Chapter 1

Their scent hit me like a solid brick wall as soon as I stepped foot in the cafeteria; the sweet scent of my kind, sort of. Eight of them, upwind from me so it would take a few extra minutes for them to notice I was here. Four females and four males. Two of the girls were almost exact opposites; where one had long golden hair waving gently down her back and was what every model wishes to look like, the other was short, thin and spiky. Her inky black hair was cut in such a way that it looked a bit like she was wearing a hedgehog on her head, a very stylish hedgehog. And then the last two were somehow the same, as if they were related.

Out of the four guys, two were seriously muscled like professional wrestlers or weightlifters, but these too were also opposites. One pale alabaster and one a deep russet. Another was taller, leaner and honey blonde. He carried an aura of experience like I would expect from a war-hardened warrior. The last one seemed younger with his ruffled, bronze hair. They all looked away from anything of importance, including each other.

I was stumped and my body froze momentarily.

"Jazz? Jasmine!" Sara exclaimed, waving her hand at the edge of my vision. I snapped out of my trance so as to not arouse too many suspicions or any weird thoughts about me in my new friend's mind. The girl was in almost all of my classes. I continued walking at the slow human pace I adopted around them. I removed my intense gaze from the abnormally large clan to pay attention to the food I was buying for lunch, not that I would end up actually eating much of it; human food was mildly repulsive. I carried my tray to the table Sara sat at. It was amazing how easy it was to ignore the scent radiating out of her veins and the heat pulsing out of her with each heartbeat.

What was also amazing was how much unwanted attention I was getting. Almost every student, even the senior classes were sending curious glances in my direction. The town of Forks was so small that a new student here was a rarity Even after seventeen years in my half immortal body, I still hated to stand out so much. The instinct was ingrained in me from back when I had been growing by the day and if someone had gotten a decant look at me, they would've noticed a difference. I couldn't help curling in on myself slightly and lowering my head, wishing I could blend into the wallpaper. But I couldn't. No matter how little I spoke or contributed I would always stick out like a sore thumb. I was…different. I was very different, still, pale and able to crush a rock into a pile of dust or drain any of them in under a minute… But I wouldn't think about that. I wished I didn't have to live the way I did but I still tried very hard to create some sort of control. I had chosen my path and I was good at sticking to it even if it meant I had to endure day after day of boring high school or school after school of predictable teenagers just to keep some sort of limited control over my thirst.

Suddenly, two very distinctive gasps shot the interesting conundrum to the forefront of my mind. I hadn't really forgotten, I'd just been distracted by my thoughts. The gasps were from two of the clan across the room from me. I glanced up at them through my lashes.

The pixie-like one and the bronze haired one were starring at me with staggered expressions. The other six turned their heads slowly so they wouldn't attract attention and so they could see the two who had noticed me. I saw the boy's mouth move ever so slightly and I could hear his voice mumble something unintelligible. I may have excellent hearing but not as good as a 'full'. It sounded something like, Same sort as Renesmee. Don't know why... I heard the others gasp in unison. Their heads snapped up and they all meet my inquiring gaze as one. I cocked my head to one side and blinked at them.

I've got to admit, it was hilarious to watch their expressions as my unvampiric aspects registered in their fast minds. No doubt, they were already assessing all the pros and cons of all the different routes that they could take.

"Hey Sara," I said, still watching them, "Who are they?" As soon as I asked, they looked away again, hiding their faces as Sara looked over to see who I was inspecting, though she probably already knew from my tone.

"That's Edward, Alice and Emmett Cullen, Rosalie and Jasper Hale and Isabella and Renesmee Swan. There's also Jacob Black; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife."

I could tell by their mostly old-fashioned names that they were rather old, ages notwithstanding. Sara continued with their known history, "They're all adopted, though I'm pretty sure that Mrs. Cullen can't have kids," I'll bet, "Jasper and Rosalie are twins and I think Isabella and Renesmee are sisters or something but the rest are all unrelated…They're all together," she sounded indignant, her voice lowering, so I guessed this tidbit of information was a secret everyone loved to share yet still pretand it was confidental.

"I know, I don't know if it's even legal," she said all this under her breath so only me and the vampires could hear though she didn't know about the latter.

"Which is which?" I asked. I may as well pump her for as much information as possible.

"Hmm," she said looking up at them again, "Jasper is the blonde guy and Rosalie is the blonde girl," she giggled quietly, "Jasper is with Alice, the short one and Emmett is with Rosalie. Emmett is the one with curly, dark hair," she shuddered unconsciously as her gaze swept over Emmett, the big muscled one, "Bella's the chick with really long brown hair. She's with Edward, the other white one. Then Renesmee, the last girl, and Jacob, the brown one, are together." I couldn't figure out an answer to the one called Jacob's dark complexion.

"So they're all related? As in, there are ten people in their house?" I was amused and it must have tinged my voice because Edward, Isabella and Alice glanced at me so quickly that any human would have no chance at seeing it.

Sara replied with all the information she could. After a time, she began repeating herself occasionally; I didn't stop her.

The bell rang right then and I was relieved. Although I was gaining a ton of information, I didn't like the way everyone kept looking at me.

