New

"Just a few more seconds."

"Finally!" I shouted. Being underwater for five hours was like sitting on a couch doing nothing. Maybe sitting on a couch wasn't even half as bad. It was boring, like someone took your sight away from you and all you could ever do was sit down to stay safe. Jane was still as rock for half the trip because she learned that struggling from my grip was impossible. She attempted to play bad illusions in my head; but whenever she did, I did the same to her too…only much more disturbing ones.

I could make sense of a vague outline of a tall cliff nearby, and the crashing sound of waves was finally heard. Not too long after that, my toes were already buried inside the soft sand.

"We're here!" Cedric's voice echoed throughout the place.

"Shh! They might hear us!" Luigi snapped at him. Aida laughed because of that.

I was already able to stand on my own two feet, and the waves that curled and tickled my legs soothed my whole being. I've never encountered water this close before.

"Follow. And don't make a sound." Luigi whispered. He led us inside a leafy forest several paces from the shore; and the fascinating footprints I left on the sand fascinated me.

"Let me go!" Jane shouted at the top of her lungs. It ricocheted and Aida turned around to pull her hair.

"You shut up, you brat!"

"Let me go!"

"I said shut up!" Other than the fierce look on her face, the stronger force Aida exerted on Jane's locks shut her up in fright. She marched back to the front and clang to William.

"Do you know that you look so hot when you're wet?" Cedric suddenly appeared at my side.

"Back off, perv." I glared at him. I paced faster ahead of him but his hands got hold of my soaking wet shirt and pulled me.

"You know, dear, if you just took our relationship more seriously, I won't be so hard to get." I kicked his balls, which I knew won't be painful for a male vampire, and went ahead. Jane was snickering for the first time.

I didn't notice that the forest actually led to the end of the tall cliff from a while ago. From here, I had a bird's eye view of the shore and the beach.

"That's weird. It was here fifty years ago." My heart sank. If Luigi's old house was demolished and we swam miles just for it, I'll surely lose my sanity. I helped him look around for it, and found a dim, yellow light from a large structure that was closer to the end of the cliff.

"What's that?" I pointed at it. Everyone turned to where I was pointing.

"That's the house!" He exclaimed. We all ran for it, and as we got closer, its beautiful features made itself known.

It was big, white, and mostly made of glass. The porch was sky high, and round lamps dangled from the roof. Luigi opened the glass door and we all stepped inside the air-conditioned room.

I was all jumpy. The thought of hopefully spending eternity in a mansion made me ecstatic. The interiors were very modern, the floor was carpeted and chandeliers that weren't old fashioned brightly lighted it. The living room was humongous and had a big, feathered sofa set in it. On its right was a clean and dainty kitchen and on its left was a staircase with black steps and a glass railway. I was wondering why it was so well maintained if Luigi left it years ago, but something beyond the other set of glass doors at the other end of the large living room distracted me from that thought.

I ran outside and I was blown away. There was a wide, infinity pool that glistened against the moon and starlight that overlooked the beach, and the ground it was on was filled with beds of wildflowers and lush, green grass. A glass balcony above it connected all the rooms on the second floor.

"Damn you to heck, Luigi! We should have moved in here years ago!" I shouted at him. Jane slithered away from my loosening grip and jumped in the pool, splashing water on the green grass.

"It wasn't like this before. I don't know how it ended up like this." He was gawking at the pool.

"Lu?" I turned around to where the deep, unfamiliar voice came from. A muscular man was standing by the glass doors and he clearly resembled someone, only he had more feminine features. They were exactly the same, except that he was fairer, had longer and wavier hair and had pink circles on his cheeks. Before my subconscious mind was even about to mention his name, I already started reciting the Mandarin alphabet to myself.

"Rammy? You did all this?"

"Yes. What are you doing here?"

"Long story. In a nutshell, every vampire's hunting us down so we moved."

"You're the Invictu?" He gasped.

"Yes, how did you know that?" Hearing Luigi talk so much was hard to get used to.

"Everyone knows about you lethal freaks!" The other man chuckled.

- - -

"Will you quit watching T.V., Cissa?" The T.V. suddenly turned off and I snapped Cedric a dark look.

"It's 7 and I'm immortal. What's there to do?"

"Go to school."

"What!" My eyes widened. I have never been to a real school before. Sure, I was given education back in the orphanage, but I took it with people I live with. Even if I was immortal and immensely powerful, school was just going to be too hard for me.

"We can't just stay here in hiding. We have to do other stuff, like schooling."

"Dude, I don't want to go to school. I'd rather be your girlfriend again. Anything but that."

"Ouch."

"I'm staying home."

No, you're not." Cedric got a firm grip on my arm but I struggled for freedom.

"No one's gonna watch Jane!"

"Rammy can." He finally lost his grip, but as I was about to run up the stairs, he held my body tightly against his, like we were hugging with malaise.

"Eww!"

"It's either this or I'll drag you by the hair."

"You're gay."

'It's this then." Cedric kicked the front door open, his arms still tightly wrapped around me. Before I could even break loose, we were already at the foot of the cliff. It was still dusk.

"This is so gross."

"I'll let you go if you promise to go to school with me."

"Where are the others, anyway?"

"Already there."

"Fine." I rolled my eyes.

We circled the cliff and went straight ahead when we reached the other side. There were small cottages built close to the other side of the cliff. Many tan children ran around the shore, books in hand.

"So where's the freaking school?"

