Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, but I do own my own characters. Besides them, all credit goes to Stephenie Meyer for creating such an enthralling and captivating story. I can only hope I am half the writer she is.

With that, I humbly present to you: A Second Chance

Cutting Class and a Chance Meeting Edward's POV

"Miss Swan, I would prefer it if you could keep your head up and participate in class!" Mr. Banner's words were grumbled, my already worried gaze deepened as I looked at my Bella.

Sluggishly, Bella lifted her head, "sorry Mr. Banner, I didn't get much sleep last night."

With a tone that was almost a growl, our teacher pointed to the door, "if that's the case, don't sleep in my class, go into the hall or the clinic."

Bella said nothing, only stood up and unfortunately, started falling over. Quickly getting out of my seat, I supported her body before she could fall.

"I'll take her to the clinic Mr. Banner."

He said nothing, just grumbled, I'll take her, he says. Why should I care anyways, he probably already knows everything I have taught anyways. Stupid advanced classes.

Before I could catch anymore, I picked Bella up and walked out of the room. I looked at the angel lying in my arms. I already knew why she was so tired, I had been hunting, and I had just gotten back this morning. It was my fault she hadn't gotten any sleep. Once again, I berated myself for having ever left her side.

I should have had to beg for her forgiveness. I should have had to beg to even be near her. For God's sake, I should have had to have sworn to be her eternal slave or something to be able to lay next to her while she slept. Yet, my Bella was so forgiving, she took me back without a second thought. Of course, for the longest time she thought I was going to leave, and it had taken hours to get her to see there was no way I could ever leave again.

As I walked down the hall, the sound of rain drifted into my ears. The scent was the second thing to assault my senses. Normally scents were what hit us first. Due to my extra 'hearing' and the fact, that Bella's scent was so much more potent, a new smell was the second or third thing I would notice.

The walk down the hall was a silent one. Voices of the other children in the building were static in the background. Bella turned her body into my chest as I walked. For some reason this seemed to inflate my ego and my chest swelled with pride. This angel of a being was cuddling into my body, she felt so safe that she could sleep in the arms of a monster.

I nearly scolded myself for thinking myself a monster once again. Nearly. Bella would have my head for that. Of course, I still saw myself as a monster, but she swore up and down that that is not what I was. To her, I was her savior, I was her personal angel and I was her life. If only she knew how true, the same was for her to me. She was all those things and more to me. Sometimes I wondered if she really understood when I told her that it was not her blood that interested me so much anymore, that I wanted her in every way a man could want a woman.

Baka no dounderashi… I hate men, I swear to God… I guess not all are bad, but human males seem to be the worst! Why must I be human? Why can’t I be a fox or something? As I neared the entrance of building four, these thoughts drifted through my head.

It was strange, I had never come across a human who wanted to be an animal rather than a human. Maybe have traits of an animal, but never straight out become an animal. Vaguely I wondered what human male had upset her.

I wonder how everyone else is doing in class, I hope they’re making friends. That Angela girl is so nice, why does she hang out with that Jessica girl? I wish that Mike person would get a clue and go out with Jessica, she so obviously likes him, and I know he likes her still. Wonder why they broke up…

“Rain… soothing.” Bella’s mumbled words brought me out of the thoughts of this new girl.

The small warm smile I felt pulling at the corner of my lips was genuine. Yes, I agreed in my mind, rain is soothing.

“Edward…”

“Yes, love?”

“I love you, Edward.”

“I love you, too.”

“I swear to God if you drop me I’ll keel haul you…”

That caused me to stop in my tracks. Was she saying that to me?

“Damn it Jacob, put me down, don’t drop me!” I bit the inside of my lip, trying not to laugh.

Though I did not like the idea of that filthy werewolf touching my Bella in any way, I detested the idea that he would think of dropping her.

I hate first days, everyone’s on you like a piranha. For God’s sake, you would think I was a mystical genie or something.

Try as I might, I could not get this human females voice out of my head, it was quite annoying. I knew humans could not control their thoughts, but the randomness of this human had my head reeling. Then, out of nowhere, her thoughts were blank. Although, glad I was for the emptiness her mind seemed to be at the moment, I was curious as to why it had happened so suddenly.

