Chapter 2: Jay POV

Dad was right; teenagers were shockingly annoying to listen to. I'd heard them before when I'd been dragged out shopping with Aunt Alice or passed by them on the street but never more than just passing thoughts and brief glimpses. Today I had spent almost five hours listening to nothing but a constant dribble about clothes and boys and girls and oooh great I can't believe that so and so got voted off the programme.

I literally wanted to just shake these people and scream 'get a life'.

Hey Jay, see if you can get a read on the emos on the bleachers. My sister thought and I mentally rolled my eyes, readying myself for whatever idiotic brain waves I would be subjected to and focused my intention on the people she was gesturing to. They looked…weird to say the least; pale, somewhat like us accept theirs was more like the fake pale that came with purposefully keeping out of the sun and wearing light make-up, in fact I could see the faint traces of powder on some of their faces and knew it wasn't real. There were six of them, four guys and two girls; they weren't that good looking but they sort of gave off this air of supremacy, as if they thought they were unique in a world of normal people. I didn't like the look of them.

I tried to get a grip on their mental voices but for some reason they weren't there. Well they were there but just…muffled, like they were fading away and all I could read was flashes of images and feeling from them. The tallest guy who had blonde hair and brown eyes just gave off a constant buzz of malice and excitement that unnerved me somewhat so I tried the rest of them, the other three boys were similar in appearance, shorter, two brunettes and one with ash coloured hair but they were the same…malice and flickers of arrogance.

One of the girls was pretty much the same, she was tall with long black hair and all I could read was an intense disdain towards her classmates and the general feeling of self-importance. But the last one, a small and plain girl with curly brown hair and hazel eyes just looked…scared. I pushed past the buzzing and tried with all my power to see what was happening in her head, finally breaking through. I didn't feel any malice or arrogance like the rest of them.

Help...do this anymore….used to be….why they still….I don't….no…blood….disgusting….hate….trapped.

That was all I could get, a jumble of words which frankly made no sense to me, all with a constant overtone of fear and the feeling of being trapped. All of their thoughts reminded me of trying to catch water with a sieve, they just kept slipping away. It was like their minds were disappearing as I tried to read them.

'I can't get a read off them Ness' I murmured, she was confused but I just shrugged. 'I don't know what it is' I whispered, 'it's like I'm getting vague images, the feeling of arrogance, superiority and the slight hint of fear from one of them but it's like they're being blocked' I explained, still trying to get a complete read but failing.

'You mean like a shield?' she whispered back.

'No, I've felt shields before…this is more like they aren't their thoughts really, more like impressions of their personalities that are almost forgotten, like they have no mind of their own you know. Like Alice's memories of her human life, they're just…warped and indistinct' I explained, frustrated now. I'd have to talk to Carlisle and my dad; perhaps they would know what was wrong with me.

She looked pensive for a second and glanced over at the girl she had met in her English class, from her memory she seemed to be a shy but nice person and I could see in the girl…Eve's mind that she felt lonely but was a good person, she was thinking about her mom in the hospital and wondering whether she should skip last period to go visit her. When Nessie got her attention she was slightly surprised and confused.

Why is she talking to me, they're all really good looking and prime candidates for the popular crowd. Why is she even bothering talking to someone like me, doesn't she know that I'm not anybody. I felt bad for her; I could immediately tell that she was a kind and interesting person, unsure of herself but still good. Did she really think that we would be interested in hanging out with that bitch Tiffany and her minions, I could hear her from all the way across the field and she was still stuck in some disgusting fantasy of me and her in a hot tub. Ew.

'Oh…hello again Nessie' she smiled weakly, my sister noticed the confusion and had come to the same conclusion as me, the people in this school were shallow and ignored her, just because she was shy. She wasn't even bad looking, in fact I found her quite beautiful; she had red hair that some people thought was a bad thing but I thought it was much nicer than the bleach blondes around the school, it was like cinnamon, honey and fire all together. And her freckles I found to be cute, they spattered lightly over her alabaster skin and under her stormy blue eyes. Oh man, I sounded just as bad as some of the hormonal jocks around here, I decided to stop staring and actually listen to the conversation.

