BOOK ONE - CLIFF'S EDGE

PART ONE - Beginnings

Chapter One - Arrival

Dedicated to Nathan. You are my number one.

I had never felt butterflies like this before. Each tiny bump the car rolled over threatened to send me over the edge, into nausea.

"Alice, slow it down, will you?" I groaned, holding on to the dashboard.

"Let's go over the story again," Alice didn't take her eyes off the road. "You are?"

"Renesmee Cullen, twin sister of Isabella Cullen," I grumbled. We'd gone over the story a million times. Being the newest member of the family sucked.

"Nieces to Carlisle and Esme Cullen, our legal guardians after our parents' oh-so tragic death," I stroked my index finger down my cheek, mimicking sadness.

"And the rest of us?" Alice barely glanced at me.

"Alice and Emmett McCarty, brother and sister, rescued from foster care. Single father was a patient of Carlisle's before his also oh-so tragic demise. Edward Masen, taken in as a gesture to a family friend who is unable to provide care. Jasper and Rosalie Whitlock, also twins, taken in after their hiker parents went missing in the mountains."

"Jake and Seth?" Alice was smiling now. I truly had it down pat.

"Family friends, decided to stay with the fantastic Cullen family for the duration of their schooling. Both have at least one parent alive and well," I smiled fondly, thinking of my imprint and his best friend. Seth joining us was a last minute decision - Leah had created a hugely toxic atmosphere with her opposition to the upcoming wedding.

Sue and Charlie got engaged not long after the battle with the Volturi. When the marriage was official, Charlie would become a Quileute parent. Seth would be my uncle, Leah my aunt. Their stepsister, my mother, and their brother in law my father. Charlie would be let in on the whole secret. Not just Jake being a werewolf, but all the legends.

Including vampires. Nobody said it out loud, but everyone was worried he would turn against us. Be disgusted with what we were - what I was. And all the lies we told him. The worry sat in the pit of my stomach at all times, rolling around like a black cannonball.

"Nessie, we're here," Alice prodded me gently as we pulled up to the school. We'd moved to a heavily wooded, medium-sized town in Oregon. The high school was decent looking enough. The butterflies rose to my chest. I knew there would be stares. When you come from an impossibly attractive family, the stares are part of the package.

"It's going to be fine," Jasper assured me from the backseat. Of course he could feel my tension. The three of us exited the car - we'd tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, taking a simple black BMW. Of course, in this town, everyone drove rusted up trucks. We stuck out like a sore thumb.

Already a crowd of car-appreciating geeks had formed. Jake and Seth had just pulled up on their motorcycles - a gift from Carlisle - and the Volvo was already parked, with my parents, Emmett and Rose waiting for us. I just about tore across the damp asphalt, desperate to get close to Jacob. The moment I saw him, all the butterflies fell down.

"You okay?" Jake asked, steadying me with a hand on my arm. I nodded, grateful to be near my best friend. My protector, my everything was Jake. He was everything and anything I needed him to be - brother, friend, confidant. Lover, even, though I was barely sixteen in my physique.

"Everyone have their schedules?" Edward asked, craning his neck over Emmett. We formed a sort of squarish circle and compared classes. Emmett, Rose, Jasper and Edward would be seniors, so we had no classes together. Alice, Bella, Seth, Jake and I were all juniors.

I had Socials first, with Jake and Seth. Afterwards would be English with Seth and Bella. Then lunch, Art with Jake and Seth, then Drama with Alice. Only two classes with Jake?! Hell no!

Bella looked a little too old to be a junior, but we had to keep up the twin charade. Edward, though, was annoyed that he wouldn't be able to spend time with her. I gagged at that - they had all night, for God's sake.

"Let's get to Socials," Jake suggested as the first bell rang. He steered me with a hand on my elbow, enough that we were maintaining contact in the sea of staring students. The socials room was in the downstairs wing, near the end. Thankfully Jake and Seth's large bodies made other students not want to cross us. We made it to the classroom without incident.

The room looked cozy. Grey light from the overcast clouds pooled over everything, creating a silvery effect. Jake and Seth picked a table in the very back. I sat directly in front of them, leaving the seat next to me open. Hopefully I could make a friend. The tables each sat two people, so I could get some one-on-one time with a human. By myself!

The room filled up slowly, and nobody sat by me. Did I look too available? Was I that overly eager girl who would chat your ear off? It took a minute to hit me. Jacob and Seth looked intimidating as hell. Nobody wanted to sit near that, or with the girl so obviously under their protection.

I gave up hope when the late bell rang. All the seats were filled - besides mine. That was when a rather frazzled looking girl swanned into the room.

Her skin was slightly tanned, as if she spent a lot of time in the garden. Her hair, which was in a messy pile at the back of her head, was a lovely soft brown highlighted with sunny gold. Freckles marched haphazardly across her high cheekbones and angular nose. Her full lips were parted in worry.

"Sorry - S-sorry I'm a little late!" She gushed, scanning the room with a schedule clutched in her hand. "I forgot where the Socials room was!"

"Yes," said the male teacher dryly. "Juliet, nice of you to join us. If you'll have a seat, we can begin."

"Such a hare-brain," the girl, Juliet, whispered as she marched over to my table. She made nervous eye contact with me - her eyes were a foresty green, dotted with brown - before sitting in her seat.

"Hi," I whispered, while the teacher launched into his introduction lecture. "I'm Renesmee."

"Juliet," she answered, meeting my eyes with a sidelong glance. "You're new here."

"Just moved from Washington with my family," I told her proudly. "All… eleven of us."

"Eleven?" Her eyes widened. "Jesus!"

