Chapter 7:

There was a light almost weightless feeling in Edward's chest as they walked to class. He had to keep himself from grinning the entire time otherwise the stares they were getting from the other students would be for an entirely different reason.

Bella's hand was warm in his grasp and he felt that warmth all the way down to his toes. Edward could tell that she was nervous even without Jasper's help, but the reasoning behind it was still a mystery. Everything about Bella was a mystery.

Is Bella holding hands with Cullen?

Are they dating?

Edward! Do Not Mess This Up.

Alice's familiar voice chimed in Edward's head over the astonished thoughts of their classmates. Edward was sure that there was a certain smug undertone to Alice's thoughts and he struggled to keep his smile natural. Of course Alice had seen what he and Bella had been up to, but how much had been clear was questionable.

Turning into Mr. Banner's classroom Edward turned quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly, to relieve Bella of her backpack. He had mostly done it so that he didn't have to relinquish her hand back to her, but it had also been hanging on the shoulder of her broken arm.

Bella had been vague to anyone who had asked about her injury and that was another characteristic Edward pinned to her. She hated the spotlight, hated being the center of attention. Little did she know that she had consumed almost all of Edward's attention the moment that she stepped into view. Would that knowledge make her uncomfortable? Would it make her blush? Edward sincerely hoped so, that particular color to her skin when she did was his favorite.

"Thank you." Bella said quietly, seemingly unaware of the other students whispering around them.

"My pleasure." Edward leaned forward and gave Bella that lopsided smile again. "I don't want to alarm you, but they're talking about us."

Bella sat up straight and her hand twitched almost to pull from Edward's grasp. Her glance around the room was anything but subtle and Edward suppressed a laugh. When Bella leaned toward him to whisper he was once again completely surrounded in warm freesia.

"I can't hear anything." Her brown eyes met his. "You can really hear what they're thinking?"

"I can. Do you want to know?" Edward held back that with his enhanced hearing that he could hear even the people talking in the classroom across the hall. Bella looked around the room again as Mr. Banner called the class to attention.

"Wouldn't it be an invasion of privacy?" Bella said quietly. She pulled her hand away to face the front of the room and Edward immediately felt the loss. "To tell me what they were thinking?"

"It's not something I can turn off. I'm sure that you understand." Edward responded. Bella tensed visibly, but said nothing. "I wouldn't share anything that they wouldn't say themselves. I would never share anyone's deep dark secrets."

Bella looked quickly back to Edward's face and he couldn't decipher her feelings behind it. He hoped that she understood that he was speaking on her behalf. That her secret was safe with him and with his family by extension.

"Mr. Cullen! Can you repeat the question I asked the class?" Mr. Banner called out from the front of the room. Heads turned in their direction and some were chuckling under their breath.

"You asked if everyone had read chapter six of the textbook. Especially the section on blood typing since we will be skipping that lab activity." Edward said smoothly, but Mr. Banner didn't seem to be impressed with his apparent listening skills.

Edward leaned toward Bella to whisper under his breath. "Alright, everyone, pay attention. We're skipping the lab because too many students fainted last year." Seconds after the words left Edward's lips, Mr. Banner spoke them to the class. "Instead we're going to watch this short video on blood types and then move on to the next section."

Bella shuddered as the lights were shut off. The only light in the room came from the projector screen at the front. Her features were enhanced in the blue light and she kept her eyes forward.

"Is this too weird for you? Too crazy?" Edward murmured, repeating Bella's earlier words back to her. Bella turned quickly to face him as the video started.

"Not at all." Warmth blossomed through the fabric of Edward's sleeve when Bella placed her hand. Her tone of voice didn't ease Edward's fears. "Couldn't you read that from me?"

Relief pierced Edward's chest that was quickly followed by apprehension. She wasn't put off about the mind reading, but what about when she found out about his true nature? That he was almost a century old undead monster that lived off of blood? Would that be the final nail in his coffin?

"So far, you are the only one I can't read." Edward watched her face carefully and he saw the trepidation leave her features. She had obviously worried about him hearing the things she was thinking. His curiosity spiked once again to whatever Bella might be hiding behind her walled off mind.

"Would it be wrong of me to be glad? To be the one you couldn't read?"

"No, I suppose that if anyone else were to know that they would wish the same." Certainly Edward had heard decades worth of secrets that no one would want to be known or repeated. "Is something bothering you?"

Bella looked up to where the video was being played, her mouth in a tight line. Even in the dim light Edward could clearly see that something was wrong.

"I don't do well around blood. I bet that I would have been one of the students to faint if we were to do blood typing in class." She swallowed thickly. "Even this video is making me feel queasy."

If he could have, Edward would have ripped the power cord from the projector to stop the video, but that would have seemed excessive. Especially during their first and only friendly chat they have ever had. The thought of not stopping Bella from feeling ill when he had the power to do so was also abhorrent.