'I was just wondering Eve, umm…do you know who the kids on the bleachers are?' Nessie whispered and her blue eyes widened slightly before she let out a small scoff and rolled her eyes. Knew it, she's not interested in talking to me. Great job Eve, another person who doesn't want to be your friend; I suppose I can understand why she's curious about Lisa and the others. I miss Lisa, I hate that she got dragged into their group but there isn't anything I can do. It appeared that she had been best friends with the short, curly haired girl of the group; the one who I had almost been able to read. This Lisa girl had been her only friend but she abandoned Eve for a position in their group, I wondered if that was why she felt trapped…maybe she regretted it.

'Yeah I know who they are…' she trailed off and Nessie gestured for her to continue, she sighed and smiled slightly, glancing over at her old friend with a sad expression. I was almost caught up in the sadness, wanted to run over to her and comfort her when the next two words caused me to freeze.

'They're vampires'.

What the hell? I felt Nessie's similar reaction; her already fast heartbeat turning into a frantic hum within her chest and I felt the waves of panic rolling off her; I looked back over to the group suspiciously. Heartbeats, check. Pulse, check. Blood, check. Body warmth, check. Smell, check. Human slowness, check. Nope they were humans, no illusion or trick of the mind. I looked back over at Nessie and saw her trying to gather her thoughts.

'Um, what do you mean vampires?' she asked, her voice barely audible. Eve laughed, it was a beautiful sound and it seemed to me that she rarely let it out in public, she blushed when she realised that she was laughing and cleared her throat. Elsie was now staring at me with her eyebrows raised so I continued pretending to stretch.

'Oh sorry Nessie, I just thought your expression was funny for a second, it was almost like you believed it' she chuckled, 'that's just what they tell people' she explained, rolling her eyes, 'they go around and never eat in front of anyone, though I once caught one of the guys eating a sandwich in underneath the stairs when he thought no one could see him. They put on this white make-up and don't talk to anyone. It's kind of sad really, I used to be best friends with the girl with curly hair, Lisa, but one of the guys took an interest in her and she stopped talking to me' she explained, trying to cover up the sadness in her voice. Nessie immediately calmed down and reached out to hug her, shocking Eve slightly.

'They sound like weirdo's, I was just curious because I wondered why they were allowed to sit around while the rest of us are forced into the torture of P.E.' she laughed and I could feel the happiness coming off Eve.

She's so nice, does she really actually like me though? She probably just feels sorry for me. She thought and I had to control the growl that rippled in my chest at the idea that everyone in this school was so cruel to her. Nessie seemed to guess that she was confused and unsure so she smiled at her again and laughed.

'Hey, why do you want to run next to me? I'm not very fast and don't really want to be stuck wheezing alone at the back so I'd love it if you could pretend to be as unfit as me and keep me company' she smiled, nudging Eve with her elbow. She smiled in response and chuckled, blushing slightly.

'Sure, that'd be awesome, one question though…why is Tiffany Evans staring at you?' she whispered and I heard Elsie laugh as we lined up on the track.

'Oh she sort of tried to bully me and my cousin in the changing room' Nessie chuckled and rolled her eyes.

'I told her where to shove though didn't I Ness?' Elsie laughed, jogging over to them. 'Hey I'm Elsie, Nessie's cousin. You must be Eve' she smiled, holding out her hand which Eve took shyly and shook.

She actually told someone about me, and not in a gossipy way? Wow, this Elsie girl is gorgeous…good looks must run in the family. I saw her other cousin Zack in English and he was just as handsome, a little too muscly but he seemed nice enough, they're related to that Finn guy as well aren't they. I wonder if that guy over there is related to them. His eyes are unbelievable, oh god I think he just noticed I was staring like an idiot. Good one Eve, drool over the most beautiful guy you've ever seen, that will work. He'll probably end up dating Tiffany any day now; I saw her eyeing him earlier so it's only a matter of time.

I felt like I was smiling like an idiot so I had to smooth my face out and pretend I couldn't hear her, she was right that Tiffany was eyeing me but I wouldn't ever go anywhere near her though. She was vapid and disgusting, I much preferred Eve's natural beauty; it was like she didn't even see it, the way she held herself seemed to me that no one had ever told her how stunning she was, she was only a few inches shorter than me and slim but with just the right amount of curves. I noticed that I was fantasising about her and mentally slapped myself as I went over to join them.

