Chapter 1: First Impressions

So this was the beginning of our new 'life'. We – meaning Clide, Dominica and I - like to give very distinct tag to ourselves on the first day of school. This one, according to Dominica, ought to be powerful. I, however, personally think we should leave a down-to-earth impression. But there's no disagreeing with Dominica when she has her mind set on something, so I didn't bother trying to persuade her to follow – or even listen – to my idea. I knew her well enough to know how difficult it is to discourage her (that's why I was so grateful when she met Clide, seeing as how he can actually sometimes discourage her).

We decided (well, my twin decided) that we would drive into school in my land rover because it was the most showy. Trust Dominica to want to show things off. But, like I mentioned, there was no persuading her once her mind was made up. Even if I were to try to persuade her, she wouldn't want to hear it. So Clide and I just kept our mouths shut and did as we were told.

We arrived at school a lot earlier than Dominica was hoping for, so we got out of the car and Clide perched himself on the hood whereas I climbed onto the roof.

"Sorry that we're too early. I didn't think it was relevant," I said the words cautiously to Dominica, slightly smug. Dominica scowled at me and got out of the car, slamming the door so hard that I thought the windows had shattered. I checked to see if they were, but they were still intact. Thankfully.

"You did this on purpose," Dominica growled through bared teeth. It was always funny when she tried to control her anger- she'd talk with an edge of sarcasm in her voice, mixed with fury. She'd speak slowly and word out each word. Amusing as it was, it made me want to bite her back.

It appeared that the loud sound of the door had distracted everyone from what they had been looking at. Everyone had turned to face us, and they were now staring at us. By the looks of it, it appeared like they'd be staring at us for a week.

Or perhaps longer, I mused, seeing as we're 'celebrities'.

I, frankly, would rather call myself an artist. I don't enjoy being on the A-list as much as Dominica. To be an A-lister and to live the life of one wasn't my bag… It seemed more like Dominica's thing.

I mean, just because we've won a couple of Grammy awards, everyone thinks we're heaven-sent. Go figure.

We were supposed to be getting a guide to show us around the school. I could hear the principle ask around for volunteers. As he asked several people, I couldn't help but wonder how they were going to react upon meeting us. I wondered if they had even heard of us.

The bell resounded shrilly and the students dispersed into various directions, scuttling to class. There was one girl that seemed to be talking to someone, and only she remained still. I continued to watch her for a couple of seconds and when she moved I noticed a boy. As she continued chatting, she shifted slightly a couple of times. It was then did I notice that the boy had been remaining perfectly motionless the whole time.

It was very unusual for mortals to be this still, so I concentrated more on his face. He was beautiful- gorgeously perfect. He was like nothing I had ever seen before- whatnot with his faultless features carved into his perfectly pale face. It was amazing; so amazing that I could not look away. It seemed as though he had his own gravitational pull that was drawing me closer to him and intriguing me more every second. I couldn't control my sudden interest and attraction to him (heck, I didn't even try). His wild red-brown hair was windswept- as though he had run to school. He reminded me of someone I once knew. Someone I didn't wish to think about. Someone I had managed to rid from my mind, and to push into the very edge of my brain. I had been waiting for that memory of that someone to leave my brain completely, but it still hadn't.

I cocked my head to a side and stared even more, eyes narrowed. It was then did I realise why I had been unable to look away. There was something unnaturally sinister about him and it seemed to be pulled me in, towards him. He was beautiful, yes, but not natural. He was just too perfect... to perfect to be a normal human.

The whole time I had been watching him, I had been singing a song in my head so that Dominica wouldn't find out what I was thinking about. But at the last minute – as the result of my awe and curiosity – I lost control and allowed my thoughts to run freely.

It's not natural.

"What's not natural?" Dominica questioned, glancing up at me from under Clide's arm. I had no idea she had been listening to my thoughts, and I scowled at her. I urged to ask her to stay out of my thoughts. But I didn't. I was too frazzled to do anything but come up with an excuse. I successfully blanked my mind of any thoughts and replied instantaneously.

"That girl," I fixed my gaze on the girl that was still chatting. "Over there. Her scent's unbearable."

This was true, I realised. Her scent was unbearable… It was tempting and made me drool slightly.

