"Well I guess this is it." I said as I looked up from the piece of paper I held in my hand, to the big house in front of me. I looked at it for a few minutes longer before I sighed and walked up the steps and to the door. I couldn't help but start thinking about what had happened that made me end up here. My parent's death had really shaken me and to make it worse, I had to move in with a bunch of complete strangers. I wasn't old enough to live on my own, so I had to be placed with a foster family that lived two towns away from where I had grown up. I was now going to reside in the rainy town of Forks Washington, with my new foster family, the Cullen's.
I took a deep breath and wiped a tear from my eye before I reached toward the door and knocked. Less than a second later the door was pulled open to reveal an extremely handsome man with blond hair and a warm smile.
"Hello. You must be Allie. I'm Doctor Cullen, but you may call me Carlisle." He said. I nodded and said a shy hello as he grabbed my bags from me.
"I'll show you to your room so you can rest for a while, and later I'll introduce you to the rest of the family." I nodded again and followed him up the stairs and stopped as he pulled one of the doors open and then followed him in. He walked over to the bed and set my stuff down before he turned back to me. "I hope you'll be comfortable here. If you need anything, the room right across the hall is my study. I should be in there, and if not then don't be afraid to find me or anyone else in the house." He said.
"Okay, thanks." I said as I watched him close the door as he walked out of the room… my room. I sighed and walked over to the bed and lay down. I tried not to let my thoughts get to me but I couldn't stop the tears that betrayed me and fell from my eyes. I started to breathe deeply, and soon I couldn't contain the sobs that came from my mouth.
I'm not really sure how long I just lay there and cried, but soon I heard a knock on the door. I quickly stopped crying and tried to pull myself together as I sat up and looked at the door.
There was another quiet knock on the door and then I heard a beautiful ringing voice from the other side say "Can we please come in?"
I took a couple deep breaths before I answered, to be sure that I could speak without letting my voice crack. "Sure." I said quietly. I watched as the door opened and a small, pixie like girl with inky black hair that she wore in a spiked style walked in with a taller boy with honey blond hair, and a sympathetic, yet guarded look on his face. They looked at me and then the girl practically danced across the room and sat down on the bed. She gave me a tight hug and didn't say anything as I started crying again, tears flowing quickly from my eyes. I noted that the girl had extremely cold skin, but I didn't really think about it for long.
"I'm s- sorry. I d- don't want anyone t- to see this." I sobbed into her shoulder.
"Allie, it'll be okay, I promise." She said reassuringly as she started to rub my shoulder in a comforting way.
I just shook my head and said "No it won't be okay."
"Yes it will. I'm positive." She said, sounding so sure of herself that I almost had no choice but to believe her. The thoughts in my head about what happened though were so strong that I didn't believe that things would ever be okay again.
"No." I said. That was the only thing that I could manage to say before I started crying harder. This was so embarrassing. Not only was I crying, but I was completely breaking down in front of people that I had never even met before.
"Yes." She said seriously as she gently pulled me away from her to make me look her in the eyes. They were a warm light gold that matched the boys next to her perfectly. "You need to believe me Allie. It's the best thing to do, and soon you'll realize that I'm never wrong about anything." I really felt like I had to trust her, but my decision was clouded from recent events. I couldn't take looking her in the eyes anymore, so I closed mine and shook my head.
She sighed exasperatedly and said "Just wait Allie, you'll find out soon, I promise." I opened my eyes again and looked at her as she continued. "You'll feel better, and we will be wonderful friends. I know that for a fact." She told me and then gave me a warm smile and winked. I gave her the best smile that I could manage back and then she pulled me into another tight hug.
"Thank you…" I started, but let the sentence trail off when I realized that I didn't even know this girls name.
"Alice." She said and then pulled away from me and pointed to the boy next to her. "And this is Jasper." She told me.
I gave him a slight smile and said "Hi."
He nodded and said "Pleasure to meet you."
Alice just smiled again and then started bouncing a little bit in excitement. I looked at her confused, wondering what could possibly excite her so much. "Do you like going shopping?" she asked me after a minute, and then looked at me anxiously for a second but then answered her own question. "Well it doesn't really matter, because I'll make you go either way." She said and then she laughed, and I was surprised. Her laugh sounded like tinkling bells. It was almost music. I heard Jasper chuckle then.
