A/N All Characters and the wonderful world of Twilight all belong to Stephenie Meyer.


Chapter Three

We pulled up to Forks High School and I couldn't help but stare. My school in Chicago had been a huge brick building, three stories high and wedged between two high rise buildings. The baseball and football fields were smashed up against the back of the school. This school was the complete opposite. Several buildings, each labeled with big white numbers spread out among trees and bushes. Off to one side, I could see the yellow football field goal posts stretching to the cloudy, gray sky. Beyond that, I could just make out the foul poles of the baseball field. I quickly looked away. This school was huge! Well, not huge, but it seemed to go on forever. All spread out and confusing.

"Edward, do you want us to go with you to the office to get your schedule?"

I looked at Alice and she looked at me with sympathy in her eyes. I dropped my gaze and fought the urge to scream. I didn't want her pity. I had no idea what Carlisle and Esme had told their children about me, but I didn't want Alice to feel like she needed to take care of me. I cleared my throat and clenched my fists, trying to get a handle on my emotions. I had no right to be upset with Alice. She only wanted to help. "I think I can go myself," I managed in a somewhat polite voice.

"Okay," I saw her glance at Emmett and he shrugged. "If you are sure?"

I nodded.

She blew out a breath of air, obviously unused to not getting her own way, but she didn't push me. "Fine. But we will save you place at lunch, okay?"

I nodded again, simply because I didn't want to argue with her. I met Emmett's eye and he seemed to understand. He grasped his sister's arm and directed her to one of the numbered buildings. I turned back and made my way to the building that was labeled "Front Office." When I pushed open the door, I was met with a blast of warm air and the scent of cinnamon. It was a small space, with padded folding chairs and orange-flecked carpet. Fliers and various awards covered the walls. The room was divided by a large counter.

"Hello, dear," a woman behind the desk said as I approached the counter. I saw colorful fliers covering the counter, announcing to students to order pictures. A name plate on her desk identified her as Mrs. Cope. She was a large woman with curly red hair. She pushed up her glasses as she looked at me. "Can I help you?"

"My name is Edward Masen, I just transferred here."

"Oh yes. Mrs. Cullen filled out your paper work." She stood up and found a file. After flipping through it, she handed me a half slip of paper. "This is your schedule. I have to say I'm impressed, Calculus as a Junior?"

I nodded. Math had always been a strong area from me. It was a puzzle and I enjoyed figuring it out. The complex ideas had given me escape from my life. I could remember reciting the quadratic formula or the Pythagorean Theorem during various beatings, just to take my mind off the pain. It drove him crazy when I didn't yell or cry.

"Edward?"

I jumped as Mrs. Cope called my name and realized that I had gotten carried away in my memories. I looked at Mrs. Cope and smiled.

She nodded when she saw she had my attention again. She handed me a map of the school and proceeded to show me where each of my classes were. "You have Calculus first period, it's in building 2."

I nodded yet again and took the map from her. "Thank you," I said quietly.

"Enjoy your day and welcome to Forks." She smiled at me and then turned back to her computer, immediately engrossed in whatever the screen held.

I exited the building and found building 2 easily. Inside, I found the teacher sitting behind his desk. I must have been fairly early still, because only a few students were in the room. They looked at me with curious expressions. I groaned. All I wanted at that moment was to be invisible. I did not want attention. I did not want to have to explain who I was or why I was in Forks. I handed my schedule to the teacher and watched as he signed his name. "Welcome to class, Mr. Masen, I am Mr. Andrews," he said as he handed back the slip of paper. "I see you are a Junior, did you test for Calculus at your old school."

"No sir. I skipped pre algebra in seventh grade and took Algebra instead." He continued to look at me. "I earned an A in advanced Trig."

He nodded, but seemed to look at me as a challenge. Great. "There is an empty seat in the back row." He handed me a copy of the syllabus and dismissed me with a wave of his hand.

I turned and was surprised to see that most of the students had arrived. I walked to the back of the room and took my seat. I took off my jacket and draped it over the back of my chair. From my bag, I pulled out my graphing calculator and a pencil. Then I looked over the syllabus. It could have been the syllabus from my class in Chicago, nearly word for word. A small smile touched my lips and I looked forward to the challenge Mr. Andrews had thrown at me.

