The next day Esme sent the rest of the kids back to school. They needed some normality in their lives. Also understood was the necessity to monitor to make sure no one was suspicious that anything was off about the Cullen family.

Jasper went home at lunch completely burned out. Every eye in the school was on them all day and the accident was all anyone could talk about. People were genuinely worried about Edward.

Edward turned towards Jasper as he plowed breathlessly through the front door.

"I'm going to spend the next hour hovering like an overprotective idiot but you are literally the only thing anyone at the school is worrying about right now and I'm a blasted empath dammit!" growled Jasper!

"Language!" called Esme from the other room.

"Sorry Esme," Jasper replied.

Edward reached out in approximately the right direction and patted Jasper's hand awkwardly.

"Good aim," commented Jasper.

"Borrowing your eyes," signed Edward.

"Need anything?"

"No."

"I know it but you'll just have to take my word for it that I really had to ask," Jasper's knee was bouncing up and down like he was wired for sound. Edward could feel the vibrations.

In an effort to appease his brother's involuntary need to act as Florence Nightingale and get him to calm the heck down, Edward grunted shifting uncomfortably, wracking his brain for something to give Jasper to do. With Jasper this fried it couldn't involve the obvious pain relief.

"Bored TV you watch I see," he signed tentatively?

"Thank you!" exclaimed Jasper in relief scrambling for the TV remote.

It was a little alarming how badly Jasper had needed to do something for him. Something told Edward that when he was finally ready to go back to school it wasn't going to be much fun.

When everyone else got home, they weren't quite as overwhelmed but they agreed it had been a stressful day.

"The entire school stared at us non-stop," commented Emmett.

"At lunch, after the fifth person commented about how worried we must be, because we weren't eating, I just threw the food out. I don't think we've ever been more human to them," commented Rose, kind of infuriated. She didn't mind people staring because she was lovely but today had been kind of horrible.

"Sorry," signed Edward.

"SHUT UP Ed-TWERP! QUIT APOLOGIZING," roared Rosalie.

It had been a week and a half since the accident. Edward wanted to head back to school. His voice still sounded raw and his eyes looked completely monstrous but he could see a little. Carlisle had to go talk to the school. He had to make reasonable care requests of them based not only on what Edward really needed but based on what his medical record now showed. Carlisle and Edward were meeting with the principal, the school nurse and all of his son's teachers and likely a few other administrators the morning before he was to go back.

"Good Morning Dr. Cullin, good morning Edward," the principal greeted.

Edward nodded in greeting. Carlisle shook hands all around.

"Have a seat," encouraged the principal.

Carlisle pulled the seat out for Edward and helped him into it. Edward fisted a hand in annoyance but said nothing and took the proffered seat. He'd only been able to see for a few days and his vision was still terrible. No one in his family had been able to turn off overly helpful mode.

First the school explained all the new safety measures that had been put into place in the science classrooms.

Carlisle and Edward waited patiently through that part. It was actually good to hear that it was unlikely the accident could be repeated. If Edward had not been a vampire he'd have certainly been permanently blinded. Perhaps the teachers would have gotten him in the washdown faster and the other damage wouldn't have been as severe but safer was better. Hearing about the improved safety measures was the only part of the meeting Edward found gratifying. At least something good was coming out of this mess.

"How have you been Edward," asked Mr. Molina with genuine concern.

"I'm sorry about your arm Mr. Molina and about Mr. Chartwell's black eye. I deeply regret injuring you," Edward spoke in his current soft gravel. His voice wasn't in great shape yet.

The principal cringed as he'd spoken.

"As you may have heard there were cardiac issues and respiratory issues. I have prepared a doctor's note explaining that he is to be excused from any aerobic, or strength training activities for the rest of the year. He can focus on stretching, walking, a little stair climbing but nothing more rigorous." Carlisle passed the paperwork over to the gym teacher who nodded.

Edward could hear every staff member present worriedly remembering, "His heart stopped. I heard it stopped again in the hospital. I don't want to see someone bent over one of my kids doing CPR ever again; the nightmares won't stop."

"I'll prepare an altered lesson plan for him," the gym teacher assured.

