FAMILY SECRET

SERIES: Foundling

AUTHOR: Sapphire

RATING: PG13

DISCLAIMER: Is my name Stephenie Meyer? No, I don't think so. That means all is hers and mine is nothing.

WARNING: English is not my first language. I do my best, but there still might be some issues. Sorry about this.

THANKS: to my beta

SUMMARY: 17 years ago the Cullens took a human baby in as one of their own. Now Edward is a normal teenager with a not so normal family. Without any special powers, will the girl he loves still be interested in him? And will he be able to hide his family's secret from her and from the world?

This is a follow up of my story 'Foundling', though you don't need to read this one to understand this story.

*Slap*

"I hate you, Edward Cullen!"

With this parting shot, Lauren turned on her heels and stalked across the Forks High School cafeteria. During our argument all talk in the room had ceased, and now every single student in the room was either staring at me or at the retreating back of my girlfriend - well, I guess, now ex-girlfriend.

Touching the side of my face where her hand had connected when she had slapped me, I felt a light sting, but nothing too serious. I doubted there would be a bruise to show for it. Besides that, I didn't really feel anything other than a vague sense of relief.

Hooking up with Lauren had been a mistake to begin with, and I'm still not quite sure why I ever had allowed it to go so far for us to be considered an item. She was pretty enough, that was true, but other than that there was nothing I particularly liked about her. I couldn't talk to her about the things I enjoyed to do, it had always had been about her. What she wanted, what she liked, what she thought about others. Her. Her. Her.

I was pretty sure I was nothing but another notch in her bed post. A sign that she could get any boy she wanted. I had been looking for a way out for weeks now, and I was only too happy that it was finally over.

I shrugged and turned to the table the rest of my family had claimed as their own, while the noise level in the room went up again.

As I walked towards the table, my mom looked at me with concern in her eyes, but I simply shook my head slightly to tell her that I was fine and she dropped her gaze back down to the tray in front of her.

When looking at Rosalie, nobody would believe that she had raised me since I was a baby. For one, currently she didn't look much older than I did, eighteen to my seventeen years. Of course, most people didn't know that she was a vampire and thus didn't age at all. She would look the same as today in ten, twenty, a hundred years.

In fact, all of my family, with the single exception of myself, were vampires.

My dad Emmett - or rather the man who had raised me as his son and now posed as my older brother - sat next to my mother, an arm placed protectively around her shoulder. When I sat down, he pushed his tray towards my place, the food on it, naturally, untouched. Suddenly hungry, I dug in, knowing he certainly wouldn't eat it.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a low whisper.

I nodded, my mouth too full answer, but I hoped he would get the message. I didn't really want to talk about the whole affaire. To be honest, I was just glad it was over.

I had barely finished, when more food appeared on my tray as if by magic, and the empty wrapper from the sandwich I had just eaten ended up on the tray in front of Jasper.

My uncle winked, and I returned his smile. He knew probably best how relieved I felt. As an empath, he had most likely sensed how tense I had been the last couple of weeks and was as glad as I was that it was over.

The last member of my family present, my aunt Alice, looked across the room, watching and listening to the little groups clustered around the tables.

"And, what are they saying?" I asked and bit into an apple, which seconds before had been on Rosalie's tray. I was sure that that little scene Lauren and I had just played out would be the center of more than one chat, probably replacing the talk about the arrival of a new student to the school, which had busied most of them before the big show part had started.

Her eyes turned distant for a second and I wondered if she might have a vision.

"Looks like you're back on the market," she said then, a grin playing around her lips. "Quite a few ladies seem to be perfectly willing to help you get over the terrible loss you've just suffered."

I groaned, hiding my face in my hands.

Now I remembered again why I hadn't broken off with Lauren earlier. For some unfathomable reason half of the girls at Forks High thought I was a good 'catch'. I didn't quite get it. I thought of myself more or less ordinary, but obviously the female half of the school thought differently. Maybe it was the money. We weren't exactly poor and we did little to hide that we had money. Of course we never showed how much we really had. If they knew my family had accumulated billions of dollars over the last hundred years or so, I had no idea what would happen.

The bell rang for the next lesson and I got up.