"She loves to shop. We never wear the same clothes more than once, so you're seriously going to be in for quite a surprise when you see what she already did to your closet." He said quietly as he pointed to a door that I hadn't noticed earlier.
Alice pouted a little and said "I only got a few things so she wouldn't have to wear anything that's probably already been worn hundreds of times." She sounded defensive.
"Uhm… what kind of clothes did you get?" I asked slightly nervously.
"Just a few things for casual wear." She said and smiled at me as she pulled me off of the bed and brought me over to the closet. She pulled it open and I was surprised to see a bunch of garment bags hanging there along with a bunch of shirts that people definitely wouldn't wear to anything that wasn't at the very least semi-formal.
"This is casual?" I asked.
"Yeah." She said. "I'll have to take you shopping soon to get you stuff for the prom and any other formal occasion that I'm sure will eventually come up." She said, and I noticed her wink back at Jasper.
I ignored it and I said "Alice, I really appreciate this, but I honestly don't think that this is exactly casual." I grabbed one of the garment bags and unzipped it to show a long red gown that I would never wear out on any normal day.
"Well I guess that those ones are for a semi-formal type of thing, but these ones," she said, gesturing to the shirts and a couple pairs of pants that hung "Are good for just about anything."
"I still think that even these things are too much." I said honestly.
"Don't worry." She said. "You'll get used to it. I make everyone else in the house wear basically the same thing." Then she pointed to Jasper. "Just ask him."
Jasper rolled his eyes but smiled at Alice. "Yeah, she won't let anyone out of the house if they don't reach her standards for being properly dressed." He told me.
I frowned slightly as I looked from the closet to the clothes that I was wearing. I knew that Alice and I definitely didn't have exactly the same fashion sense.
"Uh Allie! Come on! The clothes are gonna look amazing on you!" I rolled my eyes but then smiled at her.
"Well okay. I guess I can try something a little different. Thanks Alice."
"Yay!" she squealed excitedly. "I'm so glad!" I rolled my eyes again and then shut the door to the closet and walked over to the bed with Alice and sat down.
"Thanks for coming in." I said quietly after a minute. "You really helped me feel better."
"No problem." Alice said and hugged me again. "We'll leave you alone now so that you can rest a little bit." Then she stood up and I saw her give Jasper a meaningful look which he answered with a nod before he moved closer to me and put his hand comfortingly on my shoulder. I jumped slightly when his cold skin, the same temperature as Alice's had been, touched my arm.
"Don't worry Allie. You can trust Alice, things are gonna be fine." He said and suddenly a wonderful calm spread through my body.
I smiled at him and said "Thank you." As I lay back against the soft pillows on the bed and fell asleep.
2
I woke up a little later and looked out the window to see that it was dark outside. I wasn't tired anymore and I was a little hungry so I decided to get up and see if I could get something to eat. I sat up and stretched before I walked to another door in the room that led to a bathroom. I noticed quickly that there was already everything in there that I could possibly need. After a minute I decided that it must have been Alice who had stocked the bathroom with everything. I quickly grabbed a brush and pulled it through my long brown hair and then wiped some of the smudged makeup off of my face, before I left and walked out of the room. I pulled the door shut behind me and then walked down the stairs.
I started to look around for Carlisle, or Alice and Jasper, but I didn't see them. I walked into the living room and saw a group of people sitting around in different seats, but I didn't recognize any of them.
"You must be Allie." Someone said. I turned and looked over to see a bronze haired boy giving me a small smile. He was sitting on a couch next to a girl with long brown hair, and a younger girl with the same bronze colored hair as the boy, who looked about old enough to be in middle school.
I nodded and said "Yeah."
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Edward, and this is Bella and my little sister Renesmee." Well that explains the similar hair color. I nodded and said a quick hello as I noticed someone else walking over. I turned and saw an extremely muscular boy with curly black hair and a beautiful girl with blond hair. Everyone here was really attractive, but she was easily the best looking one out of everyone.
"I'm Emmett." The boy said and smiled. "And this is Rosalie" I gave them a small smile which Emmett returned. Rosalie just gave me a tight nod though. I frowned slightly but forgot about it when another woman walked into the room and came over to me with a warm, welcoming smile on her face.
"Hello Allie, I'm Carlisle's wife Esme. It's so wonderful to meet you." She said.
I smiled back at her and said "It's nice to meet you too."
