For the rest of the school day, Penelope watched as Edward failed miserably to read her thoughts, but even she had no idea why he couldn't read them. Her best guess was that she was a mental shield, like Bella. That idea on its own was worrying though. Surely she wasn't here to be Bella's replacement? No, she couldn't.

As cute as Edward was, knowing who he is and noting the way he switches from obsession to not giving a damn about her thoughts was cause for concern. One of his thoughts was particularly annoying: "Watch, when I get in her mind- and I will find a way- it won't be worth the effort."

"Oh, how he makes me swoon," she thought sarcastically. And the fact that History, her last class of the day, would be with him was just the cherry on top.

There was only one seat available in that class and it was the one next to her in the back corner by the window. While people filed in for class and she formulated a plan, her gaze was fixed on the trees outside. "Just another hour and you can leave," she consoled herself. It was the strangest thing to be annoyed by people's thoughts. Sure, teenagers weren't the best group to be around for this, but she could almost tolerate them more.

Penelope's goal was to look deep in thought so that when Edward came in, he'd see her and possibly grow more frustrated that her thoughts were hidden from him. If he was going to annoy her with his thoughts, then she'd at least repay the favor by teasing him with a "lack" of hers.

Finally, Edward entered the classroom and immediately his thoughts were on Penelope. He noted how both of them looked unusual in the mundane setting of a high school classroom. Penelope with her out-of-place fashion and Edward with his otherworldly beauty that attracted the attention of everyone at the school- Penelope being the notable exception to this rule.

As she had hoped, he noticed her contemplative expression through her reflection in the window. In vain, he scanned her mind for any thoughts, but when he was met with none, there was a sense of frustration in his mind. When he had no choice but to sit next to her, she made a slight, purposeful move as if she were cringing away from him. That certainly caught his attention.

Edward remained aware of her every move while she took out a notebook and pencil from her backpack, her expression neutral. She looked up at him for a brief moment and offered a slight smile before returning to her "reverie."

"She's not looking at me." he thought. Meanwhile, almost all the girls in class were sneaking glances at him, "Surely that would be the normal thing to do."

"Whatever. She's probably not thinking anything at all."

That made her pout a little, something he took notice of before she hid it by yawning.

Mrs. Thompson then began the lecture. The class was finishing up a unit on the Roman Empire. Nothing of much importance to her, but she'd listen anyway. Halfway through the class, Mrs. Thompson split them up into pairs to work on an assignment and started passing out worksheets. Penelope and Edward were paired up, much to the despair of the other girls in class.

With a heavy sigh, she looked over to him, the corners of her lips twisting up slightly in attempts at a smile, "Hi, my name is Penelope."

"I'm Edward Cullen," he said in a soft, polite voice.

"Nice to meet you." She picked up her worksheet and quickly scanned the instructions. "Alright, we have to argue whether the Western Mediterranean actually collapsed or if it just experienced a transformation." 

Easy enough, Penelope took a class on the Roman Empire back in her old life. "Then we have to defend our argument. I would argue in favor of a collapse, what about you?"

"Collapse," he agreed.

"Lovely," she replied. Her eyes hadn't looked directly at him since she had introduced herself, but Edward didn't know if it was out of nervousness or disinterest.

For the next few minutes, they worked quietly together, exchanging a few sentences here and there to make sure they were still on the same page. Edward was surprised that she had been able to come up with an in-depth analysis of the topic, but to her, this wasn't anything extraordinary. 

On her part, she couldn't believe that she was sitting next to Edward Cullen, a character she had believed only existed in fiction. And what a mind! Penelope could hear all of Edward's thoughts, his mind making comparisons with Penelope and the other girls at the school- or rather contrasts.

In her mind, she knew this was his natural reaction since he couldn't read her thoughts, but still, she didn't want to be classified as "not like other girls."

They were the first group done, leaving them about ten minutes of free time before the bell rang.

"So... how come your family moved to Forks?" she finally asked after a few minutes of silence, though her tone suggested she was kind of bored- which, admittedly, she was.

He turned towards her, his voice still polite and soft, "My mom has always wanted to live in a small town and the hospital here had an opening for my dad, so it all just worked out." 

She nodded along, her eyes gazing into his with mild interest now as she propped her elbow on the table and let her chin rest on her hand, "Why does she want to live in a small town?" Of course, Penelope already knew the reason, but she had always been curious as to why they chose this particular reason as a cover story.

Edward hadn't expected follow-up questions seeing as everyone else was usually intimidated by his presence. Plus, humans normally don't hold eye contact this long. But Penelope didn't look intimidated at all. She almost looked down on him.

