Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.

It's been a long time since they last saw him smile.

He observed them from the corner of his golden eyes and saw the same wistful looks. Even after more than a decade of him wallowing in misery, they still hoped that he would miraculously show some sign of happiness or, at the very least, contentment. But, to him, there was no blessing to be counted, the situation would never improve and there will never be silver lining in the dark clouds of his life, for the rest of eternity.

He knew they were concerned, all six of them. Yet, the fact that their encouraging smiles showed no signs of empathy just made him more bitter. Sure, killing humans was a monstrous act that none of the others condoned. But, disapproval. That was as far as their opinions on the matter go. They understood the need to resist murder, but nothing more, the others had a weaker sense of right and wrong.

On the other hand, Edward was raised to be a noble soldier. From a young age, he was taught to defend the weak and mercilessly destroy the despicable. He hated those who preyed on the innocent and helpless. And then, a cruel twist of fate had robbed him of his biological family and forced him to become the very thing he loathed. The worst part was that he actually became more unnatural and more deadly than the average thug lurking in the streets, the ones he used to despise. Cruelly and suddenly, he had become a threat to the human race he fought so hard to protect. Oh, cruel, cruel fate.

A "tut" sound made him look up. Esme, eyes full of worry, smiled knowingly at him. It was nothing too difficult; his bouts of melancholy were all too frequent. "Cheer up, dear. Alice and the others have already left for school". He heard her think.

Edward scowled in response and nodded. Carlisle's suggestion to live under the pretence of being a normal American family was in a bid to salvage whatever human characteristics they had left. After all, it was making lemonade out of life's lemons. How expectedly optimistic of Carlisle. "More like, 'when life hands you lemons, fuck life and bail'," Edward muttered under his breath. This charade he had to maintain was nothing more than a poor imitation of how life should have been. It was a constant stabbing reminder of how unnatural he was and how much effort he had to put in just to be considered normal.

***

"There's a new girl in our class today. This is Isabella Swan and I hope you will all make her feel comfortable in Forks", the Biology teacher introduced in the first lesson of the day. That was all Edward caught before he was lost in his own thoughts again. High school becomes unfulfilling after one has attended tens of times, all hormonal teenagers experienced the same few problems, only the names and faces change. Edward barely noticed the girl moving to take her seat, he hardly cared when the teacher announced the new Biology group project and his mind wandered into nothingness just as the groups were assigned.

It was only when he felt the tap on his shoulder that finally distracted him from monotonously taking down the instructions from the board. He turned, bored, to face the stranger. "Hi, I'm Bella!" she exclaimed, a huge grin on her fair face as she extended her hand for a handshake. Judging from her overwhelming friendliness, the new girl was obviously unaware of the Cullens' notorious reputation. Edward glanced uninterestedly in her direction and heard the anxious thoughts of the three other classmates huddling behind the oblivious newbie.

"Oh my god, what are we going to do?! He looks murderous."

"Shoot, we barely had a chance to warn Bella."

"I can't look!"

Edward rolled his eyes and resumed his note-taking. He knew he hurt her feelings, though it puzzled him slightly that he could not hear her thoughts. Whatever it is, touching her would have been a mistake. His cool skin would surely give his secret away. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the three students hurriedly pull the new girl away but he could not care less about their whispered warnings or their increasingly frightened thoughts.

***

The first day in a new school was always a blur. There were too many new faces to recognise, too many names to remember. The friendlier students helpfully dragged the new girl to her new classes and the teachers were all too willing to help her catch up with the rest of her classmates. Before she knew it, Bella was in her first ever recess of her brand new school. She liked the general atmosphere. The people who sat around her were nice enough to include her in their group conversations and she felt slightly guilty that she could not match their names and faces. She was pretty sure that there was a "Michael" and a "Jessica", possibly an "Eric". Nonetheless, she knew that smiling helped and she contributed to the chatter whenever she could.

Forks High School was no different to the one she attended in Phoenix, except for maybe the climate. Nothing really surprised her so far and the only lasting impression of anything was the strange boy she met in Biology. Based on the giggles and gossips of her new girl friends, it was a general consensus that this queer boy – Edward, was it? - was, by far, the most good looking, yet most unattainable, boy in school. Strangely enough, he did not share the same rugged, boyish looks that dominated the present-day entertainment scene or sports arena. He was extremely fair, to the point that it seemed as though his skin glittered, and this contrasted nicely with his bronze tousled hair. He had a well-defined jaw, sharp nose and the most interesting eyes. If he had lived in the 1800s, she was sure that he would have been labelled as 'a delicate beauty'.

In normal circumstances, she would have been offended by his rude behaviour. She had generously offered to be his friend and he had wordlessly snubbed her. The other girls claimed that he was 'arrogant' and 'conceited'. That would have been an obvious deduction from the way he kept his face emotionless and his jaw tightly set. But was he really? Somehow, in the brief moment that they exchanged glances, Bella was certain that there was an inexplicable sadness in his eyes. It was as though he saw his beauty and being as a burden rather than something he was proud of. Yes, she was sure of the sadness.

It piqued her curiosity. The chatter continued endlessly as she half-wondered if she would ever get an insight to the behaviour of this strange, sad boy.