a/n part 1 of the double update for the one-year anniversary of this fic! next chapter will end with a long author's note about the writing process and cut content from this story, so please take a look if you're interested. thanks for reading!

Prom was cancelled.

You'd think the world was ending, Edward thought grumpily, dodging another pitiful human as they slumped through the halls. It had been the slowest crawl since their arrival to lunch, the school morale at an all-time low; not because there was another murder (because why would they care about that), but because that morning's announcement came with the extremely world-shattering, bad news.

Prom was cancelled.

"It is such a shame," Lettie lamented, resting her hand on her chin. It was a habit she'd picked up thanks to the many students around her doing the same, though he knew she wasn't doing it because the class bored her. Up front, wasn't even attempting to get them to pay attention, instead continuing her lecture on To Kill a Mockingbird.

In her words, "It's your own fault if you sleep through something that'll be on your final."

"What?" Edward whispered, adjusting his seat so he was leaning closer to her. The frantic whispers of his fellow classmates hid his voice well.

"Prom. Though we would not be attending this year, it was still a moment of happiness we could share with our classmates in these dark times."

"Better to be safe than happy," he said without a thought, jotting down a random note when 's eyes passed over the room. Her mind was pleased to see him and several others were still paying attention, and continued her lecture with a little more pep.

"You can not truly believe that," Lettie whispered back, nearly under her breath. But, when he looked over, instead of being angry, she looked sad. Edward dropped his head, and couldn't meet her eyes for the rest of the class period.

Ever since the news report on Kevin Schultz's death, Alice had been lost in a trance, barely resurfacing to be in the real world. Edward kept his distance, as much as it pained him, but Alice's quick jumps from possible future to possible future were also pulling him under, dulling everything else until he was standing as still as a statue, trying to make sense of the hundreds of images Alice pushed into his head. Lettie had taken over as her dutiful guide, keeping tabs so Alice could jump back into conversations as if she had always been present for them. And, despite only thanking her once or twice, Alice's mind was full of gratitude, attentive listening as Lettie whispered in her ear, hand clasped around her pendant.

Because, as much as it started as a front, Edward knew Alice was genuinely beginning to enjoy their pretend human life.

She, like Emmett, preferred her vampire existence. It was, largely, thanks to her human memories being completely wiped during her transformation, but he had to admit, Alice never looked more herself than when she was running through the woods, jumping gracefully from tree to tree like a woodland fairy. She rarely interacted with humans in previous schools, instead opting to keep close care of Jasper. But, here, in Forks, it was as if she was a completely different person. Her mind quieted, as much as it could, while she was pouring over Director's notes or helping out the tech crew, easily rushing at a human pace without a second thought. She wanted to be there, desperately, even if she didn't admit it out loud.

He spared her a glance as she and the Director confirmed the last fittings of the costumes, easily talking with a mouth full of pins, hands moving quickly and efficiently to adjust another seam. The human she was pinning had no fear as she nodded along, twisting at Alice's command, complete trust in Alice to make her look her best.

Rosalie bumped her shoulder against him as she passed, getting his feet moving again, reminding him that he was supposed to be a lanky teenage boy, and the set he was helping move was heavy. He added a small wobble to his step when a group of humans passed him.

Then, as if his day couldn't get worse, he spotted Bella Swan entering the auditorium.

Angela barely gave her a wave as she hurried away, mind still conjuring the awkward conversation they had the last time they were there, easily stepping up beside Edward to 'help' him carry the last piece of the set up the small steps. It didn't seem to bother Bella Swan, who set her stuff beside the door, eyes flickering between him and his siblings.

Just as Alice doubled down on her visions, Bella Swan doubled down on her relentless pursuit to prove the Cullens were the Cold Ones. The day after Kevin Schultz's death seemed to be her final straw, and she tailed them nearly all the way home, Rosalie's quick-moving car easily weaving between backroads to lose the clunky truck. Carlisle tried to call Charlie Swan to talk to his daughter, per Esme's suggestion, but the Chief could only apologize, stating long hours at the station for his poor parenting skills. Bella Swan, at least, had the decency to look embarrassed the next time he saw her, obviously caught.

That embarrassment was all but gone now, her eyes peering over her book in a poor attempt to spy. Rosalie sent her a glare, and Jasper manipulated her enough to leave, but that only seemed to spur her on more. Alice gasped as a violent vision entered her vision, Bella Swan marching up to him, then a flash as Edward accidentally exposed his changing eye color.

Edward! Alice yelled, eyes finding him across the auditorium. He discretely shook his head, but it didn't seem to calm her. She's going to-

"I'm going to head to the bathroom really quick," Edward said, directing his attention to the group he was helping. They dismissed him easily, though one was kind enough to remind him that lunch would be over soon.

