~~~Together~~~

Edward and Alexis went to the festival the next day and again had a wonderful time. Edward caught himself looking at Alexis throughout the whole thing. It amazed him how free Alexis seemed. How much she loved life. That was something that he really liked about her.


"Thank you for a wonderful afternoon," Alexis said to Edward on the way home after the festival.

"Well, you are very welcome. Thank you," he smiled into the windshield.

Alexis saw the shy smile spread Edward's face and had to laugh.

"You've got a beautiful smile. You should show it more often," she said.

Edward smiled shyly again. He couldn't help it. This girl was making him feel like a young stupid teenager in love.

In love?

Wow, that felt weird to admit that.


Esme had seen Edward come in after he got back from the music festival. She saw the same light in his eyes that Alice had seen. She saw the happiness.

She saw the peace.

Being a mother was difficult. Whether you were biological or adoptive, it was still a really hard job. It made Esme ache whenever she saw any one of her children in pain. All mothers, good mothers anyway, burned whenever they saw their child in pain. It came with the job.

So far, it had always been Edward who had the most pain. Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper all shared their own equalities in grief. But they had each other. They had each other. Edward had thought he had found his soul mate in Bella Swan. But she died and he almost killed himself out of grief.

Someone else was putting that light back into his eyes. But what amazed her was this someone, from what she had learned from Alice, was totally different from Bella. Esme wasn't sure if that meant Edward was just taking comfort in this girl or if he was really falling for her. She wasn't sure. And she wasn't going to push.

"Bye, Esme," Edward waved goodbye to her as he walked back out the door to go hunting with his father and his brother and sister.

"Bye, son," Esme answered, giving him a small wave. She knew he heard every word of her thoughts. Actually, she was glad he did.

Edward, Carlisle, Rosalie, and Emmett all dashed out the door and into the chilly night. It was cold at this time of year in Alaska, even though it was May. But that didn't bother Esme. (Of course it didn't since she was a vampire.) She was just happy to see that there was going to be some kind of normalcy back in their lives.


Edward thought about Esme's thoughts and feelings as he ran alongside his family. He knew she was right. Hell, what was he thinking? His mother was always right. She was his mother.

But...being in pain...in a way, it had opened his eyes. Yes, he had wanted to take his own life after Bella's death. But she herself had convinced him to keep living. And now he had a beautiful friend named Alexis.

She was the exact opposite of Bella, in looks and in attitude. She was so lovely to look at, for one. Just the other day, he had seen her walk down the hallway and watched as several boys' heads swirled around to watch her. He had to heavily fight the urge to rip a couple of throats out when he saw that. But then he reminded himself that he wasn't dating Alexis and he had no legal claim on her.

She loved music. Bella had hated it until he composed a lullaby for her. Then she magically loved it. Alexis wrote her own music and also played the violin. She was absolutely amazing at that. One of the best musicians he had ever heard.

He could also see that she liked to dress up. She always wore different kinds of nail polish and lots of really nice clothing. That was another reason why Alice would get a big kick out of her.

Edward laughed aloud at the thought. Emmett stopped in the middle of his kill and stared at him like he had lost his mind. Edward never laughed while he was hunting. He was a lot like Carlisle actually, preferring to kill quickly and end the suffering.

"Sorry," he mumbled, quickly turning back to his own kill.


Alexis saw Edward on Monday. She noticed that his eyes were a brilliant liquid gold again. They had been changing significantly the last few days before he had disappeared over the weekend. He also looked a little less tired.

"Hey, you look good," Alexis said, approaching him with a smile.

"Well, thank you," Edward answered with a play of a grin on his face.

"You know what I mean. You look less tired. A little bit more up," she chuckled.

Edward smiled at her. She looked really nice today. Her corn silk hair was pulled into a loose plait down her back and she wore khakis, a blue shirt, and a white button up over it. She had her coat slung over her arm. Also, she wore sapphire earrings again.

"You look really good too. And I don't mean less tired," Edward added.

Alexis blushed and pushed past him, ignoring the rock hard feeling she got from his shoulder. Edward followed her into the classroom, smiling like an idiot.


