Me, the whole time I'm writing this chapter: It's okay that it's bad, because I can just edit it later.

Thank you all so, so much for your kind comments. I very much appreciate each and every one of you. Some people are using the comments to ask questions about the direction of certain aspects of the story, so to those who do, here's my answer once and for all: you'll have to wait and see, it's a surprise :)

I'm getting excited about the direction of this story, I hope you all stay tuned!

Thanks for supporting. TW for suicidality

Edward's POV

When the bell rings, I rise to my feet. I'm not eager to spend another minute in this class, and I catch Jessica's eyes on my way to the door. She is conflicted about whether to meet me or Bella after class.

The decision is made for her when Mr. Banner tells Bella to stay after to talk to him. I look in his direction, a question on my lips when he says, "You're dismissed, Mr. Cullen."

I want to argue, but I fear my intervention has thus made things harder for the girl, so I march into the hall, Jessica hot on my heels.

"Whoa," she says. "I've never seen you back talk a teacher before."

The door closes behind her, but I hold up a finger to her.

"What?" She asks.

"I'm listening to them."

She blinks a few times in confusion, laughing breathily as she says, "You can't hear them."

I just shake my head and tune in to the conversation.

Mr. Banner is going over the doctor's note with Bella. He explains that while she has a legitimate means of use for it, disrespect in the classroom is unacceptable. The poor girl doesn't argue with him but agrees and apologizes. This calms Mr. Banner, who says that after she serves her detention, he will take this infraction off of her permanent record.

"Well, I gotta go. Bus is leaving." I wave absentmindedly at an extremely skeptical Jessica.

He says that she will have an opportunity to retake the quiz from today, which, according to him, is an exceptional gift which is rarely given. The kind girl just thanks him.

Even though he doesn't revoke her detention, he spends a great deal of time detailing why the classroom only works if there is an atmosphere of respect, one which he hopes she will cultivate, and not bring any bad habits from Pheonix in with her.

Mr. Banner fancies himself a life couch and thinks about what kind of trouble she must have been getting in before. In his mind, all of her troubles are over if she takes his one time offer to learn to submit to authority.

He tells her such; saying that though it all felt unfair now, one day she would see his "tough love" approach would be what led her to succeed, and really, she should be thanking him.

She does thank him, and she makes her way out of the door, looking around expectantly but looking surprised when it's me that her eyes land on.

"I'm sorry," I begin, but she shakes her head.

"Forget it, he's a jerk."

Comparing this to her demeanor of respect towards the man a moment ago, I'm taken aback.

"Did Jessica leave?"

"She did." The girl nods, mouthing an O.

"Anything I can assist with?"

Her cheeks flush, which seems to be a common them for the girl.

"I just, don't quite know my way around…"

"I'd be happy to—"

"Don't worry about it." She murmurs, cheeks and ears reaching a new color of magenta I had previously not thought possible.

It's now that I'm reminded of the pressing issue of not hearing her thoughts. If I could hear them right now…

"I insist. Besides, I fear I've caused to enough trouble today to leave you lost in the maze of this school."

She hesitates, taking me in slowly with mistrusting eyes. Perhaps with the experience she has had in life, she would feel safer in the company of another young girl, like Jessica, than a man. A prejudice which might be explained by whatever history caused her to have such bruised skin.

"Although, if you're taking the bus, I may need to offer you a ride instead."

She seems to have finally reached a conclusion.

"No, my friend is picking me up."

She looks around, as though another option could appear out of the clear blue.

"Alright, if you don't mind…"

"Not at all."

I point her in the direction, and we start walking. "But overall, was your first day a total bust?"

"Not totally." She allows. "I can retake the quiz…"

I nod curtly. "Well, he knows there are certain rules even he can't break."

Bella nods. "Not a great look…" She trails off, looking around the hallway. "You're not supposed to discriminate or anything like that."