"She likes the quiet tranquility of small towns," he replied simply. He was heavily relying on her features to give away some sort of inner depth. The worksheet gave him insight into her intelligence, but why wasn't she flustered or scared to get to know him?

"Is that so?" she sounded amused at his answer, her brow lifting in surprise. "Hm, well I'm sure she'll get her fill of it here. Nothing too exciting ever happens in Forks."

This amused him, a slight smile forming on his lips while thinking she had no idea what kind of family just moved here, "I'm sure that's true."

Penelope smiled sarcastically at his comment before letting out a bored sigh and leaning back in her chair. Her gaze was focused back on the trees outside the window, her eyes noting the increasingly grayer sky. Just five minutes left and I can go "home."

"If you don't mind me asking, how long has your family lived here?" His soft voice drew her back into the moment, her brow raised in surprise at his interested question. I thought they weren't supposed to show interest in mere humans. 

"About 2-3 centuries," she answered easily, noting the surprise etched on his face and mind. "Though I'm sure you'll discover that being the first non-Quileute family to live here hasn't bought us much popularity." 

In her mind, her family didn't deserve the ridicule with which the town tended to think and talk of them. No one would deny that they were weird, but the core of their family was strong and loving, something that couldn't be said for most of the families in Forks.

"That's unfortunate," Edward replied, noting the small furrow of her brow and how the corners of her lips were slightly downturned. Strange... we didn't sense her family the last time we were here... he thought to himself. He had indeed noticed the way students here thought of her, even now as they spoke to each other in class. He almost wanted to ask why when both of their minds were swarmed by the nearby jealous thoughts and snarky comments traded in secret.

Look, he's talking to the Addams girl.

Wait until he finds out about her family.

There's no way he's seriously interested in her.

She simply shrugged and began packing away her things, the end of class being a minute away, "C'est la vie. I'm not the first Addams to go through it and I probably won't be the last."

His thoughts filled her mind and she saw how he had almost wanted to protect her from the kids here, but he saw that her inner strength was all she needed to keep everyone else from getting to her.

Is it really that deep? she thought to herself.

As Aliyah will one day sing:

"When you a bad bitch
You'll never give a fuck about a mad bitch

Stay true to yourself, you a savage
And don't never let these hoes see you down, bitch"

(IT GIRL - ALIYAH'S INTERLUDE)

She smiled slightly to herself as she put her coat back on along with her gloves. Simple as that. Thank goodness he can't read my thoughts, though. Man, I wish that song was around today...

The bell finally rang, relieving her of this strange day. She half-expected him to leave immediately, but to her surprise, he lingered behind while he debated on getting to know her better or just leaving. "I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodbye, Penelope." 

I guess he's controlling himself today. "Bye, Edward," she gave a little wave as she watched him leave to find his siblings.

・・・

The sky had gotten darker when Penelope got home. Lurch had gone to the Thriftway for groceries, leaving her with free reign of the house for a little while. What was a girl to do? Going back to the library for more research was tempting, but her eyes caught sight of the ballroom door and she realized that she hadn't had much time to explore it fully. 

・・・

Stained glass windows covered the walls from top to bottom and an intricate pattern was imprinted on the wood flooring. At this point, she had decided to deactivate her mind reading just for some added peace. 

As her eyes grazed over the intricate details of the painting on one of the walls, her mind filled with memories of dances her family held in the past. And not just family parties or parties with friends, but memories of Gomez teaching a young Penelope how to dance the waltz and many other dances in this very room.

"My little viper will be the talk of any dance, I'll make sure of it," he would often say.

A tender smile graced her lips. This life, even just being in this house was just so different from what she knew before. Penelope Addams was truly loved here and would certainly thrive in this world. But what about Penelope Marlowe? Sure, she didn't have it as easy, but she had great potential.

She was so immersed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the two sets of footsteps making their way to the ballroom- Morticia and Gomez. 

Sneakily, Morticia placed a vinyl on the record player, letting beautiful waltz music fill the room. Penelope quickly turned around at the sound of the music only to find a smiling Gomez, his hand outstretched for her to take. "May I have this dance?"

Touched by the gesture, Penelope smiled and took her father's hand which he placed a quick kiss on before pulling her into an elegant waltz.

"I didn't know you were coming home this early in the day," she said, the two moving gracefully around the ballroom while Morticia happily watched.

Gomez spun her around the ballroom effortlessly, gradually moving faster as the music's tempo increased. "Well, we want to have dinner with you and catch up, my dear."

"And you know we hate to be away from you at all," Morticia added. 

The dance soon ended and Gomez brought them to a stop right by Morticia, who was now holding a black box. "Here you go, my little rain cloud. Your gift, as promised."

