A/N: So, I'm writing as fast as I can because I know how frustrating it is to wait for an update…

Enjoy!

Song of the chapter: Just Human – Carpark North

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, New Moon or any other book Stephenie Meyer has written!

Not so Human!

Chapter 1: Just Human

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep

Charlie's alarm clock went off and I could hear his breathing picking up, signalling that he was waking up. I stayed where I was and kept holding my breath, just like I had all night long. It was irritating, but I managed it.

Ever since I'd woken up to this world in this very much improved body, I'd discovered new powers and strengths that I didn't possess as a human. I no longer had to breathe, although I still do without thinking about it and because it's uncomfortable to go without my sense of smell. I could now also smell people's emotions in the air and almost I taste them on my tongue, something I used all the time. It was a good way to keep track of the people around me to make sure I wasn't acting frightening or scary.

You have no idea what an advantage you've got when you know what the person you're talking to is feeling.

A few loud "thumps" told me that Charlie had gotten out of bed and was on his way down the stairs. A strong smell of coffee rose from the kitchen, a smell that used to wake me from my heavy sleep with a promise of an energy kick. Now, of course, it made no impact on me whatsoever. I didn't even miss it.

"Bella? You should get up now, school starts in 30 minutes." cried Charlie from the kitchen. It's a good thing Charlie leaves earlier than me for work, because that means I don't have to sneak with my eating habits, which are none at all. I haven't felt hungry in 5 days, not since I changed, and nor does it feel like I have to eat or drink.

I shivered. The memory of the pain from the change still made my skin tingle, like the fire threatened to flare up again.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and crawled out of bed just as Charlie left the house. I could hear him draw a deep breath of fresh morning air and his feet hitting the ground in a slow pace. As the noise from the car died away with the possibility of his return, I dressed and packed everything I needed for a day in school. And I did it fast.

Human eyes wouldn't have seen a thing, and I felt horror mixed with delight as I walked down the stairs at human speed. I loved my new powers, but at the same time it freaked me out. I had no idea what I was, just that I wasn't human any longer. I was more than human. Better and improved, somehow, but in a freaky way.

I passed the mirror on my way out the door and stopped to look at the woman who was looking back at me with speculation in her violet eyes. Was she really me, or was it a trick? Maybe I was so desperate to look more beautiful that my mind played a trick on me. Maybe, but probably not.
I closed my eyes to composed myself and tried to do something I happened to do yesterday without intending to. After calming my mind and body and concentrating hard, I opened my eyes again. No one was looking out of the mirror now. It was just reflecting the room, nothing else.

Just as yesterday, I drew in a sharp breath and started to hyperventilate. I was yet again so shocked that I reappeared in the mirror, and for the first time the image of myself had a calming effect on me.
So not only was I a thousand times faster and stronger than a human, but I could become invisible too… Well, that's not weird at all, I thought sarcastically.

What actually had surprised me the most in all of this craziness was the fact that I no longer could feel my heartbeat. Even with all these enhanced senses, I couldn't hear or feel my heart? That's odd. I didn't know if it meant that I no longer had a heartbeat or that it simply was too weak for me to notice.

I tried to shake of the feeling of unease and stepped outside to greet the very rainy day. Just like my father had, I drew a long, deep breath of humid morning air in hope of calming myself further. It filled my lungs and I almost felt prepared for a long day of school. And not just any school, but a new school. No one would know me and no one would care about the new girl, or that was at least what I hoped.

With that little hope in my mind, I got in my truck and drove off.

I don't even have to tell you how wrong I was, right? A beautiful creature like me, of course everyone would stare. The boys didn't even try to hide their faces, and they were not pretty. Pure lust was written all over them and I swear that I saw drool more than once!

Even though my face and body had changed, my personality hadn't, obviously. I was still the same shy girl who hid behind her hair when she got embarrassed and for someone as beautiful as I was now, that was not normal behaviour. Gorgeous girls are supposed to have a confidence that can match super models and even better. But every time someone looked my way, I cringed away from them, barely daring to look into their eyes. It frightened me, because not only could I see their emotions, but I tasted them in the air too. I felt them looking at me, tasted their envy, wonder and desire. All because of my looks.
Many of the girls would kill to look like me and the boys would kill to have me. Me? I just wanted to look normal again.

