Author's Note: The Alec of my story IS, in fact, the Alec of the Volturi. He is human though. He is not a dopple-ganger or anything. The Alec of the Volturi does NOT exist. The Volturi will come in later, probably. This is just a FF of what the world would be like if Reneslec existed with Alec as a mortal. Enjoy!
"Calm down, Nes. It's not that bad." Emmett slugs me on the shoulder, not too hard but certainly not gently by any means. Enough to shatter human bones, but just cause a puny little hybrid like me to wince.
"Easy for you to say." I grumble. My family has all been through high school many times, but this is my first. First day of sophomore year; a horrible time to start high school if you ask me. First time being in school among humans at all, for that matter. My growth has finally slowed down to human rate after six years of speeding along, and now I look around fifteen or sixteen. Carlisle theorizes I'll stop aging soon. But soon is a relative term, so that really doesn't give me much information.
"They'll all love you. I promise." Mom smiles kindly at me, giving me a squeeze on my upper arm. The fear that I don't look okay suddenly enters my mind, a worry bred out of years living with the psychotic fashionista named Alice, who is also my aunt of sorts.
I am wearing a clingy ocean-blue long-sleeved shirt that hangs off both shoulders, dark wash skinny jeans, black Italian leather boots that go to just under my knee, a small black purse, and a necklace made from diamonds that I'm sure no one will think are actually real. They were a birthday present from Dad last year though, so of course they're real.
My bronze-colored ringlets cascade down to my waist with inhuman perfection. My ivory skin is very pale, but it has nothing on the rest of my family, especially since I have the ability to blush, and there always seems to be a faint flush on my cheeks. My chocolate-brown eyes have liquid-gold eyeshadow on and lengthening mascara. My lips have on a layer of raspberry-flavored, dark-maroon, sticky lipgloss..
"Trust me, you look beautiful." Dad grins at me.
"Thanks, but is too over the top for humans?" I ask no one in particular, looking down at myself, but we all know who jumps in.
"Of course not!" Alice looks almost offended and slightly miffed, "If any of them don't like your outfit, send them to me personally. I'll straighten out their mental illness."
"I don't think that will be necessary, Aunt Alice." I pat her shoulder, wondering if Alice has ever had to 'straighten out' anyone before. I'm going to assume so, because by the gleam in her eyes, she seems confident of her abilities and more than a little eager.
"I'll see you guys at lunch." I tell them with a little wave as I leave the group and head towards the sophomore building. Mom, Dad, and Alice are posing as juniors, and Jasper, Emmett, and Rose are going as seniors. They're starting out older than usual for my sake. I'm going to have to get used to being rooted in one place with the same people instead of touring the world, and we're starting out with baby steps.
I slip quietly through crowds of people, all the faces unfamiliar and staring. I finally find my first hour, AP French. I sit in the back of my class, next to a girl that appears to be a sophomore also. She has long red hair pushed back in a pink headband, blue eyes that sort of remind me of Windex because they're just that blue and clear, and a faded tan probably lingering from a summer vacation. She smiles sweetly at me as I take a seat.
"My name is Brooke Gregory." She informs me as soon as I set my stuff down.
"Carlie Cullen." I smile back, the dazzling smile passed down to me from my father, hoping it has some type of friendly effect on her. Yeah, I'm going by Carlie for the duration of the school year. I love my real name, but Mom and my aunts thought it might be too different for humans. I've met vampires with much stranger names, but humans aren't as accepting of odd names because they only understand what's in the now. Different is usually interpreted as weird by them, and my family didn't want to make my risk of being considered weird even higher, though they never said those exact words. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
"Welcome to Hoquiam!" She says brightly. Of course she has already heard. Hoquiam has a total of 739 students in the entire high school. Well, 748 now. Which is pretty small. It's a small town in general.
"Thanks." I pull out a pencil and my binder designated for French as the teacher comes sweeping into the room.
"Where did you move from?" she asks curiously.
"New York." I smile wryly, missing the busy, bright streets of NYC more than anything. We lived in Albany for a short while, but Alice drove me into the city every single weekend.
"You must be clinically insane." She nods, looking at me with sympathy and pity.
"Err. What?" I let out a confused, puzzled half-laugh.
"Anyone who moves from New York to Washington must be out of their mind." She laughs and rolls her eyes. I laugh along with her.
Brooke and I had two classes together, and the rest were pretty close to each other. We walked together, chattering away. My morning classes passed much faster than I expected, and soon enough I was meeting Brooke outside my fourth hour and walking to lunch with her and three of her friends.
At lunch, I immediately began to swerve towards where my family sat at a table on the far side of the room. They all perked up at seeing me, excited to learn about how my day has been going. I smiled at them, but before I could take three steps their way, Kayla, one of Brooke's friends, grabs my arm.
"Sit with us today, Carlie." She smiles, pulling me towards where a group of people have shoved two of the rectangular tables together. I give my family an apologetic shrug and follow Kayla to the table, taking a seat. I am hungry, but none of the other girls make a move to go get anything to eat, so I shush my loud tummy and deal.