"You can ask me questions to distract you. I'll answer anything." Emmett was going to find the fact that the sight of blood made her sick hilarious though. Not even real blood, just a video of someone talking about and taking blood.

"Does your family know? I can't imagine it would be easy to hide." Bella asked under her breath.

Edward didn't have to force his laugh. "Yes, they all know. It's hard to keep secrets in our family."

Edward thought back to the first year into his new life when Carlisle had discovered that Edward would respond to questions that weren't said out loud. It was years after the discovery that Edward felt comfortable being around crowds and he was thankful when his name fell out of commonality. Each one of his family members had to come to terms with their thoughts no longer being their own when around him.

Even without Edward's telepathy there was also Alice's precognition and Jasper's empathy. Things could not be easily hidden in the Cullen household.

Edward watched Bella worry her bottom lip between her teeth and he was overcome with the urge to pull it free.

"My parents don't know."

Edward paused for a moment, but his thoughts were interrupted by the lights turning back on. They didn't have a chance to continue their conversation during the lecture. Mr. Banner was more upset at Edward's confidence than he had tried to appear. Intentionally he called on Edward more than any other student, but even without his telepathy Edward could have answered all the questions he was asked.

When the bell rang Edward was quick to grab Bella's bag before she was able to get it herself. He was unwilling to let their conversation end where it did. There were too many questions that Edward had yet to ask.

"I've got gym next." Edward simply gave Bella another smile.

"I know." He tapped a finger to his tempe and watched a blush rise to Bella's cheeks. There was a warm tingling in Edward's throat as the thirst returned.

"So how much of my schedule do you have memorized?" Bella turned and placed her hands in her pockets almost to protect herself from Edward.

Oh, Bella, if you only knew.

"Just about all of it." Edward ducked his head close to Bella's. "I find you very distracting."

"Sorry to be such a bother." The blush deepened.

"Not at all Bella. I'm all the happier for the distraction."

Bella slowed as they walked closer to the gym. "Why do you find me distracting at all? I'm nobody."

Nobody? Bella was far more than nobody. She stood out from everyone. It wasn't just the scent of her blood, her closed off mind, or even her own gift. Edward wasn't sure that he could explain the reasoning behind his obsession with her without telling her everything. Telling her about the craving he had for her blood or for the many midnight excursions to her house. Spilling every detail of Alice's visions and Rose's concerns about risking the exposure of the household of vampires living in Forks.

"To be honest, after the first moment we met, before we had even spoken to one another I was drawn to you. I am drawn to you, even now. You're not nobody."

There simply wasn't enough time in the day let alone these few precious moments before the bell rang that he could explain why he wanted to know her.

"I uh… have to get to class now." Bella stuttered awkwardly, but it was endearing.

"I would rather like to finish this conversation Bella." Edward pulled her bag from his shoulder to hand it to Bella while shifting with his other hand to pull a permanent marker from his own bag. With a touch so light it almost wasn't there Edward held Bella's injured arm. "May I?"

Bella nodded slowly as Edward pushed the sleeve on her arm up over her cast. Quickly Edward wrote his cell number and his name right below it. He paused for a hundredth of a second before drawing a perfect heart in black in underneath everything. Smiling at Bella, he walked off to the other side of the campus as the final bell rang.

Edward was late to class, but there was nothing that could knock the smile off of his face. The short reprimand from the teacher followed closely by the whispers of his classmates couldn't affect him.

He had spoken to Bella, had an entire conversation with her. He had shared his own secret with her in the hopes of getting her to open up to him and she hadn't run off. She had regarded him cautiously throughout its entirety, but she had shared with him far more than Edward had any right to expect. Of course she had been cautious, she had every right to be wary of someone knowing about her gift. Especially when Alice had so callously exposed that she had knowledge of it as well.

Look at him. Practically floating through the air.

Edward, you look like you're on drugs.

"Tell me everything!" Alice squealed happily, crushing Edward in a tight hug at their car. Jasper was mirroring his smile as he felt the happiness emanating from his brother. Edward's brooding mood had affected Jasper the most and he welcomed the reprieve.

"Like you haven't already seen everything yourself. I'm sure you were watching Alice." Edward tried to sound annoyed with his sister, but his tone wasn't right.

"Yes, but Jasper wasn't." Alice drew her mate close to her and squished her face against his shoulder. Her eyes rounded innocently and she batted her impossibly long lashes at Edward.

Edward rolled his eyes and entered the car followed quickly by his siblings. The loud roaring of an engine cut through his train of thought. Rosalie was pulling out of the parking lot rather abruptly. Apparently her temper had not cooled during her sudden departure to Canada. They could see Emmett looking back at them mournfully as if he hadn't wanted to leave during their conversation.

