Set after the time of Stephenie Meyer's rhapsodizing conclusion to the Twilight Saga, Rennesme Cullen finds herself thrown into a world not unlike Bella's when she first started at Fork's High School. She lives with vampires, and is struggling with the fact that a werewolf is trying desperately to win her heart. Will the presence of a new vegetarian vampire stir things up between the Cullen family and the werewolf pack? Who will Rennesme fall for in the end, if at all? When will the Volturri decide to intervene, and what would happen as a result of that?
So many questions. It's a good thing that our favorite vampires have an eternity to figure things out.
"Oh look! It's the Cullen's daughter, come back from a private institution in France. Wonder what she's doing in a place like Forks?"
"But the whole family's moved back except the grandparents. They stayed in Europe because her grandfather's some high-end doctor. I heard they're all really good looking."
"How do you think she keeps her face so flawless?"
A pause. "Some people have it, Lina. That's the only way I can explain it."
Rennesme pulled her attention away from the two girl's conversation, and turned to stare at the plate of cafeteria food she had gotten for herself in the lunch-line. It smelled less than appetizing, but the thing that she truly craved she couldn't get for herself for at least another week. That thing being, obviously, blood. So she resolutely decided that the apple would have to do.
Her remarkably straight, white teeth sliced cleanly through the apple's flesh, and the smallest bit of juice dripped down her chin. Touching her fingers to her lips, she quickly brushed the juice away, swallowing before taking another bite, completely aware that she had the attention of all the tables within a thirty-foot radius.
Her first day at Forks High School, a moment she had been waiting for for more than ten years. She lifted her eyes to a group of girls sitting at a table across from her, and she smiled gently at them, encouragingly. They all gazed at her wide-eyed before hurriedly turning back to their own lunches, talking in hushed whispers that Rennesme could plainly hear.
"So, so beautiful." They often repeated. She sighed in disappointment. It didn't take much to get these kids excited. She knew she was beautiful, but would there be a person bold enough to simply approach her, to ask her her name, or what her favorite color was?
"H-hi!"
Rennesme turned, her brown eyes wide and friendly as she smiled up at the young man. His eyes, a vivid blue, were sparkling with emotion as he looked at her with a curious expression on his face. Fear? Anxiety?
At first she thought it was because he had suspicions about who she was, but then he started to speak, and she understood that he was simply nervous because she was a pretty girl.
"I-I'm Danny Newton." He said, his face suddenly lighting up with his smile. She decided that she liked him then. He was open, honest and friendly, and he was brave. He had done what no other attendee of this school had yet done: tried talking to her.
"Hi Danny." She replied smoothly, her voice like the serenade of a flute. "My name's Rennesme. Would you like to sit with me? I'm new here, and I've had a remarkably difficult time making friends." It was true. Normally people took to staring at her behind the doors of their lockers.
He seemed surprised that she was so open to him. He looked over at his table of friends, a mix of boys and girls alike, all of whom were watching him with curious intensity. He shifted his feet, brushing his blonde hair away from his eyes as he thought of how to respond.
"Would you like to come sit with us?" he asked. Rennesme smiled broadly, grabbing her bookbag and lunch in one quick motion before she nodded eagerly.
"Of course, nothing else would make me happier." She replied honestly. Danny smiled in relief, leading the way back to his lunch table, while his friends and everyone else in the cafeteria stared after them in surprise.
The girls seemed embarrassed to be near her, and she could feel all of their eyes roving up and down her body, as if unable to comprehend her absolute perfection. This annoyed her a little bit.
"So, are you all excited about the first snowfall?" she asked, brushing her mahogany hair back away from her face. They blinked, as if awoken from a trance, and glanced at one another nervously. A girl leaned forward on her elbows, gazing at Rennesme with a widening grin spreading across her pretty face.
"Sure. It's better than the rain, after all."
