Chapter 3: Moody Vampire

EDWARD

Walking into biology, I steel myself and go sit next to her. I turn the chair towards her, but make sure I am at the edge of the table. Time to repair a little of the damage my hasty exit caused. No need for her to be curious enough to snoop around. My family's safety is at stake.

"Hello." Really eloquent, Edward.

Bella pauses in her notebook art. She turns ever so slightly. Her eyes start at my hair and oh so slowly travel down my body and back up again. My entire being sizzles as she takes in my appearance. I stop breathing. Time slows. An eternity of her looking at me like that flashes through my mind. Interesting. She snorts and rolls her eyes.

"My name is Edward Cullen." I gather myself as she starts her doodling again. "I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week-"

"Actually, you did," she interrupts me. No human interrupts a vampire.

"You must be Bella Swan." How am I not affecting her? Vampires always affect humans, it's in our nature.

"Interesting that you would go with Bella, when everyone else knew me as Isabella at first," she comments.

I have no response for that. What a stupid slip to make. Fortunately, the start of class saves me from having to say anything at all. She turns her head away. Is she that disgusted with me? Maybe she knows what I really am. That can't be it though…can it?

"Ladies first, partner?" I can feel my calm slipping. But the lab is one I have done hundreds of times, so I won't even have to think about it. Bella looks up at me. I grin at her to put her at ease.

Anger flashes in Bella's eyes before she pulls the worksheet over. She fills out the thing with barely a glance. My eyebrows knit together. Is she just trying to finish the lab without working with me? I look at the page while she pulls out some notes.

"Prophase, Anaphase, Interphase," I read out loud. Carefully, and at a human speed, I check the slides. She's right. How could she be right? She didn't even look and yet all the answers are all correct.

"See, that's how it is spelled in my notes. I-N-T-E-R-P-H-A-S-E." Bella points to the word in her notes.

"You are correct, Isabella. Were you in an advanced placement program in Phoenix?" Mr. Banner asks.

"She prefers Bella," I snap at the intruder.

"Yes, I just corrected Edward for like the fourth time." She smiles sweetly as she lies to excuse my behavior. Why would she do that?

"It's good you two are partners then. You can challenge each other." Mr. Banner says that like he planned the partnership instead of it just happening.

"How could you have known the answers?" I ask quietly, once Mr. Banner is out of hearing range.

"I'm sorry?" She does not even glance up, having resumed her doodling.

"You didn't even look at the slides." She has to be cheating…but how?

"I didn't have to," she airily informs me.

"What do you mean?" I demand. She finally makes eye contact. I get lost in those eyes.

"Maybe I could read Mr. Banner's mind." I flinch. "Or simply can see myself writing the answers in the future once I decided to do the lab." She is serious. I can hear the alarm and confusion in my siblings' minds.

For the first time in a long time, I am rendered speechless. Why would she say that? Why would she pick those two abilities in particular? Does she know my family? How could she? She's leaning slightly closer.

"Did you get new contacts? Your eyes are a different color," she says before turning back to her drawing.

Never in my life have I wanted to read someone's mind so badly. But hers is mocking me with its incessant silence. Carlisle will not be pleased with today's events. I need to try and gain some understanding of Bella so we can at least have a place to start. The situation will need to be dealt with.

"It's too bad about the snow, isn't it?" That's a safe, neutral topic.

"You really want to talk about the weather? What a repartee." She actually sneers at me. Wow, I did not see that one coming.

"I just want to understand you." I can't hide my frustration.

"I don't want to be understood by you. Those who are like you just suck the life right out of people. Now, leave me alone." Venom drips off of her words. What is going on?

A wave of calm reaches me. Jasper is only thinking of keeping us all collected. We need to make it through the rest of the school day without drawing any unwanted attention towards us at all. I scan minds around me to see if anyone has heard even a whisper of my conversation with Bella. A few of the students from our class noticed that Bella and I had some sort of moment after we finished the lab. There are a couple of stray thoughts about it. Apparently the thought is that I finally showed interest in a girl and Bella turned me down. If it was only simple.

I go through the motions for the rest of school and then wait next to my car for my siblings to join me. Bella consumes my thoughts. Did my impromptu vacation add to whatever her thoughts about us are? Maybe that is it. I was rude, so she deemed me not worth her energy. She seems immune to my being a vampire entirely. Is she something supernatural too? I watch as Bella leaves the parking lot in what can only be described as a death trap. Her father is the chief of police. He should not let her anywhere near that…decrepit monstrosity, let alone drive it.

"Dude, you're sulking." Emmett interrupts my thoughts.

"I believe Edward prefers the word glowering," Jasper contributes.

"Just get your sorry asses in the car," Rosalie growls as she climbs into the driver's seat.

The ride home is thankfully silent. Everyone's thoughts dwell on Bella. Does she know something about our kind? Is she a threat in any way? None of us says a single word to break up the silence.