My my, long time, the reason or reasons I was away are basically that 1)Dina (my Beta) was doing me a big favor in editing chapters 1-3. I wasn't comfortable in adding chapters while the first three where really bad in grammar etc.. So chapter 1-3 are now pretty and ready to read.

Second reason is that I was (still) away, I have no internet so this update is really a surprise even for me. I'm still writing so this mean that when I get home I'll be able to update regularly. This is until late August, early September I'm afraid.

MISTAKEN FOR STRANGERS

10 years ago

"Edward! Oh my God, what happened to you, baby?"

"Mum, I'm fine." That would true if my head wasn't pounding so viciously and if could see with my left eye.

"Who hit you, baby?"

"No body, I fell."

"Stop lying to me, Edward. Oh boy, this is gonna be one awful bruise. Get in the house and let me put some ice on that and a steak." I did as I was told. My mom was always really… sweet, you really couldn't say 'no' to her.

I sit in the kitchen chair in our yellow kitchen… even our chairs were yellow.

"So, tell me what happened," she said while holding a steak against my eye.

"I went to the movies, and…"

"Alone?" I looked at her, and she nodded.

"Of course alone, mother."

"Right, baby, go on."

"And… a bunch of guys just started to say things, and there was this girl who kept talking and wouldn't shut up… so, I just stood up and left, but she followed me. And, mom, I don't know why! She just went after me and followed me! And then she was talking and talking; telling me that she saw me at the movies and that I was really cute and stuff. I mean, it was nice, but then her boyfriend came and she just started screaming at me! And out of the blue her boyfriend just punched me and that's it."

"Oh, honey, she was going after you because she was attracted to you, but that… girl had a boyfriend. Some girls are like that, they do things like that because they don't know what they want. I know is difficult to you, especially you. But you need to stay away from that kind of girls for now on, ok? They only bring trouble. Besides, you are too young to have a girlfriend."

"I don't want a girlfriend, mom. I can't have friends least a girlfriend."

"Well, someday, honey, you will find a girl, and this girl is going to make you happy."

"And what if she is like you said… that she doesn't know what she wants?"

"Then you make her realize what she wants."

PRESENT

At that time I didn't know what my mom tried to tell me… well, and neither in the present, at least not completely. I had this plan to try to make Bella see that I was there. That I liked her. Well, more than 'liked' her. She was… she made me happy. This plan was so archaic; it didn't have any structure, only a goal… Bella. But, really, I felt like a double agent, trying to infiltrate. I gambled for her and in the meantime, I was trying to read her and learn her mannerism; her facial expressions. But you can only go too far with visuals if you don't talk at all. She was the one who spoke the most in our "meetings" everyday. I was not complaining, she said that we had so little time to be prepared for Atlanta, this Sunday, only two days.

I thought that once we were in a hotel alone, I could be more straightforward, but I didn't know how to be so. She was always one step ahead of me. I was so behind emotionally, that she seemed like the holy grail of emotions from my perspective. She could read a person and really understand them; and she did it with me.

Today our goal—our business goal—was to reach five thousand Dollars. She said that it would be a small sum of money compared with the ones that she was used to. Bella bets not for the money, but for the thrill—that's what she told me because I didn't catch that myself. She was really amazing explaining things, like she knows what's wrong with me. I think she suspected something was wrong, but I couldn't be sure.

So, I was in front of her apartment again, 8:28 p.m. I knocked at the door, once.

"Come in!" she yelled. I opened the door and entered. She was seated on the couch, reading something. As I got closer, she put the book down and looked at me.

"Ready?" She smiled. She smiles all the time when she sees me. And it was infectious, because I couldn't help myself as I did so too.

"Sure. Your laptop?"

"Oh, no, no, no. Forget about it, those five thousand Dollars are lame. We won't do that. I was reading this…"

"Emotions revealed by Paul Ekmann?" I read.

"Yes. This is a great book for understanding facial expressions! This guy is famous. He is a genius like you! You know the series 'Lie to me'?"

"Not really. I don't watch much TV."

"Well, never mind. He is famous and I was reading some techniques that we can use to know when other people are bluffing."

"Okay. So, what should I do?"

"We are going to practice. I'm going to be your opponent, and you need to know what I'm thinking, or at least, if I'm bluffing."

"Like… in a cards game?"

"No… no, no. I was thinking something simpler; like question… you know, the twenty-question game?"

"Not really."

"Edward, you didn't played that when you where in school?"

"I was home schooled." I said sheepishly.

"Oh, and why was that? Oh, yes, because you were so smart and all that, right?" I just nodded, even if it was part of the truth.

"Well, basically I ask you a question; and you need to answer it. Only here you can answer truthfully or you can lie. And you do the same, the challenge is to know when you are bluffing or not. Fun, right? Oh, and so that we can check the answers later, I'll give you a paper so you can put a check mark if the real answer is true or a cross if it's a lie. I'll do the same."

"Ok, I think I get it. I say something, you tell me if it's truth or lie; and I mark the right answer in this paper. And in the end, we compare notes?"

"Yes, exactly, do you like it?"

"I guess. But how—?"

"Don't worry about it, I will lead you. This is only an exercise. That's why I'm going to ask you questions first, ok? You will repeat the same questions or different ones if you want."

She then explained to me some tricks that she'd learned about when a people touched their hair or nose, or when they were biting their nails, arching an eyebrow, or even biting their lips.

"I do that a lot. I mean I bite my lip a lot. You need to learn the weakness of your opponent, Edward. Each person is different. People see and feel differently; but there are some things that are universal, lying is universal." I nodded, thinking that she was right. Everybody lies.

