Seven

I could curse Charlie right now.

Not literally, of course, much to my disappointment, you need an extra chromosome to do that, which I don't possess. But if I could, I'd send him straight to hell.

What was once, a thoughtful and amazing gift has turned into a fucking punishment.

I knew this truck was going to be trouble as soon as I caught sight of the school parking lot. Even from about a hundred yards away I could tell my truck would be the nicest in the lot.

Every other automobile, whether in the separate teacher or student spaces, is some kind of plain car, rusted truck or ugly mini van.

Which means that as soon as I turned into the students parking lot every person loitering about immediately turned to gawk at me.

If they weren't aware of a new student before, they sure as hell are now.

God, I just want to hide but seeing as I have to watch where I'm going and the windows aren't at all tinted, there's nothing I can do but ignore all the curious and rude staring as I search for an empty spot to park this flashy nuisance.

I start to panic the further I get into the lot and the farther away from the entrance to the school — not seeing a single empty spot.

Well — that's not true, there was one, directly under a light pole with some birds perched on it and a scattering of shit in the empty spot. I almost said fuck it, what's a little shit on my windshield, but the gaggle of laughing teenagers standing near by warned me off.

It wasn't until I got to the end of the lot when I saw an empty — shitless — spot next to, to my utter surprise, a Volvo. A really nice and probably very expensive Volvo, parked so far back I'd missed it in my first impression of the parking lot.

I almost let myself heave a sigh of relief seeing at least one other nice car in the lot beside mine, but I couldn't.

The kids of this school were undoubtedly already used to this extravagant car and whoever drives it. I'm still brand spankin' new. Also while this car is undoubtedly more expensive, it's a grandma car — mine is way cooler, much more of a spectacle.

As if me being the long lost daughter of the Chief of police, come home after her Witch mother kicked the bucket, quite publicly, wasn't enough.

DAF

"You're Isabella, right?"

"You're Isabella Swan, right?"

"Oh my god, are you Isabella Swan?"

On and on it went, one eager, annoying, yapping teenager bombarding my personal space after another.

And it's only fourth period.

First period English wasn't so bad, only one child, Tyler, gathered the annoying courage to bug me. Second period was a bit tougher — three people, with names I don't remember — nor care to, to be honest, harped on me. Third I had to introduce myself to the class and answer questions from them as well. Every hand shot up. Dicks.

It's never been more obvious how boring of a town this place must be if every student thinks my presence will make it more interesting. It's like I'm a new, shiny toy for everyone to oh and aw over and play with. Let's hope they scuff and dent me fast so we can all move on with our lives.

Now I'm in fourth period trig, trying to ignore the constant droning of a ditsy, gossip mongering girl named Jessica. Her hair is almost as curly as mine but no where near as long, and a dull brown, while mine is a black so deep you could get lost in it.

She's without a doubt the most insufferable person I've ever met, and I've only been acquainted with her for about ten minutes.

"So, Isabella —" She squawks before I cut her off.

"It's just Bella." I remind her, trying to speak as gently as I could.

By the widening of her pale brown eyes, I don't think I did a very good job, but honestly I've had to repeat the same thing about a hundred times today.

Charles has probably been calling me Isabella behind my back.

"Oh yeah, sorry, uh, Bella," she backtracks still recovering from my icy tone.

Crap. I may not like this girl, or anyone I've met today, but the last thing I need is to be known as a bitch in this Podunk town.

I flash an insincere, apologetic smile and chuckle. "Sorry, didn't mean to snap at you, what were you saying?"

I can tell I'm immediately forgiven, the opportunity to wrangle in the new, shiny toy, too much to pass up.

"Oh, no problem! I was just wondering if you'd like to sit with me at lunch? From the looks of your schedule, I'm sure you've already met most of our gang."

Humph. Crap.

"Yeah, that be great."

DAF

"So, that table over there is where the drama kids eat. I once sat over there, cause my friend Sally wanted me too, and they made me act out a scene from Romeo and Juliette before I could sit down, so not worth it. And over there you have the —"

Well, now, Isabella, you had to do it, huh? You had to say yes. Oh no, being known as a bitch wasn't good enough for you, and now your here! Well, you know what, you deserve this. You deserve all this.

On and on . . . And on, Jessica has been talking, barely stopping for a breath. Seriously, she's had to remind herself, out loud, to breathe. I wish she wouldn't and would just pass out, but nope — not that lucky.

And it's not just her, everyone has been talking over each other, not even caring if it doesn't seem like I'm paying attention, just wanting to talk.

Mike Newton, a puppy dog of a boy, has been catching me up on what's playing at the movies; turns out he's seen them all, but, and get this, if I want to go to the movies this Friday, he'd be more than happy to show me around and re-watch something. You know, just, for me.

Tyler is in the middle of a lively debate . . . With himself, that he thinks he's having with me.

I was asked where I got my truck. I replied with, 'my father' Then all of a sudden I'm an outsider looking in on, practically a war of what Tyler thinks is superior mechanics.

That apparently my truck is losing!

"— Now, I know what you're thinking, the '69 has —" blah blah blah, "but it's also one of the few earlier models that —" shoot me, shoot me, shoot me, "so really when you think about it, your '70 truck isn't —, " shoot him, shoot him, shoot him.

The only one not contributing to my headache is a quiet girl named Angela. A rather cute girl with long dark hair and rectangular glasses. She seems like the kind of girl that doesn't rely on her looks, my guess being because she probably doesn't see herself as pretty. She hasn't grown into her own yet, not that anyone at this age really has, but once she does, she's going to be gorgeous.

