Chapter two: Conformation.
The dreaded Monday came almost too quickly, leaving me feeling nervous and downright frightened. Once dressed and ready, my brothers and I made our way towards the car, I noticed that the weather was what vampire would need; very little sun, covered by clouds that almost constantly threatened rain.
While Justin dropped Matt off at school, he gave me a knowing look.
"Good luck Cass." Was all he said, Justin gave the both of us a funny look, but didn't ask questions; obviously our problems didn't concern him.
I felt my nerves fluttering about in my stomach like butterflies, panic rising in my throat; I pushed away my fear and breathed in deeply. There was nothing to be afraid of, I told myself, but a part of me – a more dominant part – refused to believe it.
I walked to science class, thankfully I remembered the way, and I tried to distract myself by memorizing the way to my other classes, anything to keep my mind away from them.
"Hey Cass, you feeling better?" Kelly was already at my table; her unnatural blonde locks in curls today.
"Yeah I feel great." I lied.
"That's good," looks like she was lying to, "Tom was worried about you." Aahh, I noted the bitter undertone of her voice.
"Really?" I kept my voice bored.
"Yeah." She replied, her tone changing once she saw my reaction. She waited a few minutes before asking. "Don't you like him?"
I kept my tone casual, "Who? Tom?"
"Yes, Tom." She was getting impatient.
"Well, he has got nice eyes," I mused trying to hide a smile from the look of outrage that clearly showed on Kelly's face. "But…I dunno, I guess he's not my type."
There was silence, after a while I turned to see Kelly, afraid that I said the wrong thing. She looked at me strangely before speaking.
"Then what is your type?" Her voice suspicious.
Oh, a certain bronze haired vampire from a book that goes by the name Edward Cullen, who so happens to be a student here.
"I'll let you know when I find out." There, that should keep me out of trouble for a bit.
After that conversation, Kelly started acting a lot friendlier towards me. Though I could hardly blame her for being jealous, after all, who was the one jealous of a character from a book?
Me.
I was dreading lunch, and knowing my luck, that only made time go faster. I met up with Kelly outside the canteen, her face looked embarrassed.
"Hey Cassie, can I talk to you?" she didn't meet my eyes.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Look, I just want to apologize. For before – "
"Don't bother," I smiled, touched by Kelly making her apology official. "It's ok, I completely understand."
"Friends?" she asked.
"Friends." I agreed, a smiled tugging at my lips.
We talked girl stuff the rest of the way, while getting our lunch to sitting down at our table. Both of us suddenly went quiet when Tom and his friends came to join, I smiled encouragingly at Kelly. No matter how many times I told myself not to, I couldn't help but look over at the Cullen's table.
I was once again amazed by they're beauty, it was unnatural, inhuman. This only convinced me more of them being vampires, which wasn't a good thing.
Edward suddenly looked up, his dark brown eyes, hungry eyes, met mine, his expression was open frustration, like I was some puzzle he couldn't work out. I knew what this meant, he couldn't "read" my mind, just like the Edward in the book couldn't with Bella, not good.
Then Alice looked up, her elfin face full of curiosity, she smiled a dazzling smile that would have broken the toughest of hearts.
It was only a reflex that made me smile back, at least that's still what I'm telling myself.
"You know, that's the first time I saw one of the Cullen's acting friendly towards someone outside their family." Kelly's tone held a note of surprise that was quite insulting. I turned to her, glad of the release from two pairs of hypnotic eyes.
"Has anyone tried to be friendly with them first?" I asked.
"Trust me, a lot of people have tried to be nice to them."
I looked at her, smiling. "When you say "a lot of people" you mean yourself, and when you say "them", I take it that you mean one of the guys over there." I was openly grinning now.
She grimaced, "Is it that obvious?" she asked.
"Just a little." I allowed. We looked at each other before bursting into laughter. Kelly was the first to recover, her tone turned serious. "Don't waste your time Cass, you'll only get hurt. Anyway, Jasper and Alice are kind of an item, so is Emmett and Rosalie. And Edward, well, I guess the girls here aren't good enough for him… or he's gay."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Edward scowling down at his table, while his family looked in different directions, smiles on their faces.
"It would be a shame though, if he was gay. Such a waste." She sighed.
"It would." I agreed, careful not to look at any of the Cullen's directly.