I nod in agreement, taking in her pattern of speech. She seems to have trouble processing thoughts and with expressing what she's thinking, which would align with her having a concussion.

"If I ask you something, will you tell me the truth?" She asks, looking up at me, a new clarity in her eyes.

The blunt nature of her question catches me off guard, but I agree quickly.

"How did you do that to the pencil?" She asks. When she sees my confused expression, she says, "Break it? It's like you crushed it with just your fingers."

Immediately I regret agreeing to be honest.

"I'm just very strong." I say after a pause.

She turns to look at me, looking more confused than she did previously. The girl looks mistrusting, but she eventually accepts this at face value, the way humans so often do. What alternative is there? She would hardly assume any supernatural element before she tried to accept a reasonable answer.

"If I ask you something, will you answer honestly?" She mulls it over for a moment, then nods.

"Did you really fall down stairs in Pheonix?"

She winces, and takes a very long time to respond, especially by human standards.

"I'm naturally very clumsy."

Her hands are shaking now when I'm certain they weren't previously. The question seems to have triggered her in some way, so I decide to back off. She doesn't look at me as we continue.

Maybe it's all the decades of being able to rely on mind reading a truth detector, but I feel confident in deciding whether someone has been honest with me. It seems she chose her words very carefully, so as not to be a lie, and not to reveal more than she wishes.

I feel there's something greater I could attribute to her behavior. She is very gentle natured, slow to speak, patient… Very few humans act the way that she does.

We reach the front doors at the same time as a taller boy I don't recognize does. Bella perks up at the sight of him, and he looks relieved when he sees her.

"I thought you were lost, loca."

Bella rolls her eyes, as though this was never a possibility.

"Of course not," She breathes.

The boy looks from her to me, then freezes. It's then that his scent reaches me, and I wonder why I didn't recognize the werewolf right away.

"Hey, man." He says, his previously warm and kind voice icy and guarded. Bella looks between us, confused.

"Jake this is Edward, he's in my bio class…" She trails off, looking between us as Jake takes me in, sizing me up as though for a fight.

I smile, "I was just seeing Bella out."

"Uh huh." The boy says curtly, and Bella, eyes wide, says, "Well, anyways. Thank you, Edward."

She waves to me, and I stand motionless as she and her companion make their way to the door, with him wrapping his arm around her shoulders as though to protect her from me.

I feel a strange heat rising inside of me. While there is no shortage animosity between our two kinds, there is something about the way the boy is defensive about Bella leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And why is the girl from Arizona already in company with Washington werewolves? I'm mulling over the events of the last few minutes when Alice appears beside me.

"You got in trouble?" She asks, breaking my focus.

I shake my head. "What did you see?"

Alice laughs.

"Just a vision of Esme getting a phone call about you sassing your teacher. It just doesn't sound like you, Eddy."

I sigh.

"Strange things happen every day."

When we make our way to the car, Rosalie and Emmett are waiting. Jasper didn't come today, so Alice and I fit more comfortably into the back seat. Rosalie looks at me in the rearview mirror a few times before she says, "Okay, Edward, what?"

My eyes dart to her.

"What?"

"You're sulking. Do you want to talk about it?" Her tone is snide and annoyed, so I roll my eyes, sinking further into my seat.

"When is he not sulking?" Emmett laughs good naturedly.

"He got in trouble." Alice offers, looking between the three of us with a knowing nod. "With Mr. Banner."

Rosalie and Emmett turn to me, surprised indeed by this revelation.

I roll my eyes again.

"What did you do?" Emmett asks.

"He won't tell me!" Alice exclaims, throwing her arms in the air.

"How much trouble?" Rosalie asks.

"Detention." I sigh, closing my eyes at the thought. "Phone call home."

Rosalie's jaw drops and Emmett laughs.

"Wow, who would have thought that Edward would be the first one to get a phone call home from school?" Emmett says.

I scowl, but the looks of concern from the three of them only irritates me further.

