I clung on to Alex's elbow as he nearly dragged me up his driveway. I wasn't nervous…. Exactly, it was just a different experience for me. I wondered if my family would frown upon this, their family being so, so, different and normal (how those two words fit them- I have no idea).

Alex looked at me, must've read something that wasn't there, because he touched my face and kissed it. My face tingled by his touch and grew warm. I peeled my eyes away from him, the eyes that unconsciously were staring at him, and looked at his house. It was a cute little one that was the color of dandelions. It was neatly trimmed with a small tree in the middle of the yard, so neat that the fall season of falling leaves didn't affect this yard, it had none. The only thing the house was missing was the white picket fence.

Alex saw me peeking at the house, "Different than your house, huh?"

I smiled, "I like it."

Alex smiled back and turned to stick his key in the lock, and after a couple jingles of shaking it in and getting it unlocked, I heard the click first. Then he heard it, and he opened the door.

"Hey, I'm home," He said.

I didn't glance around at the walls, but looked at the matt I trotted upon, "Do you want me to take my shoes off?"

Someone in the other room heard me, "Who's your friend?" It was a woman's voice, his mom.

Alex blushed, and gave me eyes that said 'I think of you much more than as a friend'. He didn't answer.

"Alex?" The woman asked. There was a rustling noise, and a skinny woman, who dressed causally, dyed over her gray hair, and excessive makeup made her look younger. Her eyes widened at the sight of me slipping my semi-heel boots off.

"Are you Renesmee?" She asked me, after a second of being taken aback.

I nodded, and stood up straighter. "Nessie, actually. I'm a friend of Alex, and I was giving him a drive home, and he suggested I meet his family." I paused, "I'm sorry if it's short notice or something, but he said you wouldn't mind."

I looked around his house on cue to avoid her knowledge of my knowledge that I saw Alex's mom give Alex and panicky and hard glance.

"I thought Alex was taking a walk, I wasn't aware he was meeting up with you," She said stiffly.

"We weren't going to meet up, but we ran into each other," I smiled. "I was at the Burger Gurger, so I invited him to hang out with my friends the rest of the time too."

"She saw me and pulled me out of the way of a speeding car," Alex explained. (ugh- did he need to tell everyone that I saved him? Technically- it was Alice) "I figured the least I could do was let her have dinner with us."

"Dinner?" My voice didn't rise in pitch, but my heart shook. "Um-"

"Speeding car?" His mom interrupted. "Alex didn't I tell you to look when you cross the street?"

Alex blushed and said, "It was a speeding car."

"I'll go if it's too much of a problem of you guys," I reached for my shoes. "Thank you for everything Alex; it was nice hanging out with you."

"Oh please," Alex said, rolling his eyes. "You can stay."

He caught my fingers and made them curl around his hand. We were holding hands. His eyes looked at mine, and for a moment, it was like he was seeing my soul. My heart thumped, but stopped when I heard his mom clear her throat.

"Why don't you stay dear?" She suggested, like it was her idea all along. She seemed motherly again, "it's awfully cold."

I nodded and followed the two into the kitchen. The kitchen was big, but no where as near big as ours at home. I felt a little guilty for that, because we never used our kitchen – expect for Jacob, but he didn't like the smell of the food when we tried to cook for him. The kitchen had a couple plants, a few plates as decoration a refrigerator cramped with pictures and magnets, and a small pantry.

In the middle, a small four person table was covered with plates laid out, a bowl of meatloaf in the middle. The smell of it crawled up my nose, and the thought of eating it made me want to barf. Luckily, I stretched a grin across my face instead of doing that.

"Let me just get another chair and plate…" His mom mumbled.

"Thank you, Mrs. McCoy," I called as she ran into the other room, nearly tripping over a black cat that sat on the floor.

