Chapter 2 – A turn in events

"Bella, what is wrong with you, first you look like you saw a ghost, and now your face looks worse than a tomato."

"Just leave alone Jacob, you have no idea…"

"Then tell me, Bells!"

"Remember the jerk, I told you about from this morning?"

"What jerk" – Eric asked.

"A jerk that raced through the parking lot and got mud all over Bella"- Jacob answer for me.

"So, what about him?"

"That's him, the new teacher, I can't believe it."

"I can't see what the problem is"- Jessica said

"The problem is that I followed his car, and when I saw him, I kind of give a piece of my mind, about what he had done. I might even called him a lunatic.

"No…really?" – Jacob started to laugh so hard that he fell of his chair, and the sound of his laughter echoed in the cafeteria, the rest of my friends soon joined him and everyone was looking at us.

"I can't believe you are laughing, my live is over and you're laughing!"

"I'm sorry Bella, but these kind of thing only happened to you?" Angela said trying to catch her breath.

"Oh…this is precious" – Jacob said taking is seat.

"Why you are so worried, maybe he doesn't even remember you"- Mike said.

"Yeah, and he was the one who did the wrong thing, not you. Your response was natural, in these kind of situations. Don't worry about it." – Angela said

"And besides, we will all be in class with you; it's not like you have to face him alone."- Jacob said and put his arm around me showing his support.

"Thank you guys"

I was facing a big dilemma, should I just ditch my next class like a coward or should I just face the new teacher now. I couldn't run forever? Maybe I could try to change my schedule so I would get another teacher.

What was I doing? I didn't have to run, I hadn't done anything wrong. So why was I been dragged by Jacob to class? This was so the worst day of my life…

Maybe he wouldn't even see me in class, I'm sure all of the girls would be running to get the front desks, and I would seat in the back and try to survive for the next hour.

"It's going to be ok"- Angela reassured me, her voice full of confidence. I could always count on her for support .We were a lot alike, we had the same ideas and some of the same dreams, we were truly friends almost like sisters.

When we got to class, the door was open the entire front desks were occupied by the girls, has I had predicted and Jessica was one of them, and to my surprise all the back desks were occupied by the boys Mike, and Eric included, but the teacher was not there. Ben was sitting alone waiting for Angela in the middle of the classroom and Jacob was in the next desk waiting for me with a smile on his face. I set down and sank into my chair.

"Don't worry Bella, it's going to be ok, I'm here, I'll protect you as always"

"What would be of me without you" I said mocking him.

Moments after the Principal came into the room with the new teacher following him, with all that had happened I had never gotten a chance to actually pay attention to what he really looked like, so as the Principle was explaining about Mrs. J. retirement, I took the time to see if all the excitement around the looks of this new teacher had a true foundation.

He was tall, well built, his hair was not really brown but more of bronze color sticking everywhere, in what seem like a organized mess, and his skin was kind of pale, his cheekbones were very defined and his jaw line was strong, his eyes were green, he was truly a beautiful man, like the ones you see in magazines or in the movies. I finally understood why every girl was going crazy. I must have been really pissed this morning, to have missed all of that. I couldn't stop staring at him; this was so not like me. Oh! God I was turning into Jessica!

I tried to paid attention to what the Principle was saying, but my eyes kept moving the wrong way, and I was looking at him again. I started with the hair, the cheeks, the lips, and the green eyes. Suddenly those eyes met mine and instead of turning away a kept his gaze, and so did he. Ok, so now I was blushing again and I quickly turn to Principal's Clapp face, but not before I saw him smiling. I so want to die…

"So I'll leave you with Mr. Cullen"

"Thank you, Principle Clapp" – Oh. God that sweet voice…He waited until the Principal left and continued…

"So, like you heard my name is Edward Cullen you can call me Mr. Cullen or Edward if you prefer" – What? – "and I will be taking over Mrs. Johnson classes and also the direction of the school paper." – Great! Did I say already, I so want to die…

"You will see that I'm not your regular teacher." – Really? I mean, how many teachers do you have that look like models. – "I'm not one to follow a particular curriculum or school program, cause their usually so boring, don't you think?" Of course that everybody laughed; I confess I actually smiled at that one.