"Not to be creepy, but all three of your brothers are the hottest things I have ever seen." Sierra, Brooke's other friend that we walked here with, leans over and says to me from across the table. I laugh out loud.
"Don't get your hopes up. They're all together." Brooke informs Sierra, Kayla, and another guy and girl sitting close to us. Many pairs of questioning eyes flash over to me.
"Yeah, see, my family is all adopted. Emmett, the really big one, and Bella, the small brunette one, are siblings, and they were adopted when they were 11 and 10. Rosalie and Jasper, the blonde ones, were adopted when they were 11 also and they're twins. Emmett and Rose sort of fell in love after a few years. Alice, the really small dark-haired one, was adopted when she was thirteen and she fell for Jasper. Edward, the smaller one with bronze-ish hair, he's my biological older brother. We were adopted when he was nine and I was eight. Edward fell in love with Bella." I sum it all up, and at the end they all look pretty confused and a little weirded out.
"I mean, it's not like they do anything. My parents would never allow it. But they aren't actually related and you can't really help who you fall in love with.." I add hastily, realizing my chance at being normal is quickly slipping down the drain.
"That is just about the coolest thing I have ever heard." the guy whose name I think is Eddie laughs.
"It sucks that there was an uneven number. You should tell your parents to play Cupid with you." Kayla laugh, pulling her silvery blonde hair back into a loose bun.
"I know. But my siblings are really entertaining, I haven't even thought about it that way." I shrug.
"I don't care if they all have girlfriends. I am content to just enjoy the view." Sierra sighs, staring off at my family dreamily, still stuck on their beauty.
"And I am more than content to enjoy the view of your sisters since I'm pretty sure any one of your brothers could kick my ass without a second thought." Eddie laughs.
"You have no idea." I grin to myself.
"But there is one Cullen girl still on the market." He grins along with me, snaking one arm over my shoulders. Everyone laughs at the pathetic flirting attempt, and I do as well. But I am distracted as Kayla begins to talk. My eyes land on him in that moment. The boy at the opposite end of the table, laughing with a few guys and a couple girls. The boy that would change my whole life in too many ways to count. I only wish I knew that at the time.
His inky black hair gleams under the florescent light, reminding me of a raven's feathers. His skin is as pale as everyone else's here, though not at all pasty. Smooth and soft-looking, yet unable to even compare to the whiteness of my skin and my family's skin. His lips are full, a light shade of pink, and he is smiling fully, revealing a set of straight, pearly-white teeth. He has definite muscle, looking like a baseball or maybe a soccer jock. His eyes are his most striking feature. They're a scorching green, accented by long, black lashes. Around the pupil is a band of olive green, then splashed around that is a shade of sparkling emerald, and the iris is fringed in a pale lime-green.
I don't know why, but there is just something about him that makes me pause. Stare at him longer than I should.
The rest of the day passed quickly, and I made a friend or two in all my classes. After sixth hour, I got a little lost trying to find my way out. I ended up near the office of the junior building, an aquarium bubbling on my right and a desolate receptionist area to my left. Great, lots of help. Maybe the fish can point me in the right direction.
The building is practically vacant other than a few older students passing by that I am much too embarrassed to ask for directions from. I study the map I was given, and finally realize which way I'm suppose to be going. Just before I head off, someone begins walking down the hall towards me. Out of habit, I throw a look over my shoulder and am met with sparkling green eyes. It is the boy I saw today across the lunch table. He stares at me loftily as if we are good friends.
"You must be the extrinsic new Cullen girl." The dark-haired boy says, grinning at me boyishly.
"And you have a very impressive vocabulary," I remark with a slight tilt of the head and a surprised brow raise as I turn to face him. "Carlie Cullen." I extend one hand towards him.
"Alec de Luca." his hand meets mine and he flinches back slightly from the heat. "You're hot." He remarks, lovely green eyes twinkling with double meaning.
"So I've been told." I smirk, only talking about the warm skin part, but pretending to have a double meaning also. The kid is obviously hitting on me. There is no harm in flirting back a little.
"Not by anyone quite so dashing, I'm sure." he smirks right back.
"Oh, please," I scoff, "I've been all around the world. Rome, Paris, Sydney, London, Vancouver, New York, Tokyo. Everywhere. There are plenty of other typical dark-haired teenagers with the Y-chromosome." I roll my eyes. But truthfully, I hadn't met anyone quite like this boy. He is just different in a way, though I've only known him for a total of two minutes. He has an air of nerve-grating arrogance about him, along with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and a seemingly permanent devilish grin. He is self-absorbed and cocky, two things I find irritating beyond belief. Yet for some reason, it's almost amusing with him.
"Hurtful." He places one hand over his chest, feigning hurt.
"I think you'll get over it." I whisper, patting his broad shoulder. I turn and begin to head towards the door of the near-empty building. My family is probably waiting for me already.
"Wait," he stops me by grabbing my wrist.
"Hm?" I turn back slightly, only mildly curious. He is just a mortal, after all.
