Although her hand had a full week to heal before Paloma started attending cheer practice again, she had to admit that she should have done what Rodrigo said and waited another week.

But she didn't want to wait another week. Friday was the game and she didn't want to miss it. She hoped that starting cheer again would help her stop thinking about everything else that was going on in her life, but she was wrong. It hadn't helped.

Now she was stuck with an aching hand and felt like it was taking an eternity to heal.

"If your hand still hurts you can sit out Friday's game." Kennedy stated, and Paloma hadn't even realized that she had been looking down at her hand until her friend appeared.

The cut was definitely going to scar.

Paloma immediately shook her head, too stubborn to even consider it an option. "No. You would have to change the entire routine. Anyway my hand feels fine."

"I'm taking your word on it." Ken said in a warning tone as she walked towards the showers. She was always the last one to shower, all the other girls were already changing into their normal clothes getting ready to go home.

With an exhausted sigh Paloma pulled her blouse on but the sudden snap from her necklace as it got stuck on her clothes caused her to freeze. When the piece of jewelry fell to the floor, she could help but be a little happy. She hated the thing, but also knew that she couldn't lose it. For some reason it was important to her father. Even if he never bothered to explain why.

Why can't I just pretend that I lost the stupid thing?

Because dad would go insane. That's why.

Shoving the necklace into her cheer bag she finished changing as stepped out of the girl's locker room and into the emptying hallway. Walking towards her locker her pace slowed as she met the eyes of the boy that she hadn't seen in a week.

Paloma expected him to ignore her existence as he usually did, but this time his eyes met hers. She almost imagined that his eyes widened just a bit as when he saw her. But maybe that was just wishful thinking.

Edward is back.

I hate his stupid, handsome face.

Or maybe she hated that she couldn't stop thinking about him. It was ridiculous really when everything about him was telling her to run away, although it wasn't easy to ignore the magnetic pull that he seemed to have.

As they walked past each other neither of them broke eye contact. She wasn't sure why he seemed to have that odd look on his face, like he had never seen her before. Like he was just seeing her for the first time. But it was unsettling.

He's so weird.

Finally looking away Paloma instead pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans meaning to text her brother. The last couple of days he had gotten into the habit of waiting for her by her locker, but today he wasn't there.

Went hunting with dad. Ask Kennedy for a ride.

The message was short. It offered no explanation, but only now did she realize that she hadn't bumped into her brother all day. Normally she would see him everywhere. It was like he was always keeping an eye on her.

She looked down at the message again gripping the phone in her hand. She was annoyed that he would do this to her. He was supposed to be the responsible one, and now he having her try to find a ride home on such shirt notice. This was so unlike him. Emiliano always put her first and although she often found his overprotectiveness annoying she felt hurt that he would do this to her.

Grabbing the textbooks that she needed from her locker she headed back towards the girl's locker room hoping that Kennedy hadn't left just yet. Oddly enough she found herself crossing paths with Edward Cullen again.

"Paloma?"

I hate that I love the way he says my name.

He came to a stop a foot away from her, a smirk playing on his lips and for a moment she wondered if she had said those words out loud.

"Edward." She replied in return, confused by why he would approach her. The last time they had spoked he had told her that she should stay away.

That was about a week ago and up until this moment she had. Not because she was following her brother's orders but because the Cullens hadn't come to school. Apparently it was normal for them to take advantage of nice sunny days to go camping, though the Cullens didn't really seem like the type to go camping. They always seemed so clean.

"Would you like me to take you home?" He suddenly asked and if she was confused before, she simply didn't have any words now.

What the hell?

She blinked, unsure of how he knew that she needed a ride to begin with. "What?"

"I noticed that your brother left school early today. I'm assuming you might need a ride home?" He continued casually as if they were friends and him offering to take her home was normal. This was anything but normal for them.

What's the worst that can happen?

The worst would be him driving me home and Emiliano beating the shit out of him.

It was a terrible idea and she knew it. Not because her brother would be livid if he found out, but because being alone with Edward didn't seem like a good idea. It felt dangerous, and not because she thought that he would hurt her. But because there was no knowing how her feelings towards him would change. She was determined to remain indifferent. Even if that felt impossible. "That would be great. Thank you."

Silently she followed him to his silver Volvo that was parked in its usual spot across the lot. He opened the door and waited until she was fully seated before closing it. Paloma shifted in her seat uncomfortably until he sat inside himself.

This is a bad idea. Why am I doing this?

It's because I love getting into trouble.

Or worse. Maybe it's because I actually like the idea of being alone with him.

As they pulled out of the school parking lot Edward's eyes remained entirely focused on the road ahead. He was silent, and it was like she wasn't there at all. Like she was a ghost right beside him.

She couldn't help but steal a glance at him. He was beautiful.

Why is he so beautiful?