After Calculus, I went to Government and then English. Neither class seemed overly exciting to me, and it seemed as if the teachers of those classes shared my opinion. However, I couldn't help but notice all the stares I was getting. Everyone was curious about the new boy, but no one seemed to have the courage to talk to me. Maybe because I kept my head down and didn't talk. I don't know. I knew I was very happy with the situation. I was definitely not in the frame of mind to make friends. Besides, who would want to be friends with a monster?

Next was gym. Coach Clapp informed that I did not need to dress down if I didn't want to, but I headed to the locker room when I discovered that the class was in the middle of the track and field unit. I wanted to run.

Like math, running had been an escape for me. As I took my place at the starting line, I heard the groans of the other students. I frowned. We were only running a mile. It wasn't that far. The amount of whining was incredible. I rolled my eyes and waited for Coach Clapp to give us the signal. And then I was off. I pumped my arms and legs, enjoying the rush of the wind through my hair and the feeling of my blood moving to my muscles. I pushed myself harder, not even realizing that I had left the rest of the class in the dust. I ran, concentrating on my breathing, not thinking about anything else. It was freedom. I ignored the slight ache in my chest from my recently healed ribs. As I crossed the mile mark and slowed I caught sight of Coach Clapp. He was staring at me, his mouth slightly open. I looked around me, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. That was when I realized that the rest of the class was barely half way around the mile long track.

"Four thirty two," the man said, with awe in his voice.

I didn't really get the big deal. I had been running a mile under five minutes for most of my life. "Do you mind if I go again?" I asked, since everyone else was still so far from finishing.

He simply nodded and I took off again. I kept going this time, just enjoying the burn in my legs. I ran two more miles before everyone was finished.

"Who does he think he is?"

The words were whispered in a malicious tone from a boy three lockers down. Blonde hair stood out in spikes around his head, and he had an athletic look to him. I glanced in his direction, then dropped my gaze and pulled my sweaty shirt over my head.

"No kidding Mike, he was majorly showing off out there. Bet he wants to be the next track star or something." This from the tall boy standing next to Mike.

I could feel heat rush to my cheeks and I quickly grabbed my towel to head for the showers. I had absolutely not intention of being a star of any kind. I simply liked to run. I hadn't realized that I had drawn so much attention to myself. I could feel both boys watching me as I made my way to the showers. I hurried and then changed as fast as I could.

Outside the gym, I realized it was lunch time. I thought about having to face Alice and groaned. I wasn't hungry, which really didn't make any sense. I hadn't eaten dinner, had hardly any breakfast. But the thought of food turned my stomach. I saw a sign for the library and I made my way there, avoiding the cafeteria.

When the bell rang, signally the end of lunch, I reluctantly put my pencil down. I had been working on my Calculus homework, lost in the world of derivatives. Now it was time to go to Biology. I glanced at my schedule and saw that my next class was in building four. I made my way in that direction, trying to escape the stares. Gah, I hated being the new kid. I heard a loud giggle and I glanced to my left. A girl with a frizzy, curly ponytail was standing by her locker. When she saw me looking she sent me a wink, then giggled at the other girl standing next to her. I rolled my eyes and quickened my pace.

"Hey Edward!" I heard Alice's voice and I turned, groaning softly.

"Hi Alice."

"Where were you?" She looked impatient with me.

"I had some work to do, so I went to the library," I admitted.

She peered at me. "Did you eat lunch?" she asked softly.

I debated for a second and then lied. "Yeah."

Now her eyes narrowed. "But I didn't see you in the cafeteria at all."

What was she? My mother? Besides, why did she care? "I grabbed some food before I left the house this morning."

She looked like she was going to call me on my second lie, but this time she let it go. "Fine," she huffed. "Be that way. I was looking for you at lunch. I wanted to introduce you to my best friend."

"Sorry," I muttered, now extremely glad that I had avoided the whole cafeteria scene.