"Me and some friends are going to see a movie in Ocean Shore this Friday at Cinema 3. It's only a little over 13 miles away. Could you come?" His grin is hopeful now. I'm a little taken aback. We haven't known each other for very long, yet he is already inviting me to hang out with his friends? Is this typical human behavior?
"That sounds great, but I'm actually a little busy this weekend. Just moved, remember?" I lie smoothly like a skilled actress. I'm a Cullen, what do you expect? Besides, a human asking me to hang out is just very abnormal for me. Actually, being asked out by any species is just really different.
"Pretty girls lie too much. A simple no would have been sufficient." he rolls his eyes, releasing my wrist and walking past me to the door, hands shoved in his pockets. How did he catch my lie? It was perfect! Alice would have been proud! I would have gotten applause from Jake! I didn't miss a beat! And why the hell do I feel so bad about it all? And what is up with that crazy fluttering in my stomach from him calling me pretty?
"Actually," I say just before he can get out the door, "I might be able to push things off." I smile sweetly as sort of an apology for lying. He contemplates that for a moment, probably wondering if he stills wants me there.
"It's a date then." He throws me one last flash of that haughty grin, and then disappears out the door. I'm left standing there in the dark lobby, cheeks slightly flushed, feeling very hot, stomach filled with random butterflies. I pull my water bottle out of my bag, taking a long swig to calm myself down, and then head outside. The hard hit of freezing, damp air provides the perfect guise for my pastel-pink cheeks.
I slide into the backseat of Rose's car and almost immediately we begin to pull out. "How was your day?" Mom asks with a small smile. I then recall how I practically blew them off at lunch.
"I am so sorry." I tell them all without answering Mom's question.
"Don't be ridiculous. There is nothing we want more than for you to be making new friends." Dad says immediately, allowing everyone to catch on to what we're talking about.
"Of course!" Alice adds. "Besides, there were some cute guys in that little group you were with." She giggles, just as discontent with my dating life as I am. The thought of dating brings me back to my encounter with Alec, the friend of friends who I felt an instant connection to. The mortal boy who really couldn't mean anything, but for some reason I was drawn to. The one who asked me out on a technically unofficial date. When human's say 'it's a date' does that really mean it's a date? Or is it just another of their confusing slang terms? Curse my over-analytical vampire genes!
"Renesmee?" Dad's voice rises in pitch in surprise, gold eyes wide as he stares back at me from his place in the second row of seats in the Suburban.
"What? What happened? Did she meet someone?" Rose asks frantically from the driver's seat.
"A mortal asked Renesmee out on a date." Dad's voice is now monotone in surprise as he continues to stare at me. My cheeks burn.
"Oh my gosh! When? Where? We have to find the cutest outfit as soon as we get home!" Alice begins to bounce up and down in her seat.
"No, no, he's exaggerating. This guy just wants me to go to the movies with him and some of his friends on Friday. I'll probably be bringing Brooke and Kayla, my new friends I met today. Just sort of a group get together, you know?" I begin to gnaw on my lip nervously.
"Oh, pish-posh. See what you have done to her, Edward? She is so out of the times that she can't even tell when a human is trying to be flirty and take her out. It's just sad." Alice reprimands my father, eyes narrowed at him.
"It's not my fault! And I wish we were all still out of the times. Back in my human days, I would have already gotten a visit from this boy asking me to allow Renesmee and him to hold hands on a walk through the city with a chaperone." Dad rants.
"That is so boring! I feel so bad for you, honey." Alice places a consoling hand on my knee. Truthfully, I feel a little bad for myself. Dad is so out dated it isn't even funny. He never understands my need to have friends over, or just have friends in general! According to him, the mother, father, and daughter trio should just stick together for the rest of eternity in peaceful bliss. Yeah, right.
"Dad, can I please go? Please, please? It's kind of important to me.." I beg, not really knowing why it is important to me.
"C'mon, Eddie, lighten up. Let the girl go." Emmett says from the passenger's seat.
"Bella?" Dad looks at Mom for a little help, who has been sitting quiet and contemplative this whole time.
"Renesmee, darling, you do remember what we told you about what happens when an imprintee grows up, right?" She asks me with deep concern, talking about Jake's imprint on me. How could I forget that talk? When they explained that pretty soon, my best friend is going to turn into something much more.
"Of course," I stop myself from rolling my eyes, "I just want to go to the movies with my friends! Besides, even if it was a date, what's wrong with me playing the field a little? I already know who I'm going to be with in the end." I shrug, wishing desperately my life wasn't so planned out. I want surprise and excitement and adventure.
"I suppose the time has already come. Six years just isn't enough.. But there's nothing we can do about it. You can go, Renesmee." Mom gives me a small, pained smile.
A chorus of hissing yess goes throughout the car.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" I gush, lunging forward to envelope them each in somewhat awkward, smushed hugs.
But after gaining their approval, I began to wonder if I even really wanted to go. I mean, I had met the kid for approximately three minutes. We exchanged a few flirty sentences. And, once again, he is just a mortal. I'm not. I shouldn't even care what about him at all. So why do I?