A/N: Hi. Thanks to everyone for reading and even for reviewing my story. You're very nice :)

Here's another chapter, hope you'll enjoy it.

EDIT: 08/10/2018 A few grammatical errors fixed.

Chapter three

The next morning I found Agnes perched on a branch of the tree outside of my window. It turned out that she only wanted to see if I was alive because after a few minutes she flew off again. She was used to certain freedom at Hogwarts and hated being locked up in her cage so she wasn't going to spend much time with me now when she was free again. It wasn't like I was going to need her anytime soon anyway.

After breakfast with Charlie I went to get ready for school. I picked my things and was headed for my truck. Charlie had already left, he usually started work early.

Since I already knew what to expect, I wasn't as nervous as yesterday. That didn't mean that I was looking forward to it. I'd spent last night reading my DADA books and I didn't do anything to improve my lacking knowledge of my new school subjects. I just hoped that the teachers would leave me alone today and wouldn't ask me any questions.

I was wrong, of course. I was asked questions in History and Math and wasn't able to answer both times. I felt like a complete idiot. I promised myself to work harder so I wouldn't fail my exams if I ever got that far in the first place.

I sat with a big group at lunch that included Mike, Eric, Jessica and several other people. I couldn't help myself and looked towards the table when the Cullens had sat yesterday – I saw four of them sitting there. Edward was not with them.

He wasn't in Biology either. I really wanted to think about it but I had to focus on what the teacher was saying. I couldn't afford to be even more behind with schoolwork than I already was.

On my way home I stopped at the library to get the books I needed to read. There were quite a few of them, so as soon as I got home I started to read one of them, Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights. Then Charlie got home and I prepared dinner for us, this time Spagetti Carbonara. I was beginning to enjoy cooking.

Nothing interesting happened during the rest of the week. I was struggling to keep up with the classes at school and then I usually made dinner and did more schoolwork at home. There was no time to think about the mysterious Cullens or about the war in Britain. And Edward Cullen was still missing.

One evening, it was Friday, I was sitting at the table eating dinner with Charlie. Suddenly I had an idea.

"Dad?" I started hesitantly.

"Hm?"

"Do you know the Cullen family?" I asked watching closely his reaction.

"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man," he said lifting his eyebrows.

"They… the kids… are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school."

Charlie suprised me by looking angry.

"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," he continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him – lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature – I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should – camping trips every other weekend… Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."

I stared at him for a few moments. It was the longest speech I'd ever heard Charlie make.

I backpedaled. "They seemed nice enough to me. I just noticed they kept to themselves. That's all." I shrugged.

He seemed to calm down a bit and we finished the dinner in silence. He cleared the table while I started on the dishes. I couldn't wait for being able to do it by magic. I hated housework.

After I finished I went to my bedroom and took a piece of paper from my bedside table. It was a list of signs how to recognize a vampire I'd made when I was reading my old DADA books a few nights before. I'd decided to stick with my vampire theory because it was the best theory I could think of. There were many signs that fit. Their white skin, their beauty, their unnatural stillness. Also there was the mention of two animal drinking vampire covens that lived in North America. One was known to live in Alaska, the other didn't have permanent residence because they had to move from one place to another every few years.

Still it didn't explain Edward's mysterious disappearance.

There was something about me that made him uncomfortable. Just him not the others. Though the others had never been anywhere near me. Maybe witches and wizards smell different to vampires. I knew we were immune to some of the Gifts that some vampires have but I couldn't find anything about smell. Then I remembered the vampire at Slughorn's party. He didn't seem to mind being surrounded by wizards. So apparently this wasn't the problem.

Then I remembered something. Something I read in the Hogwart's library a few years ago. It was a story about a vampire who fell in love with a human girl who smelled so good to him that he couldn't control himself and killed her. I wondered if that really could happen or it was just a story.

My first weekend in Forks passed without incident. Charlie, unused to spending time in the usually empty house, worked most of the weekend. I didn't mind. I cleaned the house which took me most of the Saturday because I couldn't use magic. I remembered a list of housework spells that I'd gotten from Mrs Weasley and that laid safely in my drawer. I sighed. One more week and I would be seventeen and this torture would be over.

I cleaned Agnes' cage but there wasn't much to clean because she'd spent most of the time outside. Sometimes she appeared just to check on me and then she was gone again. I knew she wasn't far though and if I ever needed her, she would be here.

I spent the whole Sunday doing schoolwork and reading Wuthering Heights. It was quite a short book so I could check it off as finished on my reading list.

People greeted me in the parking lot Monday morning. I didn't know all their names, but I waved back and smiled at everyone. It was colder this morning but not raining. In English, Mike sat next to me. We had a pop quiz on Wuthering Heights. It was surprisingly easy so I felt good about it.

My good mood lasted until lunch. I walked to the cafeteria with Angela. I quite liked Angela. She didn't talk much and didn't ask questions about my previous school. I glanced toward that table in the corner out of habit. And then I froze where I stood. There were five people at the table.

I didn't know why I had been taken aback like that. I knew either he would be back one day or they all would be gone.

"Are you alright, Bella?" asked Angela quietly.

"What?" I turned back to her, confused. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine," I said and my cheeks turned pink.