"But seriously Cassie, he's the kind of guy who eats girls like us for breakfast." She wasn't far off.
"I bet he could if he wanted to," I allowed, "But I bet she'll have to taste pretty good." I smiled over at Kelly. "And on a lighter note…" we spent the rest of lunch talking about an upcoming gig at the local youth club, discussing the pros and cons of wearing a mini skirt during the middle of September.
"So, you're defiantly coming?" she asked when we were outside my English class.
"I'll ask my parents, but I'm not promising you anything." I thought of dad and the last "girls night" I had, my chances of going out again were pretty slim.
My English class was almost full; just a few latecomers were left. I kept my eyes down, felling stares of other's already on me. I walked over to Mr. Willis, my new teacher, and explained that I was new. He pointed to a table to the back, when my eyes followed the point of his finger, I almost begged him to reconsider. Mr. Willis indicated for me to sit in the vacant seat next to Edward Cullen. I walked slowly towards our table, my eyes cast downwards, too afraid to meet the hungry dark brown that was his eyes. If my life were anything like Bella's, then this would be the part when Edward realizes that my blood is more appealing to him than any other humans. I sent a silent prayer to anyone who was up there, praying that he wasn't a vampire, that my blood doesn't "sing" to him or that any of this is reality.
As I got closer, I dared myself to look up, for a moment I thought my heart had stopped beating, his glorious face was twisted with pain and utter loathing that broke my heart.
When I used to read twilight, I used to criticize Bella when Edward reacted like this to her. I thought she was just emotional, that she didn't understand the pain he was going through, and to feel offended by it was to be selfish.
I'm such a hypocrite, I know that he has a reasonable excuse, I know the pain he's going through and yet I still feel hurt. My heartbeat started to race, blood rushing to my cheeks, which is so not good.
Edward's body went still, his breathing stopped and his jaw was firmly closed, he looked like he had just smelt something rotten. This was all the conformation I needed, the Cullen's are vampires, and it's look like I might just be Bella. I tried to extinguish the little flame of hope that I might just have all I've wished for just a seat away from me.
I took my seat, placing it as faraway from Edward that was possible, I tried to keep my face clear of both hope and hurt that raged inside of me.
My thoughts wondered why no one knew about the Cullen's; I mean, there were books about them, but who in Ireland reads vampire romance novels? Everyone around here is too busy with sports and the latest fashion accessories to worry about books that had vampires falling in love with humans and their dangerous and forbidden love.
And who would be mad enough to believe that the five beautiful students in their school were in fact vampires from a book?
And who would be sad and obsessed enough to want to believe it.
Me. How sad.
Edward's still posture never relaxed, nor did I expect it to.
I made the mistake of stealing a glance at him through a curtain of dark curly hair; he glared at me as if I killed babies for pleasure, my heart accelerated, and I refused to look at him again.
My grandmother always told me that: A watched pot never boils.
Well, a watched clock never ticks either Gran, because I spent more time staring at the clock, willing it's tick's and tock's to speed up, then on Mr. Willis. And it felt like forever until the bell finally rang.
He was already out of his seat, so fast that to my eyes he was a blur, and so gracefully that I felt a little jealous.
I was shaken when I walked to gym, but for the strangest reason, I wasn't afraid. Maybe it's the lack of pollution in the Irish air that's doing something to my brain, because I'm not scared at the fact that five vampires are going to my school, and I've just become the most delicious meal ever to one of them. I have just become Edward Cullen's brand of heroin.
I never though I would say that, let alone feel ok with it.
Did I feel ok? I mean, the shock probably hasn't sunk in yet, but I don't feel any fear…not yet. But, why is it taking so long?
All these questions, feelings and vampires are really giving me a headache.
Gym was brutal, we were playing a game the Irish call "Hurley" a sport where you have a funny sort of stick and use a hard tennis ball. They could have been playing Quidditch for all I knew. After getting hit by that hard ball and some Hurley sticks, I felt bruised and damn right sore.
I inspected my body while I was getting changed, and sure enough they were red splotches that soon will bloom into beautiful purple and blue flowery bruises over my ivory skin.
It hurt when I moved too, so instead of walking to history, I waddled, like a bloody duck.
Lucky no one paid any attention to me; the new girl is old news, so I was free to be as duck-like as I wished.
