*Thanks to those who pointed out the issue of Edward's birth year in chapter 1 to me. The issue has now been fixed!

I own nothing as always.

We had been living in Alaska for several years, and were finally moving back to civilization. Alaska had been our break from the charade. When there, we rarely interacted with humans; sticking to ourselves and the Denali coven, instead. However, my father missed working as a doctor and wanted to continue it again.

We had a variety of different covers and scenarios that we used as excuses when living among humans. In this instance, we had decided to all attend university in Hanover, but the summers there were too sunny. We needed a summer home to go to, and it was Emmett who suggested the family get a house in western Washington.

My parents, Emmett, and Rosalie had lived in this one region for a few years in the late 40's, and he remembered it rather fondly. I hadn't been with the family at the time, having been on one of my searches for others of my kind, at the time, but as they described the place, I was enthusiastic about it.

To make our living there in the summers more acceptable to the locals, it was suggested that we start as high school-aged students there first, and then come back each summer until we were done with university.

Initially it was suggested that we start living there as high school sophomores, but Rose and I both put our feet down. If we agreed on few things in life, we did at least have a mutual hatred for high school, so we decided on starting as seniors instead. One year of high school I could stomach.

We would live in the small rainy town for one short year; graduate and perhaps we would all take a year off school to soak up our new freedom. All the while, my father gets to work at their local hospital and my mother stays home playing housewife.

So here we were, in Forks, Washington, named after the forks in the nearby Quillayute, Bogachiel, Calawah, and Sol Duc rivers. The region had the country's highest percentage of overcast days per year.

I had no need to personally worry about the sunlight issue, as I didn't sparkle in the sunlight, like they all did, but as long as I lived with my family, it was still my concern as well. After our two full-time years here we would all go off to college, but come back each summer for the subsequent four years of college. It was a good plan. One I could live with.

All I had to do was suffer one year of high school. One year. Just one year. That's not so bad. Yeah... Just keep telling yourself that.

First days were always the hardest. I had to keep mental tabs on the thoughts of the students around us to make sure there weren't any particularly perceptive and suspicious individuals. Of course everyone was thinking about us, no matter that it was the first day of school for everyone. The thing was that this was a small town, and just about every one of these kids grew up together. They'd all known each other since kindergarten, so there was no blending into the background for us. We stuck out like a sore thumb.

It'd be so much easier for us to pull off our odd charade if we were attending some enormous high school with 3,000 students in it, but we always stuck to smaller towns. The family had all sorts of excuses that they put out for why we did this, but the honest truth was that we did it for my benefit.

The larger the school, the larger the city, the more people there were; and the more people there were, the more thoughts I had to endure. The school we were starting today had just a little over 300 students in it, and at this moment, I could hear the thoughts of every single one of them, bombarding my frontal lobe.

It was quite literally, mind-numbing.

After the first few days passed, I'd focus on ignoring it as much as possible. Letting the noise dissolve into a din in the back of my mind. But today I had to pay attention.

I hated paying attention.

There really is no way to adequately explain how ridiculous the thoughts of teenagers are. For starters, they're almost all incredibly insecure, but they also tend to imagine themselves as the center of the universe, so absolutely everything is about them. It could be considered a form of paranoia. Every little thing can be misread into something much bigger and much more stupid. This is mostly true with the girls. The boys aren't quite so prone to this, but they still are to some extent.

Then there are the gossip mongers. The ones that make it their priority to learn as much as they can about as many absolutely pointless things as they can manage, just so that they have something to talk about, and out-do, the other gossip queens they hang out with.

This is almost always an attempt to convince themselves that they're better than whoever it is that they're gossiping about.

I knew how the gossip this week would go. It was always the same, especially when we were in a town and school as small as this one.

My siblings put absolutely no effort into hiding their relationships with each other. It's entirely understandable that they wouldn't. They're vampires. Vampires are very territorial about their mates. They're also really attractive to the humans, so of course they all get hit on by every gutsy teenager in the school. It's their natural instinct to confront any threat on their claim, no matter how much of a non-threat it really is.

