Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.
"I'll be back tomorrow, my love," Shane said as he kissed her good night.
I rolled my eyes and went upstairs. "Harlan," Rose called as I walked past her room.
"Yes?" I said.
"Come here for a moment," she whispered. I entered her room for the first time. It was like the chambers of a queen. She had a huge canopy bed. All the furniture was made of mahogany. On the right wall there was a large mirror over her dresser.
"So..." she began. "I was wondering if you could tell a little bit about Shane." I could sense that she was a little worried. "What do you want to know?" I asked pretending to look around.
"Well, how did they meet?"
"We were hunting. I ran across him first. I thought nothing of it. Before I got a chance to attack him Josephine was already next to me. At first it looked like she saw a ghost. I tried to lunge for his throat, but she pinned me to a tree. 'No!' she screamed at me. She dragged me home and made me promise never to attack him again."
Rose was giggling quietly. "It's sweet that they're in love."
"But it's very dangerous," she said in a more stern voice.
"No kidding," I said a bit sarcastic. "He makes her happy. Who am I to deny her the happiness she deserves."
"You know you should let me dress you up sometimes," Rose said changing the subject. She probably felt that I didn't wish to continue. "I don't know about that..." I started.
"That's a great idea!" Alice chimed cutting me off as she danced into the room. This was going to be a long day.
"Are we done yet?" I groaned.
"Fine. We'll come back next weekend," Alice said with a grin. She and Rose went to pay for the load of clothes they were forcing me to buy. I left the store to sit on the bench outside and wait for them. There were a group of girls huddled next to the Starbucks stand in front of the store. I could feel them staring at me.
"Who's the freak?" I heard one girl say.
"Your just mad because she's cuter than you are," another girl said.
They started arguing. I could feel my cheeks turning pink. This girl I didn't know was defending me. I wanted to thank her. Rose and Alice emerged from the store with giant bags of clothes. They probably heard the girls talking about me. Alice gave them a menacing look and they scurried away. "Don't listen to them Harlan. They're just jealous. Typical teenagers."
I didn't say anything the whole trip home. Rose and Alice looked concerned. They kept promising to tear those girls limb from limb next time. That made me smile a little. I couldn't help wonder who that girl was.
When we got home Josephine and Shane were on the stairs in a passionate embrace. I rushed into the house so that I wouldn't have to look at them. Renesmee ran to me and gave me a hug to welcome me home. She touched me face; I saw her and me playing dress up. I wanted to protest, but before I knew it Rose and Alice had swept me upstairs.
"This will make you feel better Harlan!" Alice exclaimed cheerfully.
It was hours before the decided on what they wanted me to wear tomorrow. Apparently there was a big occasion I didn't know about. Downstairs Carlisle was calling everyone into the living room. After everyone was settled he said, "It's time for all of you to go to school." I noticed that Shane was gone. "You'll all be attending Port Angeles High School."
Rose looked like she was going to protest. Of course Alice already knew. This would be my first time in school, Josephine too. "Edward, Bella, Alice, Harlan, and Josephine will be sophomores. Emmett, Rose, and Jasper will me juniors."
"When does school start?" I asked.
"Tomorrow," he said.
No wonder they made me go on a shopping spree. I sighed and Alice said, "We'll help you get used to school." She gave me a reassuring smile. It worked. "Edward, Alice, and Emmett will be using the last name Cullen. Rose and Jasper will be the Hales. Harlan and Josephine will be the Gales," Carlisle said looking around the room. They've all been through this before, but we haven't. After the family meeting Alice and Rose rushed us upstairs to see how they wanted to do our hair.
I reluctantly woke up the next morning. The thought of school had intrigued me to wake me. Josephine was up before I was and Rose was doing her hair. I took a quick cold shower to wake me up. Alice was waiting for me outside the bathroom. She pulled me to the counter in her bathroom and started putting some make-up on me. After she was done, she switched with Rose so she could curl my hair. "I think you'll like school. If any of those humans say anything rude to you, you let me know," she winked. Even though she was smiling I knew she was serious.
The way the Cullens took us in was far beyond amazing. They've been so kind to us. I told myself I owed it to them not to mess things up. Rose finished curling my hair and told me to get dressed and meet her in the garage. I was going to school with Rose, Alice, and Josephine in Rose's new silver BMW Z3 that Emmett bought her last week.