As predicted, Bella Swan barely waited for the doors to close before sprinting after him, backpack nearly sending her flying as she swung it over her shoulder. It didn't seem like she had the courage to do more than trail after him, but when he walked out of the bathroom after an appropriate amount of time, her face hardened in determination.

"Meet me during free period. By the gym." It looked like she was ready to run away, bouncing on the balls of her feet, but she didn't move, waiting for his response. Didn't want to look like a fool when I didn't show, Edward guessed. He was happy, then, that Lettie was still in the auditorium, still acting as a mediator for Alice, because she would have scolded him for how he scoffed at this human.

"And why would I do that?" Bella Swan's face flickered with surprise as if she couldn't believe he was denying her. "You've done nothing but harass my family for weeks now."

Her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. He once again found himself desperately wishing he could read her mind, if only to hear the sporadic stream of consciousness that came from her dumbfounded expression.

"But I-...you-..." she stuttered, hands jerkily moving between, implying something more. Edward frowned, then turned on his heel. "Wait!" When he didn't, she rushed out, "If you talk to me, I'll leave you alone."

The laugh that bubbled out of him was pure villainy, sharp and pointed. Bella Swan flinched.

"Really?" he said between giggles, disbelieving. "You've stalked me, pestered anyone who thinks favorably of me, and even gone out of your way to show open hostility. And now you're, what? Expecting to meet me to just acquiesce to your demands?"

As the word acquiesce passed his lips, Bella Swan brightened, as if something about the word confirmed her own suspicions. Edward was instantly on guard again, lips pulling down into a frown, mirroring the human's own curling into a self-satisfied smirk.

"Scout's honor," she said, though Edward seriously doubted she was ever a Scout. "If you answer some of my questions, I promise to leave you and your family alone. For good."

"Are you an idiot?" Rosalie hissed, voice low as they huddled by her locker. He knew that his family wouldn't be pleased by agreeing to Bella Swan's ridiculous proposal, but the bite of her words still made his lips pull into a frown. "She's obviously getting too close."

"And she'll keep digging unless one of us stops her," he argued, though it didn't lessen any of their frowns. Least of all Lettie, who was peering at him with an intensity he hadn't felt in a long time. He flashed her an attempt of a reassuring smile.

"It's risky…" Jasper trailed off, evidently tempted by the offer. If Edward was able to get Bella Swan away, it would get rid of one of the countless burdens they had, at least until the 'older' Cullens graduated and got out of there. Until then, they were all stuck playing human while the nomads ran free. "None of us have a free period with you."

"Take Lettie," Alice instantly insisted. Lettie shot her a concerned look, but Alice shook her head with a smile. "I think I'll survive until the end of the day without you. And I don't trust Bella, not with how weird she's been acting."

"It's decided then," Jasper said with finality, giving him a firm nod. A strange feeling shot through him at the instant trust Jasper had in their ghostly companion, but he didn't dwell on it long, not when his body practically shivered as the necklace found its way back home against his chest. "We'll keep an eye out in case anything goes wrong. We still don't know how close the nomads have been getting to the school."

Free period was usually a blessing. The librarian didn't care where they spent their time as long as they kept quiet, nor did she care that people left without proper excuses. It meant less time with the humans in the place where they were stuck with them all day. However, ever since the murders ramped up, free period was changed to a complete lockdown. Police were stationed outside the door and no one that wasn't supposed to be there was allowed out. Bathroom breaks were strictly monitored and timed. If a student took too long, bathrooms were searched.

It was easy for a vampire to escape, along with his invisible ghost, but he wondered if Bella Swan would have even been able to escape the school, especially as her name practically became suspect #1 overnight.

He shouldn't have been surprised, however. Bella Swan was waiting for him on the other side of the gym, hiding her from anyone walking between classes or adults who patrolled the area. She had been determined thus far, something trivial as sneaking out of class was nothing.

"Charlie came up with the patrol schedule," she said in lieu of a greeting. Edward shrugged, uncaring. "And I lied about going to the nurse's office."

When he didn't offer his own explanation, she awkwardly cleared her throat.

"You're impossibly fast. And strong." She was practically tripping over her words, tongue moving too slow to recite her list. "Your skin is pale-white. Your eyes change color. And sometimes you speak like... you're from a different time."

Edward couldn't help it. A bark of a laugh bubbled up his throat. Lettie hissed his name in warning, eyes focused on the way the human in front of them fidgeted.

So small, so insignificant, so…human, he thought, looking down his nose at her. Always biting off more than they can chew.

"Surely you must know how you sound," he said after a moment, purposefully speaking more posh, just to watch the way she flushed in anger, hands clenching.

"Teddy…" Lettie warned, but he didn't take his eyes away from Bella Swan.

