DAYBREAK

Book I: Renesmee Cullen

CHAPTER 2

School

I have always enjoyed stories from my dad's school days, and often tried to visualize what it had actually looked like. But what I had imagined did not prepare me for the "welcome" my family was to receive from the other human students. People just stopped to stare, dumbfounded expressions evident on their faces as they ogled at us. Yes, ogled. Aunt Rosalie just walked on haughtily, with Uncle Emmett keeping a firm hand on her waist. Aunt Alice danced along, completely ignoring the onlookers, and held Uncle Jasper's hand tightly. Mom for once looked a bit uncomfortable, with all the attention I supposed, but she still held my hand tightly and kept me close to her. Dad just walked nonchantly behind us, assuming his impassive face.

We went to the office and quickly got our time tables for the term. Dad was in my first class, English.

"Here we go again," I heard my dad mutter dryly. "Come on Nessie, lets go to class."

Now, class was an interesting experience. For once, I never heard so much noise all at one place before. Continuous, annoying, buzzing noise coming from the chatter of the other students. "Is it always so noisy?" I asked my dad quietly as we stepped into class.

"Trust me, its even worse when you hear them up here." He said, as he tapped his head.

Honestly, this was slowly beginning to freak me out a little. I felt like an animal in the zoo as people turned to stare at me and dad. I suddenly felt my cheeks turn hot, and to my horror, I realized I was blushing! Dad only chuckled softly as he led me to two empty seats.

Before I could even settle down in my seat, a girl in front of me turned and gave a friendly smile. "Hi! You must be new. I'm Sarah, and you are??"

This girl was so warm and her smile felt so genuine that I couldn't help but smile back. "I'm Renesmee Cullen, but you can call me Nessie. And this is my brother, Edward." I gestured to him. "We're twins." I added, in case she didn't make the connection.

"So where are you guys from??" She asked, after nodding politely to my brother.

"Alaska. Our dad just got posted to the hospital here, so we moved together with him." I replied, but before I could say more, the class quieted as our English teacher walked in. I suddenly felt my dad stiffen and I looked up, only to meet a pair of violet eyes glaring daggers at both me and my dad. I froze. That was not a human. That was another vampire, and he recognized us!

"That's Mr Brisco, our English teacher. His horrid!" Sarah muttered to me before turning back to her seat.

The tension broke abruptly as Mr Brisco looked away and walked to his desk. It was as if the glaring session did not happen. It was soon apparent that Sarah's view of him didn't really hold among most of the girl population of the class. There were lots of "Mr Brisco! We missed you over the holidays! We made these for you," and handed him jars of cookies, chocolates, even flowers! Items that I soon guessed ended up in the trash.

He was extremely handsome….as with all our kind. And that is pretty much the good I can say about him. His eyes were so cold, so extremely cold. And he spoke in a frosty unaffective voice. His comments to the students were at best very curt, and at worst, downright degrading. Sarah was right in saying that he is horrid.

But the thing that was mostly on my mind the entire time, and I'm sure it was in Dad's as well, was: What on earth was he doing here, teaching in a human school, when he obviously fed on humans?

Class ended soon enough. He completely ignored us throughout.

"What's your next class Nessie?" Sarah turned around again, when the bell rang.

I peered at my time table. "Gym." I said aloud.

"My next class is bio. You sure you'll be ok?" Dad asked.

"Don't worry Edward, I'll take care of your sister." Sarah smiled cheerfully and linked her arms with me. Why do I get the funny feeling that she reminds me awfully of someone?

Edward smiled at her, "Thanks. I know she'll be safe with you." He said, and left for his next class. Great, now I'm really on my own.

The first half of the day passed in a flash, and before I knew it, Sarah was bringing me towards the cafeteria. "You might consider bringing your own lunch sometime. The food here sucks." She said, making a face. I laughed, for her face was so comical. I was beginning to like Sarah very much. I felt so much at ease with her although I hardly knew her!

"Do you want to sit with me and my friends, or your brother?" She asked, as she noticed me looking at my brother, who was sitting with the rest of my family.

"I could sit with you." I decided quickly, after all, I was here to interact with humans for my human experiences.

"Great! Lets get our trays and I'll introduce you to the rest of the gang." Sarah chirped and skipped towards the food.

"Alright, Nessie, this is Laura, Caleb, and Jackson but we call him JX. Everyone, this is Nessie." Sarah introduced when we were finally at the table.

"So Sarah's bringing in another lost sheep!" The person called JX commented.

Sarah glared and swatted at him. "She's NEW." She replied rather defensively.

"So Nessie, where are you from?" Caleb asked. He wasn't particularly good looking, with his hair neatly combed, thick glasses and a rather less than perfect complexion. But he seemed nice enough.

Again I repeated the story when suddenly, I breathed in a whiff of the sweetest and most compelling aroma I've ever smelled in my entire life. My eyes fluttered as I drowsily turned towards the direction of the scent. Sarah followed my gaze. "Oh, that's Peter Worthington, the richest and most good looking guy on campus. But perhaps not the nicest guy around. His currently dating Bobbi Ellis. She's the most popular girl…."

Sarah's voice droned on and on, but there was now nothing more important than the blood. It was prey, and I was predator. It was drawing me closer, the sweetness and intoxicating quality of that blood…..I slowly stood up, planning my attack, when suddenly, I felt a pair of freezing cold hands gently forced me back into my seat.