Just then I noticed one more person in the room who I hadn't been introduced to yet. He was sitting on the couch, looking away from everyone and not really paying attention. He looked about my age, with short dark brown hair.
I heard someone clear their throat and then I turned to see Edward looking over at the boy. "Allie, that's Dylan." I looked back over once Edward started talking and I noticed that the boy looked over quickly as soon as he heard his name. I really didn't even notice him turn his head. It was like he was looking away, and in the same instant he was looking over at us. Our eyes met for a second, and instead of looking away embarrassedly like I should have, I just kept looking at him. He looked back me and after a second he nodded in acknowledgement before he stood up and quickly left the room. I barely even saw him move, he went so fast. I didn't think that it was humanly possible to move like that.
As I thought about what had just happened, I watched the place where he been sitting only seconds ago. "You'll have to excuse him." Edward said. "He isn't exactly good around new people."
"Oh." I said pathetically. "I'm sorry."
"No it's not your fault, he'll get used to you soon enough." He said and shared a look with everyone else in the room that implied that they all knew something that I didn't. I frowned but didn't say anything about it.
"So are you adjusting okay?" Esme asked, clearly looking for a change of subject.
I willingly went with it and said "Yes, but I was actually wondering if I could get something to eat."
"No problem Allie, I already got it." I heard Alice's ringing voice say as she danced into the room with a plate of food.
"Oh, thank you." I said as I grabbed the plate from her and sat down on the couch, right next to the spot where Dylan had been sitting only minutes ago. "Aren't you guys going to eat?" I asked when I noticed that no one else had any food.
"No." Alice answered. "We already ate while you were sleeping."
"Oh okay." I said and then slowly started eating. As I ate I looked around the room at everyone and noticed that even though they weren't all related, they still looked a lot alike, but not alike at the same time. They all had the same gold eyes, and incredibly pale skin. I mean I wasn't exactly tan, I was actually pretty white, but compared to them my skin color was completely fine. But that's where all of the similarities ended. Everything else about them was completely unique and beautiful.
Once I was done eating I stood up to take my plate to the kitchen, but the plate was immediately taken from my hands. I looked up and saw Edward standing there.
"Allow me." He said and then left the room with my plate. I watched him until he was gone and then just stood there, not really sure what I should do now. Everyone was looking at me and I was starting to feel uncomfortable, but luckily Carlisle came in to save me from the awkward moment.
"Ah Allie, I'm glad to see that you have already met everyone else. How has everything going? Is there anything you need?" He asked.
"Uhm, everything's great, and I don't think I need anything." I said.
He smiled and nodded and then looked down at his watch. "Oh, it's starting to get late. Why don't you go upstairs and get some sleep. You start school in the morning so I want you to be well rested.
I just looked at him in shock. I had completely forgotten about school. Well great. There's the final nail in my coffin. I saw Edwards mouth twitch up in a small smile as he walked into the room, but I ignored it as I thought about what the following day was going to bring. School sucked to begin with, but know it's gonna be even worse since I was gonna be the new kid at school.
"You don't need to worry too much about it." Edward said reassuringly. "We're all gonna be there." I took a deep breath and then put on my most convincing smile and looked at him.
"Thanks." I said. "That really makes me feel better." He just nodded. I said goodnight to everyone then and went to the steps. As I climbed the stairs I vaguely wondered why I was the only one that Carlisle was sending to bed when almost everyone else in the house had to go to school in the morning too. I shrugged it off though as I walked down the hall and to my room. I quickly pulled on a pair of pajamas and then crawled into my new bed.
I closed my eyes and thought about the day that I had had today. My last thoughts before I drifted off to sleep were that I didn't think that things were going to be too bad here.
3
I woke up the next morning to a knock on the door. "Allie, it's time to get up and get ready for school." I heard Esme say. I blinked a few times so my eyes had a chance to adjust and then stretched for a minute before I got out of bed. I went into my bathroom and showered quickly and then did my hair and makeup. When I was done I kept a towel wrapped tightly around me as I walked out of the room.
I started heading to my closet to find some clothes to wear today but then jumped and almost screamed when I saw someone sitting on my bed. I automatically wrapped the towel around me tighter as I looked to see who it was. I sighed in relief when I saw that it was Alice.
"Oh my god Alice! You really scared me!" I said as I took deep breaths to try and calm myself down.