He set on top of his desk, crossed his legs and continued- "I hope to learn from you as I expect you to learn from me, don't see me as just a teacher but more of a guide, to take to places that you have never been before, to challenge you to the limit, and go beyond what you thought was impossible, to sweep the corners of your brain, and take all of the bullshit away, until there is only you the true you." – WOW! Sign me up.

"So for this to be possible, we have to know each other very well, so I'm going to ask you to tell me your name and a word that you think describes yourself. I can start, I'm Edward and, I've been told I'm a lunatic…"- my mouth drop, did he just say lunatic? I could hear Mike and Ben trying to hide their laughter, I immediately felt my face burning up. Jacob took my hand in his and whispered in my ear – "Calm down, I'm right here". I couldn't believe this, I really wanted to die and disappear.

"Go on, we don't have all day, any brave people out there?"-I heard him said, but I was incapable of taking the eyes from my desk. Finally Lauren raised her hand. She was the hot and airheaded type of girl, you know the kind we average girls love to hate.

"We have a brave one, go ahead"

"I'm Lauren and I'm popular!"

"Ok…, someone else…"

"I'm Mike and I'm fast" – all of guys sheered him.

"I'm Ben and I'm a strategist" – the same response. One after the other introduced themselves and said something they thought described them better. What did describe me? I had no idea, I had never really thought about what actually describe me.

"I'm Angela and I'm intelligent." – There was only Jacob and I left, and I could feel all eyes on us, Jacob squeezed my hand and said;

"I'm Jacob and I'm a protector" – I could hear the smile in his voice, and couldn't help to smile myself. It was my turn now and all eyes were on me, including his. I closed my eyes and said;

"I'm Bella and I'm undefined" – Everybody just looked at me like I was crazy and of course I blushed, there was a silence and I looked up and saw that Mr. Cullen was looking at me and smiling.

"Hum…that was very enlightening, thank you, and since our time is almost up you can go. I don't know if any of you are in the schools paper team, but if you are I would like to meet with you after classes are over."

I gather my things I walked to the door, in a hurry, with Jacob following me like a bodyguard; I heard my name being called by the sweet voice of Mr. Cullen and I stopped.

"Bella, could I have a word with you, please". – Here we go…

"I'll be right outside the door, don't' worry"- Jacob smiled and kiss my forehead before he turned around and leave the room.

I took a deep breath and faced Mr. Cullen, the smartest thing to do would be not to look at him, but once again my eyes move to meet his, before I could do anything about it.

"I would like to apologize, for my behavior this morning. I'm sorry about your clothes, and for upsetting you, like I did." – I saw nothing but sincerity in his eyes, oh, those beautiful green eyes; I could dive into that green and just stay there…Oh! No! Where was this coming from?

"I…I…I'm sorry too, about losing my temper like that, you must have thought I was crazy. I'm really sorry about that, but I was having a bad day."

"A bad day? It was early!"

"Yeah, but try been seventeen an wake up to mom who's in love with a baseball player."- I can believe I just told him that. He just smiled and looked me straight in the eyes; I could feel my legs beginning to melt.

"So how about starting over?- He stood up, smiled showing his perfect teeth and extended his hand to me.- "I'm Edward Cullen, nice to meet you".

"I'm Bella Swan, nice to meet you too." – And I extended my hand to his, and the moment our hands touched, the moment I felt his warn skin; It was like nothing I had ever felt, I cann't even describe it, it was completely overwhelming, and I forgot where I was, in that moment there was only him, it scared me. I removed my hand as fast as I could and hoped my gesture was as natural as possible.

"I…I…should go…to class…" – I manage to say.

"I guess I'll see you after school"

"Ha?" – Great now I lost my ability to maintain a conversation.

"At the meeting for the paper, you are part of team, right?"

"Oh… Yes." – Just go away! I said to myself, and force my feet to start moving.

"Bella… I can I ask you something?" He said in a calm voice, smiling.

"Ok"

"Why undefined?" His eyed filled with curiosity.

"Ah…I don't really know, I've never actually thought about a word that described me, but I feel that there is so much of me to put in just one word, how can you put all of your personality, your character, your dreams, all that you are in just one word?" – Wow, I actually made a full sentence without stammering. I was happy. I looked at him and he had a bigger smile in his lips.

"That's a very deep answer; I guess Mrs. Johnson was right about you."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you about some other time, I'm sure you don't want to keep your boyfriend waiting". He turn around to get his things, was he talking about Jacob? I guess to most people we could come out has that, because we were so close.