As my class was drawing to and end, the last one before lunch, I felt some form of pressure in the back of my head, like someone was trying to get in there. I turned around as my hand flew up to slap away whatever was pushing me. The only problem was that nothing was there, I neither saw nor felt anything. Instead I met the eyes of the boy sitting behind me, and out of embarrassment I quickly turned to face the teacher again.
Confused, I tried to push whatever the pressure was away from me by using my mental strength. While concentrating hard on that, a note slid onto my desk from my left. The boy sitting on the other side of the isle smiled and winked at me. Still keeping most of my concentration on my mental barrier of sorts, I picked it up and read it.

"Hey, Isabella. You probably have no idea who I am yet, but I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime. Grab something to eat and catch a movie or something… Oh, I'm Mike Newton, by the way, and I'm without a doubt the most popular guy at the school. I'm sure you know what a burden that is. Everyone looking at you all the time… Sometimes I just can't stand it. So, I'll see you later today or what?"

I was dumbstruck. How did anyone have the nerve to write like that? I felt ashamed for him, because he obviously had no self-perception at all. I turned my face away from him and let my hair fall as a curtain of protection. I felt his confidence falter a bit before he picked up his pen and began writing a new note, determined to get my attention. Every scratch from the pencil almost made me flinch.

The note had shocked me enough to make me lose my concentration and I felt the pressure, almost with an itching feeling, getting closer to me. I slammed back my barriers and did my best to ignore this Mike kid.

Mike seemed like the type of guy that was used to girl following him around and definitely didn't like my lack of response. The seconds note was almost slapped on to my desk when the teacher had his back turned on us, and Mike was quick to draw his hand back.
I picked it up, careful to not let my concentration falter this time, and read this;

"Aw, come on. I know you want me, everybody does. You're the most beautiful human being I've ever seen, well maybe except for those Cullen kids, but they don't count! You look an awful lot like them, sure you're not related? They're all adopted though. Well, screw them. I know you want to go out with me, you don't have to hide it, babe. I'd make your life worth living!"

And I'd thought the first one was rude. This one was downright vulgar. The only thing that I actually cared about on that piece of paper was the comment about the Cullen's. What if they were like me? Not human… I had to find them later and take a good look at them. They might be able to help me with my problem.
Hope flared up within me and I remembered yet again that I was supposed to keep whatever-the-thing-was out of my head, but the pressure had disappeared. Weird. I was relieved, since I really had no idea how to protect myself against it and prayed that it wouldn't return.
Mike was impatiently waiting for me to answer him, so I picked up my pen and pretended to write something back.

The bell saved me from actually giving him the note and I hurried out of the classroom, possibly a little too fast for a human. I was keen on getting away from him and to the safety of the crowds. Not that there were such a thing here with so few students.

I hoped they would lead me to the cafeteria, and not because I was hungry or thirsty. I just thought that it would be the most likely place for most people to spend their lunch break, including the Cullens.

I bought a soda and an apple for lunch, since the less I bought the less I had to pretend to eat, and headed for a table in the corner of the room. It was empty and it almost looked like everyone was avoiding it. I sat down there anyway and picked up 'Wuthering Heights'. I wasn't going to read it, just use the book to look busy while I listened to the other student's talk in case I had caused a stir today by acting weird (more than usual, that is) or someone mentioned the Cullen's. I only caught the meaning of their conversation before I skipped to the next table.

"She looks just like them, all pale and beautiful. I'd bet anything they're all related somehow."

"I think they look fake, don't you? No one has that perfect boobs…Or face."

"Of course I would like to date her, but if she turned Mike down, what chances have rest of us got?"

"You'd think someone that beautiful would have more confidence. She's got none whatsoever."

