I am sooooooo sorry that I completely forgot about this story! Right after I posted the first chapter I left to go back packing through Europe. 4 months and my entire bank account later I came home to find out i needed to get surgery. As I've been laying at home recovering I remembered I started this story and I got lots of ideas as to where i wanted it to go. So I'm back now and I hope I still have some readers left! Now on with the story!

Chapter Two: Who is the REAL Edward Cullen?

Edward's POV

What the hell was it about Isabella Swan? The fact that my brother wanted me to stay the hell away from her made it all the more fun. Okay, I know that sounds bad, but I'm joking. No seriously. I'm not really this big bad ass jerk that everyone thinks I am. I may act like it, but the person I really am I keep hidden, protected. Act like an ass, don't get hurt right? Well that's the logic I live by now, I learned the hard way last summer. But I meant what I said, there is something about Isabella Swan. After school I couldn't stop thinking about her. Did she really believe all the bad things she had heard about me? Would she actually listen to my brother and Rosalie and stay away from me? I knew I had an affect on her, that was obvious when I smirked at her. I heard her sharp intake of breath, I could dazzle her. But it just wasn't working the same way it does on every other girl. She wasn't swooning over me. She was fighting it.

"Edward? EDWARD!" Alice snapped in front of my face.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Alice, was daydreaming I guess."

"Yeah no kidding. Jessica is on the phone for you." she said as she rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, just tell her I'm in the shower or something."

If there was one thing I hated, it was pushy girls who couldn't take a hint. I realized I was the object of affection to a lot of girls attending Forks High, but was it my fault I had absolutely no interest in them? It got annoying.

"Fine, but you owe me!" she sang and she skipped out of my room.

"Of course I do." I muttered and rolled my eyes.

I closed my eyes once I heard my door close but about 30 seconds later it flew open again and Alice jumped up onto my bed.

"So… lets talk about Bella!" she said with a big smile on her face.

"What?" I asked, genuinely confused by where this came from.

"Oh puuuuhleeez don't play dumb with me! I see that look in your eye! Plus, you've totally been out of it all day." she said as she placed her hands on her hips.

"So, that doesn't mean it has anything to do with Bella." I tried, but Alice could read me like a book.

"Well you just happen to be acting like this the day you met her plus I totally saw the way you were looking at her during lunch." she raised her eyebrow at me.

There's no way out of it now, she already knows and denying it would be pointless. However, Alice didn't need to know exactly what I was thinking about Bella.

"Fine, I'm just trying to figure out how she wasn't affected by my charm."

It wasn't a total lie, I was curious. Alice just stared at me for a minute before she finally spoke.

"Seriously? That's what you've been thinking about all day! You don't have a crush on Bella?" she asked incredulously.

Crush. that word caught me off guard. I didn't have a crush on Bella. Did I? I mean sure, she was pretty in a not really trying kind of way, plus she wasn't hanging all over me practically drooling. But a crush? Leave it to Alice to plant these ideas in my head and make me even more confused then I already was. Speaking of Alice, she was still standing, hands on hips, waiting for an answer.

"Oh lets be serious for a second Alice. Me have a crush on Bella? I have every girl at that school tripping over each other just to get near me. Why would I choose someone as plain as Bella?"

Way to sound like a prick Edward..

I felt bad about it but I couldn't let Alice know what I was really thinking about. Plus, this would get her off my back for a while. It worked, she shot me a death glare and stormed out of my room, obviously believing what I had said. I was satisfied and decided to turn in for the night, excited because tomorrow was Friday, but also because I would see Bella again.

The next morning I woke up and realized I had over slept and none of my family decided to wake me up.

Nice.

I jumped out of bed at 7:15 and was showered and dressed by 7:22. Record for me. I ran down to the kitchen, grabbing a chocolate chip muffin and the keys to my Volvo before rushing out the door. I was making good time and would probably only be about 5 minutes late to homeroom when I noticed an old orange pick up truck on the side of the road and a small brunette slumped over the steering wheel.

Bella.

Forgetting all about school, I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and jumped out of my car. She didn't notice me approach and when I knocked on the window she just stared at me, not making any move to open the window or door.

"Uh, hey.. Are you okay? Do you need some help?" I asked her through the window.

She finally moved and opened her car door, sliding out to stand in front of me. I waited for her to answer me, to say anything really, but all she did was stand there and stare at me.

"Bella? You alright?"

"What? Uh.. Yea.. I'm good. Umm I was driving to school and my truck broke down." she finally responded.

"Well that doesn't surprise me, it's a piece of shit."

"Well I didn't ask you for your opinion of my truck! In fact I didn't ask you for anything so how about you jump back in your soccer-mom car and continue on your way!" she snapped at me.

I smirked at her little outburst. I enjoyed the effect I had on her, even if it was making her angry.

