~~~Alexis~~~

He had just moved to Fairbanks, Alaska with the rest of his family. Carlisle and Esme registered the five of them back in high school. Edward was put into the sophmore class, Alice and Jasper in the junior class, Rosalie and Emmett in the senior. They pushed Edward back a year so he could be more aquainted with other humans and maybe put his life back together.

The death of Bella still rang in his head. It was never going to go away. He didn't want it too. His grief for the loss of her was what he wanted. He wanted to feel the pain. He wanted to feel that ache. He wanted it so bad. He was staying alive for his family. He was staying alive for her. But he didn't have to like it.

But then he saw her.


"Class, this is Edward Cullen. I trust you will make him feel welcome," said Mr. Haverling, the teacher of first period English at Farview High School.

Edward remained silent as Mr. Haverling handed him his textbook and gestured to an empty seat in the middle of the class. Edward walked towards the seat and sat down, feeling eyes boring into the back of his head. He kept his own eyes down, feeling stupid and embarrassed. Kind of like Bella did her first day at Forks High School.

Edward stole a glance up a little while later. He could see that everyone was still staring at him. Everyone except a young girl in the front of the class. She was small with dark blond hair that hung down her back in a braid. She kept her attention towards Mr. Haverling, having barely glanced his way when he walked by her.

It felt nice, not to have someone staring at him like he was a monster. He already knew what kind of a monster he was. He didn't need to be reminded.


"Okay, class. Read from page 23 to 42 of The Glass Menagerie tonight and then write a two paragraph page on it. And I mean two paragraphs, not sentences!" Mr. Haverling barked at the class as the bell rang 45 minutes later.

Edward gathered up his books and stuffed them into his bag. He went to leave first and that was when he careened right into her.

"Oh! Watch it!" the young girl snapped at him. Edward found himself looking down into the darkest ocean blue eyes he had ever seen in his whole entire 109 years of life.

"S-sorry," he stammered. Oh, why did he have to stutter? Why now?

"It's fine," the girl said coldly. She threw her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the room, carrying her scent with her.

It was different from any other human he had ever smelled before. It was sweet but not as sweet as Bella's had been. It was strong but in a different sense. She smelled...good. But a normal good.

Just what he had always wished for.


He walked into the lunchroom two hours later after enduring endless accounts of Physics, the Revolutionary war, and Alegbra. He was ready to tear his hair out or just walk right out of there.

"Edward!" He looked over to a table in the corner of the large cafeteria and saw Alice waving at him. He smiled gratefully at his sister and joined them.

"How are you doing?" asked Emmett cautiously as Edward sat down between him and Alice.

Edward sighed. "I'm doing all right?"

A question, not a statement.

Alice gently patted his hand. "You're going to be okay."

"Yeah, well..." he sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes.

The rest of the Cullens stared at their brother. He really did look exhausted. Also, slightly thirsty. His normally gold eyes were starting to get a black tinge to them.

Edward sighed and looked up.

That was when he saw her.

She was walking into the cafeteria with another girl. The two of them were laughing and joking about something. A big smile lit up her face.

A big, beautiful smile.

Alice and Emmett followed Edward's gaze. Their gold eyes rested on the girl.

"Oh, Edward," whispered Alice.

"Do you know who that is?" asked Edward, ignoring Alice's look.

"That's Alexis Bowen. She's in my US history class. She's a sophmore but advanced," said Jasper.

"Edward, you better not be thinking what I think you're thinking," said Rosalie with warning in her voice.

Edward rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Rosalie."

Rosalie gave him a dirty look but didn't say anything else.


After lunch, Edward went onto his music composition class. He walked into the class room and handed his papers to the teacher, Mrs. Gardner. She signed it and gestured for him to sit in the only empty seat which happened to be next to Alexis Bowen.

Edward slowly sat down next to Alexis, avoiding looking at her. Alexis didn't shift away from him or anything. She glanced over at him, her dark blue eyes full of wonder.

"Okay, class. We are going to begin working on our individual music pieces today. The best two will be submitted to the Sterling Music Competition at the end of the month," said Mrs. Gardner. She looked over at Edward. "Mr. Cullen, you will exempt from this if you wish."

Edward shook his head. "No, I can give it a try."

"Okay," said Mrs. Gardner. She continued on with the short lecture, telling the class about the competition where the pieces would be considered for a record and the one that one would be invited to play at Carnegie Hall.

That did peak Edward's interest. He had never had any of his work played publicly before. The only ones that ever really heard his music was his family and Bella.

Oh, Bella. The thought of her still brought an ache to his silent heart. It always would.


The music composition class ended 50 minutes later. Edward was already a third of the way through his own piece. Mrs. Gardner had listened to it recorded with the sound bites on the computer and was impressed.

"You should think about recording it live and sending it for the competition," she said with a warm smile on her face. A smile that he didn't feel that he deserved.

Edward nodded in acknowledgement of her words, not answering her. Mrs. Gardner moved onto Alexis and they spoke in whispers. For some reason, Edward was unable to hear her words. And he was unable to hear her thoughts.

Crap.


Edward finished off his last class, Technology, which was extremely boring, and went to find his siblings. He walked down the hallway where the music hall was and then froze.

He heard the most beautiful violin music floating out of the room. It mixed with some shoddy piano music. But the violin...wow. He had never heard anything so lovely before.

He moved soundlessly into the music hall, watching silently as Alexis Bowen moved the boe swiftly over the wooden instrument, totally into the music. He barely glanced at the girl who was playing the piano and hitting all the wrong notes.

"Okay, okay, okay. Stop, stop, stop!" shrieked Mr. Warner, the band teacher. "Hannah, I'm sorry, I am going to have to put you with someone else. You are clearly pretty far behind," he said to the piano player.

The girl at the bench hung her head but nodded, understanding his words. She gathered up her stuff and quickly left the room out the opposite door.

Alexis looked up from her music and saw him standing there in the doorway. She nodded gently at him and turned back to her music and continued to play.

Edward recognized Beethoveen's Third Symphony, a very difficult piece to play. But she played it beautifully. All on the violin. He had never heard it played on the violin before. He closed his eyes and was soon lost in the music, the grandness, the beauty. It was like the pain was never there. It was like...he was pure.


Gonna take it slow for now. In the series, Bella fell madly in love with Edward almost immediately. I don't buy that. So with Edward and Alexis, just gonna take it slowly. Now, I have a big surprise coming in later chapters. You may love it or you may hate it. Hang in there.

Whataya think? Love the reviews!