Chapter 2

In the third row sat the most beautiful creature that Claire had ever laid eyes on. Long, honey-colored hair tied in a ponytail, alabaster skin, and honey-colored eyes locked onto Claire's face. Claire's breath hitched in her chest, until his eyes, growing darker with each step that she took, finally released hers. Renesmee pulled at her elbow gently, directing her to a seat that was to the right of the stranger, only a few desks away.

Claire continued to glance at the stranger, wondering about the look on his face. The guy continued to give Claire a hard stare, almost as though he were angry at her. Claire glanced over to Renesmee, saying, "What is that guy's deal?" Nessie looked over at the guy and made a very low noise, almost like a hiss. It was somewhat frightening. The stranger glared over at Renesmee and then gazed towards the front of the classroom.

As the lesson droned on, Claire could feel the eyes of the handsome and mysterious stranger upon her, taking a chance to glance over at him every so often, to see if he was still glaring at her. Renesmee tried to bring Claire's concentration back to the lesson with little success. At the end of the lesson, the gorgeous creature was out of his seat as soon as the professor released them and through the door so quickly that she barely saw him move; one moment he was getting out of his chair and the next all she could see of him was his jacket whipping around the corner of the doorway.

As they were leaving, Renesmee asked, "Claire, are you okay?" It took her a few minutes to regain her thoughts, but eventually, Claire answered, "Yeah, I'm all right. That was just extremely weird."

"You're telling me," Renesmee agreed.

As they walked to the parking lot, Claire felt the presence of eyes upon her. She looked all around and couldn't see anything, and finally decided she was just being paranoid. "What do you think his problem was? I don't even know who he is and he looked like he was really angry at me for something," Claire voiced aloud. Nessie just walked silently by her side, glancing around them quickly every few minutes.

"Hey, wait a minute," Claire gasped. "You said you knew who he was, didn't you?"

Renesmee seemed to hesitate, confirming Claire's intuition that she knew what the guy's deal was and why he seemed so angry at her. After a few minutes, Claire finally asked, "Well, are you going to tell me anything about him?"

Renesmee sighed. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Claire."

"Why not?" Claire demanded. "You flaunted the fact that you knew whose car that was before we even got inside, and now you're not going to tell me who he is or how you know him? Will you at least tell me his name?"

"All right, fine," Nessie finally conceded. "His name is Louis Cullen, and he's my grandpa's nephew."

"He looks kind of young to be your grandpa's nephew," Claire observed.

"Well, he is like a great-nephew, or something," Renesmee corrected quickly. "I only met him once or twice a few years ago. I don't really know him that well."

Claire pondered to herself, I wonder if Nessie is trying to keep something from me. Claire and Renesmee had finally reached their cars, the silver Mercedes belonging to Louis having already departed…quickly by the look of things, observing the black tire streaks left behind. Renesmee turned to Claire and asked, "Do you want to come over tonight? It's just going to be me and Jacob."

"Yeah, that sounds cool," Claire responded. "Quil was supposed to stop by at dinner tonight, but I know that my room mate is getting tired of him eating everything in the fridge. So if you would have Jake call to invite him over too, that'll be all right."

"All right, do you want me to follow you home?" Renesmee wondered.

Claire got the sort of impression that Nessie wanted to make sure that she got home, like something might happen to her. "Don't worry, Nessie. I'll be at your place after class this afternoon," Claire assured her, getting into her car. As Claire closed the door, she could see out of the corner of her eye that Renesmee was watching her, casually glancing around as though to make sure that nothing was going to spring out and attack. Claire quickly started her car, dropped it into gear and took off slowly, waving half-heartedly at Nessie as she drove by.

As Claire made the short trip back to her apartment, she began to feel a presence, almost as though something was following her. Determinedly telling herself that she was imagining things, she pulled into her parking spot and made her way back up to her dorm room. Her next class was not until 3:00 PM, so she definitely had some time to kill. As she was heading into her apartment, she decided that was going to take a nap, to pass the time until her next class. As she entered her room and began to shut the door, she continued to feel a presence, as though someone or something was lingering around. Claire walked over to her window, making sure that it was shut & locked. As Claire stepped away from her window, she pulled at her hair tie and shook out her midnight tresses, running her fingers through her hair absent-mindedly. Just as she was about to flop down on her bed, there was a pounding at the door.