'Hey guys' I called, coming over to join them and trying not to stare at Eve who was blushing even more now. I was glad that the blood lust wasn't something that we'd inherited from our parents, my grandfather had been pleased as punch when he realised that we all had natural control over the thirst, you could stick a bleeding wound in front of us and we wouldn't even blink an eyelid. Blood was only a necessity that we got from animals, not a desire like with normal vampires. Elsie was grinning at me and flicking her eyes between me and Eve and I let out a small growl, she rolled her eyes but continued smiling, shooting me a wink.

Great, now my cousin knew that I was obsessed with a human girl, I'd never hear the end of it…even though I'd heard her fantasies about Simon Baker from The Mentalist, they were…disturbing to say the least. Not that our family would have a problem with any of us dating a human, what with the whole way my mom and dad met, but I still didn't like the idea of my family knowing my private feelings.

'Hey Jay, this is Eve, you running with us too?' Elsie asked, wriggling her eyebrows and I was suddenly annoyed we were in public so I couldn't punch her.

'Yeah if that's okay, I wanna stay as far away from Tiffany as possible…she's disturbing' I said and they nodded in understanding, obviously aware that I was referring to her thoughts. I noticed a small blush creep into Eve's creamy cheeks as her eyes widened slightly.

Holy crap, did he really just call her disturbing. These people really are something else; most guys in the school practically drool all over Tiffany as soon as they meet her. Oh maybe he's gay, I hope not…not that I have a chance. He probably has some drop dead gorgeous girl waiting for him back wherever they moved from…

Great, she thought I was gay or taken, I couldn't exactly put her straight because she hadn't said anything out loud, I mentally groaned…I never thought I would be so obsessed with what someone thought of me but here I was…obsessing, it was unnerving.

'I get what you mean, she tried to scare us in the changing room but I just called her a bitch and walked out' Elsie laughed, eyeing me pensively and smiling before she turned back to face the front. We began jogging gently, it was relatively easy to keep up a conversation because we could easily overtake everyone but we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves, besides, I wouldn't be able to talk to Eve if I was miles ahead.

'Hey Jay bird, have any girls caught your eye yet?' Nessie asked, I could see what she was doing; she was trying to get me to admit to her or at the very least let Eve know I was single. I rolled my eyes at her and huffed, thinking over my answer.

'Well, most of the girls here are vain and stuck up. I much prefer natural girls' I grinned, noticing Eve blush slightly.

'Seriously? Like not even Tiffany and her…friends' Eve asked, slightly out of breath so I slowed down a bit, signalling for the others to pretend to be tired.

'Nah I told you, she's disturbing. I don't like blondes' I replied, groaning when Elsie slapped me on the back of the head, 'I mean fake blondes Els, geez…that hurt!' I grumbled, smiling though at the laughter coming from Eve. 'Besides, I don't see what everyone sees in her, she looks like a Barbie that's been dipped in fake tan' I chuckled which caused Eve to laugh breathlessly as we approached the end of our run.

'Nice bro' Nessie giggled, 'I would have described her as a female yeti without the fur but yours works as well' she grinned and I laughed as we came to a stop by the coach, she looked slightly wary of us as she signalled us over to give us our results. They were probably bad, I hadn't been paying attention to how other people did, we'd mainly kept our pace with Eve.

'I'm impressed with all of you' she smiled and I blinked in confusion, 'I expected as much from our track star Miss Jones here but it's good to see that we have more students who can keep up with her'. I hadn't noticed because we had been talking, but it did appear that we had been moving quite fast, for humans at least, when I spotted that a lot of the students were still only on their second lap.

'Yeah guys' Eve chuckled, 'I didn't say anything when we were running but even I was impressed that you managed to keep pace while having a conversation. What happened to you miss I'm unfit, will you please run with me so I can talk to somebody?' She raised her eyebrow at Nessie, I was glad to see the shyness was lifting off her as she got more comfortable around us. Nessie laughed and shrugged her shoulders as we walked back towards the gym.

'So maybe I lied' she chuckled and nudged Eve, 'I couldn't exactly say hey you, be my friend, so I thought up an excuse to talk' she explained and grinned at Eve who blushed slightly but smiled back at her. I could tell she liked my sister, but she was still unused to someone actually wanting to be friends with her. She seemed happy though as we went off to shower and change before the final class and I had to control myself not to look into her mind as she got changed, that would just be un-gentlemanly of me.

