Chapter 6 – Sophia

"Hey!" Rosalie greeted me as I opened the door in the morning. "Thought you might like some company to school today" she smiled kindly and indicated Emmett and Jasper standing behind her.

"Hey guys" I waved at them. I was glad that they were there, when Rosalie and Alice finally left last night, I felt the loneliness creeping in on me that I retreated to the library and buried myself in the Oxford Latin Dictionary, brushing up on my language skills. I had just finished reading it and gotten changed into denim shorts and a simple V neck sleeveless shirt.

"Wow, Sophia, showing some skin!" Emmett whistled at my appearance. I noticed that they were all wearing long sleeved tops and jeans, even though it was going to be a cloudy but humid day.

"Don't you guys have anything," I searched for the word. "Shorter?"

"Well even if it is cloudy like today, there's no harm in playing it safe" Jasper shrugged.

"But now, you have me" I pointedly told them. "No matter how cloudy or sunny it is, always dress appropriately!" I winked at them as I turned around and went back into the house. "Come on Rosalie, we'll find something for you so that Emmett can whistle at you as well"

"Make sure she wears something that nobody else whistles at her!" Emmett called back after us. Luckily, Rosalie was a similar height and build to me, and my personalised clothing fit her perfectly.

"Are you sure I'm allowed to borrow this?" Rosalie asked, indicating the mini skirt and tank top she was wearing.

"Of course!" I waved my hand dismissively. "You look gorgeous! Not that you didn't before" I winked at her.

"Thank you!" Rosalie smiled at me gratefully. "It feels so good to be able to wear something other than long sleeved tops and sweaters to school!"

"Well you're welcome to my wardrobe anytime!" I offered her. "And if you want I can make you some clothes myself, something that is more suited to you"

"I might just take you up on that offer" Rosalie winked as we flew back down the stairs to join up with the boys.

"Sophia" Emmett groaned, staring at his beautiful girl. "Do you want me to kill some poor unsuspecting boy today?"

"C'mon big boy" Rosalie rolled her eyes as we both laughed at him.

"So where's Alice?" I asked Jasper as we stepped into Rosalie's red convertible. He knew that I included Bella and Edward in my question, but he replied calmly.

"She's going with Bella and Edward today" Jasper answered.

"Ed's still a little miffed about your fight yesterday" Emmett turned around and explained as Rosalie sped down the street.

"Doesn't understand why you're trying to justify him killing another human being" Jasper added.

"You know that I didn't mean we should be killing people" I told them. "It just came out all wrong"

"Don't worry, Sophia" Emmett waved his hand dismissively at me. "Ed'll get over it once he realises that you're the one who doesn't kill anything"

"Which is what I've been meaning to ask" Rosalie asked curiously. "Do you ever drink? I mean, you would be so weak if you don't actually consume anything"

"Well when I can, we steal from the blood bank" I admitted sheepishly. "Definitely not one of my favourite traits, but I don't usually feel the need to drink blood that often" I smiled at them grimly.

"Mind power?" Emmett asked with a mischievous smile.

"I guess so" I shrugged.

"Can I ask" Jasper turned to me inquisitively. "How prepared were you about changing?"

"Well..." I wasn't expecting that question, so I thought it over for a bit. "I guess you could say that I was very well prepared?" I shrugged. "Is that the right answer?"

"There is no wrong or right answer" Jasper laughed.

"Well Matt told me what to expect, the thirst, the physical changes, the abilities that I would acquire. Though we didn't see my gift coming" I laughed. "We had about a year to prepare for it; Matt wanted to make sure that he would be able to control me once I was changed"

"And you never felt the thirst burning your throat so badly that you reacted on instinct?" Jasper asked.

"Well of course I felt the burning thirst" I replied. I could still feel the burning at the back of my throat, especially now that we were entering the school and humans were milling around everywhere. "But I refused to let myself become something I didn't want it to be. I guess I had a lot of practise in my human years though" I laughed bitterly. "I guess I'm just never meant to fit in anywhere!"