Emmett, Jasper, Edward, and Bella were taking Edward's Volvo. I went to my room and pulled the outfit they chose for me yesterday from the closet. It was a cute green spaghetti strap dress that reached just above my knees. Attached to the hanger was a new bra. There was a note attached.
Where this under the dress. - Alice
I sighed a little. Alice. I put on the bra and dress. I grabbed the white 3 inch heels from the shoe rack next to the door and slipped them on. My bag was already in the living room so I didn't need to worry about that. I walked into the bathroom to look at myself to make sure I didn't look weird. For a second I didn't recognize myself. I twirled a bit to make sure it was me. Strangely, I liked the way I looked.
Josephine walked in the bathroom. She was wearing something similar except her dress had plaid print with a thick belt around her waist.
"You look cute sis," she said.
"Thanks, so do you," I replied.
"Come on we don't want to be late." She grabbed my hand and we ran downstairs together. We hadn't spent much time together lately. Now that Shane was here our time together will be even more limited. We grabbed our bags and headed to the garage. Everyone was already in the garage waiting. Alice was beaming at me. I felt myself turn scarlet. "Women take so long to get ready," Emmett said. Alice gave him her kill look and he shut up. I was grateful for that. We got in Rose's car and left first. Everyone in their family drove extremely fast. Usually it would take at least an hour to get to Port Angeles, but we got there in half the time.
Since Rose, Emmett, and Jasper were "juniors" they had to go to a different building for orientation. The rest of us walked together to building B. The other students were staring at us. We could hear them talking and asking questions.
"Wow look at the new kids." "She's not that pretty." "Are they twins?" "They're all hot." "They look like freaks."
I tried to block out all the conversations around us. Edward reached the door first and held it open for us like a gentlemen. We took seats in the back. I was glad that no one would be able to stare at us without making it obvious. The orientation teacher passed everyone their schedules. Mine was:
Period 1: PE
Period 2: English 3-4
Period 3: Intermediate Algebra
Period 4: Biology
Period 5: Modern World History
Period 6: Japanese
Great I get to get all sweaty first thing in the morning. We all exchanged schedules to see if we had any classed together. I had Japanese with Edward, PE with Alice, thank goodness, and Algebra with Josephine. The bell rang and everyone left to go to their first period. Alice already knew where she was going. She pulled me by the arm to make sure I didn't run. The gym wasn't very big. It was smaller than the Cullen house. There were a few bleachers on the left wall. We sat in the from row, all Alice's doing.
People were still staring at us. They kept their distance thankfully. The PE teacher/Basketball coach went through his guidelines with us and started talking about the sports we'd be doing. I wasn't really looking forward to that part. Since it was the first day all we did was buy our PE uniform, which was were green shorts and white shirts, and get lockers. Near the end of the period a boy worked up the nerve to come talk to us. He had short black hair in cute little baby spikes. His eyes were sky blue. I couldn't help, but look at his clothes. He had on a button up plaid collar shirt with dark blue jeans. He was really cute for a human.
"Hi. My name is Chase Reese. What are your names?"
"I'm Alice and this is Harlan," she answered.
"So where are you ladies from? I've never seen you before," he asked.
"We moved from Alaska to Forks, Washington," Alice said smoothly.
"Why are you coming to school in Port Angeles?"
"Is there something wrong with that?" I hissed holding back a growl.
"No. I was just curious because that's a bit far," he said quickly. "So what classes do you ladies have next?"
"I have Algebra," said Alice. "English," I muttered.
"I have English too. Do you want to walk together?" he asked eagerly. Oh great. "Sure I guess," I say trying to sound casual. The bell rang and Alice ran off. She gave me a sly grin before she left. By the time we reached our English class he'd gone through every detail of the school. Gossip, drama, who's dating who, who's broken up, the teachers, the best parking spots, and so on. I tried to make it seem like I was interested so as not to hurt his feelings.
After we got to class I attempted to go sit in the back, but Chase ushered me to the two front seats left. I really didn't want to be in the front. I just sighed and took the seat next to his. A few girls gave me dirty looks. Until now I hadn't realized that Chase was probably one of the popular boys at this school.
The teacher came in and they stopped staring. She walked to the board and wrote her name; Mrs. Chaney. She looked like she could pass for a high school student. The boys were practically drooling over our teacher. I snickered to myself. The only boy who didn't was Chase. I glanced at him and he gave me a cute little boyish smile. I returned my attention to the teacher because I felt myself turn red. Why was I blushing? This is so stupid! I thought. Alice I'll get you for this!
