(For anyone who already looked at this chapter: I changed the end a bit, so look at it again!)
It took me forever to write this because you demanded longer chapters (and because I was being lazy)! And thank you to all previous reviewers! I love ALL the reviews:)
To: TheMalfoyLady –Edward is just completely consumed with blood lust when he's in Biology, so he isn't really thinking clearly. But thank you for your review!
As I stepped into the Biology classroom, I firmly reminded myself once again to remain calm. I would take it as a challenge, a test of my control. It couldn't be that difficult, could it? I had kept myself in check for over a hundred years, and I wasn't about to give in.
The girl, Bella, was already sitting down. Her long, dark hair shielded her face from view.
I mentally prepared myself before quietly walking over and sliding out my chair. Bella's eyes remained on the notebook she was drawing on, but I heard her think to herself:
I will not look. I can just pretend that he's not there. She was obviously hurt and angry at my actions from yesterday, and I felt slightly ashamed. I cleared my throat.
"Hello," I said. "I'm Edward Cullen. I didn't get to introduce myself yesterday." She looked up, confusion clear in her dark eyes.
Is he talking to me? Did I make up his behavior yesterday? Oh, no, he's waiting for me to answer. Her thoughts whirled in a tumult of bewilderment.
"I – I know," she stammered.
"Do you?" I asked, without thinking.
Now he thinks I'm a stalker! Great… she thought.
"I just thought it was nice that somebody knows my name," I said smoothly. "My siblings and I are rather… isolated from everyone else."
Well, I wonder why, she thought sarcastically to herself. What's unusual about them? Aside from the ultra-pale skin, inhuman beauty, color-changing eyes and anorexic eating habits, I mean.
"Color-changing eyes," she'd thought. So, she'd noticed. I had taken it for granted that nobody had ever wondered about that. It was odd that someone had finally noticed them.
But there was something about Bella that made her somehow different, set her apart from everyone else. She seemed so… astute. She noticed everything. It was a bit unnerving.
Everyone else was completely preoccupied with our looks. Although she had immediately noticed them, they didn't solely reside in her mind. Perhaps I'd been too quick to judge her.
She wasn't ordinary, this Bella Swan. I was interested to learn more.
Suddenly, I was aware of her staring at me.
"Edward?" she said. "Hello?" I snapped back to attention.
"Yes, I'm sorry," I said. "What is it?" I silently berated myself. I'd allowed myself to become distracted.
"We're supposed to be doing the lab," she said.
"Right," I said, feeling slightly flustered.
"Here, I'll set it up," she offered.
"No, no, I'll do it," I replied, standing up before she could and arranging the microscope. I'd had too much trouble with incapable partners in the past to trust anybody to do the work properly. I saw her eyes narrow out of my peripheral vision.
He doesn't think I can set up a microscope? What a snob! I'll show him.
I looked up at her, slightly startled. Nobody else had every reacted like that before. They'd simply, well… fawned over me. I couldn't stand their irritating flirting and cloying compliments, but it still came as a shock to hear someone think of me differently.
"I…" I tried to think of something to say. "Would you like to perform the first part of the experiment?"
"Yes, thank you," she said, and swiftly took the slide from my hand, slid it under the microscope, and peered into the lens.
"Prophase," she announced confidently, but added mentally, I think.
I suppressed a smile. Her thoughts were so amusing. Cute, even. Then I nearly smacked myself on the forehead as I realized what I was thinking. Cute? When had I started using words like that?
I took a quick look in the lens. "Yes, it's most assuredly prophase," I confirmed, and saw the corners of Bella's mouth curve up slightly in a smile. I didn't realize what was so funny until I looked over my word choice.
'Most assuredly prophase,' probably wasn't proper teenage dialect. I should have said something like, 'Yeah, that's, like, totally prophase.'
But then again, I reminded myself, not all teenagers speak like that. Bella was a perfect example.
"Edward?" I blinked (unnecessarily, for a vampire) and looked around. Bella was waving a hand gently in front of my face, looking bemused. Her closeness threw me for a moment, and I once again caught a hint of that intoxicating aroma.
She was so close, and so fragile, easily broken. But no, that was exactly why I couldn't do it. I steadied myself carefully, exercising all my self-control and withdrawing back into myself. I had become distracted during the lab, but I couldn't allow myself to forget how very dangerous I was to her. I shouldn't have been speaking to her at all, really.
"Yes?" I said, a bit more tersely than was needed. She removed her hand hastily, and I breathed out a small sigh of relief.
"I finished the lab," she said tentatively. I hope I did it right. I'll look like such an idiot if I got the wrong answers.
"Ah," I said. "I'll check." She had them all correct, and I told her so briefly before returning to my seat and folding my arms against my chest. After a few minutes of painful silence and careful avoidance of her gaze, I gave in a bit to temptation and looked into her thoughts.
I saw a picture of myself, sitting broodingly in my chair with a cold, guarded expression. I looked so aloof, so sinister. Once again exasperated with myself, I left her mind, and unfolded my arms carefully, still maintaining a safe distance.
"So," I said, clearing my throat. "Do you read often?" It was a completely random question, tossed out carelessly, but I didn't have to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking.
Her face brightened, and I noticed for the first time how her eyes sparkled in the light. They were surprisingly animated for their darkness, so unlike most people's.
"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed. "It's all I do in my free times, besides cooking for Charlie – I mean Dad," she corrected herself with a smile.
"Really?" I asked, genuinely interested. "What is it about reading that so enthralls you?"
"Oh…" she sighed happily. "Everything. The way the authors weave the words, the inner workings of the plot, the depth of the characters…" She broke off and sighed again, but this time looking gloomy.
"That's the way it should be," she said. "But instead the world is so drab, so dull. No dragons, no elves and fairies, no witches and vampires…"
I swallowed hard, and directed my gaze toward the table. What was she thinking? Did she know the truth about us?
I really do wish that something exciting would happen to me, though. Life is so dreary!
So she hadn't suspected anything yet. I looked back at her, and smiled.
"You're right," I murmured. "That's the way it should be." She stared at me for a few moments until I became self-conscious.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked. She gave a little start and flushed a tempting crimson. The blood was pulsing through her veins so deliciously…
I could feel the monster instantly rise inside me again, straining to escape, roaring with hunger… but no. I would not give in. With the monster still struggling furiously to escape, I turned my head and stopped breathing. Gradually, the temptation ebbed away. I could think clearly again.
"Uh, no, nothing's wrong," Bella answered. Her face still retained some of the previous moment's blush, staining it a lovely rose color.
What exactly was she thinking?
His eyes are so hypnotic! They're like molten gold… or maybe golden flames.
My eyes? Were they really that "hypnotic," as she said? Strangely and childishly pleased with this knowledge, I turned and opened my mouth to say that her eyes were the loveliest brown I'd ever seen. But just at that moment, the bell rang.
Startled, the shrillness ringing in my ears, I turned away. Quickly packing up my books, I looked back at Bella. "Good-bye," I said, smiling at her.
She blushed again, gazing at her feet shyly. "Good-bye," she murmured, and rushed out the door.
I whistled as I walked away to my car, her smile following me all the way.