The Real Twilight

Michael/Rosalie. Edward/Emma. Jasper/Alice.

Genderswap. AU. Rated T for now. Possible M later.

'I'm not going to lie, I'm a review whore.'

T.M. Manning


Chapter Two

Rosalie


"So, how was your first day of school?"

I looked up from my plate and smiled weakly at Charlie. How would I even begin to tell him about my day? First, I got lost. Then I tripped my way to the wrong class before finding the right one with the help from a guy with my name. Then came Gym class where I tripped some more and then threw a ball at a girl's head before tripping one last time. Lunch was swell, got into a stare down with the most beautiful girl in the world and almost got called a perverted creep. It was a good thing that she simply welcomed me to Folks even though I was close to peeing in my pants.

Did I forget to mention that I sat next to her in Science class where suddenly, she can't stand to be next to me? Yeah, apparently I stink to her and then she acted all crazy to me for the rest of the class. Yep, I went from almost being called a perverted creep to the smelly dude in Science.

"It was okay."

"Good, good. I hoped you fit in well. Meet any new friends?" Charlie asked between bites.

"Some." I thought of Mike and Jessica, along with the other three whose names escape me at the moment. "I sort of met a girl too."

"Really? That was fast. You're a charmer, just like your old dad." Charlie couldn't help but be proud. I shook my head at his reply.

"No, not like that. I just noticed her and her family when they walked in during lunch. She did welcome me to Forks though." Yeah, before she couldn't stand the smell of me anymore.

"This girl got a name or shall she remain nameless?" he grinned. Wow, I think this is the most that Charlie and I have ever said to each other. I didn't even tell him the whole story.

"Cullen, I think. Rosalie Cullen." I told him before taking another bite of dinner. "You know the family?"

Charlie's eyebrows rose up an inch before nodding his head slowly. "Yeah, one of Dr. Cullen's kids. Good man and his wife too. Adopting all those kids."

"I noticed a lot of people talking about them in school, but not really with them." I pointed out. Suddenly Charlie sighed and set his fork down hard on his plate, much to my surprise. I waited a few moments before he finally spoke up about his reaction.

"Some people only know how to judge. Dr. Cullen and his wife are good people. Their kids as well. Never caused any trouble around here since they moved here a couple of years ago. The town of Forks is lucky to have a doctor like Carisle. He could have been a world class doctor anywhere, but he chose to live and work here. They're a good family, but some people in town are just stubborn and like to talk nonsense." Charlie stated in frustration. I noticed for the first time since I'd been here, that he seemed to be a little emotional. This subject must be personal for him for some reason. But I wasn't going to delve into that can of worms.

So I just nodded before getting up and collected our plates. The subject needed to be changed. "So, what time's the game?"

"At six. You wanna watch it with me?" Charlie looked hopeful at me, but I shook my head at his request.

"I have some homework to finish after the dishes. Can't be caught behind in school now." I lied so I would hurt my dad's feelings. He gave me a nod of approval before thanking me for making dinner. He grabbed a beer and headed to the living room as I turned to clean up the plates and counter. A hour later and three pages of math homework done, I found myself laying back on my bed in boredom. There wasn't much left to do beside email my mom on how great life was here in Forks and how fine I was after arriving here.

Which wasn't completely a lie. Charlie and I were getting along much better than I thought we would, despite our original awkwardness in the beginning. But my first day at Forks High was exactly ideal with all the tripping, getting lost, and being smelly to the most beautiful girl in the world. So more or less, I was feeling so so. I sighed before pulling my phone out and typed out a quick email to my mother about how great I was and how she shouldn't worry about me. That was my job in life, to always take care of my mom. Always reminding her to pay the bills on time or when we needed to go grocery shopping.

Don't get me wrong, Renee is a greta mother. But she was always the free spirit type of person and lived life in the moment, where I was more like Charlie in how serious and realistic I lived life. I still find it hard to believe she settled down long enough to marry Charlie and give birth to me. Knowing how she was, she must have really loved Charlie to do that. But my dad always found peace living a simple, calm, safe life here in Forks and that just wasn't my mother's style.

Sometimes, love really isn't enough.

I glanced at my phone absently for a moment before sending the email and set it down on the nigthstand. I turned off my lamp and plopped back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling once again. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as I closed my eyes and begged for sleep to take me away from this crazy storm of a day.

...

Sleep still didn't come easy for me.


Three days.

Seriously, three freaking days of the same routine. This was my normal day.

I would get lost on the way to school, show up late for my first class while tripping along the way, doing something embarrassing in Gym class, and ended up hurting either myself or someone else.

Then, Lunch.

More awkward staring between myself and my tray of food as I tried not to stared over at the Cullen's table. Pretending to be interested in the conversation between my new friend and taking small bites of mediocre food. I would feel sets of eyes burning into me and I couldn't help but glance over in Rosalie's direction every time. It was always the same thing, no one would be staring as they ignored their food and conversed between themselves. But I could tell by the general direction of their bodies that they were looking over here, possibly at me and my weird acting.

Then, Biology.

Being permanent seated next to Rosalie caused more friction between her and I as she kept to herself during the entire class. She would acted even more strange in class than I did at lunch, shivering and fidgeting every so often. She would politely work with me during the class projects, but never talk directly to me.

I kept sniffing myself, just in case I did stink. I didn't think I did, but apparently Rosalie found me to be replusive. So every time we were in class together, I would be downtrotten and generally feeling like crap. The faces she made didn't help either, her cute nose scrunching up as if I cut the cheese or let out a burp. Just a look of disgust and resistance to my mere presence as if I was an abomination. Far different than that first day when she welcomed me to Forks. I sighed every time in depression.

