Chapter 7: A Vampire's Perspective
Driving to school was tedious, not least because I could hear Rosalie and Emmett bickering. She was furious that I was befriending a human, while Emmett was trying to reason with her. It was amusing at first, but it soon became irksome because I could also hear what they were thinking. Alice and Jasper are supportive of me being nice to a human, but I know Jasper is struggling with the concept. It is still difficult for him sometimes. I tried to tune them out, which I managed to do effectively the moment we got closer to school. I could read the minds of the other students, hear them enjoy a good old gossip at the expense of my biology partner, and some things about whether they should go see if she was okay or whether she was emo. Lauren had that particular thought, I noticed with a grimace. Nevertheless, I was curious as to what was making them so wary of my biology partner.
And then I saw her. As we drove smoothly into the car park, finally yet reluctantly slowing down the speeds of our cars, I saw her sitting on one of the damp picnic tables on the field near the car park. The shadows under her eyes revealed a lack of sleep that could have rivalled ours, and the paleness of her skin wasn't far behind. The slight redness of her eyes and the tear tracks were very clear to us. Even Jasper found his gaze moving towards her with concern.
"She's completely distraught" he said quietly, his gaze moving to me to see how I would take it. I was naturally worried. I've been with Jasper for a long, long time and I don't recall him ever once using the word 'distraught' to describe a human's emotions, most certainly not in Forks. Rosalie seemed to notice something on my face because as we got out the car she started on me, telling me to leave well enough alone, that it was none of our concern. I kept my gaze on her politely, but after a while I heard movement on the table and couldn't help but turn around. The expression on Hermione's face was one that I think will haunt me for a long time. The instant she made eye contact with me it was like something crumbled inside her. Jasper looked at me, silently asking if I wanted him to alter her mood but I shook my head. It wasn't my place.
Still, I kept tabs on her throughout the day. I was already so used to her just handling the students with ease. She was polite to everyone, and unlike a lot of people she wanted to learn. Anyone would think she'd never been at high school before, the way she looked around the classrooms with fascination. It was sweet, and a nice change. What also made her interesting was the fact I couldn't read her mind. It was muffled, like something was blocking it. Sometimes it was like it was starting to tune in, but then it would go quieter than normal. I considered if she was aware that she was blocked me out, but I brushed that thought away. How on earth could she? So, I was forced to rely on reading the minds of those around her to find out how she was doing. I wasn't impressed.
She was stopping anyone from knowing her business, blocking them out but also scarcely making any notes in class either. Her blocking them out indirectly stopped me from knowing the truth of the matter, which was frustrating. I was used to knowing these sorts of things. From what I could gather everything she was doing had a force of habit approach. I hoped it was not true, eagerly waiting to see some sort of improvement at lunch to little avail. She didn't eat or talk to anyone. With a dry smile I realised she was behaving how the rest of the room perceived us to be. I glanced at Jasper, giving him a slight nod when he told me to make her happy with his thoughts. Rosalie would have been tempted to fight him if he said it out loud.
When biology came around she was already in the class, and from her posture I could tell she was tense, maybe from hearing the not-so-quiet comments being made by those she hung around with yesterday,, as well as strangers. I tried to carry on as normal, but she was shutting me out too, warning me in advance that she wasn't "in a talkative mood". I remembered again how she nearly burst into tears after looking at me this morning, and I had to think hard to make sure I had not upset her. It was nonsense, of course. I was always polite to her, repaying her for jumping to Esme's defence on her first day here - not that she would ever know that's why I initially spoke to her in Biology. She was surprisingly good company which made it worth while. However that was yesterday, and today she was not in such a pleasant mood. She was doing her best not to look at me. It made it all the more irritating that I couldn't read her mind, especially when she looked appalled at the fact it was pair work rather than note taking. I couldn't resist a slight chuckle at the scowling though. She looked too sweet to be taken seriously, so I endeavoured to find out what brought out this reaction. She didn't verbally respond to my question, her first spoken words to me being about the division of the work. When the first slide was prepared she handed it to me, her face schooled into something resembling neutral. Our hands brushed against each other.
If I were human, I would have fallen off my stool with the way she reacted when our fingers touched. It wasn't a typical reaction to the cold, it was like I'd triggered something else because the white noise I got from her head was going frantic, and her facial expression pained my chest in a way that hasn't happened for a long time. Deciding it was best to just let her deal with whatever it was she was feeling, we finished the rest of the experiment in silence. This is probably why we finished it so early, and I could not maintain this quiet knowing she was miserable. I asked her how she was liking Forks, trying to get her to explain her reasons for coming here. She was proving to be quite the secret keeper! When at long last I managed to get a smile out of her - it wasn't entirely sincere but I'll take it - she seemed grateful. Leaning over me she began to draw something on my notebook, and I watched her curiously. A colon, a dot and a bracket.
I knew I would treasure that page for a long time.
My next lesson was incredibly tedious, knowing that I had a request to make of Jasper. I was almost restless, not paying the slightest bit of attention. When the bell went I had to forced myself to act human, but I put on a little spurt to stand outside one of the history classrooms. Jasper glanced up at me as he left the room, and came over to meet me. "Change her," I pleaded quietly, and he cottoned on straight away to what I was referring to. He left me in the corridor as he set out to find my new bushy-haired biology partner. After a minute or so, I followed suit only to find that she was resisting his efforts. That or Jasper's gift was ineffective on her, but I was more inclined to think the first. She didn't stand with him for very long before she left, heading towards the toilets even though I was fully aware that there couldn't possibly be any fluid in her system. She hadn't drunk a thing all day. Nevertheless I appreciated his attempts, and the two of us walked to our cars in silence.
We watched Hermione exit the building she'd been in, noticed that she was aware of us looking at her, and then observed as she left the school to walk home in a depressed state that wasn't much of an improvement on this morning. If not for Rosalie's snarl I would have run over to her, to walk home with her or to insist she talk to me, but instead I found myself driving home with some very irritable passengers.
I am so sorry for taking so long to update! I know this chapter is short, but I am editing the next two chapters as I type so there will be more to come soon and hopefully it'll be of better quality than this chapter. Thank you for sticking with me!