"And he can't hear the new girl's thoughts."

That really stuns the energy in the car, and I groan again, closing my eyes and resorting to ignore them.

Bella's POV

"Who was that guy?" Jake demands gruffly. I side eye him.

"My boyfriend."

He turns his head sharply and I laugh, pointing to him.

"You're the one who immediately believed me."

His grumpy mood isn't improved at all by my jokes, so I sigh, looking forward again.

"I don't know, he's Jessica's friend. Mr. Banner held me after class, and he was the only one there when I was lost."

Jake sighs. "Is that why you were running late?"

I shrug. "It's not like I move that fast in the first place."

He looks at me, and his eyes are pained.

"I was just worried about you. Everyone else had trickled out and you weren't around—" His voice catches on the last syllable and I wince.

"I'm sorry." I murmur, and I am. I'm sorry for all the grief I cause everyone these days. I'm sorry I can't be late without making my friend worry about my safety.

"I got in trouble."

He stops, turning to me.

"You did?" I nod solemnly.

"I know."

"Have you ever been in trouble before in your life?" He laughs now, as though the thought is just that funny.

I shrug. "Not at school."

"Well, what happened?"

I sigh. My emotions were already running high today, and with the overwhelm of the situation in general, I feel foggy on details.

"I back talked Mr. Banner." He stares blankly, because apparently that statement is so far away from how he imagines me it needs further elaboration.

We're at the truck now, and I sit down with a heavy sigh, throwing my book bag on the floor.

"It wasn't really fair." My voice cracks, and the withheld emotions of this afternoon are suddenly catching up with me. Jake begins to back out of the parking spot. "He told me to take a quiz, and I tried to explain to him about the doctor's note, but it was like he was looking for a fight. He yelled at me." I feel a tear run down my cheek and wipe it away, annoyed at the slip.

Jake's face is as red as mine, and he abruptly puts the car in park.

"I'll talk to him."

I jump to put my hand over his, eyes pleading.

"Don't, please." I beg.

"No, Bella, someone's gotta talk some sense into that d—"

"Edward did and now he has detention with me. Please, no, Jacob. Please."

His anger softens to confusion, but he shakes his head.

"What's he gonna do to me? I don't go here."

I groan.

"He'll go harder on me Jake. Come on, please. I don't want him to think I'm turning people against him."

That one is hard to argue with. I know he would get in trouble for me, but I don't think he wants to cause any. Jacob sighs.

"Why did Edward get detention?" His tone is still frustrated, as though he is struggling to process this news.

"He talked back too. About the doctor's note and circumstances or whatever."

Jake's stare is even, taking me in. After a long pause he says, "I didn't know he had it in him to be nice."

I roll my eyes. "Do you like, hate him, or something?"

Jake pauses for a long moment.

"We don't really get along."

I look up at him, wondering, then drop it. One of the things I really don't need to burden myself with right now is the ins and outs of why teenage boys in this town don't get along.

My current mental load is overwhelmed with simple things like washing my hair, getting out of bed, taking the medicine the psychiatrist has me on. I try to focus on those things, though, and remind myself that my biggest threat is across the country and not here. I'm safe here.

"I was thinking," Jacob says slowly. I raise my eyebrows, looking up at him.

"It might be a good idea to get you a cell phone."

I cringe. The last thing I want right now is to be more connected with the greater world. Connecting with the small Forks high school today has drained most of my life force, I don't want other people to have access to me. I don't want my mother to be able to reach me, or Phil, or…

I wince, the name almost crossing my mind is enough to trigger me. I grab the handle of the truck with a shaky hand and say, "I don't know, Jake…"

"Hey," He keeps his eyes on the road but reaches his hand out to mine. I hesitate before I take it.

"I'm not saying you need to like, get on Facebook or anything. But it would just be nice if I or even Charlie could get in touch with you during the day."

I don't want this. I don't want to be accessible.