"I'm not sure how much to share. She seemed to be hesitant to talk about herself. I had finally gotten her to open up when we had to stop our conversation." Edward remembered the way Bella spoke about her ability. It had been full of reluctance and distaste presumably because of the way she brought up the past, of things she had done before with her gift.

"I believe that something happened with her ability before she came here. Possibly traumatic." Edward finally lost his smile as he spoke. "If her nightmares are an indication, I believe it occurred with her mother, she calls out for her often."

"I have noticed that she seems distressed." Jasper spoke up from the back seat. He grazed the backs of his fingers on Alice's cheek. "I can't place the reasoning behind it, but there have been plenty of negative emotions surrounding her."

"Why didn't you help her Jazz?" Alice pouted.

"It's not my place to interfere, Darlin." Jasper flicked his eyes to Edward and back. Didn't want you bitin' my head off for meddling like you did Alice. Edward arched a brow at him. No matter how justified you were.

"So when can I talk to her again? Please tell me it's soon. The anticipation is killing me!" Alice turned fully to face Edward. "Imagine you talking to Bella about me being her best friend so I can try to see." Alice made a big show of closing her eyes and pressing her fingertips to her temples.

"Alice." Edward shook his head. "I don't want to force her into anything." He didn't mention the feeling he had that Bella was suspicious of them already and that any step too quickly in her direction would cause her to flee. "She didn't seem to appreciate the information that you had Ali-"

Alice gripped Edward's forearm suddenly, almost jarring the steering wheel in his hand. Her eyes were staring out into nothing, but she was seeing something else. Jasper immediately tensed in the backseat in reaction to the stress and anxiety Alice was emanating.

Alice's vision was inside of Bella's kitchen. Edward hadn't explored her house while she slept and so he had only seen glimpses through the window, but it was unmistakable. Bella was part way done with a glass of water yet her expression appeared to be grief. She glanced down and crumpled a paper in her hand and quickly swallowed the last of her glass.

"Who is there with her?" Edward mumbled watching through Alice's mind as the vision continued.

"No one, she's alone." Alice barely spoke and the vision changed.

Bella was in her kitchen, stumbling unsteadily to a drawer and rifling through it. She pulled out a long knife and stared at it for far too long. It made Edward's stomach drop with the expression she had.

"Alice, what's going on?" Jasper's voice was quiet, trying not to break the spell Alice was under. Edward pressed his foot to the gas pedal and changed lanes abruptly.

Bella threw the knife back in the drawer and slammed it shut. She lurched to the doorway, holding it tightly as she walked. She fell into the garage, but caught herself on a workbench off to the side. Bella grabbed the hammer that was placed haphazardly on the bench and replaced it with her injured arm. Edward watched as she slammed the hammer down on the bench just a scant few inches from her cast.

Keeping part of his attention on the vision, Edward changed directions and took a left turn a bit too quickly. The tires slid for a moment, but regained traction and he didn't hesitate to increase pressure on the gas.

Bella brought the hammer back down on her cast and she winced with the impact. He couldn't hear it, but her breathing was rapid and there was panic in her features.

Another slick turn onto a residential street. The houses were blurring as they drove past and the surrounding forest was just a haze of green. They were too far still and that knowledge ate away at Edwards control.

"Edward. Get out of the car. We'll follow you." Alice turned toward Edward.

The vision shifted. Edward showed up beside Bella and pulled the hammer from her grasp. Alice and Jasper drove up shortly afterward in the Volvo and joined them in the house.

Edward wasted no time throwing open the door and leaping from the vehicle. He was out of sight before the car door slammed shut, Alice in the driver's seat. Edward quickly ducked through the trees only barely aware that there had been no one around to see him. The trees sped around him until they became painfully familiar. He was in Bella's backyard.

Wasting no time Edward raced up to the back door and pulled it open. He wasn't sure if it had been unlocked or if he had simply pulled the lock from the frame.

CRUNCH

A sickening sound emanated from the garage door. Edward continued on to see Bella. She was facing away with him and struggling with something in front of her. Her breathing was loud and her heart was thudding rapidly.

Edward was only a step behind her and painfully aware of how this looked. He had most likely broken into her house while she was alone. The concern that Edward felt for Bella had overpowered the rationale that he would need an explanation as to why he was there. Hopefully Alice would see the dilemma and come up with answers to any questions Bella had.

"Bella? Is everything alright?"

Bella's shoulders moved with every gasping breath, but otherwise she was frozen. Seemingly stuck from the sound of Edward's voice and he braced for an interrogation. Bella mumbled something indeterminable even to Edward's superior hearing.

"What are you doing?" He tried again.

"I meed to off." Bella's voice was barely more than a whisper and the words didn't make any sense. Of course seeing how she was swinging a hammer at her cast he assumed she was trying to take it off herself.

