Tedium.

Absolute, mind numbing boredom.

If I could, if I was human, I'd sleep. After all, what could this average high school have to interest someone with three degrees?

I put up with being a student at Forks High School for Carlisle and Esme. Alice was fascinated by humans, mostly because she had no memory of her human life. Rosalie was just as bored as I, but she enrolled as a senior this year. She and Emmett were leaving soon, under the pretense of college. Rosalie had little patience for school after her second degree, while Emmett had little patience for anything and a strong devotion to Rosalie and her wishes. Jasper had…trouble being around humans. If it weren't for Alice, he wouldn't have been able to stay in one place for long.

The sighs and fantasies I heard in the majority of female heads had become cliché. A few times I had come close to telling them exactly what would happen if I came close to what they imagined…

I could not break the rules.

Alice was worried. It had been a while since Jasper hunted. She didn't see anything, but she hated seeing him in so much anguish.

Rosalie was planning a shopping trip, a surprise to all around. Rosalie was a clotheshorse and reveled in having better clothes than the humans.

It was ostentatious. Rosalie thought nothing of going to Paris during fashion week and finding the newest thing. Alice enjoyed it too, they often went together, along with going to Milan, coming back with an entire new wardrobe.

Not that they needed it, nor did they need to keep up with fashion as fastidiously as they insisted on. While it made things easier to dress like the others, we had no need for the amount of clothes Rosalie and Alice insisted on having.

On the other hand though, what else were they to spend their money on? Especially with Alice's gift for knowing the stock market and enjoyed the benefits of knowing its ups and downs.

"Isabella Swan."

That name. It had come up a lot today. It was the new student. The child of Police Chief Swan, hailing from Phoenix, Arizona. A custody change.

At least it would keep the speculation off of me and my family, at least for a week or so.

The sheep like children here were especially distracted by new, shiny objects. With a student body so small, one could hardly blame them, though they were getting increasingly annoying, especially when most of the females here had crushes on my brothers and I for months, even though Jasper and Emmett were obviously "taken".

Half of the boys already imagined themselves in love with her.

I passed the odious Mike Newton, already contemplating asking her out. I wanted to tell him to take a number, so far four other boys already had plans to ask her by the end of the week.

"Edward," Alice said in her mind, "I'm going to hunt with Jasper. Come with us."

"Do you see something?" I asked her sharply.

She thought for a second, concentrating. "No, he's fine," she said decidedly.

I was thirsty. It had been a while. "I'll come."

Alice gave me one of her brilliant smiles. "Good."

"So," Emmett said. "Has the new girl fixated on the handsome Cullen boys yet?"

I realized that I hadn't heard her yet. I concentrated., yet I found a vacuum. I heard the spewing of that Lauren girl, the selfish babbling of Jessica Stanley and Newton still conniving to ask out Bella Swan. As for Bella, nothing. It was like no one was sitting there.

"He's staring at you," Jessica said unnaturally loud. She was sitting right next to Bella. 'Yeah, right, dream on, girl. There's no way that Edward is going to be interested in you. He wasn't even interested in me!' Her mind said.

I thought, perhaps, I would hear something now that I held her gaze. But there was just silence as I looked into her eyes.

As much as I wanted the silence, having it was unsettling.

There was something in her eyes before she looked away-fear? Humans knew instinctively to stay away from us. They were uncomfortable, even if they weren't sure why. We are their natural predators, after all.

"No. She's more intimidated than interested." I didn't want to admit to it that I couldn't read her mind. There was no reason to alarm them.

Emmett was already bored with the topic of Isabella Swan while Jasper was still fighting for control. Lunch was always the hardest for him, being so near all of these humans in one room. Rosalie was more interested in her favorite subject-herself. Alice was trying to help Jasper. They didn't question my vague reporting any further.

I was anxious to leave even before biology. The teacher was an uninspiring on and had he not been merely mediocre, could not hold the interest of a holder of two medical degrees.

I sat in my seat, while in the middle, still isolated from the rest of the class, somehow. It was better to be left alone. I thought of a melody that I was working on for a while. I was working on it, though I couldn't get the end quite right.

My senses, already ten times better than the average human's, suddenly became alive.

The sweetest smell filled my nose-I could taste the venom fill my mouth. I turned my head, following, seeking the scent.

Isabella Swan.

I could see no one else but her-the curve of her neck, the bloody pulsing beneath her veins.

She tripped.

The rustling of the movement caused her hair to stir. The scent was overpowering; I had gone from being a civilized being to the hunter I despised, the part of me that I refused to acknowledge. I wanted-oh how I wanted to get rid of these insipid children and taste the sweetest blood imaginable.

She righted herself, going to the front of the classroom, yet the distance did nothing. I was already planning how the lure her away, how to make sure that nothing would be suspected. No one would notice, while I enjoyed the sweetest blood imaginable.

No.

I couldn't do this. Someone would notice, eventually. She would be missed and missed soon, as she was the prodigal daughter of the police chief, whisked away by her flighty mother and returning without a by-your-leave.

