EPOV
Another insignificant town to waste away in. I sighed, re-memorizing the exact pattern of popcorn in the ceiling. Esme had wanted to get rid of the popcorn ceiling, the style having gone out many decades ago, but I asked her to stay away from my room. There was something therapeutic about always being able to see the same pattern. It was a thing that never changed, just like me. In a way, it was comparable to staring at the stars, memorizing the constellations. Except, the popcorn still remained the same, the connect-the-dots never shifted into another picture or moved to hide in another corner. Esme had smiled fondly at me, not fully understanding why I would want such an outdated ceiling in my otherwise modern room, but complying none the less. Much like a mother smiling and accepting her toddlers view of reality, all the while knowing that he would eventually grow out of his fantasy world and enter the adult realm.
The Debussy record that was quietly playing ended, spinning around the table soundlessly for a minute before stopping. Time was up. It was time to face the mundane human day and then come back to the popcorned constellations that filled my ceiling.
Come on, we have to move! Alice's shrill voice screamed in my head. I rolled my eyes and took my time getting up from my lounge. No matter how much time I wasted, we would still make it in plenty of time. We always did. Late wasn't exactly in the vocabulary of a vampire. Hmm, then again, I guess 'Mundane High School Life' wasn't in the criteria either. I shrugged my black leather jacket on over my sweater before I exited my room.
"What does today have in store for us, Alice?" I asked on my way down. She was waiting impatiently by the door, tapping her foot, pouting in my direction as I slowly entered the room. Her face cleared momentarily, her eyes glassing over, and her entire body stiffening as she pulled herself into the ever shifting future. Within her mind, I watched as she shifted through her vision. Everything shifted so fast, even I couldn't make sense of the chaos. Only a second passed, enough time for the rest of my siblings and mother to enter the room, before her eyes refocused and she returned to us.
"I...I don't know," she announced, unsure for the first time in her time with us. "Too many decisions either are or still need to be made before the future can clear up," she continued, Jasper coming to her side and wrapping her arms around her. Alice was never unsure, and I wouldn't be the first one to admit that we were all a little uncomfortable going into a future that wasn't close to being forseeable. Everyone turned their eyes to me, hoping that I could offer some interpretation for her lack of vision.
I shrugged. "I couldn't make sense of it either." Everyone was silent, looking from one to another trying to decide what to do.
Emmett broke the silence, "Oh come on! We're super vampires! What do we have to be afraid of?" He rolled his eyes and escorted Rosalie out of the house and into her BMW. Famous last words, I thought as we mindlessly followed him.
Forks High was a small group of buildings that made some prisons seem friendly. The buildings were an astonishingly boring shade of gray that, under the ever cloudy Washington sky, seemed to be a physical manifestation of a major depressive episode. And this is where we are condemned to for the next few years.
Wow, could you be more excited, Edward? Jasper asked, rolling his eyes at my drab emotions. I shrugged, not really caring about being excited. It was hard to be excited when you not only were stuck in such a melancholic place, but you also had to hear every little thought that passed through every hormonal adolescent's mind. High school had to be its own circle of hell.
I mean, of the minimal amount of students that were here this early, there was a student who was remembering in excruciating detail, his rendezvous with some girl just last night...and the things he was remembering would've made Emmett blush.
I tried to block it all out as we made our way to the office.
Tried being the operative word.
Jasper stiffened up and nearly stopped walking at the same moment that I realized exactly what was going on. The one student, with the one memory, wasn't it. Just about every person that we passed, male or female, student or faculty, had a version of that same memory. I had the overwhelming urge to vomit.
What the hell is going on here?
"Guys, what is it?" Rosalie asked, bored and annoyed that we had stopped. Before, Jasper and found the words to explain, a roaring guttural sound came from behind us. The jet black motorcycle was sleek and custom made, the rider clad in leather and wearing no helmet. She ran her fingers through her long brown hair and smiled too sweetly as students flocked around her. They took her bag from her, helped her off the bike, and walked with her-each trying to get closer to her than the others. Their thoughts were centered around her, flashing from whatever their last excursion was to reveling in her in the present to daydreaming about future exploits.
"That." Jasper and I said simultaneously, neither of us looking away from the crowd. The girl suddenly halted, her head whipping around to look directly at us. Shock resonated through my family. How could she have heard us from across the parking lot? She gave us only a seconds glance, before she sent us a smile and moved on with her followers. It was in that smile, that sarcastic smile that I came to realize one thing: this wasn't simply some flighty girl who enjoyed sordid activities, this girl was going to cause us trouble.
None of us saw her throughout the rest of the morning, but it was easy to say that she was always on everyone's minds. Alice and Rosalie felt overwhelming disgust toward this girl and a new found possessiveness toward their mates. For them to feel like they need to protect their love from a human girl wasn't normal. Jasper was on edge all morning, feeling lust radiating all around him. Emmett was uncomfortable about the situation, but didn't get what the problem was. And I...well, I now knew just about every angle of a girl I had never met.
We saw her in the cafeteria, it wasn't hard to miss her. It had seemed like every member of the student body had pulled their table closer to hers, begging for attention. We sat at the only table left, in a far corner by the window. We didn't bother hiding the fact that we were staring, no one was paying attention to us for the first time in our entire existence. Something about this girl held them transfixed. She was pale, pale enough to almost be a vampire, with her brown hair contrasting perfectly. Her leather jacket was off (being held and revered by a goon at another table) showing a plain red tank top, out of season for Forks weather. She picked at the food in front of her.
Flanking her on the right was a girl with mouse brown hair. She was reading a book, but was very obviously still very aware of the seductress next to her. On the left was a boy who looked as if he were blatantly panting at her.