"Wow," Dominica said. "It's lucky we went hunting yesterday or there could have been -"

Dominica stopped mid sentence, distracted. Something had clearly captured her attention, and her face was immediately rearranged to form a glare. I followed her glare and realised what she was staring so intensely at.

The girl.

The girl was walking towards us, along with her – presumably, guessing by the way they were holding hands – 'boyfriend'. It was the same girl I had been looking at since the moment I had driven into school. He seemed to be walking at a snail's pace to me, Dominica and Clide.

Her scent drifted towards us, and my throat clenched. I had to do something before we went mad, so I walked up to her.

The smell was more intense and more painfully enticing. I held my breath. The boy seemed to get the message and started walking faster towards us, pulling the girl forward. She struggled to keep the same pace as him and tripped several times before they stopped.

He was now mere centimetres away from me. Mr Irresistible was too close to bear. It took a lot of my mental strength to look away from his perfect face to talk to the girl.

"Hi," I said, fixing my chirpiest smile onto my face. "I'm Kelli Williams. This is my sister Dominica and my brother Clide."

"Hey, I'm Bella. Bella Swan. I'll be showing you the classrooms today," the girl replied, pushing her hair back as though she were already afraid of me. "This is Edward, my fiancé," she gestured to the boy. "He's in almost all of my classes and therefore in almost all of your classes," she explained, looking up at him.

I could now allow myself to look at him. He caught her gaze and grinned at her, showing a row of pearl white glistening teeth. I was dazzled. He caught my gaze and smiled at me too, but this time his lips were together and the priceless gems behind his lips were hidden. His golden eyes were too powerful for me to handle, and instead I forced myself to look at the car behind him. Clearly, it was his car. A silver Volvo – the latest model, probably – stood behind him, sleek and shiny.

Edward stretched his hand out to shake mine, and I reached my hand out to shake his. He gave it a very slow, careful shake. As if he thought I'd fall apart if he did it any quicker.

I finally looked away from his face and realised that his hands were ice cold and that they matched my temperature perfectly. I let my hand fall in shock and he hastily let go. Sensing the awkwardness, I checked my nails. The resembled eagle talons (and the black nail polish did not help). I put my hands behind me when I was done scrutinising them.

What lessons do we have now? I wondered to myself, fumbling around my black tote bag for my timetable.

"We're off to English now," Edward suddenly said in reply to my thoughts. I stared at him, astonished. The fact that he seemingly could read minds indicated that my accusations of his not being human were right. Oh my God!

I muffled my thoughts for the rest of the day – fortunately, I had enough practise with Dominica – and repeated everything I heard several times. Dominica sent me a few mental messages but I couldn't answer her, for I knew if I did, my cover would be blown by Edward the Mind Reader.

Unfortunately, ignoring Dominica's mental messages had its consequences, as I found out after class. I was heading for lunch when Dominica ambushed me in the corridors, cornering me. Twin telepathy could really be inconvenient at times- particularly when one intends to block their twin out of their mind.

"Why were you ignoring me?" she demanded.

"I wasn't ignoring you," I replied smoothly, looking around for him. "I just didn't answer you.

"I don't see the difference," she replied, looking puzzled and curious about my reply. She didn't prompt me immediately for a more detailed reply, so I considered explaining what had happened earlier on to her. Part of me longed to tell her, but another part of me was insisting I didn't. Besides, was she already aware of what was happening? I had no idea.

"Why do you look so freaked?" Dominica suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Apparently, she didn't know. I must have been muffling my head pretty well. I smiled secretly, proud at my job well done.

"You know that boy... Edward?" I asked as we made our way down stairs to the cafeteria.

"Of course I know him," Dominica replied, slightly irritable. "How could I miss him? Even if I didn't notice him, the way you had been gawping at him would catch my attention."

I frowned. "Was it that bad?"

If Dominica had noticed how awestruck I had been, there was no doubt that Edward probably did too (no wonder he had been looking so smug).

"Don't worry," Dominica reassured me, invading my thoughts once more. "Only I noticed it. After all, I am your sister," she replied, sounding rather full-of-herself. "Anyway, what were you saying about Edward?"

We were standing in the line, cueing up for food, just like everyone else was. Of course, there wasn't really a particular reason why were standing there in the line. It's not like we were going to eat any of whatever food they were going to serve us. I'd sooner throw up. How could humans stand the taste?