"The sunglasses are not a fashion statement. They are medical devices. His eyes were badly damaged and he is extremely photosensitive right now," explained Carlisle gravely.

That's my cue, thought Edward. He took off the dark glasses and rubbed at his eyes and looked up to let everyone get a good look at the vampiric horror that was his eyes and get this over with. Would they have to move or not?

They were shocked, they were horrified but everyone drew a direct line to the acid damage. There was pity and compassion.

"It's only the last day or two he's been able to see at all," added Carlisle sounding honestly exhausted.

Edward squinted at Carlisle trying to get a good look at his eyes. Just how dark were they? He really couldn't see well enough to tell.

Carlisle saw Edward squinting at him and was confused. "What?' He demanded.

(Carlisle hated himself that he'd picked up that particular form of informal address "What?!" it sounded so disrespectful. Although Emmett accused him of using too much formal speech and sounding like an old geezer. To which he'd responded it 'behooves you to respect your elders'. At which point Alice had started chortling about 'bees not having hooves Grandpa. They have tiny little feet.' and well then for the next six months every time they were tracking every footprint was obviously a bee hoof. Anyway…)

"What?" Carlisle demanded.

"When was the last time you ate?" asked Edward, giving up on squinting at Carlisle and putting his glasses back on. "You sound tired and you look awful."

"Well thank you very much," answered Carlisle defensively.

Edward snorted. There were still a few cows left at home. Dad! Edward thought frustrated, I don't, didn't need to be taken care of that badly! "Dad, I'm going to go sit with mom. I don't really..." Edward didn't finish his sentence. He hurriedly got to his feet looking really uncomfortable. Edward went to tattle on Carlisle. Esme would make sure he hunted. In fact, his whole family could fuss at someone else for a while. He might have slammed the door a little.

"I don't suppose it's much fun being talked about like this," observed Carlisle. "He may need preferential seating nearer to the front for a while as his vision is still healing. If he's having headaches due to the eye strain or is just feeling unwell he has permission to go home. Esme will pick him up. He's not cleared to drive a vehicle yet."

"Are there any medications we need to be aware of?" asked the school nurse.

"None that need to be taken at school. Has the school's AED been replaced?" asked Carlisle. "He can't return unless it's been replaced."

"Is he likely to need it," asked Mr. Molina a little hysterically.

"No but I have a duty of care as his Doctor and as his father to ensure the AED has been replaced before a vulnerable student is put into the care of a school where there has been an incident." spoke Carlilse wearily.

"Not yet," admitted the school nurse. They were expensive. It took a little time to get the funding.

"I'll drop one off in about an hour. It can stay on loan until the school board can arrange funding for a replacement. As you know, the one here was defective." He would have happily donated an AED but the school board was particular about how certain equipment was acquired.

"Emotionally, how is he?" asked a woman who'd been sitting in the back of the room.

Oh, crisis response councilor, realized Carlisle. "Unlikely to admit that anything even remotely upsetting might have happened. Really frustrated that he's had to be dependent on anyone and completely determined to pretend nothing happened."

"His brother Jasper on the other hand can't stop checking on him every two minutes and has been having anxiety attacks. I don't expect Jasper will be able to sit through most of his classes today without short breaks to check on Edward.'

"He and Emmett came running to help when they heard Edward was in trouble," offered Mr. Molina.

"Yes, Emmett will likely be inclined to be … overprotective." spoke Carlisle, choosing his words carefully.

"My family was a patchwork of traumatized teen orphans before this incident," admitted Carlisle. It was nothing but the truth.

Edward had already been by the hospital several days ago, supposedly for a check up of some sorts but in reality to be sure the family secret was safe. They were fine on that front.

A few marveled a little at how strong he'd been with the adrenaline of the accident compared to how small and vulnerable he'd looked wrapped in bandages, blind but being carefully led by his father. The whole concept of Edward, the smol bean needs caring for, made a certain teenage vampire feel rather growly.

Most were so embarrassed at how badly the hospital had managed the incident that they were trying to forget the details. Dr. Cullin had been left almost entirely on his own to deal with life threatening injuries to his son. That was not the way things were supposed to work.

