Just to clear things up: Yes, Bella and Edward are the main pairing. And she was twenty-one when she was changed, technically thirty-one in this story. Four year difference between her human years and Edward's. It's been thirteen years since the Cullens left Forks.

CHAPTER TWO- "All Around Me," by Flyleaf

Jasper was a saint. He really was.

My entire fifth period was a little less hellish than the first, but still hellish nonetheless. Apparently, Alice had already filled in her husband and siblings on her new favorite biology teacher, so when the rest of the Cullen children filed in the room, their faces were open, expectant. I took a deep breath and signed the papers that they held. Though I'm sure they hadn't thought that Alice had lied, the surprise on their face when they saw me was still pure and obvious.

Emmett was bouncing in his seat the entire hour, acting more like a seven-year-old than a one-hundred-and-three-year-old. His wide grin was bigger than any I'd ever seen, even on him. Rosalie often had to step on his foot to keep him from blurting out something ridiculously cover-blowing.

The blond goddess herself was hard to explain. There was an expression on her face that I couldn't quite make out. I knew she had hated me when Edward and I had been together- the past tense made the hole in my chest throb- but I couldn't see any hate in her eyes now. A bit of anger, yes, but that was nothing compared to the glares she used to give me. She seemed confused, mostly, and I wasn't quite sure what about.

Jasper, as I've said, was a saint. He noticed my anxiety immediately and sent a wave of calmness over me. As much as I wanted to run from the room screaming, I wanted to throw my arms around him and proclaim my thanks to the world. The choking uncomfortable feeling had been dulled, if not completely destroyed, and I was free to review transport proteins with my students without having to explain to them why I was hyperventilating.

After class, they all slipped out of the room- without a word, thank God- and I was free to go to pieces again. Sixth period passed by uneventfully, as did seventh. When the last bell finally rang, I was so eager to leave that I nearly forgot that I was supposed to upload grades. Yipee.

I sat at my computer with an impatient sigh, grabbing a stack of papers and sitting it in my lap. Resting my hand on the mouse, I brought up seventh period's chart and clicked on the first empty blank- Jordan Barfield. I quickly typed in his grade and then moved on to Derek Burgess. Repeat.

At this point, I was so ready to just run a million miles away that I was just about to give everyone a one-hundred. It was just a worksheet after all, right? No. I dismissed the thought with a shake of my head. It would be wrong, unfair to the other classes. So, slowly, tortuously, I added each appropriate grade, frowning as time passed at a painstaking rate.

Just as I typed in the last grade- Britney Zoellner, a smart girl with red hair and glasses- I heard their muted whispers.

"I don't care what you do, Edward, but be careful. She's afraid, really. I felt her fear." Jasper's voice, obviously.

"Well, what am I supposed to do? Just walk in and start talking to her about the weather, school, how the hell she's one of us?" His voice was furious, once again. I wasn't sure what I wanted to think. Was he mad at me? Or just frustrated that they'd chosen this school out of millions?

"That would work fine for me." Rosalie whispered sarcastically. "I just want to know what she's doing here." I could hear the lie in her voice, though I wasn't sure what she would need to lie about.

"Me too." Emmett offered.

"Look," Alice began, always the voice of reason. "I agree with Carlisle. We haven't seen Bella in thirteen years, and vice versa. It would probably be best for us to just-"

"She's supposed to be dead!" Edward interrupted angrily. "You told me she was!" I didn't know if I should be offended, confused, or jubilant that I could hear the pain in his voice. So I decided on all three.

I could tell that Alice was giving him a level gaze because he quieted. My hands had frozen halfway to my bag and I let them fall to my lap silently. When she began again, she was calm. "As I was saying, I think we should listen to Carlisle and give her a while. You saw how she reacted just by seeing us. Give her a few days to adjust before approaching her."

It was quiet in the hall for a long time before he hissed, "Fine," and started back towards the door. His footsteps were soft, almost soundless as he walked away.

