Chapter 2:

The morning was gray and dreary as Bella had come to expect, but it also reflected her mood for the day as well. Bella woke to the sounds of her father leaving for work which meant she was most undoubtedly going to be late. She managed to dress in something she just pulled from the closet and grab a granola bar from the pantry before she rushed out the door.

Bella remembered her backpack, but forgot her heavy jacket. Her keys fell in a puddle in the parking lot and she determined that her sweatshirt just wasn't enough warmth for the day. She was content to let Jessica babble her way through math, but when asked if she'd help make posters for the upcoming dance Bella unthinkingly said yes.

There was a pop quiz in History on things they had gone over last week. Then Bella forgot the note with her locker combination at home and when she finally managed to get it open she pinched her fingers on the door. She tripped on her way into Spanish class and knocked over another student.

By the time lunch came around Bella was thankful for the break. Angela waved at her from the table they sat at the day before and Bella smiled in response, but walked over to the lunch line. Since she had woken up late Bella hadn't been able to make herself anything for lunch and the granola bar she had on the way to school hadn't lasted for very long.

Bella looked at the options absentmindedly before grabbing a sandwich and a bottle of lemonade. A pale hand with long fingers crossed her vision as it reached over her shoulder for a piece of fruit from a basket. Bella turned slightly to see who was behind her, but with the butterflies in her stomach she knew exactly who it was.

Edward frickin Cullen. He wasn't looking at her, but Bella was sure that she held all of his attention. She turned abruptly without saying anything and walked up the line to pay for her food. It wasn't enough that just the thought of him had kept her up half the night to make her oversleep, but now he was invading her space at school too. Bella tried to fake nonchalance, but wasn't sure she was able to pull it off by the way Jessica was analyzing her.

"Dang, What was that about Bella?" Jessica flicked her gaze between Bella and Edward who was approaching his own table with his older brother.

"Oh, nothing. We just tried to get the same thing in the line. It was awkward." Bella felt her face flush with the attention the table was giving her. The blond haired boy across from her had a bit of a scowl on his face.

"They're super creepy. You should stay away from him, Bella."

"Hush Mike!" A girl named Lauren shushed him loudly. "What if they heard you? Besides, it's not likely that he's into Bella."

Bella had already determined that Lauren was not one of the classmates that she liked. Lauren had bashed about a dozen students and given half their table backhanded compliments yesterday. Lauren was fairly shallow and spent most of her time reapplying lip gloss and smoothing her blond hair back from her face.

"Anyways Bella, If you were going to take a trip anywhere, where would you go?" Mike turned to her expectantly.

"Uhm I'm not sure. Where would you guys go?"

"Well I said Jamaica and Lauren said the French-Riviera." Jessica piped up, she leaned forward towards Mike allowing her shirt to gape open.

"Oh Amsterdam!" Tyler elbowed Mike in the side. "What about you Eric?"

Eric piped up quickly that he would want to go to Comic-con in which Lauren and Jessica immediately began laughing at. Mike shook his head with a chuckle telling Eric under his breath that he'd never find a girlfriend at this rate.

"Oh actually Eric, Comic-con is super cool. I think I'd like to go there too." Bella spoke loudly to the table. Not really because she agreed with Eric, but more so because of the way his friends were treating him. Immediately she regretted her decision as she was pulled into a discussion about what she would want to see there and what it would take to travel to comic-con.

Saved by the bell. Literally.

Bella was thankful when she excused herself to walk to her next class, but Mike followed her the whole way there. She was only half listening to his invitation out to a beach over the weekend and gave him a vague noncommittal answer about needing to ask her dad.

Edward was already seated at the table when she arrived. Bella didn't even look at him as she pulled her books and notes from her bag. She tried to focus all her attention on Mr. Banner, but was failing miserably.

"Excuse me."

Oh god. Even his voice is beautiful.

Bella ignored him. Or rather she chose to act as if he had never said anything at all. As if his voice hadn't made her heart skip a beat or make her hyper aware of how close he was sitting to her. A few minutes passed by and Bella was trying to keep herself from glancing over to her tablemate. It was a difficult task considering he was rolling his pencil along the table with his fingers almost absentmindedly.

When it forcefully rolled across the table and onto her paper Bella was sure he had done it on purpose.

He reached over and plucked it from her notes, but let his hand hover a second too long. Bella tried hard not to turn her head even when she felt his breath tickle the hair by her ear.

"I just wanted to apologize to you for yesterday." Edward's voice was just a touch above a whisper and so low that it sounded rough. She gripped her own pencil tightly in order not to move towards the sound.

