The Hard Way To Learn A Lesson

Prologue

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"Enter, Cullen," Mr Hudson called in a bored voice. He was used to 'Cullen' being right outside his office. In fact, he didn't even have to wait for the harsh rap of knuckles on the door anymore. And that had nothing to do with the fact that there was a window in the door of the office.

The door opened and an extraordinarily good-looking boy, looking as bored as Mr Hudson sounded, came in. "Mr Hudson," he greeted as he sat down in the chair opposite the balding man. He sat back in the chair, the light glinting off his bronze hair. His startling green eyes were teasing, a cheeky glint passing through them as he put his feet up on the desk as though it was the most natural thing in the world which, to him, it probably was.

"Feet off the desk, Edward!" Hudson barked.

"Yes, Sir," Edward replied mockingly, removing his feet from the desk.

Mr Hudson ground his teeth together, obviously frustrated with the boy's sarcastic response but unable to work it. He counted to ten in his head and then sighed. "Why are you here this time then, Cullen?"

"For speaking the truth," the boy answered in an innocent voice. "And chucking a brick through Mrs Connell's car window. But she did practically ask for it."

Hudson pinched the bridge of his nose and ignored Edward's second statement. "Speaking the truth to whom?"

"That Swan girl." His tone was bitter and cross as he spoke and his perfect face turned into an expression so menacing, even a vampire would have been scared.

"I presume you mean Isabella Swan?" Mr Hudson's tone was reprimanding and practically worshipful. "She is a straight A grade student Cullen and extremely well-behaved. She has a bright future ahead of her, quite unlike you at this point in time. Instead of saying nasty things to her, you should look up to her and take a leaf out of her book."

"I said that I told the truth not that I said nasty things to her." Edward smirked at his head teacher.

"Edward. You are in my office. Obviously, to you, the two things are mutually inclusive or you would not be sat where you are right now!"

"I'm sorry, Sir, I don't know what you mean by 'mutually inclusive'."

"I mean the same, Cullen!" Hudson shouted. "This is exactly what I mean! You have great potential, Edward, but you squander it and use it to make trouble. I've had it up to here." He slammed his hand down on the desk. "I am not going to punish you anymore because you know that throwing bricks through teachers' windows is wrong and I know that suspension will not work. Edward, as much as I hate to 'give up' on a student, I cannot try to teach the un-teachable. Consider this your last warning."

"Last warning until what?" Edward asked suspiciously.

"Expulsion," Mr Hudson answered flatly.

Edward rolled his eyes, not at all deterred, and stood up. "Thanks Mr H. Nice doing business with you." And then he strolled out of the office.

"I told you not to call me Mr H!" Mr Hudson yelled after him, his face turning an unnatural shade of puce. He ground his teeth together again and closed his eyes, beginning to count to ten and mumbling to himself about 'early greys' although he didn't really have enough hair left to turn grey.

But before he even got to seven, he was interrupted. "Er… Mr Hudson?"

Mr Hudson opened his eyes to see a man in his forties with greying hair standing in front of him. He was fiddling nervously with the bottom of his suit blazer, something that really irritated Mr Hudson.

"Yes, Mr Marshall?" he asked Forks High's only psychology teacher.

"Well, sorry Sir, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Mr Cullen and I think I may have a solution to your problem," Mr Marshall said.

"If you think that you have a punishment that will work on Cullen, then you have my permission to try it, and may you have all of the luck in the world."

"Well… it's a bit long-winded… and it may take a while… but I'm pretty sure that it will set him straight."

Mr Hudson narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Mr Marshall's mysterious tone. "Let's hear it then."

"I have both Mr Cullen and Miss Swan in my psychology class and I am thinking of introducing a new project to their class, use them as red-herrings, so to say."

"What's the project and how will it stop Cullen from misbehaving?" Mr Hudson sighed as though he had little faith in his colleague.