Emmett can't help scaring the bejesus out of every horn-ball who tries to come on to Rosalie. It's instinctive for him, and fighting that instinct is very hard.

As such, I knew it would take no time at all for everyone in the school to be whispering and wondering about how my siblings were all dating each other. It would be scandalous in even a larger city; but at least in a larger school there would be a period of time before people were fully aware that we all lived together, and were supposed to be siblings.

The fact that our cover story says that we're adopted would likely do little to subdue the gossip. There was no blood relations between us, so it's not like it's incest, but the fact that we have some sort of legal relation would be more than enough to entice their endless chatter.

I was driving all my siblings in my car, a silver S60R Volvo, because out of all of our cars, it's the least conspicuous. As I got within a mile of the school the mental onslaught began to grow. It was still early, so the whole student body wasn't even here yet. We'd been in the near-isolation of Alaska too long. My tolerance to large crowds was low. I took a deep breath, trying to steel myself against the migraine I knew I'd be experiencing for the next few weeks, until I readjusted to the noise.

I pulled into the parking lot and found a vacant spot not too far from the school. Students were already milling about the grounds, searching out classmates that they hadn't kept in contact with over the summer to share their stories and gossip.

The thoughts of the new freshmen were generally that of intimidation and near-terror. The new senior class was mostly smug. They were generally thrilled with the idea of finally being at the top of the high school food-chain, and now having access to the 'Senior Parking Lot'. It seemed silly to me. It's not like the school was large enough to make parking difficult. The senior parking spots were closer to the actual building, but it wasn't like the general access lot was any less convenient.

I shrugged it off. What the hell did it even matter?

The school's layout seemed irrational to me. Instead of a single large building, where students could walk between their classes indoors through dry hallways, the classes were spread throughout several separate buildings with exterior entrances. How ridiculous was that in a city that had near-constant rain and mist? It was almost as stupid as those outdoor malls in towns that were covered in ice and snow half of the year.

The largest building contained the cafeteria, library, auditorium, gym, and the offices, along with a few various classrooms. At least this building had interior hallways, as well as the school's lockers. Then there was the building that had the science and math classes. The next one had English, social studies, government, economics and a few others. After that, it was the liberal arts building where the art classes, band room, and computer labs were located. This one with the classroom doors on the outside of the building, and coat hangers by each door to hold the students rain coats.

So. Stupid.

We had attended the school's new student orientation with the freshmen students the week before, and gotten our schedules and locker assignments then, so now all we really had to do was to go to our respective classrooms.

The course catalog for this tiny school had actually managed to surprise me a fair bit. The school actually offered several specialized versions of their required general education courses that were mildly interesting, and several elective and vocational classes that looked to be entertaining.

There was almost no chance of any of these classes actually offering us something new to learn, but at least the shift in focus would make the class slightly less mind-numbing than high school courses tended to be.

There was an automotive class that Rosalie decided to enter. Obviously, it wouldn't teach her a damn thing she didn't already know, as car customization and rebuilding had been a love of hers for years, but it was a special 'vocational' class that actually lasted two class periods long, instead of the normal one. This meant two hours each day where she got to tinker under the hood of a car, instead of listening to some teacher drabble on about the world wars, or economics. The point of the class was obviously to prepare gear-heads who had no plans or opportunities to go to college, for a possible career path. I could only imagine the sausage fest that class would be – and all of them gawking over Rosalie.

Obviously Emmett signed up for it as well.

Alice actually squealed over one of the electives. This school actually had an 'Advanced Clothing: Textiles and Apparel' class. She immediately signed up.

For the science credit, as a senior, I had two choices; Physics or Human Anatomy and Physiology. I was surprised to see the physiology class at a high school. The course description even said it was an advanced lab course designed for students considering going into the medical field, or becoming a physical fitness trainer.

I'd aided my father for years, and since then, even gotten several medical degrees myself. I knew there was nothing a high school anatomy class could teach me that I didn't already know, but I'd taken high school physics too many times to count.

