Disclaimer: don't own them
Chapter One: New
The day had been off to a good start. That was, until English. I took my usual seat by Edward and turned to face the front of the class as the bell rang. Imagine my surprise to see someone that I'd never seen before standing next to Mr. Berty. In a place like Forks, you usually knew when someone new was going to show up. I hadn't heard of anyone new coming into Forks. Not that I'd really been 'aware' of the world for the past... however long it was. The girl that was standing up there belonged in Forks about as much as Christmas in July. Forks doesn't really have a 'bad' crowd. Proof enough was the fact that the Cullens were the most intimidating people there. But if we did have a 'bad' crowd, this girl would have been the head of it.
She was thin and small. She was pale, not quite Cullen pale, but pale enough to be suspicious. She had shoulder length auburn hair that flipped out at the edges and hung in her face. Small lips, small nose and enormous sapphire eyes that made her look like those porcelain dolls that you're afraid to touch because they'll probably break. Her appearance was somewhat a startling contrast to her face. Black jeans, black combat boots, black tee-shirt with some band name on it, black sweatshirt that met the silver studded belt that held up her jeans. Definitely the type of person that likes to be noticed. People that dress like that always want to be noticed, they just don't want to seem that they want the attention that they want... kind of confusing, but somewhere in there is a logic, I'm sure. People like that were also unpredictable... I've learned not to trust unpredictable.
Mr. Berty smiled at the class and waved the girl forward. She looked around the room and her eyes stopped at me. A smirk slid across her face and her eyes twinkled in amusement as she looked back at Edward. Mr Berty nodded at her, "Class, we have a new student, or rather, and old student. I'd like to introduce you to Miss Rain Taylor, some of you may remember her from a few years ago. She just moved in with her grandmother, Maggie Morgan, over the weekend." My eyes widened. Everyone knew 'The Widow' Maggie Morgan. A couple of years ago she and her only son got into a huge fight and he ended up leaving, taking his daughter with him. It was one of those fights that everyone knows happened, but no one knows why it happened. The girl's mother had died a few years before then, and the story went that less then a year after they left Rain ended up in foster care. Another one of those things that people have no idea why it happened. It made since that when she turned 18 she went back to the only family that she could. The catch was, Rain Taylor had been a goody goody and everyone knew it. She was the teacher's pet, the know-it-all. It makes you wonder what she went through to turn out that way.
About a month before, Jamie Hinn moved to live with her mother in Colorado, so the seat across the aisle from Edward was empty. Without waiting for Mr.Berty's approval, Rain strutted over to the seat and slouched into the chair. She did it so casually, and yet purposefully. Mr.Berty announced to the class that today was a day to work on our individual projects, so I pulled out my copy of Oliver Twist as Edward pulled out his copy of Great Expectations. I tried to concentrate on reading my book, but sometimes you can't help but to hear other people's conversations, and what you hear pulls you into it... or in this case, what you didn't hear. "I see on your transcripts that you already did this project at your last school." Mr. Berty told Rain, apparently waiting for a response that he didn't get, so he continued, "Uh... well... you should have something to do, so I'll leave you to it." Rain just stared at him through her hair. She didn't seem to blink or be breathing. When Mr. Berty walked away from her, she laughed silently and shook her head.
As Edward and I walked to our next class, I heard a faint laughing sound behind us. The laugh was soon followed by a voice I couldn't place. "If it isn't the amazing Edward Cullen." The voice was husky, with an edge of mockery. "And it looks as if he has a little friend." The voice added to it. I turned, my face red with fury, to see the twinkling sapphire eyes of Rain Taylor. Smirk in place, she wasn't even looking at me. Edward sighed and turned, placing his arm around me protectively. My anger changed to confusion at this gesture, she was just a little girl, what was his deal? Did he think I couldn't protect myself against her? "Who'd've ever thought that Edward Cullen would still be hanging around in Forks?" Edward looked at her coldly, causing a shiver to run up my spine. I'd once been on the receiving end of that glare, and I hadn't liked it. Rain, though, seemed to be thriving on it. Edward's voice came out just as cold and deadly as his glare, never before had I heard that perfect voice sound so human and inhuman at the same time, "And who'd've ever thought that Rain Taylor would ever come back? How's the family" With the tone he used, I almost expected her to blow up at him. I had no idea what he was talking about, and it still seemed like a low punch. She, however, remained smirking and laughed softly. "I could ask the same of you, Cullen." Her voice almost seemed sad, but it echoed the amusement in her eyes. Was it possible to be sad and amused? If it was, I don't think I'd like it. Edward's already black eyes darkened at her statement. Rain smiled and turned to face the parking lot. Halfway there, she turned back, finger raised in thought, "And tell Jasper that I said hello." Again there was a sad edge to her voice. Edward remained silent the whole way to our next class. "What did she mean about Jasper?" I asked him. "Nothing." He replied, all too quickly.