"It can't be easy to have everyone watching your every single step. Can't you guys just back off for a while?"

"She took our table!"

The last voice made me freeze. It was different from the others, more like singing than actual talking. It was also lower than any human would be able to hear or speak.

"So what, Rosalie? We can't exactly stop her. Or have you paid for that table?" answered a beautiful, velvet voice. A male one. It almost made me look up from my book, but I managed to keep my eyes down.

"But she can't just walk around like she owns the place. It's enough that everybody's already talking about her!" the first one said, a light but angry female voice.

"Rosalie, does it look like she thinks she owns the place?" said a high soprano voice, very girlish but gentle.

A silence fell over them, and I knew they were all looking at me. I felt their gazes upon me as I counted five different sets of feeling from the cafeteria door; one of them was really angry, two irritated (with the first female, I guessed) and two neutral. The last two just wanted to get out of here without causing a scene. The feelings fitted the tones of the voices talking. My curiosity got the best of me and I looked up to meet their eyes. I looked down at my book again after less than a second, but it was long enough for me to register their looks and they mine.

Three of the five I thought were the Cullen's, gasped in surprise. The other two didn't look surprised at all, like they knew what I looked like before they saw me.

They were all heartbreakingly beautiful and strangely similar to me. Their skin was just a shade paler than mine and their eyes like liquid gold, but other than that they did not look a thing alike.

Adopted. The word ran through my head and made me feel confused. How could they all be so similar to the appearance, but at the same time so different? Their conversation picked up again after just a second of silence.

"Is she… like us?" the angry female asked in a suspicious tone. Her blond hair and perfect body would make a supermodel jealous any day. "She looks like us, but at the same time she looks different."

"Why don't you ask her?" said one of the males, speaking for the first time. He held the blondes hand, and I guessed that they were more than just brother and sister. He must have been the biggest guy I'd ever seen and he had dark and curly hair and facial expression made him almost look like a big, but kind, bear. "If she's like us, she's heard everything we've said so far."

"She's not like us." said the smallest one of them, a female with short, spiky black hair and with an excited tone. "But she's not human either…" So they're not human, and now she knows that I'm not human either.

"Or she's just human. We can't know that." the blond female said, she sounded irritated and almost… jealous?

"Not here, Rosalie." said the blond male without revealing his feelings in his voice, and a feeling of calm swept the room. It felt as though it came from the blond male, like he'd sent it out to calm Rosalie and the rest of cafeteria, which had started to compare me to the Cullens. Some were even speculating around the possibility of all of us being relatives by blood.
Was that possible? To control other people's feeling? All I could do was taste them in the air, and sure; it was a great advantage, but to actually control them... That would be amazing!

To my astonishment, a pair of light, almost dancing, footsteps started walking towards me as the blond female said:

"Alice! Get back here! You don't know what she is." too low for human ears to hear, but loud enough for mine. A smile tugged at my lips because I didn't know what they were either. For all I knew they could be vampires or something even worse. I almost laughed at the thought.

As Alice, I assumed her name was that, reached me, I looked up at her with a friendly expression on my face.

"Hi Bella! I'm Alice. It's so nice to finally meet you." she said and didn't bother shake hands, but flung her tiny body around me. I almost lost my balance and fell off the chair out of surprise, but managed to cling to her.

"H-hi Alice." I pressed the reply through my lips. I wasn't exactly in shock, but it sure wasn't far away.

"May I sit down?" she asked, with the same overly happy tone. Still surprised, I nodded and looked over at her adopted siblings. As Alice sat down, the blond woman swept out of the room, and the big guy followed her with a sheepish smile on his face when he looked at me. The blond male soon followed them, but looked over at Alice with a heavy gaze before he left. The last one, a male with reddish, brown hair and looks to challenge a Greek god, cast a glance at Alice and she replied it with a nod and a thoughtful expression before he too turned and left the cafeteria.

"So, I'm going to jump to the point right away. Did you hear what we said?" she asked, not quite as happy, but not sad or rude either. It was as though she was concentrating at something else while conversing with me.