The school was ridiculous enough to require students take a physical education class every year they were here, which was frustrating. Gym was always a nuisance for us, simply because of the effort involved in restraining our strength and speed. In addition to two general PE classes, the school offered Aerobics and Weight Training. Emmett actually opted to go for the Weight Training class, which seemed just silly to me. The girls both decided to go for the Aerobics class, and Jasper and I ended up in PE together.

I pulled my schedule out of my pocket in an unnecessary gesture to fit in, as I walked down the parking lot. Everyone was walking around with their schedules out, comparing and checking to see if they shared courses with any of their friends.

I already had the thing memorized. First period I had Economics. Second period I had Global Issues with Jasper. Third period was 12th grade World Literature, then Spanish II with Emmett in 4th period. After lunch I had Human Anatomy and then last period I had PE with Jasper. I didn't have any classes with the girls, but at least that meant I wouldn't have to sit next to any guys every day as they had dirty daydreams about my sisters.

It would kill Emmett to have my skill. He gets possessive enough just in response to the looks that men shoot at Rosalie. Having to see and hear their imaginings would drive him insane.

I waved a parting goodbye to my siblings and silently said to Jasper that I'd see him in an hour and made my way to my Economics class. I was fairly early to class. I didn't see any point in going to my locker beforehand. Discarding my coat would be pointless since it would be expected to keep it for between classes when walking through the rain to the other buildings. The only other things I carried with me were my backpack, and the notebooks and folder within it.

So I entered the room, trying not to focus on the thoughts of the students around me as they gawked at me, and took a seat towards the back. I was bombarded with the mental images of myself from multiple perspectives, emphasizing just how many people were currently staring at me.

I preferred the back, just because it limits most people's abilities to look at me without being obvious, but at that moment, a lot of students were milling about the back of the classroom by the door. I sighed heavily. I hated this part. I wondered how long it would take for the student body to get over their infatuation with me and my family this time. We would only be in the school for a year, so it was honestly likely that they wouldn't.

I closed my eyes and put my head down on the cool desk, taking in a deep breath and began sorting through the thoughts and images in my head for any suspicious thoughts.

It seemed that a fair number of students were already aware that some 'new kids' would be joining the student body. This knowledge seemed to stem from parents who knew about Carlisle starting his job at the hospital.

Already, images of my sibling's faces were floating through the minds of the students who had seen them in the parking lot and the hallways. The boys were already drooling over Rosalie and Alice, as well as being intimidated by Jasper and Emmett. Several were jealous of their looks, but many were just really scared by Emmett's massive size.

The girls were falling over themselves over Jazz and Emmett... and me. Oh yes. Lots of them were already going crazy and whispering to each other over me. Emmett was intimidating to both genders. He was huge and muscular. The girls found his face attractive, and when they got to see them, they often fell in love with his dimples, but his enormous size was enough to scare off even the horniest of high school girls.

Jazz always attracted lots of attention, but he had more trouble than the rest of us in controlling his bloodlust, so he had a tendency to scare off some people by looking at them as if they were food. He had a predator vibe that he just naturally exhumed around humans that served to ward them off, even if they weren't consciously aware of why.

I was graced with vampire good looks, but not nearly so much of the scary intimidating predator factor. Which was actually rather annoying...

It'd be much simpler if I scared them off as much as I attracted them. I wasn't interested in any of these banal teenagers. I hated having to endure their fantasies about me. Watching them imagining themselves being seduced by a mental image of myself saying things and doing things to them that I would never want to do. I hated it.

That very thing was happening right at that moment. Several of the girls in the back of the classroom were imaging different scenarios in which they came up to me and sparked some conversation, only to have me lead them out of the room to some coat closet for a heated, and very unrealistic make-out session. Or imagining me coming up to them and trying to seduce them. Or the more innocent thoughts that just involved wishful imaginings of sparking a conversation, or walking down the hall hand-in-hand.

They weren't all offensive, of course, but I hated that the only reason that any of these people were attracted towards me at all was because of the way I looked. Would any of these people ever bother to try and get to know me? Would any of them have even remotely this level of interest if I wasn't unnaturally attractive?