Sitting down on a bench under the safety of the cafeteria roof, I looked over, not expecting to see the human female pulled into the arms of a vampire. Had I not had such control over my emotions, my jaw would have hung slack. The male of my kind did not seem to notice me, and neither did the human. Then the thoughts came back.

Gag, I did not need to know Eric Yorkie was lusting after me… gross.

When had he told her that? With not only my extra hearing, but also even my regular hearing, I would have heard him tell her… well, quite frankly, I didn’t know exactly why I cared, but it was strange. Why couldn’t I hear them?

Don’t be alarmed, and please don’t think we’re here to disrupt your life, we’re not here for that. My name is Cade, I am the brother of the one whom is sitting with the human. I can read and send thoughts, that is how Emery knew about that Eric person.

To say the least, I was not sure what to do. This was not something I had ever encountered before. Oh, yeah, I get to meet the other vampires, woot go me! Those thoughts startled me, I glanced over to where the other vampire and human had sat, only to see them walking towards Bella and myself at a rather slow human pace.

Please don’t let Emery scare the crap out of them, no, scratch that. God, please don’t let Emery wake up his mate, he’ll be extremely pissed if we do, I just know it.

I swear to God if Dante’s thinking something pessimistic I am going to keel haul him.

Their thoughts were comical, to think a human could physically harm a vampire was downright hilarious. As for waking Bella… well, I would be upset if they woke her, but she would be more furious if I did not wake her to meet these… new people.

Sighing silently, I pressed my lips to Bella’s silky mahogany hair, “Bella, love,” I whispered, “we have company, I think you might want to wake up.”

“Is it Alice?” she asked groggily.

“If it was my darling sister, love, I wouldn’t bother waking you.” She snorted at this, but stretched her arms out behind her back none-the-less.

With some trouble, she opened her pale lids to reveal her beautiful, bottomless brown eyes. I kissed the tip of her nose, “how are you feeling?”

“A little better, how long was I out?” she asked, the sleep quickly draining from her voice and appearance.

“Not long, perhaps an hour or so.” Smiling, she sat up in my lap, my arms instinctively wrapped around her waist.

Covering her mouth to hide a yawn, she smiled up at me, "well that isn't too long, but I do feel much better."

Kissing her neck, I nodded in agreement, "yes, you seem much more alert then you were an hour ago." Giggling in response, I trailed butterfly kisses up her neck, until I reached her cheek. About that time, the two I presumed were Dante and Emery stood beside Bella and myself.

"Oh, we didn't come over at a bad time did we? Dante you ass cracker, why didn't you tell me she was sleeping?" Emery growled.

"Common sense love, couldn't you tell she was asleep?" Rolling his eyes, Dante snickered.

"Obviously not or I wouldn't have yelled at you for not telling me she was asleep."

"It's ok," Bella interrupted, "I'm awake. In any case, it's nice to meet the two of you." She plastered a smile onto her face, albeit it was a tired one.

Smiling also, Emery bowed; how strange for a human, much less a female. "Hello, I'm Emery Redwood, it is also very nice to meet you... uh..."

"Bella Swan." Again, Bella smiled.

A wide grin spread across Emery's face, "very nice to meet you Bella! This dork right here is Dante Waters." She started giggling as if what she said was an inside joke.

Turning her head to look at me, she gave me a small smile then looked back to Emery, "this is Edward Cullen..." she paused, as if she weren't sure of our status. Of course, I knew this was not the exact cause of her pause, it was more that the term didn't really fit. "My boyfriend." she finished.

"Funny how both of us have... very exceptional boyfriends... don't you think?" Grinned the other female human in on our vampire secret.

For the first time, I realized she had straight chestnut brown hair, and piercing green eyes that I could not put my finger on why I recognized them.

Oh wow, she has eyes like Edward had when he was human! Startled, I turned only to see Alice skipping towards us. "Hello Bella, Edward! Hello to you two too!" she gestured towards Emery and Dante.

Too many two's! Emery's mind screamed.

"Alice, how would you know what my eyes looked like when I was human?" I inquired, speaking softly and fast so Bella and Emery would not hear. Somehow, both of them caught me.

