I do not own any of SM's characters or even her plot line. Thanks to the reviewers and readers. Also, thank you Joreyna for all your help!

Monday. Again. But this time there was a sense of expectation. All of us waited to see what would happen, every miniscule movement of the humans were aware to our senses. Lunch, for once, couldn't come quick enough. I was fidgeting, an odd thing to do for me, in all my classes. It didn't help that Heath's gaze was suddenly brought to my senses. I never paid attention to him. Poor guy.

He tapped my shoulder with his feathery hand. "Are you okay, Lilly?"

Why, oh why, did he have to choose right then to talk? I looked back at him in amazement. Blonde hair, blue eyes, adorable mouth, and black rimmed glasses made up the mortal that was Heath. For only a brief moment I wondered if he really was a bit obsessive over me but I had to answer his question or else he would find something wrong with me. After all, not everyone could read minds.

"Yes, I'm fine."

He nodded once. "You look a bit pale."

I choked on my own laughter. Was it possible for a vampire to look paler than I already was?

"In some countries, pale is desired."

His head cocked to one side. He didn't get it. God, why couldn't Edward have all my classes? He would have understood and laughed with me.

Lunch finally came and into our normal seats we jumped. In the snow we had all fumbled into and now our hair was caked with it like icing.

Alice flopped down with Jasper, her black and gold flecked eyes upon me. "Have you heard anything?"

"Nothing."

A smile played on her lips. "Did Heath talk to you today?"

I snarled at her quietly under my breath when Edward came up and sat next to me. Onto our staring ways we went, not touching any of our food. Emmet chucked a piece of food at me the next moment and I threw it back, hitting Rosalie.

She said something to me, unintelligible to human ears, and I began to laugh at her. Edward was brought into it, picking on Rosalie and me for being immature. Alice, Rosalie, and I all shied away from Emmet who shook his hair damp at us.

"Bella, what are you staring at?" Jessica asked, catching our attention.

Edward's gaze was on her at once. Bella's eyes dropped to the table, her hair covering her face. We all settled back into our seats but Edward continued his stare at her bringing Jessica's attention to it. She called it out and Bella murmured how Edward didn't like him.

"The Cullen's don't like anybody…well, they don't notice anybody enough to like them. But he's still staring at you."

This was a first for us, to have one of us pay attention to a human. But Edward's attention had been caught. Somehow, I knew that it would be caught forever with this girl, no matter where she went. The bell rang and I left immediately, shielding my thoughts from him as he watched me.

The end of the day couldn't come sooner. Heath asked me to be on his team for gym. I didn't even have time to answer when another boy, Sam, asked me to be on his team. Were they nuts? On small stroke of my hand and their kneecaps could be powder.

"I asked her first, Sam." Heath's voice was clipped, restrained, and unwelcome. He tried to push me behind him, but found that he couldn't. Yet that didn't faze him. He stepped in front of me to keep me from Sam.

They stared at each other for a long moment before the bell rang to leave. Before they could even turn around to face me I was gone, dressed and out the door for my next class. The end of the day came and I walked right by Jasper's side. We greeted Alice with a nod and made our way to the car where Edward waited. He wouldn't leave however, when we loaded ourselves into the car. He was waiting for someone.

"Edward! You can't be serious!" Rosalie hissed as Bella Swan veered the corner and went to her truck.

She pulled out, noticing Edward, and almost hit a Toyota Corolla. As she passed us, Edward began to laugh to himself.

"Edward!" Rosalie called to him.

The car started the next moment and we were gone.

Edward said nothing until we were walking into the front room to be greeted by the rest of the family. "She thinks I hate her."

Rosalie snorted. "That's not surprising."

"And I think I annoyed her."

"You don't say." She pursed her lips in boredom.

I said nothing, ignoring Alice's heated stare at my back while I made my way up to my room. She and Jasper followed me as usual but something was much different about their behavior.

I sat on my bed, my knees curled under me and my chin resting on my knee. Alice and Jasper sat on my floral couch, watching me with vague interest. I played with my white toes, forcing the sobs to stay down. I gulped plenty of times to be unnatural, bringing their attention to me.

"Lilly, can we ask you a question."

"No."

They were shocked at my behavior, but it didn't derail them from their primary goal, whatever that was. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Are you lonely?"

"No."

"Are you planning on leaving anytime soon?"

My eyebrows knit together in a tight line at them. "Um, no?"

They were statues on my couch, putting my human habit of fidgeting to shame. I sighed again, regretting it instantly.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Jasper asked, leaning only a fraction of a centimeter forward.

"Have I ever given any reason why I shouldn't be?"

Alice and Jasper glanced to one another, but their eyes couldn't stay off of me. "I saw you leaving because you are lonely."

I sighed. "I'm not lonely."

"You don't have to lie to us. We are all right here for you."

I shot her a chilling glance. "Stop."

Alice should have just kept her mouth shut. I didn't want to know about my future and I for sure as hell didn't want to know I would leave.

"It's not definite. If you don't want to leave, then make the decision." She explained.

The only question was, how? If it was supposed to be that way, then I wasn't going to change it. Besides, I was growing increasingly lonely as Edward's attention was being driven towards a certain human. I stood up and grabbed my raincoat.

