Highschool

Hey everyone! I've had this idea swirling around in my head for a while now, and I asked a couple of people about it and they told me to go for it! I'm not going to neglect First Impressions Don't Last, but I'll just write for whichever story I feel like at the time, k? Read and review, please!

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer OWNS Twilight. And probably you as well. She sure owns me.

Highschool. Great.

The tedium of this infuriating and yet oh-so-necessary façade never failed to grate on me, even after it had been repeated for the ten, twenty, thirtieth year in a row. If there was any possible way to escape the monotony, by burning or otherwise, I'd have leapt upon it a long time ago. As it was, my mind sunk into the closest thing to sleep I could experience. It was relaxing, I supposed, if I ever needed to be relaxed. My family sat in the same state of inertness as I, looking for all the world like bored teenagers should. Only I could pick up their nerves humming, ready to instinctively ward off any attacks or…something. I didn't quite know what they were expecting to encounter inside a normal, human highschool. Simply the thought of any kind of threat from these fragile creatures made me want to laugh.

"Bella." Alice's wind-chime voice was so quiet, there was no doubt that it was all but silent to any nearby humans. My head turned slowly from side to side as I thought to check for anyone unfortunate to be too close. Then I returned my attention back to the white-wash walls of the cafeteria.

"Yes?" I replied equally softly, my nonchalant tone carrying just enough boredom to make my sister narrow her eyes in suspicion. She scrutinized me from the corner of her sloe-black eyes, before that tiny rosebud mouth pursed into a loose kind of grimace. Those eyes flickered to the honey-blonde male beside her, before turning back to me. Jasper. I let out an internal sigh. Of course.

"If he…does anything, can you help him? Please?" Though she tried to keep those words impassive, I could hear the real anxiety and pain underlying them. My silent heart swelled in pity, and I forced my mouth to curve into what I hoped was a reassuring smile. My cold, white hand patted hers in a gesture that would have appeared absentminded to anyone watching us.

Even as she spoke, my focus was shifted from my own boredom to Jasper's internal turmoil. His eyes were oblivious to me, to Alice, to Rosalie and Emmett as they sat across from us. A tall, redheaded girl walked in front of one of the school's many heating vents, her scent intensifying as it was propelled towards us in a stroke of bad luck. My throat burned dully, the venom pooling in my mouth by reflex. I could visualise the feline movements of my brother as he stood, moving at a regular human pace. He could reach over as though to pull her hair back from her face, hear the thrumming of her heart increase as he drew nearer, cold breath on her neck…

My free hand reached over and smacked him on the back of the head. There was a small crunch as stone met stone, and he turned to look at me, the shame evident across those too-perfect features. "Sorry," he mumbled, the low sound carrying the same feelings I'd seen in his expression. Alice reached across the table, her tiny hand clasping his shoulder in something that was meant to be comforting. His mouth tightening almost imperceptibly as his soul mate began to speak, her high trilling voice carrying clearly over the top of any other conversations, but too shrill for any human to pick up.

"Just think, Jazz. You'll be graduating soon, and you don't have to worry about…slipping." Her carefully casual tone fell slightly on the last word, and Jasper met her dark eyes, both shame and defiance mingling in his own golden ones.

"I'm fine, Alice," he said shortly, turning his focus to the wide window on the left side of the cafeteria. Like most days in Forks, Washington, the sky outside was heavily overcast, the thick wall of cloud between the earth and the mythical sunlight seeming impenetrable. I looked at it with resignation, though I supposed I should be purely grateful for the weather patterns that made going outside an option for my family and I. Here, we appeared no different from the other humans that milled around, complaining of homework and other such teenage issues.

Today was going to be no different to the usual monotony of the high school life we'd become so accustomed to. Well, no different for us, anyway. There was a new student in the building, one that had the student body alive with anticipation. I could smell the excitement that rolled from each of them in waves; they were so predictable. Had I not been full of sheer boredom, their child-like impatience would have made me laugh. As it was, I studied each face carefully, studying for a hint of what appeal this presumably normal person could hold. How strange. I didn't even know the gender yet.

A tiny girl with dark, corkscrew curls flying wildly around her face looked as though she were about to spontaneously combust with excitement as her eyes took in a group of students walking in through the cafeteria doors. She had been sitting by herself in a table near the centre of the room; at their approach, she all but jumped from her seat, one arm raised and waving furiously above her head. Jessica Stanley. The name brought back bitter memories of a shallow, cruel girl who had tried to befriend me with lies and gossip when my family had first moved to Forks. Though I hadn't really paid any such attention to her—she'd only been seeking to advance her social position by befriending the 'pretty' Cullen's—it had still burned when I'd heard of the untrue stories she'd spread to anyone willing to listen. Thought it was pure pettiness, the sense of moral decency I'd acquired in my limited human years still left me hurting.