"What did you say?" they both asked at the same time.

If you must know, I asked Carlisle, and he showed me a picture he had found of you and your parents. Your parents were lovely people, and she does have those same vibrant green eyes you had. "Nothing of consequence, anyways, I saw you two coming, but I still don't know your names."

"Emery Redwood and Dante Waters." I answered for them. Emery glared at me and Dante laughed.

Her stubborn and independent nature will get her into vast trouble someday soon. I just know it.

I swear if he does that again I'll throw the skillet Dante ruined at him.

"A skillet?" I couldn't help asking out loud.

"What?" Alice, Bella and Dante questioned at the same time.

"Don't even play dumb Dante, I know you remember the cast iron skillet you ruined on your brother's head." again she growled. I had no idea that a human could growl this much, she sounded like a rabid animal, she made us vampires seem normal.

"I'm not playing dumb, but how did he--"

"Mind reader, you ass cracker." Emery rolled her eyes, as if it were plainly obvious. Ok, so maybe to one who was used to mythical creatures, it probably was plainly obvious.

"Ah, like Cade?" he questioned.

"Are you getting thoughts from him in his own voice?"

"Nope."

"Then he can only read minds, not send thoughts. Still pretty cool though. Hope you don't get a migraine from me, Edward." She grinned widely at me.

"I'm... confused." Bella stated.

"I'm not quite sure I want to know." I offered.

"Oh you want to know, it's quite hilarious." Alice giggled, an image of a heavy--for a human at least-- cast iron skillet being chucked at --quite frankly-- a vampire much like Emmett.

That thought had been from Dante, the same image in a more animated type of scene came from Emery.

"How would you know what happened?" Emery asked, fascinated about the things Alice could know.

"I see the future. I saw you and Dante retelling the story in about five minutes." This time she grinned, showing off her teeth.

Jumping up and down, Emery giggled and clapped, like a small child about to receive candy. "This should be fun! I can't wait to tell them about that!"

Dante poked her in the side in annoyance. The resulting squeal--I guess you could say it was-- sounded half way between a 'no' and a cats meow. Therefore, something like a 'nyu.'

"Damn it Dante, don't poke me!" once again she growled, I had already begun to expect this was normal for her.

"That was an interesting sound. Does she do that all the time?" Alice's curiosity was almost as bad as Bella's, she too poked Emery in the side, resulting in the same squeal she had let out when Dante poked her. "Oh, fascinating, I wonder if Bella will do that." she then poked Bella in the side before I could stop her. Bella jumped, but made no sound. "Aww, darn." she pouted.

"Ok, this conversation has gotten horridly off of topic. We introduce ourselves and then... grr." At least there is no annoying Mike Newton around. It is so wrong for someone like him to like the new kid just to make someone else jealous. I think Angela got a kick out of my rejection though...

Deciding I would humor her, I decided the next question, "So where did you two come from?"

"The moon." Emery answered automatically, it was as if she planned these answers without my knowing.

Dante rolled his eyes again, "Ohio, certain... events caused us to move." Once again, I did not need Jasper's ability to feel the waves of sadness radiating off Dante, obviously, Emery had not heard him.

I looked to Dante for an answer, he obliged with his thoughts. Something happened to Emery's father Todd. She believes he is dead, but really... he is a vampire now, and we cannot let him see her while he is still a newborn. We're not sure telling her he's dead is the best course of action, but for now, she believes he is gone forever.

I gave him a questioning look, either he understood the question in my eyes or Cade was listening and telling him my questions. My brother, Jackson, he... did something that caused Emery to pull away from me. For months, neither of us really lived, and then once we were together again... Jackson... he attacked her father, meaning to kill him, but one of my sisters was able to stop him. Nodding slightly, I understood.

So what had they done to his brother? We monitor him 24/7, he said he hadn't meant to do it. I'm not so sure, but he's just as much a son to our mother as he is a brother to us. If something like this happens again...

I understood this too, I would never want to have to take down one of my own family members.

