The rest of the week passed by, and Edward did not return to school. He did not return to school until the following Monday, which was when I immediately noticed him sitting with his family at lunch again. I kept my mouth shut on it. I had no idea why he disappeared, but I figured it couldn't be because of anything good. I tried hard to keep my eyes away from them, because every time I snuck a peek, Edward was staring at me. I was terrified for lunch to end. That would mean I would have to go to biology, and Edward would surely be there now that he had returned to school.

The bell rang, and I felt frozen. Fear coursed through me, and I heard Atlas softly whine. He pressed his wet nose into my knee. He had no idea what could be causing my fear, but he still wanted to help. He really was a fantastic service dog.

I needed to get ahold of myself. What could this boy do to me that hadn't already been done before? Nothing. I had survived brutal assaults numerous times. Him glaring at me, that was nothing. I knew that, so I don't know why I had this unshakable fear still within me.

Mike walked me to the biology classroom, talking my ear off the entire way. I couldn't focus on a single word he said. Instead, I was focused inward on my own intense fear, which I again told myself was unwarranted. It did little to soothe me.

When we got to the biology door, Mike went inside without hesitation. I stopped for a second, thinking, then hurriedly pushed passed my thoughts and rushed inside. Edward was sitting there, as still as ever. For the first time, I noticed how truly and incredibly handsome he was. His skin was pale, but like porcelain, free of any blemish, just pure and perfect. His hair was a bronze color, very unique and fitting.

I immediately felt Atlas tense up at my side, and I took in a heavy breath. I reached down and brushed my hand against him. We met eyes, and somehow I communicated to him successfully that I was going to be okay. He didn't look happy about this situation, but he stopped bristling and leaned into me. I glanced upward to see Edward's reaction, gauging if I needed to leave or not. His face was blank, but he was obviously tense. Still, that was better than the last time. I decided to chance it and walked toward my seat, sitting down clumsily.

I let my hair fall like a curtain, separating myself from Edward. He hadn't moved since I sat down, which I found strange and unnerving. Atlas was picking up on my anxiety and he leaned into me further, bristling again. I kept petting him lightly, then signaled him to lay down. He huffed, but listened, and I felt relief over that. I was afraid Atlas would make meeting Edward again harder, not because he was a bad dog, but because he also recognized something was different about Edward. Atlas and I both knew it. Something was wrong with Edward. Despite being beautiful and attractive, and despite me feeling drawn to him, deep down I knew he was different. I just didn't know why or what that was.

"Okay class, get to your seats now. We are about to begin. We are studying the stages of mitosis in a lab today," Mr. Banner announced, making the class groan. I had already done a lab on mitosis at my old high school, so I knew I would be able to do this lab easily.

Mr. Banner passed out supplies. He set them in between Edward and I, and I realized quickly that Edward and I were meant to work together when we were given a single worksheet and a single microscope. I moved my hair curtain, glancing at Edward. He was staring at me. I shrunk into myself slightly, not knowing what to do or say. I just sat there for what seemed like minutes but it was probably just a few seconds.

"Hello," Edward said. "I'm sorry I was so rude before. My name is Edward Cullen."

Rude? That's what he called it? He looked like he was about to attack me! I had never in my life seen a human look so much like a rabid animal in my life. Hell, I'd never even seen Atlas look like that. "Um…it's okay…"

He reached out and took the microscope and sample and brought them nearer to us. He looked calm but still strained, like he was in pain or something. "Ladies first."

Weird. I took the sample from him and slid it into the microscope. I easily identified the sample with a quick look. I knew I would too, this lab was much easier than the one I had done in Phoenix. "It's interphase."

I began to take the slide out when he stopped me, asking, "Can I see it?"

I blinked, irritated a bit but understanding on the other hand why he would want to check. He seemed smart. Hopefully he knew what he was doing. "Yeah, sure."

Edward moved the microscope closer to him and took a brief peek. "Interphase." He went ahead and wrote it on the sheet Mr. Banner had gotten us. He then took the next slide and put it into the microscope. "Anaphase."

Before he had a chance to write that answer down, I blurted, "Can I see?"

He seemed shocked, like no one had dared to doubt him before, but without question he pushed the microscope toward me and let me look. I gave it a glance and then nodded my head. "Yup, anaphase."

Edward wrote down our answer on the paper. We went back and forth like this two more times, identifying prophase and metaphase. We were done with the entire assignment before most of the other students had even finished the first slide of the assignment. Mr. Banner noticed this too, and headed our way.