Rosalie suddenly stiffened slightly, her blonde waves shaking against her back. My head turned infinitesimally so as to be angled towards her, my expression one of polite confusion. Her eyes, like Jessica Stanley's, were also focussed on the doorway. Deciding finally that it was against my best interests to ignore whatever had captured everyone's interest, though already knowing exactly what it was, I returned my focus to the now full table.

The back of Mike Newton's blonde, over-gelled head was moving animatedly. The sight only made me think of his embarrassing attempts to woo me, and I cringed slightly, though more for him than myself. I could hear his unnecessarily raucous laughter bouncing from the stone walls. The sound made me wince—it was overly loud and unpleasant to my sensitive, immortal ears—but I returned my eyes to the other occupants of the table.

Lauren Mallory, a girl filled with more malice than any human I'd ever come across, was staring openly, her small eyes narrowed in on something that was almost entirely obscured by the backs of Ben Cheney and Tyler Crowley. They too stood laughing and talking to someone I couldn't see. My thoughts ran through the list of people who sat with that group; perhaps Angela Weber? Though their voices, and the words carried by them, were too loud, too jovial to be speaking to a female of any persuasion. The name Edward Masen was repeated around the hall by too many voices to put names to. So it was a male then.

It was only when Tyler moved around to take a spot in the ever-lengthening line, that my gaze locked onto a pair of piercing green eyes, trained only on my face.

The boy sat across from me, his hands bent under his chin as though in a mockery of Rodin's Thinker. He was tall—at least, that was my perception from this distance and his sitting position—with untidy bronze coloured hair falling into those unusual eyes. Pale skin was striking in contrast to the array of shades his red-brown hair and moss coloured eyes lent him. He was handsome, for a human, the fine muscles of his legs and arms deceptively fragile. The ivory sweater he wore clung to his defined chest, and I found my mind wandering to exactly what was beneath that thin, warm material. Most humans dropped their gaze almost immediately after catching one of ours; instead, he stared at me openly, fascination flitting across his face. He turned his face to Ben, ensuring that I could only see his profile.

"Who's the girl with the long dark hair?" I heard him ask, his voice low and clear to my ears. It was smooth, not booming or rough like many human boys around this age. Somehow, it seemed more mature.

Ben glanced at me quickly, only to redden and turn away quickly.

"That's Isabella Cullen. The small, dark haired girl is Alice Cullen, the boy next to her is Jasper Hale. Rosalie Hale and Emmett Cullen are on the other side." I watched with amusement as Edward's eyes flicked to my huge, muscular brother, the expression in them both apprehensive and speculative. "They're the adoptive family of Dr Cullen and his wife. Dr Cullen works at the local hospital."

My mirth was cut short as Jessica leaned over eagerly, no doubt making use of her unnecessarily low-cut shirt to make a lasting impression on the boy. "They're all together, though—Emmett and Rosalie, and Alice and Jasper I mean. And they live together." Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town. (Twilight, page 18). I wondered idly what Edward thought of this as his eyes flickered to me, the only unpaired member of the beautiful, antisocial family.

"Bella!" Alice's voice cut through my reverie for the second time that day, her eyes this time wide with shock at whatever she'd just seen. Her hand, the same temperature as my own, grasped my forearm tightly, the hold unbreakable. It would have crushed the bones of a human arm into a pulp.

I turned to her, feigning innocence. "Yes? Did I do something wrong? What's wrong, Alice?" My voice became a little rougher as I fully took in her horrified stare. Anxiety clouded my mind. I looked over her shoulder to Jasper, who had finally realised that something was wrong. Well spotted, I thought acidly. He glanced at me, mouth set in a familiar grimace, and I knew that he could feel what I felt. He was good like that.

She only stared at me blankly, mouth hanging open. Only when she blinked twice and let out a quiet sigh did I know she was returned to the present time and day.

"Go to class, Bella." I realised that the bell had rung without my noticing. Sighing deeply, I reached up and scooped my books off the table into a neat pile in my arms. The action was effortless; the textbooks could have been balanced as easily on one of my fingers without falling to the ground. One of the many advantages of this life. The increased senses, the strength, the agility, the instincts…the desire for human blood.