As I entered the class, I internally groaned, Alice Cullen was in this class. I seriously must have really pissed someone important for me to be having this kind of day.
Thankfully my teacher Mr. Foley sent me to a desk two seats behind, so Alice wouldn't be able to carry on looking at me like a fond parent looking at a naughty child: you try to be stern, but you can't help but show your love for them.
I wonder what she "saw".
It must have been good, because that was not the look you give someone your brother desires to kill, because you smell really nice.
I don't know how she managed to be able to still look at me, maybe it's because she's positioned her chair at an angle, so she can both see what is happening in class, and keep an eye on me, whatever it was, she's managed to do it.
I wasn't paying attention to Mr. Foley or Alice, my mind was wondering to other things like; I am I dreaming? Or is this real? Or my Favourite one: is this what it's like to be a nutter?
My mind was distracted, so it took a while for me to notice that Alice had gone very still, her eyes distant, as if she was seeing something that I couldn't. No one had noticed the change in Alice, that's probably because no one ever paid much attention to any of the Cullen's. Seconds ticked by and Alice was still caught up in her vision of the future and I was beginning to get worried.
For what seemed like an age and a bit, she became aware of herself and her surroundings. Her dark eyes found mine, a saddened and haunting look shone in her eyes like unshed tears.
I knew then that Edward's decision to kill me had changed and by the looks of it, it didn't look good.
I waited impatiently by the car for Justin, my eyes flashing to an empty Volvo every few seconds. Yes, I was afraid now, for all I knew this could be my last few hours, even Bella Bloody Swan would be scared.
My heart was on overdrive; the thought of a vampire coming to my home, with my family there was…I didn't want to think about it. Finally Justin emerged from the school doors, a blonde insect at his heels, trying to act casual, but to me, she seemed desperate.
"C'mon," I whined when Justin was in hearing range, "I've got better things to do than watch girls drool over you." I received the filthiest look from Blondie, well if I die tonight; at least she is going to feel guilty. Justin actually cracked a smile, which made me feel good, another thing to be happy about if I die.
"Bye Just." Blondie said in a sweet voice as fake as her tan.
"Yeah, bye Tanya." He waved half-heartedly before getting in to the car.
"So, what's the rush?" he asked once he was pulling out of the parking lot. This surprised me; Justin actually cared about what was rushing me? My throat felt tight, I breathed raggedly in, trying to calm myself, no need to scare Justin with "emotional stuff." I though about Matt, how he would react if he'd seen me in this state, that though made force myself to be calm, for my innocent brothers, even Justin.
"I was saving Tanya the humiliation." I said once I was certain that my voice wouldn't betray me.
"I don't think she sees it that way." He chuckled, pulling into Matt's school.
Despite trying to act normal, I couldn't help it when my voice became intent.
"You can do so much better than the likes of her." Justin looked at me like I'd just said that I wanted to be a prostitute when I grow up.
The back door opened and Matt came in, his lanky arms over flowing with large books, his floppy blonde hair in his blue eyes.
"Hey Matt, how was you're day?" I kept my tone light; this would be the hardest part of all.
"Fine," he said suspiciously, "You?"
"Alright." I shrugged, I gave him, what I hoped was a reassuring look. I doubt I fooled him, but he didn't ask any more questions; obviously not aware of the danger I might soon face.
I though about running away, in hope to keep my family safe from the hungry vampire that I wished for, but my scent was all over the house and that would just lead him there.
I debated whether or not I should confront Edward, but that would leave me with no other option but to become dinner.
My family knew something was wrong, maybe it was the fact I kissed both my parents, hugged my brothers tightly and told everyone that I loved them no matter what happens. Whatever they thought of that, they didn't comment on it, just returned my kisses, hugs and "I love you", even Matt didn't say anything.
By then I had made a decision, I knew what I was going to do.
I was going to leave my bedroom window wide open, locking my door, even though that won't be much help, and praying with all my might that I'm enough to satisfy Edward's thirst.
For a while I lay awake wondering how my parents would react if they wake up to find their daughter drained of blood, would they even find a body? Would it seem that I was missing? Another runaway child, just like so many others. It would certainly explain my behaviour tonight. As the minutes ticked by, my eyelids became heavy, my body relaxing into a sleep-like state, an odd calm washed over me, my thoughts went to Jasper, the blonde- male vampire, he could control the feelings around him.
