Chaney dreamt that there was someone outside his window. A figure in the dark shrouded roots of the trees, its head tilted up towards his window and its open curtains. Far enough into the tree line that it was nothing more than a shape but close enough that Chaney knew it could see him. Even in a dream there was something off about that figure. He could see it through the glass. A black shape in the night rain. Lit only by a slice of moonlight to hint that there was anything there at all. Anything other than the twisted tree trunks and draped leaves.

In his dream he stood at the glass, watching the figure below. There was almost a strange understanding between him and his nightmarish silhouette. A silence shared as they watched each other. Neither moving as the rain continued to patter against the glass and soak into the ground below. Fear a distant pulse in the back of Chaney's mind. Something that should have its hold on him but was shut behind a barrier instead. It pulsed there, trying to take hold but for some reason the silence he was sharing with this ghost below was driving it back.

It should have been scary. Chaney knew that he should be terrified. Something in his chest was telling him that this figure was not anything good. He knew with soul deep certainty that what ever was watching him could have him dead on the floor in a heart beat, regardless of the height or the glass. If this creature, this ghost or demon, wanted him dead then he would already be bleeding out. The thought, the certainty should not have calmed him. It should not have kept the fear away and he half wondered why it was doing so. Why he felt so calm as he watched this figure watch him.

He had no answer.

He dreamt that there was a figure standing in the garden of Chief Swann's house on the very edge of the forest. Doing nothing but watching him with an intensity that made the back of his neck prickle. He dreamt that the skies had opened up and rain slicked the glass. The sound of it and his own breathing rattling in his ears as he felt the gaze of the creature boring into him.

When he woke up in the morning the window was slick with a light rain. It pattered softly against the glass. Tapping as if waiting to come in.

——————-

The second day back at the very specific brand of hell that was high school was when the affects of his presence kicked off. The first day no one had talked to him. Everyone too busy whispering rumours and shying away from him as if he was contagious. He was a new freak to stare at. Even the teachers had barely spoken to him more than necessary. Which was just fine with him.

However it seemed that the second day the shock wore off. He barely slouched through the front doors, Charlie's police cruiser driving out of the car park, when Eric popped up in front of his face. Chaney twitched as he refrained from instinctively punching him. Eric didn't look much different compared to his memory of him from two years ago. Still hiding behind thick black rimmed glasses and checkered shirts.

"Point that camera at me and I break it", he warned as Eric went for the large camera around his neck.

The boy grinned sheepishly and held up his hands. "Just a picture for the paper. You're front page news Chaney". He withered under the blank glare, feet shuffling awkwardly. "Can't help it. You coming back to school fresh out of juvie is all everyone is talking about".

Chaney sighed and began walking towards his locker. Eric bouncing after him like a very messy dog. It was not cute. In fact, if it wasn't for the knowledge that he would be written up at any sign of trouble, he might have shoved him into the wall. When he reached the metal box, he shot a pointed look at the other boy. Erik bounced back and held up his hands. "Whoa. Whoa. Nothing wrong here man. Anything you could give me for the feature would be great. So..?" He trailed off hopefully.

"You can shove that feature up your arse before I decide to feed it to you", Chaney snapped.

Erik jumped away like someone was about to punch him. Chaney was debating it. "Message received. Got it". Then he was speed walking away through the crowds of teenagers.

"Wow", Dawn commented as she leaned against the locker next to Chaney's. "Way to bite his head off".

"He was annoying me".

"You're still going to be in the school paper though. No avoiding that". She grinned at him as if taking joy in his pain, which he guessed she was. She bit onto the end of a twizler and he stole one from her packet.

"These always taste like banana rather than strawberry", he muttered as he chewed.

"Yeah. Write to the company in complaint". The bell rang and Dawn sighed. "Come on. We have biology together".

"Why do we share, like, four classes?" Chaney complained.

"Cause you would snap and punch someone without me", Dawn grinned.

Chaney found himself smiling back. He had not had any friends when he left juvie, but two days later and he might consider Dawn one. Andy would probably throw a fit over it. "I don't think your presence is stopping anything. More like the threat of prison again".

"What happened in Juvie anyway?" Her smile fell as she eyed him. "You're different. You were"- she seemed to consider her words -"emotional before. Angry at the world but also kinder. Now you're like a washed out version". Her eyes were far too analysing.

Chaney remembered why he didn't have friends. They got too close. His smile dropped and he leaned in closer. She was only a few inches shorter than him but the way he hunched in close seemed to make him seem bigger in some way. "What do you think happened in juvie?" His voice was low, verging on the edge of threatening.

Dawn met his gaze head on. "I think it was something bad".

Chaney snorted. "No shit. Juvie is bad. That's the whole point. It's a punishment".

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Don't tell me. Come on. We are going to be late to class".

"We're already late", Chaney pointed out. He gestured to the now empty hall around them. A few stragglers making their way to class the only sounds now. He smirked at her and began walking towards the direction of their class. Dawn sighing before trailing after him, he brow creased in thought. Her stare on the back of his neck as he shouldered his backpack.

------------------

Chaney walked into biology class and instantly all eyes were on him. He ignored them and stopped by the desk at the front of the room. His own dark eyes surveying everyone back. There were a few faces he recognised. Mike Newton at the back of the room. The blonde boy glaring at Chaney with unsubtle dislike and distaste. His friends Tyler and Jessica on either side of him sporting similar looks. Chaney fought the urge to stick his tongue out at them.

"Ah. Mr Sackerly"- the teacher grumbled.