A shudder rippled through my mind as I remembered my more rebellious days. They had come months, years after my creation, and thankfully only lasted for around a month of two. My aversion to blood in my human life had curbed the worst of my newborn appetite, allowing less erring within my life. Of course, like any teenager I had craved freedom, the ability to wander nomadically and make my own decisions. I thought of the reflection that had been so haunting, so chillingly inhuman. Chalk white skin, shockingly pale in contrast to the thick dark curtain of my hair and the crimson eyes. Oh yes, the features were perfect. All of ours were; they were markers of our very kind. The kind of beauty I had so admired in my previous life now left me not knowing what to think. I wasn't a monster, or at least, not by choice; but who could deny that those eyes, with fresh blood glowing in their irises, did not belong to something soulless?

My morbid thoughts continued as I slid effortlessly into my seat in the tiny English classroom. As usual, I was earlier than most of the students who had left minutes before my family; there really was something to be said for inhuman agility and the love of sheer speed. I allowed my props—textbooks, I mentally corrected myself—to spill out across my desk, looking like a student set for an important lecture of some kind. A small smile curved my lips as the thought entered my mind. I highly doubted that there was anything that I, a published author, could glean from these dull, dry lessons given by a man who would be almost as old as me.

Students flooded in through the doors as the second bell sounded, the sound of their hearts and breathing reaching me before they'd even set foot inside the building. Chatter accompanied their arrival; the majority of it was purely inane, conversation for conversation's sake. I'd grown used to it, but it was still difficult to hide my annoyance. And to think, I'd once been so tolerant. Perhaps consistent exposure to such blatant stupidity had worn my patience down.

Lauren Mallory and Jessica Stanley walked in, giggling about something. Lauren's cold blue eyes flickered once to me, but darted away again when they met my amber gaze. She whispered something to Jessica, and their giggling grew louder as they took their seats on the other side of the class. The scents of these people intensified within the tiny room, growing in presence and in power. Still, it was nothing I wasn't used to. The advantage of practice had prepared me for the daily task of resisting the murders of innocent children.

Edward Masen's figure appeared at the doorway, flanked by Tyler and Mike as before. It appeared he was one to make friends easily enough, though I suspected most of the females were interested based solely on his looks. He was laughing as he shook out his already dishevelled hair; by the sounds of protest, I guessed he'd just sprayed the other two with ice cold rainwater that had gathered between the strands.

He walked through, and again those emerald eyes met my own. Something like surprise crossed those features, and his mouth opened as though about to say something. I heard the tempo of his heart increase, and smiled gently, my eyes staring deep into his. The already sped-up rhythm faltered, becoming uneven as it beat in his chest. One hand reached out to grip the edge of the table as he prepared to swing himself into his chair, ever the Bond protégé.

What an unfortunate moment, then, to have the heater blast hot air across his body as into my face.

I couldn't speak, all curious thoughts of this unusual human boy wiped clean from my mind. His hair ruffled, sending intensified bursts of that unimaginable scent to my waiting nostrils. My muscles tensed, coiled to spring as the venom flooded my mouth, and my throat flamed.

I was a hunter. He was my prey. There was nothing else for it at that moment. Behind me, I heard a small cough from Tyler, but I ignored it. The back and side rows were already dead, all witnesses disposed of in my mind as my attention trained fully on the auburn haired boy now sitting in front of me.

How was it possible, that a scent like this should even exist? In all my seventy years of existence, I could not possibly have imagined…could not have comprehended that any blood should smell as sweet at this boys did now. And the smell would intensify as the class progressed. It would bloom like some demented flower, stimulated by the heat…my throat felt as though it had literally burst into flames. My mouth was dry, full of venom. I needed to drink. I needed to drink.

The answer came, so quickly I couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of it before. Don't breathe. I didn't need to breathe. Stop breathing, Isabella!

The relief was almost instantaneous as I halted the flow of heavily scented air to my lungs. Though I could still taste the scent on my tongue and it still hazed my memory, I could now resist the previous urge to murder everyone in sight in order to satisfy my most primal instincts. For how long, I wasn't sure. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes. Forty five. An hour. Can you survive an hour, Bella? I grimaced as I considered this, my eyes still trained with perfect focus onto the back of Edward Masen. My self-control was good, better than most of our kind. Still, was it worth the risk? The risk of an innocent's life, the risk of exposure for me and my family…

Without even pausing to consider it, my hand had shot up into the air. Mr Mason looked up from his desk, the shallow brown eyes behind his glasses almost alarmed as he took in my expression. "Yes, Isabella?" His hands hastily adjusted a small stack of papers on his desk, as though he were desperate to appear like he was doing something worth being paid for.