"Well… it involves pairing one boy with one girl and… they have to pretend to be married. You know, live together, wear rings, spend all of their time with each other… everything that marriage entails except for the physical aspect…"

Hudson interrupted. "And how will this stop Cullen from…?"

"I was getting to that part. I can pair him up with Isabella Swan. She can teach him a lesson or two, I'm sure. And… perhaps there are a few things that she can learn from him too…"

"And you're almost certain that this will… 'set him straight'," Mr Hudson echoed his words, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"You can never underestimate the power the psychological effect of a human example can have. I believe it may help Cullen to see the world differently and realise what he could do if he put his mind to it… The project may also be an incredible experience for the whole class to endure…"

Mr Hudson sighed again and considered it for a few minutes. He swivelled in his chair and stared blankly at the chart on his wall. It was a calendar of the year, with a little box for every day since he had started here at the beginning of the spring term. It was only two days until spring break now, but everyday that Mr Hudson had been replacing the previous head teacher, Mr Greene - who had decided to move to a girls' school, and Mr Hudson was now beginning to realise why - there was a little pencil scribble of appointments. And, most of them were reminding him of some type of punishment that Edward Cullen was currently serving. More recently, they simply read 'Cullen'.

His brow furrowed as he thought. "And when would this project begin and end?"

"The first week we return after spring break – it will need some preparing – and it would probably last for a few weeks."

Mr Hudson sucked in a deep breath and blew it out again as he came to his decision. "Very well. You can go ahead with this project and try your hardest to influence Cullen with the spectacular power of the human mind, but I personally don't think that it will make much of an impact. All I expect from this project is an angry Cullen and a brick through your window, resulting in expulsion. I've given him his last warning now. If he puts one more toe out of line…" Hudson trailed off.

"Oh, you can't expel him during the project! It would leave Isabella with no partner and she would fail. The girl's never got below an A in her life- she'd probably die of a heart attack!" Mr Marshall said.

Mr Hudson was visibly irritated. "Well, you keep him in check then."

"I'll try my best. It's got to be worth a try though, hasn't it?"

Though Hudson was not at all convinced that the project would even be worth that, he had run out of ideas so he would have to stick with whatever insane idea anyone else could come up with. "I guess so. It can't do much more harm. Another teacher is bound to get a brick through their window soon enough… or worse. But, after your little project, Cullen will not be protected from expulsion. He cannot know that he won't get expelled whilst participating in this or he will run amock.

"As soon as the project is over, Marshall, I'll give you that long. If the boy hasn't changed by then, he's going to be out of this school faster than he could throw a brick through my window… and I'd expect that he can do that pretty damn fast!" Hudson concluded, pointing to the door, an unsubtle hint that he wanted Mr Marshall to leave his office.

"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir," Mr Marshall said gratefully. He wore a huge grin as he stepped out of his boss' office, eager to put his plan into action. Un-teachable, indeed! He, Stephen Marshall, would be the one to prove that there was not an un-teachable student in the world, including Edward Cullen. After all, you can never over-estimate the power of the human mind… and the psychology behind it…

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Okay! Hey guys! New story :D

Firstly, I am sorry that this is really quite short, but it is the prologue, so I'm not going to write loads for the prologue.

Second, this will be the only chapter about the teachers and in third person. I had to do it like that to explain the project and the reasoning behind it.

I know Edward is a little OOC, but that's how he's supposed to be. You know, Bella has to change him and all that. Bella won't be so OOC.

So… what did you think of it? I know there wasn't much of Bella and Edward, but I promise that the rest will be from their POVs. Was it fairly funny? I am trying to make this a little bit entertaining so… maybe?

Also, I am not that happy with the title so it may change, okay? Add this to alert or something and I'll tell you if I'm going to change the chapter or not in the next chappie and then you can take it off alert if you want to. Suggestions are very welcome.

Please, please, please leave me a review telling me what you think! Should I do more? Or is it a stupid idea and I should just stop NOW? Please tell me- I really like reviews!

Thank you so much for reading! Please review!

Steph