The One Thing • Carlisle Cullen

-3-

The days slowly passed since Edward left town and in those days Bella bad been staring the Cullen siblings each day they arrived for school or even left school, it seemed like she was waiting for one of them to go up to tell her and let her know that Edward left, AJ didn't show much interest in the human girl, At the end of the week on Thursday night, Edward returned home and said he was ready to return to school.

AJ climbs out of Edward's Volvo pulling her school bag out with her, she slings it over her shoulder and closes the door, all eyes on them once again.

"Being popular sucks, huh?" AJ jokes as she walks around the car, A faint smile tugs at Edward's lips. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem," Edward says, AJ walks up the stairs quickly catching up with Alice and Jasper.

"Thank gosh it's almost the weekend." AJ mumbles.

"You sound so excited," Alice says.

"Oh I am, I'm very excited to get this day over with," AJ says, they enter the school. "I'll see you guys at lunch."

"See you," Alice says, AJ skips down the hallway towards her locker and opens it, she takes out her maths book and closes the locker and begins making her way towards math class.

"AJ," Edward says catching up with her. "Do you have any idea how loud your thoughts are?"

"Then stay out of my head," AJ says with a smile on her lips.

"I would, but it's so loud, but mind telling Carlisle to keep his thoughts about you to himself as well?" Edward says, AJ playfully pushes him making him chuckle.

"Shut up, we're in school." AJ mumbles. "Seriously, I've had enough of everyone gossiping about us."

"All right, I'm just saying, it's burned into my mind already," Edward says, if AJ could blush she would be red.

"So uh, mind telling me what he was thinking?" AJ asks.

"Absolutely not, we are surrounded by children," Edward says. "Ask him yourself when we get home."

"You are such a jerk," AJ says. "I'll see you at lunch."

"All right," Edward says, AJ enters math class and walks to the back of the room to take her seat, she opens the book as the bell rings and students fill the classroom.

•••

The bell rings letting everyone know that class was over and so was the schoolday, AJ closes her book and stood from her desk picking up the book, she walks out of the classroom and skips down the hallway towards her locker, she reaches her locker and opens it placing the book back into it.

"Why didn't you move with your mother and Phil?" AJ heard Edward's voice, she looks down the hall and saw him walking with Bella, AJ looks back at her locker and pretends to move things around.

"Well, Phil's a minor league baseball player, and he um travels a lot and my mom stayed home with me, but I knew it made her unhappy, so I figured I'd stay with my dad for a while," Bella says.

"And now you're unhappy?" Edward asks.

"No," Bella says, AJ closes her locker turning around her eyes making contact with Edward and Bella, she skips down the hallway past them and out of the school towards Rosalie's convertible and Emmett's jeep, she leans against the convertible pulling her hoodie's hood over her head, Rosalie and Alice exit the school with Jasper and Edward not far behind them.