Author's Note: This may be the last on for a little while because school is just insane right now before the holidays, but I'll write more over break, so it won't be too long, don't worry. Thank you the like 40th time for the reviews... they mean a HUGE deal to me!! I'm so glad your enjoying the book, and more answers are coming in the next chapter. Please keep reviewing and requesting!

Love,

Mel

11. Realization

I stood there for a moment, speechless, breathless, scared out of my wits, taking this all in. Vampire? Wouldn't he, I don't know, eat me? Drink me was the better way of interpreting it…

I remembered back to when Ronan was snapping towards my half-dead body. This was absolutely absurd. Insane. But at the same time, it all made perfect sense. "So… that's why you almost killed me."

He looked startled at the calm sound of my voice, even though on the inside, I was shaken with fear and disbelief. "Yes. I lost control. I'm still extremely tempted to drink human blood, even though my family only drinks the blood of animals. We call ourselves vegetarians."

My mind was telling me to run. That being in the presence of Ronan was dangerous. But my heart told me otherwise. I felt safe with him.

I nodded slowly, trying to make myself understand. "Okay."

"Okay?" He shook his head, a smile forming on his mouth. "I tell you that you were almost dinner, and you say 'Okay'? My God, Ava Jameson. You're something else."

"You know I act, right?" I asked him.

"Glinda, Grace, Gertrude, Leoda, Narrator 1, lost boy 4, and Jiminy Cricket, was it? All beautiful performances, I might add. Your acting is exquisite."

I hid the bewilderment of him naming off every part I've ever played in a musical. "Uh, yeah. Well, as you can see I'm very good at hiding my true emotions when I need too."

He rolled his eyes and muttered something about someone named Jasper. He stepped closer. "So, what are you feeling?"

"Like any normal human being that has just been informed in the middle of the forest that she is alone with a vampire."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Can't say I didn't feel the same way when my long lost half-sister told me that."

I shook my head. "There's so much I don't know about you, Ronan. Basically everything you say is making me even more confused."

He shrugged, and looked at his wrist watch. "I should probably be getting you to school, Avs."

"What? No! You think I can concentrate of pre-calculus with all these questions ringing through my head?"

He smirked at me. "Guess you're just going to have to endure."

I was indignant. "I don't care what you are. I'm staying right in this spot until I am fully informed of your life story. In full detail."

He crossed his arms and let out a huff, considering. He looked at me, about to say something, but then his body became tense and his eyes shot behind me. I followed his gaze, and I heard soft rustling in the trees from where he was looking. Instantly, Edward was standing in front of me, Bella following behind him. They both looked apprehensive.

"Ronan, why did you do this." Bella asked in a low monotone.

"Bella, she was going to find out sooner or later. She's not going to tell anyone." He said through clenched teeth.

Bella gave me a cold look then. I was still trying to figure out how they got to us so fast, but I put that thought aside for the moment. "I would never do such a thing. I promise."

"Yeah, and that's why Alice saw as clear as day that the Volturi will be on our trail in a matter of weeks." She spat at me.

Alice?

"Alice, my little dark-haired sister. She can see the future." Edward said, shrugging.

How did he know what I was thinking?

The second that thought passed through my mind, Edward made his crooked smile and winked, then looked at the fuming girl next to him. "She insisted on barging up here the second I told her you were telling Avs about us. I told her not to, but she went along anyway. See, Bella, I told you everything would be fine."

She looked at Edward with weary eyes then. "How can you keep on saying that? Don't you see what a big mistake this is? This is it. The Volturi are going to kill us this time. I can't… I won't…"

Edward embraced her then, and the love radiating between their bodies together was intense enough to bring tears to my eyes. He kissed her on the head, "Bella, love, Alice's visions change. Maybe this was all a misunderstanding. Avs is not going to tell anyone."

She took in a deep, shaky breath. "You don't know that."

Ronan was seated beside me then, carefully wiping the tears rolling out of my eyes with his cold finger. I wanted to grab his hand and hold it to my flushed face, but the last thing I wanted him to do was pull away, so I let the tears silently drop and I looked into his eyes, forgetting about Bella and Edward.

He took my chin in his hand gingerly, taking in a shaky breath and looking into my eyes. It took him a few seconds to even his shaky breathing before he could manage, "Don't cry, Avs. It's all going to be okay."

I nodded, my heart fluttering faster than it ever had before, and our heads snapped over to the sound of rustling trees. Edward and Bella were gone.

Ronan looked down and grinned, and began nodding his head. "What is it, Ronan?" I asked.

"Bella finally understands. You know, she was just like you before she became an uptight worry-wart. She was human with a vampire."

I thought about that for a moment. "Ronan? What do you mean by she understands now? And how do you know this? You keep everything so open ended. It's making me more frustrated then you'll ever know."

He gazed at me with his golden eyes. "It will all come together at some point, Avs. But there's not time for questions now. I have to get you to school."

I let out a loud groan. But when I looked at his glorious, serious face, I knew I was fighting a losing war.

He stood up and lifted me off the wet forest floor effortlessly, cradling me like he did before. I took one look at my wet, muddy pants, and I put my head in my hand. "How do you expect me to go to school looking like this?" I asked, gesturing towards my wet dress pants.

"You're going regardless. Now hold on."

I had barely enough time to register what he had said before the forest became a green blur around me, and a cold wind blistered my cheeks. I refrained from screaming thankfully, but when he stopped running and he put me back on my feet, he had to catch me before fell to the ground trying to catch my breath.

After my breathing started to steady, I breathed, "You are so lucky I'm a big fan of roller coasters and don't get motion sickness, because you'd so be on my bad list right now."

