Return to Forks Part 7 – New Friends

NPOV

I held Mom's hand as I walked. How in…can you think about touching that, Mom? Let alone eat it!

She smiled ruefully down at me. "What can I say? Wouldn't you be hungry – no, never mind. You've never had pizza in your life, have you?"

I did once…Em dared me to. I was allowed to refer to the members of my family by his or her first name. Except for Mom and Dad, whom I had to refer to as Mom and Dad, naturally. I had to call them Bella and Edward when oblivious humans were nearby, however. They'd freak if I was a seventeen-year-old with seventeen- and eighteen-year-old parents. I wouldn't blame them. Mom smiled at my musing.

"How did it taste?"

I showed her my feelings as that horrible little blob of oily, sticky, cheesy grease slid slowly down my throat and landed in my stomach with an almost-audible thud. Emmett had howled his head off. Mom shuddered.

"Ew," she muttered. Seeing Mom like this, it was extremely hard to treat her as a mom. She was my age, technically, and so was Dad. They seemed…so…not like what other parents were like. I didn't mind, though. They were still Mom and Dad.

"So…famous trademark Sears Tower salad, Mom?" I joked.

"Coming right up."

I watched in fascination as she spread a layer of lettuce on the plate, a layer of croutons on top of that, another layer of lettuce, a thin layer of bacon bits, another layer of lettuce, a layer of diced tomatoes, another layer of lettuce, a layer of onions, another layer of lettuce, ranch, another layer of lettuce, honey mustard dressing, another layer of lettuce, Italian dressing, another layer of lettuce, a layer of cheese, another layer of lettuce, a layer of sausage, another layer of lettuce, and finally, two toothpicks for the antennae of the Tower with olives sticking out of them.

Emmett took one look and was doubled over laughing so hard that the grandmotherly lunch lady looked at him over her glasses in concern.

She grinned in triumph. "What do you think?"

Impressive. It was nine and a half inches tall, not including the toothpicks. Dad wrapped his arm around Mom and chuckled into her hair. "You never cease to amaze me, love."

Mom had balanced it out nicely so that each layer was just the tiniest bit smaller than the last, so that it wouldn't fall over. The lunch lady's eyes widened in shock as she took in the spectacle of a salad. "Is the salad bar all?" she stammered.

"Yes, please," replied Mom politely.

I heard Timothy, Isabelle, and Tatiana's muffled laughter as they saw what Mom was going to eat. "Seriously?" Timothy muttered.

"Yes, seriously," Mom replied, unruffled.

As we sat down, Alice and Dad laughed in unison. Mom grabbed her fork, looked down at her monstrous half-lettuce creation with an ambivalent look, and took a bite.

We all watched her facial expressions.

Her face was at first hesitant, and then thoughtful as she chewed the salad, and finally pleased. "That was delicious; you guys are missing out on a lot!" she declared, going in for another bite.

Um, no, we're not.

Isabelle chuckled. "So, who wants to start?" she asked, brisk and right to the point. "My power only tells me the basics. It doesn't let me know who you really are."

"I will," Jasper's quiet voice came from my left. I looked at him, a tad bit surprised. He'd been extremely silent since we'd walked into the cafeteria.

"As you know, I'm Jasper. I can read a person's emotions and I can change them, too. They're physical changes. My mate is Alice – " he wrapped an arm around her " – and I've been a vampire for two and a half centuries, more or less."

"I'm Alice," Alice continued. "I don't remember anything from my past as a human at all, or who changed me, or anything. I can see the future, but my visions change often, depending on people's decisions. I can't see the decisions, though." She grinned as she added, "I met Jasper in a small restaurant. That was way before we'd met the rest of them. We'd actually lived on our own for a few years, and strayed from human blood."

There was a slight pause.

"I'm Rosalie," Rosalie said quickly, gazing around the nine faces. "I don't have many special powers, and I'm a over a century and a half – but not quite two centuries, not yet. Carlisle – our father – changed me. I'm with Emmett." She leaned back and closed her eyes.

Emmett spoke next. "I'm Emmett, and I don't exactly have a gift, either. I'm two years younger than Rosalie, so to speak. We met when she found me being chewed up from a bear. Carlisle created me, too."

Huh. That was strange – Emmett hadn't even inserted a joke. Time to celebrate! That quickly ended when Emmett added, "They've been my favorite snacks ever since."

Ugh. Bears were too tough. I liked faster prey, even though they were smaller.

Mom's mouth opened. "My name is Bella," she said in her soft voice, glancing at Isabelle. "Like you know, I can block any powers that have to do with minds. I can take away that shield, too, any time I want. It just takes a bit of effort. I'm seventy-eight years old, not counting my human years. Edward created me." She gazed into Dad's eyes with an expression of what could only be love.

Dad's arm tightened around Mom. "I'm Edward. Carlisle changed me when I was dying of Spanish flu – I was the first in his family, or coven, whatever you want to call it. I'm nearly two centuries old, and I met Bella when I was a hundred or so, in high school. Her blood was extremely tempting for me, and I found myself in love with her in spite of that." I heard Emmett making gagging noises, and Rosalie shushing him. "We got married before she was changed, and she had Renesmee. Oh, and I can read minds."

