Bundled up in his new hoodie, Chaney stood on the path outside the front of the Swann's house eyeing up the battered red truck in the drive next to Charlie's police cruiser. The paint was chipped and faded so that it was more a shade of pink tinged orange rather than the bright red that it had been. He had heard the whole conversation between Charlie, Bella and Billy Black from the kitchen the previous day. While he knew that Billy was one of the best mechanics in town, it did not stop him from eyeing the truck as if it was going to fall to pieces in front of him. 

"Chaney". Bella's voice greeted him with a yawn as she stepped outside into the damp chill. She shivered, wrapped in a hoodie and a coat with an accompanying scarf. All shades of grey and purple. "Want a ride to school?" 

"Sure your dad wants you in close quarters with a criminal?" He tilted his head to peer at her. 

Bella rolled her eyes. "If I have to share a bathroom with you, then I can give you a lift to school. Unless you want to drive?" She stepped up towards the truck and hesitated questioningly. 

Chaney snorted and began striding towards the passenger seat. "Did your dad not tell you what got me sent to juvie?" 

"No?" The truck clicked as it unlocked. The doors creaking as they were pulled open. Chaney pulled himself into the seat and dropped his bag at his feet as Bella climbed in. 

"Don't worry. You will surely find out by the end of the day. Especially if everyone sees you arrive with me. Fair warning, and the only warning I am going to give, Forks is full of gossip. You are going to be eaten alive". He grinned gleefully at her at the prospect. 

Bella blinked at him, one hand mid motion with her seatbelt. "Um, right. Thanks. I guess". 

He sniggered. "Be glad I am feeling nice today". 

Bella did not look reassured. She turned the key and the truck rumbled, backfired and spluttered to life. Chaney gave the hood a suspicious look as she pulled out of the space and onto the road. He stuck his headphones on and pressed play on his iPod. The sounds ofMichael Bubblé echoing through the speakers over his ears as the truck rumbled towards the highschool. 

"Are they all staring at me?" Bella asked as they pulled into a parking space. The cars and students surrounding them almost feeling claustrophobic. Their heads turned towards them.

Chaney shrugged. "You? Me? Yep". He shoved the door open and hopped out. It clanged loudly, breaking through the noise of morning chatter as he slammed it shut. He left without a word to Bella, already noticing Eric and his gang creeping forwards the snatch the new kid. He wasn't going to get caught up in that. 'Feeling good' began it's opening and he chuckled to himself as the crowds parted for him, mood lifting as he headed for the doors. 

As the song picked up it's pace, he lifted his head and glanced across the car park. Edward was standing with his family besides a red jeep and a silver Volvo. Chaney's eyes zeroing in on him as he realised that Edward was staring at him. Bronze hair wind ruffled and effortlessly handsome in his t-shirt under thick checkered shirt and jeans in a way that made Chaney feel rumpled. But there was something else in that gaze. He was watching Chaney like he was a cat watching a mouse. It sent a familiar prickling across his neck. 

Chaney returned the piercing stare with a grin that was more snarl than smile. Edward laughed. The sight of it beautiful even a cross the carpark and he knew even without hearing it that it would sound perfect. Scarily perfect. Chaney shivered and glared for a second before twisting away and shoving open the doors. The song in his ears ending and the next one picking up. 

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"New girl is getting absolutely mobbed", Andy commented at lunch. Chaney glanced up from his packed lunch to see what his uninvited lunch mate was staring at. 

"Poor her", Dawn sighed in mock sympathy. Unlike Andy, who had invited himself, Chaney didn't mind eating lunch with her. Their little table in the corner of the cafeteria allowing them to see the whole room while also keeping their backs to the wall. It made any thrown projectiles easier to spot. 

"How long do you think it's going to take before she realises that Mike is an asshole and Eric has no concept of boundaries?" She queried rhetorically as she sipped her orange juice. 

"Jessica and Angela haven't noticed yet", Andy pointed out. 

Dawn rolled her eyes as she stabbed her fries with a fork. Her lunch looking more like a gristly crime scene than actual food. "Jessica is obsessed with the perfect cliche high school experience while Angela is oblivious. They're hopeless". 

Chaney chewed on his sandwich. Which was mostly just ham and buttered bread with some hot sauce. There was not much food in Chief Swann's cupboards and he had eaten worse. He was mentally debating on wether to go and steal a few apples from the salad station. 

As he lifted his head to glance across the room, he caught sight of the Cullens on their own table by the windows on the other end of the room. They weren't eating. Alice, Jasper and Rosalie were talking between themselves. Alice in her floaty layered outfit and Jasper in his shirt. Rosalie dressed like a super model. At the blonde girl's side Emmet was balancing a hard boiled egg on the tip of one finger like a basketball player. The egg was completely still. No wobbling movement. Chaney blinked, something seeming wrong with the sight. No one's balance was that good, right. 