"Shakerly", Chaney corrected. The class tittered but grew quiet as he turned his gaze over them. Edward was seated four rows down. The boy just as pale and dark eyed as the day before. The warm grey of his jumper doing his skin no favours. Chaney couldn't resist letting his eyes linger on him a moment. A frown creasing his brows. Their gazes interlocking as a shiver of something crawled down his spine. It was not a pleasant shiver.

Dawn bumped his shoulder as she slipped past to her seat on another unoccupied desk. It broke whatever moment was happening. Chaney blinked and looked away.

"You can go sit next to Mr Cullen over there. And no trouble Mr Shakerly. You hear me?"

"Sir yes sir", Chaney huffed as he begrudgingly hauled himself towards the empty spot next to the Cullen boy. He dumped his bag under the desk and perched on his chair before turning to fully take in his new biology partner for the rest of the semester.

With the taxidermy owl on the work tops under the windows, form reaching out as if mid dive to capture a mouse, behind the bronze haired boy. It almost looked like he had a pair of wings reaching out around his back. The visual did not make that dark gaze of his any softer. In fact, he almost looked tortured.

Chaney had seen the different varieties of damaged people. He had met the violent, the attention seeking, the self destructive, the sadistic, the victims. He knew what category he fell into and could easily find out where everyone else fit. But as he met dark eyes, something told him that there was more. Edward felt like a hunter. Chaney had met those too, yet he had always been able to avoid being their prey. This time, with Edward next to him, whole body tensed like a coiled up spring, he wondered if he could avoid it this time.

"So you're the delinquent". His voice was melodic. Unreal. Chaney's heartbeat grew louder. Edward's lips twitched, as if to smirk. It had been spoken quietly. Only loud enough for the two of them. Almost private.

He wasn't sure what possessed him to say what he did next. He had been being good, so good for the last month. Staying out of trouble, avoiding danger, getting out of Juvie and listening to Chief Swann. Yet on the second day of school something that sent his danger signals blaring reared it's head and he just had to answer back. "So you're the stranger", he replied with a smirk of his own. His heart beating in his ears with something like fear.

Edward's smirk fell and there was something dangerous in his eyes. A warning. "What do you mean?" His tone tried to play it off like it was a joke. "Stranger? I have been living here for almost two years now. I am no stranger".

Chaney shrugged. He didn't know. Not really. Yet he just knew. "You're hot candy around these halls yet no one seems to know much about you. Stranger". 

"Do you greet everyone that way?" Edward asked, something that disguised itself as amusement in his tone. Chaney couldn't break the gaze caught between them. He half thought that he imagined it but the dark irises, darker than his own brown, seemed to flicker and darken even further, as if that was possible. He saw pink lips open as Edward inhaled slightly and almost seemed to flinch. One hand clenching into a fist on the table. 

"No. But you seem more than them". Some distant danger signal was pulsing in Chaney's mind so if his voice shook slightly, then that was between the two of them. 

Edward scoffed, a smirk pulling his face. "What do you mean by more? Are you trying to flirt with me?"

Chaney scoffed and leaned back, heart thudding as he realised just how close he had been to the other boy, breaking their gaze as he rolled his eyes."No. And I mean that there is something scary about you. I can tell". He did not realise how true those words were until they left his mouth. The Cullens were scary and he did not know why. They triggered something in his head. Some instinctive prey thrill that he had learnt to recognise long ago. He always knew to listen to his instincts. 

"Interesting", Edward's voice was almost eager. Eager for what? Chaney did not think that it was something good. "You are interesting Charles Shakerly".

Chaney recalled later, much later that he had never told Edward his name. He assumed that the other boy had learnt it through the rumour mill, yet no one in the high school ever used his full name. In fact, the majority of his peers had forgotten it. The rest of them didn't use it out of fear of his wrath. It was a well known fact that he hated his first name. Yet Edward had dripped it from his tongue like it was a piece of his flesh.

"It's Chaney".

Edward hummed and the sound was like a song. It was off-putting how melodic it was. "Alright. Chaney".

Chaney finally turned away. He fixed his gaze onto the whiteboard as the class droned on, the whole of his left side hyper sensitive to the person sat next to him. It felt like pins and needles. Skin prickling. His heart racing in his chest as he tried to ignore the ominous feeling that he might have just poked a sleeping predator.

He had been trying to be so good too.

-----------------------

That night he dreamed that there was someone under his window again. The dark figure closer than before. No longer shadowed by the tree line but instead standing in the middle of the muddy grass of Chief Swann's garden. His form was still swathed in darkness and gloom. Only the barest outline of him lit under the moonlight. It was enough to tell Chaney that it was a him. That there was someone out there, watching his window.

When he leaned closer to the glass, his breath fogged over the surface. By the time he rubbed the moisture away, the figure was gone. The garden nothing but moonlight and shadow. His watcher retreating.

It should have made him feel better, safer. Yet all it did was tighten the fear in his chest. The unknown plaguing him until he was jolting awake, a cold sweat sticking to his skin and his heart pulsing under his ribs. When he opened his eyes to take in the open curtains and the moonlight tinging the gloom, the dark figure loomed over him. He almost screamed, hands scrabbling for the desk lamp. When the light came on, blinding him for a moment. The room was empty. Nothing out of place. Just his own heart pounding in his ears.

unedited

oooo first conversation. What do you think?

All I can say is that Chaney is not going to have as romantic time as Bella did.

Vote, Comment, Follow and all that.