As I drifted off into sleep, I felt at sudden peace, I no longer feared Edward, but deep down, I knew I never did.
My last thoughts were off Edward, as I pictured his glorious face, a little shocked that I remembered it in full detail, and then I drifted into unconsciousness.
The first thing I became aware of was the unbearable pain that throbbed up and down my torso, as I collected my thoughts, I realised I should be dead, but surely death couldn't feel this painful, I soon became more aware of my surroundings, a loud pounding noise not far away.
"Get up Cass, or you'll be late." My mother's voice sounded raw, like she had been yelling for a while.
Why didn't she just come in? Did she sense her only daughter was dead? Or maybe she didn't want to break down my locked door. I opened one eye, seeing my white ceiling and part of my baby pink walls. This is a funny sort of heaven. I wasn't dead, I realized, I was alive and very sore. I removed my hello kitty blankets and looked down in horror, my body was covered in disgusting bruises.
I hobbled towards my door, unlocking the bolt and limping the way down the stairs.
"What the hell did you do to you're self?" demanded my mother once she saw my swollen body.
"She looks like a purple grape." Sniggered my older brother; I'll remember to get him back sometime.
"Shut up, Justin." My father said sternly, but even I could see the smile that was threatening to spread over his face.
"You can't go to school like that." Tutted my mother, coming over to poke at my bruises.
"How did it happen Cass?" Matt was the only one concerned about me at the moment and the only one not trying to hold back a smile.
"Hurley." Was all I needed to say.
Justin sniggered into his cereal bowl; dad turned his face away, his body shaking with silent laugher.
"Oh, dear." Said my mother, putting her hand over her mouth, trying to pretend to be concerned, when she really was hiding a grin. When she had finally composed herself she told me:
"You're going straight to the doctors."
I hate waiting rooms, they are always depressing. Whether it's the greying white walls, the unnatural silence or the sight of tiny children playing with old broken toys, they are depressing.
I've been sitting here for the last fifteen minutes, refusing to move a sore muscle. I heard rather than saw the door to the doctor's room open, I looked up.
He couldn't be a day over twenty-two, his golden blonde hair matched the honey gold colour to his eyes. His complexion was flawlessly pale, his smile warm and friendly.
"Miss Clarkson?" at the sound of Dr. Cullen's appealing voice, did my mother look up. Her eyes widened, jumping out of her seat, pulling my bruised arm along with her.
"Mum, remember you're married. Yeah?" my tone was mock seriousness.
"Just as long as you remember you're only sixteen." Her voice mirroring mine and from the smile on Dr. Cullen's face, he heard every word.
"Well Cassandra, there's nothing really I can do, apart form advising you to have a hot bath and a long bed rest." Dr. Carlisle Cullen told me while gently turning my forearm with extremely cold hands. I know doctors are meant to have cold hands, but this was ridiculous, if he wasn't a vampire.
"And maybe a note excusing you from contact sports." He added his American accent held a British undertone.
"That would wonderful Dr. Cullen." Fluttered my mother like the girls do to Justin at school, it was pathetic. But I suppose I would be the same, if I haven't already seen his son.
He signed my note with a flourish of his hand, a smile on his face as he handed my mother the note.
"Dr. Cullen?" I hesitantly asked.
"Yes, Cassandra?" his piercing golden eyes turned to me.
"Has… has Edward, left?" I asked in a timid voice.
His face saddened into a heartbreaking mask, "He has gone to visit some friends in the north." He looked at me with the same expression that Alice wore when I first entered history class, only his was more like a father looking at a daughter, waiting for her to realize something important.
I nodded, turning to mum. "Well, dad will be waiting for us." I put extra emphasise in the word dad.
Mum rolled her eyes and got up to leave the room.
"Thank you Dr. Cullen." She smiled, following me out the door.
I paused once my mother was a good few footsteps away from the room.
"Dr. Cullen?" I whispered.
"Yes, Cassandra?" he lowered his voice to match mine.
"I'm sorry." And I left the room before he could ask any questions.
But the truth was that I knew Edward will come back, just like I knew he left, it was all in the book.
I couldn't help but think of the look both Alice and Dr. Cullen had given me, they were waiting for me to realize something.
They were waiting for me to realize that I loved Edward.
If only they knew that they're wasting they're time.
I already knew that I loved him.