"Alice, how could you make such a mistake?" Rosalie snapped in her still-hushed voice. "You said you saw her jump off a cliff!"

Talk of my Great Depression made my frown deeper. I didn't like remembering crying late into the night, having to pull off onto the side of the road to hold myself together. Jumping off the cliff hadn't been a suicide attempt, though. I just foolishly wanted to hear Edward's voice. Jacob had rescued me, luckily, so I shouldn't be dead.

"I did!" Alice insisted. "She jumped and then her future disappeared! I swear, I tried looking for it all the time! It was never there."

"It's alright, Alice," Jasper murmured. "That's in the past. We don't blame you."

That was all that was said before they followed after Edward. I inhaled deeply, trying to command the frogs in my stomach to stop doing cartwheels. My hands shook as I collected my things and shuffled out into the mostly empty parking lot.

As soon as I reappeared in the human world, I noticed my lack of an available car. With the money I'd saved up, I bought myself a nice 2002 Pontiac Grand Am. It had been used, so it didn't do too much damage to my bank account, and it wasn't in horrible shape, just a bit of trouble with screechy breaks now and then. I ran my hand over the faded, black paint job as I walked around to the driver's side and opened the door. Shoving my large bag in the passenger's seat first, I climbed in, tucking the key in the ignition and turning it sharply. Sometimes I missed the deafening roar of my truck.

My small, two-bedroom house was close to the school, if not out of sight. It took all of seven minutes for me to pull off onto my road and then another four or so to find my way though a mile of grass, trees, and large bushes. Of course, that was considering that I drove twenty miles over the speed limit. I didn't ignore the laws as much as the Cullens had, but it was a bit uncomfortable when I had to drive slowly. It had started a couple years after I was changed- when I realized that I was driving way too fast. I hadn't even noticed until I looked at the speedometer.

As I predicted, I didn't sleep well that night. I had horrible dreams of my eighteenth birthday party, my last real contact with the Cullens. I awoke to silence, half expecting him to be there, but then I remembered that I was thirty-one, not eighteen. That made me realize that this was going to be a horrible week. So, I got up, chose my clothes, got a shower, dressed, and drug myself outside and to school.

The day passed uneventfully. I resisted hyperventilation during first period; dealt with freshmen classes second and fourth; relaxed fifth; and then attempted to make it through sixth and seventh without losing my mind. It went on like that for the rest of the week, and I'm sure that by Saturday, I looked like a zombie. Even my students were noticing the subtle differences- such as my socks being mismatched, my normally perfect hair looking in fashionable disarray, and my lessons drifting to meaningless babbling.

It was the next Monday morning that I realized that this couldn't go on. I'd gone on for ten years just fine- well, we'll leave that up to interpretation- without them and now I couldn't live normally because they were my students? I don't think so. So when I woke up, I put on some disgustingly peppy music and danced while I got dressed. I had to put on my big-girl pants and grow up. They weren't endangering my life in any way, so I wasn't going to let their presence bother me any longer.

Of course, that bravado attitude dissolved as soon as Alice and Edward walked into the classroom. I had to admit- he did look a bit better than the first time I saw him a week ago. His eyes, while still mysteriously guarded, were a little warmer, and his expressions were more animated. When I forced myself to keep up the act and call on him for a question, he would hide a smirk and promptly answer correctly. Other than that, though, we didn't communicate.

Alice wasn't as bad as that. She, Emmett, and Jasper would all offer me little "Hello's" whenever they saw me, taking it slow, I assume. Sometimes Emmett would even make a joke off of something I'd said in class, lightening the atmosphere, and Alice had complimented my hair more than once. It was a painful process, but I appreciated their efforts.

It was confusing, though. Why would they try to be nice to me if they'd left in the first place?

"Okay," I asked my seventh period class, all sophomores. "Who wants to explain turgor pressure to me?" My gaze scanned over a few raised hands before settling on one in the front row. "Yes, Aaron?"

He burst into a smile- he was thought of as a know-it-all among his classmates- and began a detailed description of a plant cell's pressure against its wall.