He turned his gaze back over the table and it landed on Edward. He looked exactly like he had that morning. Beautiful. His head turned towards Jasper as the other boy seemed to ask him a question. His jawline sharp and his hair perfectly tousled. The weak cloud logged  light just enough to bring out the shades of gold and russet in the strands. As he talked, his hands spun a apple around in his palms. The dark red shade of the fruit almost looking like blood against Edward's pale skin. For a second Chaney pictured a human heart within those fingers, red dripping down his wrists. 

"Chaney?"

"Chaney. Where did you get your new hoodie from?" 

Andy's voice broke his thoughts. He blinked and returned his attention back to his own table. The mental image of Edward holding human organs fading.  Andy reached over and caught the collar of his hoodie, fingers rubbing on the soft fleece before his hand was smacked away. "Fuck off". 

"No seriously. It looks expensive. Did you steal it? Won't you get sent back to juvie if you get caught? I'm pretty sure its from a brand". 

"I found it in the woods. Must have been left by some hikers. Found it on a hiking trail and I was cold", Chaney scowled. Half truths always sounded more believable than outright lies. "I took it and cleaned it up. Finders keepers and all that". 

"The colour suits you", Dawn commented.

He thought back to his own missing hoodie and this one left like a gift. The memory simultaneously sent a cold feeling down his spine and left a slight lightheadedness. "Don't care. It's warm". He shrugged and continued chewing his sandwich. "Do we have biology next?" 

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Chaney walked int the biology classroom to see Edward already waiting in his previous seat. The bronze haired boy watching him with golden eyes as he entered the room. "Hi", he greeted as Chaney sat down. 

The brown haired boy eyed him with a slight frown. He had not expected to be greeted, not after their last conversation. "Hi". 

Edward smiled. His teeth were as perfect as the rest of him. It was disturbing. "Your reaction this morning amused me". 

"Wow", Chaney drawled as he got out his notebook. "Couldn't tell". He rummaged in his backpack for a pen but his hands were coming up empty. He could have sworn that he had returned it after last class. 

"Here". A pale hand held out a elegant fountain pen. A slim thing of elegance and wealth. Shiny stained wood shell and gleaming metal. Not something for scrawling down homework notes. "You can borrow this". 

Chaney sighed but took it reluctantly. "Thanks". It was smooth in his hold and cold to the touch. "Fountain pen? Old fashioned". 

Edward shrugged with that infuriating slight twitch to his lips that hinted at a smirk. "My family prefers them". 

Chaney turned to stare into golden eyes. Not just golden brown, but amber gold. Bright and startling. No trace of the dark irises Edward had been sporting the last time they had spoken. "You know, the last time I saw a fountain pen it was being used to stab someone". That was true. 

Edward chuckled. The noise seemingly escaping his mouth without permission. "You are funny", he stated as if surprised by his own admittance. "Interesting". 

"You keep repeating that word", Chaney huffed. "Are you into bad boys Cullen?" This time the tone was teasing. He flashed him a wry smirk. The same thrill he got when breaking the law or playing with fire shooting through his chest. He wanted to see what this strange boy would do. 

The laugh that left the bronze haired boy was loud enough to startle the rest of the class. The teacher stopped his lecture and shot them a warning look. Chaney glanced down at his notes as Edward controlled himself. As the class resumed, he leaned closer to whisper and the brunette caught a whiff of something nice. Hard to describe exactly what it was but it was attractive. He fought the urge to groan because of course the creepy too perfect boy smelt good too. 

"I never know what is going on inside that head", Edward tapped his own temple. "You surprise me". 

"Get used to it", Chaney smirked as he scribbled down some notes. It almost felt rude to sully such a nice pen with his scrawl. 

Edward gazed at him with considering eyes, as if he was sizing him up and trying to read everything about him. It was unsettling, yet it almost made Chaney's cheeks heat up under the attention. He felt the thrill fade slightly as fear began to bubble up. "You know", Edward muttered after a long moment. "I don't think I want to". 

"Then get used to surprises". 

"I'll look forward to it". That almost smirk was back on Edward's lips. "Please keep surprising me Chaney Shakerly". His full name again. It was offensive that it sounded so good from the bronze haired boy's lips. 

"Since you asked so nicely, I might just consider it", Chaney retorted. Sarcasm heavy on his tongue. 

A momentary silence fell back over them as Chaney took some more notes on the different types of plant cells being drawn on the board. Edward didn't bother moving to take up his own pen. Instead his stare drilled holes into the side of Chaney's head. Not even the curtain of hair brushing across Chaney's jaw and blocking the other from sight lessening the effect. The stare was piercing.