I knew Alice heard me. I directed my thoughts directly at her. She was probably having fits of laughter right now. Sometimes I couldn't help wonder if Alice was a little devious. Mrs Chaney was droning on and on about some author named Laurie Halse Anderson. She handed out books that we'd be reading for the next 2 weeks. Speak, I turned it over to read the description. It looked interesting. If I read it now I'd probably finish in a few minutes. That would hardly seem fair to the other students. I'll read it when I get home. I thought stuffing the book into my bag. The bell rang for nutrition. I rose up to leave when a girl walked by and bumped me with her shoulder. It took all my strength not to lunge for her throat and rip her to shreds.
"Watch where you're going Madison," Chase growled standing next to me.
"Er...sorry," she croaked looking at the floor. She rushed out the door.
"Thanks," I muttered. I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks.
"No problem," he replied. He walked with me until I found Alice. She was too happy for comfort. "I'll see you at lunch?" he asked. "Sure," I said a little too quickly. Alice's smile grew wider. He turned and went back the direction we came. "So..." she started.
"Don't," I warned her.
"He seemed like a nice guy," she shrugged.
"It doesn't matter." Chase was a nice guy. "So how was English?" she asked trying to change the subject. "It was alright. Some girls were giving me dirty looks. One purposely bumped me on my way out of class." For a second she was silent. "Which one was it?" she pressed.
"He said her name was Madison. Don't worry about it, Chase told her off," I grinned unwillingly. Alice was beside herself. "He already loves you. That's too cute," she crooned at me like I was a baby. "He does not," I snapped. Before I could tell her off Josephine walked over to us with a human behind her. "Hey sis," she said taking my hand. "This is Lynn." The girl waved at us. She looked scared. "Hi! I'm Alice." Alice was always upbeat. "I'm Harlan." My voice was flat and I crossed my arm over my chest. Josephine could tell I was annoyed. She looked Alice for an explanation. Alice just shrugged her shoulders. You could always count on Alice to keep a secret. I half smiled at Alice to thank her.
Bring. Bring. I was already tired of these stupid bells.
"Let's go Harlan," Josephine chimed. She grabbed my arm and pulled me outside. I waved goodbye over my shoulder. Alice shouted something about meeting for lunch. We headed for the math building. Our class was at the top floor. It took forever to climb the four flights of stairs at human speed. Josephine stopped me outside the door. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"You're acting weird."
"And you're not?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just drop it."
"No!" she shouted at me. She never raised her voice at me before. I felt the anger building up. I sighed. "We just don't get to spend a lot time together anymore," I lied. I wasn't ready to tell her about Chase. There was nothing to tell really, but she would make a big deal about it. Her face changed from rage to loving in milliseconds. "Oh I miss you too," she said. She gave me a hug and moved so I could enter the classroom first. All the students had already been seated. The teacher wasn't there yet. We took two seats in the back. All eyes were on us, again.
The lunch bell rang. I thought I'd never get past fourth period without tearing one of those human girls apart. They all seriously needed an attitude adjustment. Lynn was the only human girl I could tolerate. She was genuinely honest and sweet. I could see why Josephine liked her. I walked towards the cafeteria looking for the others. There was a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to scream at whoever it was not to touch me. It was Chase. My face burned from embarrassment.
"Hey," he said smiling at me.
I felt my heart lurch out from my chest. What is going on here? I screamed in my head. I was glad that his human ears couldn't hear heartbeats. "Shall we?" he gestured toward the cafeteria. All I could do was nod. He put his hand on the small of my back and lead me to the lunch line.
Food wasn't that repulsive to me as it was to my new family. Although I preferred blood. I took some pizza and a soda to make myself seem normal. After a quick search of the cafeteria I found the others huddled at a large table in the farthest corner of the room. Chase followed my gaze. "Go ahead. I'll go eat over here." He looked at a table of boys and girls. The girls looked at him eagerly and the boys seemed angry. "Okay. I'll see you later," I said leaving him to his friends.
"Who was that?" Josephine asked. I could tell she was mad.
"Just a guy from my English class." Everyone was looking at me. No one said anything because Lynn was sitting with us. I knew I was really going to get it when we got in the car to go home. I ate silently while the others talked about their day so far. Something was bothering me. Why could a mere human make me feel like this? I told myself when I was younger I'd never be like Josephine and fall in love with a human. Is that what was happening? When lunch was over I got up. emptied my tray, and hurried to class.