I saw Carlisle's disappointment in me, the same look he gave when I rebelled, how Esme would try to understand, her sadness in my defeat of everything we stood for.

She came to sit beside me, the only seat left, of course. Every male in the room despised me, wanting to be where I sat, wanting to be her lab partner.

If they only knew.

It would be so easy to lure her-so easy to charm her into going away with me. Every shift of her body stirred the air once more, reminding me, in case I had forgotten in my torment, that this would be the finest thing I would ever taste.

Why? I was eternally damned to an immortal existence. Why was I being further punished? She was obviously sent to torment me-to punish me for my previous indiscretions? A forbidden fruit from the most evil of hells.

She was protecting herself from me, keeping her long hair in front of her like a curtain in between us, shielding the throat that I so wanted to taste.

I couldn't stop myself from staring at her, trying to figure out why this demon was summoned from my personal hell to my existence in Forks.

The class finally ended; I was free to escape this classroom and this she-devil. I did not even know her, could not even read her mind, yet I perceived her to be evil. Her sole purpose was to torment me.

I left. My class was unimportant and once I was away from her, I would be able to think rationally again.

My car was my refuge, my own enclosed space in which I was disconnected from everything and able to concentrate. I could not hear the voices of others, just the thought of my own mind.

I flipped through my CDs, trying to find the perfect one to escape. I settled on classical. Classical music was always able to focus me. I found my thirst dissipating and my civilized self returning.

Now. To decide what to do.

I could not stay here. I could not endanger my family like that. Even the best of us fell off the wagon at some point. None of us had Carlisle's restraint.

But why should I let this human girl drive me away from the only people who accepted me, who knew what my life was like.

I would change my schedule. By high school standards, I was an exemplary student. I could easily take physics or chemistry and hopefully never encounter this creature again.

Mrs. Cope was reading a lurid paperback romance-I could hear the prose in her head-'his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close so she could feel-'

I pretended to clear my throat. She looked up guiltily, obviously not hearing the door open and repenting not having enough time to shove the book in the third drawer of her desk.

"Oh!" 'oh, my, one of the Cullen boys-the younger one, my he is-young enough to be my son.'

"Mrs. Cope?"

"Yes. Edward. What can I do for you?" 'Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.'

I wanted to laugh. What Mrs. Cope didn't realize was that I was old enough to be her grandfather.

"I was wondering if it was possible to switch out of sixth period biology. Perhaps into physics?"

'Stop staring. He is sixteen years old! A child!'

"Is there something wrong, Edward?"

'Odd. We've never had a problem with Bob. He isn't well liked by the students, but we've never had a student ask to switch out of his class."

"No. It's just that I've already taken biology. I would much rather challenge myself."

'Of course. That magnet program in Alaska. I wonder what they are doing here. They could probably all enroll in college. All the teachers talk-'

"I don't want to be a bother," I said, smiling at her. That should stop her train of conjecture and get me out of biology.

"I don't know, Edward. Mr. Banner prefers a small class."

"I wouldn't cause any trouble."

'Of course not. Not a perfect Cullen. Never a word against them. Maybe I should talk to Bob…"

I was getting tired of this, but it shouldn't take long to get what I wanted, to be away from that siren call.

Then, as if my mind summoned her, she came. The monster, whom I kept underneath the mask I wore, raged to life again. This room was too small, the heat to high.

She stood petrified against the wall. Was the monster that evident? I felt sick at the thought, inexplicably. Why should I care what this insignificant girl thought of me?

I looked over at Mrs. Cope, to see if she as well was repulsed by the monster in me, yet she showed no signs of recognizing any sort of change in me.

"Oh! Isabella Swan. Did you have a pleasant day, dear?"

She nodded quickly, looking at the floor. She wouldn't even look at me.

I had to get out of there. Her scent was becoming to potent,. The monster begged me to take it, to take the sweet blood being offered ot me. It would be so easy, there was only this annoying secretary to worry about. An easy snap to the neck. It would happen so fast, there would be no time for her to react. She would never know what happened. I would try to make it fast and painless.

NO.

I had to leave. I realized now that even without being in any of her classes, I would have to see her. This wasn't a large school.

"I can see nothing can be done. Thank you," I bit out. I hoped I wasn't scaring them.

I fled, trying to get as far away from her as possible.

I reached the parking lot. Rosalie was furious. I kept them waiting. She was thinking about hot wiring my car if I hadn't shown up when I did.

'Edward, are you ok?' Alice asked.

I didn't bother answering. She would see.

"You're leaving?!" She exclaimed out loud.

"I have to."

"What happened?" Emmett asked.

I explained. I wouldn't be fair otherwise and Alice would tell them anyway.

"So? I can't be that bad," Emmett said. "It's just a girl."

"I have to."

I dropped them off.I decided to take Carlisle's car. He had a full tank of gas, as opposed to the quarter of a tank I had. I wasn't sure where I would go, perhaps to Denali. Tanya and her family always welcomed us.

"Be careful," Alice told me.

"I will," I promised. I was nothing if not careful.

"You'll be back soon," she said.

I wouldn't bet against Alice.