Disclaimer: Characters from the Twilight novels / movies are the property of Stephanie Meyer. All original characters are my property.
Thanks to Eni01, Reneseme30, and trinity spurlock for following the story! :D
Additional thanks also goes to Eni01 and Dixie.f.9. for converting that follow into a favorite! I'm really glad you like the story so far! Hope I don't let any of my followers or favorites down!
And as always REVIEW! Do it, it's helpful beyond belief to make the story better and keep me motivated.
Other than that I would just like to say Happy Holidays to everyone! This chapter is actually the longest one I've written yet, but it's sort of a transition chapter to get us to the new school. Hope you all enjoy it!
Chapter 9
New
Two, slow and agonizing, months went by, during which the Cullen's taught me how to handle being around humans. Their method for this was basically putting a loaded gun in the hands of a twitchy tweeker as I would sit in one of their cars and they would drive closer and closer to town each day.
The first couple weeks were the worst. Even with my thirst sated on animal blood my throat seared from the scent and sound of each and every person who passed by's heartbeat. At first Emmett would sit next to me and as we got close to town he would pin me down while Bella and Jasper attempted to keep my hunting instinct in check. It was a pretty rough start, especially considering I had dented out one of the rear doors of Emmett's Jeep when his grip slipped after I instinctively threw the tire iron in the back into his face with my mind. After that nothing that wasn't bolted or tied down as allowed in the car when we went on these expeditions.
Most days during my training I came home feeling pretty down, this only got worst as the days went by and controlling myself didn't seem to be getting any easier. I started to get really depressed until Jasper pointed out that the mere fact that it wasn't getting harder as we moved closer to town meant that I was making progress. My eyes were what was really helping to keep my spirits up though because that damned red was finally starting to dull. It was just in time too, since the first major snowfall of winter finally hit us just a few days later. Had I still been feeling down it wouldn't have helped; I found winter to be depressing.
Five weeks into my training, Emmett was flipping through channels when an alarming news broadcast came on. It was about the guy they found dead in the alleyway, the one I would have been in too if Carlisle hadn't found me while I bleed out onto the concrete. Apparently, the police thought they had another lead on the suspect responsible. It was the first time I had seen anything about my disappearance in the news and what I heard about me shocked me. The police thought I was dead. They had apparently found a huge pool blood in the alleyway and, after the lady at the ticket counter told police she saw me go into the alley, they compared my genetic profile on record, from me bouncing from foster home to foster home. When the test came back a match the police determined that I had to be dead because there was simply too much blood for someone to have survived that kind of an attack. If only they knew. This was sort of fortunate though; at least my face wasn't being plastered around as a missing person.
Due to the news broadcast as we started to near town we switched to Carlisle's car. It had extremely tinted windows to help hide my face. After a couple more weeks we were actually driving through town now and I was starting to feel more at ease with each passing day.
With just a week left until we were going to move it was decided, to much protesting from me, that it was time to have me walk around in town, not Hanover of course, but another town further away.
At this point my eyes were now pretty much black, but even so Alice made me wear a pair of large, mirror finish aviator sunglasses. The first trip to town saw the entire family head out with me as a precaution. It was a very awkward first attempt, I didn't try to pounce on anyone, but I definitely thought about it every time someone came within five feet of me but Edward would always put his hand on my shoulder and give it a slight squeeze to help get me back on track. The next two attempts got easier and easier, thankfully, as my thoughts were finally able to overcome my instincts and keep me calm, even without Jasper or Bella helping me.
My confidence soared for the first time in weeks. On the last run into town before we were to move I was surprised because it ended up being only Alice and I who went to town. I tried to convince others to go with us just as a precaution, but they all staunchly refused. At first I thought it was because they wanted to show me I could handle it, but it turns out that was not the case. Alice was taking me clothes shopping, since my entire wardrobe consisted of borrowed clothes at the moment, and apparently shopping with her was something to fear by the way my other siblings put it. Maybe I should have backed out too.
It was like shopping with an over-caffeinated teenager. Alice buzzed around the store as fast as she could pull off without raising suspicion. As she flitted from one clothing rack to the next she snatched clothes with from them with sniper like accuracy. I stood near the changing rooms unsure if I should even try to pick something out. I had always just bought whatever was on sale when I went shopping and never to a fairly pricey store like this one. So for nearly an hour I just stood there waiting, mostly admiring the craftsmanship of my new watch to distract me from the scent of the human workers. Analogue watches always fascinated me; they have such a simple job, yet they are exceptionally complex inside.
Finally, after Alice made all of her selections, she appeared in front of me with several armfuls of clothes. "Here, I could only find a few that I think would look good on you," she stated. I looked at her in astonishment; she had at least 20 different outfits in her arms. She set the clothes on a chair then played dress up using me as her model. Every time I came out of the dressing room she would make me stand in front of a mirror as she critiqued how I looked and at the same time every single person, especially the girls, in the store would stare at me. It was probably one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever done and she made me do it twice because after going through the first round of clothes she pranced off to get more. I really should have stayed home.
When Alice had finally decided on which outfits were best we trudged up to the front counter. I nearly had a panic attack after seeing the total. "Honestly, Alice, I don't need all of these clothes," I said, feeling guilty.
"Trust me, a couple thousand dollars is nothing," she said while turning to me, "so don't worry about it!" she added after seeing my expression. Geez, they must be loaded if it's nothing, I still think twenty bucks is a lot of spending cash.
As we headed back home, the car filled with bags and bags of clothes, I asked, "Where are we moving to anyway?" realizing that I hadn't actually asked yet.
"Portland, Oregon," Alice answered, "well actually a little ways outside Portland, on the edge of a nearby forest."
