A/N: Sorry for taking so long to post but here it is. I own nothing that came from Stephanie Meyers cause I'm not that cool. I apologize for the muddled last chapter. That's not how it looked on my computer so I don't know what happened. Thanx to everyone reading this and leaving comments. It makes my heart super happy! The songs for this chapter:
"6 Underground" by the Sneaker Pimps.
"Bizarre Love Triangle" cover version by Frente.
JPOV
The bell couldn't ring soon enough for my first day to be over. Gym would've been more tolerable if that Newton guy wasn't constantly hanging on me or trying to save me from the evil volleyball. I can hit a ball perfectly fine. I could also hit him and send him flying across the room, something I was tempted to do more than once. I made it out the locker room and hurried to the parking lot to see Ginger waiting by her car surrounded by a small group of upperclassmen. She was smiling happily and laughing. I wish it were that easy for me. Out of all the kids I'd met today the only I could stand was a sweet shy girl named Angela. Although that Edward guy had me curious. I caught him staring at me at the beginning of chemistry and he seemed tense as hell throughout class. Like I'd reached over and stabbed him with my pencil. But there were a few times that I thought he was looking at me from the corner of his eye and the look it held brought a small smile to my face. I shook my head trying to prevent the thoughts that had been raging in my head during class. I approached the edge of the group when Ginger smiled even bigger and unlocked the car. Everyone was waving and yelling goodbye, I mumbled something while Ginger practically waved her arm off.
"So, how was your day?" Ginger asked once we shut the doors behind us.
"Same as any high school, except chillier."
"Nothing fun or exciting? Nothing really caught your attention then?" Ginger asked with a very suspicious smile.
"Alright, what's going on? I know that look. You get that look when you're trying to set me up for something I don't want to do. Like bungee jumping or wearing stilettos."
"I was just wondering because even though you're saying nothing caught your attention, you sure caught someone else's," she winked then motioned with her head to look behind her. I leaned a little past her, and there leaning up against his silver Volvo was Edward Cullen looking straight at me. His sister and brother from the cafeteria were standing on the passenger side looking less intently at me as well. The girl shot me a huge grin and waved before Edward apparently said something to her that caused her to stop and get in the car. He looked back at me with an unsure look before climbing in himself. His eyes seemed lighter than they were in the classroom. More yellowy and less black. I leaned back to find Ginger had been watching the scene with interest.
"You gonna tell me what happened?" she asked turning the key in the ignition.
"There's nothing to tell. He sits next to me in chem class. I didn't even talk to him because we worked on some lame worksheet the entire hour," I replied, deciding to leave out his staring and my embarrassing reactions to it. Ginger pulled out of the parking lot and headed home.
"Do you think he's cute?"
"I didn't really notice."
"Then you must think he's beyond hot. You never have a problem saying some guy is cute because you don't care about guys. This one is super gorgeous, I saw you guys staring each other down at lunch and then he's looking at you in the parking lot. No, something's up, I'm not stupid. I know these things," She said excitedly in one huge rush as we pulled into the drive.
I just rolled my eyes. Ginger did have a knack for knowing things, nothing to clear but just enough to always trust her instincts. It was a "side affect" we joked she had because of her linage. Francesca could read tarot cards and was never wrong in her predictions. It was unsettling to say the least. Even though Ginger had her grandmother's old set, she never read them. I like surprises, she said when asked about why she never wanted to know the future. But this little revelation worried me. She was right when it came to boys. I paid them no attention, none of them had the qualities I was looking for until now. , I scolded myself. We climbed out of the car and walked into the house both of us running upstairs to deposit our books and change into some more beat up clothes. Ginger ran down to the kitchen to get "provisions" as she called them while I went to the tool shed out in the backyard to get some things. A few moments later we were walking through the woods behind my house and towards my "spot" singing Bob Dylan songs all the way. Fifteen minutes later, we had arrived. The last time I had been here was the day before I left for San Diego and the rush of nostalgia hit me. I had expected the clearing to be more overgrown since I'd been gone. Ginger set down the bag of stuff and she walked to the stone circle in the middle. I put down the rakes and helped her clear any brush out of the middle and around the area. I put a few small dry branches in the center and stood back. Ginger flashed a mischievous smile before gazing into the middle of the circle and snapping her fingers. A fire whooshed up causing me to jump slightly even though I was expecting it. Ginger giggled at my reaction before picking up a rake. I mentioned something about keeping it down to a normal campfire before the whole forest went up in flames. I went over and picked up the other rake and went to work on the forest floor.
I wasn't trying to get rid of any wildlife, just clean up the dead pine needles and other brush that would spell trouble for us if I had to come here soon. I'd found this place one disastrous afternoon when I was five. I had colored on the walls in my room and during the lecture Charlie was giving me, the curtains in my room burst into fire. I ran out the backdoor and didn't stop till I had gotten here and collapsed. Charlie found me a few minutes later, damp from sudden light rain that began falling at the same time I began crying. That was when I knew there was something off about me. That it wasn't my imagination that weird things happened around me. Charlie didn't say anything but carried me back to the house and put me to bed in my parents room. The next day there was fire retardant curtains and bedspreads in my room and a path cut out through the trees towards the clearing. I built the campfire later that summer after a visiting tourist broke my Barbie. It was either light his face or build a campfire. The campfire won out. Soon it was cleaned up enough and we walked nearer to the campfire and settled ourselves on the ground. Ginger opened her bag and pulled out a bag of marshmallows and bottles of water. We both laughed as we stuck the on the end of shish kabob sticks.