"A lot of us are adopted," I traced my finger absentmindedly over the smooth, shiny wood in front of us. "Carlisle and Esme are my uncle and aunt, they took us in along with some foster kids and our two family friends, Jake and Seth."

"Wow," Juliet dropped her gaze, suddenly seeming nervous. We made small talk for the rest of class, although she skirted revealing too many personal details about herself. She seemed great enough, though, and by the end of class we had exchanged numbers and I had a new friend. Her natural scent was mouth-watering, but not in the sense that I wanted to suck her blood. It was like sunny grass, vanilla and sun-warmed strawberries. Yum.

"What's your next class?" Juliet asked, hoisting a frayed tote bag over her shoulder while the bell echoed. I pretended to think about it.

"English," I answered. "How about you?"

"Math," she responded sullenly. "I'd hoped we would have another class together."

"After lunch I've got art and drama," I offered chipperly. Her face brightened immediately.

"So have I!" She said as we walked towards the door. Jacob and Seth hung back a little. "I'll see you in art, then."

"Bye!" I grinned as she turned down the hallway. Turning to my boys, I gave two huge thumbs up.

"Good job, Ness," Jake casually slung an arm over my shoulder. "Made your first friend."

"It feels good," I told him, reaching out for Seth's arm. The three of us walked to Jake's home ec class, linked up together. We really were three peas in a pod. It had been that way since I was born, and would be that way until the end of time.

Unless Seth imprinted and grew old and died alongside his wife. My heart squeezed painfully at that thought. I almost hated the mortal he would fall in love with - could I be prepared to love her as a sister when she was the reason my Seth would die? Well, nevermind that. Not all wolves imprinted, and every second with my best friend was priceless. No use worrying.

"English, m'lady?" Seth asked, offering his hand after we said goodbye to Jake. I curtsied and let Seth lead me up the cement staircase to the English room. The room was broad, with bean bags spread out around low coffee tables. Bella was already sitting at a coffee table in the corner, her bag resting on the purple bean bag next to her and her binder on the green bean bag next to that. Nobody dared join the dark-haired, intimidating vampire. I could have laughed at that - my mom was such a cutie in private. In public, she looked like she'd snap your neck without putting a hair out of place.

I plopped down on the purple bean bag while Seth almost crushed the green one.

"How was your first class, nudger?" Bella leaned in and whispered to me.

"It was great, I made a friend named Juliet. She's a little private but, oh my God, Mom, so cute and funny!" I gushed. Seth kicked my bean bag, almost catapulting me out the window.

"Shit - Bella," I corrected myself quickly.

"Language!" Bella ordered, giving me her mom-look.

"You aren't my mom," I stuck out my tongue at her. "Mind your own business."

The conversations died down when the teacher entered the room. She was nice looking enough, with straight sheets of white blonde hair and big blue eyes. Her loose-flowing purple dress made her look more like a witch than a teacher.

"Welcome to junior English," she announced grandly, opening her arms wide. "In this course, we will explore literature in its finest form, unlock your deepest capabilities and turn each and every student into a poet, an author… Whatever they desire."

She pivoted on her black heels, facing the room. "Some of you are new to this town and do not know me. My name is Annalise Hemlock - but you may call me Lise. I see we have three newcomers here. Will you introduce yourselves?"

All eyes had been waiting for an excuse to jump on us. Now, unabashedly, every single body in the room rotated to look directly at us for the first time.

"My name is Bella Cullen," Bella spoke clearly and without hesitation. "My twin sister, Renesmee, and our family friend, Seth Clearwater. We moved here from Washington."

"Ah, twins," Lise eyed the two of us, obviously mentally comparing our faces. "Do you have the fabled telepathic twin connection? Can you share feelings without spoken word?"

I grinned sidelong at Bella. "Something like that."

The teacher droned on and on. She was a little weird, if I was honest. Her whole gimmick seemed to be about unlocking your inner potential. She seemed to be a favorite among students, though, so we ended up giving her the benefit of the doubt.

At lunch, the Cullens dominated a table in the center of the room. United, they rested casually on the chairs looking more like Greek deities than students. Definitely out of place in the less-than-fancy lunchroom.

I caught Juliet's eye at a table not far from there. She was sitting with two boys, surrounded by comic books. I grinned and waved a hello before pointing to my family's table. She took them in with wide eyes.

"Hey, guys," I said hurriedly to my vampires. "Is it okay if I sit with my new friend? Where's the wolves?"

"Conference call in the forest," Edward rolled his eyes slightly. "Go ahead, love."

"Thanks! Bye!" I rushed over to Juliet's table. She pushed out a chair for me with her hiking-boot clad food. I flopped down gratefully into the hard blue plastic.

"How was Math?" I asked, resting my chin on my hands. The two boys jerked up from their comic books suddenly, staring at me. Great.

"It was horrible," Juliet snorted. "Lewis, Harper, this is Renesmee."

Lewis, a boy with mousy brown curls and large glasses, managed a half-smile. Harper, with spiky black hair and dark almond shaped eyes nodded at me.

"It's nice to meet you," I offered, trying to seem friendly. Out of habit, I began twisting a bronze curl over and over my finger. The two boys huddled together, whispering.

"What the hell do you think she is?" Harper asked. Obviously they thought I couldn't hear.

"Part angel, maybe," Lewis breathed. "Maybe a superhero, like Wonder woman."

I tried really hard not to laugh at that.

The boys were friendly enough when they actually spoke to me. Geeky, of course, and awkward, but very funny. I learned that Harper was Juliet's boyfriend, and Lewis was their best friend - slash sidekick, according to Harper. Maybe these people would be my first human friends.