The only thing that I really want right now is to hide away in my tiny corner of the universe, safe in my childhood bedroom, in the small town of Forks. I don't want to go to high school. I don't want to text people. I want to be safe, and a phone would compromise that for me. It's not something I can do.

"Jacob," I groan, covering my face with my hands.

"You can change your number, only give it to people you actually like—"

"People can find out your number— and then— and then you're just, exposed, and you don't have any control over who has access to you—"

"That doesn't make any sense, Bella."

We're pulling into my driveway now.

"Yes, it does! I don't want a phone, Jacob, drop it." I groan.

I'm going to kill you when I find you.

"Bella, they don't just give out phone numbers of random girls on Google."

I'm going to kill you.

"Jacob," I warn through gritted teeth, eyes unfocused as I struggle to breathe.

"It's a safety thing, Bella."

"No, it's not!"

My voice has risen to a yell, and I completely lose control of my body. My arms and legs are shaking so badly I can't control them anymore, and I feel a pain in my chest so great that I scream out in pain. I'm taking short, uneven breaths, and in my lost and foggy state, I wonder vaguely if I will die of asphyxiation.

Jake is on the other side of me now, the car isn't moving. He tries to hold my face in his hands, but I hit him, forcing him away. Like it's not my own voice, I hear myself telling him not to touch me, not to hurt me. In my rage, I begin to scratch at my own neck and arms, desperate for some level of control over the situation. This alarms Jacob, who grabs my hands.

"Bella, Bella look at me. You're here with me."

Eventually my breath slows, and he lets go of my hands. I touch my face and find tears still running down them.

"Do you need to go to the doctor?" Jake whispers softly, as though speaking too loudly would spook me.

Maybe it would.

I shake my head, not looking at him. I'm thinking about how I can see the green trees, the green grass, the green moss….

"It's just in my head," I croak. "It's not anything else."

Jake is silent now.

"Maybe they have pills for that, Bella."

I look at him now. I take the time to really feel his warm hand in mine. The concern in his brown eyes, the worry creased into his young forehead.

"I'm not crazy."

"I don't think you are, Bells, but—"

"I can't take them."

Jake shakes his head, looking down.

"I'm serious Jake. Please drop it."

To his credit, he does. I insist on walking myself in, but when that immediately proves to be too great of a task, Jake carries me in and lays me on the couch. Either he's gotten much stronger since last summer, or I've lost weight, because he doesn't even break a sweat.

He tucks me in with a warm quilt and collapses on the recliner. He turns on the news, and I try to listen to it with my eyes closed.

After what feels like just a moment of closing my eyes, I open them to find that the sun has set and the tv is off. I start when I see Jake isn't sitting on the recliner anymore, and strain to hear anyone in the house.

My father's low voice is in the dining room.

"Did she tell you anything about biology class?"

Concern and worry etch his voice, leaving me a pang of guilt. I didn't make it one day in school without causing him additional grief.

"Yeah, she said her teacher was picking on her."

There's a pause, and then my father says, "Mr. Banner called me to say she was talking back and being contrarian."

Jacob chuckles.

"Because that sounds like Bella."

Charlie sighs. "I don't know what sounds like her anymore." His voice is in an even lower tone, not meant for my ears.

"I think she had a panic attack on the way home from school."

Jacob's voice is more serious, more remorseful.

"I asked her about getting a cell phone— she was fifteen minutes behind everyone else, and I was so worried… she totally freaked out, she was scared that people would be able to find her."

"She didn't say who?" Charlie asks.

"No."

Charlie exhales slowly. "Do you think she's getting any better?"

"I don't know."

The conversation lulls, and I shrink further into the couch, keeping my eyes carefully shut. I feel a great pang of guilt. I should have stayed in Pheonix, and I should have died. I should have let him get to me or I should have killed myself. It would be easier that way, I wouldn't have to hurt, and they wouldn't have to worry. My father could go about his life as he always had, and Jake could make new friends, and eventually they would both move on.