"She's amazing," Alice continued. "I think you'd really like her. She moved to Forks when we were in 8th grade. Her mom remarried a baseball player. She wanted to give her mom a chance to travel with her new husband, so she moved in with her dad. We've been friends since the beginning. But anyway, I told her all about you—"

"Alice, I am going to be late for class." I cut her off, I knew it was rude, but I really didn't want to hear anymore. I didn't know what Alice was trying to do or why she was so eager for me to know everything about her best friend. And I definitely did not like that she had told her "all about me."

"Okay. I'll see you after school. Just meet us at our car."

I nodded and then hurried to get to biology. I really didn't want to be late and draw even more attention to myself. I walked into class and handed the teacher my schedule to be signed. "Welcome, Edward. I'm Mr. Banner."

"Hi."

He scrawled his name on the sheet and handed it back to me. Then he turned and pulled a biology book and lab book off the shelf. "These are for you, and let's see." I watched him scan the room. His eyes fell on a table where a girl with long brown hair sat. He smiled and I heard him mutter "Perfect" under his breath. "Why don't you have a seat," he pointed at the table.

I nodded, gathered my books and went to sit down.

When I reached the table, I glanced at the girl already seated. For a second, my eyes held her chocolate brown ones. An electric charge went through me and I felt my heart pound in my chest. I ripped my eyes away from her and sat down. I stared at my shaking hands, and tried to calm my heart down. It was pounding harder now that it had after my three mile run. What was that? I had never experienced anything like that before.

"Hello," I heard her say in a soft, gentle voice. "My name is Bella Swan."

I nodded, but didn't answer back. I reached out and arranged my books in front of me, trying to ignore my trembling hands.

"Okay class, today we are going to talk about planarian." Mr. Banner wrote the term on the board and then launched into the day's lecture.

Flat worms, thank goodness. Something simple to take my mind off of the girl sitting next to me. I took a deep breath, trying to ignore the scent of strawberries and freesia coming from her. I grasped my pencil tightly and focused all of my attention on the teacher as he described the non-parasitic organism that I already had learned about.

By the end of the period, I was exhausted. I held my self stiff throughout the class, trying not to feel the energy that radiated from the girl. I did not understand it, I didn't want to understand it. I didn't look at her once and it actually hurt to force my head straight forward and not give into the temptation to look. I was never more grateful to hear the sharp ring of the bell. I quickly gathered my things and then raced out of the biology room, before any of the other students were out of their seats.

Once I was away from the electric atmosphere, I took a deep breath, filling my lungs. For the first time in an hour, I felt the oxygen completely fill my lungs and I sucked in the clean air hungrily. My hands stopped shaking and my heart began to calm.

I finally glanced around me and noticed that no one was making their way through the halls. Great. It had taken me longer to calm myself down than I had thought. Taking one more cleansing breath, I made my way to Spanish.

"Hola," my teacher said as I approached her desk. "Como te llama?"

"Edward," I said as I handed her my schedule.

"¿Cuántos años de español ha tomado usted?" she asked.

I sighed. I knew she was trying to figure out if my Spanish was proficient enough for Spanish four. "He tomado tres años de español en la escuela y trabajado como un traductor para un estudiante de cambio de México."

The teacher smiled at my speech, obviously enjoying the fact that I not only had taken three years Spanish in school, but used the language outside of class as a translator. Last year, a boy named Javier Gonzales had come to our school on an exchange program. Although I had been only a sophomore at the time, my Spanish teacher had recommended me as translator for him. Like math, languages came naturally for me. In fact, most of school came easily. Most likely because it offered me something to think about besides what was happening at home. "Tome asiento por favor."

I nodded and turned. It was then that I noticed Emmett sitting in the class- next to the only open seat in the classroom, of course. I went there quickly and sat down. I was beginning to feel like this day was never going to end.

"Hey Edward! I didn't know you were in this class! That's awesome man! And can you speak Spanish, wow!"

I blushed realizing everyone had heard my conversation.

"Maybe you can help me out," Emmett whispered conspiratorially. "Senora Goff doesn't like my version of Spanish very much." He chuckled under his breath as the class began.

I nodded, very interested to hear Emmett's version of the language.

The class passed and I was relieved when the bell rang. The day was over. Finally.

I really don't want to beg for reviews, but I have to admit, it is an amazing feeling and very inspirational to hear what people think. I am also curious if people want Bella's perspective or if I should stay with Edward. Thank you so much!