"Nessie?" Dad called me softly.

Then I jerked back into reality. School. Sarah. Humans. Friends. Oh right. Pretend. Daddy. I blinked. Oh my goodness, I nearly lost control! I..I…I…

I suddenly panicked as I fought to keep my sanity while fighting off the waves of instinct to rush over the drain Peter's blood. Almostly immediately, I felt waves of calm infiltrate my being. "Uncle Jasper!" I muttered thankfully.

"Nessie? Are you ok?" Edward asked again, and I looked up. I finally noticed that my new friends were looking at me weirdly. "Sorry!" I attempted to smile, "Its just that…I get these weird episodes at times when I just loose concentration and start to loose touch with reality..…." Oh my gosh, I was horrified at my explanation. What if they made me out to be some sort of a mental patient and avoided me from now on. Then I won't have any friends……

"Oh, don't worry. Welcome to the club. We all do weird things at some point or another." JX said reassuringly. The rest nodded eagerly. Only Laura seemed interested in playing with her food and oblivious to whatever was happening.

"It is a rather private thing, so we would really appreciate it if this is kept among yurselves." My dad added.

"Of course!" Sarah chirped.

I began to breathe evenly. Yes, I can do this. I muttered silently in my head over and over again as I struggled to gain control again. I heard dad pull a chair over and sat with us, all the time keeping one hand on mine.

"I'm Edward Cullen, and I'm her twin brother," Edward introduced himself, to take attention off me I guess. "I'm older by 5 minutes." He smirked as he played his part to life.

"Wow we've hardly had twins around. And definitely not as good looking as you guys." JX said straightforwardly. "I'm JX, born and bred in oh so cold Calgary. Caleb just shifted here from sunny California a year ago. Laura also just recently came from New York."

They dribbled into some mindless chatter, and I almost, ALMOST had it under control when suddenly, HE came right to our table. His scent was overwhelming, and never did I struggle so desperately against the burning in my throat. Usually, I never had much difficulty resisting human blood, and I thought it was because I was half human. But now, this person's blood, was crying out to me. I felt my dad's grip on me tighten. I was so glad he was there to prevent me from doing anything stupid.

"Hi Laura, here's the book you lent me a week ago." The stupid irritating voice which I knew definitely belonged to HIM spoke out. I looked down, hoping he'll ignore me and move on.

"Thanks Peter! Did you enjoy it?"

Was that Laura's voice? It sounded so bright and cheerful, yet to me she looked like the dullest and quietest person on earth, if I may be so frank.

"Yeahhh…….say, whose your new friend over here?" The voice sounded again. Shit, he noticed me.

"She's Nessie, Nessie Cullen." Laura replied, a bit softer.

Oh no, it wouldn't do to completely ignore him. I would have to look up and talk to him.

I looked at him straight in the eye. He was good looking for a human, no doubt. But things that most girls probably fail to notice, such as the cruel twist of his lips, harsh glint in his eyes, and the smile that did not quite reach up to his eyes told me at once that he was probably one of the most selfish and arrogant person around, and for a while, I pitied Bobbi Ellis who was dating him, whoever she was.

"Please to meet you Nessie, I am Peter Worthington. My dad's the owner of Worthington Enterprises." He said and stuck out his hand.

Worthington Enterprises? Was I supposed to know that name? And I looked at his hand in terror. No way can I touched that hand with the pulsating blood beneath and not rip it apart, devouring that amazing blood. As much as I'm starting to dislike him, it wouldn't do to kill him just like that. I was terrified, because my hand was already trying to slowly inch forward.

Just at that moment, my dad's cellphone rang. How timely.

"Ok Nessie, home emergency, we have to leave." Dad said, and gently dragged me towards the door. Already, I was getting reluctant to leave. My resolve was weakening. Mom and Dad will understand. Everyone will understand…..

"Nessie, we are going." Dad said, this time a little more firmly and swiftly maneuvered me out of the door using his immense strength.

The cold draft of air finally woke me up, erasing any trace of that intoxicating scent from my nostrils. The implications of what I had almost did suddenly overwhelmed me, and in horror, I struggled, broke free of my dad's arms, and ran. I ran and ran, wanting to get as far away from that horrible place as possible. Finally I stopped, because I couldn't go any further. My human limitations were catching up to me.

There I curled up, under a tree, panting and crying. What have I done? But before I knew it, a pair of cold arms wrapped around me and pulled me tight into a hug.

"Daddy" I whimpered, over and over again. Only here was I safe, in my Daddy's arms. Before long, exhausted, I drifted off to sleep.

***

"We are leaving." I faintly heard my dad say authoritatively as I slowly woke up from my sleep state. I opened my eyes and peered outside the window. It was dark.

Leaving??? I rushed downstairs, only to find my entirely family in conference.

Mom immediately rushed to me when she saw me walk into my room. "My poor darling!" and hugged me tightly.

It was there and then when I decided. I'm not going to run away. I have my family here, who loves me, they can see me through this.

"No, we're not leaving." I announced.

***

So who is Mr Brisco? Will he pose any danger?

What about Peter? He is Nessie's singer!

Stay tuned to find out....

Completed on January 20, 2009

©Kellentia