Alex fidgeted, and pointed to the black cat. "That's Lucky," he laughed for a second, remembering some inside joke. I gave him blank look, "as in you know, black cats are unlucky? Never mind, I was like ten when I suggested the name. Anyway, Lucky is really friendly." Then if on cue, the lazy cat got up to study me, his belly flopping back and forth on his way over. Instead of rubbing my legs to demand a petting like I expected, he sat in front of Alex and glared at me. His lip curled back to show dirty white teeth, sharp as needles. A hiss came out as a snarl from his infested mouth.

"Oh," I said.

Alex twisted his eyebrows, "That's weird," he said, backing slowly away from the cat. He looked at me, as if expecting me to be afraid too. I wasn't, but I was surprised. How could I be afraid of a hissing cat? I did have vampire skin and I was a hunter, too bad Alex didn't know that. "He's usually friendly," Alex said in his defense.

"Katelyn! George!" I heard a voice call, "dinner!"

Mrs. McCoy appeared out of their dinning room a minute later with a plate and chair. She set it down and whirled to look at us.

"What's up with the cat? Oh never mind," she said, speaking too fast to let us speak. "Nessie, do you like meatloaf?"

"Of course," I lied, "we have it all the time."

I sat down in the fancy chair and pulled it up so I felt trapped between the other chairs. I waited for Alex to sit next to me. He did, and a older man – around Mrs. McCoy's age and a young girl at the age of eight came down.

"Who's this young lady?" The man asked, bending down to give a kiss on Mrs. McCoy's cheek.

"This is Nessie, the girl Alex went out with to the homecoming game Friday night." Mrs. McCoy answered, giving me a shy look.

"Hello, ," I said cheerfully, even though Alex was giving me apologetic eyes.

"How old are you?" He asked sitting on my other side.

"Oh, I'm a freshman," I said. "I just moved here – I'm part of the Cullen family."

Alex's dad paused for a moment before continuing, "That's nice, big family you have though."

I shrugged, "It's different." No kidding.

The little girl I knew as Katelyn turned her head to look at me. "Are you Alex's girrllllllllfrienddddd?" She stretched the letters out to make the question more annoying. Then she proceeded to bellow without an answer, "ALEX AND NESSIE SITTTTTTIN' IN A TREEEEEEEEEE, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, FFFFFFFFIRSTTTTTTTTT COMESSSSSSSS-"

"Katelyn!" Mrs. McCoy cried. "Enough, stop bothering the guest."

I think me and Alex's faces were both a bright red, but I didn't bother to check. I guess this is what Alex meant by annoying. Another thing to add to my list of: why-I-do-not-like-kids.

After a few minutes we started eating. I knew how to use a fork – even if I don't do it on regular basics I'm not a savage. I swallowed my entire portion, telling myself it was elk on a fork. The ketchup did help because it looked like blood, so I could pretend at least. Still, it was disgusting.

Alex eyed me, "Nice necklace."

I glanced down at my locket, it resting right below the hollow of my throat. "Oh thanks, my- my sister gave it to me for Christmas seven years ago."

"It's pretty," Katelyn added.

"Which means you'll break it if you ever get a hold of it," Alex joked. He turned back to look at her.

I smiled, "You all have a nice family." I glanced around the kitchen and my eyes fell on another plate. I sniffed quietly and smelled a dessert ready to be served. I didn't groan, but I wanted to, I didn't want to eat. My nose ached with the smell, and it was even worse.

"You okay?" Alex murmured, sensing my discomfort.

"Um," I said. "Fine," I paused, "I think my parents would like me home by now though. Maybe I should go…"

Mrs. McCoy raised her eyebrows, "You sure? I still have dessert."

"Oh it's fine, I don't want to trouble you or my family, and besides," I glanced at the cake I smelled. "More for you guys."

Katelyn grinned and Alex got up to hug me, "Well, good bye then."

"Thanks for letting me have dinner with your family," I muttered in his ear. "I like them."

Alex walked me to the door, where I slipped on my shoes and hurried out door, barely in time to wave a quick good bye. Then I got in my car and drove away.