The Bella they love did die. She's gone, and she's not coming back. I used to be funny, I used to be happy, I used to be fun. Now I have a nervous breakdown when my friend tries to help me. Now, I can't handle one day at school without a three-hour nap. Now, I get in trouble at school. I've never done that before now.

A pang of grief hits me. Last summer, I spent every extra second texting the boy from my school. He was a senior. I was his type. I spent every day looking forward to going home, to seeing him. I didn't care if I had to be around Renee or Phil, he was going to take care of me. He really loved me.

I should have enjoyed that summer more.

I would give anything, anything at all to regain the innocence of last year. I'm not the same, and now, neither is Jacob. My mistakes have hurt him too.

"She has detention this Friday." Charlie says.

"So…" Jake says. "Is she like, grounded?"

Charlie laughs.

"No, if she wants to go somewhere, I would be the last person to stand in her way." It used to be, if Jake was around, we'd spend every minute either downtown Forks, or wandering La Push. There wasn't a lot of time for sulking back then.

"Thank you, Jacob." My father says, his tone somber. "She really needs you. I can't reach her the way you can."

"I just wish I could help more."

I hear them rise, and my father walks Jake to the door.

"Can you pick her up again tomorrow?"

"Yes sir, every day, if you need. Res schools get out at three."

"Thank you, give your father my best."

The door creaks shut, and I hear my father's heavy footprints come back in the direction of the living room. He pauses for a long while in the doorway, and I keep my eyes carefully shut.

Edward's POV

I wait in my father's office until he arrives home from work. I'm not interested in discussing the events of the day with my siblings. Esme's concern has been evident since my arrival home, but she gave me space after I asked for it.

My being in a foul mood is one thing, and certainly something my family is used to dealing with. Getting in trouble and having my powers fail on me, however, is another.

The new girl is the root of both of these things. The girl with mysterious motivations and a mysterious path. The "naturally clumsy" girl who fell down the stairs and got a black eye, a concussion, and mysteriously man made looking injuries. The girl who thinks of a frequency that I can not hear.

If it were any other human, I'm not sure that I would have spoken up to Mr. Banner in the nature that I did. Something about the girl disarms me, making me feel as though she is my own responsibility to care for and protect from harm.

Perhaps it's just because I know that she has been harmed— of course, there's nothing about the girl that is truly remarkable. It's probably the atmosphere that Forks causes around a new girl coming to town, no one would bat an eye in a larger town; but somewhere like here, the only truly remarkable presence would come from my family and the werewolves.

I'm suddenly taken back to the interaction from earlier. She had one of the werewolves picking her up from school. If she is new to Forks, I wonder how she could possibly already have ties to the Quileutes.

I rise when Carlisle enters the study, and he smiles his tired smile.

"Trouble at school?" He asks gently.

I share the days experience, starting with the girl and her thoughts, and ending with the experience with Mr. Banner.

"She had a doctor's note?" Carlisle asks softly.

"Yes, for her concussion. It seems he felt he could ignore her accommodations because he believed her to be beyond that."

My father purses his lips in distain, staring off into the distance. His next words are measured.

"You did the right thing, clearly Mr. Banner was out of line. I will call the school in the morning."

He's quiet for a minute, gathering his thoughts.

"Was there anything else about the girl, besides not hearing her thoughts, that suggested she was different?"

I shake my head, then hesitate.

"Well, I don't know if this counts…"

"Speak your mind, Edward." My father prompts in his gentle voice.

"I waited for her after class and she was extremely guarded around me, as though she was instinctually mistrustful of me. She seems to use a great deal of mental capacity to shut people out."

Carlisle nods carefully.

"Perhaps she has some sort of ability to shield her mind from the world."

I ponder this. "Have you ever seen this before?"

"Not this strong, and certainly not in a human." He concedes. "Though there could be some sort of other explanation."

I wonder what other explanation could lead the girl to be such a mysterious force.

