Author's Note: Thank you all for your lovely reviews! They bring me a touch of anxiety and then brighten up my day in a way that not even my dog can! In response, here's the next chapter. The next one will be longer, I promise!

Anatomy and Physiology was after lunch. It took me a moment to realize I was surrounded by seniors—Charlie had messed with my schedule. Obviously, my Biology II class wasn't good enough for him.

"Are you going to go in or just stand in everyone's way?" I heard Rosalie behind me. I couldn't move fast enough into the room for her, turning to watch as she made her way into the room with a smirk. My eyes rolled upwards as I shook my head. The person that followed her was certainly not a high schooler—he looked like he belonged in college rather than high school, especially with his giant arms and broad swagger. He paused in front of me, his hand dropping ontop of my head like we were siblings.

"Bella!" he exclaimed, pointed messing up my hair. "Finally, someone to even the scale, yeah? I heard you gave Edward and Alice migraines." He shot me a wink before following Rosalie to the back of the class.

Jasper followed after him, offering me an apologetic smile as he helped me make sense of the mess that was my hair now. "My.. siblings are very lively."

"I noticed," I grumbled half-heartedly. It was actually nice having not to pretend to be human around these people. It was different in a good way.

He bumped my shoulder in a friendly manner before nodding towards Emmett and Rosalie. "Come sit with us."

I followed him, lips slowly pulling upwards into a smile. This was almost like having real friends. Now all that was left was for me to accidentally reach out with my energy and freak them out.

My mood dropped at the thought and Jasper gave me a curious glance as we sat down. Emmett's shaking leg caught my eye, brow raising at the human nervous tick. Rosalie was drawing designs on Emmett's large arm with a nail, head propped up with her hand.

It was the only time I'd actually seen them looking mildly human. Now take away the too perfect hair and pale skin and add a few zits and they would fit in.

The teacher, Mr. Butcher, made his entrance quickly and started taking role before class had even started. Anxiety filled me as I quickly pulled myself from my seat with my slip that I was supposed to have all my teachers sign. It was obvious that I'd either forgotten or had skipped class from the empty slots.

I handed it to him, lips twisting as he paused calling role to stare at it.

"Isabella Swan, eh? You didn't get signatures for your other classes."

Of course he was going to call me on it. I just knew I wasn't going to enjoy this semester with someone like him breathing down my neck.

"There was an emergency with my dad," I told him quietly, knowing the kids in the first row were trying desperately to hear me while the vampires in the back would hear it like I was screaming.

Butcher raised his brows, "Oh?" He wanted me to go on.

"It's private, sir," I pushed out through clenched teeth.

The teacher looked like he wanted to argue—chastise me, color rising on his cheeks in annoyance at my small rebellion.

"Shark week," Emmett coughed from the back, hacking out his laughter from trying to cover for me.

Butcher promptly went red in embarrassment rather than from anger, muttering a few things under his breath before signing my slip and letting me off. I returned to my seat as fast as I could, not sure if I should thank Emmett or be annoyed by him.

"Thanks, I guess?"

He snorted, eyes rolling. "Oh, the pleasure is all mine. Butcher is a hard-ass. I made a game of making him super uncomfortable."

And then he promptly turned to Rosalie, hand reaching behind her head to fist itself into her hair and drag her closer to openly kiss her soundly.

Forget the teacher—they made me uncomfortable! I looked away from them quickly, finding Jasper staring at me. He shrugged just a bit, ignoring the teacher that was trying to yell at Emmett and Rosalie to distance themselves.

"Bella, are you alright?" he asked quietly, head tilting as if he was listening to something.

"I'm fine."

"Bella, your emotions have been going hay-wire."

I blinked at him, brows furrowing. "How would you know that?"

"Because you're shoving them at me?"

I drew in a sharp breath when I realized I am touching him with my energy, invisible fingers poking and prodding for a reaction.

"I am so sorry!" I squeaked, drawing my energy back and shoving it into a jar within me, trying desperately to screw on the cap. Embarrassment spread through me and I could have screamed. There goes the pretend friends I had made.

"No worries," he laughed quietly, his gray eyes softening at the corners. Those eyes seemed to stare through me, cutting all the layers of protection I'd built up. "You're still relatively new, aren't you? Being... you." He pauses, eyes casting about us before saying 'you'. He was cautious at least, not willing to throw me under a bus.

I lower myself further into my chair, slumping over. "It's pretty obvious, sadly."

He didn't judge me for being a noob, instead, I felt his energy reach out to mine, soothing my ruffled feathers and emotions.

"How are you able to do that?" I questioned quietly. I had only heard of other witches being able to reach out to one another—it was used to calm and offer strength even if they couldn't physically. The years I had spent without it had made me feel like a lone island, thousands of miles away from my people.