I headed off to my last class which was Trigonometry, I didn't have anyone from my family in this class and I wasn't particularly looking forward to spending it alone and stuck with the thoughts of the students and…god forbid…Tiffany. I was happy when I didn't smell the sickly sweet bleach scent of her as I entered the room, only the gentle aroma of cinnamon and citrus with a hint of honey as my eyes were pulled to the back of the room, I could see Eve rooting through her satchel, her amber hair falling across her face as she pulled out her books. I smiled at her and waved when she noticed me, my un-beating heart leapt when I saw a blush rise to her cheeks and she waved back in greeting. I handed the teacher my slip to sign and smiled when he told me to take a seat at the back next to Eve.

'Hey' I smiled, sitting down next her.

'Hey…Jay isn't it?' she asked and I nodded.

'It's short for Jarrett but I prefer Jay, though my sister and cousins like to call me Jay bird which is…weird' I chuckled and revelled in her soft laughter.

The teacher started on the class then, it wasn't anything I didn't know. Not only did my vampire mind allow me to easily understand the math but my dad had also home schooled me; I wondered what it would be like after decades of repeating the same classes…boring probably. We were instructed to work in pairs and go over the problems in the book and I found myself actually having fun working on stuff I already knew, instead being able to get to know little bits and pieces about Eve.

'So you moved here from Washington?' she asked as we moved onto the next question.

'Yeah, my parents both travel a lot for work and they couldn't really keep dragging me and my sister around the world so we moved here to live with my older sister Bella and her husband' I said, going over my cover story even though I didn't like lying to her.

'And your cousins, where do they come in?' she asked, twirling her pencil in her fingers.

'Oh well my uncle Carlisle moved here with his wife and her brother Finn to work at the hospital so his sister Rose and her husband decided that they wanted a change of scenery as well. Their friends Alice and jasper came up with them, all my cousins are adopted and they knew each other in foster care so we're all pretty close. Elsie and Zack are actually twins believe it or not and my aunt Rose adopted them, Maddy was adopted by Alice and her husband Jasper. Even though we're not actually related I still see them as my family' I explained, smiling when she nodded in understanding.

'That's really nice of your aunts and uncles to adopt them like that, I know that some people don't like to adopt teenagers but you all seem happy' she smiled.

'What about you? Have you lived in Buffalo all your life?' I asked, she didn't have the same accent as the rest of the kids so I had been wondering where she was originally from, I saw the answer in her mind before she spoke but let her explain anyway.

'No, actually I'm from Ohio but my mom got ill a few years ago and we had to move here to be closer to the specialists at the hospital' she sighed; I could see the love and worry in her mind when she thought of her mom.

'What about your dad?' I asked then wished I hadn't when I saw the answer.

'He's not around, he sends her money to help with the medical bills but apart from that he doesn't care' she growled, her blue eyes fiery with anger. 'It's his fault that she's like this, if he hadn't left her for some bimbo years ago then she would have been strong enough to fight off the cancer, but no…he had to go and break her heart!' she hissed before slumping.

'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked' I mumbled and she sighed, smiling sadly.

'No it's okay, it's a logical question and I don't mind explaining, I just get sort of angry when I think about him, sorry' she explained and leant on her hand.

'Well it's understandable, I'd probably angry as well' I reasoned as I filled out the answer to the final question. I really could understand, not that my dad would ever dream of leaving my mom, even an idiot could see he was insanely in love with her. But he had left her once, apparently for her own good and I knew that it had literally destroyed them both; I could understand how having your heart broken could weaken you like it had with Eve's mother.

I could see in Eve's mind that his leaving had hurt her a lot; she felt that he hadn't just left her mom but also decided that he didn't want her as a daughter when he signed over full custody. She loved her mother more than anything, but she would have liked her father to at least want to visit every now and again, he hadn't talked to her for five years, not even on her birthdays. She felt abandoned. How anyone could treat this wonderful girl like that confused me to no end, I already hated the man and I hadn't even met him.

The bell rung shortly after that and I walked out of class with Eve, she was trying to ignore that everyone was looking at us but was having a hard time stopping the blush from creeping to her cheeks.