"Hey Bella," the girl on the right started quietly, not looking away from her book, "have you noticed the new kids?" All the chatter surrounding her stopped almost immediately, all waiting at baited breath for her answer. Many of them looked our way, but promptly turned back when they noticed that we were already watching. The girl, Bella, shrugged and continued picking at her food, never looking up. Confused, I tried to zero in on her mind, weeding through all of the sordid thoughts that surrounded her. I sat up straighter in alarm when I couldn't pick her out.
"Oh come on, Bella. You had to have noticed! How long is it going to take?" A different girl asked. I give it a week, tops. She thought with a sigh. Bella crinkled her nose for a minute.
"They really aren't my type," she responded nonchalantly. Rosalie snapped her teeth, mildly insulted.
What is she thinking? She growled toward me. I tried again, individually shifting from one mind to the next, searching for her in the crowd. Nothing.
"I can't read her," I confessed, ashamed. From across the room, her lips pulled up in a smirk, sparking a lick of anger within me. Who was this insignificant girl to not only make me feel ashamed of myself, but do it willingly?! Thankfully, before I could dwell more on the frustration, she rose from her seat.
"I've got to go to talk to Varner about my quiz grade," she announced with a wink. Her followers gave an envious sigh as she sauntered out of the cafeteria.
Well, at least we know why the future was so unclear now, Alice thought bitterly, watching after her.
Lunch passed by quickly after that. It seemed that as soon as she left, while she never left their thoughts, her followers suddenly became normal humans again. They separated more into cliques and talked among themselves, but still never gave us a second thought. It's strange how we go through our entire existence wanting to blend in and go unnoticed, and yet it is only here that we truly have succeeded in that. And I knew I wasn't the only one put on edge about it. Jasper and Emmett were confused about how one girl could hold the entire school community captivated. Alice was annoyed by the unclear future and disgusted by her blatant use of her "feminine wiles" to manipulate others. Rosalie, who shared in Alice's disgust, was also jealous of the attention.
After lunch, we parted ways and I headed to Biology. For the first couple of decades as a vampire, I was so interested in biology. Whether I was simply influenced from hearing Carlisle's thoughts for so long or it was pure interest, but I enjoyed studying how life came to be. Unfortunately, human evolution is a slow and meticulous process that can even make a vampire impatient. High school biology was just a small fraction of what interested me, and even it hasn't changed in a hundred years. I was one of the first to walk into the lab. Mr. Banner, a balding middle-aged man who was slowly giving up on the idea of high school biology himself, signed my slip and pointed to a lab desk haphazardly.
The black desk seated two people, obviously forcing students to become partners, and was seated next to the window. Without giving a second thought as to where my partner may be more comfortable sitting, I settled down in the window seat. The window didn't display much, just the corner of another building and a small sliver of forest, but it would hopefully be enough to keep me sane. And, as I should have assumed, any sanity I had hoped to gain was instantly smothered.
A scent unlike anything I have ever encountered, filled the room. In that moment, decades of training were forgotten and suddenly I was as blood thirsty as I had been as a newborn. The scent travelled down my throat, teasing me with the possibility of what the blood would taste like. It would be so easy to get to it. The humans would just be collatorel damage. We would clean up the mess and leave before anyone really noticed the tragedy. My muscles tensed, ready to spring into action and blindly search for the origin of that scent.
EDWARD NO! Alice shouted at me from somewhere on campus. It wasn't much, but enough to get me to halt my attack. I squeezed my eyes shut momentarily, trying to think of anything but that smell. What had Carlisle told me way back then? Think of them, not as potential prey, but as actual people with thoughts, hopes, and dreams; families to miss them, friends to worry about them, and a purpose on this earth. How could we deny them any of that? It was enough to get me to calm down enough to not be so heavily feral when the scent intensified and settled itself right next to me.
I didn't dare open my eyes, I knew they would be black and whoever was unfortunate to be beside me would definitely noticed. Maybe they should, though. Maybe they will noticed, become afraid, and demand a reassigning. That seemed like a good enough plan.
I opened my eyes and looked to my partner, absolutely positive that they were the one who nearly destroyed everything just by existing.
Bella raised her eyebrow at me as if waiting. She didn't look away, her brown eyes meeting my pitch black ones without fear, only anticipation and slight annoyance. We stared at each other, me not daring to breathe, her not backing down to my glare. Around us, class started: a lecture on the anatomy of plant cells. Finally, after eons, she smirked.
"Are you going to kill me?" she asked under her breath. For a moment, my shock outweighed my blood lust, and she must've have noticed because she laughed quietly. I gritted my teeth, locked my jaw, and shook my head. I would not kill her. I would not do that to my family. "Oh good, that would've completely ruined my day," she noted before turning her head and looking toward the front.
The predator saw her distraction and perfectly plotted a thousand ways to kill her and drain her without anyone noticing. Is this why everyone was so devoted to her? Did her blood somehow sing to everyone? If it had this much of an affect on me, it had to be appealing to others. How had she not died yet? I clenched my fists against my thighs and tried to withhold anymore thoughts about her.
Fate was not on my side. As soon as I vowed to not look at, think about, smell, or talk to her… a piece of paper appeared in front of me. Written in a messy scrawl were a set of coordinates. Curious, I looked up at her. She was chewing on the end of her pencil, staring blankly ahead, thinking. She looked at me from the corner of her eye, an evil glint flashed a moment.
"You and your coven meet me there tonight. 10ish." She gave as an explanation before looking away. She ignored me for the rest of the class.
A/N: Ugh that was so hard to get through! Don't you just hate the "set-up" chapters? It'll start picking up soon!