"Sorry." She said and smiled. "I already picked out what clothes you will wear today."
"Can't I pick my own?" I asked.
"Nope. Not today at least."
"Alice!" I complained.
"Don't try and argue with me Allie. I'll always win."
"But Alice!" I said.
She sighed. "How about I play you for it." She suggested.
I raised my eyebrow at her. "Play me for it?" I repeated back to her.
"Yeah. Rock paper scissors."
"Uhm Alice, aren't we a little too old to be playing rock paper scissors?" I asked.
"Yeah." She said simply. "But I promise I won't tell anyone." She had a look on her face that made me feel like I was missing something again, but I ignored it.
"Fine. I guess I'll play rock paper scissors with you."
She smiled and then put her arm out. "Ready?" I frowned but nodded as I held my towel tighter and stuck my arm out too. We played and I ended up losing. Alice smiled and handed me a pile of clothes and practically pushed me into the bathroom telling me to hurry up. I quickly pulled the clothes on, not really paying attention to what I was wearing until it was on. I looked in the mirror and frowned slightly. Alice had given me a black skirt and a deep red blouse that fit me perfectly. I didn't know how she knew what size clothes I needed but she did. I fixed my hair again and then walked back out into the room.
"Oh you look perfect!" Alice gushed.
"Well thanks." I said quietly. I felt a little embarrassed by her reaction.
She smiled at me and then stood up and grabbed my arm and started pulling me from the room. I again noticed the temperature of her skin but didn't really think too much of it. "Come on we have to hurry." She said. I quickly followed her down the stairs and then suddenly she stopped. "Are you hungry?" she asked.
"No. I'll eat later." I told her. She nodded and then reached into her pocket and pulled out some money.
"Here." She said as she handed it to me. "This is for your lunch."
"Oh thanks." I said as I took the money and put it into my own pocket. She nodded and then pulled me out to the garage. I was shocked to see all of the different cars there. They were all really expensive and really nice. The cars ranged all the way from the most boring car being a shiny silver Volvo, which I never would have said was boring if it was only that car alone, to one of the most amazing being an amazing red BMW. Alice led me over to a showy yellow Porsche that she told me was hers, and that Edward had given it to her. I was a little surprised by that but after a minute I was distracted by everyone else walking into the garage and getting into their cars.
Edward, Bella, and Renesmee got into the Volvo. I knew that they were probably taking Renesmee to school since she was too young to be in the same school as us. Next Emmett and Rosalie walked in and got into a jeep wrangler which I assumed was Emmett's, and I saw Dylan get into the back with them. Jasper walked into the garage next and came over to the Porsche were Alice and I were standing and then got into the passenger seat while Alice walked around to the driver's side and I got in the back.
Alice started the car and then pulled out of the garage and followed the jeep to the high school, while Edward drove a different way to get to the middle school to drop off Renesmee. I was getting more and more nervous the closer that we got to the school, and it wasn't getting any easier since Alice was driving at a dangerously fast speed. It felt like no time at all when we pulled into the parking lot, and the car stopped.
I sighed as I opened the door and slung my bag over my shoulder and stepped into the cold air. I closed the car door and waved goodbye to Alice and Jasper as I started to head to the main office to get my class schedule. When I made it to the small building I pulled the door open and walked over to the desk.
"How can I help you dear?" the receptionist asked.
"Uhm I'm Allie, the uh… new student." I said.
"Oh!" she said and I watched as knowledge lit her eyes. She started searching through papers then and when she found what she was looking for she handed me a map of the school, my class schedule, and a slip of paper that I was supposed to have all of the teachers sign and then bring back here at the end of the day. I thanked her and then walked out of the office. I grabbed the map and started searching for my first class when I was sure that I knew where it was, I put it in my bag and started heading to building B for English. When I walked into the room I hoped to see that at least one of the Cullen's would be there, but I was disappointed when I saw that none were.
I walked over to the teacher of the class and quickly introduced myself and had him sign my paper before he gave me the courses list of readings and told me where to sit. I thanked him and then went to take the dreaded seat at the front of the classroom. The class was pretty boring but I managed to get through it until the bell finally rang.
It turned out that the rest of the morning pretty much passed the same way. None of the Cullen's would be in my classes and the teacher would almost always make me introduce myself to the rest of the students before I was forced to take a seat at the front of the room where everyone was able to stare at me without any difficulties.