I checked my timetable that the secretary had kindly given me at the beginning of the day. Though I didn't need to, it made me seem normal. I had Trigonometry then PE. I repressed a sigh at the thought of faking my way through PE. I had to go slower, throw weaker, and get caught out all the time. It sucked in a major way.

I slowly trudged my way through the perpetual drizzle to the classroom. I stepped through the door and walked up to the teacher's desk.

Heavy trails of the sweet smell lay all through the room. I glanced over the students and spotted two of them. Edward and Isabella. I almost started laughing. All the desks were double seated and the only open places were both at the double desk directly in front of them.

I passed over a note to get signed. The teacher, Mrs. Gelding, handed over a textbook and gestured to the only open alternatives with a sympathetic expression. She reacted like every other human out there, well, almost every other human out there. She knew, but only unconsciously, that the Cullens were dangerous and somehow she knew that it would be foolish to have any of the Cullens at your defenseless back or, well, anywhere near you.

I walked slowly down the aisle, blushing at all the stares and muttered 'welcomes' and 'hellos'. I plunked the thick book on the desktop and pulled out the chair silently even though it scraped along linoleum and should have made some noise. I sat, ignoring the piercing stares that seemed to bore holes in my back.

Halfway through the lesson, I peeped back at them and found that they were looking at me out the corner of their eyes with a frustrated air thrumming around him and a strangely amazed yet pitying look playing across her face. Their irises were a solid looking pitch black; they must be hungry. I wondered briefly if they ever lost it, being in a human school, and accidentally killed someone.

I lost my breath for a second. Even though I was sort of used to them, their beauty still affected me.

The period whisked by without any of us saying a word. As soon as the bell rang, they were out of their seats. Before the echoes had faded, they had disappeared like smoke. Ouch. Some of them reacted strongly to me but never had any of them simply tried to escape from my presence. Was I that foreign? I supposed neither of them had ever heard of someone like me. I sighed and bent to collect my things.

I was thankfully able to merely sit on the sidelines for the next class. Also to be grateful for; none of the Cullens shared any of my classes apart from Trigonometry. I had no idea how to deal with this situation. I huffed a sigh and sat back, not paying any attention to the game in front of me.

I drove my car home quickly. Apparently David, my dad, had bought it from one of his friends from Port Angeles. It drove great and was practically new. I knew I would use it heaps.

My father lived with Vivian, my mum. His name's Sam and he's where my vampire side came from. Originally, David and Viv were married. They tied the knot only a few months after they met on a cruise – I know, how romantic and totally stupid? – but after only a few months, she was wooed by a mystery man. I was the result. But before it had showed, David had ratted her out and then the arguments had started. It wasn't long after that that they were divorced. Viv had started ballooning at such an incredible rate that she had almost died from shock. The mystery man, a.k.a. Sam had showed up again and miraculously kept her and me alive. See, even as a baby, I was too strong for her. After my birth, I'd kept growing and growing and growing. It wasn't long before I was the physical size of an eighteen year old though I was only about seven and my mind had shot by even faster. Thank goodness that I'd gradually slowed and eventually stopped all together. I could have been a fossilized granny by now!

Anyway, at the end of that dramatic chapter, Viv had been bitten and turned.

It had taken seventeen years before I had been allowed to see David. He didn't know about me or my mother. I'd kept in touch with cards and letters. He seemed like more of a Dad than Sam and that wasn't saying much.

Somehow, he'd been given parental custody over me for a year before I officially turned eighteen even though I wasn't technically his child. I wasn't complaining apart from the constant rain and the green mush that covered everything here. Actually, to speak the truth, I'd only moved because Viv wanted to move around with Sam. They traveled all over the place; nomads. I could stay in one place and I wasn't as fast as them so she'd decided to dump me at David's while she went off into the sunset with her prince.

David was happy I had come to stay but he had his own life, including a wife of ten years and a set of twins; Amy and Lucian were nine years old. They went to the tiny primary school and Lillian, his wife, worked at the hospital.

I was repulsed by the idea of sacrificing innocent human lives for mine but there was no other way I could live. My parents had ruby eyes from all the human blood they consumed. Me on the other hand, I had sparkling blue eyes. At least that's what everyone else says. It was part of the whole 'half human' package. Also, where they sparkled in the sun, I merely glimmered subtly. I wasn't as fast or as strong as them and I could die but I could eat, sleep and interact with the world a lot easier.

Once at home, I began dinner and blew through my homework with ease. By the time David got home – he had purchased the local sports store from this old guy called Mike Newton when he had become too sick to run the joint about seventeen years ago – I was dishing up lasagna

"Hey Jazz," he called out from the door, "How was your day at school?"

"Great," I mumbled.

The others were already home and assembled at the table. Soon we were eating and any conversation was stilled by familiar sounds of munching. I forced as much food down my throat as possible but after a few mouthfuls, I slowed and faked eating the rest.

I slept restlessly that night. Both the rain and my dreams kept me only a few inches under.

I dreamt that the Cullens had bound me with ropes and were burning me at the stake while I tried to explain about me. I woke in the dead of the night gasping for breath and it took me over an hour to fall asleep again.