I had two different answers ready. The first would confess that I'd heard everything they'd said and ask Alice what she was. The second would deny any knowledge of their conversation and ask how she could think I could hear that far with the noise of the cafeteria.

After a half second of thinking, I decided that the truth would be better. If I lied to her, I lost every chance I had to figure out what had happened to me 5 days ago and what I'd turned into.

"Well…" I almost changed my mind, but blurted out the truth before that happened. "Yes I did, and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop like that." with an awkward smile I turned away from her and looked down at my book. In my mind I was happy I had picked it up, because it clearly saved me from some humiliation.

Alice had other plans, though. She took the book out of my hands and laid it on the table in front of me.

"What are you, Bella?" she asked, more serious than I'd yet seen her. Her question was impossible for me to answer, I had no idea myself.

"I don't know…" I told her honestly.

Before she had a chance to ask more, the bell rang and I jumped out of my seat. The good student in me made me be in time for class.

"Sorry, got to go, but maybe we can talk more later?" I asked because I didn't want to be impolite. Her face showed her confusion, most likely as my answer wasn't really an answer, and she said;

"Yes, we will." like she was very far away. Her thoughts must have been on something other than my vague reply.

I turned my back on her and left for my next class, which were biology. People looked at me and talked even more about me than before, now that I had officially met at least one of the Cullens.

"Did you see how that Alice girl hugged her? It was like they hadn't met in years. I'm so sure she's related to them all."

Was I the only one who didn't care in the slightest about my relationship to the Cullens? The comments were starting to really bug me. So what is I were related to them! Would it make any difference?

The feelings around me started to change as humans saw me, and I knew I must look really angry. I concentrated on the sound of my steps, which were almost inaudible, to soothe my feelings and by the time I reached biology I was a little calmer.

When I walked inside the classroom, my eyes automatically swept the room and I almost turned on my heels to walk right out again. There were only one seat available in the whole room, and to its left sat the Greek god Cullen. He's eyes looked almost curiously over me, but before I could be certain he turned them towards the front of the room again.

No other than the popular Mike Newton was sitting on the other side of the empty chair, and he was the reason I was ready to flee from the room at inhuman speed. As though he'd felt me stepping inside the room, he turned to look at the door and a sexy smile spread across his face. Or at least what he thought was sexy. His lustful eyes travelled all over my body until the Greek god said:

"Ah, Bella, honey. You made it in time."

For less than a quarter of a second, my face must have looked flabbergasted, but I quickly recovered as I saw the Greek god throw an irritated look at Mike. I almost burst out laughing and decided to play along in his game.

"Yes, my dear, as I said I would…" I realised I had no idea what his name was, and might have some problem to make it all look natural anyway. Aware of the fact that every pair of eyes were upon me, I walked forward to the empty seat, sat down and bent over to kiss the Greek god on the cheek.

"It's been forever, my old friend." I said and smiled sincerely. I was almost in shock out of my own boldness. Where had shy and awkward Bella gone?

"Years and years." he agreed with a little laugh.

Before we could continue our 'sketch', the teacher called for the class' attention.

"Okay, you can carry on with your reunion later. Today we're going to talk about Human Evolution." and he lost my interest. I peeked on the guy beside me and noticed that he was already looking at me.

"Thank you." I told him, too fast and too low for any humans to even detect. I was genuinely grateful for how he'd saved me from Mike and his notes.

"My pleasure." he said and gave me a crooked smile. I turned a little bit more to him, and was taken aback by how easy things already were between us. We hadn't known each other for more than 5 minutes.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know your name." I told him sheepishly. No matter how friendly we were, it felt awkward not to know such a basic thing.

"Of course, how rude of me." he said and his smile now showed his teeth, white and a good example of perfection. "I'm Edward Cullen. And you are Isabella, prefers Bella, Swan."

"Nice to meet you, Edward." I didn't even ask how he knew my preference of Bella, I would know eventually.

The class passed and soon the school day was over. I got home after a long conversation on the phone with Alice, and in which I didn't ask how she'd gotten hold of my number. She begged me to come to their home, to 'discuss our similarities' as she put it.