"Right…"--Cedric jerked me towards him and hugged me in the gross way again, but he was moving.--"… here." He stopped and dropped me inside a plain schoolyard. Groups of teenagers were everywhere, and so were the noises they made—laughter, squealing, crying and chattering. I felt very uneasy because it was just like the movies I used to watch. I knew that the popular ones and the jocks are the superior beings, and then the nerds and weirdoes are the inferior ones. My knees weakened and I was worried, worried if I'll fit in, if I won't get bullied, if I'll ever find friends. It was all just too fast for someone like me.

"I can't do this."

"Relax! You shouldn't let these humans intimidate you, Cissa. You shouldn't let food intimidate you. The Volturi's afraid of us, what more with these normal humans? Just take my hand and everything will be alright"

"I don't see how holding your hand will help."

"It will fend off the people who like you or me." I looked at his palms, already up, being offered to me. I reluctantly took it and shook my head. It was damn awkward.

We walked past the teenagers with raging hormones, all stopped from what they were doing to stare at us and mumble after. The boys were talking about how they wish I was single and how they'd like to nail me, the girls were talking about how much chances they had with Cedric.

"After you." Cedric held the steel door open for me and I stepped into my personal hell.

There were more teenagers inside—fixing their lockers, going to the bathroom, talking, hanging out and being their noisy selves. I hid my face behind Cedric.

"I can't believe I allowed you to talk me into this."

"You'll get the hang of it. First class is this way." I followed him into the second door to the right.

"Goodbye." His face was suddenly in a smug.

"What the hell!"

"Goodbye, I'm going to my class now." He turned around.

"You're leaving me?"

"I never promised you that I'd stay."

"Stay with me!" It suddenly blurted out of my mouth. Cedric sighed.

"Don't say those words, Cissa. It makes me feel so guilty that I didn't you seriously. It makes letting you go harder." I felt a surge of pity run through my veins.

"Well, we're here now." His voice lightened up. "The past's in the past. Good luck on your first day!" Cedric disappeared into the thick crowd of students and I proceeded inside my dull classroom.

"Cissa!" a small voice cried out from the sunless part of the room. It was Gail, perched on one of the wooden desks.

"Hey!" That spared me from trying to find new friends. I slid past the students who were blocking my way, all gawked at me as I did.

"Some place, huh?" I told her as I took the chair beside her.

"Not really. I've attended school before. It's not that bad." She patted my back. "I heard Cedric talking a while ago."

"Gail, you know it's not my fault that I ended it. It's—"

"He knows it's his fault, that's why he regrets it. If only you knew how tormented he feels like whenever he looks at you."

"He doesn't look tormented."

"That's because he hides it with his immaturity."

"Good morning, class!" A woman who looked 20 something suddenly barged into the room. She was wearing a slightly opened polo and a very short skirt. She also had long, brown hair, oddly plucked eyebrows and a smile that spelled out the letters B, I, T, C and H.

"For the sake of our two new students, Gail Otis and Narcissa Reed, I'm Ms. Jessica Stanley but you could call me—"

"Mrs. Black" The class chorused lazily.

"Precisely! I'm going to be your English teacher here in the Quileute High School, the prettiest one too." Her giggle could make my ears bleed. "Now it's your turn to introduce yourselves!" The perky woman pointed at me. I reluctantly stood up and the pairs of staring eyes made my stomach lurch.

"I-I'm Narcissa Reed. You could call me Cissa."

"That's it? No hobbies, interests, dislikes?"

"Umm." I scavenged through my head. I had nothing. "No, ma'am."

"You are so boring!" She was lucky I was gifted with patience. If I wasn't, I could have killed her in many ways. "You know, you are a very pretty girl but why the heck do you wear those clothes, honey?" I looked down at the red shirt I borrowed from Cedric. "I mean, where did you buy that, in a lesbian yard sale?"

Honestly, I never had plans to take this school thing seriously. There was nothing to lose. "Look, hoe, I'd rather look like a lesbian than a prostitute." The class gasped. Ms. Stanley's eyes widened in shock and she unbuttoned some buttons, revealing her fat cleavage. It was violently rising up and down. Her quivering hands reached for her black purse, withdrew colourful tablets from it and gulped them down without water. She was helplessly gasping for air. Sheesh. That wasn't even my best insult! What a baby.

"Why you little b-b-b…"

"Bitch?" I completed the sentence for her.

"You come with me to the assistant principal right now! You're just new here and you're already so barbaric!" Ms. Stanley grabbed me by the hair and tried to pull me, but it didn't even make me move an inch. She tugged at it again, but I was still as a rock. Instead, I politely untangled her fingers from my hair, made my way out of the room without her assistance and waited for her to lead me to wherever the assistant principal was.

She brought me inside a reception to the extreme end of the hall. I took a seat on one of the leather couches. "You stay here, you little…" Her voice trailed off as she stomped her way inside a door that perhaps led to the assistant principal's office. She left the door open.

"Jacob, honey, I have…damn it, Jacob!" She suddenly shrieked. "I told you to quit that shit! Damn it! I don't know what to do anymore! I'm so fed-up with this!" I heard the sound of papers being thrown around, and I was itching to know what Ms. Stanley was screaming about. My question was answered soon, when one of the papers flew out of the door and landed on my lap. I flipped it and saw a perfect caricature of my face.

- -

Hey, guys! Sorry for the late updates! I'm having trouble with my plot and I'm busy doing my other story, "Hero", these days. I suggest that you read it in the mean time.