The spell was broken, and suddenly the students were animated again, talking to one another and to Rennesme with no small amount of animation, asking her about the boarding school in France, about her family, and offered information about themselves too.
She enjoyed it immensely, especially since she shared most of her classes with this group of students. Her spirits lifted as she was included in conversation, especially when they invited her to go to First Beach that Saturday. Apparently it was a lovely sight to see the snow so close to the ocean. Seeing as weather and cold never really bothered her, she was more than willing to go.
"So Renne," The first girl who had spoken to her at the table, called Cammie, walked beside her as they headed out to the parking lot with the mass of other students. Rennesme turned her attention to the blonde.
"How does it feel to be new? I mean, I've grown up with all these kids my whole life, to just plop here in the middle of junior year. . ." she shook her head, hazel eyes wide and fixated on the ground in front of her. She was Danny's sister, his fraternal twin. Rennesme found that she liked her as much as she liked Danny.
"I guess I'm more of a social butterfly." Rennesme replied, looking up into the snow-laden skies as the cold wind brushed her hair back. She zipped up her fur-trim coat for show, then turned to Cammie.
"I'll admit, it wasn't fun until you guys started talking to me. I feel like everyone in this school has never seen a new girl, before." Rennesme knew that she was beautiful beyond comparison. She didn't like to flaunt it, but that was how it was. Cammie seemed to be aware of this too, however she was too embarrassed to make mention of it.
"Where do you live?" she asked. Rennesme pointed down the road.
"A few miles that way. There's a small, unmarked road that winds into the woods. My house is back at the end of it." She stepped lithely, gracefully, like every movement was one of dance. Cammie watched her with the slightest twinge of envy as the pale beauty went to her car, a dazzling yellow corvette complete with black racing stripes, and climbed into the driver's seat.
"We should hang out more often." Rennesme called from the window as Cammie nodded. Danny watched in rhapsodized fascination as she roared out of the parking lot down the road.
Rennesme loved coming home to see her family, because her whole family, without fail, would always be present. She loved all of them equally, for different things, and enjoyed spending time with them.
Bella and Edward, her parents, were the first to greet her. She hugged them at the same time, using her special gift to push her thoughts and feelings into their minds, to reassure them that she had a very good day at school that day.
Their relief was almost tangible, and they all three laughed when Auntie Alice chirped smugly from the stairs, "Told you so!"
Uncle Jasper stood by Auntie Alice, basking in the good emotions that had filled the living room. He looked akin to a cat soaking in the glow of the afternoon sun. Uncle Emmett and Auntie Rose were there soon, though they weren't quite as interested in the excitement of her first day as the rest of her relatives.
She peered around the shoulders of her parents for the one person she really wanted to see, but it didn't seem like he was there. When telepathically questioning her parents, Bella responded with a swift kiss to her forehead.
"He's out on patrol, darling." She said quietly. "I'm sure he'll want to hear all about your day when he gets back."
Rennesme nodded, kissing Auntie Rose and Uncle Emmett on the cheek before she headed up to her own room that the Cullen family had set aside for her. She deposited her bags, tossing her jacket to her bed as she went over to the glass wall of her bedroom and sat down beside it. She liked watching the snow fall, and enjoyed watching and waiting for Jacob, as she did every night.
Auntie Rose came into her room, sitting down behind her and proceeding to brush through her hair.
"You grow more beautiful by the day." She said wistfully, her pale, cold fingers brushing and parting Rennesme's hair effortlessly.
"It was all the kids at school seemed to be thinking." Rennesme replied, almost sadly. "At times I wished I was just a little more normal, so that they wouldn't be quite so afraid of talking to me."
She felt Auntie Rose nod. "That's what we have to live with, Renne. It's simply a fact of our existence."
Rennesme nodded. "They did eventually try. I've been invited to First Beach for a party of sorts. I hoped it would be alright because Jacob's pack lives down there.
Auntie Rose stiffened, as she always did when Rennesme mentioned Jacob. "He would want to join you."
