Chapter 1 - The New Student's First Day! Ugh!:
High school. How is this a useful way to spend my time? Even when I was human I don't think over half the stuff they try to make us learn would ever have been useful.
Christophe.
I did not turn my head to look at my sister Alice, who had thought my name. Yes, Alice. What is it?
Who is the kid that is staring at you? I do not recognize her.
Seriously? You know it's bad when vampires start taking an interest in the new kids in a school this small. *Sigh* That's the new girl, Samantha Harden. Sam. She moved here from Scarborough, ME. I don't know anything about her. She apparently hasn't spoken to anyone other than Nick Newton and I haven't tried to read her. I do know that at least half of the guys in the school think that they're in love with her, just because she is something new to look at. It's pathetic.
Hehehe. Really? Doesn't surprise me that they think that. She is rather cute. Although I have no idea what color her eyes are. She's wearing sunglasses. That is weird.
I blinked. The new girl was wearing sunglasses? Alice was right. That is weird. First off, we're inside. Second off, why would you own a pair of sunglasses in Forks? The sun is almost never out. Whatever.
The Cullens. I glanced in the direction of the thought. My eyes came to rest on a girl who I had seen all day in everyone's thoughts. With surprise I realized it was the girl who had walked into me this morning. I looked away quickly. Then I realized that it hadn't been the new girl that I had heard.
The thought had come from Jessy Snow. She was talking to the new girl. Sam. I laughed to myself. The new girl wasn't any different than any other human. Who wouldn't ask questions about the Cullens.
"Jessy Snow is giving the newbie all the dirt on the Cullens." I murmured to my sister Bella, who was sitting next to me.
Bella smiled slightly. Hmm. And what does the newbie think of what she hears?
I refocused on Jessy to listen to the conversation, find the girl and hear her reaction.
Jessy giggled. Obviously Sam would ask about the Cullens. Who wouldn't? "Those are the adopted children of Dr. Carlisle and Esme Cullen. Edward, Alice, and Emmett Cullen, Rosalie and Jasper Hale, and Isabella and Christophe Swan. They're all together, too. Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, and Edward and Isabella. It's so weird."
"They're not actually related, Jessy. Christophe is the odd man out. He doesn't have a girlfriend and he doesn't appear to want one." Mimi Rainey added. My eyebrows rose at this comment. I hadn't known that Mimi had noticed that. She wasn't interested in me. Jessy had been for a little while, but Mimi never had been.
Anyway, what did the new girl think of all of this? …what the? Silence? Did she not think anything? Or had she moved? I glanced at the table again, to double check, see if she was still there.
Sam Harden was nodding at Mimi's comment about me not wanting a girlfriend, like she understood why. Huh? Confused as to why I wasn't hearing anything I focused on the thoughts coming from the table.
She seems really friendly. I wonder why Jack said she was intimidating? That was Nick Newton.
Stupid Nick. How did he get to be the first person to talk to her. Those grumbles came from Mick Crowley, two tables over.
She's so pretty. And strong. And kind. And independent. Wow. Just…wow. Was that Jessy? Wow it was. Jessy admired the new girl.
Jessy appears to like Sam. I like her too. She seems very kind and caring, though she holds herself somewhat aloof from other people. Sam will be a good friend. That was Mimi. She appeared to be having better luck at perceiving what Sam thought then I was.
From Sam herself…there was still nothing. Suddenly Sam spoke. "What do you two have next?" So her thoughts where not hidden amongst the other mental voices because thoughts were usually the same pitch as the physical voice. I did not recognize this voice. Damn. This was annoying.
The bell indicating the end of lunch rang. The girl was on her feet before many of the students had even realized it had gone off. "I'll meet you outside, Mimi." Then she was gone, already out the door.
I rose and left the cafeteria with the rest of my siblings. After a moment I located Sam. She was leaning against a tree way off to the side. With the aid of the sun coming from behind the clouds, I could partially see her eyes. She was examining each member of my family. Finally her eyes came to rest on me. I turned to look at her. Behind the sunglasses her eyes appeared to be colorless. She looked right back at me. Her face indicated nothing, gave no hint to her thoughts.