"Alright, sorry, my bad. Do you need some help?"

"Well I called for a tow truck.. But he may be a couple of hours since there is only one freaking truck in this town!"

"Well do you need a ride to school? That is if you're not totally embarrassed riding in my mom-car." I rolled my eyes sarcastically.

She hesitated for a moment, weighing her options before realizing there was no other option other than sitting in her car for who knows how long.

"Uh, yea sure, I guess. That would be nice thank you." she mumbled without looking up at me.

"My pleasure." I said more to myself as she was already on her way to my car.

I turned up the heat in the car and pulled back onto the road heading towards school. The silence was starting to get to me so I decided to try and spark a conversation.

"Soooo.. Are you going to that thing at Newton's tonight?"

"What? What thing at Newton's?" she asked, still not making eye contact with me.

"Every year Mike has a party at his house to kick off the new school year. His parents are in the Dominican at this time every year so it's the perfect time for a party." I explained. Newton got on my nerves quite a bit. He was always following me around and basically trying to be me. Annoying. But I had to admit, he threw one hell of a party.

"Oh, uhh, I didn't even know about it. Are you going?" still not making eye contact…

"Yea, me, Jazz and Em are going. Plus the ladies of course. You can come with us if you want, I'm sure my sister will probably drag you along anyways." I said.

Friendly enough right? So why the hell was she still not looking at me!

"Yea sounds like fun. I'll talk to the girls about it." she mumbled.

I was never so happy to see the school in my life! Get me out of this awkward situation please!

Only 20 minutes late. Atta boy Cullen.

"Um, thank you for the ride."

"No problem" I answered as I cut the engine and reached for the door handle.

"Edward?" I heard from behind me before I stepped out of the car.

I turned back to look at Bella who was watching her hands in her lap. She looked.. Nervous?

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering, why does everyone think you're such an ass?" she asked, still without looking up.

Hmm how to answer that one… The truth?

"Because I am one." I simply answered as I stepped out of the car.

I heard her door close behind me as I made my way towards the school and her hurried footsteps trying to catch up to me.

"No that's not what I meant Edward." she said as she caught up to me.

I stopped walking and turned to face her.

"Then what did you mean?"

Now she was looking at me, staring right into my eyes and she looked almost.. Sad?

"I guess what I meant was, why do you act that way? Everyone told me you only started acting like this last year, that you have this heart of pure gold. I can see the kindness in your eyes. I know I'm over stepping boundaries here cause we just met but I'm trying to figure you out. What could have possibly happened to make you want to act this way?"

It was the most I had heard her speak since I met her and I instantly knew I was in trouble. This girl wasn't going to just accept my doucheness and be okay with it. She wanted to know about me. The real me. But who is the real me? I thought I used to know. I thought I knew everything, until that one day it all came crashing down… I didn't even want to think of that day. I could feel the tears fighting to break through and I refused to let it happen.

"I am who I am Bella, sorry if you and my family can't accept that." I said and turned around and rushed into the school before she could say another thing.

I am royally screwed!

Bella's POV

What the fuck?

I'd just got it. I'd just got exactly what I had wanted since I first heard about Edward Cullen. I saw the real him. Rosalie was right, something had happened to Edward to change him. And Emmett was right too. I believed that he had that heart of pure gold in there too. Sitting in his car the whole way to school I debated with myself whether or not I should ask him. Would he be mad? Would he tell me to fuck off and get out of his car? I was nervous, but the entire ride he didn't bring his douche-side out to play at all. He was just being Edward. The first answer he gave me left me confused. When I asked why people thought he was an ass, he said it's because he is. But if he knew that, why does he still act like it? What could have happened last summer? And when he finally answered my question then made his speedy escape I saw exactly what he was trying to hide.

Edward Cullen had tears in his eyes.

After I went to the office to get a note for being late it was already a half hour through first period. I walked into History and handed my teacher the note and made my way to the back to sit beside Rosalie.

"Hey where were you?" she whispered as I took my seat.

"My truck broke down on my way, I was waiting for the tow truck."

"Oh, you should have text me I would have came and got you so you didn't have to wait. They take forever sometimes."

"Well actually I didn't have to wait for them, I got another ride." I tried to say innocently but failed miserably.

"Got a ride from who?" she asked and raised her eye brow sceptically.

"Uhh, from Edward?" it came out as more of a question.

"You got a ride from Edward? Seriously? And how did that go?"

"Rose, if I tell you something, do you promise not to tell any of the others?"

Her interest was clearly piqued as she spun around in her chair to face me fully with a gleam in her eye.

"I promise. What is it?"

"I uh, I made Edward Cullen cry.." I sort of whispered the last part.

Rosalie's eyes nearly buggged out of her head as she absorbed what I just said.

"Wait, What? You made him cry? Like balling his eyes out crying or just shed a few tears?"