He smirked. "Lucky for you I can see memories and wouldn't have to worry about that one bit."

I stopped dead in my tracks. "You see memories?"

"How else would I know you so well right now?"

"Oh, I don't know, I just thought you were just some creepy stalker vampire." I replied sarcastically. "How does it work? How do you see people's memories?"

"Questions that can be answered after school. First period starts in ten minutes. I don't want you being late."

I huffed and crossed my arms as we crept closer and closer to my new dungeon. When we reached the parking lot, the little pixie-haired girl named Alice that could see the future came prancing toward me like a ballerina. "Hi, Ava! I'm Alice, incase you didn't know me."

"Nice to meet you." I said, returning the smile she had on her delicate face.

She looked me over, and her eyebrows furrowed, "Oh, dear, Bella was right, you are a mess! Come to my car, I'll help you get cleaned up."

She took my hand, and I looked at Ronan for reassurance. He nodded and said, "I'll meet you at your car after school."

I eyed him. "Don't forget."

He chuckled, and gave me a brilliant smile that made my heart melt before he strutted off to first period.

"Come on," Alice said, pulling on my hand, "We don't want to be late for first period."

***

When I stepped out of Alice's 360 BlackJak, a car I believed wasn't even available in the United States yet about eight minutes later, I looked like a model. With fast hands, she sprayed Straight in my hair, and lathered some extravagant moisturizer through my copper red waves until it shined like it would on a sunny day despite the current depressing drizzle over Forks. She clipped it up to the side, letting a few locks hang and my bangs drift to the side like usual. She touched up my runny mascara, and applied subtle eye liner I usually never wear, and it made my deep-sapphire eyes look even more prominent. She gave me dark, tight jeans and short kitty-heeled boots that she swore were just coming in London at the moment. When the blouse didn't seem to fit the jeans and boots, she gave me a black, short-sleeved, tight fitting cashmere v-neck, and to top it off, she secured a sterling silver chain necklace with a heart charm hanging off the front. When she held the mirror up to my face, I gasped, and she smiled gallantly.

As we walked up to the school, I said, "Alice, you are amazing. Thank you so much."

She shrugged, her graceful step never faltering, making me feel like I had two left feet hobbling next to her in the boots, "I took a fashion class in London. It had to be the one of the best things I've ever done, especially considering what a shop-a-holic I am."

I smiled. "That's why I wish my family moved closer to Seattle. I haven't been to a store in weeks. It's nearly killing me."

We were on the campus then, and Alice beamed at me. "I don't even need a vision to assure me we're going to be great friends if that's the case." She gave me a quick hug. "See you soon?"

"Of course. It was nice meeting you, Alice."

She smiled and pranced off towards her first class. I took a deep breath, trying to figure out how I was going to contain from wandering to supernatural beings as I trudged to Honors English.

***

This Monday had to be one of the longest days of my life. I checked to open campus list to see if he went to eat who-knows where in Forks, and it turned out Ronan got a note from a guardian to give him permission to have open campus with the rest of his family, and left me seething with anticipation through the entire period. I couldn't stand one more compliment on my hair or outfit. I despised compliments. They made me uncomfortable, and Ronan knew that. He was so annoyingly clever.

When the bell rang after U.S History, I jumped in my seat, causing stylist I'd been using to take notes on the writing pad of my touch laptop to hit the floor.

Before I could even roll my eyes at my clumsiness, Bella swiftly bent over and handed it to me, a small, embarrassed smile on her face.

I was stunned by her behavior. "Thanks, Bella." I managed with a smile.

"No problem." She said, looking down. "I just wanted to express to you how sorry I am for acting so rude to you." She bent down to whisper in my ear, "Believe me; I know exactly how it feels to be hated by a vampire."

The word still sent shivers down my spine. "Oh, it's alright Bella. I'm kind of in a hurry, but I'll talk to you later, okay?" I'd let her explain later. Right now, I had someone to meet in the parking lot.

Bella let out a small chuckle. "Okay. Bye, Ava."

After I quickly shoved my laptop into my bag, I hobbled on my aching feet out of the stuffy classroom, eager to meet Ronan at my car.

When I reached the parking lot and saw Ronan leaning against my Porsche like a model doing a magazine ad for it, he smirked as I hobbled as fast as I could over to him.

When I got over to him, he lifted me off of my feet again and began carrying me to the forest. I rolled my eyes. "You know I'm perfectly capable of walking."

He raised his eyebrows. "In those things? Come on, Avs. I know how you are with heels. They're like a suicide mission for you."

"I walk perfectly fine in heels!" I argued.

"Want to explain to me then why one of your most embarrassing memories involves you wearing heels at eighth grade graduation?"

I grimaced at the incident I was never able to block out of my mind. "Okay, Ronan, you're the one who's doing all the explaining today. Now do you want to tell me where you're taking me?"

We were in the forest now, trees blocking the school behind us. "You'll see in a matter of seconds." And he took off running again.

After my second time experiencing the blur of green, and almost falling over, I realized we were in a small clearing. There was a small waterfall of a stream trickling on the far end, and the grasses and daisies that covered the landscape weren't nearly as wet as the last place Ronan had taken me. I sat down at ease on a thick patch of grass, ripped off the boots and began rubbing my aching feet. Ronan sat in front of me watching, waiting.

After I got settled and comfortable on the grass, I said, "Okay, Ronan. I'm done being confused. I want to know everything."

He smiled, looked at me with his warm, honey eyes that never failed to make my heart soar, and he said, "I never thought you'd ask."