'Just ignore them, they're only staring at me because I'm new' I whispered, knowing that it was only partially true. They were staring because they wondered why the attractive new kid was bothering with that loser Eve, or at least according to the thoughts of a particularly horrid girl that I recognised as one of Tiffany's loser friends. I covered my growl with a cough and walked out to the parking lot with Eve, listening to her thoughts which were now centred on her mom.

'Well it was nice talking to you Jay, but I have to walk to the hospital so I'll see you tomorrow?' she asked hopefully and I felt a pang of pain at seeing her go.

'Why don't I give you a lift to save you walking? I have to talk to my gr-uncle anyway and he works there so I could easily drop you off' I suggested, I really did need to talk to my grandfather about the weirdness of my ability not working on those kids earlier but I was basically using it as an excuse to spend more time with her, plus I knew the hospital was a good few miles away and I didn't want her to walk that far.

'Oh..well…that'd be nice, what about your family though? I thought they got a lift with you?' she asked blushing and I mentally chastised myself.

Don't worry Jay bird; I'll teleport Zack and Finn back from somewhere private. Have fun with your girlfriend. Maddy sang in her mind and I mentally rolled my eyes at her childishness.

'Oh it's okay, Zack and Finn are walking home so they can explore the area and Maddy's going to see her dad at the university anyway so it won't be a problem' I smiled and released a breath I hadn't known I was holding when she nodded her head in acceptance.

We drove in relative silence towards the hospital, only exchanging occasional small talk about our lives as we drove down the streets. I could tell that she was anxious to see her mom and that her mind was elsewhere, it didn't bother me though, it was a comfortable silence and I just enjoyed the feeling of being close to her and smelling her cinnamon and citrus scent that filled the car. It only took a few minutes to drive up to the hospital and I parked and got out, running around to open the door for her just like my dad had taught me. She raised her eyebrow and laughed at the action so I explained my dad's gentlemanly ways as we entered the hospital.

'Gr-uncle Carlisle' I called as I spotted my granddad talking to an intern near the reception. He smiled and handed the man a clipboard before heading over to me.

'Hello Jay, and who is this?' he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

'This is Eve, she's here to visit her mom so I gave her a lift' I answered and I he chuckled.

You're more like you dad than you know Jarrett, oh she must be Fiona's daughter…he thought and I silently groaned at his thoughts, of course they were always comparing me to my dad.

'You must be Fiona Jones' daughter, you really do look just like her you know' he smiled and she gulped up at him, her eyes widening.

Holy crap, this whole family could be models…not as handsome as Jay though, no Eve…stop thinking like that, he's only interested in you as a friend. He probably just talks to you because of his sister, or maybe he feels sorry for me or something, either way stop fantasising, you're here to see your mother. Mom… I hope she's okay, she looked a little better last time and I hope she doesn't get any worse again…I frowned at her thoughts, upset that she thought so little of herself but unable to think of a way to show her how wrong she was without exposing my mind reading.

'Yes, are you one of her doctors Mr Cullen?' she asked, shaking herself out of her thoughts.

'Oh if you're a friend of my nephews then please call me Carlisle, yes I am one of her doctors, she's quite the sweetheart I must say. And very good at poker, I believe she has taken quite a bit of money from some of the nurses and myself' he chuckled and Eve shook her head sighing.

'I'm so sorry, I've tried telling her to take it easy on people but she never listens, is she doing okay?' she asked, worry taking over her eyes.

'She's been improving slightly each day but there's no way of knowing for sure until the next round of tests, why don't you come with me and I'll take you to her' he smiled and she nodded.

'I'll wait in your office Carlisle, there's something we need to talk about' I murmured so low that only he could hear.

Okay, I must say she seems like a very sweet person. May I ask if you really are walking in your father's footsteps? She seems perfect for you he thought and I rolled my eyes at him, he chuckled in response, a knowing look on his face.

'Well okay then Eve, I'll see you later Jay' he smiled and turned to leave.

'Thanks for the lift Jay, I'll see you in school tomorrow' she grinned and joined my father as I lifted my hand in a silent goodbye, sighing.

…I was whipped.

A/N: Like it? This story is more like a 'next generation' thing, we will be hearing off Bella soon but I want to introduce to you the new league of extraordinary Cullens. I find them fun to write about because they're quite funny in my mind. A lot more like you're average normal person (with vampire skills) than an old fashioned vampire. Review please :D