Biology was possibly my favorite subject at school. Even though I've already worked through the material for this year I couldn't help but being fascinated by it. It was life that did intrigue me. What was it that made the collection of some organic and anorganic chemicals to come together and become alive? What made us tick? It was amazing and I wish I would be able to understand it all.

The class room was already open, but I was the first one inside. I made the way to my usual place and sat down. Pulling out my books, I started to read the text for today's lesson.

The room filled slowly, the other students trickling in to take their places. As usual, the seat next to me remained empty, which was exactly the way I liked it.

Mr. Banner, the teacher, finally showed up, closely followed by the new girl. They talked for a moment, then Banner pointed her to the empty seat next to mine. So much for staying on my own.

I pulled my books to my side of the desk making room for her stuff.

Until my little display in the cafeteria the new girl had been the hot topic of the day. Lauren had given me the complete rundown earlier, though, to be honest, I hadn't listen too closely. From what I remembered, the girl used to live in Phoenix, but now had moved in with her father who was the Chief of Police here. Why, I had no idea. It didn't matter to me.

Now that she walked towards me, I got a first good look and was pleasantly surprised. Dark brown eyes, the exact shade of good chocolate, dominated a pale, heart shaped face. Her hair was also brown, hanging straight down to the middle of her back. She was slim, but still had curves in all the right places.

She smiled shyly as she took the place next to mine.

"Hi," I greeted her. "I'm Edward Cullen." I held out my hand to her.

"I've heard," she said and a pink flush crept up her face. But she took my hand and returned the shake. "I'm Bella Swan."

Her hand felt cold and for some reason I was reluctant to let it go, but, of course, eventually I had to. She looked down at the desk, her bag, the floor, every place but me, her long hair falling across her face, hiding it from my sight.

So I guess she had heard Lauren's and my little display. I wondered what she was thinking of that.

And then I wondered why I wondered what she was thinking.

Banner called the class to attention, but today he couldn't capture my interest as usually. While I tried to follow the lecture, I noticed that I snug a glance at the girl next to me every now and again. Had she been tense at the beginning of the lesson, she soon relaxed and eventually, she took her hair and placed it behind one ear. I couldn't help and watch her profile as she faced forward, listening to Banner talking about this or that, I had no idea what.

I didn't know what it was about her.

It wasn't that she was particular beautiful. Beauty I knew. I was surrounded by it every day, as every single member of my family was exceptionally beautiful. It was part and parcel of being a vampire, a part of them that made it easier for them to lure an unsuspecting human into their clutches. Not that my family used it. None of them drank human blood.

Maybe, if Bella had been more beautiful, I would have been less interested. She was pretty, though, and somehow that was much better.

The hour ended before I had worked out what it was that fascinated me about her, and I would be lying if this didn't frustrate me.

She stuffed her books back into her bag, only for it to fall open again when she picked it up to sling it over her shoulder. All the items inside tumbled out and spread over the class room floor. I heard some of the leaving students laugh and I glowered at them angrily before I bent down to help Bella to pick up her things.

"I'm so sorry," she mumbled, placing the bag on the ground to make it easier to put her things back in.

"It can happen to anyone," I replied, handing her a pen that I retrieved from under the next desk.

"No, this is always only happening to me," she retorted angrily. Once again she blushed and her eyes were cast down. "Sorry."

For a moment an uncomfortable silence stretched between us. The class room was pretty much empty by now and I really needed to get going to get to my last class of the day.

"You've got everything?" I asked, casting around if I could see another wayward item that might belong to her.

"I think that's it. Thank you." She looked up with a smile on her lips. But suddenly she seemed to realize it was me who had helped her and her smile fell.

"Thanks," she said once again, but much colder.

"What's your next class? I could take you," I offered suddenly.

I don't know who was more surprised, she or I.

"I think I can find my way on my own, thanks," she retorted, sounding a little angry.

I didn't know what had caused her mood swing. A second ago she seemed to be really glad I had been helping her, and now she looked seriously pissed.

I took a step back, allowing her to get past me and to the door. She stopped there for a moment, looking back at me, and then she was gone.

Leaving me behind, feeling seriously confused.