Macie had been watching Alexis and Edward all day. She just couldn't figure out what was going on. They had been together all day. He was making her laugh, she was making him laugh, they both wore smiles that neither had worn in a long time. There was so much to comprehend. She couldn't believe that someone like her Lexy could turn someone like Edward Cullen into mush.

They had started talking again after that damn festival was over. Macie had apologized and so did Alexis. Then Alexis had dragged Macie over to Edward and introduced the both of them to each other.

Macie hated to admit it but Edward was extremely nice. He seemed friendly and easygoing but also the slightest bit of shy. That was probably why he seemed cold to everyone else.

"Can you believe Alexis and Cullen? I just don't get what she see's in that jerk," she heard someone say at that moment.

Macie turned towards the voice and saw Trevor and Julie conversing. Trevor's big mouth had caused his voice to carry over to her.

"Hey, ease up on Cullen," Macie snapped. "He's nice. Just get to know him."

"Since when were you and Cullen so cozy, Macie?" Julie said unkindly.

Macie shot her the dirtiest look she could muster. She grabbed her books and stomped out of the study hall and charged down the hallway. She went to turn the corner without looking where she was going and charged right into a stone wall.

Actually, Edward Cullen's chest.

Edward grabbed her arms as gently as he could to steady her. Macie felt herself swallow her tongue. She tucked her black hair behind one ear and tried to find her voice.

"Th-thanks, Edward," she babbled. "I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was-"

"Hey, it's all right," he interrupted her. He noticed the upset look on her face and the anger in her hazel eyes. "Are you all right? You look upset about something."

Macie shook her head. "Oh, it's stupid," she muttered.

Edward started to read her mind and saw how she had stuck up for him against Alexis's former friends, Julie and Trevor. He felt touched and sympathetic at the same time. Macie had sacrificed other friends to protect her friendship with Alexis.

"No, it's not," he said, answering her former statement.

Macie looked up at him, her hazel eyes piercing into his gold ones.

"I owe you a huge apology," she said.

Edward looked surprised. He did not see that one coming in her mind. "Oh?"

"I was a real jerk about you in the beginning. I was slightly afraid of you because you seemed really distant and kind of mean but when I talked to you earlier, I realized you're just different," she said.

Edward could feel his still heart starting to open up for this girl.

"Alexis has really brought out something beautiful in you," said Macie. "I hope to see that more often."

Edward swallowed deeply. He looked back into Macie's small face. "I would very much like to be friends with you," he said quietly.

Macie's face lit up. "I would love that."


"So, I hear that you and Macie talked things out," Alexis said to Edward later that afternoon. The final bell had just rung and they were walking out to their cars together. Alexis could see Edward's siblings waiting for him by the Volvo and Rosalie's red Ferrari.

"Yeah, we did," said Edward. "You've got a good friend their, Lex. She's a lovely person."

Alexis smiled at him. She didn't push at to what they talked about. She already knew.

They stopped at Alexis's Tracker. Alexis looked over and Edward's Volvo and Rosalie's Ferrari were parked a few spaces down. She could see Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice gathered around, waiting for Edward. Alice beamed at her and waved. Alexis waved back. She extended her wave towards the others as well. Jasper and Emmett smiled her friendily and each returned the wave. Rosalie remained stony-faced.

Alexis climbed into her Tracker and gave Edward one last warm smile. "Have a good night, all right?"

"You too. Thanks." Edward stepped back and watched her as she pulled out of the parking lot.

Edward then walked over to his family. Emmett grinned at him. "So that's the famous Alexis, huh?"

Edward rolled his eyes. "She's a friend, Em," he said.

Emmett smiled at him. "I know, Ed," he whispered, giving him a reassuring glance.

Edward looked over at Rosalie. She had apprehension in her eyes. "You all right, Rose?"

Rosalie looked back at him. She sighed gently. "Yeah, I think so."

Edward raked her mind but she kept it oddly blank. He sighed himself and got into his car, his own thoughts going crazy.


So, we have come to the end of another chapter. I'm trying to give it that Rosalie is unsure of how to judge Edward's relationship with Alexis because of the past with Bella. Can you really blame her?

In this story, I am going to have Edward make friends at this school. I noticed in Twilight, it didn't seem like he really had any friends except for his siblings. But Alexis...she will be his best friend and ever more.

If there are any readers out there, please leave a review. I really love them.

Love to you all!