Anger made everything easier. I was not at all upset any more. Just furious, I'd never been this angry. I didn't talk at school. I scowled darkly at my desk most of the time, imagining Edward, Alice and Jacob falling. As far as I was concerned, the rest of them could all fall too. I didn't care. I knew I was attracting wary glances, I knew people were getting wierded out, I didn't care about that either. Yet again I had history. At least I didn't have it the next two days. Sitting next to Isadora got me seething. I glowered at my desk. She looked at me often, I didn't look up to see whether her face was shocked, scared, freaked out, yet another thing I didn't care about.
"Bella"? she tried to talk to me, but I ignored her.
"Bella seriously are you alright" Megan asked at lunch.
"You look, well, kinda scary" Lila told me nervously, as if I would bite her head off.
"You've just been glaring all day" Theo put in
"If there's something wrong, you can tell us" Megan assured me
"Yeah we won't"…
"I'm fine" I snapped. They were all silent, staring at me like I was insane; maybe I was. I wanted to apologise, to smile and laugh and tell them… what would I tell them? I couldn't tell them anything.
"Sorry" I mumbled and walked away, head down. Because I didn't want to look up, I ended up bumping into someone.
"Ooh she is clumsy isn't she" It was Vanessa. Christine and Alyssa giggle with her.
"You should really watch where your going freak" Vanessa spat at me. I glared at her.
"What's your problem, always glaring" Alyssa joined in.
"Yeah you should be locked up for your own and everyone elses good" Christina finished. I barged past and heard them snorting and giggling as I walked away.
"Bella"! someone shouted after me. I recognised the perfect voice. Isadora ran up to me as I turned slowly.
"Are you alright, I heard you talking to Vanessa and I thought…" She cut off, seeing my dark expression. God was she scared or something, scared of a pathetic human?
"Look Bella I need to talk to you" Isadora's eyes were kind.
"No" I snapped and stormed off.
"But-"! she called after me. I didn't turn. It was just the most recent in a line of occurrences that I didn't care about. Isabella Marie Swan. Who was she now, I had changed so much in under a year, I didn't even know myself anymore. I headed to the nearest bathroom. I was in luck; it was empty. I looked into the mirror and saw my scowl. It took me by surprise again, like last night. She scared me, the girl in the mirror. Her eyes, my eyes, were dark, full of hatred. I left quickly, I didn't want to see. I carried on glowering for the rest of the day.
"I'm sorry Meg, really I am, I don't know what's wrong with me" I apologised next day in English. She hadn't greeted me on Thursday morning. She considered for a moment.
"Yes you do, you do know what's wrong with you, but I won't pry, if you don't want to tell me". She still sounded a little pissed. I opened my mouth to speak to her again
"No, it's alright" she said more softly "I understand if you don't want talk, but you should tell someone about it"
"It's not that I don't trust you" I assured her.
"I know" she smiled, I smiled back.
"And if I don't talk or glare or say something bad…"
"It's alright, I hope you figure it out soon" she told me. I nodded and smiled.
"I'm sorry I didn't come over when I saw you bump into Vanessa, what did she say" I told her everything they'd said to me and she glared over at where Christine was sitting.
"It's fine" I told her "I don't care what they think" Megan looked away but I caught her glance over at the strawberry blond girl several times, a dirty look on her face.
When the bell rang I picked up my bag and left the room with Megan at my side. Isadora was outside waiting for me "Hey" she started
"Um, hi I'm gunna be late for class so I'll see you later" I hurried away dragging Megan with me.
"That was weird" Megan said frowning
"She keeps trying to talk to me" I moaned
"Huh" Megan looked curious "The Marks and the Bronson's hardly ever make an effort to talk to anyone else, I wonder what they want?" she mused, I wanted to know the same thing. At the end of Math, the same thing happened. Isadora was waiting for me outside again.
"Bella, I need to talk to you" She said but I was gone before she finished. Stupid, annoying, pushy vampire! Why was she so eager to talk to me! This was getting irritating. What could be so important? Hmm she'd seen the way I looked at her had she guessed that I knew what they were? That would make sense, if the vamps wanted me to keep their secret. That must be it.
On Friday I'd made sure I left my classes with a group, Isadora had started waiting with a member of her 'family'. I tried to ignore it as best as possible. Megan and the others were acting completely normal so I guessed Megan had told them what I'd said yesterday. I still wasn't myself, but they didn't push me to join in, I sat in companionable silence. My first week seemed to have dragged on forever, probably due to the fact that I'd gone through about 5 different personalities in the process, maybe I had a disorder. I was looking forward to the weekend, I was about to open my door when I heard a quiet voice behind me.