Most likely, no.

A few minutes passed and I kept my head down on the desk. It wasn't cool anymore. My body heat had warmed up the surface of it, but it was still better than opening my eyes and looking around. One fewer sense to deal with at a time.

I heard a shuffling noise beside me and sensed the body heat and heartbeat of someone as they sat down. I didn't pay it any mind at first, but I suddenly became aware that the presence I felt beside me was absolutely... silent.

Curious I pulled my head up ever so slightly from my arm and turned my head to the right to look at the person. All I could see was a mop of brown hair and a head buried in a pair of crossed arms on the desk, in much the exact same position that I had been holding myself a moment earlier.

I focused on the figure and was once again dumbfounded by the mental silence of the girl beside me. There were no thoughts coming off her, no mental images, and no songs running through her head. Just nothing.

I focused harder and the roar of the surrounding voices intensified, but still there was nothing coming from this girl.

This was startling and confusing. I had never encountered a silent mind before. Never.

Who was she?

I listened to the minds of our fellow students and quickly became aware of some rather venomous thoughts being aimed at the girl beside me.

Several girls in the back had been trying to build up the courage to take the seats around me and begin a conversation – they had planned on flanking me on all sides, one to each side and in front of me – but then this girl had walked into the room without so much as glancing around and gone straight to that chair and sat down.

From what I could see of their minds eyes, she had kept her head down and her eyes firmly on the floor the entire way; not so much as glancing my way before taking her seat.

These girls considered it a 'waste' for Isabella to sit next to me as she would likely not even say a word the entire school year. Well, that seemed promising... sort of. Well, normally I would think so, at least. It'd be nice to sit next to someone who wasn't going to spend the whole year flirting and pestering me, but this girl was different. Her mind was totally silent to me and my mind was whirling with confusion and curiosity.

If nothing else, I knew I had to learn more about her in order to determine if this could pose a threat to us. I could always tell when someone was becoming suspicious of us, thanks to my ability. It was always an early warning system for us. It gave us the opportunity to either disprove their suspicions through our actions, or time to get away before they had a chance to spread their suspicions.

I was just about to try and introduce myself to the girl when a blond boy plopped himself down on the corner of my desk and grinned at me.

"Hey, I'm Mike Newton! You new here? I know everyone in this school, and I definitely don't know you."

I cocked an eyebrow at him and rolled my eyes. "Yes. New." I said in a flat clipped response.

"What's your name?" He asked, still enthusiastic.

I heaved a sigh and pushed myself up off the desk and leaned back in my chair to look at him. "Edward Cullen."

"Cool, so Eddie, do you pla–"

"Edward. Not Eddie." I interrupted him, irritated by the nickname.

"Uh... that's cool. So do you play any sports? Football or anything? The other new kids are your brothers and sisters, right? I saw the big one in the hall, and we could really use him on the team!"

I rolled my eyes. The sports teams always wanted us to join. Obviously we couldn't. "Sorry, not much of an organized sports man. Besides, isn't it too late to get on the football team? My understanding was that the tryouts happened a month ago, during the summer."

"Well, yeah, but believe me, Coach Clapp would make an exception for you or your brothers, if you were any good."

"Thanks, but no thanks."

"Man, that's too bad.

I could tell from his thoughts that their team was apparently lacking in the skill department. Not very surprising considering how small the school was. There were a few members on the team who he would prefer weren't on it. He didn't consider them good enough, and thought they were just bringing the rest of them down. His mental images of them showed two rather thin gangly looking fellows and one over weight boy who was clearly more pudge than muscle.

Newton's thoughts labeled them as 'losers' and 'geeks'. His thoughts irritated me and I wanted nothing more than for him to bugger off and leave me be. High school football competition irritated me on many levels, especially when it stopped being about kids having 'fun', and became all about attracting the attention of some college sports scout. I doubted any of these boys were good enough to attract any such attention anyways, but the goal still pushed them to ridicule anyone who they deemed unworthy.