Penelope's face lit up because she knew the box only meant one thing- new clothes! 

A stunning strapless gown was neatly folded inside the box. It was made out of layers of deep red tulle and heavily beaded to look almost like blood was dripping down the length of the gown. 

When Penelope took it out of the box, the skirt flared out a bit in an A-line shape. She was in utter awe at the beautiful dress that it almost made her tear up. For a few moments, she wasn't Penelope Addams because never in Marlowe's life had she held such a beautiful gown made exclusively for her. The fanciest dress in her old closet was from Nordstrom Rack.

Her parents were amused by her reaction, smiling at each other before turning back to her. "Well, do you like it, darling?" asked Morticia, though she knew Penelope liked anything and everything her mother made her.

Penelope still struggled to form words, but she eventually found her voice again, "I... love it." 

Putting the gown back in the box, she gave her mother a tight hug, "Thank you, mother."

"Of course. I thought you could wear it the next time we have a party or even to that Spring dance at your school in two months."

"What?" Penelope said, pulling back from the hug a bit out of confusion. "I wasn't planning on going to the Spring dance. Besides, it's a girl's choice dance, and honestly... I don't think I'd willingly choose any of the boys there."

Morticia merely smiled, though her eyes conveyed a hint of concern, "That's alright, my dear. It was just a thought."

Penelope tried on the dress so that her parents could see her in it. Gomez even twirled her around a few times so they could see how well the dress moved with her. All in all, it was a nice afternoon with her parents, though it left her feeling more conflicted than ever.

・・・

Later that evening after Anastasia came back from the hospital, the whole family dined together for the first time in almost a week. Spending time with the family helped her forget about the Cullens and the fact that she wasn't originally from this world. 

When Penelope turned in at the end of the night, she tossed and turned for an hour before giving up on sleep for a bit. Once again, she found herself on the balcony looking out onto the bright and full moon. The air was cold and silent. No crickets could be heard, but there was the occasional hooting of an owl.

She was suddenly reminded of another time she had looked out at the moon. It was before she had been transported here. In fact, she had looked to it for solace after a night full of visions of Forks.

That feels like such a long time ago. And how funny. Back then I didn't want to be here at all. And now? I don't know if I want to leave, she thought.

This was her second night here and she still had no clue how to get home, just as she had no clue how she got here in the first place.

"Moon, a hole of light... Through the big top tent up high... Here before and after me..." she sang softly, her voice barely filling the night air. Penelope sang the entire song, hoping in vain that perhaps her family and friends would be looking at the same moon tonight.

Though the song was not very loud to human ears, Edward heard it as he sat among the trees, perfectly hidden behind the leaves. He had heard everything coming from the Addamses' mansion seeing as they weren't so far that vampires couldn't hear them.

His expression was unreadable as he listened to her rendition of a song that didn't exist yet, thinking she had written it herself. Her voice is lovely.

But he was still conflicted himself. It was a risk for his family to be living so close to humans, but the Addamses didn't seem to mind that his family was near. But the big risk was that, as Edward just discovered, he couldn't read any of their thoughts at all.

Penelope had no idea he was near, but her eyes drifted to the big, white house across the river. There was nothing she could think of to deal with this Cullen situation other than just going through the motions. If they knew she knew their secret, they'd leave immediately. Something she didn't want to happen. Sure, Edward was a little annoying, but part of her always wanted to befriend them back in her old life. 

Edward watched her while she contemplated something he couldn't see or hear. A patch of the branch he rested his hand on suddenly crumpled into dust as he clenched his fist. He gritted his teeth. Seeing her in deep thought yet not able to hear anything was like holding a carrot in front of a bunny and snatching it away at the last second.

・・・

After another minute, Penelope went back inside to give sleep another try, leaving Edward to mull in his frustrations.

Alice then appeared next to him on the branch, her golden eyes fixed on the Addams family home while she pouted a bit. 

"I can't see anything," she said in her melodic voice. "What should we do?"

Edward let out a heavy sigh, "I don't know."

The words hung in the air for a while. For the first time in a long time, he didn't know how to handle a situation that should've had a clear-cut answer. If neither he nor Alice could predict what an entire family was thinking or what they might do, then perhaps it would be safer to move.

Of course, that would mean making Rosalie very mad- and the rest of the family would understandably be upset. Forks was one of the few places they could live without worrying too much about exposure to humans.

On the other hand, not being able to read someone's mind was a refreshing change. At school, he could focus on her and let everyone else's thoughts fall to the wayside so that he could have some peace of mind.

"Let's give it another week," he whispered. With that, the two vampires sped back to their home, both hoping that this turn of events wouldn't affect their stay in Forks.

・・・