Jessica is much more aware of her looks, and while she's not as pretty as Angela, by her re-telling of how throughly she knows everyone at this school, I'm guessing they have served her well — 'cause it sure as hell wasn't her personality.

"Oh! Oh! Bella, look, here comes the Cullen's!" While this new generous amount of excitement is difficult to ignore, I still manage.

Until her next statement.

"Enter stage left; The Vampires." She whispers the last in what she probably thinks is an ominous tone, but really just drafted a gust of foul smelling breath my way.

But my head still shoots up before I could stop myself.

Wha-a-at?

"Vampires?" I whisper.

Jessica giggles, seeing that this definitely interests me and looking proud to be the one to finally get a reaction out of me.

"Yup, over there."

I look to where she points and catch sight of them.

Alright . . . I am completely confused.

Striding confidently to an empty table at the back of the cafeteria are three of the most beautiful people I have ever seen.

The one that my eyes zoom in on first, is without a doubt one of the biggest men I have ever seen in my life. I would put his height at about 6'4" but what's incredible about him is the sheer volume of bulging muscles. His biceps look like they'd be bigger than both my thighs put side to side. His chest is so big and puffs out so much, whether from the muscles or just his own confidence, I don't know, but it makes it look like he doesn't have a neck. Just . . . Monstrous. Absolutely intimidating.

The next one I see is another man, just as tall, but slim, almost gangly, with long, wavy, honey blond hair.

I didn't think it possible but the next person shocks me more than the big one.

A woman. Very small, probably only my height, 5'2" but petite, no curves what so ever and just so utterly . . . Small.

And human.

Before I have a chance to ask, Jessica is already fielding my unanswered questions.

"The guys are the children of Dr. Cullen and his wife Esme. The big one, is Emmett, he's the nicest of all of them, but still doesn't really speak to anyone outside his family. The other guy, the one that looks like he's in pain, is Jasper, he's a freak. And that's Alice, his mate. She's super weird, too. Huh . . . That's odd —" Jessica furrows her eyebrows looking toward the entrance of the cafeteria. "There's two more Cullens, Rose, that's Emmett's mate, and Edward. They must not be here today."

"They're not," Mike jabs in, "I have first period with Edward and he wasn't in class. Which was no skin off any of our fucking backs that's for damn sure, he's the most stuck-up fucking dude I've ever met. Acts like he fucking knows everything."

I don't see how that sentence warranted so many 'fuckings', but alright.

We're all startled as the big one, Emmett, lets out a string of boastful laughter. Jasper doesn't seem as amused and Alice looks around confused.

Everyone at the table just shrugs it off, but I know better.

They obviously don't know that Vampires have super-hearing. I'm sure those two could hear the music being played in cars on the freeway miles away from us. Hearing everything being said at this table would be no problem.

Dammit, I know I shouldn't ask, they'll hear me, but I can't help it — I've got to know.

"Why are they in school?"

Everyone looks at me confused. Ugh.

"If those two have mates, that means they're full grown, and over eighteen."

Everyone looks at me like I have two heads.

"Uhh . . . That doesn't make any sense, 'cause they've been here since freshman year and have always had their mates." Tyler argues with me. Again.

This fucking guy, I swear.

Damn, I thought people our age usually know this stuff, I mean Supernaturals have been out in the open our entire lives. Maybe it's this small town, they've probably been shielded their whole boring lives.

I look back to the Cullens and see they're not looking over here, pretending they didn't just hear my inquiry. So I study them.

Jasper has his arms around little Alice, whispering in her ear. She's giggling and squirming, obviously loving the attention being paid her. Emmett is texting into his phone with a big, joyful grin on his face. My guess is his mate, Rose, is on the other end of that conversation.

Looking back at Jasper and Alice I'm completely certain they have been mated for decades at least. Call it a hunch if you want but from what I've seen of these things the longer a Vamp has been mated, the more, almost obsessed, you become with the other person. This happens because it signals when the mating bond has matured enough to promote offspring. Something about the Vamp sending pheromones subconsciously to the human woman, telling her body it's safe to conceive without the vamp being jealous of any of their mates attention being taken away. It's almost like an acceptance thing. I think.

These two seem especially enthralled with one another.

The table goes on gossiping about the Cullens, especially the absent ones, Tyler even going as far as to rumor that they ran off with one another when Angela said they probably had something important to take care of.

This fucking guy always has to fight someone, what an idiot

I stop paying them any mind, selfishly happy I'm forgotten for the moment.

My inspection of the Cullens continues and I realize they are all wearing very nice, expensive clothing. The mystery Volvo owner has been revealed and I, once again selfishly, rejoice. They're is no way I will keep the attention of these people the way the Cullens always will. I now have a conversational out whenever too much attention is being paid to me. A question here — a comment there and I'll always be long forgotten.

Nobody has asked me about my mother yet, either too scared to, or they don't know about her. No, I'm sure they've heard about her, but maybe they haven't made the connection to me yet. I have no clue but whatever the reason — I'm certainly grateful. It won't last, though. It'll come out, or they'll realize I'm connected to Renee Dwyer and when they do, the much more interesting and scandalous Cullens will prove to be very useful to me.

Thanks Vamps — sorry in advance about how badly I'm going to throw you all under the bus.

AN: Sorry about the late update, but heres Chapter seven. Please review.