"So anyway, you guys are welcome to sit with me and some of the guys from the team, at lunch." He continued, still hoping to talk us into joining the team.

"Thanks for the offer, but we'll probably just sit together as a family." I said as I began aimlessly digging into my backpack, in an attempt to find something to distract me from this boy.

"It's a big family, right?" He asked, and a memory of his mother talking with some other woman and a man about my family, while standing in what looked like an outdoors supply store.

"Yep." I responded shortly, choosing not to explain any further than that.

Suddenly, one of the girls who had been trying to up the courage to speak with me earlier walked over and leaned against the desk on the opposite side, blocking my view of the silent brunette beside me. She still remained silent with her head down on the desk, buried in her arms.

"Hey Mike, who's your friend?" The girl asked, looking at me.

"Hey Jessica, this is Edward. Edward, this is Jess." Mike said, motioning to the tall, shapely brunette beside me. Her hair was frizzy and she wore too much make-up. According to Mike's thoughts, she was the captain of the cheerleading team. He had memories of watching the cheerleaders practicing after the football team was through with their practice. His thoughts were filled with lewd memories of this girl in a tiny revealing pleated skirt.

"Hey Edward." The girl purred, smiling at me and leaning in to emphasize her bust size. I felt my stomach churn at her thoughts and it took every ounce of self-control I could muster not to outwardly grimace at her.

"I was just trying to talk Edward into trying out for the team." Mike said to Jessica.

Her eyes grew larger and in her thoughts, this idea thrilled her. She already had a bit of a crush on Mike, and since he was apparently the quarterback of the team, she thought it was her duty to rope him in for homecoming or prom, but she thought she'd much rather go to those events with me, and if I were on the team, it would only contribute to her 'ideal senior year'.

She had some sort of mental list of things she wanted to accomplish by the end of her high school career. One of those was to attend prom with the most attractive and desirable person in the school. She now had become determined that that individual would be me.

Oh joy. I mentally groaned.

"Oh, that'd be fantastic!" The girl gushed at me. "You should definitely tryout. We could really use more help on the team."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I was just telling Mike that I'm really not much of a team-sports kind of guy."

The two of them continued on for another few minutes when the teacher finally entered the room and they were finally forced to vacate my position and claim their own seats.

I sighed in relief, and let my eyes drift back to my right-hand side to the girl beside me. She was still leaning forward on her desk, with her arms stretched out and around her head, but now her chin was resting on her arms so she could look forward. My view of her was obstructed by a curtain of her hair that she let fall over the side of her face and I found myself rather frustrated by it.

I shook my head and refocused on the teacher at the head of the class. He was droning on about his plans for our class to partake in a 'stock market game' throughout the course of the semester. We would all be going to the computer lab down the hall each Monday and Friday. We'd each have accounts with some program, and a pre-determined budget to "buy" stocks with. We had to decide what to buy and sell and so on and so forth... I checked out at this point.

I let my mind wander to each of my sibling's classes and sifted through the minds of each of their classmates, searching for any signs of suspicion. Alice was in her textiles class and was flipping through visions of the next semester, checking to see what sort of class work she had to look forward to. She was giddy with excitement, thrilled that she actually got to do something she gave a crap about, while in a high school class.

I chuckled and projected my thoughts to her.

"You seem excited."

"Oh, Edward! You bet I am! The last high school we got stuck in didn't have any classes like this. This is so much better than some stupid home EC class. It's actually about fashion! We get to design clothing! Design our own custom patterns, and make them. I get to be creative here!"

"Well, I'm thrilled you've got something to keep you entertained here that doesn't involve dragging Jazz into the janitor's closet."

She giggled and drew the attention of the girl beside her.

"Hey Alice," I started, my thoughts drifting back to the girl beside me. "There's a girl in my economics class who... who's thoughts I can't hear."

Silence passed through her thoughts for a split second before they suddenly exploded with a thousand curious thoughts and scenarios.

