud.

"Bella! Her name was Bella Swan. Yes, that was it," she said triumphantly. She looked about ready to pat herself on the back.

Finally, Edward thought. Now they were getting somewhere. "Do you know what happened to her?"

"No, I don't, actually." Angela frowned at this lack of knowledge. "She just stopped showing up to school one day. It was like she just disappeared."

Edward thought this very odd. "So, she moved." It was more of a statement than a question.

She shook her head. "I don't think so. She only just moved here about a year ago. Her parents are pretty wealthy from what I hear. I think her father is an oil tycoon or something. They traveled a lot and I think they bought a house here so she could go to school."

"She lived alone?" Edward couldn't help but be slightly miffed at this news. No one should be alone, especially someone so young.

"Yup. They set up some sort of trust fund for her so they could continue traveling," she answered brightly. She seemed proud of herself that she remembered anything at all about this Bella.

"How do you know so much about her, when you barely remembered her earlier?" Edward asked curiously.

Angela frowned again, this time much deeper, and her eyes seemed to lose their gleam. "I don't know. I remember talking to her a few times, I guess, but we were never friends." Her voice was low, barely audible.

"If you spoke to her and managed to garner even this tiny bit of personal information, how is it that you seemed to have completely forgotten about her?" Edward asked appalled, his anger slowly seeping through. He clutched the books in his hand, his fingers impressing themselves into the binding.

Angela's eyes seemed to glisten and her lips quivered slightly. Edward feared she would start to cry at any moment, and that was something he was not equipped to handle if it were to happen.

"We just ran in different circles," she said softly in her embarrassment. "Like I said, she was a quiet girl. She kept to herself."

Edward tilted his head slightly at her, narrowing his eyes. He wasn't sure if this newfound information was helping him or causing even more confusion. One thing he knew for sure, though, is that it was making him very angry. He didn't even know this Bella, but for some reason, he felt like he needed to protect her.

"If she didn't move, then what happened to her?" he prodded further, ignoring her state of shame. She should feel guilty.

She shrugged, looking down at her notebook, her composure calming gradually as she picked at the metal of her spiral notebook. "Don't know." Her mind was pleading with Edward to go away. She didn't want to have this conversation anymore.

Edward was a little annoyed. Obviously something had happened to this girl and no one seemed to care. A person doesn't just vanish off the face of the earth without someone noticing. Wouldn't her parents have realized she was missing? Even if they traveled, they surely would have called to check in on her.

For God sake, she's only in high school, he thought angrily.

"Thank you for your time, Angela. You've been a big help." Though, Edward wasn't really sure that she had been. She had managed to piss him off, however.

Edward sat through his last class, going over in his head what he was going to do. He knew her name now; maybe she was in the school yearbook. Angela had said that she moved to Forks about a year ago, so it was worth a shot to look. Edward decided his first course of action would be to find the school yearbook. He was more than just a little curious as to what she looked like. Random images of what she might look like sped through Edward's mind.

With somewhat of a plan in place, Edward darted from the classroom as soon as the bell rang dismissing the last period of the day. Fortunately, Edward was able to finagle his way out of detention for skipping out on Biology class earlier. The teacher was willing to let the incident slide since it was only his first day, as long as he promised never to do it again. Edward agreed, and as a result, avoided staying after school. It was a good thing too as Edward wanted to get a jumpstart on finding this Bella Swan.

Edward threw all his books into his locker, knowing he'd have plenty of time to finish the assigned work tomorrow during study hall. Edward knew that Alice would see where he was going, and would inform the others that he would be running home. Luckily, Alice always had a spare key to his car. Not that Edward was entirely pleased about that, but in this case, he was thankful for her incessant pestering that he get a copy made for her.

With most of the students now gone, Edward headed over to the library. But on his way he passed the main office and made the split second decision to slip in and retrieve Bella's records. Hopefully they would still have her information on file.

There was only one woman in the front office, typing something up on the computer. Behind her were two doors; one to the Principal's office and the other that said Private. That had to be the room where he would find her file.

As the woman - who was oblivious to Edward's presence - leant closer to the computer screen, peering at it over her dark-rimmed glasses, he quickly sped past her and into the private area. The woman looked up startled as the loose strays of hair around her face blew in the breeze that Edward caused as he ran by. As she looked behind her, Edward had already ducked into the tiny room and closed the door softly behind him. She was none the wiser.

Edward rapidly flipped through the cabinet that read R-T, locating Bella's file immediately. He opened the flimsy manila folder and began to read eagerly.

She was a straight-A student who had taken mostly AP classes in her previous schools. She was home schooled by the best tutors as a child up until middle school, at which point she had been to four different schools. She finally transferred to Forks near the end of her Freshman year. There was no recent information that Edward could find and no photo to go with the file. Her records offered very little and this only caused Edward more distress. What had happened to her? Her address was listed in the file and Edward decided he would pay a visit to her home later on.

As Edward exited the file room, the Principal entered the main office, the receptionist quickly clicking off her screen and minimizing the site she was perusing. Mr. Wagner's head was ducked, reading some papers in hand, and Edward took the opportunity to hide underneath a nearby desk. He slipped under swiftly, his back flat against the floor, his knees curled to his chest.

The Principal's footsteps came closer to where Edward lay, and he stopped his breathing just as Mr. Wagner's shoes came to a halt behind the desk, the leather tips of his loafers just missing Edward's nose by a hair. Edward leaned back as far as he could go.

