1: Skinny Love (Ed. Cullen)

11.

Bambi's mind had been.....wondering all day, started with a scratching in first period, a scratching in her mind, she knows what that means, that she's going to have an episode, but she's at school and she won't be that girl, so she'll try and push it back, work through it till the end of the day, just manage it, by lunch, it's the grating sound of Jessica's voice, inside Bambi's head. Judging, mocking, gossiping, loud, loud, banging away in her head. Obnoxious and loud and annoying. Bambi stands abruptly from her seat, the cafeteria all turns to look at her, Bella frowns at her twin.

"Bambi?" she asks, Bambi takes a deep breath and closes her eyes before opening them again and turning to Jessica.

"It's high school" Jessica frowns. "Not London Fashion week....who cares if someone is wearing purple socks or a green bra under a white shirt, who cares if those shoes were last season or the last century....nobody cares except for you" Bambi snatches her bag and walks away, the table all wide eyed, Bella groans and hangs her head as they all look to her.

..............

Bambi walks through the corridor, head down, head fuzzy, her blood pumping, boiling, embarrassed, she'd blown up, she'd answered the freakin' voices, she has no idea whether Jessica had said that stuff out loud or whether it was all in her head, she presses her hand to the lockers, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, but more voices just filter into her head. She pushes herself up and walks down the corridor, fast, escaping. She finds an empty class room and presses herself back against the wall, presses her hands over her ears and slides down the wall to crouch, her head down and eyes closed. Loud. So freakin' loud. So many voices. One over another over another over another. Bambi whimpers. She just wants them to go away. Go away. Go far far away.

....................

Edward frowns following Bambi's quickly disappearing scent, something isn't right. Jessica hadn't said anything and Bambi had blown up at her for something Edward knows Jessica was thinking about. He'd been trying to block the annoying little human out of his own head when Bambi had exploded and then ran away and Edward had been fast after her. He doesn't even know why. He sniffs at the air and turns towards a class room, peers in through the little window and sees her crouches and covering her ears, he opens the door silently and walks in.

"Bambi?" he asks, she jerks her head up to look at him. Her eyes wide, pupils blown, her cheeks flushed. He steps closer to her, as if she were a wounded animal about to bolt. He crouches and looks to her. "Are you alright?" she nods, a little too enthusiastically. "Are you sure?" she shakes her head and stares at him.

"I don't know what happened" she admits, a mere whisper. "I heard her...I heard her complaining about the socks and the bra and the shoes.....and I couldn't take it anymore" she covers her mouth and gasps. "She didn't say it" she whispers looking away. "Oh she didn't say it..." he frowns trying to read her mind, nothing, it's blank, completely blank. Just like her sister. But this is more. At least with Bella he can sense her mind within, like there is a barrier keeping him out, but Bambi, it's like there is nothing there. Bambi touches her face, around her lips and then stands abruptly nearly knocking Edward backwards, she looks around and wraps an arm around herself. "I'm sorry" she tells him. "Please....don't tell anyone..." he stands and shakes his head.

"I won't" he promises.

"I need to call....I need to go home" she tells him. "I need to....I can't" she starts to breath harder, he takes her arm and leads her to a seat, helps her sit down.

"First thing you need to do is breath" he tells her, she looks around wildly, as if ignoring him. "Bambi" he snaps his fingers in front of her face and she looks to him. "Breath" she nods and takes a deep breath. "Another" he motions with his hand and she nods, controlling her breathing. "Do you feel better?" he asks once she's calmed down. She nods a little.

"A little" she whispers and threads a hand through her hair, shaking it out over one side and leans onto her knees, her face closer to his, he stares into her eyes, dark brown, but with flickers of a lighter brown, even a dusting of gold, if you had the eyes to look.

"What happened?" he asks.

"I hear things sometimes" she tells him. "Voices.....they call it a schizophrenic hallucination"

"How long have you....heard these things?" he asks, she shrugs and spins the ring on her finger.

"I don't know" she whispers. "Always?" she shrugs and wraps an arm around herself. "Why am I telling you this?" she asks holding to herself tighter. He stands and hands her her bag, she takes it and looks up at him.

"Do you want me to get your sister?" she shakes her head.

"No, Bella doesn't help, I love her but she's just useless....and awkward" He smiles a little, she sighs and stands. "Thank you" she tells him. "For helping me and I'd very much appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone" he sees her cringe and reach for her head again as someone walks past the classroom. Edward looks to the student and then back to Bambi.

"What did you hear?" he asks her, she shakes her head.

"Nothing, it's not real" she tells him. "That's why it's an hallucination"

"Humour me" he offers, she sighs and cocks her head.

"He was talking about the girl he sits next to in Biology, he was sweet about it, not...lecherous, but sweet, he genuinely likes her" Edward nods a little. Yeah, that's exactly what he got from the boy. Meaning that Bambi's is hallucinating and these voices just happen to be spot on, or....she's a telepath and has no idea about it.