Sasha's Words Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I am not Stephanie Meyer.

Thanks to everyone who made this possible, starting with Amcraw123 and my dedicated laptop, (It's been through a lot of updates and fixes to make sure I can still type up my stories and go on the internet), and with the wonderful reviewers!

I was looking into my locker, only vaguely aware of my surroundings. All my attention was focused on the book that had been calling me, since I'd last read it, early this morning. It was by my favorite author and I'd never read it before. I wondered about what was going to happen, allowing myself to daydream. Beka had to catch whoever it was. Who in Tortall could be doing it? Surely not Rosto, though he is the Rogue... And that was the second time Beka had run into Dale. He's got to have something to do with the fakes. I had to find out what came next. Even if it meant giving up my lunch. Not like the food was in any way appealing. I was a vegetarian- I didn't eat meat, poultry or seafood, though I did eat eggs and dairy products like milk and cheese- and I hadn't had time to grab a lunch for myself that morning. I'd been much too busy reading and getting my little sister, Sass, off to daycare. The small amounts of vegetarian items that the school cafeteria offered were all revolting. None of them looked like anything you'd want to touch, let alone eat. I took out my book, I had bought it for myself to calm myself down when my parents had called telling me they'd be back in town for a few days, subject to change of course. I always needed something to help me keep my cool, and my head, when my parents showed up or called. I had to be dependable for Sass. I heard the tread of a group of feet and looked up, my locker door closed behind me. It was a group of kids- actually they looked more like college age young adults than teenagers- that I'd never seen before. They all looked different though they were all very pretty with pale skin and golden eyes. They walked gracefully and their expressions clearly indicated boredom. Who could blame them? They must have been the new kids Terri was going on and on about. They were rather odd. Terri was the biggest gossip in the entire school and she had a mouth that never stopped moving. She wasn't one of my friends, I didn't actually have any friends in this stupid school, but I had the more than slight misfortune of sitting next to her in several classes. Then I turned back to my book, wondering if I could read it as I walked down the hallway to the lunchroom, probably not. It was most likely better not to try. I hurried down the hall to the cafeteria where I sat alone at one end of the table. No one in the school liked me so I tried not to force anyone to be near me, they would just make rude comments. I opened my book and was lost in the world of Tortall. When the bell rang to signal the end of lunch I got up and went back to my locker for my books. I had just closed my locker when I noticed one of the new kids, one of the Cullen's. He was handsome, like all of his brothers, with a pale narrow face and a strong nose and chin. His eyes were closed and he slumped as if he was exhausted from a horrible trial that he was going through. He lifted his hand to his hair, which was mostly chocolate brown, but had lots of streaks of vivid red and honey blonde. I looked at him for a moment more and then went to my next class. All through it I wasn't really paying attention, I was thinking about his posture and the way he seemed like he was suffering from something that the rest of us were oblivious to. When that class was over I had Creative Writing. I had a few minutes before the class started so I got out a piece of paper and a pen and started to write whatever came to mind. For some reason I wrote about the new boy, painting the scene that I had witnessed. I did this occasionally, when something wasn't normal or when I wanted to get something on paper and out of my head.

"Okay, kids!" Mrs. Kloren stood up, addressing all the less than happy teenagers in the room. She wasn't the greatest teacher. I'd had her the year before and she was lazy. "This semester we'll be writing stories. You're going to have a partner who will critique you work and you will, in turn, critique your partner's work. I'll be choosing your partner for you and then giving you your assignments."

Great; just great. Whoever I got paired with would do nothing but insult me and my writing. Some help this class was going to be. Mrs. Kloren paired off. I got paired with Thomas. Except I didn't know who Thomas was. When we were told to go sit with our partners I walked up to Mrs. Kloren to ask her who Thomas was. When she pointed to the new boy, the one who I had written about I sighed. I wasn't sure whether I was glad that I was going to be with one of the new kids. I sat next to him, since he showed no signs of getting up and put down my books and papers.

The boy, Thomas, said to me in a tone that was bland, "Hi, I'm Thomas Cullen."

First of all. Duh. Or I wouldn't be sitting next to him. Second of all the only new kids in this wonderful school were Cullen's, or as the case with two of his family, Hales.

"Obviously." I muttered so quietly that he wouldn't be able to hear. This time talking loud enough so he could hear me I said, "I'm Sasha." Again duh. But manners demanded that I introduce myself.

