Chapter 12

Bella's POV

First Words

Two weeks later...

Ever since lunch two weeks ago, Amber and I haven't gone to the last two periods of the school day. I don't know why, but I just have had a very big feeling not to go. I knew Charlie would be pretty pissed if we continued skipping classes. So today, I thought it'd be a good idea just to see what we're missing.

"C'mon Amber, it's probably not as bad as you think it will be," I tried to loosen her up.

"I don't think we should..." She murmured quietly as some girls walked passed us.

"Just this once. I know what you're feeling, but Charlie will be seriously pissed if we continue skipping two of our classes. Plus, we'll be failing for two of our classes." I said pulling her towards Mrs. Medley's classroom.

"Fine, but I'm not liking it." Amber caved sighing and following me into the classroom.

"Good morning class," Mrs. Medley, our biology teacher, said cheerfully. "Oh! You're the Swan sister's right?" she asked grabbing her clipboard.

"Yes, ma'am," I answered feeling somewhat comfortable around Mrs. Medley.

"Ok, I have two seats open. One next to Miss Weber, and one next to Mr. Cullen. You can pick which you want." She said pointing out the two desks; one in the front and empty, and one in the back occupied by a small girl with long brown hair and light green eyes framed with sterling silver glasses.

"One moment please," I told the nice teacher before turning Amber and I away and leaned toward her. "Take the seat next to the girl."

"Are you sure?" She asked worry flashing through her eyes. "I mean, can you work with a boy?"

I nodded reassuring her. "I'll be careful. Plus, if you sit next to him, you'll be so tense you won't learn a thing. It's only for this course, I'll be fine." I reasoned lightly poking her stomach.

"Fine," she caved again, giving me a hug, then going to her seat in the back. The girl smiled at Amber's presence and wrote on a piece of paper, then passed it to her.

"I'm guessing you Bella Swan?" Mrs. Medley said checking her roll.

"Yes Ma'am. That's my sister Amber." I informed then walked to my seat in the front of the class.

The last bell rang, and everyone got their supplies out. "I am so sorry I'm late, Mrs. Medley!" A velvet smooth voice apologized quickly.

"It's fine, Mr. Cullen. Just don't a habit of it. Take you seat and pull out your books." Mrs. Medley said sweetly.

I felt the seat beside mine move, and someones presence take its place. "Today, we're going to be going over structures of Mitosis and Meiosis. Now turn to page..." I'm sure no one understood why she was so happy, but it sorta made me feel comfortable. I drowned out the sound of her voice, once a piece of paper fell in front of me.

Hi.

The note read in beautiful handwriting. What do I do? Should I answer? Should I ignore? Without my permission, my hand picked up my pen and wrote back.

Hey?

I'm Edward Cullen. U?

Bella Swan.

Ur sis and u r frm Arizona, right?

I flinched at the question. Before I could answer it, the guy beside me, Edward, wrote quickly.

I'm sry. I didt kno it was a tochy sub.

S'ok. Yea, we r frm Phoenix, Arizona.

O. So r u goin 2 tlk 2 me wen we r allwd 2?

Wen will tht b?

Whenever shes done w/ her lecture.

O! Well Me and tlkin aloud really dosnt happen very often...

o I cn tell...ur teachas r baffled by tht actually.

Y wld u wnt 2 tlk 2 me anyhow?

Well, 1. u r my partner. 2. u didn't say a thing lunch. 3. u look lonely. 4. I …sorta wan 2 tlk 2 u!

O! May b...wait wat u mean, I didnt speak durin lunch?

I'm the guy tht sat in frnt of u and ur sis 2 wks ago,Bella.

O! sry! Me and my sis dnt lik 2 tlk 2 ppl, much.

Shy? I understand. Btw, is ur sis ok? She seemed...shaken the last tim I saw he up close.

Yea, shes fine. Jus takn aback. As long as I'm here, she'll b fine.

She dosnt look a thin lik u. does she tak aftr ur mom?

I flinched again at the question. Renee! Bitch! I thought bitterly. Again before I could reply, Edward took the paper away and wrote quickly.

Anothr tochy sub? Sry.

No its fine. But...no she was adoptd by my dad 3mths ago.

