I was grabbed and began moving at hyper speed. I about screamed, but a hand covered my mouth, blocking the sound. I twisted my head around wildly to see who had me. It was Edward. My eyes widened, and I fainted.

I woke up, sitting up suddenly. The blood rushed to my head, making me even more light-headed. I looked around me for a second, realizing that I was in a kitchen, set up on a nice table.

"Careful, don't hurt yourself." I looked up into the eyes of Dr. Cullen. "Hello, Bella, how are you feeling?" "I-I-I," I stuttered. What was I gonna tell him? His son can run at the speed of light? Yeah, he'd admit me to the madhouse.

"It's okay, Bella. You can tell me what you saw and I promise you, you are not crazy." Can he read my mind?

"Okay…Edward has the ability to run super fast," I said, looking down.

Dr. Cullen chuckled, making me look up. "Yes, Edward can run very fast. So can the rest of us."

My mind lingered on 'us'. Who was 'us'? "What are you?" I asked, feeling my voice crack.

"That is for Edward to tell you," he said, looking behind me.

I turned and saw Edward standing there, smiling sadly. "Hello, Bella. How are you feeling?"

I nodded, hoping he'd get the idea that I was feeling pretty good for someone who just experienced their skin almost flying from their body, and was on the verge of passing out again.

"I'll leave you two to talk," Dr. Cullen stated, walking from the room. He passed Edward and patted his shoulder. When he was at the door, he turned and smiled at me before closing it. I turned slightly, looking at him completely.

Edward stood there, staring at the ground. He suddenly looked up at me, looking me straight in the eyes. He was by the door, then suddenly, before I could even blink, he was next to me. I jumped from the table and was standing on the opposite side that he was standing. I could feel the fear bubbling up in me, making me shake slightly.

"Bella, please, oh, please don't be scared," he said, his face and eyes filled with sadness. "That is the last thing I want you to be…scared of me…" He trailed off.

After a few minutes of silence, and an intense stare down, I asked, "What are you?"

He chuckled dryly, saying, "Bella, think hard."

So I thought. He was super strong. He ran super fast. His eyes changed color. He hated the sight of blood. His skin was so pale, so cold. He was a super-human of some sort.

What if he wasn't human?

That thought made me freeze. Was he some sort of un-human being?

I began thinking back to my dream, the one that had been haunting me for the past few weeks. Edward running after me. His super-sharp teeth glistening like crystals in the sun's light. His eyes turning a dark, sinister red color. His fingers turning into claws, ready to destroy anything they touched.

I could feel the realization as it dawned on me. He was part-human, but he was part of the undead. He was a vampire.

"A vampire," I stated. Just like that.

"Bingo," he said, sitting down casually at the table. He motioned for me to sit across from him, and after a few seconds of hesitation, I sat down.

He stared at me, watching me like a hawk. I could feel his eyes as they looked over every feature of my face. "Are you all vampires?" I asked, trying to distract him momentarily. I felt uncomfortably awkward and weak under his gaze.

"Yes."

I nodded, letting it all sink in. "Am I going crazy?"

"No."

I nodded again.

He began watching me again. He looked from my nose to my eyes to my mouth. "Does it bother you at all? That your best friends are vampires?"

I smiled shakily, "No, unless you want to eat me, then yes, it does."

He laughed exuberantly, making the air vibrate massively. I smiled, not knowing what was so funny. He stopped after a moment and said, "Why would we want to eat you? You are the only one who is even talked to us since we've moved here. You treat us like we're equals. We would never eat you. Plus, we don't eat or drink human blood." That caught my surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, we drink animal blood. It's kinda an inside joke when we call ourselves vegetarians," he said, smiling.

"Oh." I smiled.

Edward suddenly became serious. "But we are still harming. We are strong, strong enough to juggle cars or to lift a medium sized house. We run fast. There are some of us who don't follow the same diet we do. They will hurt you if they get the chance, but luckily, no one hunts in this area. We've claimed it," he added, smirking.

"What?"

"They won't kill you or anyone in Forks, really, unless they want to start a war, one of which they will lose." He sounded almost cocky.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes." It became silent after that, making the moment awkward. Edward began to stare at me again, so I turned and began looking out the glass doors. It was raining, making patterns on the doors. I watched and memorized each pattern before it changed each second, each time a rain drop was added to the multitude there. I watched as the lightening flashed behind it, making some of the trails of rain light up and contorting the patterns briefly.

I felt something touch my hands on the table, making me jump and pulled them back. I turned to see Edward sitting there, too shocked to move. "What a reaction," he said. "Did you even hear me?"

I stared at him, deciding whether or not to tell him. He did tell me his secret, one that if anyone else knew, he and his family would be exiled to death. A secret so secret, that even if I whispered anything about it, I would also be exiled, banned from humanity.

What should I do?

I sat there, staring at him. He seemed to notice my hesitation at his question and sat back up, looking slightly confused. I could tell that he was thinking, "What did I say?" to himself.

I looked at my hands as my fingers twisted around one another, making shapes. I said, "Sort of."

I looked up to see even more confusion filling his perfect, beautiful features. "What do you mean by that?"

I smiled shakily, not sure to tell him or not. What if he doesn't like me anymore? It was true when people said, "Man fears what he does not understand." But then again, was he even considered 'man'? Yes, he was male, but was he even considered 'human'?

I gulped then looked back down at my hands and said, "I'm…hard of hearing." There was a minute of silence, then I said, "I have to wear hearing aids. I can't hear things. I can't hear the sound of birds when they sing in the morning. It's hard to hear when people talk. It's hard to listen to what key or what instrument is playing. It's hard to heard someone knock at the door. It's hard to listen to the television when it's on. It's hard to hear the beep on the microwave, or the stove or oven. It's hard to hear the phone ring, and when I pick it up, it's hard to hear what the person on the line is saying to me," I rushed on, probably stumbling over my words.

I looked up at him, seeing the shock and confusion that widened his eyes and made his jaw drop. I smiled sadly, a tear escaping as I went on. "It's hard to listen to the beautiful music that fills the air when it's played. It's hard to make friends with people when they realize that I can't hear them all the time. They begin to think I'm a freak, an outcast. Then, they treat me like one. They suddenly aren't there for me anymore. They pretend like they don't know me anymore, they don't want anything to do with me." The tears flowed now, making it almost impossible to see. I used the sleeve of my Cardinals hoodie and began wiping the tears away, probably ruinning my make-up.

Suddenly, Edward was kneeling next to me, holding out an tissue. I took it from him, giving him a wet smile, and drying my face. He took my free hand and said, "Bella, I promise you now, we are NEVER gonna do that to you."

I looked at him, staring into his eyes, trying to find any fault. "Really?"

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned, seeing Alice. "Of course, Bella. You're family, now."

I smiled, loving the feeling of having friends- true friends- for the first time in my life.

=DDDDDD I love this chapter! It made me cry as I wrote it, because I know exactly how Bella feels….This is kinda a chapter that I owe to my friends, who are the most amazing, best, cool, awesome, understanding, and nicest people I've ever met!

Sorry for taking all the best people out there…..they're MINE!!! And they are always the reasons why I smile, and laugh, and am me. They're there for me and I'm always there for them, 100 percent.

This chapter's for you, guys! =DDDD