Angela didn't ask any more questions and after we bought our food she led the way to our usual table. I tried to eat something but for some reason I'd lost my appetite. What was wrong with me? I wasn't afraid of vampires, not the animal drinkers. I'd decided that they must have been pretty civilized, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to stay around humans. But I couldn't get his gaze full of hatred and hunger from last week out of my head.

I briefly considered skipping Biology but then I decided that I wasn't such a coward. I quickly glanced at the Cullens family table. Edward didn't look angry. In fact, he and his siblings were quietly talking and even laughing.

I quickly looked back and tried to listen to a conversation at our table. They were talking about a weekend trip to the beach. I'd been invited but I wasn't sure I wanted to go. It would be my birthday and I wanted to spend it with Charlie. I didn't tell anyone about it.

After lunch I took a deep breath and headed to the Biology class with Angela. Once inside the classroom, I saw with relief that my table was still empty. The teacher, Mr. Banner, was walking around the room, distributing one microscope and a box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes and the room buzzed with conversation. I kept my eyes away from the door, doodling idly on the cover of my notebook.

I heard very clearly when the chair next to me moved, but my eyes stayed carefuly focused on the pattern I was drawing.

"Hello," said a quiet musical voice next to me.

I stared in front of me for a few seconds before I slowly turned to face him. He was smiling politely and his eyes were... gold. So I was right. He was an animal drinking vampire. Their eyes turn gold after drinking animal blood instead of red. That meant his family must be one of the North America covens.

"My name is Edward Cullen," he continued. "I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan." Of course he knew perfectly well who I was. People were undoubtedly talking about me and he had superhearing.

"Uhm... hi," I said when I realised I had been staring at him like an idiot.

I quickly turned back to the teacher as he explained the lab we would be doing today. The slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. We weren't supposed to use our books. In twenty minutes, he would be coming around to see who had it right.

I sighed and moved the slides slightly so they were in the middle of the table. I had no idea what a mitosis was. I tried really hard not to look desperate.

"You don't know what you're supposed to do, do you?" Edward asked sounding amused. There was no point lying so I just shook my head staring bluntly at the microscope.

"Pretend you're looking into the microscope, then," he suggested and I just nodded again.

I wondered why he was trying to be nice. Sure he must have fed because he wasn't hungry and it was always easier for vampires to be around humans then. But it wasn't the hunger that had scared me. It was the hatred.

We worked in silence, I looked into the microscope, he pretented to check after me and then he wrote it down. When we were finished I looked around and saw that everyone else was still working.

Which left me with nothing to do but try not to look at him… unsuccesfully. I glanced up and he was staring at me, that same inexplicable look of frustration in his eyes.

Mr. Banner came to our table then, to see why we weren't working. He looked over our shoulders to glance at the completed lab and then stared more intently to check the answers.

"So, Edward, didn't you think Isabella should get a chance with the microscope?" Mr. Banner asked.

"Actually, Bella identified three of the five," Edward lied smoothly. I tried not to look surprised and nodded with a slight smile.

Mr. Banner looked at me now. His expression was skeptical.

"Have you done this lab before?" he asked.

"Eh... no. But it wasn't that hard," I lied. Mr Banner just mumbled something and walked away.

"Thanks," I mumbled to Edward.

"No problem." He shrugged.

I started doodling again not wanting to look at him. I could feel his eyes watching my face.

"You came here from Britain," he said suddenly.

I looked up, surprised. I had the feeling that he was forcing himself to make small talk with me. He was waiting for me to say something.

"Uhm... yeah," was all I could manage. I hoped he wouldn't ask why.

"Why?"

Great. I really didn't feel like telling the truth to a stranger even if there wasn't such a thing as the International Statute of Secrecy. Not even when he was a vampire so technicaly he was a part of my world. But not all vampires knew about us, only the old ones that remembered times before the Statute of Secrecy. I hadn't even told Charlie the real reason why I came here. He only knew that I wasn't safe in Britain anymore.

For some reason I didn't want to lie to Edward. He was watching me, waiting for the answer again, his eyes looked like he was trying to decipher something.

"It's complicated," I said with a sigh.

"I'm sure I can keep up," he insisted.

"I couldn't stay there. There have been some... complications," I said after looking for the right word.

"What complications?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I really really didn't.

He must have heard the urgency in my voice because he didn't press further.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled but he continued staring at me. It made me very nervous so I turned back to face the front of the room.

"You look sad," he said after a minute or so.

"I miss my old school," I said honestly before I could stop myself.

"You miss your school?" he asked sounding incredulous. "There're not many people who would say that." He was smiling now.

Not many people go to a school of magic, I thought and grimaced.

"It was a good school and I had friends there," I said in a bit irritated tone.

"Am I annoying you?" he asked quietly.

"No. I just don't understand why you're so interested in my life." I finally turned to him again.

His face was apologetic.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "I didn't mean to upset you."

Mr. Banner called the class to order then, and I turned with relief to listen. Edward had seemed engrossed in our conversation, but now I could see, from the corner of my eye, that he was leaning away from me again, his hands gripping the edge of the table with unmistakable tension.

When the bell finally rang, Edward rushed as swiftly and as gracefully from the room as he had last Monday.