During lunch, Edward was still silent. Alice was busy making up one of the tests she'd missed while they were away, so the table was filled with chatter about Rain. Mike and Tyler were arguing over some rumor that they'd heard. I wasn't listening, I was paying attention to Edward's thoughtful silence. How I wish I knew what he was thinking. 'No you don't...' a little voice told me, 'It would terrify you... you want to know what he's not thinking.' The voice was right, it always was. I wasn't sure if the voice was my consious or what, but it was always right.
"Well, I heard that one day she just snapped, and they had to send her to this hospital..." Jess stated matter-of-factly to the small group congregating around our table. "No way," Lauren shook her head, "She offed her dad and got sent to juvie." There were gasps all around the table. I rolled my eyes and resisted the urge to laugh, it was all so rediculous! She was probably just some wanna-be poser who... I was interrupted by the person who loomed over Jess.
"Well, you know what I heard?" The soft, husky voice asked Jess. She turned to face Rain, who leaned in, resting her arms on either side of Jess, trapping her in. "I heard that she doesn't like people talking about her. And..." She leaned in closer, all signs of amusement gone, "hates rumors even more then she hates stupid little gossips." She drew out the insult and then smiled, as if challenging Jess to retaliate, which, of course, being Jess, she did. She stood up as Rain backed away from the table. Rain's eyes flashed and she thingyed her head to the side... almost hunter-like. Jess was oblivious to this as she spoke, "Well, I think you should just leave. This is our town, and we don't want a freak like you." Rain's eyes widened, and I thought she was going to cry. But people like that don't cry. Instead, she laughed.
It wasn't the soft laugh that I'd heard from her before. This was a bitter, hysterical, sarcastic laugh. Her stare was preditorial, unblinking. She almost seemed to be holding Jess in a trance. She stepped forward, jaw set tightly. In that moment, I was terrified. The look on her face was definately not one that a poser would have, it was the look that I'd seen precious few places. And each of those places were the faces of vampires... the face of a killer. Or at least someone who'd consider killing. Before I knew it, a pale white arm shot out in front of her. "Back off, Rain." Edward growled at her, startling me out of my fear. I just kept getting more and more confused! Edward barely talked to anyone other then me. Jess seemed just as lost as I was that Edward had stepped between her and Rain. Everything about Rain screamed 'preditor' and yet, she couldn't be a vampire... her eyes were that sapphire blue. But what shocked me was hearing Edward's musical voice taking on the same qualities that made Rain's sound dangerous. Her eyes darkened, but the smirk returned. She walked around him, also as a preditor would. I didn't like this at all. She glanced up at him through her thickly mascaraed lashes. She stepped to the side of him, circling him. Her teeth flashed white in the light as she whispered, "As you wish." She looked down at his arm and rested her hand there as he snarled from his position of watching her over his shoulder. He didn't pull away, or shrug her off, but in a second she let her hand drop to her side. Her eyes blinked to me, sadness echoed in them, "Always as you wish." She spun away, and in a moment, I lost her to the crowd. When Edward turned around, his face was contorted. I couldn't read the expression there, and I didn't think I wanted to. The way the stories went, Rain left only 2 months after the Cullens arrived. How well had they known each other? I certainately didn't know. I didn't know anything about who she was at all. Nothing but that in that moment, she was no longer the hunter, she was the victim, of what I didn't know, but I intended to find out.