Why couldn't I hear her? I know Edward can't hear Bella, but I can hear her. Does that mean that Sam has a stronger natural shield then Bella? Argggh. This was insanely aggravating. I didn't want to dig through her head to find her thoughts, but it was very tempting.
Suddenly, her eyes moved to the cafeteria door. Ah. Nick and Mimi had just come out. Well, I refused to become obsessed with Sam's silent mind. I would just ignore it. It wasn't like she had any classes with me. So I thought.
Hmm. There is only one free chair in our class and it's with Christophe Swan. I wonder what she will think of sitting next to him. I wonder if they'll even talk to each other. I don't think Sam is the kind of person who will strike up a conversation. No if they talk to each other, it will be because Christophe actually starts the conversation. Which means that they will probably still have the only silent table in the class. Heehee.
What? That was Mimi wasn't it? Does she mean that Sam is in our Biology class? Fiddlesticks. So much for avoiding obsession. Especially since she would have to be my lab partner.
The two girls walked into the room. Sam watched Mimi walk to her seat. Then she walked forward. As she walked by my table, she dropped her bag into the empty chair without looking.
The blast of air from the bag thumping into the chair carried the scent to me.
HOLY F*#$%^& S*#!
I nearly swallowed my tongue. How the devil…was it possible for someone to smell that good?
My throat was on FIRE, the wolf in me was freaking out. I grabbed the metal bar under the table, trying to hold myself in my seat. God, did she smell good.
Not just good. Delicious. Mouthwatering. Exquisite. Succulent. Heavenly. Luscious. Bloody hell! I didn't know any words strong enough to describe the smell.
I stared at her. She was just now turning away from Mr. Jones, who had signed her slip saying she had attended class. She approached me, oblivious to the danger. If I grabbed her before she sat down, I could be out the door with her before anyone knew what was going on. In the woods it would be a simple matter of shift and shred. Heh. It was only the fact that I couldn't eat in… human-ish form…that I didn't attack her now. A giant wolf in the middle of a classroom would be kind of obvious.
Wait a minute! What the devil am I thinking! I don't want to kill her! Well, yes I did want to kill her, but that's not what I meant. I don't want to kill people. After the Cullens took me in and taught me that I didn't have to kill humans, I was ecstatic. I hate killing people. Plus, since my DNA had been mutated, I didn't even like the way humans smelled, let alone tasted.
Then, why was I so ready to massacre this young lady? She was obviously human. If I don't like how humans smell…why did she smell so…disgustingly, wonderfully marvelous?
Suddenly I felt a surge of hate. How dare this insignificant little human come here and ruin what little peace I had found through living with my new family. When she reached our table, I was glaring. She didn't notice.
Sam picked her bag up out of the chair and set it on the floor. She then reached up and pulled off her sunglasses. She opened her bright blue eyes to see my furious black glare. My eyes were indeed black. It had been two weeks since my last hunting trip.
Her eyebrows rose. Then the right eyebrow lowered, leaving the left cocked over an expression that said, 'Um…yeeeah. You're weird.' Then she rolled her eyes, dropped into her chair, crossed her legs and folded her arms across her chest. I moved my chair as far away from her as the desk allowed me to. I stopped breathing.
Mr. Jones started talking. I don't know what it was about. Sam sighed, exasperated. She leaned over to reach into her bag. Was she trying to drive me nuts? She came back up with a pencil and a book. She opened the book and, after a moment, started writing.
She wrote most of the period. Curious, I leaned back slightly to try to see what she was writing. All I saw was that it wasn't notes on Mr. Jones lecture before she readjusted the position of the book and blocked my view of the pages. Although I was still curious about her silent mind, my hate for what her scent had done to my peace of mind was much greater. It simmered all period long. I just glared at her most of the period. She didn't appear to notice.
There was a minute left. Suddenly, Sam shut her book with a decisive SNAP! She stuck the book and pencil in her bag and put the bag in her lap. Then she turned to look at me.
Sorry, let me rephrase that. She turned to match me glare for glare. What the? "Look, Christophe, I don't know what your problem is, but I doubt it gives you the right to be rude. So, roughly translated, stop glaring at me."
She spoke quietly, but fiercely. Her upper lip started to peel away from her teeth. Then she appeared to catch herself doing something. She turned away from me, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The bell rang. She was out the door before I even fully understood that she was out of her chair.
