The morning of the following Monday was colder than usual, with fog rolling in from the forest and coating the school parking lot in a damp, ghostly haze. Bella parked her truck with a sigh, her mind clouded by the swirling thoughts of the weekend.
She'd spent the last two days holed up at home, poring over every bit of information she could find on the Cullens, on Rosalie, and on the strange new life she was trying to navigate.
Why was Rosalie her mate? And why was it so difficult to stay away from her?
The truth was, Bella didn't have any answers. She only knew one thing: she was already in too deep.
Walking into the school, Bella immediately felt the weight of attention on her. It wasn't so much the stares of the students—those had become mundane by now—but the sharp, focused gaze that could only belong to one person.
Rosalie.
Bella could feel her presence even before she saw her—impossibly magnetic, drawing her in despite her best efforts to ignore it.
She kept her eyes forward as she entered the building, pushing the door open with more force than necessary. There was no point in pretending she didn't know. Every moment she spent in this school, in this body, brought her closer to a confrontation with Rosalie.
The problem was, Bella wasn't sure she was ready for it.
First period passed in a blur, though Bella felt oddly disconnected. Every word her teachers spoke seemed muffled, as though she were underwater. Her mind was preoccupied, and every thought kept circling back to Rosalie.
She glanced up when she felt a presence near her, her heart jumping in her chest.
It was Edward.
He stood just inside the door, watching her with an inscrutable expression.
"Edward," she said, surprised at how neutral her voice sounded. She hadn't expected him to come near her today.
"You're early," he said softly, his golden eyes studying her carefully. "I thought you were avoiding me."
"I've been busy," Bella replied, trying to mask the unease in her chest. "Why would I avoid you?"
Edward's lips twitched into a faint smile. "It's not like you're exactly blending in with the crowd." He motioned to the empty seat beside hers. "May I?"
She nodded. "Sure."
The quiet hum of the classroom was interrupted only by their voices. As they settled into their seats, Bella felt his gaze on her again—sharp, perceptive, as if he was trying to decode something hidden beneath her surface.
She didn't know how much longer she could keep up the charade.
Lunch was even more uncomfortable than usual. Bella had taken to sitting with Angela and her group, though her attention was never fully on the conversation. Her eyes kept drifting toward the Cullens, her senses acutely aware of their every movement.
Edward and Alice were sitting across from each other, engaged in a conversation, but Bella couldn't tear her gaze away from Rosalie.
Rosalie wasn't looking at her, but that didn't make her absence any easier to bear.
It wasn't just that Rosalie was stunning—it was that there was something else beneath the beauty. A pull that Bella couldn't resist, a need she couldn't explain.
It was like the answer to a question she hadn't yet figured out.
Angela and Jessica were talking animatedly, but Bella barely heard them. The thrum of her heartbeat seemed loud in her ears, drowning out their words.
Then, Rosalie stood.
The motion was fluid, graceful, but there was something about it that felt calculated. As though she'd deliberately made sure Bella saw her.
And once again, Bella's breath caught in her throat.
The rest of the day passed in a daze. Biology class was particularly difficult, as Edward insisted on continuing their quiet conversations. She could barely concentrate as his eyes lingered on her, occasionally narrowing in suspicion.
He was trying to figure her out.
It wasn't that she couldn't handle it. But she had other problems to deal with.
Rosalie.
After school, Bella retreated to her truck, her hands shaking slightly as she gripped the steering wheel. Her head was filled with too many thoughts.
She's my mate.
The words still seemed foreign, like something that didn't quite belong to her. But she couldn't ignore the fact that they felt true.
But why Rosalie?
The more she thought about it, the more it felt like some kind of cosmic joke. A twist of fate, or maybe a cruel experiment by whatever being had put her in this body. She didn't know.
But one thing was certain: Rosalie was her mate. And avoiding her—denying the pull—was becoming impossible.
Later that evening, Bella opened her journal.
Entry 5:
I feel her pull, and I don't know how to fight it. Rosalie doesn't want anything to do with me, and I know why—she wants me to stay human. But there's more than that, something I can't explain.
Edward is watching me. I can feel it. There's a quiet intensity in his gaze, like he's waiting for something. Maybe for me to slip. Maybe for me to show him what I'm hiding.
But I'm not sure if I can keep hiding this for much longer.
Maybe I don't want to.
Bella closed the journal, her thoughts swirling as she stared at the blank page before her. There was no way to outrun this—Rosalie was becoming an undeniable presence in her life. And she had no idea what came next.