A/N: thank you to all my lovely reviewers! I love you all. As for the one concern left in the review… It'll be addressed in this chapter! I also wanted to point you guys to my authors profile, because near the bottom there's a link to a picture of what the new vamps' eyes look like. Check it out! They're awesome! Without further adieu, I give you chapter four!

A/N2: This is the repost of chapter 4. I had to fix some stuff about Aidan's character before I could do ch7…. Anyway…enjoy

Solstice

Chapter four: Meeting Aidan

"Bella!" Mike called, the exact second he saw me. "Come over here! There're some new people you should meet!"

Seeing as slipping away quietly was clearly no longer an option, I made my way over to my "friends" and took a seat in between Angela and Mike.

Angela was the only person that respected the fact that I was going through a rough time. She'd let me wallow in my thoughts and memories, but still made an effort to keep in contact with me. She and Ben Cheney were still going strong, and I was happy for her.

"Hey Angela. Hi Mike." I mumbled, giving them each a half-hearted smile.

"Bella, this is Skyler Carter, and Eve and Aidan Sparks." Mike said, pointing each of them out. Genevieve and Skyler were sitting down, holding hands on top of the table, and Aidan was standing closely behind them, present, but not looking too interested.

Mike was still rambling on.

"They just moved here from Alaska, but they're originally from New York."

At a closer look, I realized I knew all I needed to know about who and what they were. I'd spent enough time around the supernatural to realize immediately that they were… vampires? Almost everything about them fit the description…except for their eyes. They all had an extremely unique shade of electric blue eyes. There was no way they could be contacts, but were also definitely not human.

Genevieve was absolutely stunning. She was about 5'7" had an even lighter complexion than me (though she was a shade or two darker than I would have expected. I assumed that perhaps she had been more on the tan side before she was changed.), She was wearing a light pink tank top with a white cardigan over it and dark blue skinny jeans. She had beautiful, long, wavy blond hair that went to her mid-back.

Jessica was right about one thing: Skyler and Aidan were very, very attractive.

Of course they are, Bella. They're VAMPIRES!

Skyler was about 6'2" had a strong build, and messy light brown hair. He was just as pale as I had expected. He was dressed in a light grey short sleeved button down with a white undershirt showing through where he had it unbuttoned. He appeared to have a friendly nature, but at the moment was staring off into space, as if he was looking at something no one else could see.

Aidan was… intense. He had deep, dark, brown hair, with bangs that fell across his eyes, making the electric blue of his eyes stand out even more. He had a guitar case strapped across his shoulders. He was dressed in darker colors than his counterparts (a simple black t shirt and black leather jacket and dark washed jeans), and just seemed more standoff-ish. I also noticed that he was gripping the back of Skyler's chair rather tightly.

I recovered from my shock, and figured out that the few seconds of awkward silence probably meant it was my turn to say something.

"Hi. I'm Bella Swan. It's… nice to meet you." I said, offering my hand to shake theirs. It felt awkward, but they already probably thought I was a strange one anyway. I wasn't prepared for the shock of what I felt when my hand met Genevieve's. Hers was surprisingly warm. Warmer than mine.

Skyler jumped and re-focused on the present, as if someone had kicked him under the table. He grasped my waiting hand. His was cold, but not as cold as I was expecting. His skin definitely was as hard as theirs had been, but it's wasn't as cold.

Aidan, was looking at me curiously, He didn't reach for my hand, as it was still clenching Skyler's chair, but nodded at me and gave me an obligatory half smile, before his expression returned to neutral.

I let my hand drop to my side. I doubted anyone else felt the tension I felt in the room. That silence was quickly broken by Genevieve, whose bubbly voice brought me out of my reverie.

"Hi Bella! It's nice to meet you too! I heard that you were the last new student here!" Genevieve smiled brightly at me, flashing a set of perfect, white teeth.