"His not my boyfriend, his my best friend"- Why was I saying that?

"Oh! Sorry."- I should be leaving, but there was a little thing, I need to ask him…

"Can I ask you something?" – He looked a little surprised.

"Go ahead."

"Why did you say lunatic? Was it to make fun of me, because of this morning?"

"Was that what you thought and why your friends were laughing?"

"Yes"

"I'll tell you about another time, I really have to go now. I'll see after school." With that he walked out of the classroom, leaving me there with no answers. I felt my anger coming back to me. I walked out and Jacob was waiting for me, like he had promised. I did even bother to look at Mr. Cullen again, I was furious.

"You looked pissed, what happened?"

"Nothing"

"You could fool me; you look like you are ready for combat"

"I'm fine."

"What did he want?"- Jacob asked with a bit of irritation in is voice.

"He just wanted to apologize."

"Oh! Then why are so mad?"

"I don't know, maybe it's just PMS." – Jacob hated this kind of girl issues, he did a disgusted look and this was enough to end the conversation.

We were late to out next class, History. It was a good thing that this teacher enjoyed monologues for dumping his knowledge on American History, so this was a perfect hour to analyze the events of my day without any interruptions.

I sat next to Jacob, but he knew me well, and my face showed him, I really needed to be left alone with my thoughts.

These had been by far the weirdest day ever, and believe me, I had weird days. Living with Reneé led to some weird surprises, but today was going to the top of list.

Why was I so furious? Was I embarrassed about the sad scene in the parking lot, but he had apologized, and it had been so easy to forgive him. How can you deny forgiveness to an angel? My mind was suddenly invaded by the image of that angel, that beautiful sweet angel. That's when it hit me, I was acting just like Jessica, and all the other girls, and I was not like the other girls.

I always saw myself more mature then my friends, I was more focus on my plans for the future, I was responsible, I didn´t waste time on childish dreams of impossible love, my room was not covered in posters with beautiful man I could never have. In fact, I always made fun of my friends because of that, so what if the singer or actor was handsome, it was the content of movie or the lyrics to the song that made like it. Didn't this applied to this situation? So what if he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen? That didn't change the fact he was older than me, and my teacher, that whatever I was feeling was no more than a childish aspiration, no more than a teenager response.

I wasn't acting like myself and that annoyed me, a lot. But I enjoyed our little conversation, even if it was very short, he didn't answer my questions, but he said he would. I wonder why he was so curious about the way I had described myself. Could be that after my little display of emotions in the parking lot he thought that I a bit was crazy, and he just wanted to confirm that? What would have Mrs. J told him about me? I had a lot of question without answer.

And if I wanted to eventually get some answer, I couldn't act like crazy infatuated teenager, I needed to be in control of my emotions, I had to look beyond his beautiful face and try to get to know him better. Wasn't that what he had said in class?

I spend the rest of time planning the best way to get him to answer my questions, suddenly I felt better, I felt light again, because I had gain control of my emotions, I was middle age Bella again and that it felt great.

Has the bell rang I got up with my new gained strength, gather my things and walk triumphantly to the newspaper meeting. My face must have expressed this new feeling I had because Jacob asked me:

"Feeling better I see?"

"Yes, I am. I'm feeling great."

"I'm glad; I don't like it when you are not well."

"Thank you for caring"

"Have to go to practice, it seems there's a new assistant coach, I hope he is good, because we sure need all the extra help we can get this year."

"Ok, I'll see later"

"Do you want company tonight?"

"I don't know, Reneé is going on a date, so it will be nice to be by myself. I'll text you, if I get lonely."

"Cool. So your mom is in love again, huh?"

"Can you believe it? He is younger than her and a baseball player."

"Really? Way to go Reneé…"

"You say that because is not your dad? How do you feel if Billy dated more than you?"

"I guess you right! But about the dating thing, you could change that if you wanted…you could go out with me" – Jacob smiled uncomfortably.

"Oh, come on Jacob, we talked about this before…"

"I know, it was just a thought. I have to go" – He turn around before I had a chance to say anything else. It hurt me when he did this, I knew we wanted to take our friendship further, but I just didn't see him that way.