I would never understand women.

But all that changed that fifth day of my first week in Forks.

Once again, I was late for class and arrived a few seconds after the bell rang. I apologized to the teacher before making my way to my seat next to Rosalie, ready for another day of disgusted looks and silence. I sat there, just looking down at the table we both shared until I heard a familiar voice that at the same time was unfamiliar.

"Hi."

The mere word startled me as I flinched in response and shook the whole table when I grabbed it. Everyone in class quickly turned towards the sound and stared at me as I smiled sheepishly at the sudden attention. "Sorry...almost fell out of the chair."

The students slowly turned away, uninterested in my weirdness as the teacher shook his head and went back to writing on the board. I glanced over to Rosalie who had a ghost of a smile on her supple lips. An almost amused expression was on her normally blank face at my sudden and awkward reaction to a simple greeting.

"My, aren't we jumpy?" she whispered to me as the teacher wrote out our assignment for the day.

I didn't know what to do. All week she had been acting all strange to me and now, she was nice and sweet to me? I just said the first thing that came to mind. "...hi?"

"Yes, I think we establish a mutual hello when I said hi and you jumped like a scared squirrel." Rosalie joked. Now she was joking? What in the hell is going on here? Am I in the Twilight Zone or something?

"Well, you haven't exactly been...chatty since that first day during lunch. More like, uh...you know. I mean, not you know. Just..."

"Strange?" Rosalie whispered knowingly.

"No, no, no. No...no? Yeah...maybe a little." I whispered back, ready for some type of insult in return.

"I know I've been a little awkward this week. I've just been going through some stuff and you just happened to be here during all of it. I'm...sorry about that." It looked like she struggled to say that. As if she weren't used to apologizing to someone for anything.

"Oh, it's fine. All good here. I'm relieved, actually. I thought I had some serious B.O. or something by the way you reacted to me." I chuckled nervously as Rosalie cocked an eyebrow upwards.

"Trust me, you don't stink...at all. Quite the opposite, actually." Rosalie replied before her eyes widened slightly at what she said and looked forwards at the blackboard.

Wow, this girl is more weird than me.

"Okay, now just follow the assignment on the board and turn in your papers at the end of class. There is a microscope for you and partners to share on each of your tables. So hop to it." Our teacher finished writing his lesson before delving into a random book at his desk.

After a few moments, Rosalie and I looked back at each other with awkward smiles on our faces before starting our assignment. Just like the days before, we went through the work pretty quickly since we both seemed to be at the same level of education. While the rest of the class were barely getting to the second or third problem, we were done as silence soon became a distant memory now. It had been broken by Rosalie's apology and my confession about my idea of being odor-challenged.

"So, tell me something about yourself." Rosalie asked, much to my surprise and awe. She wanted to know something about me?

"Uh, well. Um..." I was lost for words.

"Yes, I already knew that you get tongue twisted around pretty girls." Rosalie let out a small giggle, her lips pressed together as the cute sound hummed out.

"Right, sorry. I guess, I like to read a lot. I really like older stories and dusty books." I smiled softly, trying to hide my regret for telling her such a nerdy thing about myself. But she gave me a look of such...respect?

"That's a nice quality. I don't see much of that anymore nowadays. It's all about Google or Wikipedia to find stuff out or watch a movie instead of reading the book." I tilted my head at her statement as she gave me a confused look back. "What?"

I shook my head. "Sorry. It's that...for a second there, you sounded a little out of time. I know what you mean about that stuff, but I also enjoy a good movie too. Especially an old one."

"I've been told that before." Rosalie mused, a twinkle in her eye. "What kind of movies do you like?"

"I really like ones that are related to books or Broadway shows. A Streetcar Named Desire was one of my favorites. Even though the movie Chicago is fairly new, it's been a show on Broadway for years and takes place in the Golden Age of America. I guess I like things that pull the emotional strings. Not very manly, huh?" I chuckled nervously, expecting for her to agree.

"Well, I think it takes a real man to enjoy the Fine Arts and even more to admit it." She mused, giving me a playful wink. I chuckled nervously again as I fiddled with my pencil, trying not to mess up this wonderful conversation with the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. I fiddled with the pencil so much that it flew out of my hand and on the floor between us.

We both leaned down to grabbed the writing tool and touched foreheads for a brief moment. Our eyes met and I could have sworn that when class started, her eyes were a golden shade of amber. But now, up close and personal, they looked black as night as she looked at me like a predator hunting her prey. She trembled slightly and a very low, guttural growl escaped through her pale lips as I was captivated by her dark eyes.

Fear overtook my mind as everything went blank in my head. Rosalie lifted me off my stool and threw me on top of the table violently as her hands pinned mine over my head. A look of lust, desire, and hunger as she dove in and bit into my neck in a furious manner. I was in pain and pleasure all in the same time as Rosalie pressed her large bust into my chest as she fed upon my blood until I could give no more.

I took my last breath in as she pulled away from my neck with blood dripping down her chin. She gave me a look of lust as I laid there dying by her hands and my mind went blank again.

I shook my head of such a stupid thought and blinked rapidly as I looked back at Rosalie who began to shake even more. She got up out of her seat without a word and ran out of the classroom in a rush to get away. I could only stare at the opened door and back to the empty seat as I tried to figure out what was going on. The students and the teacher looked at me before I shrugged and gave myself a loud sniff.

"I don't stink."