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I really don't.
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The ever remorseful
Tress Blues
Chapter 11. School Blues
Bella's POV
Everyone filed into the school ground just a few minutes before the bell. For what it was worth, I wanted to run all the way back to England after the stares I got. Constant murmurings followed our every move as they scrutinized us.
Max looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel. I saw Jenna put a hand on his shoulder. There were the presumable glares from girls and dazzled stares from boys but it all boiled down to a neat little point: we were new and different.
"Whoa. Have you seen the new kids? I mean I know they were from London but seriously how are they that pale?"
"Do you reckon they're siblings or hooked up? Wonder if they're single…"
"Who do they think they are? Coming in here and stealing all the attention. It's like they don't even want it!"
"So pretty. But they're probably catty and mean like all the others. Shame really."
The comments were steadily getting louder as we approached the front desk at the administrator building. When we finally got inside, everyone took a deep breath. The woman at the counter seemed baffled by our appearance but she was polite enough not to mention anything. God bless her.
"Can I help you?" she asked politely and I stepped up to her. She reminded me of the receptionist who'd first helped me the first time, when I was human. She had frizzy red hair and a purple shirt the colour of violets.
"Yes. My name is Isabella Sparrow and this is my brother Andrew. That's Vee Matthews and her siblings Jenna and Max. And this is Chen…Dracula, he's their brother too. We're new here." I introduced ourselves and everyone gave her smiles. I wondered if this poor woman knew she was surrounded by people who drank blood. I doubted it since she didn't run away screaming.
Instead, she smiled and tapped at her computer. "Ah let's see. Hmm." She said, tapping away at the keyboard. She frowned looked up at us again and then typed a little faster. "Oh yes, you must be the new students from London. Sorry for the hold up. We've got another family coming today as well so you won't be alone. Here are your schedules. And if you could get your teachers to sign these slips and then hand it in here at the end of the day that would be wonderful." She said pleasantly. I smiled again and took the papers. At least we wouldn't be the only new students of spectacle.
We shuffled through the door and looked over our schedules. Jenna and Max weren't in any of our classes being two years younger but Chen and Vee were in most of my other courses. Andrew had Advanced Chemistry with Vee however, the only class I could get them both into. The only thing they would like about it would be having each other's company. The only thing all of us had was lunch. And since we didn't eat…
Andrew looked at his watch. "Guys we have about two minutes to get to class. Seeya at lunch?" he said, already taking off down the hallway. Andrew was weird like that. We weren't sure if it was a natural thing or some special ability but he always knew where he was going.
Vee nodded and walked with Chen and me to Calculus. I was positive she hated every step with passion. Just like me. Chen on the other hand adored Math. He was practically skipping down the hallway when we entered the room. The teacher was a man with a big round potbelly and thick-rimmed glasses. Everything about him screamed Math geek.
"Ah, you must be the new students. Please take a seat and we'll get started." He said slowly, still looking at Vee and I. All I could think of was 'Ew'. We nodded and took places way up the back while Chen stayed near the front and looked happily up at Mr Pond as he explained the theory of x. The rest of the class was either looking at us or looking like they were going to die of boredom.
When class ended, we all rushed out of the room and down the corridor to English. Mr Pond had taken a little more time than was necessary to finish. I have truly, never seen anyone get more excited about a letter than Mr Pond did.
At least English had a slightly better curriculum. We began like most start of school days, talking about the rest of the year and what exercises we were required to do. "We will be studying Romeo and Juliet for the most part of this term and before you moan and groan let me just say this will count for half of your grade. Learn it or fail." Mrs Krill warned and the class immediately shut up, instead taking notes as she lectured. I got the feeling no one wanted to fail English. It was one of those base subjects you needed wherever you went in life. My family was staying here no matter what we did so we weren't that concerned.
When lunch finally rolled around, we were all pretty much irritated out of our skulls. "I swear every girl in this school has been making eyes at me. They don't really see much past the looks do they? If they did, I bet they wouldn't want to go out. The whole prospect of sucking blood wouldn't really appeal to them." Max complained, snickering. Jenna whacked his arm.
Andrew looked worn out. "Seriously I think I have carpal tunnel from writing notes all day. The phrase 'Sorry I'm taken' is much harder to write when you've already done it 10 times." Andrew whined, wrapping his arm around Vee's waist as they bought their food.
Chen looked at him. "Ten? Wow, your numbers are lagging. I got 19 in World Studies alone." He teased and I shoved him.
"Chen can you control your raging hormones please? Seriously, just stay under the radar. Got it?" I warned him as we sat down at the table, furthest away from the window. If we saw too much greenery, I'm sure we'd be too tempted to ditch school altogether. And wouldn't that go over well on the first day?
We spoke too fast for human ears to hear until the end of lunch. That's when we smelled it. As one, we inhaled and froze. The hunting party from the woods was back. And it was in the school.
*
Everyone's heads snapped to me. I was leader; I made decisions about this sort of thing. I swallowed and gazed around the windows and canteen, ignoring their stares for the moment, trying to think. The hunting party was here. Five of them, all vampires. I inhaled deeply and let out the softest hiss. There were two more scents hidden with them. Seven vampires, hostile or not, was not a good idea to mess with.
I tried to rationalize. They were in the forest, as a group. A thought hit me. Maybe they were vegetarians as well. Why would they be out in the woods if they were looking for humans? Why not go to a city or into town? Tree coverage? To cover their tracks? Think Bella, think.
I breathed again out of habit and suddenly the smells were closer. And different than other vampires. In fact, they smelled like us. My hopes soared that perhaps we could get out of this unscathed. If they had no quarrel with us then we could simply live in peace together. Cover stories would have to be remade, two unrelated families of scarily beautiful people were sure to be recognised. We'd need to have a meeting, a slight unconformability on our behalf. Bad experiences on our side had lead us to the ritual of staying far away from others.
One more breath…and I froze. They were closer than ever. Maybe a few corridors away from the canteen and moving closer. Could we risk contact? Max and Jenna were still fairly young and had a sore spot for strangers. Vee and Andrew I knew could control themselves, maybe the kids but Chen wouldn't take part in it. No amount of coaxing would ever lure him out of his untrusting ways. He didn't trust anyone but his own coven and would most certainly flee from others. I didn't want to lose Chen. He was my brother in every way except blood and even then, we both drank it so perhaps we were even closer than normal. If we could make it back to the house and pack our things, maybe we could leave…
"Bella?" I looked at Vee, startled. Her eyes were glued to the canteen doors, still peacefully closed. "What do we do?" she breathed. I clenched my teeth.
"We-we stay. For the moment. I want to know who they are. If their hostile we leave immediately. No questions, no complaints, no nothing. Understand?" I replied, quickly looking down at the sandwich I'd bought. I could sense their responses through the table. Chen's hands clenched onto the wood, Andrew tensed further, the twins shifted slightly towards the windows and Vee nodded slowly.
And then the doors opened.
Guess who?
I know its kinda short. It feels sort of like a filler chapter actually, I don't really like it except for the deductive reasoning in from Bella and the slight personality revelation for Chen.
Next will be up tomorrow.
P
R
O
M
I
S
E
!!
R&R please.
P.S: Chen relates to Bella, that's why they're so close. Remember the woman Chen killed when he first changed into a vampire? Well imagine a sort of Jacob Bella bond between them and you get the picture.
P.S.S: CHEN IS NOT, I REPEAT NOT, IN LOVE WITH BELLA AND NEITHER IS SHE IN LOVE WITH HIM. That would be just too gross.
