New girl

I was sitting in the cafeteria trying to tune out the voices like always. Today everyone was buzzing about the new girl, Isabelle Swan. Isabelle, and not Isabella, she had corrected everyone who'd gotten it wrong.

I'd seen her face in so many different minds, especially the males who'd all dreamed up romances with her in their heads. I suppose she was what guys would refer to as 'hot'. But I saw nothing special in her face, just another human.

My siblings, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie, were sitting across from me.

"How's he doing?" Alice wanted to know, she was always looking into the future to see if Jasper was holding it together. His thoughts were fairly calm, so I just gave her a quick nod. Jasper was the one struggling most with our unnatural diet. All my so called siblings and my parents were determined to fight the monsters within and only hunt animals instead of humans, but it wasn't easy.

Then I heard someone call my name in their head and I turned toward the "voice", a reflex. I saw the new girl sitting there with Jessica Stanley, she was looking towards our table. At first I thought it was she who'd thought my name, but then Jessica's thoughts continued. "Of course, she's interested in Edward. Isn't everyone, but apparently no one here is good enough for him, and certainly not her." I tuned out, Jessica's thoughts were not ones I liked to listen to, she was very self-possessed, and vulgar. It had been a great relief when she'd gotten over her crush on me and I didn't have to hear her crazy fantasies.

"Who are they?" I heard the girl ask Jessica.

"The Cullens." Jessica answered. "They moved here a couple of years ago from Alaska, but they all kind of keep to themselves."

The girl looked over at us again and I stopped listening to the conversation and started listening for her thoughts instead. I needed to see what she thought of our appearance, and our obvious desolation from everyone else. It was sort of my job to make sure no humans were on to us.

But there was nothing where the girl sat, like no one was even sitting next to Jessica. I had to look over again to make sure she was still there. Our eyes met and something happened, it was like a shock to my system, and my eyes lingered.

There was something in her eyes, a spark, something special but I couldn't figure out what. She looked away first and turned back to Jessica, this disturbed me. I wanted to look into her eyes to see what it was, the spark.

The rest of the day I followed her in the minds of others as she told them about herself. She was an exchange student from Sweden, a senior, and her family still lived in Sweden. I found her English remarkable, she spoke with flawless fluency and articulation and it was hard to believe English was not her first language.

There was nothing more I could take from her conversations with the other student as she seemed shy. I found myself irritated that they didn't ask her more about herself. I wanted to know how she'd learned English, and why she'd moved here to this desolate town.

That was why I was very pleased when she answered biology to Mike's question about her next class. Mike was also pleased with this fact, and he had already decided to ask her out after class. Although it was obvious she was a kind of beautiful that would get most men's attention, it seemed like she wasn't used to the attention she got here and was a little bit uncomfortable with it.

I was excited when she walked into the classroom, to ask her about her life and to look into her eyes and find the source to the spark.

When she walked in, the room filled with her scent. Her blood smelled sweet, it had an almost fruity smell to it and it was wonderful. I had been drinking animal blood for a long time but it still took more restraint than it usually did not to dart across the room and taste her blood.

What stopped me the most was that if I killed her I would never find out what the spark was, and the curiosity was killing me… so to speak.

I was pleased when Mr. Banner sent her to the empty seat next to me. She took in my appearance before shyly looking to the floor, and coming to sit next to me.

The lesson hadn't started yet, there were still people walking through the doors so I took the opportunity to talk to her.

"Hello." I said with my smoothest voice.

She looked up at me and answered, "Hi." She blushed and the redness in her cheeks sent a burning sensation through my throat. I hadn't been hunting for weeks and I needed to hunt tonight if I was going to sit next to her in biology every day. The thought of spending every biology class next to her it excited me in a strange way.

She started to look away again so I quickly said. "I'm Edward Cullen."

"I'm Isabelle." She said and held out her hand and for a handshake.

I stared at her hand knowing if I offered mine she would feel how incredibly cold and hard it was. After a while she took her hand away and there was an awkward tension in the air.

"My hands are cold." I said hoping she would not think I was strange. "You're from Sweden right?" I then asked changing the subject.

"That's right." She answered. "I'm from a small town called Lund."

"How come you're so good at English?" I asked with a bit too much intensity.

She blushed again at the compliment, and my throat burned dryly.

"I don't know." She said with modesty, and started twining her hands together.

"Do you have a parent from an English-speaking country?" I offered, realizing it might be hard to find anything out from her as she seemed shyer now than she had before. I wished I could just read her mind to know what she thought of me and maybe find what the spark was.

"No…" She started and first I thought I would have to ask her another question to keep her talking but she continued, "I just watch a lot of movies and TV-shows in English and I read a lot of books as well."

"You like to read?" I asked.

"Yes." She smiled and the spark was clear in her eyes.

"So what books do you like?"

"I don't know, it's differs a lot. But I really like fantasy. I love the possibility of magic and the supernatural you know." She smiled with her eyes, looking right at me. When she talked the spark in her eyes had grown brighter and the shyness peeled away a bit. I stared into her eyes wanting to know more, to ask more. It bothered me that I couldn't read her mind and I wanted to know why. Just as I was about to ask her another question Mr. Banner started the lesson and she turned to listen.

During class I watched her intently but she didn't seem to notice, she was listening to Banner and taking careful notes in a language I assumed to be Swedish.

In all my years I'd never bother to learn Swedish, it seemed unimportant since it was spoken by so few people. Now I wish I had.

When class ended she stood up gathering her books, I could hear Mike talking himself up to go ask her out, I didn't want him to so I quickly said, "May I walk you to your next class?"