It's actually annoying.

Why would he offer to give me a ride if he won't even talk to me?

"How was your day today?" He suddenly questioned snapping her out of her endless thoughts and questions about him.

"So... what happened to the whole 'you should probably stay away from me' thing you had going on last week?" She asked instead not at all interested in the small talk he suddenly decided to initiate. Next thing she knew he would probably be asking her about the weather.

Edward's eyes never looked away from the road ahead. "What do you mean?"

"How can I stay away from you when you're offering to drive me home?"

"I think you're thinking about this too much, Paloma."

Asshole.

"Don't talk to me like I'm crazy. Or like any of this is normal." She countered refusing to let Edward talk to her like she was imagining things. Her brother did the same thing and she refused to let them treat her like a child that had an active imagination.

Still he refused to look at her, but an amused smirk formed on his lips as he continued to look ahead. "Are you saying I'm not normal?"

"I'm saying that you and my brother aren't telling me something." Paloma accused, but that only seemed to amuse him further.

"And what could that be?"

"I don't know." She hated to admit and what she hated even more was the smirk that appeared on Edward's lips. "What are you hiding Edward?"

"Nothing."

"What do you want?"

For the first time his honey colored eyes turned to look at her and for a moment she could have sworn they grew darker. But she knew she had to have imagined it because that was impossible. "I can't answer that either."

Paloma almost wanted to look away, but she couldn't do it. Now that she had his attention she didn't want to let it go just yet. "What can you answer?"

"Wanted to drive you home because I wanted to get to know you better."

She remained silent for a moment realizing that he answered a question that she hadn't even asked. Sure, she thought it but never actually voiced it out loud. His answer didn't even make sense considering that she hadn't told him anything about herself the entire drive.

"And do you? Do you know me better?"

Edward looked at her again, another smile plating on his lips before he turned his attention back on the road. "Yes. I think I do."

She didn't have a chance to question how that could be because the car had come to a stop in front of her house. There were no other cars parked in the driveway meaning that Rodrigo and Emiliano weren't home from their so called hunting trip yet.

Thank god. Maybe I can finally have a moment of peace.

"Well, thank you for driving me home." She told Edward as she turned to open the door, but suddenly he was outside opening the passenger door for her. It was like she blinked and he was suddenly outside.

Wow. He's fast.

How is he that fast?

"Make sure you get that necklace fixed." Was all he said before getting back into his car and driving off, leaving Paloma absolutely stunned.

Edward Cullen was a weird guy. There was no doubt about it.

But even then she was surprised that he would notice such an insignificant detail. Without thinking Paloma reached up and touched her neck, suddenly feeling the absence of the pendant that usually sat there. She hadn't thought about it twice since it broke.

But how did Edward know that it needed to be fixed in the first place? How did he jump to that conclusion? She could have easily just forgotten to wear the necklace. It had to be just a lucky guess on his part.

Coming home to an empty house wasn't something that Paloma was entirely used to. Though recently her father and brother had gotten into the habit of leaving town for hunting trips, not that she wanted to be invited. But as the trips became more frequent she began to feel more lonely.

Since when did they go hunting anyway?

Neither of them had ever shown any interest in the activity before and they never came back with anything to prove they were any good at it. Again not that Paloma wanted a dead deer in the dining room. But everything just felt wrong since coming to Forks.

As Paloma headed towards the kitchen she came to a stop at the sight of her father's office door left slightly ajar. That room was always locked, to her knowledge not even Emiliano was allowed inside.

Without a second thought Paloma pushed the door open knowing that this would probably be her only opportunity to look inside this room. But she was disappointed to find that it looked completely ordinary and even a little bit boring.

His desk was annoyingly organized and clean. And the bookshelves were entirely lined with tomes that she had never even seen him read.

Paloma couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed that her dad wasn't hiding some big secret. Maybe if he was she could understand him better. Although nothing in the office caught her eyes she still decided to walk around and get a closer look.

Crossing the other side of the room towards the bookcase she intended to look through some of her father's medical books. She was a junior in high school and had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Did she want to be a doctor like her father?

No. She didn't. Not because she didn't want to, but because she knew that she didn't have the ability to be one. She didn't think she could ever handle the responsibility of someone's life. If anyone was going to be a doctor it was going to be Emiliano. He idolized their father and she had no doubt that Liano would also want to follow his footsteps and study medicine.

Picking a large leatherbound book at random Paloma opened it only to find that the book was in Latin. She paused looking at the ancient language realizing that although she didn't know Latin that it clearly wasn't a medical journal. Suddenly she wished that she had listened to her father and accepted the Latin lesson that he had offered her. Of course, Emiliano had listened and became fluent in the language. Paloma on the other hand found it pointless to learn a dead language. She was already fluent in English, Spanish, French and Italian and found no point in giving into her father's orders of learning another language.