There was a herd of people waiting for their meal. Spaghetti was not exactly what comes to my mind when I hear the word 'meal'. But that's just me. And Dominica. And Clide. Probably.

I abandoned our conversation about the Mind Reader, hoping to delay it for as long as I could. Instead, I focused on the people behind us. God, they were hungry. I could hear the boy standing directly behind us tapping his foot impatiently. I could even hear his grumbling stomach!

"Would you like to go in front of us?" I asked him. The boy was about an average height, with short spiky honeycomb blonde hair. He seemed pleasant enough.

"Thanks," he replied, smiling uncontrollably as he made his way in front of us and grabbed a plate of slapped-on spaghetti.

"What's your problem?" Dominica demanded, outraged by my behavior. Ah ha! She had forgotten the conversation we were having about a la Mind Reader. "It was our turn next! What were you doing?"

"I was doing something magical called being nice," I worded the words out slowly, as though I was teaching a toddler the alphabet for the first time. "Maybe you should try it sometime."

Dominica snarled at my sarcasm.

"Hey, Sarcastic," she retorted. "It's your turn."

I ignored her and smiled smugly taking a plate of spaghetti. Dominica did so too and we wandered around the cafeteria, looking for a table.

I glanced at a random kid and winced when I saw what he was eating- spaghetti. How could mortals manage to swallow that? I'd never eat something as revolting as that unless I was dared to. Even if I did, I'd have to choke it down and quickly wash the taste away with lots of blood.

Dominica shuddered and said, "By the way, what were you saying? About Edward?" she looked at me expectantly, as though she was waiting for me to say something she already knew. When I didn't, she sighed and continued. "I don't think he's human."

I stared at her, unable to believe what I had heard her say.

"D-Did you just say that he was… not human?" I asked, crushing my eyebrows together. I do that a lot, especially when I'm nervous. Why? - I have no idea.

Dominica looked at me and rolled her eyes.

"No," she spat, sarcasm like acid. "I didn't. I said that he was a fluffy mutt that meowed like a feline!"

I stared at her even more, insides burning with scorn. I hated her sarcasm more than I detested human food, said coldly, "Fine, then. If he's not human, what is he?"

Dominica shrugged. "I don't know what he is- but I think that he's one of us. I'm actually quite certain. I mean, perfect features, mind reading skills, pale skin -"

"And cold, stiff hands," I added.

"Cold, stiff hands?" Dominica repeated. "I didn't know that. But that practically confirms it: I am about 99% sure he is one of us. But, just to be on the safe side, we have to be on guard at all times. Clear your mind of precious, secret thoughts. We don't know if he's good or bad, so best be safe."

"Maybe we could test them?" I asked brightly. "I mean, if they're you-know-what, we could discreetly test them. You know? Like, we could keep an eye on them: see if they eat this… barf, see if they come out in the sun or make cheesy excuses… Things like that."

Dominica nodded, twirling her hair. She bit into an apple and I watched her subtly choke it down.

"This apple is horrible," she said aloud, to me. "It's not sweet at all."

I grinned and fiddled with the revolting spaghetti in front of me, and popped it into my mouth. Disgusting. As quick as I could (translation, so fast that no human would be able to detect any movement), I spat it into a napkin and hid it in my hand.

As soon as I had it safely tucked away, Dominica's voice became a low whisper- so low that even I couldn't hear it as clearly as normal.

"Watch out," she muttered under her breath. "He's coming."

I glanced at the direction she was staring at, and saw Edward walking nonchalantly towards us, perfect features making my stomach lurch again.

"Do you think he read our minds just now?" Dominica asked, maintaining her volume.

"I don't know. I don't have powers like that," I replied.

"Nor do I," Dominica shot back.

Fortunately, as he came to stand behind us, I noticed Clide was waiting for us, grinning, with our lunch. I tapped Dominica, who spun around, grinned, got up and strutted towards him – after dumping her lunch tray and the uneaten food – ignoring Edward completely.

I did so too, and walked towards Dominica and Clide. Dominica grinned at me and whispered, "Saved by Clide."

She kissed him on his cheek, and hugged her tightly, drawing her closer to him.

Yeah, I often feel like the odd one out in my family. And yeah, I hate it, but manage to cope with it mostly. But sometimes I don't. But it's life, so I just deal with it.