When the bell finally rang for lunch I quickly gathered up my things and left the room. I slowly made my way to the cafeteria and stood in line to get my lunch. I wasn't exactly hungry, but I knew that I should probably get at least something. Once I had my food and I paid for it, I started looking around for everyone. I didn't have to look long though because it seemed like out of nowhere Alice appeared at my side.
"Hey Allie." She said and smiled at me. "We're sitting over here. Come on." I followed her over to the table and sat down between her and Bella. I felt a little awkward when no one really said anything, so I just looked down and started picking at some of my food, not really even eating it. After a minute I noticed someone stand, so I looked up and saw Dylan standing with a strange look on his face. It looked like it was a mixture between longing and… pain?
He looked at everyone at the table before his eyes finally rested on me for a minute, and then he turned and quickly walked away. It seemed more like he was running though. I was a little confused. Did I do something to him that would make him want to leave? When that thought hit me I instantly felt terrible. I knew that I must have done something that got him mad.
I sat there messing with my food a little bit longer before I stood up and went and dumped my almost untouched tray of food and then went back to the table and sat down. We all just sat there in silence until the bell rang for the end of lunch. I stood up and left the cafeteria, without saying anything to anyone and went to find my next class. It went by just the same as the morning classes and as soon as the bell rang, I made my way to the last class of the day. Biology.
I walked into the room and handed the teacher my slip for him to sign, and then waited for him to tell me where to sit. "Well Allie, I believe that you will be comfortable in the last available seat next to Dylan." He said. I froze for a second and then turned to see none other than the boy who had clearly been avoiding me since I had gotten to Forks yesterday, sitting right next to the seat that I was supposed to sit in. I thanked the teacher quietly before I regretfully made my way to my seat and sat down. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Dylan had moved his seat so that he was as far away from me as he could possibly get. I frowned and then moved my seat as far away from him as I could get too. If he didn't want to be around me then I certainly didn't want to be anywhere near him.
This class passed slower then all of the other classes put together, but that was probably because I could see Dylan looking over at me from where he sat on the other side of the table. His looks changed though. Sometimes he looked a little confused and other times he looked… angry or even outraged. I was uncomfortable and right now I wanted nothing more then to be able to disappear so I wouldn't have to burn under the intensity of the looks that he was giving me.
It felt like hours before class finally ended, and what made things really weird was that it seemed like it only took Dylan maybe only half a second to gather up his things and get quickly out of his seat. He was out of the room before the bell even stopped ringing. I just sat there for a second before I put the rest of my things into my bag and then made my way to the main office to turn in my signed slip. I walked in quickly and handed the receptionist the slip before I walked right back out. I didn't have to go far once I was out there, since Alice had already pulled the Porsche up right in front of the office. I opened the door and climbed into the backseat and almost as soon as I closed the door, Alice started racing back to the house.
"So how was your first day?" she asked as she looked at me with the help of her rearview mirror.
"Fine." I said. She gave me a small frown but otherwise let it go and didn't say anything else on the subject the whole way home, which I was really grateful about. She probably only thought that it was all still about the whole situation with my parents and the move. I wouldn't bother her or anyone else with what really happened today. I mean for all I knew it was nothing. I tried not to worry about the fact that Dylan could hate me for no real reason at all. I mean yeah, it didn't matter to me… If only it were that easy.
4
I spent the rest of that night in my room, not bothering to even go downstairs for dinner. I wasn't hungry anyway and I didn't want to risk the chance of seeing Dylan again. I just laid on my bed and thought some things through. I tried not to linger too much on biology, but all I could really think about was the look that Dylan had given me. I fell asleep that night and my dreams were filled with the Cullen's. Most of them we're all nice to me but after a while all of them were gone except for Dylan and all that he did was look at me. It felt weird and I wanted to ask what his problem was but before I could, his golden eyes flashed red and he jumped at me. I screamed and all of a sudden I was sitting up in my bed.
I started breathing deeply to try and calm myself down. I had no idea what that was about but it really freaked me out. I got up and walked to the bathroom and splashed my face with cold water. The dream was the only thing that I could think of now and it made me a little nervous and I didn't like it. I didn't want to attempt to even try getting back to sleep now, so instead I walked over to my window and sat down and looked outside. It was a nice night though it was cloudy but that didn't make any difference to me.