"Bella?" I closed my eyes in frustration, breathed through my nose and turned, letting out the breath loudly as I saw all five of them standing there, Isadora slightly in front of her 'family'. So now they were following me.
"What do you want?" I demanded angrily.
"Bella I know you don't want to talk to us, but please let me explain, it's important" I considered, she was clearly not going to let this go.
"Will you finally leave me alone if I listen" I replied in defeat
"If that's what you want" she said, her startlingly blue eyes were honest. I noticed all their eyes were coloured, contacts, well they were more committed to the human act than the Cullen's at least. I sighed and walked towards her.
"Uh, we'll leave this with you Is, see you back home" the smaller male said. Fletcher. She nodded and the four vampires retreated.
"Can I come in?" She asked timidly, a timid vampire who'd of thought.
"Whatever" I said opening the door, Isadora followed me inside and sat down awkwardly next to me on the couch.
"Well go on then" I sighed "What's this huge important thing" I was sure I already knew.
"Right" She looked uncomfortable, good. "Well it's a little… weird"
"Believe me I'm good with weird" I muttered darkly she smiled
"This is a little stranger than your average weird, Bella" she paused and thought over her words "Do you believe in the supernatural?" I froze, my breath stopped and my heart raced.
"Yes" I spat through gritted teeth "and I know about your families little secret too" Isadora's mouth formed a perfect O.
"You do" she said in disbelief "And that's why you were acting so weird?"
"Yes" I hissed "Stupid vampires" I muttered under my breath, of course she heard.
"Vampires? Bella we're not v- wait how do you even know about vampires"
"Long story" I said sadly, she didn't press the matter.
"Well, I can tell you we're not vampires" Isadora began
"Then what are you" I snapped she was testing my patience now.
"Well I don't actually know, sorry" she looked at me ruefully "We're similar to vampires, the speed, strength, the being unbreakable, the sharp senses, the non aging but we're more human… sort of"
"What do you mean sort of"? I asked raising my eyebrows.
"Well we can sleep and eat but we don't really need to, we can cry, we can change, not dramatically, but our hair grows and our skin can tan and we're not as cold see?" she touched my hand, her skin was only a few degrees cooler than my own.
"There are stranger things though, you know how some vampires are gifted? Well we have extra abilities too, lots of them, but we all get them, we can hear each others thoughts, others like ourselves I mean, but only things we want people to hear" Maybe that's why Edward couldn't here me, that would make sense "Telekinesis, you know moving objects with your mind, invisibility those are the basic ones" I stared open mouthed "there are other abilities, but they're harder to develop some can't even do the basic ones powerfully, everyone is different some have individual abilities, I guess that makes us sort of, better than vampires." She looked at me grinning, waiting for me to speak when I didn't she laughed
"You look like a goldfish Bella" I blinked, Isadora laughed again.
"Why did you tell me all this" I asked there really didn't seem any point.
"Well…" she started, serious again "Unlike vampires, to become one of us is genetic; it could be passed down generations maybe even a couple of thousand years" I thought about that if she was about to say what I thought she was going to say, this could come very close to the best day of my life.
"You have the gene Bella" I still didn't want to get my hopes up too high, I knew the feeling of being let down, crushed.
"How do you know?" I narrowed my eyes "are you sure?"
"Absolutely, you can tell as soon as you see a person, it's like a connection and very rare" I considered this for a moment then a wide smile broke across my face, then faulted.
"How do we change, from human to… whatever we are I mean"?
"It takes exactly one day and it's not painful, just a weird kind of feeling" I relaxed slightly "It usually comes naturally at it's own pace, but my uncle's been working on something that could trigger the gene"
"How soon"? I asked desperately. Isadora laughed
"We could do it this weekend I suppose, but I dare say you'll want…"? I didn't have to think twice
"Yes" I answered, she smiled
"Alright" Isadora said a little taken aback "I'll have to talk to my family first, how about I pick you up tomorrow morning, say 11ish? My uncle can talk you through it more thoroughly" I nodded "Well, seeya Bella" Isadora said as she crossed the room to the door.
"Bye" I said stunned, Isadora grinned and then left.
I was special. I smiled to myself; my life had some meaning after all I could finally fit in. I thought I had fit in with the Cullen's, no, I had not. I thought I had fit in with Jacob, no, I had not. But I would here, I was certain of it, there was nothing to stop me this time. That night my dreams were empty of everything bad. I was running impossibly fast through the trees, graceful, beautiful. This was one of the few dreams I never wanted to wake from.