"Alice, Alice! Please, you know how much of a headache it gives me when you let your brain go that crazy. You vampires can think way too many things at once, and I'm currently in the middle of dealing with over 300 student's thoughts already bombarding my brain!"

"Sorry! Sorry, Edward! But... ohmygod, you're serious? You mean, you can't hear her thoughts at all!?"

"No, not at all. Alice... why the hell are you excited? From your thoughts I'd swear you think this is good news."

"Edward, please tell me that you are not seriously that dense."

"What?"

"What the hell have you been complaining to me about for the last four decades?"

"Hearing people's thoughts?"

"I mean about your problem with finding a mate!"

I froze, shocked by her words. "What!?"

"You always say you can't get a romantic connection with anyone because hearing their thoughts is too much of a distraction. Well...? You've found a girl whose thoughts you can't hear. Sounds like someone is handing you exactly what you need. Is she good looking?"

"Alice! She's human! And she's just a child!"

"Brother, dear – YOU are half human. Is she good looking?"

"Alice! I... I don't know... I haven't been able to get a good look at her."

"Well, get a good look at her, and then let me know."

"Alice, this isn't even what I brought this up for. I was wondering if you could see her future. Since I can't hear her thoughts, I wondered if perhaps your power might be hindered as well."

"Well, is she sitting near you right now?"

"She's directly next to me, but I haven't interacted with her at all, so her future shouldn't be dependent at all on my actions right now, so my presence shouldn't hinder your visions."

"Directly next to you?" she confirmed.

"Yes."

I saw her mind begin to swim with images as she attempted to focus on visions of the girl beside me. Different faces floated in and out of her mind's eye and finally I saw the slouched form of the brown-haired girl beside me, and the blacked-out void in my seat.

"That her?" Alice asked.

"Yes, that's her."

"Well, I can see her." she said simply, with a mental shrug.

"That you can... I'll have to see if Jasper can sense her emotions. Maybe he'll have a class with her and it'll give us a chance to check. Either that, or we can do it at lunch when they're both in the cafeteria."

"Worth a shot."

"Why do you think I'm not able to sense her?"

"Who knows? Maybe if she became a vampire, she'd be a shield."

"Does it work that way? You're suggesting that this human has a power, and it's already powerful enough to work against my ability?"

"Sure. Anything is possible."

"I've only ever heard of a physical shield though," I said, thinking about one of the guard members that Eleazar told me he worked alongside during his time working with the Italian vampires, the Volturi.

She was described to me as the personal bodyguard to one of the Volturi leaders because of her ability to completely repel all physical attacks with her invisible psychic 'shield'.

"Yes, but there are different types of shield powers. If that were the case with this girl, maybe she's a mental shield. ...or her brain is just broken. Maybe she has a tumor, or was dropped on her head as a baby. I don't know, Edward."

"Right, right. I get it."

"So have you checked her out yet? Is she pretty?"

"No, Alice, I have not. Nor am I going to 'check her out'. She's human. We've already discussed this subject Alice."

"Oh come on! Humor me! Is she pretty?"

"Alice, she has her hair covering the whole side of her head facing me and the rest of it is buried in her hands. I cannot even see the girl."

She huffed and sighed loudly, drawing the attention of the girl sitting beside her again. "Fine, whatever. But try to get a look before class is over."

I just rolled my eyes and didn't bother to send her any sort of response.

The class finally came to an end, and the students began packing up their book bags and shuffling towards the exit. I paused, waiting to watch the girl, not because of what Alice said, but just because I was honestly extremely curious and bewildered by this creature who somehow possessed the ability to block me. I wondered suddenly if she could block me both ways. Obviously I couldn't hear her thoughts, but I wondered if her shield kept me from projecting my thoughts into her mind as well.

I had no idea how I could possibly test this question, though. I had used my skill in the past to trick people into thinking that my voice was their own. It always scared and confused them, but I knew I could mask my projected mental voice to sound as if it were their own. The problem was, had no idea what her mental voice sounded like, since I couldn't hear it.