* * *

I was quiet on our way home, driving my car absentmindedly. As usual, Rosalie and Emmett went with me, while Alice and Jasper took the Jeep. I knew my aunt and uncle wouldn't be coming home tonight, as they planned to go hunting, so I wasn't surprised when they drove straight on once I turned into the driveway that led to our house.

At home I lost no time and went to my room. I wanted to be alone, wanted time to work out what had happened today in Biology. What it was about Bella Swan that wouldn't allow me to forget her face and her voice.

She was just another girl. Pretty enough, yes, but other than that just a normal girl.

I knew nothing about her.

Well, that was easily rectified. I opened my laptop and started up the internet browser.

But before I could start my search, I heard a knock at my door.

"Yes?" I asked, not too friendly.

The door opened and my mom looked inside.

"Are you okay?" she asked gently, coming further in.

"I'm fine, mom," I said with a low sigh.

"And why you're hiding in your room then?" She took a seat on the couch, watching me as I started to type letters and numbers into the computer.

"I'm not hiding," I protested, slightly angry.

"Is it because of your break up with Lauren?" she asked, concerned.

I knew Rosalie had never really liked my ex-girlfriend, but she hadn't stopped me from making my own mistakes. All she had asked was not to bring her to the house. Which was, after all, only prudent, with Lauren being human and everybody else in my family, well, not. Though I knew she never would have been in any danger with my family - their control was much too good for that - there was still the risk that she would notice something not quite right with my them and that was something we did try to avoid as much as possible. Though, to be honest, I doubted that Lauren would have realized what was going on, even if a member of my family would have made a kill right in front of her and sucked the blood dry from an animal.

I finally turned my chair around and looked at her.

"No, it's not because of Lauren. I'm actually glad it's over. I don't know what I ever saw in her."

"She's pretty," she said with a shrug.

Strangely enough, this comment conjured Lauren's face up as well as Bella's and placed them next to each other in my mind's eye. While Lauren's face looked ... nice, Bella's face seemed far more captivating to me, more alive. More beautiful.

With a dismissive wave of my hand, I wiped the images away, though Bella's faced seemed to linger a little bit longer, refusing to disappear.

"Not that pretty," I replied with a shrug.

My mom chuckled at that. "Could it be that being around us has spoiled you for mere humans?"

I had to laugh at that. It was true that having six exceptionally beautiful people to compare other people to, usually resulted in said other people to fall short in the looks department. But that also led to me looking at other things than outward appearances in people.

And, well, Lauren had been lacking in those as well.

"It had been a mistake to hook up with Lauren and I'm just glad it's over," I repeated my words from earlier. "Really, mom, I'm fine. I just need to do some research on the computer. For school."

Technically, this was true. Bella was at school, so my research into her was for school, right?

My mom looked at me a little bit longer, then finally nodded.

"Okay, I'll leave you alone then. Dinner will be ready for you at six."

"Thanks, mom. Love ya."

"Love ya, too."

Then she was gone.

Half an hour later I had some more information about Bella. My uncle Jasper was a world class hacker and I had picked up a few tricks from him over time, enough to now get me undetected into every database that had information on one Isabella Marie Swan. I now knew when and where she had been born, who her parents were. I knew now that her mom had recently remarried a minor league baseball player. I knew where she had lived for the last seventeen years, where she went to school and that she had had way too many visits to various emergency rooms for somebody as young as her. I knew her grades were reasonably good, that she obviously favored English Lit, Biology and Spanish over PE and math. I knew that she had exactly 536,50 dollars on her saving account.

But I still really didn't know anything about her as a person.

I was sorely tempted to take a stab at her e-mail account, but finally refrained from doing so, realizing that this would be a little bit on the extreme side of things. So I browsed the internet for other, more personal aspects, of her life only to come up empty. She had no blog, no Life Journal, no MySpace page. There were no pictures of her I could find. She had never bought or sold anything on ebay or any other internet auction. It was as if she had gone to extremes to hide herself, who she was, from the rest of world.

What was going on in her head? What was she interested in? Did she still have a boyfriend back in Phoenix?

Who was she?

And why, why was I so obsessed in finding out all those things?