"Ms. Cope, have you seen the payroll?"

Edward heard the distinct sound of creaking metal as Ms. Cope turned in her chair. "Last I remember it was on Maryanne's desk. It's not there now?"

Mr. Wagner rustled through some papers on the desk, a pencil rolling off and landing near Edward's knee. Edward nudged it away quickly, out from under the desk, just before Mr. Wagner bent to retrieve it. As he knelt down to pick up the errant pencil, his face coming into full view, Edward closed his eyes in anticipation of being caught. But Ms. Cope's voice chirped loudly at the Principal, pulling his attention away from the task at hand. He looked up just as his fingers wrapped around the pencil, and he peered at Ms. Cope from over the top of the desk. He rose from his crouch instantly and Edward let out a small sigh of relief. That was a close one.

"What was that you said?" Mr. Wagner asked.

"They're right here."

Edward listened to Mr. Wagner as he made his way to Ms. Cope's desk. He peaked underneath the open space between the desk and the floor just in time to see the Principal grab the payroll from her hands. "Thanks, Lorraine," he said as he headed for his office. Once his door was shut, Edward made his move.

Ms. Cope's attention went back to her computer screen and the site her attention was previously occupied by. It was a dating site and Edward could hear the excitement in her head. The woman had two offers for dates and she had only been on it a week. Edward picked up from her thoughts that these men were not her type, but with the slump she had been in lately, she wasn't going to be picky.

Edward left the room undetected and continued on with his original plan, heading toward the library. He needed to find a picture of Bella Swan and there was no way he could wait until he got to her house to find one. He was positive the library was where he would find last year's yearbook. They had to have extras on file – catalogued somewhere if not there. As he entered the library, Edward came upon an elderly woman, no younger than seventy, sitting at the front desk scanning books into a computer system.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" he asked, bracing his hands on the desk.

The woman, that Edward could now see was covered in wrinkles, with her hair pulled to the nape of her neck in a thick silvery bun, gave him a warm, friendly smile. "Well, good afternoon, young man. How may I help you?"

Edward couldn't help but smile at her inviting nature. "Good afternoon. Do you happen to have last year's yearbook on hand?" he asked politely.

She laid down the book in her hand and furrowed her brow, pursing her lips in concentration. It wasn't a difficult question, but Edward could understand that perhaps she was having a hard time remembering. She was up there in age, and though he was older, Edward couldn't deny that he was much more spry than this elderly woman.

"Yes, we do. They're in the last aisle on the far right, all the way in the back. Top shelf, I believe," she said kindly, pointing him in the right direction.

Edward flashed her a sparkling smile. "Thank you. You've been most helpful."

The woman laughed. "Don't waste your time flirting with me, boy. Save that smile for the ladies. The girls 'round here fall all over boys like you," she teased with a wink.

Edward laughed heartily; something he hadn't done in a long while. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you. I'm Edward by the way. Edward Cullen."

She smiled warmly. "Well, Edward Cullen, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Mrs. August, but you can call me Adele."

He nodded kindly at her. "Thank you, Adele. It's been a pleasure," he said sincerely, and pushed off lightly from the desk.

He gave a courteous bow, pretending to tip a hat, bidding Adele a proper gentleman's goodbye. It was something he hadn't done in decades, but knew she would appreciate. This gesture brought out a rather girlish giggle from her, causing Edward to smile even more. With that he turned and walked through the barren library.

Edward wandered down the aisle that Adele had indicated and quickly located last year's book. Flipping through the sophomore class pages, he stopped at the S's.

"Bella Swan, Bella Swan," he muttered to himself as he scanned the page. Edward noted to himself that Bella was a very beautiful name, and he was now even more anxious to see this Ms. Swan, wondering if her name was any indication of her beauty.

Anticipation coursed through Edward at the prospect of seeing her face, but upon reaching Bella's name, instead of a picture - as there was supposed to be - there was an empty gray box that said, No Photo.

"Damn," he growled, his mood falling drastically.

At that precise moment, Edward caught a whiff of her scent. He breathed in deeply, and closed his eyes, narrowing down the point of origin. She was standing somewhere to the left of him, about ten feet away. He smiled, his lids slowly opening. He hadn't noticed her approach, but he could only assume it was because he was somewhat preoccupied with locating the yearbook. Otherwise, he would most definitely have heard and smelt her coming.

But why was she here, and so close by? Was she watching him? Edward didn't understand the sudden rush of excitement he felt just by the mere possibility that she was watching him. It confused him, but he ignored the query for the time being, deciding to analyze it later.

Edward realized, with much surprise, that he was quickly growing used to her scent. He supposed it was his concern for her wellbeing that outweighed his desire for her blood. He couldn't understand why he didn't find it difficult to be around her, but he was glad for his sudden control, whatever the reason for it may be.

Edward closed the book softly and slid it back into its spot on the shelf. He walked casually up the aisle, latching on to her enchanting aroma, making sure that she did not stray from her spot. He stopped at what he hoped was just in front of her. He turned slowly - afraid that any sudden movement would startle her - and leaned against the bookcase behind him, hoping beyond hope that he was looking directly at her.

"Hello, Bella."

Note: Just in case anyone's wondering, Bella would have started school at Forks at the end of her Freshman year. She and Edward would be Juniors now.

Review if you'd like. :D