Since I couldn't hear her mind, I would have no easy way to tell if she had heard my projected thought. At best, I would have to hope for some outward reaction, but the whole thing was terribly risky, and I knew I couldn't do it right now. I'd have to plan out a better way to test it.

She had just stood up from her desk, her back facing me and her head ducked down low. I was about to speak to her, maybe introduce myself or something, when Mike was suddenly in my face again. I quietly groaned and rolled my eyes.

Was this going to become a regular thing?

How long would it take for this kid to take a hint? He asked me what my next class was, and I told him it was Global Issues. He was instantly disappointed, thinking about how his next class was US History. I was instantly relieved... for about ten seconds, at which point Jessica appeared with a huge grin, informing me that she had Global Issues next and offering to show me the way.

If it weren't for the fact that Esme raised me to be polite and a gentleman, I would stop pussyfooting around and just tell these two to get lost. Already several of the students had associated me with the popular clique of kids, since I had been so readily accepted by two of the most popular preps in the school.

Great...

On the walk to Global Issues, Jessica was joined by three girls, all of whom insisted on an introduction. One was named Lauren, one Sarah, and one Tiffany. If it weren't for my near-perfect memory, I would have promptly forgotten all of their names out of utter disinterest. Apparently, the three girls were fellow cheerleaders, who were all equally enthusiastic in their attempts to convince me to get my brothers and all try out for the team. Why the hell are all small town high schools so damned obsessed with their football teams?

At least we weren't in the mid-west or the south... it's so much more insane there.

Sarah and Tiffany thought my clipped answers were a sign that I really wasn't interested, and were actually perceptive enough to realize I was annoyed with the attention. Lauren was too busy ogling my body and trying to imagine what I looked like with my shirt off to even hear a word I'd said, and Jessica just took my attitude as a sign that she needed to be determined and maintain her persistence.

Well isn't that just great... lovely. I thought sarcastically.

Fortunately the other girls did not have Global Issues and had to part ways with us when we exited the building. Jessica tried to walk extra close to me and smiled around at the watching students. She was soaking up the attention, and several of the students were already assuming that I would be dating her by the end of the week.

I wanted to wretch.

We got to the room and I saw that it was quickly filling up but there were still a few available seats that were directly next to each other. Jessica was planning on getting me to sit directly next to her. Next to her for the entire semester.

Oh, hell no!

There was no way I was spending the next semester directly next to this girl. I quickly thanked her for showing me the way to the class and told her I needed to make a stop off at the restroom. She was about to say that she'd save me a seat, but I bolted before she could get the words out. As long as I hadn't heard it, it wouldn't be overtly rude of me to sit somewhere else, once I was back.

I went into the bathroom and leaned over the sink heaving a sigh. My head was pounding. The noises bombarding me from all imaginable angles were becoming unbearable, and it was only the start of second period.

I turned on the faucet and ran the water for a minute until I was sure that it was a cold as it could get and splashed some on my face. God, I hated being around so many people.

I thought back to the strange silent girl. What would it be like to be in the company of someone, but still enjoy the silence of just my own mind? The only way I had ever been able to be alone in my own thoughts was when I traveled far enough into the wilderness that no other people were within my range of hearing... which was unfortunately quite a distance.

If it was a vampire, or any of my family members I could hear them as far as two or three miles away. Human's mental voices, fortunately, faded away after about a mile, but a mile is still a damn long distance. The more densely populated that mile is, the more my head aches from the riotous noise.

Everywhere that we had ever lived, I'd found some place, far enough from home and all local human dwellings, that I could go there and relax. My mind, my own. No other voices. No other images. Just me.

What would it be like to go to one of these places; feel that mental peace; but not have to actually be alone?

I imagine it would be nice.

A thought occurred to me then. I knew that trying to find a mate out of the human populace was a bad idea, but that certainly didn't mean I couldn't still befriend this girl. Or at least speak to her and see if I could stand being in her presence. She had to be better than Jessica.

I dried off my face, took in a deep long breath trying to center myself and push aside the racket in my head, and left the restroom to head to the classroom.