"Edward, you have to let Bella do some of the work too," he accused.

"Actually, Bella identified two of the four slides," Edward replied.

Mr. Banner's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Have you done this lab before?"

"I've done a similar one," I answered.

He nodded. "You are a good partner for Edward. Finally, someone smart enough to keep up with him."

I blushed, slightly embarrassed. "Thank you."

Mr. Banner walked away then, leaving Edward and I alone. There was a moment of silence, and then Edward spoke again. "What brought you to Forks?"

My heart dropped. Did he know something, or was he innocently asking? Why would he want to know now after he how he had acted before? I didn't trust him, despite wanting to badly. I was drawn to him unnaturally, but the fear I had was still there. It wouldn't die easily. I decided I would do exactly what I had been doing with everyone else. Lie. "My mom's husband is a baseball player. My mom wanted to travel with him, and I didn't want to. It was just easier this way."

"Your mom sounds selfish," he said, catching me by surprise again. He was staring at me, not with an animalistic expression this time, but with interest and…dedication? I couldn't tell.

"She just doesn't know," I whispered. My mom wasn't a bad person, but I couldn't tell her. Not that she wouldn't understand necessarily, but because she would understand too much. And she was happy. Happy to be married to a rapist, but happy, and I didn't know if I wanted to be the person to ruin that. I knew she'd find out eventually, and I would rather her feel betrayed by me for my silence than angry now for my admission. It was just better this way. And Atlas and I were safe this way. I have no doubt that if I told my mother or anyone else that Phil would find a way to harm us. He had in the past as he had promised. He was good for his word, and I wasn't about to take that risk now.

"Doesn't know what exactly?" Edward pressed, leaning slightly forward, then flinching and leaning back as if he were hurt. He was very strange. I couldn't really get a good read on him, not like I had been good at reading people in the past anyway. I was always the socially awkward, plain girl that no one paid any attention to. All this attention, it was new to me.

"It's not important," I replied, reaching for the microscope to remove the last slide and clean up. As I did so, I accidentally brushed against Edward's hand. It was ice cold, and I felt something like an electric current run through my fingers. Edward flinched again, yanking his hand back and clenching it. I gasped, immediately apologizing, "I'm sorry."

When I looked up to meet Edward's eyes, I noticed they were no longer black. They were gold, a dark honey color. Had I remembered them wrong before? No, I definitely didn't. "Are you wearing contacts?"

"No," he said a bit harshly. "Why would you ask that?"

"Well, it's just that before your eyes were black, and now they are this golden color," I explained.

"It's the fluorescents," he said, turning back to the front of the classroom.

Just then, the bell rang. Edward was out of the classroom within seconds. I didn't know if I had ever seen someone move so quickly. The other groups were still hastily trying to clean up their lab areas, knowing they were going to be late to their next class.

I stood up, Atlas rising at my side. We headed to gym class. Mike met up with me hallway along the walk, meaning he must have ran to catch up.

"Hey, what were you and Cullen talking about?" Mike asked. "He was looking at you like you were something to eat."

Was that how he was looking at me? For some reason, I didn't feel comfortable sharing details about my personal life with Mike, even if those details were lies. "We were talking about Atlas."

Mike stuttered, "Oh..okay." He was uncomfortable with Atlas; I could tell. He didn't know what to say in regard to him, so he wasn't sure how to reply to the fact that Edward was apparently casually talking about him. He immediately changed the subject and I listened to him for the rest of the walk, replying only when I had to.

Gym class went quickly. We were playing volleyball again. Atlas laid at the sidelines, watching with interest. I ran around the court, not hitting to ball a single time, but the ball hit me at least a dozen times. That had to count for something.

Mike came back over, talking to me excitedly. I tried to pay attention, but my mind was other places. I called Atlas over and got ready to go. Mike and I walked to the parking lot, and I nodded along to his story, seemingly very involved but not listening to a single word.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I really got to get home. Charlie gets off early today and I want to make him dinner," I told Mike.

"Oh, okay. We can talk more tomorrow," Mike replied.

I nodded, then heading to my truck, but not before I caught Edward staring at me from across the parking lot. When I met his eyes, he didn't look away. Instead, he actually seemed to stare more intently. I blushed, uncomfortable. I turned away then, knowing he was still looking at me. Without further hesitation, I got into my truck with Atlas and started the drive home.