I almost cried at the images and memories rushing through my mind right then. This girl reminded me of a perfect cross between Rosalie and Alice. She had Rosalie's poise and beauty, and Alice's disposition.

"Yeah, Bella, I guess you're not the special new toy anymore." That one came from Lauren. I suppressed the urge to slap her. I decided instead to just ignore her comment.

"Oh. Well… yeah, Genevieve. I moved here from Phoenix."

"Actually, I prefer to go by Eve, but that's awesome! Why'd you move here?"

It was impossible not to like this girl, though I was still surprised at how… social she was.

"Um, my mom got remarried, and he travels a lot, so I moved here to live with my dad. So, why did you pick Forks of all places?" I asked, desperate to get the subject off of me.

"Well, our – mine and Aidan's— adoptive parent's passed away a while ago, and we were left with a bunch of insurance money, and we got tired of being 'wards of the state' in Alaska, so we decided to emancipate ourselves, because we're still 17. But it's easier to do it if you live in a small town, so we moved here, the smallest town we could come up with that wasn't on the other side of the world. That's basically it." She summed up.

"How did Skyler end up moving here with you?" Angela asked.

"Eve and I have been together for… a long time now, and because I'm 18, my dad doesn't care much what I do with my life, as long as I'm happy. More or less, Eve makes me happy, so when she told me she and Aidan were moving; I told her I'd follow her wherever she went. I didn't realize that this is where she had in mind, of course, but it's been interesting so far." Skyler answered, and then kissed Genevieve on the cheek.

All of a sudden, questions and chatter erupted from the other girls around the table. I didn't say anymore, and just sort of half listened, while I considered what was going on (by that, I mean that there were strange new vampires in Forks). I noticed that Aidan kept looking at me. He wasn't staring, but he kept glancing at me, then looking at someone else, then back to me, again, like he was comparing and contrasting us. It was odd behavior even for a vampire.

Eventually, the bell rang, and the group slowly dissipated. Soon, the only ones left were Mike, Jessica, Eric, Genevieve, Skyler, Aidan, and me.

"So where are your next classes?" Jessica asked.

"Sky and I are headed to English next, with Mr. Lockwood, over in building four, and I think Aidan's heading to Chemistry in building two, with Mr. Banner." Eve explained.

"Oh that's great, we have English with Lockwood next too!" Eric said, gesturing to Jessica. "And Bella has chemistry with Banner, so she and Aidan can go together." He said brightly. I knew I should probably be worried that Eric knew my schedule so well, but I just let it go.

"Perfect! We should probably get to class though; I wouldn't want to be late on the first day." Eve said with a laugh, getting up, taking Skyler with her, and heading off towards class with the others. Again, their social-ness made me curious. I didn't even realize that Aidan and I were among the last few students still in the cafeteria.

We looked at each other across the table for a few seconds, before I decided to break the silence.

"So… shall we?" I asked gesturing forward.

"I guess we shall" Aidan said in a quiet melodious voice, casting his eyes down. I realized that was the first time I'd heard him speak.

"So… it's this way…" I said, and started forward. Unfortunately, I didn't see the edge of the chair, and, me being me caught the tip of my foot on it. I closed my eyes and braced myself for impact with the concrete, but it never came.

Instead, all I felt was someone's cold hand around my arm, preventing another meeting between me and the ground. I opened my eyes and looked up to see who had saved me from another meeting with the ground and found myself staring into the electric blue of Aidan's eyes. I wasn't too surprised. Who else could have gotten over to me that fast? I realized his hand was still on my arm, and I blushed crimson.

His hand tensed around me for a moment and then he quickly let me go and took two quick steps back, his eyes slightly darker than they had been just a moment ago. I realized then, what had happened. My blush had made him… thirsty.

"Um… thanks. That happens a lot." I wasn't sure if I was thanking him for stepping back, away from my blood, or for catching me, but I figured double talk was okay in this case.