"I know what the Cold Ones are. What you are." She looked at him expectantly, as if her words would strike fear into his unbeating heart. Instead, he rolled his eyes.

"'Cold Ones'?" He kept his voice level. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Vampires."

"You're crazy." Simple, easy, but effective. Bella Swan's face fell, flashing with a series of emotions he'd usually have the thoughts to match with, but it was easy enough to guess. Her mouth also remained closed, too stunned to speak, downturned in defeat.

He took the victory, turning on his heel. For how annoying Bella Swan had been all year it seemed she wasn't going to be as big of a pest to squash. The way he turned on his heel was full of confidence, but happy was not the expression Lettie had on her face as their eyes met. Instead, she looked sad, disapproving, as if he was in the wrong to stop Bella Swan's delusions.

A warm hand clasped around his own. He jerked back, pulling it away with more force than he should have. Bella Swan's face was desperate as she stepped towards him, pushing them further out of sight, into an alcove. Leaves rustled around their feet.

"Your hands are ice cold," she stated obviously.

"It's cold out here." It wasn't, at least for Washington. Despite the cloud coverage, it was perfectly average. He should have been more diligent in warming his skin.

"We both know that's a lame excuse," she said as if she knew him, as if they shared a secret.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked, incredulous. "Confirm that I'm a…vampire?" The word felt heavy as he spit it out. "What, that I've been committing the murders around town at night and showing up to school like everything's fine during the day?"

"No, I know you wouldn't do that."

Her confidence, the sheer force of earnestness behind her words shut him up completely. There they were, hiding behind the school gym, ditching class at a time where everything was on lockdown, murderous vampires on the loose, and…what? Bella Swan pulled him away to confirm he was a vampire? A ridiculous thing from the perspective of this human. And, not only was she trying to prove the impossible, she was reassuring him that she knew he wasn't the killer? When only last week she was practically trembling when so much as one of his siblings were in the same room as her?

"...what?" he managed after a moment, lips moving beyond the one word to try and form any eloquent speech, something to prove he still had a handle on this situation.

Bella Swan's eyes trailed over his face, taking a step towards him as if she couldn't control himself. When she realized what she'd done, when they were almost toe to toe, she blushed bright red, stepping away and into a small breeze that pushed her hair over her shoulder. In that alcove, the breeze seemed to whirl into a small tornado, pushing her scent against every surface. Edward gulped, sheer temptation, then whipped his head away.

Control yourself, Edward!, he scolded himself, holding his breath. He could hear Lettie calling out to him, but her voice sounded far away, his instincts focusing on the meal in front of him and drowning out everything else.

"That!" she pointed out unhelpfully. "A…vampire, a normal one, wouldn't do that."

"Excuse me?"

"You turned your head away to resist me. You helped Mike when he cut his knee, and you were fine when those guys in the alleyway had bloody knuckles." She took another step towards him—another burst of wind. Saliva pooled in his mouth. Edward took a step back, bumping against the frame of their alcove. It felt like the human in front of him was trying something she knew she shouldn't, especially with the small smile tugging at the corner of her lip, angling her head so her hair tumbled over her shoulder, whipping her scent wildly with the wind.

"You have no clue what you're talking about," he said pathetically, all but clamping his hand over his nose.

"Yes, I do. You know I do." She took another step forward, the closest she'd ever been to him. He gulped.

"And if I was a vampire," he almost shivered at the glimmer that appeared in her eye, as if he was admitting what she wanted to hear, "I have, what…super control?"

"Yes!" Her shoe bumped against his, distracting him for only a moment. But it was enough. Her hand was already on his collar. "And I bet it has something to do with that necklace."

It only took a small tug of the chain for a sliver of sense to come back to him. Bella Swan gasped as he seized her wrist, bones creaking beneath his fingers. The fragile human stared at him with her big eyes, tears brimming instantly to the surface, pain no doubt manifesting from his inhuman strength. Lettie cried out. Alice's vision flashed in his mind.

Bella Swan practically flew into the dirt as he pushed her hand away, tripping over her feet. He couldn't care less, not even as she turned to look at him, limbs uncooperative as she tried to stand again. Her face was flashing with emotion, unable to settle on one.

"What right do you have," he growled, lips pulling into a snarl, "trying to touch me or my things without permission?"

"I know the secret now! You don't have to keep hiding," she tried to reason, but she lost her conviction when Edward took a loud step towards her. Her human instincts had her crab walking backward to get out of the way, no doubt what little survival instincts she had finally taken over.

"You don't know anything." He took another step, looking down his nose at her. Bella Swan sniffled loudly, as if that would somehow sway him. "You're just an ignorant teenager who put me and my family on a pedestal just like everyone else. And now you've made up some inane story to try and get close to us. You think we're vampires? You're insane."

He turned on his heel, and this time, Bella Swan had the good instinct to let him go.