I just watched everything outside to try and get my mind off of the dream, and it was working for a while, but then I saw something. The door to the house opened and Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Dylan appeared outside. Then they moved so quickly that I had a hard time even seeing them. They disappeared as I saw them run quickly into the trees of the forest. All I could do was watch where they had been standing just a second ago in shock. They were so fast! What the hell was going on here? I was sure now that how they moved wasn't possible for any normal person.
I had no idea how they could move like that and I wasn't sure that I really even wanted to. I wished that I could just forget everything that I just saw. I watched outside for hours waiting for them to come back so I could be sure of everything that was happening but they didn't show up. I was about to give up when all of a sudden I saw something. Right in front of the house were all of the Cullen's who I had seen disappear into the forest. I gasped when I saw them just suddenly appear and was surprised when I saw them all look up at me. It was like they had heard me! They looked away and ran into the house, but Dylan didn't. He stayed and continued to look up at me. What I desperately wanted to do was move farther into the room, but I couldn't take my gaze away from his no matter how much I wanted to. It was like we just stared at each other for hours but eventually he looked away. I sighed in relief and then watched him run at his extremely fast speed back into the forest before I moved away from the window and over to my bed. I lay down but didn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night.
The next morning I didn't give anyone the chance to come and wake me up. I even picked out my clothes before I walked into the bathroom so Alice wouldn't have the excuse to come in. I showered and dressed quickly and did my hair and makeup. When I was done I walked downstairs and skipped breakfast again. Alice came up to me and was about to say something, but I just walked away from her and went out to the garage before I could be told that it was time to go.
I got into the back of the Porsche and watched as everyone else came in. I noticed that they were all clearly trying to avoid looking at me. They all knew what I saw last night. I noticed that Dylan wasn't here. I guess that he never came back last night. It was all my fault. I sighed mentally, knowing now that they would be able to hear me. I knew that I would have to remember that.
When we pulled up to the school I quickly got out of the car and walked to my first period class, not bothering to say goodbye to anyone. The classes passed a little too quickly then I wanted them to. I wished they could have gone slower so that I could try and avoid going to lunch, but all too soon the lunch bell rang. I frowned as I gathered up my stuff and slowly made my way back to the cafeteria. I didn't get any lunch and I didn't go over to the Cullen table. Instead I walked over to an empty table and sat down, glad to be alone for a while. After a few minutes I looked over at where the Cullen's were sitting and saw them all looking over at me. Well, all of them except for Dylan, who never showed up. I looked at them for a second longer and then turned away.
All of a sudden I was aware of someone else sitting at my table. I looked up and saw Alice. I sighed and then looked down.
"Allie, are you hungry?" she asked me.
"No."
"You haven't eaten anything in almost two days. I think you should have something." She said seriously.
I shook my head and said "No."
"Allie you have to eat and I think that you know by what you saw last night that I can make you eat if I have to."
I was shocked for a second as I looked up at her. She was looking at me seriously.
"You wouldn't." I said.
"Oh I definitely would."
I turned my shocked look into a glare and then stood up. "I'll eat when I want to." I said icily as I walked out of the cafeteria.
It was raining, but not too bad, so I walked to one of the outdoor tables and sat down. After a minute I saw someone sit down across from me.
"Hey, you must be Allie." She said. "I'm Jillian."
I looked up and said "Hi, uh… how did you know my name."
"Everyone here knows your name." She said as if it should have been obvious to me.
"They do?"
"Yeah. This is a small school. News travels fast. And the fact that you moved in with the Cullen's just made the news more important."
"It did? Why?"
"The Cullen's never talk to anyone and all of a sudden you just come around and move in with them." She said.
"Oh." I said dumbly. "Is there something wrong with them?" I asked.
"Well no, but they're a little strange."
"How?" I asked, pressing for more information. Maybe she could help me figure out what was going on with them.
"We'll I already said that they're incredibly antisocial, but they also never eat anything. I mean, every day they buy food but they never touch it." I nodded in agreement. I had never seen them eat anything since I had gotten here. And Alice probably lied to me when she said that they ate before me. Jillian continued. "And they never say anything to anyone but their own family, and when you do hear them speak they sound like they're from a different time. So proper and everything." I frowned. I had noticed that too. "And then they're never here on sunny days. Whenever it's nice outside, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen pull them out of school so they can go camping or something like that."