"Mr Mason, I'm not feeling well. May I please be excused?" The short speech used up most of my air supply as the words were forced through my clenched teeth. I winced internally, hoping that he wouldn't ask questions that would require elongated answers from me. That would force me to inhale, and the consequences of that would be…disastrous. I tried not to think of it as the seconds ticked by.

Fortunately, Fate or God or whatever you call it seemed to be smiling on me as he nodded absently, no doubt thinking of something completely unrelated to the class or my supposed wellbeing. "Yes, yes, sign out with Mrs Cope at the office." The words were barely out of his mouth before I'd slipped out of my seat and through the door of the class. For some reason unbeknownst to myself, I turned back as I met the tackily painted red doorframe to meet Edward Masen's face. Those green eyes were bewildered, full of confusion at my sudden departure and unreasonable need to get away from him. Then I was gone, those doors swinging noiselessly behind me as I picked up the pace.

I gulped in the air like a drowning man, feeling the cool mountain scents wash away all trace of Edward Masen's scent. It was pure relief, to have the taste gone from my nostrils and my mouth. The burn of my throat had died down slightly, though I knew I'd have to hunt tonight. My eyes would be flat black, nothing like the golden amber they'd been this morning. I sighed deeply, pulling in the breeze over my tongue as I leant against a tree and considered my options.

I knew what my family would do, how they'd react. Alice would know what was coming; she would tell me what to do based on her…extra knowledge. Jasper would side with Alice, and use whatever skill he had to calm me down. To remove the bloodlust from my bones. Emmett, my big brother…he wouldn't want me to go, I knew that much. I wasn't so sure about Rosalie. Ever since I'd been saved from that fire (my mind shivered at the thought of the second, all consuming fire used to transcend from mortal to immortal), I'd proved to be more than a slight pain to my ethereal, stubborn sister. She was used to being admired, wanted for her incomparably breathtaking beauty. For some reason, she felt that I had stolen some of the admiration meant for her. It only made me shake my head in wonder.

Slow droplets began to leak from the sky, several catching my hair and the shoulders of my violet sweater. I rolled my eyes as I moved from my position under a sparse-leafed tree to my car. Even from this distance, I winced at the way it stood out against the faded colours of the second hand cars in the lot. The brilliant blue paint job of the Audi was noticeable from a mile away, even to someone without senses as sharp as mine. I unlocked it quickly, slipping inside and placing a CD inside the player. The crushing notes of Chopin's nocturnes filled the confined space, and I closed my eyes, willing to lose myself in the music.

The sound of the door opening made me jump slightly, and Emmett's laughter echoed around the car park. The frame of the car shook with silent vibrations as he leant on it for support. I smiled at him tentatively, and switched the stereo onto mute as he clambered in.

Once inside, he turned to me, all mirth wiped clean off his pale face.

"Have you spoken to Alice?" he asked, curiosity and anxiety flavouring the low sound of his speech. I grimaced involuntarily, and he nodded to himself, like I'd just answered his question. I supposed I had.

"She left Spanish in a hurry, that's all. I saw her ditching at the end. You might want to talk to her—find out what she saw and all that…" his voice trailed off towards the end as he lost interest, his eyes seeking out the blonde hair of Rosalie as she made her way towards the car. Her eyes narrowed as she saw me, and she slid into the back seat without a word. Alice and Jasper hurried quickly across, their gait matching that of a nimble human being. It was only now that I realised that the student body was spilling across into the lot, growing like some multicoloured and tortured bloom. I caught a flash of bronze amongst the sea of black and blonde heads, but forced myself to return to the current situation. Focus, Bella, focus!

"You know what you're doing. Don't lose." Alice's words flowed quickly, smoothly, like a speech she'd been practising her entire life for this one moment in time. "You're strong, Bella."

My mouth set in a tight line as I shoved the car into reverse, manoeuvring my way around the various obstacles (namely students and cars). As we finally shot out of the parking lot, gaining speed with every quick rotation of the tyres, my mind relived those hurried but sincere words.

You're strong, Bella. You know what you're doing. Don't lose.

So what'd you think? Role reversal good or bad? If you don't like vampire Bella yet, don't worry, I didn't either at first. Just wait, she actually improves ^.^ Feedback would be much appreciated, so please read and review!