"You fit in pretty well here" Rosalie offered me her arm. I linked mine around hers and we walked into the school arm in arm, noticing every single person notice us as we walked past.

"Well hopefully you do too" I smiled at her.

We had arrived at school just in time for the first bell to ring so we separated our own ways and went to our first class. As soon as I walked into my History class, Gabby and Nina pounced on me.

"Tell us everything!" Gabby pleaded, leading me to my seat. Of course I hadn't masked the fact that I had arrived at school with Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper. It was going to be much too much fun to miss.

"What do you mean?" I feigned innocence.

"Come on, Soph" Nina rolled her eyes. "Everyone saw you walking in with the new family!"

"So are they cool?" Gabby asked eagerly.

"Of course" I told her.

"So is everything that was said about their family true?" Nina asked.

"They are all adopted except Eddie, their father is a doctor" I confirmed.

"And they're all... You know..." Gabby put her two index fingers together. "Together?"

"Rosalie and Emmett are together, they're the ones in our year. Jasper, the blonde one, Rosalie's twin, is Alice's boyfriend, she's the little one in the year below, and Edward and Bella are with each other" I explained.

"That is so weird" Nina shook her head.

"Sure" I shrugged.

"And did I actually see Rosalie wearing your tank top?" Gabby asked. Damn, I knew there was something that I forgot to mask.

"Yeah" I nodded. "She came over yesterday and I let her borrow it" I shrugged. At that moment the teacher came in and started the class, so we weren't able to talk until the end of class.

"I heard Rosalie and Emmett are in your Math class" Nina said as we gathered up our things from the desk.

"You heard that from Dan?" I laughed.

"He was crushed" Gabby nodded, laughing along. "You should have seen his face when he came out of school!"

"He was white as a ghost!" Nina agreed. "That Emmett must have had one scary stare!" she laughed.

"Oh, he's a sweetie" I defended him. "But he's very in love with Rosalie"

"You can tell" Gabby nudged me as she noticed we were walking towards the couple.

"Hey Sophia!" Emmett waved, his smile indicating that he heard our conversation and was very pleased with the reaction he got out of Dan.

"Hey Em" I waved back, silently laughing as they walked up to us.

"So I was thinking" Rosalie said as she slid her arm through mine. "That this afternoon, we go out shopping. I need to buy new clothes" she winked at me.

"I'm definitely up for it" I agreed, though I knew that I couldn't buy anything.

"Do you two girls want to come?" Rosalie asked, swinging her head around me so she could look at the two girls, looking like an ad for a shampoo as her blonde hair swung around.

"Uhh..." Gabby stuttered.

"Sure" Nina said for the both of them.

"Great" Rosalie smiled at them. "Humans are fun" she whispered so fast and so low that only I could hear, and we both squealed with amusement. "I'll meet you at lunch" she winked at me and unlinked her arm, replacing it on Emmett's waist who had his arm around her shoulders in an instant.

"Catch ya later, Soph" Emmett winked and walked off with Rosalie.

"She is so gorgeous!" Gabby squealed.

"Do you think she could help me pick out a dress for my date tonight?" Nina asked.

"You have a date?" I turned around, staring at my friend in surprise.

"Well..." Nina blushed, and I knew that she had been dying to let it out since the start of school, but the Cullen family had taken precedence.

"C'mon, Nina, spit it out!" Gabby encouraged her as we walked into our next classroom.

"Kyle asked me out last night" Nina told us quickly, sitting down and hiding her face behind her hair.

"No way!" Gabby squealed.

"You did say yes didn't you?" I asked her, though I already knew the answer. I could hear every heightened heart beat that the two had shared; I could smell every blush that Nina experienced every time Kyle had accidentally brushed her hand.

"Of course" Nina laughed.

"So how did he do it?" Gabby asked excitedly, pulling her chair in so that she could sit closer to our table. Nina started giving a play by play of the conversation her and Kyle had last night when something caught my eye out of the window. It had looked like a flash of light brown hair, a slim body running from shadow to shadow outside in the school yard. I looked closer, unsure of what I was seeing; it couldn't possibly be true could it? But when I looked again, the school yard was clear and there was no sign of anything except the slight wind picking up the leaves of the trees.