I finally made it to the school's paper room, our school budget was not very big, but Principle Clapp tried his best to help all the after school activities, and to give them the best resources possible. So we had our own little space, with computers and all that we needed, this was one of the things I loved to do. We had a little team, there were five of us, Angela, Eric and I, Connor and Lauren, who usually never came, but with Mr. Cullen in charge, I had a feeling that might change for Lauren. There were some other volunteers that we recurred to when there was much to do.

I opened the door and realize I was the last one to get there – "Bella I'm happy you could finally joined us" – Mr. Cullen greeted me. They were all seated around the desk. I could feel my emotions trying to get the best of me again; I took a deep breath and took my seat next to Angela.

"Ok, so let's get this party stared, shall we? So who is in charge here?" Mr. Cullen asked filled with enthusiasm. We look at each other, because we never actually had nominated a director Angela and I kind of took the leadership and everyone just agreed to that.

"Well we don't actually have someone in charge, other than you, we kind just work as a team." Angela said shyly.

"Really, but who has the final saying in what is or is not printed?"

"Well, Mrs. J. did, we would just write our stuff, and she just, like, said if it was ok or not."- Lauren said melting.

"Ok, then, if you had to choose someone to do it, who would you choose?"

"I think that Bella or Angela are the best choice." – Ben answer.

"So Bella, Angela witch one of you wants to be in charge?"

"Do we have to decide that not? Can we just think about it?" – Angela said looking at me. That whole conversation caught me a little by surprise, I loved writing for the news paper, but been responsible for it was a completely different thing.

"That's fine with me, just let me know what you decided. So the paper is printed once a month, right? So what are you working on?"

"Well Mrs. J usually decided on the topics, and since she's been sick, everything is kind on pause." – Ben said.

"Oh, I see. So you were not free to choose what to write about? That sucks!"- We all laughed, he was right it did suck, but it was better than nothing.- "From now on, you are on your own, I won't be telling you what to write about, I will not impose my ideas on you. You think about what is important for you and for all the other students. I'll be here just to guide you, and to help if you have doubts, the rest is up to you. Do you agree with that?" – I couldn't believe it, he was giving us freedom to do what we would like. I had begged Mrs. J so many times to give us a little more freedom to express our own ideas, and now we could do that. I was sitting down, but inside was making a silly victory dance. This man was unbelievable.

"So you are giving us full freedom to decide, what to work on?"- He just nodded and I had to smile, my happiness could no longer be kept inside. – "That's awesome, but what will be your part then?" – I asked.

"Whatever you wanted it to be."- Say what? I knew a part he could play, right in my arms, holding me, kissing me and…wow! Where did that come from? I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks while I blushed. I looked at him, and he was smiling at me.

"That is really nice of you, Mr. Cullen" – Lauren said leaning over the table towards him in a very seductive way.

"Thank you Lauren, and you can call me Edward, if you like"-He said smiling and she just sighed – "I just want to be informed about what you're doing, that you show me everything before it goes to print, and want you to know that I'm available to help if you need me to. With that said, I'm going to let you discuss and decide amongst yourselves what you want to do, and we can meet tomorrow here at the same time, just for me to know what it is, so I don't make a fool of myself if Principle Clapp ask me about. I'll see you tomorrow" – He got up and left, we look at each other with smiles across our faces.

"So what do we want to write about?" I asked. I always wanted this kind of freedom and now that I had it, I was a bit lost.

"We could do a story on Mrs. J retirement, she has been a teacher in this school for more than 20 years, and we could talk to former students."- Angela said full of enthusiasm.

"Yes we could talk about the differences in education through the years." – I added.

"We could also interview Mr. Cullen, I mean Edward"

"That's actually a great idea, Lauren, we could go something like out with the old, in with the new hot teacher."- Angela added and we laughed.

"Can we do fashion thing? It could be kind of cool."

"Another great idea, Lauren, since the Spring prom is coming, we could do a segment on what to wear, how to behave with your date, stuff like that". – I said, and that took Lauren to hysteria.

We discussed all of our ideas and two hours later, Lauren was going to do a fashion segment, Connor was going to develop a sports page, and Angela was going to interview Mrs. J, Eric was going to do a segment on what had change in Education over the years and I had to interview Mr. Cullen and out of nowhere they decided I should be the one in charge. – "Come on Bella, with school, Ben and helping my mom with the twins, I don't have any spare time, and you know you want this, you'll do a great job, and please say you'll do it".- I could say no to that, and thinking now, I did get the best job, I would get the chance to interview Mr. Cullen and finally get some answers to all the questions that I had.

