Chapter 1

Thomas Cullen?" my first period teacher, Miss Bailey, called. "The answer is…?"

"52." I grunted. Edward was right, high school was incredibly monotonous. It was only the second day, but I could barely stand it.

"That's right." She smiled. I gave her an overenthusiastic smile right back, but instead of glaring at me, she blushed and I heard her heartbeat increase.

Great, at least my math teacher likes me, I thought sarcastically. Sure, she was probably 30, and I'm 102, but age is just a number, right? I fought the urge to chuckle out loud at the thought. Amusing myself in class was one way to help with my boredom, but laughing and grinning to myself wasn't very…normal. But then again, I wasn't normal anyway, so it shouldn't matter. Thankfully, the bell rang, and I forced myself to walk at a normal human pace to my next class.

My next few classes were a slow, boring blur. All this talk of things I already knew was driving me insane. How did the others survive this year after year? I wasn't even sure if I could last another day. Finally, it was time for lunch. But, of course, I would not be eating. I joined my "sister", Elizabeth, at our table alone. She wasn't actually my sister, and I was "18" when she was "17", but we had been partners for so long and when we came here, Carlisle wanted to keep us together to help us through high school. We were both pretending to be high school juniors. Before we had become vampires, we had both come down with yellow fever and were staying at the same hospital when a doctor by the name of Richard Gates found us and turned us into one of his kind. We did everything together with his son Benjamin and daughter Madeline, until we decided to travel and get away from Boston. Elizabeth and I wanted to break away from drinking human blood, so Richard sent us here to Carlisle, a good friend of his. Elizabeth and I had always been together, so she did feel like a sister to me in a way. I watched as she fiddled with her salad with a plastic fork.

"How is your day going?" she asked politely, not even looking up.

"Fine." I almost groaned. "Boring," I admitted. "But fine. You?"

"Same." She agreed. She looked like she was about to say something else when a group of three guys approached our table. One cleared his throat, and Elizabeth tossed her long, curly mahogany hair back in annoyance. As soon as she faced them, the vent opened and blew out a stream of air, bringing their scent to us. I felt the venom fill my mouth and the thirst burned my throat. We had much control, but it had been a while since we had hunted. I watched Elizabeth's pitch black eyes meet theirs and held my breath. "Yes?" she inquired.

"Hey, Elizabeth, right?" the tallest one asked. She nodded. "Uh, we were…uh…wondering if…you, uh…had a boyfriend?" I just realized that all of them were from the more popular, outgoing crowd. One wearing a faded football jersey stepped forward. Elizabeth's nostril's flared. Hang in there, I silently encouraged her.

"Because we'd like to take you out if you're interested in one of us." He grinned arrogantly. I choked down a laugh so that I wouldn't breathe again. Guys like this were so…pathetic. Elizabeth smiled sadly at them.

"Yes, I do have a boyfriend, sorry." She said with fake sweetness.

"Oh, that's all right…bye." The boy mumbled, sounding extremely disappointed. He led his friends back to their table in a slow, sad manner.

"This is torture." She moaned.

"Who's you're 'boyfriend', El?" I smirked. She picked up a carrot stick and whipped it at me faster than any human eye could see, but I caught it easily.

"Shut up!" she laughed. I smirked at her, my day getting slightly better.

The next two periods went by a little faster. When the last bell rang I tried extremely hard to walk to my car at the right pace. Elizabeth had probably already left, considering her last class was a lot closer to the doors. On my way I spotted a girl just getting out of her car. I wondered what she could possibly be doing coming here when school was over…maybe she had been ill and was picking up her assignments. She certainly didn't look ill, though. Her skin was tanner than most of the girls who lived here in Forks. She was pretty, too. Her blue eyes were bright and she had long brown hair that hung in waves down her back. She didn't see or hear me, though, and continued to make her way into the school. I found myself watching her. It wasn't like I had anything better to do, and her looks were particularly appealing to me. She wasn't the most gorgeous girl I had ever seen, but for a human, she was definitely attractive. Suddenly, the wind picked up. Her scent hit me full force.

It was the most delicious scent I had ever smelled in my entire 84 years as a vampire. I made a gagging sound as I tried to control myself, but I wasn't strong enough. I longed for the taste of human blood again, and this was the perfect opportunity. I would reach her in less than a second; there would be no time for her to scream. Maybe someone would see, but I didn't care, I'd kill them too if I needed to. I leaned forward, ready to spring. As soon as I launched, I felt someone tackle me hard into the woods with a loud clap. Instantly I found myself deep in the woods, and someone was holding me down.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" the voice shouted. It was Edward. I fought and struggled to get up, but I realized that Emmett was also holding me down.