With a jolt, I realized that it was my turn. "Um, yeah. I'm Renesmee, but you can call me Nessie, if you want, whatever…I'm half-and-half, and, uh, I do have a special power that's really hard to explain."

Isabelle's eyes narrowed. "Yes, I couldn't understand either, when I saw you. Perhaps you can show us?"

I glanced at Dad, and he gave me a quick nod.

Taking a deep breath, I held my hand out to Isabelle. I thought about my first moments as a child, so I wouldn't have to re-explain those memories. She reached out to touch it gently.

Her eyes lightened. "Ah, I see," she murmured, and withdrew her hand.

Timothy was next. "May I?" he asked. I nodded, and he touched my hand quickly. He seemed surprised, but understood. "Oh," he murmured.

Tatiana was next. There was something that made me think of something else. I quickly thought about one time, when I was in a meadow with Mom and Dad. I was still about two and a half, if a year counted as a full 365.2…days, but I had the appearance of a seven-year-old. I was chasing butterflies. They were no match for my speed, and I had them in my hands soon enough. I felt their soft wings, and after a moment, I let them go.

In her eyes, Tatiana seemed to seem awed. "Cool," she whispered.

We laughed at her term. "Enough about us, let's get on to you guys," suggested Alice, in her singsong voice.

"My name's Timothy, like you know," began Timothy. "And please don't call me Tim, Timmy, or any other nickname." There were chuckles all around, but we let him continue. "I was created by my father, William – he prefers being called Will – and I'm nearly a hundred and forty. I was killed before the civil rights movement, because my father was defending a black man accused of a crime." He shook his head in disgust. "People's minds back then!" he muttered in revulsion.

"I'm – oh my gosh! – Isabelle, and you know what I can do already. I'm only sixty-eight years old. I don't know who created me; I was asleep while he, or she, changed me. I'd depended on myself for survival for a few years until I encountered the rest."

We all looked at Tatiana, and she fidgeted and looked down – unusual for a vampire.

"She reminds me of Bella as a human," Emmett fake-whispered. Dad kicked him – extremely hard, in the shin – and Mom groaned.

"Okay," she muttered. "I'm Tatiana, and I was changed in Russia. I'd lived my whole human life there, and I was changed when I bumped into a vampire who was thirsty. He bit me already, but then another one came and hauled him away. I'm a hundred years – exactly, including my human years."

"How does your gift work, exactly?" Jasper asked, curiosity taking over him. "I didn't get it at first."

Tatiana nodded, unsurprised. "Okay, uh, Emmett, come here and try to punch Jasper." I stifled a laugh at her choice of words.

"Oh, sweet! A chance to inflict violence on a member of our family and getting away with it!" Em had a gleam in my eyes that worried me.

I spoke up. "Shouldn't you set some limits? I'm kind of scared. You know, for Jasper."

"Emmett, if you break off a part of his body, I'm going to kick you where it hurts," vowed Alice.

While the humans' attentions were momentarily distracted, Emmett struck Jasper with a lightning-fast blow to the shoulder. I winced.

Jasper had closed his eyes, bracing himself from the pain. Finally, he opened one eye. "Hurry up and hit me!" he hissed already.

Emmett looked stunned. "I did!" he hissed back.

Tatiana had leaned back, triumphant. I flashed her a quick grin. "Nice work," I complimented her.

She chuckled softly. "Thanks." She turned to Jasper. "So, did you feel anything?"

"Nope."

"And Emmett? How did it feel like, punching him?"

"It felt like punching a glass wall that even we can't tear down," he answered, still amazed.

"That's how it works. And – wait, who can read minds again?"

Dad nodded. "I can."

"Okay, someone, think some thoughts directed to him." Tatiana stared at Dad with strong concentration.

Dad was motionless. Finally, he opened his eyes. "Did you guys even think anything?" he asked.

Emmett's eyes popped. "I was cussing at you mentally! You didn't hear that?!"

Alice smiled. "I was referring to the times when you and Bella – "

Jasper's hand clamped over her mouth. "They don't need the gory details."

Just then, the bell rang.

Dad stood up. "So, apparently, we shall continue this discussion. Would you like to come with us to our home after school?"

Timothy agreed. "No problem."

Dad looked at Isabelle. "Yes, that was our house. And Renesmee smells familiar to you because she was living with the werewolves, who you undoubtedly know about already. Her mate is Jacob, a werewolf," he explained hastily. I blushed slightly. "They've been taking care of our house…sort of living in it, I guess." I remembered with pleasure the wonderful nights that Jacob and I had spent in there, or in the cottage, and Dad cringed, glaring at me.

We glanced toward the lunch lady, gleefully kicking this lunch period out the doors as the next came in. "Then we'll see you after school, in the parking lot, then," Emmett said, the gleam in his eyes back.