As for his eyes, the doctors were curious because red in the irises was non-standard but exactly because he was in a hospital because of his eyes no one batted an eye.

The first day back at school was rough.

The Cullen youths were used to a certain vampiric bubble space around them. When they walked the halls the students parted like the red sea. They were almost never approached.

Apparently after the vulnerability of an extreme accident Edward's vampiric bubble was broken. From the moment he stepped out of Rosalie's car concerned teenage girls swarmed him.

Two actually went so far as to grab him by the hand and try to pull him along or guide him or something. Edward backed up rather overwhelmed. "How are you feeling, are you okay, oh his hands are cold he must need a warmer sweater, how bad are your eyes, I wonder if his heart is okay, He's so pale. I think he needs to sit down. I thought he might have horrible scars. He's still handsome to me. The dark glasses suit him. He looks delicious. I think he needs cuddling. Still so sexy. I want to feed him soup." Edward couldn't distinguish the thoughts from the words as everything was focused on him.

The attention he was getting was indecent. All of his siblings looked a little horrified.

Emmett pushed through, "That's enough, give him some space!" he demanded firmly.

Emmett escorted Edward to his first class. When Emmett looked annoyed he had the biggest vampiric bubble space of any of them because he was huge and looked intimidating. Emmett looked annoyed right now.

In class it was more subdued but it didn't really stop. It was a small school and everyone was always in everyone else's business. Every class was talking about one thing only, the accident and the return of the victim.

Edward was not at all surprised when Jasper, who was not in his class halfway through the period, turned up to check on him. It was inevitable, given the concerned looks every single person was giving him.

Jasper gave him a slightly apologetic salute looking very frazzled standing in the door. "Sorry Edward, force majeure I can't help it," he thought unhappily. "So, how's things?" he thought. Edward watched as Jasper holding himself back to the door visually examined him, scanned for hazards, examined the emotional atmosphere of the room. The teacher starred at Jasper. Jasper ducked his head a little in embarrassment and determinedly pointed himself back in the direction of his own class.

Gym was next. The gym was divided. Senior boys were in half of the gym, the juniors were in the other half. When Edward came out of the change room Emmett and Jasper nodded to him. The gym coach hadn't had time to come up with the planned individualized program yet so while everyone was playing dodgeball Edward was told to walk up and down the bleacher stairs.

Teenage boys are idiots.

"Think you're pretty cool wearing sunglasses indoors?"

'Really?' thought Edward. He'd been slowly pacing the stairs as instructed. This jackass was annoyed at all the attention being paid to the poor klutz who nearly killed himself. 'Are you kidding me?' "My eyes were damaged." He answered in his current hoarse, near whisper.

'Hot shot thinks he's sexy with the dark sunglasses. Saw my girl pawing him up.' Edward was frankly shocked at the idiot's thoughts. With next to no peripheral vision he just didn't see the elbow come out to give him a good shove. Stairs are already an exercise in controlled falls. 'Klutz this!'

It was only two or three stairs but the jerk did succeed in off balancing him and Edward fell ending up on his back, his head probably put a bit of a dent in the gym floor. The glasses went flying skittering off somewhere under the bleachers.

Edward sat up slowly. Everyone in the gym could see his eyes. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'we wanted to know what people would think.' He squinted a little against the bright gym fluorescences.

"Dude, your poor eyes." was the only thought he got off of anyone with respect to what his eyes looked like. Pretty much everyone else was focused on outrage at the guy Jackson who'd quite clearly shoved someone who was vulnerable and hurt down the stairs.

"DUDE! WHat the HeCk! It's his first day!" The nearest jock asked Jackson.

Jasper, who could tell Edward was a little surprised but essentially unhurt, looked under the bleachers for the glasses. He retrieved them. They were broken. Edward had stood up on his own and was brushing himself off. Jasper took his elbow and tugged him toward the coaching office.

"This is getting so old," Edward muttered to Jasper. "Alice is going to be ticked about those glasses. How many hours did she spend picking just the right pair?"

Jasper chuckled a little but since Edward was still squinting kind of painfully he grabbed the coaches mirrored aviator glasses from off the shelf commandeering them for his brother.