"Get off me!" I growled.

"Fat chance." Emmett laughed.

"Did you realize what you were about to do?" Edward yelled.

"Edward, calm down…it was a mistake." Bella appeared in front of me now, a worry line creased in her forehead despite her tranquil demeanor.

"He could have exposed us all!" Edward pushed me down harder.

"At least Alice saw it coming. Come on, let's just get him back to Carlisle." She said calmly. The boys lifted me up just as the wind blew again. I lost control again as her scent managed to reach me, but it was no use. Emmett was too strong for me.

"Oh, she does smell good." Bella observed, but we knew she wouldn't act on it. Her control was her biggest strength.

"I can't believe you, Tom." Edward said to me.

"Don't you remember what it felt like, Edward?" I retorted.

"But I never hurt her." He spat.

"That's because you were in love with her!"

"I didn't even know her that first day! I wasn't in love with her yet."

"I don't know that girl either! So you're saying I'll fall in love with her?" I yelled.

"It's possible." He gave a small shrug while he was till holding onto me.

"You-" I started angrily.

"All right, all right, calm down guys!" Emmett bellowed. Somehow I remained quiet on the short run back to the house, but I was still fuming.

"I don't want to talk about it!" I announced as soon as I walked through the door. I barely paid attention to Esme's shocked expression and Carlisle calm, knowing face as Emmett let me go and I stomped up the stairs.

"Thomas?" I heard Ellie call softly as I passed by her room. I ignored her too. Alice would fill her in. I went into my room and slammed the door behind me. I was so angry at myself at that moment that I wished I could fall asleep…that I could forget about this for even a few hours. I had almost ruined everything that I had worked so hard for! The girl had never done anything to me to deserve to die. I was selfish. I was stupid. I could have ruined all of us in one little second. That one small mistake, that one moment where I had lost control could have cost us everything.

There was a small knock on my door, and I looked up to see Edward open it.

"Hello," he said quietly, staying in the doorway. I met his eyes, my anguish keeping me silent.

"I just thought I should s-" he started.

"I'm sorry." I interrupted, putting my head in my hands. I couldn't believe what I had done, and I didn't want to face him.

"I forgive you." He said sincerely. "But I'm not here to yell at you. You were right, the same thing happened to me. And although I was able to control myself, it was not easy, and I could have very well done the same thing as you."

I heaved a heavy, agonized sigh. His words were kind, but of little comfort. Reading my thoughts, he continued.

"I overreacted today. I was just frustrated when I found out from Alice what you were going to do. The situation was eerily similar to mine. It's true every vampire will probably go through something like this, but Alice saw other things as well that you're going to have to talk to her about. I know that you think this is as bad as it gets, but there is a war ahead for you…a battle fought against yourself. I just wanted to tell you that I'm here for you. I can help you get through this."

"Thanks." I managed to say, although it sounded a lot ruder than I meant. He nodded once before leaving me alone. I would talk to Alice later, I guess. But I already had an idea of what she was going to say. If my future was like Edward's had been, then I would either kill her or fall in love with her and maybe make her one of us. Like Edward had been, I didn't want to do either. But unlike Edward, I was sure I wasn't going to change my mind. I didn't even know the girl's name! I had never been in love before, and I was sure I wouldn't fall for a human.

"Thomas?" I heard Alice's wind-chime voice. I looked up to see her in the doorway now.

"I won't." I growled through clenched teeth. "I won't do either one! I won't fall in love with her and I won't make her one of us." Alice nodded.

"Will you kill her?" she asked.

"I don't know. I don't want to, but I don't know if I can help it." I admitted.

"Like I always used to tell Jasper, it's easier if you think of them as people. Her name is Olivia Nicole Cummings. She is an only child. She likes to read…romance novels mostly-" I swear I saw her lips curve up into a small smile as she watched my reaction. "And she likes going on long runs." Alice informed me.

"Yeah, ok." I mumbled, my tone letting her know that that didn't help me at all.

"Why don't you visit her? Edward used to visit Bella often those first few months. Emmett could come with you if you want…" she trailed off, her eyes brightening at her idea.

"Yeah, sure." I scoffed. Stalking her sounded like so much fun… "I need to hunt though. I'm going tomorrow after school."

"Ok, just promise that when you get back, you'll at least visit her once. It will help you see what kind of person she is."

"Fine." I snapped as she left. I laid down on my bed and stared at the white ceiling as I heard Edward beginning to play the piano for Bella and Nessie.