Reali? U guys jus seem so clos...dnt seem lik uve known 1 anothr 4 only 3 mths...

yea we were friends bk in phoenix

but charlie has ben here all tis time?

I was livin w/ my mom and her new husbnd the time.

O! now it clears up!

Yea its pretty complicated.

But how is she likin the adoptd lif? I kno em did not lik it wen Ali and I movd in, bein his adoptive lil bro and sis...

ur adoptd?

Yep. Wat u didnt think an adoptive kid cld b happi?

No, no, no, no! Not tht all! Its jus...is u dnt mind me askin...wat happnd 2 ur real parents?

"Ok you guys, I can tell you're getting bored with me talking. You can socialize till the bell rings!" Mrs. Medley exclaimed sitting down in her chair and lifting the top of her laptop. "Just keep in your seats."

Everyone turned to each other. I turned to Amber. She and the girl were passing notes. The girl didn't seem to mind Amber's silence.

"Angela's a sweet girl and a perfect friend for your sister, if she doesn't like talking." I looked at the guy beside me and choked on the oxygen. He was...gorgeous...godly! I don't think there was a word to to describe him. I shot him a questioning glance. "She's a mute. She can't speak."

I nodded. "I guess that's a good thing for Amber," I said clearly, then jumped at the sound of my voice.

"Well, well, well, even when she speaks it freaks her out! I must say, I am so glad that I'm the first here to get you to speak to them," he said happily.

I turned my entire body to him. "You're that girl's brother? Alice, right?"

His emerald green eyes narrowed, I cringed away, they softened immediately. "Yes. Alice is my biological sister." he paused making sure I was ok. "Our Dad was killed two years after I was born. Alice was a year old at the time. Our mom, sort of, lost contact of what was important to her. She wasn't really her normal self. That lasted for a few years." he looked down at his hands that were folded on top of the table. "She came back to her normal self. Though anyone who knew her before our Dad died, knew there was something wrong with her. I was six and Alice was five. She was very different from what she use to be. Yelling at random times, getting pissed off because of the most ridiculous things, she became a...aggressive. I always hid Alice behind me when I saw that she was going to blow up or strike at us, you know?" I nodded understanding more than he thought I did. "Well...three years later-"

He was cut off by a familiar shrill scream from the back of the classroom. I froze, "Amber..." I whispered in a deadly calm voice.

I turned and sure enough, amber was on the ground, twitching, shaking, eyes rolled in the back on her head and silent tears falling out her white eyes. I jumped from my seat, dodge every body and fell to Amber's side. "Angela?" I asked the girl on the other side of Amber's shaking form, she nodded; her eyes wide with horror and sadness. "What happened? I need to know exactly what happened here, ok?"

She nodded and wrote on my arm:

Amber and I were passin notes. Newton came up and started messin 'round with her, she tensed. When he grabbed her ass, she screamed and fell to the ground...

I nodded. "Ok...I need everyone back-up!"Everyone moved back three feet. "Amber? Get up!" She continued shaking. "Amber! Honey, get up! He isn't here! I promise!" I grabbed her head and lifted it up. "Bella's here, Amber! Not Stephen! I understand you want him to leave! I do! I can help! But not with you like this!" I yelled at her. The class had gone completely silent by now. Freaking over the two new girls. "Amber wake the fuck up!!!" I screamed one last time, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Please! Please! Please! Just let her go! Please!" I begged through my sobs.

After a minute of nothing but my sobbing filling the room, Amber's blue eyes raised to mine. "Bella?" she asked quietly.

I looked down at her, smiling watery. Her eyes became wide. "you ok?" in asked worried.

"You're smiling, Bella!" She exclaimed hugging me close.

I hugged her back tightly. "I love you, sis." I whispered running my hand over her long blonde hair. "I'm sorry your monster won."

she shook her head. "Nonsense Bella, he'll win sometimes. Others, I'll have you. My big sister!"

I smiled then let it fall. "One minute, Amber," I mumbled getting off the floor. I glared at the crowd with watery bloodshot eyes. "Who the hell is Newton?" I asked in a deadly voice.

"You looking for me sweet cheeks?" I heard from behind me.