"Really?" I asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, didn't you know that? You would think that they would have told you."
"Yeah…." I said but trailed off. I wondered why they hadn't said anything to me. Or maybe that was just some excuse. Now I just wanted to know what they do on sunny days when they weren't at school.
I frowned, considering that, but then the bell rang. I stood up and started heading to my other class, but then I noticed Jillian walking beside me. "We have next period together." She said.
"Oh, okay cool." I said and smiled at her as we walked. I was glad that I had actually made a friend here. I didn't feel so alone now. When we made it to our class we walked to our seats and sat down. The bell rang and class started, but I couldn't pay attention. I just sat there and tried to put all of the facts that I knew about the Cullen's together.
Alright so first, the Cullen's never ate. Second, they never talked to anyone but their family… and me… sort of. Third, they never went out in the sun. Fourth, they always talked like they were from some other time. Fifth, they had strange gold eyes and extremely pale skin. Sixth, they're skin was freezing. Seventh, they were amazingly fast. And finally, they had great hearing. I ran all of those things through my head over and over, trying to figure out how all of these things went together.
Were they infected by some radioactive bug? Fell into a vat of toxic waste? Something along the lines of that? I had no idea what it could possibly be. I didn't like not knowing. I had to find out. The whole class I spent thinking things through, and soon the bell rang. I gathered up my stuff and went to my last class, not worrying since I knew that Dylan wasn't here today. The class actually passed a little faster then I wanted it too and after the bell rang I started to get nervous.
Oh shit! What was I supposed to do? I couldn't go back to the Cullen's now. I was panicking as I gathered up my stuff up and walked out of the science building. When I was at the parking lot I saw them standing by their cars but I didn't go over to them. Instead I started walking, knowing that it would take me forever to get back to the house, but I didn't care.
I was walking for a few minutes before I noticed a car driving next to me. I looked over and frowned when I saw the familiar yellow Porsche, and then looked away again. I heard the window go down, but I still didn't look over.
"Allie." I was surprised when I heard Jasper's voice, but I shook the surprised feeling off and ignored him. "Come on, just get in the car." He said.
I shook my head and kept walking. I didn't want to get a ride from them, I would rather walk.
"Allie!" This time it was Alice's voice. My eyes narrowed for a second but then I managed to change my expression to one of indifference.
"No." I said. I noticed the car stop then, so I started to walk faster. Alice was standing in front of me, blocking my way, in hardly a second.
"Move out of my way Alice." I said through my teeth.
"No. just get into the car and things will be fine." She said, her voice calm and sweet.
"Allie, come on! You're making things so difficult!" she said. I could tell somehow that she didn't like doing this. I knew she was telling the truth the first day when she said that she wanted to be friends, but I just couldn't help it right now. Things were too strange right now. "Please, just let me drive you home?" she asked. She sounded like she really meant it. I frowned and sighed.
"Fine." I said and then walked back the Porsche and got in. I looked up and saw Jasper looking at me. He put his hand on my knee in a comforting way.
"Just relax." He said. And I did. I wasn't exactly sure what happened then but I feel asleep right there.
5
I woke up later that night in my bed, confused. I didn't understand how I had fallen asleep so quickly earlier. It didn't make any sense. I tried not to think about this though as I got up and went to change my clothes so I could be more comfortable. I grabbed a pair of pajamas and then changed before I went back to my bed. I was about to lay down again, but I started to feel really hungry. I sighed and got up and left my room and went downstairs.
"We should talk to her about it now." I heard Carlisle say in a decided tone once I was downstairs. I didn't really think much about it until all of a sudden Carlisle was standing right in front of me.
"Oh jeez!" I said.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said apologetically.
"No, that's fine." I said.
"Allie, can we talk to you about something?" he asked me, sounding a little nervous.
"Uhm sure." I said and nodded and then followed him out to the living room and sat down. I had a feeling that I knew what this was about.
"Allie, we wanted to talk to you about what you saw last night." I frowned and nodded.
"Yeah, I was hoping that you would tell me a little about that."
"Alright, let's start with you telling us exactly what you saw." he suggested. "We have a pretty good idea, but just to be sure we wanted you to tell us."
"Well okay." I hesitated for a minute. "Uhm… I saw Alice and Jasper. And Emmett, and Rosalie… and Dylan." I said, feeling a little uncomfortable as I added the last name. "And I saw everyone run… really really fast. And then… everyone saw me, and I barely made any noise at all."