"I wouldn't mind." Rennesme replied, turning to look back at her. "You know that he wouldn't either."
"Of course." Auntie Rose smiled. "I'm simply thinking that he would frighten your young friends. Jacob isn't exactly the most amiable of creatures, and to make it worse, he's bigger than Uncle Emmett."
"I'll talk to him." Rennesme said resolutely. "After all, I couldn't simply make him stay away, now could I?"
Rosalie gazed at the girl before her, who looked so much like her mother, and yet carried the characteristics of all of her family members. The most damnable of them all was the attachment to the werewolves that Rennesme couldn't seem to shake, no matter how many soft encouragements Rosalie offered.
A soft hiss from down below hinted that Edward had caught wind of her thoughts, so she shut them down immediately.
Rennesme finished her homework while Auntie Rose continued to play with her hair. The sun faded beneath the horizon, and the snowy blanket of white turned dark. Rennesme gazed intently out into the darkness, always watching for him. She hated to be separated from him for too long.
Then, on the balcony, a shape took form. From the broadness of his shoulders to the musky scent of his skin, Rennesme knew exactly who was standing outside. Auntie Rose stiffened and stood slowly, leaving without the slightest hint of goodbyes. Ignoring her, Rennesme went to the balcony and threw wide the door.
He swept her up into a warm, gentle hug, pressing his face into her hair as he smiled against her cheek. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested there, completely content.
"Hi." She giggled.
"Hi." He replied, his baritone voice deep and resonant in her room. She closed her eyes and breathed his scent, loving how the pine and snow seemed to mingle with his already foresty scent. They shared a moment of silent communication as she relayed her day to him through her touch.
"Sounds like fun." He said, sounding a bit gruff. She could tell he was fixating his thoughts on Danny Newton.
"It was." She replied eagerly. "I got invited to a party on First Beach too. The kids all seemed pretty excited about it."
Jacob raised an eyebrow. "W-would I be able to come?"
She shrugged. "If you behave and not try to scare anyone, intentionally or no. You're a pretty imposing figure."
He smiled at this. "Will Danny be there?"
Rennesme frowned. "I assume so. Why?"
"Because I wouldn't mind being intimidating around him." Jacob replied smugly. Rennesme smacked his shoulder.
"Don't. I won't let you hang out with me if you embarrass me like that. I swear, Jake, you're worse than an older brother."
He smirked. "I'm like an older brother who happens to be a werewolf."
She poked him in the chest. "Precisely."
He set her down on the bed, turning to the window to stare out of it pensively. She watched him for a few moments, coming forward and touching his arm to pose her query.
"A new vampire." He said gently. "He's like your family in the way he feeds, but he's been sticking to the outskirts of town for a few days now. I needed to tell Carlisle about this, but since he isn't here. . ."
She frowned. "Don't tell me you're leaving for Europe to tell him."
Jacob laughed. "Hardly. I figured Edward could give him a call."
They both turned when the man himself walked into the room, followed closely by Bella and Alice. Their noses wrinkled in the slightest, but smoothed out once they came closer. Edward gazed at Jacob with a small amount of disapproval written in his expression.
"We have a front door, Jacob. I would appreciate it if you didn't come through my daughter's balcony window like some kind of romantic liaison."
Rennesme blushed furiously, leveling a glare at her father, who refused to look her way.
"Why don't you tell us about this vampire." Bella suggested gently, looking over at me for a brief moment before looking back at Jacob. "Downstairs?"
Alice danced over, pecking me once on the cheek before following the troop out the bedroom door.
"Homework, Rennesme." Bella called before closing the door behind them. Feeling a bit put out at being left out, Rennesme grudgingly started her assignments, trying to listen in to their conversation downstairs.
Whatever they were doing was completely silent, however. She couldn't hear a thing.
Damn them. She'd have to get the information out of Jacob later.
Reviews are very much appreciated.
A.R.