"I take it mother hen mood of the day trumps, indignant jock mood of the minute," guessed Edward.

Jasper sighed, "Sorry partner, I could stand a break from this. Wanna ditch gym class and head to the library till lunch?"

Edward nodded.

Esme got called because Emmett broke Jackson's nose. Esme was seriously impressed with Emmett's restraint when she learned what happened in gym class. Emmett got detention and a warning. Jackson got a suspension.

Jackson's parents were indignant that Emmett only got a detention when this Edward boy wasn't even hurt and Jackson's nose was broken. Esme figured if that was his parents' attitude the Jackson boy didn't stand a chance of not ending up an idiot. She wasn't feeling very charitable.

Jasper and Edward went to the cafeteria for lunch a little later. Emmett was still in the principal's office. Rose and Alice were suitably unimpressed with the gym class exploits.

Edward took out his cup of tomato soup. (thermos of cow's blood) As a consequence of fairly severe, still healing damage to his digestive tract, rather than slurping back whole cougars he was still sipping aggravatingly frequent tiny measured servings of domestic herd animals. It tasted so gross it did nothing to trigger the inner beast except to maybe sort of make it whine and say do I really have to drink that?

Stereo thoughts of "Oooh soup! I bet his mom made that for him. That'll make him feel better." were so annoying that Jasper kicked him under the table to get him to stop growling.

Alice pulled out a spare set of $400 Raybans to replace the completely unacceptably unstylish Coach's borrowed sunglasses. Edward glared at her as he took one set of sunglasses off and put the other set on. He did a really good job of ignoring the "Poor Edward, look at his eyes!" thoughts that circled the cafeteria when his eyes were revealed.

"You saw gym class and you let it happen," snarled Edward so low, only a vampire could hope to have heard him.

"Sorry but because of that everyone was so busy feeling sorry for you that no one was disconcerted by the well, you know," Alice explained, giving him her best you know you love me anyway smile.

"Alice, for at least the rest of the day, you are dead to me." Edward snapped.

Jasper thumped his head against the cafeteria table over and over. "I hate this day! Make it stop."

Period three was Biology, the class where the incident had actually occurred. Edward got as far as the door. In fairness, some in the class had been actually traumatized but the wall of thought focused on: Edward this, Edward that, repeat of the acid spill, recall of him screaming, recall of the stench of acid, is he okay, why's he just standing there...

Mr. Melina watched in concern as Edward got as far as the entryway to the class, noped the class, turned around and walked out. His brother Jasper almost magically appeared behind him, slung an arm around Edward's shoulder and left with him. Esme was waiting in the front office.

"Did Alice call?" asked Jasper.

"No dear, when the school called about the incident in gym class I figured maybe a half day was enough for the first day. Did you manage alright with Bella sweetie."

Edward shrugged. She hadn't been fawning at him like some of the girls and the only class they shared was biology. He hadn't gotten past the door. He had noticed Bella was the only one not staring at him. The amount of attention he was getting seemed to make her uncomfortable.

He was still annoyed with her though he knew she'd not really done anything. His birth mother would have scolded him for being ungentlemanly if he'd blamed her for all of this. He could remember mother boxing father's ear for wrinkling his nose when the scullery maid smelled bad and well to behave inappropriately because someone was too appealing in some way was, oh good grief he'd never escape the sensibilities of the 1900's he'd been just about to use the word scandalous. Emmet was right. He should be sitting on a porch somewhere shaking a cane at the kids these days.

"Bella was nice and her blouse was pretty," Edward announced defiantly.

Jasper tripped over his own feet then stared at Edward doing his very best not to laugh at his younger brother.

Esme tried very hard not to smile.

"That annoys you?" Jasper commented amused.

Esme giggled.

"I didn't bite her. Does anything else really matter?" Edward groused.

Alice and Rosalie toilet-papered Jackson's house that night.

"Alice, you did let it happen," commented Rose. "Why were you so quick to get revenge? Even if this is kind of juvenile… Esme went overboard stocking the house to keep CPS away. We have way too much toilet paper. "

"I let it happen because it helps protect our family and I love you all. Jackson though? He was just a jackass that was unkind to someone I care about."

"Fair enough."