I told her 'no' because I didn't want to lag behind in homework already. After a few minutes, she gave up and agreed to take it another day.

"See you after school tomorrow, Bella!" she said and hung up. So now I had to go home to them tomorrow instead. It was sooner than I'd hoped, but better than today. The coward within me would've preferred to put it off for all eternity, but at the same time I wanted answers; answers that probably they alone could give me.

I didn't know what to expect of them, and that was what really scared me. Were there more of them? What were they? How? What? When? Where?

The questions were many and not even I knew them all. What I did know was that I was both looking forward and dreading tomorrow. At least I was going to get some answers. Or so I hoped.

Once home, I went straight up to my room to do the homework I'd used as an excuse to get here. It's wasn't anything hard, but what felt weird was that I got it all so much faster than usual. I also got it done much faster than usual. I wasn't exactly stupid, but not extremely smart either, but this was too easy. I quickly associated it to my change; it must have sharpened my brain as well as everything else.

As I proceeded with my work, a weird feeling started to rise within of me, almost like a raw kind of hunger, and it was rising fast. I felt unsure of what to do, and a little scared too, so I tried the best I could to ignore it. I expected it all to get worse, to get out of hand, and of course it did. Nothing this strange disappears just because someone hopes it will.
Soon I found myself running down the stair as fast as I could, it took no longer than 0.16 seconds, and ripping the door to the fridge open. It was a miracle that it didn't break, because my mind was NOT set on being careful. I knew I would find nothing to satisfy this hunger in the fridge, and it just got worse and worse by the minute. Panic washed through me, and I tried to keep my hold on humanity, I could feel it slipping away from me.

After just a few seconds I lost my control. In pure desperation I stared clawing at walls, tearing them apart, punching huge holes through the bricks and before I could stop myself, the whole house was more or less destroyed.

That did not stop me, though. I continued out to the woods and shed tree after tree, unstoppable. There were a lot bigger clearing around what was left of Charlie's house now than before I started and it would've gotten even bigger if not…

BOOM!

Something, or someone, hit me in the back and pushed me to the ground with inhuman strength. I got up and turned, on the defensive, and saw Edward staring at me in astonishment and bewilderment. I didn't stop, but attacked him without a second thought.

I might have been stronger than him, but he was the one who could fight. He blocked every single move I made and caused a lot more damage to me than I to him. I felt no pain though, therefore I did not stop.

After just a few seconds, he had me pinned to the ground, and I lost all my will to fight to the drowsiness that had overcome me.

I could no longer control my muscles and just lay there, almost unconscious. I was still aware of my surroundings, the bird song and the wind playing in the leaves. However, Edward's voice was the loudest and what held my attention.

"Bella? Bella, wake up! It's alright now!" he's frantic voice told me. "Bella, look at me!"

But I didn't have the strength to open my eyes. I didn't have to strength to concentrate on his words any longer. The life was leaving me, and I knew it. Soon I would be far away from here, and that thought sort of made me happy. No more annoying and jealous boys.

I wished to see the sun for a last time, because it felt appropriate and right. So when the sunlight did fall over my face, I sighed, happy to have my last wish come true.

But instead of having Edward's voice growing fader, it got stronger and stronger. I felt the power return to my limbs and to my head. I could think straight again and felt stronger than ever. I sat up, confused, and stared up at the sun. But it could not hold my attention for long, not with Edward sitting beside me. His skin looked like a thousand diamonds that glittered in the sunlight and I was amazed by its beauty.

"What is that?" I asked him, my eyes glued to his arm, my drowsiness all but forgotten. "It looks crazy, but at the same time gorgeous!"

"You're the one to talk!" he said, and looked angry, shocked and puzzled at the same time. "The question is more like 'What was going on with you?'!"

A/N: Thank you so much for reading!

I'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes; just ignore them…

Tell me what you think, and I'll update as soon as I possibly can, I promise!

Love

The Twilight-Duck