I knew my imagination could run wild, especially with Matthew not around. But what I had seen out there in the school yard, it couldn't have been...

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts and focused entirely on our teacher who had walked in and had already started class. Every now and then, I glanced out of the window, but I saw nothing until class had ended and we were walking out of the classroom. Gabby and Nina went their separate ways as soon as we walked out of the door and I met up with Dan for our next class together. As we walked through the school yard, a movement in the shadows of a tree somewhere a distance from the school grounds caught my attention and I quickly glanced over.

The red eyes stared at me so intently that I almost stopped still in my tracks. My mind was racing a million miles a minute, what I was seeing was impossible, yet it was right there in front of me.

"Sophia?" a voice called out and in the one second that it took for me to break his glance, he disappeared. "Are you ok?" Bella and Eddie came walking up towards us, Bella looking concerned and Eddie looking slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I smiled brightly. "Bella, Eddie, this is Dan" I introduced my friend next to me who hadn't even noticed my break in concentration.

"Hey" Dan waved at them, then looked away, fidgeting. I supposed that he hadn't fully recovered from Emmett's stare down yesterday and I suppressed a laugh.

"I heard that you and Rosie are going shopping this afternoon" Bella said. At the mention of Rosalie's name, I could hear Dan's heartbeat quicken, just for a second. Edward stared at him, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, we're taking Gabby and Nina with us" I confirmed. "Do you want to come as well?" I asked her.

"I would love to" Bella replied, though I could see that she really did not mean it. "But Edward and I decided to have a quiet night in" she glanced quickly up at him, who was now staring at me curiously. I stared back at him, wondering if he was reading my mind. A slight twitch of his mouth confirmed my question. I narrowed my eyes at him; I didn't like him in my head, so I tried to clear all of my thoughts, blocking them from his penetrating eyes. Only a couple of seconds had passed when his eyes widened in surprise.

"That's nice" I said to Bella, knowing that Eddie couldn't get into my mind now that I had cleared it. "Did you want to ask something, Eddie?" I asked him, smiling innocently as his eyes narrowed in frustration. "Something on your mind?"

"Not at all" Eddie replied shortly. Bella looked between us with confusion.

"Well, we better go, don't want to be late for class" Bella told me and led Eddie away.

"What was up with him?" Dan asked as we walked away.

"No idea" I shrugged, letting it slide past and pretty soon, Dan was quizzing me on the shopping trip I had planned with Rosalie and the other girls.

The rest of the day went by quickly. I never saw those red eyes again, though at times I caught myself glancing out of the window, searching, but I never saw anything out of the usual. The Cullen's sat at our table at lunch, Eddie, Jasper and Emmett on one side of the table, Rosalie, Alice and Bella joining in with Gabby and Dan whilst Kyle and Nina kept whispering to each other when they thought nobody else was listening. Of course, we picked up on everything and every now and then, Rosalie and I looked at each other and shared a silent moment of amusement at their blossoming relationship.

The majority of the lunch time Alice was trying to convince Bella to come shopping with us, and very reluctantly, she had finally agreed to go, with a quick glance at Eddie. I had made sure that my mind was clear before I sat at our lunch table and he was staring at me both with curiosity and frustration. And just because, I sent flashes of innocent smiles his way every now and then, increasing his frustration with me.

"You really shouldn't do that" Alice told me quietly as we exited the cafeteria.

"Do what?" I asked, though I was pretty sure I knew what she meant.

"Edward is a nice guy" she told me. "And I love him to bits, which is why the things he has planned for you..." she shook her head.

"He won't touch me" I rolled my eyes.

"Don't tempt him" Alice warned. "He has amazing will power, and right now my visions are still fuzzy, so I know that he won't act on any of them. But please don't let this end in blood shed" she smiled grimly. "Excusing the pun"

"I'll try" I sighed. I did like Alice. In fact I liked all the Cullen's, even Eddie until we had the fight the night before. Now, I just liked to see Eddie frustrated.