Ch. 1: Crush

EPOV

I walked into the classroom, sighing. Bella was sick and I had to go to school. I had begged my father to stay with her, but he said she'd be alright, and to reduce suspicion, I should go to school.

I knew he was right. Everyone in the school knew we were together, so they'd think it queer if I had been absent when Bella was. But I missed her.

The school day was surely to be monotonous, the way it had been before she'd moved to this dreary town. I went to first period, English. Our teacher was on maternity leave, so we had a new one.

Depressed already, I sat down in my seat, staring at the empty one beside me: the seat that was supposed to be Bella's.

To my dismay, that disgusting girl Jessica Stanley slid into the seat next to me. I caught myself inching away from her. Her eyes were gleaming with… I shuddered at the word: love, as her eyes bore into mine. What was she? A demon? Usually my eyes were more powerful than a human's, but hers were gruesomely mighty. She didn't dazzle me – no, not at all. She was staring at me in the creepiest, I-am-your-stalker-so-fear-me kind of way.

"Hi, Edward," She cooed, batting her thick lashes that were smoldered with makeup. Some of her mascara flew into my face so fast that, if I hadn't known better, I would have thought her mascara was a vampire. I would have dodged it, but it would look weird to a human if I did.

I swore in my mind, trying to block out her fantasy-drowned thoughts.

"Hello, Jessica," I said. My voice sounded strangled to me.

"What's the matter? Are you sick?" She asked, puckering her lips.

I wonder if he likes my new lipstick. I'm sure Bella doesn't wear any. She's such a low-maintenance girl.

Shoot. Some of her thoughts escaped into my mind.

"Um…no, I'm not," I said. But I am sick of you!

Thankfully, the new teacher came into the room at that moment, and Jessica walked back to her assigned seat. But not before giving me a wink.

As she winked, I cringed. Horrid Jessica…

The new teacher leaned against her podium, carefree. She had straight light brown hair that hung at the sides of her face, transition glasses, and the purest of purple for her lipstick. Her eye shadow was sparkling gold. I wasn't one to judge makeup, but those colors didn't go together. If Alice saw her, she'd either kill the teacher while not bothering to be tempted by her blood- because she was out of style- and/or pile a heap of fashion magazines on top of her and force her to read them.

"Hi, class," She said, her voice so smooth and mysterious that it gave me chills, which I had thought impossible for a vampire until now. "My name is Ms. Moore. I love kids and hope we have a great rest of the year together."

Her thoughts were revolting. Oh, look at that kid with the bronze hair. He looks absolutely-

I blocked out the rest. When she said she loved kids, she was serious! I looked around frantically for another student in the room with bronze hair, and found none- none but me.

I wished to bang my head against something hard. Kill me now! Tear me apart and burn the pieces if you had to!

Ugh… her thoughts seemed to grow louder than everyone else's, and more explicit… all about me. Images of me were in her head already, and the images of me were something only I- and eventually Bella- should see, had the right to see.

I tried to concentrate on what she was saying instead of the images in her head, but she kept staring at me the entire time. I tried to block out her thoughts, but they only grew louder. What grown woman had interest in a claimed-to-be seventeen year old!

At this moment, I wished to tell her that I was much too old for her. Sorry, lady, but I was older than her grandfather!

The period was full of anguish. I hoped no one noticed the grimace on my face. I couldn't suppress it, not with her dirty thoughts. How old was she? Twenty something and interested in a teenager, namely one of her students?

"Excuse me, what's your name, honey?"

I startled. She was talking to me.

"Pardon?" I asked as politely and normally as I could.

"What's your name, honey?" She slurred the word "honey", stretching it out dramatically.

"E-Edward Cullen."

The wind blew from the open window and off of her skin. I wanted to gag. Her blood smelt repulsive. The first person to have gross smelling blood! But I wasn't surprised, not by how dirty her mind was.

"So, Edward, can you tell me what your favorite book is?" She asked, too calmly. She was marveling my face.

"Romeo and Juliet." As soon as it slipped out of my mouth, I hated myself. I didn't want to talk about romance, not with her around.

"Can you summarize it?" She asked.

I exhaled sharply. "Yes."

She waited, and when I didn't say anything, she said with an insisting edge, "Please, summarize it."

I want to hear his voice again, she sighed dreamily in her thoughts.

Oh! The horror! "Two-lovers'-families-hate-each-other-and-so-they-both-sneak-to-see-each-other-at-night-but-then-they-both-die-anyways." I said, too quickly for a human to comprehend.

But she understood. "Very well put," She praised, though I thought that wasn't good compared to what I could've done.

She started to lecture about romance novels, and the whole time she was glancing at me, her green eyes mushy with love and dreamy thoughts.

I tried to be polite, but I couldn't take it, so I didn't make eye contact with her as she spoke. I could feel her smile a very gummy grin at me.

When the bell rang, I dashed out the door, not caring if a human saw me run vampire speed. They probably didn't, but I wouldn't care if they did right now. I just wanted to escape from the teacher.

She was so vile. The weird thing was, she caught up to me.

"Hello, Edward," She said in a mechanical voice that sounded too scary for a human.

I swallowed hard before facing her. "Hi, Mrs. Moore."

"It's Ms. Moore to you!" She squealed.

As if it'd make a difference to me. She stared me up and down. Was she checking me out?

"You are my favorite student," She gushed, as if I were a celebrity she was obsessed about.

What could I say? "Um… I'm sorry, Ms. Moore, I should go," I said. "Shoot, I'm late for my next."

"That's okay," She smiled, making me twitch at the sight. "I'll give you a pass."

She said everything to me too nicely. Too nice.

When she ran back to the classroom to right me a pass, I took the chance and bolted out to my car. I didn't care if I had to ditch school. I'd told Bella that it was healthy to do once in a while, and boy, was this healthy.

I floored it and rushed to Bella's home.

Climbing through the window of her bedroom, I caught sight of her, lying in her bed, looking better than she did this morning. Or maybe it was just me. An hour with Ms. Moore made any person looked more beautiful than they ever were, compared to her. Even Jessica Stanley was starting to look prettier than Ms. Moore in my mind.

But no one could beat my Bella. Even when not feeling well, she looked beautiful, all the blood rushing to her red cheeks, her brown hair radiant.

"Edward?" She called, sitting up.

"Hi, Bella," I greeted, sitting next to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, better," She said, looking up at me feebly. I wrapped an arm around her and she sighed.

"Glad I could help," I chuckled.

"How was your day?" She mumbled, half-asleep. "The new teacher?"

I grimaced. "Vile. Even that Mike Newton is better than her."

"Mike's okay," She said.

"No, he isn't," I said.

There was a silence, and I whispered, "I love you."

She was already asleep.

A/N: Don't worry, Ms. Moore will be back soon! MUHAHAHAHA! Will Edward survive her class? And what happens when she starts stalking him?!?!?!

Angelxo