A/N: Alright, so I was wrong about it taking longer for this chapter to come out. It seems I'm getting too addicted to this story to just let it sit. But that's probably a good thing, right? Hope you like it! (And don't forget to comment!) :)
DazzlingTopaz1901: You should feel special. Lol. Thanks!
Jack-chan88: Thanks! I'm glad it made you laugh. I thought about it and was like..."Is she really his niece"...then I figured out that she would be his third cousin. I think. Man, I need a life. Lol
bloodsucker13: Haha. Mental images are fun!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight or anything related to it.
Chapter Seven: School
It was late. It was really late. Normally, I would have been worried about that fact, but now, the change from day to night was nothing. Like Emmett had said on my first night in the house, I got used to it. It was like a cloud passing over the sun on a nice day. It seemed like nothing more than a change in the weather. Still, as I looked at the clock on my bedside table, I couldn't help rolling my eyes in exasperation.
"Alice, it's four in the morning. We leave for school in three and a half hours. Can't I just wear whatever?" I asked desperately.
"Yeah, right. Like I'm going to just let you throw on a pair of jeans," she said, and I could tell she had rolled her eyes, even though I couldn't see her face.
I looked desperately at Renesmee, who was seated next to me on the floor of my enormous closet, reading a book. Without looking up, she put a single finger to my temple.
Just grin and bear it. Her message was clear.
"Wait, why aren't you asleep?" I asked, suddenly realizing that she was normally unconscious at this time of night.
She touched my face again. A picture of Rosalie pulling her hair into the curlers she was wearing now came into my mind.
"Well, that sucks," I said quietly.
She just nodded silently.
Edward, can't you save me or something? I asked. He was two floors below us, watching a recap of a basketball game with Emmett.
No. You sacrificed yourself to Alice when you got so excited about Paris, he responded.
I knew it was true, but I made sure he heard all my grumbling anyway.
"Oh, try this on," I heard Alice say suddenly.
I looked up. She came from behind one of the racks holding a garment bag. Not only did I have the three suitcases of clothing from our trip, but she had also taken it upon herself to buy me an entire store's worth of outfits online. Once she got a handle on my personal style, I seriously think she bought out Urban Outfitters. My closet looked like an upscale department store.
I was already shamelessly stripped down to my under garments, so I stood and took the bag from her. Unzipping the pouch, I saw a black sweater dress and a necklace of thick, chunky beads in bright purple. I had to hand it to her. She did have a great sense of style.
I slipped the dress over my head and turned in front of the 4-mirrored alcove. Alice appraised me for a brief moment before shaking her head.
"No, that's not the one," she muttered. "Here, give it back."
I had it off, back in its bag, and zipped up within the second. "This really is so unnecessary, Alice," I protested again.
"Alice, are you torturing my new sister in here?" I heard Bella's voice ask from down the hall before she walked in.
My head snapped up. "Finally, someone to save me!" I said, earning myself a glare from Alice.
"Ness, what are you doing up?" Bella asked, echoing my previous question as she plopped down on her daughter's other side. I noticed she had more makeup than usual on, and that her hair was done up. "Rose," she said, rolling her eyes when she saw my questioning look.
Renesmee touched her mother's cheek, probably conveying the same message that she had to me.
Bella rolled her eyes. "Your hair's already curly," she said in an exasperated voice.
"I know, but Rose wanted me to get ready for school 'like a real human,'" she said, putting her book down and using air quotes.
"Real humans don't wake up at four in the morning to get their hair tortured by their aunts," I said, agreeing with Bella.
"Whatever. I was up, anyway. Jake was snoring loud enough to wake the dead," she said.
"It woke me up, that's for sure," Bella said, and we laughed at her bad joke.
Alice came zipping into sight, carrying a new bag with an excited look on her face. "This is the one."
I pulled on the purple skinny jeans, plain white tunic top, and black cardigan before turning to the mirror. "What do you think?" I asked skeptically.
"Oh, it's perfect," Alice gushed.
I laughed. "Thank you? You picked it out," I said.
"Here, put these on," she said, throwing a pair of black flats at me over her shoulder.
"Alice, this outfit is so…simple for you," Bella commented in a joking tone.
"Well, her look works with simple," she said. "Her hair color and everything makes it hard to do much in the red family, so I figured purple would work."
I was quickly ushered off to "hair and makeup" in Rosalie's bathroom, and I couldn't help but feel like I was on a movie set. It couldn't be denied, though, that when I looked at the result a few hours later, I looked like a super model. Even it was a little excessive for high school, it was still kind of exciting.
"Kids, it's time to go," Esme's voice called from somewhere a few floors below us.
We were all assembled in front of the door within the second.