Rodrigo Ibarra had high expectations for his children. Forcing them to learn multiple languages, take specialized self-defense classes, archery classes and rigorous workout routines. Sometimes it felt like he was raising soldiers and not children. Over the years Paloma had grown more defiant and refused some of the training.

Although she couldn't understand anything in the book she began flipping through the pages until came across a sketch of a wolf. Why did her father have a book in Latin about wolves? And as she flipped through some more pages she stopped at another image of a symbol, multiple lines coming together and forming a picture of a wolf.

Shutting the book she looked back up at the shelf reading the spines of all the ancient texts all of them in Latin. Finally she came across one in Spanish that was titled Horrores De Vampiros. Paloma paused as she realized that it was a book about vampires. Slowly she realized that the tome in her arms had to be about werewolves. She could almost laugh at the realization. There was no way that her father had an entire bookshelf dedicated to ancient text about monsters that didn't exist.

She was expecting some big secret and it turned out that her father was like a teenage girl that was obsessed with vampires and werewolves.

"Lame." Paloma said under her breath as she placed the book back on the shelf.

As she was about to pick another book up from the shelf that was titled Storia Del Volturi, when she heard a car come into the driveway. Panic suddenly set in as she slipped out of the office, closing the door behind her and heading towards the kitchen. They were back a lot sooner than she expected, but as she looked at the clock on the wall she realized that time had actually slipped away.

"Apá?" Paloma casually called from the kitchen once she heard her dad and brother come through the door. She cringed to herself at the falseness in her own voice, realizing that maybe she was trying too hard to act casual.

"Yes, mija?" Rodrigo replied as he stepped into the kitchen, Emiliano following closely behind. The two of them looked exhausted, but Paloma knew there was no point in questioning them.

Reaching into her cheer bag she pulled the broken necklace out for him to see. Rodrigo's eyes widened as he turned to meet Emiliano's eyes who also were shining with worry. Again Paloma chose to ignore their odd behavior as she held out the necklace for her father to take.

"It broke during practice this morning."

Rodrigo looked down at the necklace and nodded, without another word her headed towards his office leaving the two siblings alone in the kitchen.

The moment the office door closed Emiliano stepped forward looking at his little sister with suspicion shining in his eyes. "What are you up to?"

Paloma tilted her head to the side, faking a confused expression as she looked at her brother. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Calling him apá? You haven't done that in years."

She shrugged trying to hide her irritation at the fact that her brother was a lot more perceptive than she believed him to be. "What could I possibly be up to? Because to me it seems like its you and dad that have something to hide."

Emiliano paused like he contemplated saying more but umtimaltely decided against it. She could see it in his eyes. The desire to tell her whatever it was that he was hiding. Whatever he and their father weren't telling her. What he didn't have enough courage to say. And she wished that she had even the slightest clue to what that secret could possibly be. That maybe if she knew she could lift a little of that weight off her brother's shoulders. But she was completely in the dark.

Without another word he turned around and headed upstairs.

Groaning Paloma ran her fingers through her dark hair frustrated over everything. There were so many questions running through her mind. She felt like she was going to go insane if she didn't get any answers.

As she opened the refrigerator to grab a yogurt she froze. Thinking back on the conversation that she had with Edward today she slowly realized that she had never given him the address to her house. Sure, it was a small town but there was still no logical explanation as to how he would know.

Maybe I am overthinking everything?

There has to be a reasonable explanation. Maybe Edward is some kind of stalker?

Maybe Liano and dad are right? I should stay away from him.

Shaking her head Paloma closed the fridge finding that she was no longer hungry. The headache that suddenly came over her prevented her from wanting to do anything and just wanting to go to bed. From now on she was just going to try to convince herself that she was just overthinking everything.

That Forks was just so boring that now she was blowing things out of proportion. She only wished that she believed that to be true.

Because even if Edward had nothing to do with Liano's weird behavior. Her brother was acting weird. And as much as she wanted to pretend that she didn't care, that her brother's weird behavior was his own problem, she was only fooling herself.

She cared too much. But maybe it was the brother that she lost that she was still trying to desperately cling onto. Because the Emiliano that turned away from her just now wasn't the Liano that she grew up with.

Paloma wanted to believe that unlike her brother she hadn't changed. But the reality was that she was also a very different person. There was no knowing if she changed in a good or bad way. The change in her family was so drastic that they were almost unrecognizable from the family that they once were. And if Paloma were just a little bit weaker she would cry for the family and girl that she missed.

A/N: Some more Paloma and Edward for you all. I know it's been a while since my last update, but we're finally moving the plot further along in this chapter. It was mostly a lot of set up but we will be getting some more Edward and Paloma moments that I'm sure you'll all love because of the angst that come with it. Don't forget to vote and comment!!