"Going somewhere?" They both asked in unison. Edward had appeared at my door and for only a brief moment did I pause.

"I'm going down to Portland to buy a few art supplies. I'll be back."

Edward blocked my path in my door. "Would you like some company?"

"No thanks. I think its best I get used to being by myself."

That was a low blow. I couldn't bring my eyes to his face as I pushed past him. But what I supposed to say? "Oh yeah, come with me just because your feeling bad and your making up for it by spending 'quality time' with me when all you'll be doing is thinking about her.

There was no doubt that he heard that as well, but he didn't follow me which only made it worse. Esme stopped me on the way out, holding up the keys to Carlisle's Mercedes. A faint smile twinkled about her lips as she gave me a hug before I left.

I wondered if she thought I would leave for good, but that was out of the question…and future. I prayed that I would remember how to drive. Pushing the key into its slot and purring the engine to life, I felt much better. My seat belt was buckled, my hands tight on the steering wheel, and my feet on the gas and break pedals. I could just hear Edward laughing to me about my humanly intuition about cars and it gave me a pang of sadness. Maybe he should have come with me.

"Don't be stupid, Lilly." I grumbled to myself, the gravel crunching underneath the turning wheels.

I turned up the volume on the stereo to loose my mind. My muscles relaxed; my twitching ceased. I was alone and…I kind of liked it. No one was asking me questions or watching me or playing pranks on me. It was sort of fun in a vexing way. I sang along to the music in an average tone so as to not break the windows and smiled to myself as I made it into Portland. Into a spot I parked with perfect execution. The rain came down in buckets, soaking my hair to my raincoat before I could even step into the fluorescent lighting of a craft store. I wandered down random isles wasting time, picking up random objects and listening to the random conversations of those around me. I wandered down a different isle, finding plenty of canvases for my tedious art work. I picked a few up, their weight that of feathers and grabbed a few sketch pads. I should have gotten a cart because my arms were packed with stuff. I sighed to myself, making my way down the isle at a normal speed when I slammed into a body. The person fell back, the breath knocked out of it and a gasping sound coming from its chest. I dropped my things and helped the person up, noticing the face at once.

"Heath! What are you doing here?"

He put a hand to his throat and below his button up shirt was a bruise. I shoved the shirt away from his chest, noticing that he was well equipped in muscle, and touched the bruise. It wasn't as bad as it looked and only hurt when I touched it. "Just picking up some art supplies with my cousin." He was able to reply after a minute.

"You'll be alright." I said after helping him up. All of my things were on the floor and I bent down to pick it up. He held a few things up for me, being one of the only nice people I had met in a while.

"Does your cousin paint?"

"No, she doesn't. But I do."

I fell back on my bottom, in complete shock. He paints? Great, now we were starting to have things in common. Standing up, I knew I had to get out of there or else I would be his prey.

Just then, the scent caught my attention. Before she could even bound the corner, or even catch my scent, I had hers in my nostrils. I went into panic. Never had I come across another one of my kind other than my family. I was up before Heath's eyes could follow and I went deathly still. She bounced around the corner, slowing at my sight, her blonde hair in a pixie cut but proving her all the more beautiful. Her pointy little nose, large blue eyes, and delicious mouth. She looked much like her cousin, only not as handsome.

"Good evening." The woman sang to me.

My attention flicked to her and I saw the curiosity in her eyes. Did Heath know that she was one of us? How could he not see the resemblance between the both of us pale skinned, skinny, graceful women of the underworld?

"Hello." Heath could not have heard it, but she certainly did.

Heath motioned to the blonde beauty next to him. "Lilly, this is my cousin Melissa Collins." He motioned to me. "Lis, this is Lilly Cullen."

I nodded to her but was dying with the question on my brain. I had to ask. "Does he know?" I asked in a swift voice so that Heath couldn't even see my lips move.

She answered back just as quickly. "No, but he will soon."

I nodded once and felt the fear rising again.

"Lilly." A voice I knew all too well called to me from the end of the isle. The tension that radiated from Edward was something like that of a train hurling itself at us.

"It was nice to meet you." She turned and left down the other end, out of sight before Edward could get to her.

Heath was in a daze, but nevertheless aware of Edward's presence. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I nodded. The world swayed; the edge of reason slipping. Had she really been so close to me?

We said not one word as the art supplies were gathered, paid for and stuffed into the Mercedes. Edward had run here for he wouldn't have driven me home if his own car was here. "She's reeks of ancient. I could sense that she was one of Aro's cohorts, and she will most likely tell him of her encounter with you."

I blinked. "Is that good or bad?"

"Depends on how you look at it."

"How should we look at it?"

Silence.

"Thank you…for saving me."

"You didn't really need my help but Alice saw Melissa taking you if one of us wasn't there to be with you."

I licked my lips thinking them to be dry when they were moist like always. "Still, thank you."

We drove in a graveyard state, neither one of us speaking until he couldn't handle it anymore. "Either Aro will enjoy hearing of your looks and charm, or he will be indifferent about it and wait until you go to him."

At home, I unpacked my things and once again settled on my bed to be in quiet. I clicked my stereo on the remote to listen to classical music before slipping into an unconscious state where darkness reigned.