The room was overly warm. That was the first thing that registered for me. The heat hit me like a brick wall, and I stopped for a second, the door half open. The house was never heated like this. We only heated our home slightly so that any humans who stop by wouldn't become suspicious. We didn't need the heat. Neither the heat nor cold bothered us. However this room felt overly hot. It felt as if fire was burning my flesh.
"Close the door!" a harsh voice snapped. "You'll let in all the cold". I jumped, startled. I was so caught up in the heat of the room that I failed to notice the people. Mumbling an apology, I shut the door, noticing the click as the lock slid in to place. The next second the smell hit me. The smell of at least a dozen humans, a dozen different blood samples, all smelled delicious. Except one. The smell of rotten eggs reached my nose and I wrinkled it in disgust. It wasn't a smell milling about the room, since none of the humans seemed to be uncomfortable with the smell, just the heat. Several were pulling off sweatshirts that they wore under their rain jackets. The awful rotten egg smell was the smell of someone's blood. The teacher, I was sure. I glanced around the room, studying the distribution of the students. There was a group sitting close together, all talking. They were mumbling, glancing at me. They must be discussing me, since I was a new student, someone that none of them has seen before. I decided that sitting with them would be a bad idea. I didn't seem welcome there, and there was a high possibility of me touching someone and projecting something. I always had to avoid touching people. At least my mother and father had powers that were easy to control. Mine was a train wreck. If I touched anyone I usually projected what I felt. At least it didn't work through clothes; it had to be direct skin to skin contact. Jake and I communicated this way all the time. He would make a facial expression and I could answer with a projection, or even just another facial expression. Jake and I were always on the same page.
I saw another girl sitting in the corner. She was the only one alone. She reminded me of my mother when she was human, dark brown hair, light pale frame. Doodling in her notebook, she was completely separated from the rest of the world. I decided I liked her already. I glimpsed up to the front. The teacher was sitting at her desk, watching me with scrutiny. She had a long sharp nose, with glasses resting on the bridge. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun and her skinny elbows rested on the desk as her hands folded. I looked back to g the girl, still doodling. I set my bag down next to her and slid into the seat. She didn't even notice I sat down. Reaching down to unzip my bag I placed my notebook and pens on the table. I glanced up at the clock. I still had about five minutes before class started. Might as well try and make a friend.
"Hi" I mumbled. The girl started and turned towards me. Her eyes were bright green. They reminded me of the color of cat's eyes. She smiled at me, a wide smile that took up half of her face. I felt my heart flutter. She was wonderful. I loved her already.
"Hi!" She said, as friendly as one person could be. "What's your name? I'm Kat. Like the animal but with a K."
"I'm Ness" I said, telling her the new nickname that I've taken to. Nessie was too childish. "Like the Loch Ness Monster, but only Ness" I chuckled, and she laughed full heartedly.
"So are you new?" she asked. "The only people that group don't usually accept is new people, or me."
"I'm new. My family and I moved here a while ago. Carlisle Cullen adopted me."
"Oh you're one of the Cullens!" She remarked with a smile. "I've heard about you guys. People always said you're intimidating and scary, but I don't find you intimidating at all!" I smiled at her. She had no idea how dangerous we really were, but it was a great compliment. Most people stay away from us, but like my mother, she seemed drawn to us. I guess there was a select few whose compassion overrode their base instincts.
"So why do they all ignore you?" I asked, curious. She wasn't like us; she was friendly and forward and overly warm and human.
She shrugged her shoulders. "I honestly don't know. They've always stayed away from me. I guess I'm a bit too honest for them. Everyone here is a little backhanded" I remembered my mother saying something about that. Very few people here were honest and forward.
As we were talking, a few more people settled down in the classroom, filling some of the other empty chairs. Most people avoided us. Some people said hi to Kat out of politeness but never anything more. I wonder why people stayed away from her. She smelled beautifully, like candy canes mixed with lavender. Absolutely pure sweetness.
"Attention class" the teacher called from the front of the room. Standing up from her desk she walked to in front of the board. "My name is Ms. Ramirez. I will be your biology teacher this year. The person you're sitting next to will be your partner for the rest of the year, so if you don't like your choice, switch now."
Kat and I turned towards each other and shrugged. We had no problems. I loved her already. She'd be a perfect human friend for me. I'm sure Jake would approve. The rest of the class went on without a problem. The teacher passes out a syllabus, and we went over it word for boring word. I couldn't wait until lunch. Then I'd get to see Jake. My next few classes passed without incident. Kat was in most of my classes so we walked together. She loved to talk so she kept up most of the conversation, but she always made sure to ask me questions. I found out that she had a younger brother, her family moved here years ago, and that everyone's kind of always stayed away from her. I found that hard to believe. She was friendly and wonderful. I was hoping she'd be my friend for the rest of the year, so I'd have someone to talk to that wasn't Jake.
The classes went on Spanish after Biology, English after Spanish, then Math. Geometry, nothing too difficult, though Kat said she wasn't looking forward to it. It was the same for those classes, just syllabus reading. Same rules and regulations, no cell phones, no talking out, blah blah blah. I mostly zoned out for most of it. Kat asked for my cell phone number right before lunch so I gave it to her. It was nice for once to have someone want to talk to me, though I was curious to see what her reaction would be when she saw Jake.
We walked in to the lunchroom chatting. I spotted Jake across the hall, sitting at his table alone. Girls were looking at him giggling, clearly interested. A red hot spike of jealousy bolted through me. He was MY Jake.
I waved at him and he cracked into a huge smile. "Is he with you?" Kat asked, eyes widening in surprise. I nodded with a smile.
"He's my best friend. His name is Jake. You can sit with us, ok?" She nodded, clearly happy to have someone to sit with. "Hey Jake!" I said, walking up to him and giving him a side hug.
"Well hey there" he chuckled in a deep voice. "Looks like you've found a friend."
I nodded enthusiastically. "Mhm! This is Kat. She's been showing me around and stuff."
"Well hey" Jake said nodding. "Glad to see you've been taking care of my Nessie." I rolled my eyes. Kat and I grabbed food while Jake held down the fort at the table.
"He's kinda cute isn't he?" Kat whispered to me while we waited in line.
"Yes, I suppose so" I said. I'd never really thought about my best friend that way. I'd rather have Kat be interested in him than anyone else. At least I knew she was honest and responsible. I grabbed some pizza, because that looked edible, and a salad because I knew it'd make my mother happy. Kat grabbed a burger that I could tell by smell that it wasn't even beef. We were headed back to our table, back to Jake, when I saw him. A pair of ice blue eyes caught my gold ones from across the room.