"And we couldn't use the twigs lying here on the ground because…" I ventured.
"Please, animals use the floor as their restroom. God only knows who dragged their furry butt across those twigs," Ginger replied making a face. I only laughed harder.
"I'm just glad to be back. Not that I didn't like San Diego but this is more me. I can be weird here."
"You're not weird, you're perfectly normal. You just have a little something extra."
"Something extra," I snorted.
"You know, I'm just as big a freak as you are. Even more so. I could accidentally set my own ice cream on fire," Ginger huffed.
"See, no you wouldn't. You are perfectly in control of your power. I'm scared I'm going to blow up my car if I get road rage."
"Well, it's a good thing we didn't move to L.A. then, huh?" Ginger asked smirking. She pulled her marsh mellow out of the fire and stared at it for a bit, making it smolder more evenly around before plucking it off the stick. "And you forget about the week we had to spend camped out on the beach," she added.
That was the only time I'd seen her lose control. Ginger was staying at my house when she had gotten the call that Francesca had died suddenly and went insane with rage. Before she could burn the house down, my grandmother threw her into our pool and told her to wait with me outside. Twenty minutes later we were headed to the beach with camping gear, just the three of us. It was harder to set things on fire there and with the dampness of the ocean, I could point the sorrow too the sea where it was less noticeable instead of overhead. It took Ginger an entire week to calm down. Since then she'd been more in control of herself and handle things much better. The edge was still there though just waiting to be released in due time. She must have been remembering the same things and asked the question I was waiting for.
"Do you think they know we exist? Could they be hunting us down now?"
"It's possible. But who gets the powers is so unpredictable, we might get lucky and they think the family let them get bred out," I answered the best I could.
"You need to start practicing."
"I know."
"You're going to have to eventually open that trunk."
"I know. Look, let's talk about something else for awhile. Something normal."
Ginger nodded and began talking about the various activities she was planning on joining. Since the student council had already been voted in, she had to look for other things to occupy her time. She was already taking debate and art and had somehow managed to join the pep squad and the dance committee. Dance committee had me nervous. Ginger got all wrapped up in school dances and was constantly dragging me along as a third wheel to several of them.
"You know, there's a dance coming up the weekend before Halloween," she mentioned slyly.
"I'm not going."
"Oh come on! It'll be fun. You love to dance and you dance so well," Ginger whined, pouting a little.
"Don't even try. Just cause I can dance doesn't mean the boys can. And it's no fun sitting around watching you and your date make out when I have no one."
"This one is supposed to be girl's choice. I'm sure there's someone you've got chemistry with you can ask."
"That was pathetically smooth," I said laughing through my marshmallow.
"Why are you so scared of dating?" she asked.
"Wow, is it like twenty questions day? One, I've never met a guy before that held my attention long enough past a 'hello'. Two, no one is going to want to date a girl that could set their hair on fire if he forgets their anniversary or throw him down the football field if he got to touchy," I said sighing.
"Then we'll just have to find someone who won't mind being thrown into a tree," Ginger offered.
"No such person."
After a few more minutes of gossiping about classmates not of the Edward variety, we put out the fire and headed back to start dinner. Charlie came home and dinner was pleasant while he asked questions about our first day. I let Ginger answer most of them. Homework was a breeze and I was almost done before Ginger even finished her shower. I was a lot smarter than people seemed to realize, a trait I kept to myself. Bed couldn't come soon enough I thought as I climbed under my covers. I closed my eyes listening to sounds outside, grateful I had left my window cracked open slightly to let the soft evening noises lull me to sleep. My daydreams from earlier that day about Edward returned and more vivid then ever. I'm sure I was smiling in my sleep.
EPOV
I moved quickly across the forest floor, nearing my prey with each passing second. The musky smell of the mountain lion burned in my nostrils as I scaled a nearby tree to pounce on him from above and behind. I had immediately flew into the forest after I'd come home from school. My mind was still tortured with the scent of Jillian and the images flooding my all too aware brain. It was times like this when I wished for sleep. The ability to fade into unconsciousness could prove helpful in sorting out my dilemma with this human girl or make it worse. Giving my mind free reign to come up with interesting fantasies made me shudder. I wasn't normally like this. Girls made no impression on me whatsoever. I would admire a beautiful woman for a split second before losing complete interest. I was raised to be respectful towards women, not have such perverted animalistic thoughts that could make my older brother Emmet blush. I was grateful that he and Rosalie were away and not here to bother me with this embarrassing situation. It was bad enough having to deal with Jasper and Alice. Alice kept giggling at random moments on the way home, no doubt at my expense over this sudden crush. Part of the reason I left to hunt was to get away form her insistence that I talk about this. Sighing heavily I headed back towards home, having gotten my fill of deer and finishing up with a mountain lion to face a mortifying conversation with my sister. Halfway back my mind began wandering again back to Jillian. This time it was more of the things I was curious to know about her. Like if we happened to have anything at all in common with each other. I almost hoped we didn't. I partially began to pray that she was some brain-dead shallow person with nothing endearing about her so that it would make it easier on me to dislike her. If that were the case, these overwhelming sensations I felt around her would surely fade. That's when I realized I was no longer running towards home, I was running towards Jillian's house. Everyone knew where the Chief lived and been there once myself shortly after we moved here to visit along with my father Carlisle. Charlie seemed pleasant enough, a little to engrossed in sports statistics, but a good guy nonetheless. I hadn't paid much attention to the conversation we had but I do remember briefly him mentioning Jillian and the thoughts of sadness and worry made me block out his mind for the duration of our visit.