"Okay, so Jasper will be driving the Volvo and Rosalie will drive her car," Carlisle briefed us. "Edward, Bella, Alice, Joline, you are freshmen. Renesmee, Rose, Emmett, Jasper you are sophomores."
That is so messed up that my own daughter is in a grade above me, Edward grumbled to himself.
I laughed at the thought drifting through my mind. Yeah, you're seventeen and she looks like she's twenty. She has got to be the most…developed…seven year old I have ever seen.
He shot me a glare and I heard something about him "not being ready for this."
The rest of the family didn't pay us much mind. Our strange connection had freaked them out a little at first, but now they were used to it. It was just how we talked to each other. It was as natural for us to do this as it was for Edward to answer their thoughts out loud. I had even discovered that if he was actually paying attention to the things passing through his head instead of tuning the voices out, I could hear what they were thinking as well if I listened hard enough.
"I just want to review before you go. What are the relationships here?" Carlisle asked us as a group.
There were a few grumbles, but most of us just stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay, well Rose and Jasper are the Hale twins. Jo and Edward are the Masen twins, and Renesmee is your older sister. Then Alice, Bella, and Emmett are the adopted children with the name Cullen. Does everyone have it?" he asked. He was being a little over cautious with the situation, but it was understandable. It was going to look even stranger than I supposed it usually did when they started a new school, now that there were seven of us.
We all nodded, and Esme came to kiss us all on the cheek. We lined up and filed out the door. I suddenly became very aware of my singularity as I watched six of the people around me slip wedding rings from their fingers and stow them in their pockets.
I had that feeling for almost ninety years, Edward said, looking at me sympathetically.
Thanks for the encouragement, I responded sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
It felt strange to watch Edward pull the keys to his own car out of the back pocket of his jeans and toss them to Jasper as he climbed into the backseat. I hadn't realized until this moment how much of a charade we really had to put up.
The ride to the school took about ten minutes. Our house was on the very outskirts of the actual town, somewhere in the woods. As we got further away from home, the area became more crowded until it eventually turned into a busy little area that was similar to my home town in Florida.
Jasper swung into the parking spot next to Rosalie, and we all climbed out of the two cars. People walking past us stopped and stared. Some were staring at the BMW, but most were just openly gawking at us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bella reach instinctively for Edward's hand.
We started toward the school, gliding our way past the people thronging the halls, and found the front office. The whole way there, I was struggling to keep a straight face as I brushed up against the hundreds of new people and saw uncontrollable flashes of little old ladies and hunched old men lying in their beds.
Suddenly, all of it disappeared, and I was able to see the hallway in front of me clearly. My eyes widened in surprise until I felt a warm hand at my cheek and saw a picture of Bella smiling at me.
"Thank you," I mouthed at her, and she shrugged.
Edward walked into the office to get our schedules, and I heard secretary's heart rate pick up from the hall. I wasn't sure if it was from his looks or from the instinctual fear that humans felt when we got too close.
"We're new students here, and we've come to pick up our schedules," he said.
I couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind when he gave her that look, so I listened in.
Wow, you can get anything you want from me, she was thinking.
Edward hid his grimace well, but his thoughts said something different. I'm old enough to be your grandfather.
Actually, you're probably old enough to be her great grandfather, I thought, picturing him as a bent old man with a cane.
He made a face at me over his shoulder through the glass wall before turning back to her and grabbing the seven sheets of paper. When he came back into the hall, we all held out our hands.
I glanced down at mine. Basic Geometry first period. I rolled my eyes. This was going to be a long year. I had been a senior in high school before this, and I had been in all advanced classes at that.
Geometry is an advanced class, Edward said.
Well, yeah, for a fourteen year old it's advanced. Now I'm starting to understand why you hate this so much.
He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Try doing it for a century straight. That and I have two medical degrees. We have to sit through Intro to Bio.
If you weren't already dead, I would just suggest suicide, I retorted dryly, smirking at him.
Cute. He turned to Bella, and they compared schedules.
It turned out I had Geometry with Edward, English with Alice, the much dreaded Intro to Bio with Edward and Bella, Gym with Jasper, Renesmee, and Rosalie, French by myself, History with Alice and Bella, and, the crowning glory (that I had taken for the sole purpose of ensuring Emmett followed through with our bet), Home Ec.
With a resigned sigh, I started toward my math class by Edward's side.
Stop ignoring them, I said to Edward about the teenager's thoughts. I want to know what they're saying.
Why, of all things, would you care to know what they're thinking about? he asked, glancing down at me.
I wanna know how hot I am, I said in a joking tone.
I laughed when I heard him growl lowly under his breath. He thought of me as a sister, and was more protective over me than he was over Alice or Rosalie because we were actually family.
