I'M A MONSTER

A day passed, and it was gray again, the sky a heavy blanket overhead. Aiden leaned against one of the metal support beams beneath the football bleachers, hands in his pockets, hood half-drawn. He wasn't surprised when Bella found him—he'd felt her watching him during Bio.

She approached quietly, books clutched to her chest like armor.

"I need to ask you something," she said.

Aiden turned his head, studying her profile. She looked tired, more than usual. Her eyes had that restless gleam again, like she hadn't slept because her thoughts kept circling a dark, silent truth.

"I'm listening."

She hesitated, glanced around, and stepped in closer—so close the damp air between them pulsed with her breath.

"They're not… normal," she said softly. "The Cullens."

Aiden didn't blink. He said nothing.

"I've read things," Bella continued. "Seen things. Things that don't make sense. Edward was across the parking lot and got to me in seconds. He stopped a van with his hand, Aiden. His hand. You were there."

Aiden looked away.

Bella's voice dropped even lower. "And now you're… with Rosalie. I see the way she looks at you. Like you're not just some boy at school."

"Bella, get to the point," he said, getting annoyed at her antics.

"You knew," she said quietly.

Aiden's hand stilled.

"I knew what?"

Bella leaned in. "About Edward. The Cullens, about what he is."

He looked up slowly, his face unreadable, eyes stormy but calm.

Bella didn't flinch. "I know what I saw in Port Angeles. You think Edward just happened to be there? That he heard me from all the way in Forks?"

Aiden said nothing.

She lowered her voice further. "You were there the day of the crash. You saw it. You know. And you've been spending time with Rosalie."

His expression didn't change, but a slow breath escaped him. "Whatever you think I know… doesn't mean I understand it."

Bella stared at him, her lips pressed into a thin line. She wasn't angry—not really. She was scared. But not of Edward.

Of the truth

"I accept that there are things that don't make sense," Aiden said, voice level. "And that trying to drag them into the light doesn't always give you clarity. Sometimes it just gets you burned."

"You're protecting them," she said.

"No," he said quietly. "I protect no one," he said with a little malice. But went back to his aloof self.

Bella recoiled slightly—not hurt, but stunned. 

"I'm not deciding anything," he replied. "I'm just… surviving it."

Across the room, Rosalie stood near the vending machines, talking quietly to Alice. She didn't look at Aiden, but he felt her attention, like pressure against his chest.

Bella followed his gaze.

"She told you," Bella said. "Rosalie. She told you what they are."

Aiden finally looked back at her, the walls in his expression faltering just a little.

"She didn't have to. He said, "I figured that out on my own." 

He turned toward the opening and walked out of the bleachers, moving with deliberate steps toward the gym door. On the other end, Rosalie did the same.

Bella leaned on the beachers, unsure whether to feel betrayed, vindicated, or afraid.

Outside, the clouds deepened to a sickly gray.

Inside, everything between them shifted subtly, irreversibly.