"Well I didn't actually see him cry. We were talking and his eyes started to get watery and I could see the tears welling up and he turned from me quickly and walked off." I explained.

"Huh. Interesting. What were you guys talking about?" I knew she would ask this question. Would she think I'm an idiot for asking him, for not taking all of their advice and leave it alone?

"Well I asked him why he acted like such an ass. How you guys all said he was actually a nice guy but put up this wall." I said, not really making eye contact with her.

"Wow, you've got balls." she sounded impressed. "And what did he say?"

I was surprised she didn't rip me a new one. Happy actually, cause Rosalie kind of terrified me.

"He said, 'I am who I am Bella, sorry if you and my family can't accept that' then he stormed off."

"That's weird. He is who he is? Except that he's not and we all know that. The fact that he was crying too, yeah that just further proves our theory. Something happened." she said and she looked deep in thought about something.

"Further proves? Why what other proof do you have?" I was interested.

"Well, he started acting this way the beginning of the school year last year and none of us knew why. Like where was the sweet Edward we all knew? The Edward who carried me all the way home after I fell off my bike when we were 6. The Edward who punched Mike Newton in the face in 8th grade after he hit on Alice. Over the span of 3 months our friend had completely disappeared. Honestly, it was devastating, it still is. We all miss Edward, and every once in a while he shows a glimpse of his old self and it just makes us miss him more." she was starting to get tears in her eyes as she spoke.

Wow good job Bella, made two people cry before first period is even over.

"Anyways, a few months ago, Jasper and Emmett decided that enough was enough. They wanted Edward back and they were going to figure it out. So one afternoon we were all hanging out in the Cullen's basement and Emmett called him out on it. He started throwing a fit saying it wasn't anybody's business and why should he tell us. I told him that he could trust us and whatever it was we could help him. He said that there was nobody he could trust, that everybody lied to him and he punched a hole in the wall and ran upstairs. After that we all decided not to bring it up again." she finished saying and by now the tears were rolling down her face.

I didn't know what to say. They were all obviously so affected by this. They all love Edward unconditionally, that was clear. And all they wanted was the old Edward back. But what could have happened to him?

"He said everybody lied to him? Well that's the answer right there. That's what is upsetting him. Someone obviously lied to him about something huge and now he's using his attitude as a defence against everyone. He's scared." I explained as Rosalie wiped her cheeks dry.

"Scared of what?" she whispered.

"Of letting people in."

Sitting at lunch, Rosalie explained to me that we had to let the others know. If we were all going to figure this out they had to be in on it. So I told the other three what had happened before Edward had made his way to lunch. All three of them sat there stunned.

"So he cried? Shit I knew something was wrong with him. When he came into Latin this morning his eyes were blood-shot. Honestly, I thought he was high." Jasper told us. "He didn't even look at me the whole class, then he stormed out right as the bell rang."

"Yeah, he was the same way in English too. I asked him what was wrong and he just told me to piss off. Didn't talk to me the rest of class." Emmett said.

"Well he didn't even show up to calc." Rosalie piped in. "Seriously guys he's going through something. We've all just gotten too comfortable accepting that he's changed when he's practically been silently screaming for help all this time. He needs us guys."

"Incoming." Jasper said quietly, looking behind me.

Edward pulled out the chair beside me and began eating his lunch without even looking at any of us. To say the silence was awkward would be an understatement. He knew. He definitely knew that I told them about this morning. He seemed almost embarrassed.

"So Bella," Alice piped up, "you're coming with us to Mike's party tonight. You can come over to my house after school and we can all get ready together. Oooh and sleepover too! Rosalie is. We can have one big slumber party!" she said while clapping and bouncing in her chair.

"Yeah sure Alice, sounds great." I tried to smile but all I could focus on was the boy sitting beside me.

Lunch passed without any word from Edward. And Calc wasn't as fun today. Emmett was clearly preoccupied thinking about his little brother. I wasn't looking forward to Bio. Would he still be pissed at me? Oh God I hope not. Me and my giant mouth, I just had to ask him didn't I? He was already sitting at our lab table when I arrived. Head down, writing in his notebook. He didn't look up as I sat beside him and I wasn't sure what to do.

Do I talk to him? Sure, why the Hell not. Can't make things any worse!

"I'm sorry." I whispered so quietly I wasn't sure if he heard me.

Apparently he had because he lifted his head and looked right into my eyes. His eyes were so beautiful, so green. But right now, they were sad.

"It's okay Bella." he whispered back almost quieter than I had then he put his head back down. It broke my heart.

I was officially determined. I was going to fix Edward Cullen.

So there you have it! Chapter two! So next chapter will be the party, and we may see a little bit more into the mind of Edward Cullen. What is it that happened to him? Would love to hear from you guys! :) I've already started the next chapter so hopefully i should have it up in the next couple of days!