He turns his head my way just a bit, slumped over in his seat with his head resting on his arms like a typical high schooler. At least their mannerisms fit in. "It's my ability. Empathy. I can.. taste your emotions and influence them." His voice was the softest whisper and I knew humans around us wouldn't be able to hear it. Humans and witches had slightly physiology—the smallest difference that allowed my senses to be heightened minutely.

Things were clicking into place—its why I'd felt him reach out to me and why my magic immediately slapped the attempt away. It hadn't been able to ascertain whether he meant me harm or not—where it was able to now.

It made me wonder, my pencil pausing from copying the words Butcher had etched over the chalkboard. "You could have witch ancestry."

He turned to stare at me fully and I could feel Emmett and Rosalie's attention.

"That makes sense," Emmett murmured behind us.

"Mmm."

I turned my full attention back to the class despite knowing Butcher had nothing to offer me in the way of education. I had already studied the human physiology in depth to better take care of Renee—the woman was childish and bird-brained. Someone had to care for her. I couldn't decide if I was glad it wasn't me anymore or if I was melancholy over it.

No, I had bigger things to worry about. Like the fact that my school was crawling with vampires. At least the three here seemed alright. My mind went back to the pair that had glared me down rather rudely in the cafeteria.

"So.." I murmured quietly, the vampires perking up. "Can any of you tell me why I caused the other two of you to freak out?"

Emmett let out a soft snort. "Because you leveled the field. They like control and you threaten it."

I frowned, my lips twisting. "Control freaks," I muttered quietly. It reminded me of Renee.

Rosalie shrugged, holding up her nails for her inspection like the typical high schooler that was obsessed with vanity. "They're our siblings. There's a reason for it in the very least."

"Only they use it as a crutch," Emmett grumbled, obviously bitter about something.

"Edward doesn't fight fair," Jasper leaned over to inform me helpfully, his voice soft. It sent a shot of something like electricity as it tickled my ear. I fought down the blush, nodding as I shoved a thankful emotion his way so he wouldn't sense my unease.

He seemed pleased to have helped me, and even more pleased with how I showed him my gratitude.

"Group up!" Butcher called from the front of the class, sending a gruff glare to the back. He didn't care for the fact that we obviously were not paying attention. "Groups of two, students."

Behind us, Rosalie waited with a pointed stare that had Emmett immediately lift his desk (that was too small for him) and drop it next to her.

Anxiety welled in me when I realized the attention of countless human boys that had quickly turned in their seats to try to catch my eye. I let out a sigh of relief when Jasper slid his desk next to mine with a snicker, sending a triumphant smirk towards the lesser boys.

"Thanks," I muttered under my breath. I didn't want to mingle with some random boy with whom I had nothing in common with.

"It's not like I wanted to be paired with any of the vultures either, Bella. You're doing me a favor as much as I'm doing you one," he chuckled, his energy reaching out to smooth mine once more. "Are you anxious because it's your first day or is this just you being.. you?"

"It's all me," I groaned, letting my head drop as I felt the attention draining from me thankfully. "The doctors I was forced to go to call it social anxiety. I call it human-anxiety."

His brow raises, the smirk unable to slip from his face. I could feel his humor press against me as our arms brushed, curiosity lacing it. "Oh? Aren't you supposed to be some kind of representative of humans?"

I let out a snort, not bothering to move my arm away. He was referring to a witch's role in the world though it was nice to know how he was feeling—it all felt less invasive. It was strange how it didn't bug me as much as someone poking at my mind did. "I'm a crappy representative, if you ask me. I was picked on for the majority of my school life. I don't hold too much love for them."

"You say that.. But somehow, I don't believe you."

I looked at him dubiously, brows furrowing. I didn't know what he meant by that and all he was giving me on the emotion front was a calm certainty.

The bell rang out our escape from class without me even realizing what we were supposed to be doing for our groups. Jasper felt my worry, quickly handing me a paper as he stood with his gathered books. "We have a group project. I wrote down the particulars. It's not due for a few weeks but it would be best to get it completed quickly to ensure you got a good grade."

"Oh, yeah. That's fine," I nodded.

"Probably shouldn't bring her home, Jasper," Emmett advised in a strangely calm manner. From what I'd just learned about him, he was typically happy go lucky, but he was very serious about me not going to their house.

"Likely to start a riot," Rosalie agreed.

I followed them out of the classroom, brows furrowing. There was something there that I was missing, something that wasn't being spoken but what clearly acknowledged by the look on Jasper's face. "You guys are vegetarian, though, right? Why wouldn't I?"

Not that I particularly wanted to go into a vampire's den, but not being allowed to rubbed me wrong.

Rosalie shared a look with Emmett and then stared down Jasper but he didn't look like he wanted to say anything. She huffed before directing her statement to me.

"Because Alice is Jasper's mate. And a jealous vampire, no matter how unfounded, isn't pleasant."