He really truly sounded contrite. If he had been any other student Bella would have turned to him with a half smile and forgiven him, but he wasn't just any student. Bella had spent all evening thinking about him. About how just the thought of him gave her butterflies even when the last look at his face was practically rage.

Ignore him. He will get the hint.

Mr. Banner passed out a worksheet and Bella tried to focus on the words, but her brain wasn't comprehending any of it. Edward was still leaning absurdly close to her, close enough that the sleeve of his jacket would brush her elbow as he filled out the worksheet.

Bella scrawled her name at the top of the page and stared at the first question without absorbing any of the words. She must have sat with her pencil posed for too long because Edward leaned over to give her the answer.

"Cell division." Although he probably didn't intend for it, science terms sounded almost provocative in his voice. He made the words sound dirty. And the resulting heat that rose to Bella's face and dipped into her stomach didn't make her feel any better.

Oh god please just stop. Stop talking to me.

Bella brought both of her hands to her face in the hopes that her chilled fingers would chase the blush from her cheeks. A rumbling sound from her left brought her out of her reverie. For the first time she looked over at Edward's direction.

He had a look of confusion on his face and he had brought his hand up to rub his throat. Edward glanced over at Bella's face with a bewildered look that almost appeared comical on his chiseled features. Bella felt her face flush again as she realized what she did.

Oh shit. You can talk to me.

Edward cleared his throat again, still looking at Bella with his bright gold eyes. She felt like she was exposed, like he could see through all the layers of her defenses. Edward was looking at her like a puzzle that he was trying to solve. It was at that very moment that Bella realized something.

He wasn't a normal high school boy.

Then something else clicked into place. Under his watchful eyes she could tell that he knew something too. That she wasn't normal either.

"If you didn't finish the worksheet you'll have to do it at home."

Bella jerked in her seat and turned toward the teacher. He was going over a project they were going to start the next day, but she couldn't follow along with his words. There was a tightness in Bella's chest like the beginnings of a panic attack.

This was barely her second day! How on earth could this guy have figured anything out?

Bella took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Ignoring Edward seemed to be a lot harder than she had anticipated. Especially if he was going to sit and stare at her throughout her class. Hell, even just him simply sitting next to her was distracting!

When the bell rang Bella couldn't get out of there fast enough. She stubbed the toe of her boot on the doorway out the hall and nearly dropped the armful of books.

Gym was a nightmare in itself. The students were practicing volleyball which thankfully due to her cast Bella was excused from, but the teacher made her jog laps around the gym instead. After stumbling over nothing but air for a few laps Bella slowed to a walk which only allowed her to stew over everything that happened the hour before.

When they were released for the day Bella quickly made her way to the front office, hoping to catch the secretary before she left for the day. She hurried to the building, passing the parking lot as she did and caught the door as another student was leaving.

"Ms. Cope?" Bella called out quickly. The secretary peered out from behind her computer at the desk.

"Yes? Is there something I can help you with Bella?"

"I was wondering if you could help me with my schedule?" Bella pulled her crumpled paper from her backpack. "I realized today that I've already been over the material in biology. I was hoping to transfer to a different science."

Ms. Cope took the schedule from Bella and typed a few things into her computer. Looking over the screen for a minute or two she returned the paper back to Bella with a frown.

"Unfortunately there's nothing I can switch you into for that period. I'd have to rearrange your whole day to fit you in someplace else."

Bella was about to say that it would be fine with her to move all her classes to get out of Biology, but stopped herself. What if moving her day put her in more than one of Edward's classes instead. This was a small class of juniors and she had several peers in multiple classes already. It would be just her luck to be stuck with him for half of her day. She could tough it out for one hour. Maybe.

"Thank you anyway Ms. Cope. I don't want to cause any trouble." Bella smiled back at Ms. Cope as she left.

Outside Bella dropped her smile and started trudging her way to her truck. Two steps from the office she noticed a figure leaning casually against the driver's side of the silver Volvo. Edward had his arms crossed over his chest and had one ankle crossed over the other as he watched her. The way his eyes followed her as she walked looked almost possessive, but his expression appeared bored.

Bella bit her lip as she turned away from Edward. She didn't look in his direction again as she walked to her truck.

There's no way he could have heard the conversation from all the way out in the parking lot, but somehow Bella knew that he knew something. He knew that Bella was trying to get away from him. He knew somehow that Bella was different. He probably didn't know exactly what made Bella special but that didn't change the fact that this beautiful, strange boy knew things that he shouldn't know.