"You'll be writing a ten to thirty page fantasy story. Brainstorm ideas and discuss them with you partner." Mrs. Kloren sat down and completely ignored us. Just as lazy as last year. I picked up my pen and began to write. I always had a bunch of ideas for stories swirling around in my brain so I picked my favorites. The first was about a girl, named Cory, whose best friend, Bree, knows about and is friends with mythical creatures. The second was about a girl, named Alex, who finds out that she can shape shift into a cat and goes through a bunch of changes and trials. Because I couldn't resist I wrote a paragraph that I envisioned in the story at the end. When I was done there were five pages covered front and back with my writing. I looked at the Alex idea. It might work. But only if I twisted it a bit. Alexakai the shape-shifter. Decent idea.

"Okay, switch papers or read out loud to your partner."

Ha! Like I wanted to read my ideas out loud so everyone could have more ammunition to make fun of me. Right. Totally going to happen. NOT! I thought as I handed my papers to Thom. I looked down at his story ideas. They were amusing. The first was about a group of four kids who run into a spell run bad and get switched around so they are in each others' bodies. The second was about someone who has to get control of an errant wand that is very cranky to escape from jail, where he was put on a false charge.

I had finished reading his ideas and had been waiting for a while when I said, "Well?"

Come on. Why couldn't he just tell me I'm a freak and get over with it so I can get on with my life?

"This is really good. You're the best writer I've ever met." Thomas said with small smile and a glance at the papers that he was handing me.

He had to be kidding. And really? Like he's met a million famous writers.

Thomas's smile widened and he said, "Although I will admit that there are better writers in the world."

Oh my gosh. I was absolutely amazed. It's like he knew what I was thinking. He probably just saw it on my face. It must have been obvious. Everyone is continually telling me how rude I am. Like they are any less rude for saying it. The bell rang and I stood, sweeping up my things and hurrying to my locker. The faster I got out of there the faster I got home to my free time and Sass.

"Sasha!" Sass ran toward me arms outstretched. Her two black braids flew behind her and her small pink pack hung off one shoulder. I squatted and caught her up in a big hug, twirling her around. Sass buried her face in my shoulder and hung on with all her strength. At four years old Sass was twelve years younger than me and much smaller. I loved her with everything I had and hated my parents for making her life so hard.

I walked into the house of the woman who ran the daycare center. I smiled at her, handed her the money I owed her and got all of Sass's things that she had left behind. One of the good things about this particular day care is that it was inexpensive and close to home. Because I didn't have a car that was essential. I could easily bike or walk into downtown, which was a mere five minute walk and my parents didn't want to give me the money to get a car, besides which they'd never cared enough to help me get a license. Once we started walking Sass got down and held onto my hand as she skipped and jumped. Sass always seemed to have an overabundance of energy.

"Sasha? Is my name the same as yours?" Sass looked up at me.

I smiled, "No. Your name is special. Sass stands for Sassafras. My name is Sasha."

"Oh." Sass appeared satisfied which relieved me. I didn't want to answer questions like that if at all possible. The truth was that Sass's real name, as far as her birth certificate said, was Sasha. When my mom had named her she had completely forgotten that she had named me Sasha. The only differences between our real names are that I have a middle name and Sass doesn't. It was me, not my mom or dad, who renamed Sass. This topic always made me furious, but I hid it because if Sass knew she would want to know why. And that was something I couldn't tell her. I couldn't tell her that our parents cared so little that they had named us the same thing. I took Sass home, fed her, played with her, did my homework and read my book. Before I knew it I was up the next morning rushing to get Sass to daycare and myself to school. The day passed in a flurry of work and thick skin. On my way to Creative Writing someone tripped me and I fell, sending my stuff flying everywhere. I held back tears of anger as I glared at the impassive crowds of lookers on. There was no evidence that anything had happened except me falling. As I walked away I heard someone mutter, "Freak." Only they pronounced it with two syllables. Fur-eak. I tossed my head flicking those around me with my blue tinted hair. Being tripped was a regular thing for me. Nothing out of the ordinary. In Creative Writing I forgot about the people who insulted and tripped me. I was completely caught up in my writing. I barely noticed it when Thomas did something weird. This was often. He would stop writing to look at me and then quickly look back at his page. He would be writing furiously and then suddenly stop looking off into the distance before shaking his head and writing again. I didn't want to think about why I was so aware of him. Whatever the reason it couldn't be good. The highlight in my day was seeing Sass. Whenever I saw her, bouncing up and down or running around, my heart lifted and I smiled.

A/N: So what did you think? I know that Thom's POV takes more chapters for the same amount of time, but now I know the characters and so do you so there isn't as big an intro...