This day had really been a weird day, but right now I was happy, I was so excited about this month's paper, that if a really knew how to dance I would be dancing all the way to my car.

When I got home, I through my backpack on the couch and headed to the kitchen, I almost turned around and ran when I saw the mess my mom had left this morning. I took a deep breath to calm myself rolled up my sleeves and stared to clean up the mess. When I was about done, my mom burst through the door. –"I'm so late, so late, Bella, please come and help pick up something nice to wear."- I finished cleaning the kitchen and ran upstairs. My mom had already taken almost every dress out of her closet and spread them all over her bed.

"Please help me, what do you think of this one?"- She was holding a short black dress in front of her.

"Is this your first date?"

"Yes, why do you think I'm so nervous?"

"Ok, let me think, I know" – I got up and went to her closet, and got this burgundy dress she looked great in. It was a simple dress, just tight and short enough to show the guy what he would be missing if he let her go.

"Oh! That's perfect. What's that designer's name, the one you like so much?"

"The label is called AliRose, but their actually two designers. Why? Are you rewarding me with designer closes?"- I was not into to fashion, but I loved everything from this label, it practical and glamour at the same time, the only problem was that I could not afford it.

"I wish I could, Bella, but anyway, everyone was talking about how their opening store here in Phoenix. I brought you an application form, it is in my purse. Since you like it so much, and you've been talking about getting a job to save for college, I thought it was a good idea."

"It is a great idea, I'll look into that. Thank you."

"So, how do I look?" – She said turning so I could get a better look.

"You look beautiful as always, is he coming to pick you up?"

"Yes, he'll be here any minute, are you sure you will be ok?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." – We went down stairs and heard the horn of a car.

"That must be him, see you later honey."

"Do you have your keys?"

"Yes"

"Money for cab and you know… protection, just in case."

"Yes mom" – She said mocking me, she gave me a hug, and walked out the door. I was finally alone, I actually loved the nights when I could be by myself, it's not that I didn't like my mom's endless enthusiasm and conversation, but I was a lot more like my father, and silence was something that didn't bothered me, in fact I loved it.

I did my all homework, prepared myself some diner, wash my dish and since it was still early to go to bed I decided to watch some TV, I was in the middle of some romantic comedy, when my cell phone rang, it was Jacob.

"Hello Jacob"

"Hey! Bella, enjoying the alone time?"

"Yes, I'am. You know I love to be alone, and love the silence."

"And I love your company; I could just go there and be silence with you."

"Thank you, we'll do that some other day, I promise! So how was practice, is the new guy any good?"

"Practice was awesome, the new coach is great, and guess what? He is Edward Cullen's brother."

"Really?"

"They don't look a lot alike, this guy is really funny, he was pro for awhile but got injured and had to quit. We only found that because he asked us if we had met his brother, apparently Edward was the brain in the family, did you know we graduated from college at 18, he has Master degree, whatever that means."

"Wow, is hard to believe he was some kind of brainiac, he is so gorgeous."

"Please, not you too, Bella. I can't stand another word about that guys looks."

"Uhh, are jealous?"

"Not really, it a guy thing, you wouldn't understand. How was your meeting this afternoon?"

"It was great, you'll never believe it…" – I told Jacob all that happened that afternoon, he was very happy by my little promotion, saying that he thought that a woman in a power position was very hot, and I just laugh. We kept talking about random things for more than one hour, before we hang up.

There was nothing interesting on TV, so I decided it was time to go upstairs, I locked everything, and turn on the alarm. Fifteen minutes later I was ready for bed, it was only after I lay down that I felt how drained I was, it had been a difficult day, with a rollercoaster of emotions, but it had ended well.

I thought about what Jacob had told me about Mr. Cullen, he had been a gifted child; I wonder what it had been to grow up like that, what kind of difficulties he must had gone through. I was not a gifted child, but some of my teacher thought of me has a bit of a brainiac, and so did my friends. My head was once again filled with questions and thoughts about this man, and it was with the vision of his beautiful face that I finally fell asleep.

In the end, Bella's day what not so bad...