"Will Jasper be in tomorrow?" I ask.

He had made a trip to Seattle today to pick up documents for the family. A trip which has a tendency to be arduous and sometimes stretch over multiple days.

"He will be."

"Perhaps we could experiment with his powers, find out what does and doesn't work on her."

Carlisle considers this carefully.

"I think that idea has merit but should be approached very carefully. Someone in her condition could be harmed greatly by having their emotions escalated or deescalated." He pauses. "Has Alice had any luck with visions of her?"

I shake my head.

"Not to my knowledge, but she hardly knows the girl."

Carlisle hums thoughtfully. "Still, it seems the two of you are bound to be intertwined in some capacity in the near future… That seems like something Alice would usually pick up on."

This is true. Being privy to even the most mundane of Alice's visions, I know that she has seen a fair bit from our classmates, especially when the visions pertain to each sibling. Something like a new girl at the table would generally qualify to be on her radar…

"Either way, it is certainly prudent to keep her on your radar." Carlisle says. "And I will make sure to set things right with Mr. Banner."

~
I don't speak to her until lunch time tomorrow, but I sit behind her in first period. I try and take her in, but she doesn't give too much away.

She appears to be generally fatigued, but she doesn't let on to it very much by the way she acts. When she's with Jessica, she's quiet and appears interested in whatever Jessica talks about, a feat that I know personally to be very difficult.

Her intrigue still hasn't worn off on the second day. Lunch is spent with people asking different questions about her life in the exotic land of Pheonix.

She blushes, and indulges them, revealing a deep-rooted passion for her home state. She loves the heat, loves the sun, loves a true summertime.

"But I always spent summers in Forks." She admits.

"Not at home?" My question slips before I have time to think about it.

She takes me in, but unlike yesterday, she isn't guarded against me. She seems a lot warmer, softer with her guard down, and she smiles sweetly.

"No, my parents are divorced. I came here to be with my dad every summer."

I'm taking in her smile when Jasper arrives, late to lunch. He sits beside Alice, and she takes him in warmly, smiling her knowing smile at him.

"Did you have a fight with your mom?" Jessica asks.

This takes Bella aback. "Sorry?"

Jessica continues. "Is that why you came to Forks now, outside of your custody agreement?"

Bella shakes her head, as if this idea is truly astounding.

"No, I just missed my dad." Her tone has switched from the warm one that was just discussing her hometown. Now, she seems defensive and sulky. All Jess says is a sympathetic, is disinterested, "Aww,"

I shoot Jess a look but she just rolls her eyes, ever the snarky presence.

Jasper looks at me pointedly. Try it now?

Carlisle talked to him about the plan for today when he got back last night. He's not about as interested as the rest of us in finding out about the mysterious girl.

I nod, and turn my focus back to Bella, who is drinking a protein shake.

"Yuck, I hate those." Angela sympathizes. Bella nods, "At least they make it easier to get your calories in."

"I've never struggled with that." Jessica muses.

"My doctor recommends them."

Jasper is focused on Bella's mood, and Alice and I are focused on Jasper.

When Jasper focuses on people like this, he usually sees them very clearly. But with Bella, she's like a cloud of fog, impossible to really focus on. He can't pinpoint where she is and can't affect her. Bella proves to be a unique force, one whom despite her demeanor on the outside, is not entirely helpless. She seems to have some sort of internal or external power protecting her, hiding her from all things supernatural. But why?

He shakes his head at me subtly and I frown. Alice is looking between the two of us helplessly.

So, the verdict is in, Bella is invisible to all of our powers.

Happy early Halloweennnnn and All Souls Day. Please let me know if you have any prayer intentions for All Souls Day (As is prayers for loved ones who have passed) and I'll be sure to remember them.

As always, please review. It motivates me to pump these chapters out faster, so it's the best way to guarantee more content faster. I hope you all had a safe and happy Halloweekend!