I nodded. "Very good." My eyes locked on a gossiping girl in the back of the room. "Amanda? In what kind of solution would the turgor pressure of a cell be very high?" I resisted a smile as she sat up straight and gaped at me like a fish.

"Uh," She said after a few moments of staring. "Isotonic?"

I shook my head. "Hypotonic. Pay attention."

She blushed and muttered, "Such a witch" before slouching in her seat and pouting. I opened my mouth to say something to her, but the last bell screamed, interrupting me. Giving her a look, I reminded them all about their homework before dismissing them. They happily ran off, leaving me to myself.

It didn't take a long time to put in grades. I hadn't given a test or a worksheet, so all I had to do was give out participation one-hundreds. Maybe an eighty for Amanda... Once that was done, I once more gathered my bag and stepped into the hallway, locking the door behind me.

The day was a bit better. I was able to keep my composure after fifth period, so I suppose that counts as improvement. First hour, though, was one thing I doubted would ever change. Maybe if I asked really, really nicely, Alice could convince Jasper to arrange his schedule so he was in hers and Edward's class. That would help a lot. But, then again, that would have to involve me actually speaking to one of the Cullens. I wasn't sure if I could pull that off quite yet.

I walked through the halls silently, my heels clicking softly against the patterned tile. The quiet was a bit offsetting. Too quiet, cliché as it sounds. And then, as if on cue, I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist and yank me into an empty classroom. My first instinct was to scream, of course, but that'd draw way too much attention to my liking. I crushed a hand over my mouth to keep a shout inside. But then I remembered that a human couldn't have pulled me as sharply as my kidnapper had, and I wanted to scream all over again.

The arm spun me around and I found myself looking up at Edward. His jaw was set, his eyes blazing with intensity. Well, crap. I'd been expecting for him to demand an explanation for a while, but it made fear creep up my throat as I realized that we were so close that we were touching. Thirteen years seemed like an eternity ago. Suddenly, as if I were a teenager again, I couldn't form a coherent thought. I kept trying to fit words together, find some way to tell him everything that had happened since he'd left, but as soon as I got two thoughts straight, I'd lose them again.

After what seemed like forever, I managed to open my mouth, ready to say four intelligent words: what are you doing? But before my vocal chords could attempt what was sure to be a massacre of speech, he leaned down and brushed his lips across mine.

This time, I knew what to think: Okay, what?

Once again, I didn't follow my first instinct- pulling away- and stood frozen. The hole in my chest- where my heart was supposed to be- suddenly closed over. Only a dull ache was left. His lips were so soft, so different than what I remembered. His taste was just the same, though- sweet and intoxicating. We were both still for a moment before he crushed his mouth to mine, more urgently and demanding. He knotted his hands in my hair and breathed a sigh of satisfaction.

My body automatically reacted, and I pressed myself to him before I was aware of what I was doing. We kept kissing for God knows how long until I felt a painful tug at my heart. Not a physical pain, of course, but one that told me what we were doing was wrong.

"You've been with someone else, haven't you?" He unexpectedly whispered.

I broke away, suddenly realizing why my conscience was tugging at my heart. "Yes," I replied, pushing away from him.

He said something I hadn't seen coming. "Good." My eyebrows shot up in confusion, but he ignored it and pulled me back to him.

It took me a moment to compose myself after he kissed me again, but somehow I did it. I untangled my hands from his hair and took several steps back, inhaling deeply to try and clear my mind. The look on his face as I wrapped my arms around myself was one I couldn't explain. I wasn't sure if he was mad or hurt or confused. But then again, I never was very good at reading him.

Before I knew what was happening, a wave of pain crashed over me and I suddenly couldn't look at him anymore. It hurt far too much. I grabbed my bag where I had dropped it by the door and scrambled out, not bothering to run at human speed. He called after me, but my name fell on deaf ears. I didn't want to hear him, for once. The hole in my chest may have healed, but another wound was throbbing nonetheless.