I turned. Newton had light blonde spiky hair, bright blue eyes, and a cute baby face. If he hadn't hurt Amber or had used that nickname, I would have thought about giving him a chance with me. "You're the one who touched my sister?" I asked in a deadly voice stepping up to him.

It was as if I hadn't said anything. He stepped forward, his hand raised yo touch me. "You're more sexy than you sister," he muttered his hand two inches from my face.

A long white hand connected with his face. "Go away Mike!" Edwards snarled standing in-between Newton and me.

"What the hell, Cullen? Can't stand a little competition?" Mike yelled getting in Edward's face.

"What competition?" Edward and I yelled at the same time. He turned his head to me, we connected eyes, I blushed. Then we both glared back at him.

Mike smirked. "That competition," he pointed to me. "You know you want me!" Mike sneered coming closer to me. "You'll come running to me; Cullen here couldn't satisfy your hormonal needs, even if he tried."

I was getting really pissed at this prick. "Get the fuck out of my face, you stupid piece of shit!" I yelled over Edward's shoulder, careful of touching him.

!

"Ok...." Mrs. Medley said still cheerfully, "let's get going to our last class. Bella, Edward, Mike, stay here."

Damn I thought. "Sorry, Edward." I said quietly to him, he just waved it off. "Amber?" I said looking at her and holding out the keys to her. "Go warm up the car, I'll drive." She looked confused; we still had gym left. "There is no way in hell that we're going to gym today. Go!" she nodded and grabbed the keys from my hand.

After she left, Mrs. Medley sat on top of her desk. "Bella, can you kindly tell me, what the hell just happened"? She asked her voice suddenly hard.

My eyes widened, I backed up a few steps. "S-sorry. Amber just doesn't like being near or being touched by any male. Doesn't matter if its an infant, she can't touch him or be near him. So when Newton," I spoke his name in an icy tone, "grabbed her ass, she went into a seizure." I paused. They all looked confused. "She's. Traumatized. By. The. Opposite. Sex." I spoke slowly hoping it would sink in.

"Are you the same way?" She asked, her eyes darting to Edward then back.

"Yes ma'am, but I don't have seizures. I go into hysterics and I sometimes faint or feel as if I'm not here anymore. I don't respond to anyone but Amber. With Amber, if she's two feet from a male, she goes stiff and she can't learn like that. So, I took the seat next to Edward. I'm fine sitting next to him, he just..." I looked at him sadly, "can't touch me." I smiled sadly. "I'm sorry we disrupted your class, Mrs. Medley." I apologized with meaning in my voice.

"That's ok Bella, you can go."She said softly.

"One more thing," I glared at Mike. "If you ever touch me or my sister, better yet, if you come any where near us. I will personally take Charlies tazer, jam it in your fucking face, and gladly press the red button." I threatened in a calm voice.

His face turned white. "O-okay. I...I get it!" Edward quickly handed me a piece of paper, careful not to make skin-to-skin contact, and turned back to Mrs. Medley.

Once in the drivers seat of the car, I quietly started the car and started driving. "Read this aloud will you?" I asked tossing the folded piece of paper to Amber.

She cleared her throat and slowly read:

Bella,

I think I know what happened to your sister. I'm very sorry. Tell her that please. I'm sure something similar happened to you? Call me if you wanna talk. You don't have to if you don't want to.

555-1720

P.S. I know hpw it feels when you think no one cares, Bella. But trust me, someone does care about you, more than you know. Promise!

Edward!

"He's sweet huh?" Amber asked when I pulled up to the driveway. I nodded not saying anything. "You trust him?" she asked skeptically.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Trust him? To what limit?" I asked grabbing our bags while she unlocked the front door.

"To be alone with him? To let him touch you? to...tell him your story to?" Amber suggested walking up the stairs and into her room, collapsing on her bed.

"Be alone; no." I answered quietly standing in her doorway, leaning against the door frame. "Me touch him; no. Him touch me; I don't think so, Amber. Tell him my story; enough people know my story, I don't many more." the phone rang. "Can you get that, Amber? I'm going to the bathroom."

"Sure whatever," she answered dejected, rolling over to her phone. "Hello?" I left to the bathroom. Was I ready to trust someone? I thought to myself.

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