She looked up, a little startled. "Okay." She answered simply and I escorted her out of the classroom smiling to myself when I saw Mike's disappointed expression.

"You were very concentrated in class." I observed, all day I had followed her in the minds of others and in her other classes she had barely listened it seemed, taking no notes.

Her cheeks grew red, "I like biology." She explained. "I've always like those subjects, biology, physics, and chemistry. I don't know why." I wanted so bad to be able to read her mind to find out what was behind her the smile that spread across her lips as she stared at the floor. I continued our talk from class.

"You said you like the possibility of magic and the supernatural, but what about the bad parts?" I asked thinking she might not like it if she knew vampires were real.

"Bad parts?" She looked up at me with a puzzled expression.

"Monsters, and supernatural murderers."

She thought a while before saying. "There are human murderers too. Everyone can choose whether they're going to be good or bad, it has nothing to do with being supernatural."

I was taken aback by her answer, she was right of course. Me and my family choose to do good, but that still doesn't change who we are deep down.

"Do you really believe that?" I asked as we stopped outside her classroom.

"Of course I do." She stated plainly.

"But now I have class, it was nice to meet you Edward Cullen." She said, offering her hand for a handshake once more. "Don't worry. I'm used to cold." She said when I hesitated.

I lifted my hand and shook hers, she didn't cringe away at my cold touch she just smiled and walked into her classroom leaving me with a burning sensation in both my hand and throat.

As I walked to my next class I thought to myself I had to learn more about her, talking to her had only raised more questions. Most people I could figure out in a second but Isabelle was something else. She didn't say or do what I expected, sometimes she blushed shy and sometimes she was speaking openly looking right at you.

My next class was P.E and our teacher had come up with the brilliant idea that we would go figure skating at the ice rink here in Forks this week.

I was already late so I skipped the car and ran the short way to the rink, I wasn't supposed to but I made sure no one saw me. The teacher gave me an irritated look because of my tardiness as I sat down next to the other students. She started talking about the rules but I was watching Isabelle through her classmate's minds as she sat in math class. She had a tortured expression and I assumed she didn't count math to her favorite subjects.

I was distracted throughout class, watching Isabelle in math. This didn't make it easier to stand up on my skates. I could do most things with my supernatural abilities, but skating wasn't easy. I could skate of course but I still had to concentrate if I wanted to do anything remotely difficult.

After class I planned a surprise encounter but she rushed off and I couldn't find her in anyone's mind. Disappointed I ran back to school to meet up with my siblings who were waiting by the car.

"Finally." Emmett exclaimed.

"Sorry I'm late. I had skating as my last class." I explained.

I reached into my pocket for the car key only to realize I'd left it at the rink. I looked at my brother with an apologetically expression and said, "I forgot the key, I will be right back." before taking off toward the ice rink.

"Hurry up will you!" Emmett yelled after me.

I never forgot things, this wasn't like me. I had been preoccupied watching the new girl during her class and forgotten that I had taken my keys out of my pocket.

When I stepped into the cool air of the rink there was music sounding from the speakers, I recognized the melody; it was the theme song from Titanic.

I walked up to the plexiglas and immediately I saw who was on the ice; Isabelle. She was wearing beige tights, a black skirt, and a T-shirt. She was skating with such grace and beauty I couldn't look away. I forgot what I was doing and just stared as she moved across the ice. I watched her graceful figure float across the ice until the final notes of the song. She stood still and wrapped her arms around her torso gracefully as the last note rang in the big space.

I wanted to see more but I remembered my siblings waiting for me at the car and I quickly grabbed my keys and ran out of there without her noticing I'd been there.

That night I went hunting with Emmett and Jasper, it was necessary. It had been too long since I last hunted and my eyes had grown jet-black.

I found a few mountain lions though I was distracted by the thought of Isabelle and ate a bit messier than usual. Emmett and Jasper took out two bears and they really had fun with it. When we were "full" we sat down on a cliff edge and watched the sunset. They were joking about who's bear was the biggest and Jasper was convinced it was definitely his. I just stared at the sun remembering her flawless movements and how she felt the music when she skated, like she was living in it.

"What's wrong with you?" Emmett asked with a punch on the shoulder. "You're forgetting things and you didn't exactly hunt pretty today." He gestured to my clothes, which had claw marks all over them.

"It's nothing." I said, shaking my head.

"It's obviously something." Jasper said, and I knew he could feel what I felt; a mixture of curiosity, awe, and adoration.

"You have to promise not to laugh." I sighed, knowing they would find my adoration for a human girl amusing.

"Scouts honor." Emmett joked. "Now spill it."

"Fine, so there's this girl." I said.

"A girl?" Jasper said surprised.

"Really after all these years you finally found yourself a girl huh?" Emmett snickered. "Who is it? Is it Tanya?"

"No! Of course not." I almost yelled. "She's not a vampire, she's human." I admitted.

"A human?" Jasper exclaimed. "That's not good at all. You know it can never work right?"

I put my head in my hands. "I know." I exhaled.

"Who says it couldn't?" Emmett blurted out. "Maybe it could."

I stared at him incredulous. "Really?"

"Why not?" He said.

"Because I want to kill her all the time maybe?" I almost yelled. "But there's something about her, she like no one I've ever met."

"What does she think about you?" Jasper asked.

"I don't know!" I said exasperated. "I can't read her mind."

"What? Has that ever happened before?" Emmett asked.

"No." I sighed.

"Well who is it?" Emmett wanted to know.

"The new girl, Isabelle Swan." I answered, and her name sent chills through me.