I come up to the house from the back through the woods. I passed a clearing on the way, her scent lingered there still along with the faint smell of a campfire and a spicy scent I realized belong to her friend Ginger. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, seeking out her room. Instantly I found it, scaled the tree and found myself outside her room on the window ledge. Jillian's window was unlocked and slightly ajar, letting in the fresh air. What am I doing? I screamed internally at myself. I'm basically stalking her, but I couldn't help it. I felt very much like Romeo scaling the garden walls to find his Juliet. Mine lay just inside, sleeping peacefully. Her heartbeat was calling to me and quietly I entered. Her smell hit me full force, so powerful that I almost ran back out into the woods. I regained control of myself and looked over at her. Jillian was facing the wall, deep in sleep. Her heartbeat even and breathing steady. I looked away, disappointed that I really couldn't see her face. I didn't dare sit or touch her bed, not wanting to disturb her peacefulness. I surveyed her room instead, the colors pale and soft. She had books piled into a half sized bookshelf. I looked over the titles and was amazed at the variety. No silly romances but a collection of classics, poetry, a few biographies and some sci-fi and mysteries for fun. I made a circle around her room, stopping to look at every photo, every book, every CD. She had tons of CD's, mostly burned with elusive titles like "mix 1" or "hip hop 5". As I roamed in her room, snooping I admitted finally to myself, I became more curious. She had pictures of Ginger and her father, but none of anyone else. A trunk sat at the foot of her bed and I could tell it hadn't been opened in years.
I was thinking all these questions of why when I heard it. A soft whisper of my name. I froze instantly, trying to blend into the little bit of shadow near the closet. Jillian and whispered my name and for a moment I believed I had been caught until I noticed her rolling onto her back, eyes serenely closed. She was asleep. I let out a sigh of relief to suck in another deep breath. Was she dreaming of me? If my heart still beat it would be pounding with joy. I moved silently to the edge of her bed and knelt by her side. Jillian's head laid towards the window giving me the most stunning view of her. The moonlight outside gave her face an ethereal glow. I stared out her, burning every small detail into my memory. Every line, every freckle permanently ingrained in my head. A glint from her throat brought drew my attention away from her face. At her throat sat a beautiful gemmed flower necklace. So delicate and unique, like her. I reached out my hand slowly, letting it hover just above the necklace. I closed my eyes and pretended to trail my hand up her throat, I could feel the heat radiating off her skin, warming my cold hand. My mouth was watering and not for her blood. I suddenly realized not once did I think about my teeth sinking into her veins the entire time I was there. All I could think of was how badly I wanted to touch her, when her voice once again whispered into the room. My eyes flew open at the sound of my name being more loudly whispered form her lips. The tone of it was so sweet and loving and the smile that now turned up the corners of her mouth was making my head spin. I sat there, unmoving till the pale light of morning approaching pulled me from her side. I could sit there for all eternity just gazing in wonder at the beauty that is Jillian. I stepped back out into the dark light of morning coming and sped home. Unfortunately the clouds had thinned and the sunlight would keep me from being at her side today, leaving me with countless hours to somewhat dream of her. I was barely through the front door when Alice pounced on me with a speech I'm sure she'd been working on all night.
"Edward, I know where you were, have you lost it? You just can't go sneaking into Jillian's room at night like some freak. What if you get caught? Now I know you love her but don't push it or you'll make it worse," Alice rapidly said.
"I'll make what worse? Alice what did I say about looking into her future," I growled at her.
"I didn't mean to look but after you left and I saw you going to her house, I couldn't help myself. I know you love her so I just wanted to peek but there's not much to see," She said in a slightly worried tone.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, her future is real hazy right now. Blurry. It's annoying as all hell if you ask me, no wonder you were all pissy at lunch. It sucks when your powers are weak or blocked. I'm just saying that I can't get a good read on her. The only thing I know for certain is there's something big not to far off, but no decision made by her. I don't understand what it means except she's very special," Alice added the last bit smiling and pranced off to reorganize her closet.
I went upstairs, flipped on my stereo and crashed onto my sofa. I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling. I closed my eyes and let visions of Jillian smiling, whispering my name and other fantasies involving her in the moonlight swim in head. Night wouldn't be able to come fast enough for me.