Silence Is a Virtue

I had English next, and as I walked through the corridors to building three I found myself subconciously searching the crowds of people for Edward's face. I didn't see him.

Mr Mason, my teacher, ignored me as I entered the room. I saw that beside my usual seat at the back, was none other than Edward. I beamed involuntarily. He looked up and caught my gaze, smiling. He immediately began writing on the notepad before him.

I sat beside him and dropped my bag, looking at Mr Mason as Edward wrote. I wasn't taking in a word he was saying, all I could think was that Edward was beside me, Edward was writing me a message. I felt the notepad against my arm and looked down.

Hello. Your smile is lovely, you know.

I blushed and looked up at him, smiling. His green eyes were smoldering and he smiled crookedly.

Thank you. Sorry about my brother before.

Edward grinned, taking the pad out of my hand. His hand brushed mine and I got the feeling of being electrocuted once more, but neither of us shyed away from it.

Not at all, he seems friendly enough. Everyone makes the mistake.

I smiled, though I didn't allow the smile to reach my eyes. I made that mistake, same as everyone else. It seems I wasn't anything special, in his eyes.

What's wrong? He pushed the pad towards me again, his green eyes concerned. I shook my head, then began writing.

What do you think of Forks High?

He laughed and raised an eyebrow at me. His beautiful, musical laugh alerted Mr Mason to the fact that we were paying no attention to him, and he called our names.

"Miss Swan, Mr Cullen, please save your discussion until after class, please." he said, not unkindly, raising his eyebrows. Someone a few rows ahead of me scoffed.

"Hardly a discussion. Bella's talking to herself, right? No one's responding." the unkind voice jeered. I sat up - of course, Lauren Mallory. The class laughed quietly, only a few people frowned at her. I was one of them.

"Actually, Edward can communicate just fine. Better than you, anyway." I called. The class laughed openly now, and Lauren turned a furious shade of red. She glared at me, but Mr Mason interrupted her comeback.

"Thats enough, girls." he continued with his lecture. I was looking at Edward, but I could feel Lauren glaring daggers at me.

Edward swiftly wrote a message for me.

I would have written 'boring', but I see there's drama here, too.

I giggled quietly, shaking my head.

Only since you arrived.

Edward grinned, his eyes on me. I looked up, and his smile slowly faded. I couldn't look away. His eyes were a million different shades of green, the colour of newly cut emeralds, of sunlight reflecting off leaves, of underwater coral in a tropical bay. Beneath them, I could see everything he'd ever wanted to say and everything he'd never had a chance to. But the emotion in his eyes distracted me. He couldn't look away either, I could feel it.

Someone infront of me leant back, their chair scraping noisily on the floor, and I dropped my gaze, closing my eyes and feeling the inescapable blush flooding my cheeks. After a few long moments I felt the notepad bump against my arm.

Why are you embarassed?

I looked up at him to see his expression wasn't affected - he was gazing at me with genuine curiousity.

Because I couldn't look away.

I wrote my message slowly. He read it from across the desk, realisation dawning on his face and a light blush colouring his cheeks. He smiled weakly and I attempted to curve my lips upward appropriately - I'm not sure if thats what it looked like.

Once more, we fell into silence, and the rest of the lesson passed without a word spoken between us. Mr Mason gave us our homework, and the bell rang. Edward stood up beside me, pushing his notepad into his bag.

"Sh-shall we walk to lunch together?" I asked him. He stared at me for a second that seemed a lot longer than it actually was, and nodded with a timid smile. We left the room side-by-side.

In the corridor I could feel my fellow students' eyes on me as I walked with Edward. I understood that it must seem peculiar - why would Bella Swan, of all people, take it upon herself to show around the new kid? It wasn't like I'd ever made an effort before. I didn't know why I was so preoccupied with him, either. Something about him drew me to him.

He held the cafeteria door open for me, and I smiled, walking infront of him. I paused, looking around for my friends' faces. I spotted Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper sitting at our usual table, their eyes on Edward and I. I turned to look at him and saw that his face was white - everyone was staring at him. I took his hand for a split second, squeezing his long fingers, then quickly let go. The electricity between us was stronger now, almost painful to endure - painful to end. I seemed to have comforted him, and we walked to the back of the room together.