Carlisle nodded understandingly and said "Yes, you must be quite confused." I nodded and waited for him to continue. "Well you see, my family and I have quite a secret, and now we're going to trust you with it. Are you going to be able to keep it from everyone else?" he asked seriously.
"Yeah, I promise." I said.
He nodded. "Alright, so we know that you've noticed that we can run fast, hear extraordinarily well, have an interesting eye color, and that we don't eat. And you've learned from a student at your school that we are not seen in the daylight." I nodded and started trying to think through any possible explanations for these things again.
"Can you think of anything that we could be where we don't eat normal food and where we don't go out in the sunlight?" Carlisle asked.
"You can figure this our Allie." Edward said. I looked at him surprised. He just nodded and said "I can tell you can. I can hear what you're thinking."
My eyes widened. Oh man! Edward smiled and almost laughed. "Don't laugh at me!" I said. "I didn't know that you could figure out what I'm thinking! Oh god this is bad!"
He actually did laugh this time and he said "Don't worry. You haven't thought of anything too embarrassing. Yet." He added the last part and smiled at me. I rolled my eyes.
"Soooo anyway…" Alice said. "Edwards right Allie. I can see that you can figure this out." I looked at her oddly. "I have visions of the future, but we can get back to that later. It's not important right now." frowned but nodded and started thinking. There was one thing that kept going through my head, but I didn't think there was any possible way that it could be true.
"It's true." Edward said quietly. I looked over at him in surprise.
"I'm right?" I asked my eyes wide.
He nodded again and said "Congratulations, you've official figured out our secret. And in a very short amount of time." He added. "It took Bella a lot longer then you."
"Oh my god. I don't believe it!" I said.
"You have to. It's true." Carlisle said, sounding like he understood what I was feeling. I just nodded, not really hearing what he said. I stood up and started walking to the door.
"Allie, where are you going?" Bella asked.
"For a walk. I'll be back soon." I said distractedly.
"Alright, but stay close." Esme said in a worried, motherly voice. I nodded and walked out the door. I headed into the forest. It seemed like a good place to clear my head. I was sure of that. It looked really calm and relaxing, and it was beautiful.
I just started walking and thinking through everything that I just learned. I was so distracted that I wasn't even aware that anyone was watching me. I was too caught up in my own thoughts to notice anything other then what was going through my head. Hardly any of it made sense to me at all.
And then there was suddenly someone standing right in front of me. I froze in fear and looked to see who it was when I realized that it was no one that I knew.
"Who are you?" I asked, surprising myself by how calm I sounded.
"That's nothing that you have to worry about." He said, his voice sounding beautiful. I knew right then that he was a vampire. He was different somehow though. His eyes were what really caught my attention. They were a bright red that immediately screamed dangerous.
"Stay away from me." I said as i backed away. He laughed and all of a sudden he was right behind me. I jumped and started running forward, forgetting at the moment that he could run a lot faster than me. Sadly I remembered though when I felt hard strong hands grip my shoulders. I screamed. I knew what he was going to do next, and it terrified me. I wasn't ready to die yet. I was only seventeen years old for crying out loud! That's not old enough to die yet!
He laughed again and said "Don't worry. I'll make it quick for you." I could feel his cold breath against my throat as he leaned in, getting ready to take a bite out of me.
"Please, don't kill me." I pleaded. I was shacking really bad and I was scared. I didn't want this to be the last thing to happen to me. He just laughed again and I knew this was it. This was probably the last second of my life. I took a deep breath, knowing that this would probably be my last.
But it wasn't. I was relieved when I seemed like out of nowhere, someone came and pulled the vampire off of me. I quickly moved so I wouldn't be in the way of the fight that was now going on between the vampire and someone else that I couldn't see. I was sure that it was one of the Cullen's though. I watched, though it was nearly impossible because of how fast they were moving, in utter horror. I hoped that whichever Cullen it was didn't get hurt. The fighting seemed like it had gone on forever, but then it stopped. The two vampires stared each other down and then I saw the one that had tried to kill me, look at me sadly before he disappeared into the trees.
I just watched where he had disappeared until the mystery Cullen appeared beside me. "Thank you." I said quietly and then looked up to see who it was. I froze when I looked into the golden eyes of Dylan Cullen.