Edward took another step closer and braced himself to be completely surrounded by her. Underneath her normal tantalizing scent was an acrid and bitter aroma that hovered around her. Although Edward had never partaken in drinking spirits he had been around it often enough to distinguish it. Stunned and dismayed at the realization that Bella had been drinking, Edward almost stuttered.

"Are you drunk?" Bella looked over at him, her eyes were slightly unfocused and her pink lips parted.

"Edward." He watched as she licked her lips slowly, almost thoughtfully. "Not drunk. Dreaming." This time he could clearly understand her even though her words were still slurring together as if some were missing.

"What are you doing Bella?" Edward carefully stepped closer and pulled the hammer from her cast. It was stuck in the plaster, but he was able to remove it easily. Bella kept her eyes on him seemingly unaware that he was aiding her. She swayed on her feet and Edward swept her up into his arms before she could fall over. He heard Alice and Jasper come through the back door and through the house.

"I'm going to take you into the house Bella." Edward murmured into her ear as her head lay on his shoulder. He couldn't even take pleasure in the fact that the woman he loved was in his arms. What could possibly have happened for Bella to go to such extremes? Not only to drink until she was intoxicated, but to remove her cast on her own. With a hammer!

"I need to get it off." The smell of salt began to permeate the air. Edward tightened his grip on Bella as he walked through the garage to the kitchen. Alice and Jasper were standing off to the side by the table.

She's heavy with grief. Shame. Resentment. Anguish. Sorrow.

Jasper was holding his breath and gripping Alice's hand tightly, unsure of how he would react to Bella's scent and Edward was thankful. The turmoil blasting from Bella was taking a toll on Jasper, but he felt it was necessary to help unravel whatever Bella was wound up about.

"Off. Off. Get it off!" Bella gasped the tears flowing freely now. She flailed around in Edward's arms and he strained to hold her without bruising her.

Edward, you have to calm her down!

Edward was only just barely aware of Alice's mental shouting. Bella had begun to hyperventilate. He placed her in one of the kitchen chairs and her head lolled to the side. Without even a moment's hesitation he clutched the edges of Bella's cast and ripped it apart. It had survived two hits with a hammer but turned to dust in his grasp.

"Bella, honey, it's off. It's gone. Look. Open your eyes." Edward's voice cracked with emotion as he spoke. This girl had such a spell on him it was astounding. He was putty in her grasp and she had absolutely no idea.

Edward brushed his fingers over her cheeks to wipe away the tears that marred them. The heat from her skin warmed his fingers and he was struck by how impossibly different they were. The stark difference in their body temperature gave Bella goosebumps across her skin. Brown eyes met gold and Edward was mesmerized at how bright they were. Bella lifted her arm and looked down at the now free pale flesh for only a moment before she flung her arms around Edward's neck.

The embrace was something that Edward would cherish but was conflicted that Bella was only being familiar with him because she was impaired. Bella wouldn't do this if she wasn't drunk. She was far more likely to push him away and those thoughts were solidified by her words.

"You need to leave. Shouldn't be here." Her breath rasped wetly across his neck, and he shivered. "Get out."

Bella made no move to let Edward go so that he could abide by her demands. In fact her arms seemed to tighten against him either on purpose or accidentally.

"I can't leave you Bella." She only began to sob again more violently than she had before. "Jazz please?" Edward looked toward his brother who was standing stoically by their side. His jaw was clenched against the onslaught of Bella's emotions. Jasper was relieved to be able to help Bella if only to give himself a reprieve.

Jasper sent out calming waves to Bella. Serenity and weightlessness. Cool tranquility and a bland pleasantness invaded Bella. Edward would have been hesitant to force this upon her, to invade her life in this manner, but the hysterics she was on the verge of scared Edward. Bella settled down in his arms still holding him tightly, but the sobs slowed down with her breathing.

"Bella, what's this?" Alice stepped forward silently to touch Bella's hand with only the barest of pressure. She uncurled Bella's fingers from around a crumpled paper the size of a postcard.

"Riley." Bella's voice cracked with pain. Jasper didn't even hesitate to send another wave of calm.

Edward looked at the paper Alice held out to him. It was a bereavement card.

Remembering Riley Michael Tanner lost one year ago we invite you to honor his memory.

The boy looked young, their age if Edward was to guess. He had a genuine smile on his face that crinkled his brown eyes and his sandy-colored hair was swept about as if by the wind. He looked happy in that photo. Alice flipped the page over to expose more photos on the back of Riley and what they assumed were his friends and family. One photo at the bottom was awkwardly cropped and Edward picked out the familiar mahogany hair curling around Riley's shoulder, but Bella wasn't shown in the picture.

"Who is he Bella?" Alice again asked questions Edward wasn't sure he truly wanted the answers to.

Bella sobbed. "My friend. He was my friend and I killed him."