It took almost twenty minutes for his patience to snap. The thrill of poking a tiger being replaced by wariness and anxiety. "What?" He snarled, half turning in his chair.

"Are you cold?" Edward asked simply. 

Chaney faltered. Anger halting at the unexpected question. "No". 

"Your hoodie is different". Edward reached out to take the collar between his thumb and finger, feeling the soft fleece that lined the inside. "Is it new?" 

Chaney wondered how much the bronze boy had been staring at him before to notice that he had changed his hoodie. Everyone changed their clothes every day yet Edward was asking about his hoodie. "Yeah", the words escaped him before he could stop it and his hears flushed at the uninhibited honesty. 

"Huh, pretty. The colour suits you". Edward let go. Despite their skin not touching, Chaney felt breathless. Danger signals blaring in his brain. 

"Are you flirting with me?" He scowled, throwing back the same question from their previous conversation. 

Edward took a second to think before nodding once decisively. "Yes. I guess I am". 

"Tough luck then", Chaney huffed as the bell rang and he grabbed his notebook, stuffing it into his backpack. "Because I don't date people like you". He dropped the fountain pen onto the table and gave Edward a large grin with far too many teeth. "Thanks for the pen". Then he was striding from the room. Edward's stare on the back of his neck as exhilarating as it was foreboding. 

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Chaney couldn't sleep. He lay on the single bed and watched the moonlight drift through his window. He should probably start drawing the curtains at night but he didn't like it. It made the room feel suffocating. So he lay there and watched the moonlight fade in and out as the clouds covered it. If he listened intently then he could hear Charlie snoring in his room next door. Bella's room was silent. 

After she had driven them both home from School, Charlie had picked her up and taken her to the local diner for dinner and to catch up about her first day. Chaney wasn't invited, not that he would have gone anyway. He had snuck a pot noodle to his room and completed any extra homework for the day. He would need a computer for some assignments soon and would have to probably let Charlie know that he would be staying late in the library tomorrow. 

Yet, despite the long day, his brain was churning. The interactions with Edward replaying in his mind's eye. The thrill and fear warring in equal measure. Why did he feel like that? It was confusing. There was something almost wrong about Edward. He was too handsome, too perfect. It was unreal and it sent his instincts buzzing. Why was he the only one who seemed to notice it? Whenever the topic of the Cullen's had come up, all Andy had said was that they were new. Fostered or adopted by Dr Carlisle Cullen and his wife, who were apparently beloved at the local hospital. Nothing bad in the rumours other than a few snide comments about the whole 'dating a foster sibling' thing. 

Yet, if they were just as ordinary as everyone else, why was Chaney feeling like he had been poking a sleeping predator. He had met monsters. Juvie had monsters a plenty. Psychopaths who would sooner stab you than say hello. Teenagers who had been so victimised that they were shells of their former selves. Volunteers and care workers with to shiny smiles and wandering hands. Bullies who knew exactly who to prey on, who would squeal and who would take it. The monsters that hunted for challenges and got off on winning. He had met them all. 

Edward was not one of those monsters. Chaney somehow knew. Edward was something else. Something, that if he wanted to, he could rip the others apart. Chaney knew his instincts. They had never been wrong yet and he was alive because of it. 

Outside an owl hooted. The noise soft but still loud, cutting through the background forest noise. Chaney sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, exhaustion tugging at his brain. The bed was softer than the one at Juvie and the duvet was thick and warm. He let himself bask in it, curling up as his fists curled comfortingly around the fabric. He focused on the feeling of the warmth around him and let his eyes drift back open to gaze sleepily at the moonlight. 

There was a figure in the corner. A dark shape just outside the light, keeping it swathed in shadow. Chaney blinked at it slowly. Far too tired to feel the same fear as before. The shadowed figure had been watching him every night since the first day of school. Maybe now that he had left juvie, the trauma the centre's therapist had mentioned was finally raising it's head. Chaney mentally snorted at the memory of the therapy the centre had pushed him into after his first roommate had been stabbed and died in his arms. That had been about as helpful as a car crash. 

He peered through half lidded eyes at the dark figure in the corner of the room. Exhaustion tugging on him as the war between his full mind and the need for sleep finally came to an end. Sleep was tugging on him. "You staying until I fall asleep?" He murmured to the figure, voice barely above a whisper and half slurred. "I don't want to be alone". 

The thought that he was finally going mad surfaced and he giggled into his pillow. Chaney shut his eyes. If he was going mad, then oh well. It had been a long time coming. Just as he drifted off, he felt something brush his hair off his face. Like a hand had reached out to tuck the strands back. It felt almost like a breeze. Cold against his skin. 

unedited 

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