Aidan met my eyes briefly, but then averted his gaze. "You're welcome," he mumbled. "It's not your fault though. I'm sure that chair was just out to get you." He said mildly.

"Yeah. Chairs, tables, roots, flat and stable surfaces, they're all out for my demise. I guess you could say I attract trouble." I deadpanned.

Aidan raised an eyebrow slightly, but didn't comment on my klutziness anymore.

After another few seconds of an awkward silence, I shrugged uncomfortably and walked towards chemistry, Aidan fell into step next to me. We walked next to each other in silence. I jumped about a foot in the air when the bell rang.

"Shoot! We're late! Mr. Banner is going to probably glare at us the whole time." I said more to myself than him.

"He won't care. I'm new. I'm supposed to be late," Aidan said matter-of-factly.

"I was new last year. He really doesn't show a lot of consideration for that fact." I commented sarcastically, as Mr. Banner had been the only person in Forks who didn't seem to notice my new-ness.

"I guess we'll find out," Aidan shrugged.

"Okay… you believe whatever you want." I mumbled, and lead him over to the door.

Aidan opened it and ushered me in a head of him. All at once, everyone's heads turned towards us, their eyes practically boring holes into us. (A/N: I really hate when that happens). Mr. Banner, stopped in the middle of his lecture, and turned to us, clearly mad that someone had dared interrupt. He looked like he was about to reprimand us, but suddenly his expression changed, into a kinder, unfamiliar one.

"You must be one of our new students. Welcome to Forks high school, please take a seat…?" Mr. Banner trailed off, as if wanting to know Aidan's name.

"Aidan. I'm Aidan Sparks. Sorry we're late." He said tonelessly, gesturing to me.

Mr. Banner didn't seem to notice me standing there until Aidan had mentioned me.

"Oh, Miss Swan. How nice of you to help out our new student. Why don't you two take your seats? Aidan, the seat next to Bella happens to be available." He instructed us, and then just moved on with his lecture.

I was amazed. Mr. Banner had never reacted like that to an interruption before. He had never been that nice before, period. It was sort of freaking me out.

Dazed, I lead Aidan to our lab table, and began absently taking notes.

I didn't notice that the air conditioner vent had been right next to me all semester until it kicked to life, blowing cold air directly on to me. Aidan tensed up and leaned away from me all of a sudden. I looked up at him, and noticed that his eyes had just turned a midnight blue color. I saw the way he was looking at me, and I understood. I was suddenly afraid… very afraid.

I knew I should have known better than to get so close to him. This was not one of my brightest ideas.

Stupid Bella! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! You are supposed to be staying SAFE! You promised him! You're breaking your promise. This is the exact opposite of what kind of situation you should be in! I was busy scolding myself and panicking that it took me a moment to realize that Aidan had re-focused his piercing gaze at Mr. Banner. He was still tensed up, but he was no longer staring at me.

Mr. Banner kept on with his lecture, but began to walk over to the thermostat, almost as if he wasn't aware he was doing it. Then all of a sudden, Aidan's torture and my panic were over. Mr. Banner had turned off the air conditioner, and the machine blew its last gust of cold air at us, and clicked to a stop.

As grateful as I was, I was also perplexed about several things. First of all, I was still alive. Secondly, Mr. Banner never turned off the AC; he preferred his classroom to be about the same climate as an igloo. Thirdly, Aidan was completely composed now, and kept on taking notes as though nothing had happened.

I knew I wasn't imagining things, but this was all just too easy. There had to be something more to Aidan than just vampirism. I was suddenly overwhelmed with determination to find out…

A/N: So what did ya'll think? I hope I made Aidan, Genevieve, and Skyler's personalities and appearances distinct enough. Let me know if you need anything cleared up! Oh, and if you haven't already, go check out the link I put on my profile to see what the new vamp's eyes look like. They're awesome! Please review! I'm anxious for your thoughts.

Luv ya,

Dreamysilverdragon08