"Ok, question number one. What's your favorite book?"

"Karamazov Brothers." I said, it was the truth.

"Ok, that's a… truth." I checked the paper at the number one.

"Second question, and remember, Edward, you can lie… Are you a virgin?" My eyes popped out, I was shocked, but I did answer.

"No." It was… the truth weirdly enough.

"That was a… God, truth. Yes, I'm sure of it." She nodded then continued.

"Nice. Let's see this one. How many sexual partners have you been with?"

"Two." That was a big fat lie; there had been only one.

"Darn, I don't know. Surely that's a lie. Yep, maybe four, but not two." I laughed.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you are too… hot. I mean, you are really handsome and smart. You don't have a girlfriend, do you? You told me before that you hadn't."

"This is the question number four?" I asked, because I was confused.

"You can say that, yes."

"Not at the moment."

"Well, that's the truth. You didn't even hesitate. Ok, let's move on."

"Do you like me, Edward?" What? Why did she ask me that? Why of all things she could have chosen, she chose to ask me that? Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie!

"No."

"mmmm… nooo hu?" I shook my head.

"No." I said again.

"I see." she was pensive, her finger tapping her chin.

"Why not?"

"Why not what?"

"Why don't you like me? Think this as a part of your exercise, try to convince me why; and I will tell you if it's truth or lie."

"Well, because… because we have nothing in common, and… you are pushy, and" God what was I supposed to say? I couldn't think of any reason of why I wouldn't like Bella. I liked her. All of her.

"I mean, you are… you were in jail." And as soon as I said the words, I regretted them. Even I knew that I was crossing a line here. She looked at me with a face… this face that I couldn't decipher.

"Ok, I believe you," she said.

"Next question…"

And the questions kept going, about everything. But this time they weren't personal, more like trivial things, like favorite food, she guessed everyone except the most important one.

"Do you wanna see the paper?"

I asked her once she finished questioning me.

"No, not really. I know I did guess everyone of them correctly." I wanted to tell her that she didn't, but I couldn't. Because saying that could implicate a lot of things that I couldn't figure it out yet.

"You should start asking me questions, Edward, you can ask the same ones or not. Just… keep them fun, ok?" Fun. Right. Because what she asked was so very fun.

"All right, mmm… first question, what's your favorite book?"

"Oh, no. You know the answer to that already. Another one." I did know. It was Sense and sensibility.

"Right, so how about… your favorite movie?"

"Ghostbusters." Ok, she could have told me any movie and I could have the same problem. Ok, use your tricks. She was looking at me, smiling, big eyes, pouty lips, hands in her lap and shoulders relaxed.

"True." she wrote something in her paper.

"Go on."

"Ok, are you virgin?" She blushed so so deep, almost tomato-red. Then she lowered her eyes and started to touch her hair.

"Yes." Ok, she is twenty-two; she should have a guy in her life at some point, right? God! Use the tricks!

"Lie." She blushed even more and laughed.

"What?" I asked.

"You are so red right now, Edward."

"You are too." I say and I started laughing with her, both of us were laughing so hard till we had tears in our eyes.

"Oh my god, look at you, you are so red."

"You are! I know you are lying because you are so red!"

"Ok, ok. Ok! The answers are at the end, not right now." She was calming herself.

I kept asking her questions, but I didn't ask her whether she liked me or not. I couldn't stand the answer, truth or lie, I just couldn't.

"So, you did well. Nine out of ten." We did only 10 questions each.

"What was the one that I didn't guess right?"

"My favorite food. I don't like peanut butter. I know it's weird but it's true."

"Well, I think it's all thanks to you, I thought that I was going to fail miserably in this test."

"Oh, come one, it's not like you are one of those people who can't read emotions." And then my smile faded, because I was one of those people.

"I mean, that kind of people is awful. They are like shells, casqueds. They don't project anything, they are like strangers even with their own family, it's really sad, but you do, you project something."

"You are wrong," I said in a whisper.

"What?"

"You are wrong."

"About what?"

"I'm a shell, I am a stranger." I took my things and left. Bella was behind me, following me, calling my name, but it didn't matter, because I knew that she knew the truth now. I couldn't lie to her. I couldn't face this lie anymore, but I couldn't confront her like this, I felt… I don't know how I fucking felt; I just ran… and ran.

AN: Someone is a drama queen, but let's be real, Asperger's is not something fun or easy to deal with, but persons can live with it, they are famous people that have this kind of autism like Gary Numan (music band Cars), Bill Gates, Alfred Hitchcock, Isaac Newton, Jane Austen, Albert Einstein, H. C. Andersen,Darwin, Thomas Jefferson, Michelangelo, Mozart,Beethoven, Edison, Woody Allen, Michael Jackson (rumored), Mark Twain, Henry Ford, and many many others. Surprised? I was too.

So as can you see, that syndrome doesn't limit the life of the person that bad, they can function, the problem is in they relationships, family, friends, lovers, etc. Edward is just a man that besides Asperger's is very insecure, he didn't have friends or girlfriends, yes maybe because the syndrome, maybe because the over-protectiveness of his parents, or maybe because is how he coped with his geniality, as you can see many people that have this syndrome have a enormous ability in something else, in this case Edward is a genius in math and logic and THERE ARE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF THIS SYNDROME, so Edward may have a more functional life than other person with AS. I hope this could help you to understand more about Edward and why he is a drama queen sometimes.

REVIEWS ARE LOVE