Alright. Are you sure you really want to know? he questioned skeptically. It gets pretty raunchy.
I smiled wryly as we turned a corner. Give me the worst of it, I told him confidently. I can handle it.
He shrugged. If you're sure.
Wow, I'd like to get my hands on her, said a low male voice. Edward jerked his head discretely at an average looking guy leaning against a locker not far from us.
I shook my head no. Yeah, right, buddy, I mumbled. I had learned that it was indeed possible to mumble thoughts.
Man, good looks must run in their family.
What is it with these new kids?
Where did she come from, and are there more of them there?
Along with the phrases, I was being pictured in all sorts of awkward situations. I grimaced when Edward pointed at the teacher of the room we had just walked into when the worst of the images flew into my mind.
Eww… I thought, staring at the overweight, balding, middle aged man in front of me.
Pretty much, was his response.
"So I'm guessing that you're the Masen twins?" the teacher asked, tearing his eyes away from me to glance down at his roster.
"Yep," I responded, flashing my teeth at him in a grin. I tried to hold in a laugh as I watched him struggle with his obvious attraction and his instinctive terror.
"Well, you two can have a seat anywhere that's open," he muttered, backing up slightly and tripping over his desk chair.
We glided to the back of the room, and the people who were already in the room watched our every move.
"What, are they, like, models or something?" I heard a girl whisper to her friend.
"I don't know, but he sure is fun to look at," the other said.
Hey, so let's refrain from the whole showing me their thoughts thing for a while, I said to Edward as we settled down into desks.
I glanced over at him. He laughed openly at the expression on my face. I thought you could handle it, he said mockingly.
I stuck my tounge out at him childishly.
Oh, wait. You've got to hear this one, though.
No! I began to protest, but the words came anyway.
It's like they're talking to each other or something. Like twin telepathy, said a female voice.
Funny how close they get, isn't it? I mused, staring at my white hand lying on the desk.
Yeah, well some humans are just extra observant, he commented.
From there, the class passed by relatively slowly. I was starting to fall into my school day stupor that I was typical for me by the time Gym class rolled around, and was excited to have a reason to run around a little. I found the locker room and opened the door. It wasn't hard to find Rose and Renesmee in the haze of perfume. I just followed the jealous stares of the other girls.
"Hey guys," I said cheerfully, stowing my bag in a locker between theirs.
"So, how's your day been?" Nessie asked me as I pulled my clothes off.
I made a face. "Boring. The same old stuff. You know," I replied.
"Yeah, I feel for you there. I'm just glad we get to move this hour," she agreed.
"You know we're not going to be able to do much, though. We can't…do everything we want," Rosalie said, editing her words because of the curious ears around us.
I shrugged and sat on the bench, dressed in the plain uniform we had to wear, and waited for them to finish. "At least I don't have to sit through a reteaching of To Kill A Mockingbird this hour," I said, rolling my eyes.
It wasn't raining that day, so we were forced out onto the track for the hour. We were told to run two miles after we finished stretching, and most of the class grumbled. We all lined up and took off. I tried my hardest to run slowly, but I still was the first done. The teacher stared in wide eyed disbelief at my unflushed cheeks and unlabored breathing. She was also surprised that I hadn't even broken a sweat.
"You should consider the track team, Masen," she commented in a slightly dazed voice.
"I was barely moving," I muttered, too low for her to hear, but smiled at her anyway. In truth, if I had really been running, I could have run the two miles in about ten seconds flat.
By the time we made it to lunch, I was dragging my feet.
"Long day at the office?" Emmett asked sarcastically when I dropped my tray of food on the table and sank onto the bench between him and Alice.
I rolled my eyes. "Brutal," I corrected.
"Mom, have you seen my copy of A Farewell to Arms?" Renesmee asked when she walked over to our table with her own food. "I could have sworn I put it in my bag this morning."
"Nope," Bella replied, tearing herself away from a different book.
Wuthering Heights. She's read it too many times to be counted, Edward clarified exasperatedly.
By the time we made it back home that night, I was envying Jacob along with the rest of them. He had found a job at a local auto repair shop. Since he looked the oldest of all of us, even older than Carlisle or Esme, he wasn't able to go to school.
"Lucky, stinking mutt," I muttered at him later that night when he came home covered in grease stains.
Everyone in the room burst out laughing.
"You wanna do something about it?" he asked in a playful tone.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked, getting excited.
"I hope so. Otherwise I might have to tear you to shreds," he laughed before he began shaking. His entire body trembled, and there was suddenly a giant wolf in his place.
He barked once happily, and I growled, not meaning any harm by it. He took off out the front door, and I was after him in a flash. I chased him through miles of forest, crossing into Washington, and then back down before we burst out of the trees back at home laughing and in a much better mood.
