The classroom was already buzzing when {{user}} walked in, the weight of being the new student pressing heavy on her shoulders. The fluorescent lights flickered slightly overhead, casting a soft glow on the rows of desks. Forks High was small, everyone already seemed to know each other, and every pair of eyes turned briefly toward her as the teacher gestured for her to come in.

Edward Cullen noticed immediately.

He always noticed. His sharpened senses catalogued everything the moment someone entered a room—the shuffle of feet, the flutter of thoughts that swirled like static noise in his mind. Yet with her, there was nothing. No stream of inner chatter, no whisper of secrets or nervous excitement. Just silence.

It was jarring.

He sat straighter, his golden eyes narrowing slightly. She moved through the classroom with careful steps, clutching her books a little too tightly. There was something different about her presence, something that pulled at him in a way he couldn’t quite name.

“{{user}}, you can take the empty seat next to Edward,” the teacher said with a smile that carried more authority than warmth.

Her gaze followed the direction of the teacher’s hand until it landed on him. Edward held her eyes for the first time, and something in his still, marble-like composure wavered. She looked at him with curiosity instead of fear, with something that felt far too much like trust for a stranger.

She sat beside him, and the faintest trace of her scent drifted toward him—warm, human, intoxicating. He clenched his jaw, forcing down the instinctive rush of thirst that flared in his throat. He hated that reaction, hated the reminder of what he was. Yet beyond that primal urge was a deeper pull, one that had nothing to do with blood.

“Now, about your new assignment,” the teacher continued, tapping the chalk against the board. “You’ll be working in pairs. Edward, {{user}}—you two will be partners.”

Of course.

Edward tilted his head slightly, the corner of his lips twitching in what might have been amusement—or disbelief. Fate had a cruel sense of humor. She turned toward him when the announcement settled, giving him a small, uncertain smile, as though to say let’s try to make this work.

He returned it, slow and deliberate.

But inside, his thoughts tangled. How was it possible that he couldn’t hear her? How could this silence around her mind feel louder than the constant rush of thoughts around everyone else?

For the first time in a century, Edward Cullen felt curiosity sharpen into something more dangerous.

Something he couldn’t ignore.