Lunch rolled around and Bella came to the conclusion that it was a very good thing her family knew all of the things the classes were supposed to teach them, because in spite of her best efforts her mind could not seem to stay on her school subjects. It was with a distracted air that she sat down, munching idly on a carrot stick. They'd gotten to the cafeteria before any of the other friends, and even though Angela and Eric walked in the doors next, it was Jess and Lili that made it to the table first. Alice, perky as ever, greeted them both warmly.

"Hey again," she said, the grin on her face both genuine and contagious. "We're so glad you came to sit with us! Lili, this is Jasper, and this is Edward." Both vampires nodded cordially and Lili murmured a shy 'hello' but Bella noticed the newcomer's quickly fleeting expression of confusion as she realized that more than half of the people at the table weren't human.

~This could get really weird,~ she thought to herself.

"So, Lili," Edward's smooth voice slid into the silence before it had a chance to become awkward. "Whereabouts are you from, originally?" A simple and ordinary question, and though the girl's responses were quick Bella got the sense of a rehearsed speech rather than anything even remotely resembling truth.

"Well, my-" Small, almost unnoticeable pause before her statement continued, "-brother and I travel a lot. Our parents died when I was young, and so it's been just me and him for almost as long as I can remember. We were originally in a small foster home, but…we left. It's been just us ever since, going wherever we can."

~That wasn't even close to an answer,~ Bella mused, ~Yet it was enough to derail a conversation. Well done.~

"Oh, how horrible," Jess said. "I'm sorry to hear about your folks. But, he's not that much older than you, right? I mean, he said he was taking college courses…"

"No, really, there's only about six years between us."

"Show did you travel, being so young and without parents?" Jasper's murmur was curious, yet challenging, and a brief expression of…something…flitted through Lili's crystal eyes before she responded.

"People…well, they don't often notice children if they're not causing trouble. We stayed in abandoned buildings, rarely more than a couple of days in the same area. It got easier once we got a bit older. He was able to get small odd jobs – newspapers, garbage collecting, things like that – and once I turned twelve he picked up a real job and we got a small flat. He insisted I go back to school, and I love to learn things, so even though we've moved a lot I've tried to keep up with my education. The last school I went to was in Italy, right before we came here."

"Italy!" breathed Jess enviously. "Why on earth would you come to Forks after ITALY?" Bella noticed the quick glance shot from Edward to Alice, but kept her attention visibly on the new girl. Right about then, Angela and Eric walked up.

"Hi! I'm Angela, and this is Eric," the dark-haired girl said as the two of them slid into their seats. "You're Lili, right? Jess was mentioning you in third hour." For a moment the new girl looked a bit overwhelmed, and Bella almost felt a bit of pity for her, but she was too concerned with wondering what truly brought her here.

~Carlisle?~

~Yes, love?~

~I've got a really weird feeling that you might be right. She's obviously not human. But then, I don't know as much about the, um…non-human races as you do. She just doesn't seem to be anything like anything I've ever known.~

~Well, learn what you can. And then make sure you find out anything Jacob might know as well.~

~I will. He seems really anxious when it comes to her.~ Bella let her thought-conversation trail off as she returned her full attention to the table.

"…and so I told him I'd keep an eye out for her and, well, here she is!" Jess finished with a flourish of her hands.

"You spoke to Luc?" Lili asked quietly, and Jess nodded, completely unaware of the sudden appraisal hiding behind their new friend's gaze.

"Yeah, I've talked to him a couple of times. Oh, and we had lunch yesterday and I showed him around town. Hey, I know – after school why don't we all give Lili the grand tour?" Jess looked around at everyone excitedly before returning her eyes to the other girl. At the look on Lili's face, however, Jess stammered a bit. "I…I mean, unless…well, unless you've already, you know, looked around and whatever." Lili seemed to realize she was behaving a bit oddly, because she sat up straighter and flashed a stunning smile.

"No, that's fine Jess. I just…I think I'll have to ask for a raincheck on that. I really do need to head home after school…"

AAAAAOOOOOOO! AAAAAAOOOOO!

Her explanation, whatever it might have been, was cut off suddenly as the fire alarm began to blare loudly, startling everyone in the school.

"What the hell?" Bella exclaimed rhetorically, grabbing her stuff as they all began heading out of the cafeteria and down the hallway.

"No idea," Alice answered, to Bella's surprise. The group joined the throng of students that were – miraculously, she thought, remembering previous drills at other schools – moving quickly and efficiently towards the front doors of the school, teachers directing the flow here and there and ushering the students on with expressions just as confused as those of their charges. As they headed outside and into the parking lot, Bella thought she heard Angela muttering something under her breath. Stepping a bit closer as unobtrusively as she could, she was able to make out a few words despite the conversations around her.

"…something just feels WRONG, something is not right…" Just then Angela seemed to realize she was speaking out loud and blinked a bit, snapping out of herself and looking at Bella, seeming almost sheepish.

"Sorry. I tend to talk to myself when I'm worried." Bella said nothing, simply nodding, but she knew there was something more than that going on with her friend and she intended to find out. As she turned more fully towards the other girl, planning to ask her what she'd been saying, a loud rumble caught her attention and she looked back towards the school only stare in shock as the science wing, in a bizarre replication of sci-fi special effects, seemed to bulge outward slightly before exploding with a force that shook the hillside and knocked almost everyone off of their feet. Wood and glass and metal flew through the air like projectiles shot from a high-powered weapon, some landing close enough to smash through windshields and skitter across the wet pavement of the lot. Scrambling upwards, Bella had the thought that maybe they should get further away from the building, but was distracted by the confusion around her.

"My god…" a voice Bella dimly recognized as belonging to one of the teachers gasped nearby, barely audible over the screams of frightened students. To her right, though, it was the whisper of the new girl that caught her attention.

"This had nothing to do with God." As Bella turned towards Lili, shocked and confused, a second explosion sounded. She didn't even have a chance to ask what the other girl had meant before a flying piece of wood hurtled through the air and connected with her head. And everything went dark.


On the other side of the burning building, crouched in the underbrush, he surveyed the panic, the disaster, with a grin on his face. Everything that had made him recognizable to his friends, to his family, stripped itself away in that brief moment of complete, giggling insanity.

~NOW they're scared,~ he thought with satisfaction. ~They should be.~ And he turned and darted into the forest, thinking happily of the decoy he'd planted before the explosion.

~When they sift the wreckage, they'll see. And they'll be sorry. And then I'll be free to do what I have to.~ His laughter was inaudible over the sounds of chaos he left behind.


Author's note: Okay. What. The. Fuck? This was not in the plans. *Glares down at the pile of Evil Plot Bunnies, demanding an explanation. EPBs look up innocently* Oh, come on, guys. You expect me to believe that you didn't plan this either? *sigh* Well. Um...I guess...kaboom?