"I've never been to Portland. Is it nice?" I inquired.
"It's not too bad, but it and the surrounding area is pretty cloudy so we can spend as many days in public as possible," Alice explained, "And the college we are going to is on the outer edge of the city, that way if we have any problems we aren't in the center of a highly populated area." I could tell when she said we she meant me more than anyone, but I didn't hold it against her.
When we arrived at home Emmett's Jeep was sitting outside the front door, already half filled with boxes. As soon as we stepped inside Alice pulled out an outfit from one of the bags and handed it to me, "go put this on and get the rest packed up." Fortunately I had already repacked the rest of my stuff so these new clothes were the only things left.
After everything was ready to go we set out for our new home. It was about a two day trip, fortunately we only had to stop for gas so it went a little faster than that; it also helps that none of the Cullens were driving the speed limit because Edward and Bella lead the long line of nice cars in his Volvo and he would just slow down if he heard any cops nearby. I rode with Jasper in Bella's Ferrari, honestly the nicest car I've ever been in, and he drilled me about the new identity I would assume at our new school.
"What's your name?" Jasper asked for the third time.
I quickly replied, "William Cullen, though I prefer to be called Will." Jasper had me replying as though I was being asked by one of my new teachers.
"You moved here with your family?" he continued.
"Yes, I was adopted by my mother and father, Carlisle and Esme." I answered.
Jasper followed up, "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"Six of them actually," I looked at a sign that indicated we were twenty-five miles from the Idaho boarder. I'm so bored!
Jasper snapped his fingers, "Hey, concentrate! Now tell me about your siblings."
I paused for a second before answering, spotting a coyote chasing down a rabbit in the forest on the roadside, "Um...I have eight brothers and sisters, who are all adopted as well."
"Oh, really? So none of you are actually related to each other then?" Jasper inquired.
"Well actually, Rosalie and Edward are actually bother and sister, Bella and Renesmee are sisters too, but Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and I are all from separate families," I recited.
Jasper pulled out his phone and sent a text to someone, my guess was Alice, "When were you adopted?"
I put my elbow on the armrest and laid my head in my hand, not that I needed to relax. I just wanted Jasper to see how bored I was going over the same story for the sixth time, "About six years ago when my parents died in a car accident." My real life history fit in nicely with this part.
"Good, now lets go over it again," Jasper put his phone back in his pocket.
I sighed, "Can we please stop? My memory doesn't have any problems," I poked my head, "vampire, remember?"
"Fine, you've got it down," Jasper finally relented.
"Do you want to sing 100 bottles of beer on the wall?" I asked jokingly, Jasper responded with an angry look; guess he wasn't a singer.
When we finally reached our new home, that Esme had chosen, it was just as stunning as the previous one. The two story modern house's architecture was an amazing mixture of bright steel woods with creme colored walls. Most of the rear exterior of the house was covered in floor to ceiling windows with an amazing view of the forest it was set in. Esme must really like these big open windows or maybe they all do. The first story contained the kitchen, two story tall living room, a study, and the entrance hall of course. While the second contained all the bathrooms, bedrooms, and storage space we needed, which was a lot. It also had a massive deck that wrapped around the living room's side of the house and the roof extended out to provide some shelter in the rain.
We spent the weekend getting the house set up starting with our rooms then helped Esme decorate the new house, which didn't involve much since it came furnished and she had the help of ten other vampires. All the work really helped me keep calm because I was getting progressively more nervous about my first day back at school. At least we are starting at the start of the second semester instead of in the middle of one. Afterward a few of us went hunting before our first day, I wanted to make sure I was as prepared as possible.
When Edward, Emmett, Bella, and I returned we all changed clothes for school. As I finished putting on the first pair of pants and shirt I found in my dresser Alice came into my room, took one look at me, and exclaimed, "No, no, no!" She immediately sprang over to my dresser and pulled out a pair of blue jeans; a grey, button down, long sleeve shirt; and then pulled out a tan jacket.
"What are you doing?" I asked as she was rummaging through my clothes.
"You need to make a good first impression, besides after getting you all these clothes I want to make sure you are using them right," Alice laid the clothes out on a chair.
"What do you mean use them right?" a perplexed look filling my face.
Alice pointed at me and sighed, "You can't just throw any two pieces of clothes together and expect them to look good! Besides everyone will be staring at us anyway so I want to make sure everyone in this family makes a good first impression." I had almost forgotten that people were always staring at us when we were in public.
Jasper called up from downstairs, "She does it to all of us on our first day at a new school, just get used to it."
"I really don't want to attract any more attention to myself that I need to," I pleaded with her, hoping to just wear what I had on.
"Well suck it up because no one in my family is going to go to out in public wearing something like that," she gave me a frightening stare. It was a little insulting to be told that, basically, I didn't know how to dress myself, but with the look she was giving me and the fact that she was obviously a fashion freak I went along with her request with a large sigh.
Once everyone was ready, we headed out to our new school. We rode in two separate cars since there were so many of us and I ended up riding with Emmett, Jasper, and Edward in the Jeep, while the others rode in Rosalie's BMW. My nerves continued to spike with each passing minute and so did my excitement making the car ride agonizingly long. The guys tried to calm me down by making small talk; it wasn't very effective. Finally, after a nearly half hour drive, we pulled into the parking lot of the Portland Technical Institute. Geronimo, I guess.
In case anyone is wondering I made up the school. I was going to use a real college in Portland, but the only one I could find that offered the kinds of classes that Will would take was smack dab in the middle of downtown and I figured the Cullens would prefer one on the edge of the city. That way they had an easy escape root if they needed to drag Will out of there. Just a little behind the scenes on my thought process.