"You should have seen the hallways! No one could keep stable footing! It was hilarious, everyone was falling over. That's why they closed off the upstairs tech wing, I got called down to the Principals office and he told me he was forwarding that information to this school. Before I even got my schedule and that paper to be signed by all these teachers, I was called into the office. I swear the principal has such a foul stench. Does he ever bathe?" This pulled Dante and myself from our mental conversations.

"What did you do?" I asked, Bella gave me a knowing look, her eyes said I would tell her why I wasn't paying attention later.

"Damn mind reader conversations... I blew up the toilets in the upstairs tech hall." She glared at me.

"Why would you do that?"

"I was bored and I wanted to leave something behind for my friends to remind them of me." She smiled as the memory replayed itself in her mind.

"Is the principal worried you'll do the same here?" Bella muttered something like 'as if you didn't already know.' For once, I truly did not know. I never made it a habit to really monitor the principal, he hardly ever made himself known to the students.

"Something like that, I don't know, he could have been warning me to not light of stink bombs in the guys bathroom like I did back in Ohio about two or three months back." This memory also played back, she grinned.

"Wow, you certainly seem to disregard consequences of doing those things." I was slightly shocked, Bella seemed a little envious of Emery's disregard for rules and safety.

However, Emery shrugged, "I hated our principal." she stated simply. "Anything to make his life a living hell made me... well not happy, but I got a good laugh out of it."

Smiling a knowing smile, Bella replied, "Dante is what makes you happy, right?"

"Without a shadow of a doubt." Emery agreed, her eyes crinkled with her wide smile.

"I know exactly what you mean." The smile that adorned Bella's face was simply breathtaking. I let out a breath I had not known I was holding when she looked up at me.

Her eyes seemed to be glistening with love for me. The depth of her chocolate brown eyes seemed to communicate this perfectly. I could feel the desire in myself to be with her physically. Since the day I had thought Bella had died, I had truly realized how much we needed and wanted each other. As I realized she was really alive, the thirst for her blood had quieted. The monster inside me had recognized the pain her death would cause me, and also vehemently rejected my drinking her blood. Though sometimes I could feel that part of my instincts wander.

"Yes, I'm quite sure we both know exactly what you mean." Lightly, I pressed my lips to Bella's. Her heart quickened and her cheeks flushed with blood, it seemed as if she wasn't all too comfortable kissing in front of strangers. However, when I pulled away, and reminded her to breath, I noticed Dante having a moment with Emery. Alice looked ready to spontaneously combust.

She was speaking rapidly under her breath, so to speak. I truly was not paying too much attention to her. I caught snippets of, 'just too cute,' or 'perfect for one another,' 'Esme will love to hear about this,' and randomly yet not randomly, 'I miss Jasper.'

"So where do you live?" that was a question, I wondered that vaguely myself. Once Dante and Emery stopped kissing, they both grinned at us sheepishly.

"Well technically, I live next to Chief Swan's house, and Dante and his family live in some secluded house just outside of Forks. However, Dante, and the rest that go to school with us live with me." Out of nowhere, she grinned.

Since they live in the same house as me, it's so much easier to scare them.

"How do you scare a vampire?" I questioned.

"You should know, you tell me I do it all the time." Bella answered at the same time Emery yelled at me, "Stop reading my thoughts!"

"In any case, Addison has a nifty little trick that allows her to see a persons fear. There's always a varying degree of fears, so she has helped me pick out their more... petty fears." she grinned, going through some of the memories of the times she had scared Dante's family. Singing the Barney song, was one of the more... horrifying yet satisfying she remembered.

If I were not so good at masking my emotions, I would have shivered. However, my ever-perceptive Bella seemed to notice, and giggled. Of course, she would recognize the pained look I had had, stars know she knows my more petty fear is of country music. Trying not to smile, Bella bit her bottom lip. She made eye contact with Emery. The other human girl mirrored Bella, she was biting her lip to keep herself from smiling also. Was it me or did women have some secret way to communicate without giving away their plans? Alice would probably know, I looked over to her, but found she was singing her ABCs in Dutch.

What hell was I to endure with the three of them conspiring against me? Would Dante be in on it or would he be part of the victim squad? From the look on his face, I could tell he would be with the victims. He silently voiced a, 'God help the male vampire population.' I had to agree with him, God help us males.