"Carlisle and I have more than enough knowledge between us..."
"You are not the only one with a PhD, Edward" Rosalie cut him, folding her arms over her chest and rolling her eyes. "We could all teach Charles"
"Yeah, they probably could" Dad agreed, nudging me with his shoulder. I scooted further from him down the couch "They could form a whole University Faculty with their brains..."
"A whole University" Edward corrected haughtily.
"Home schooled kids are weird" Leah stated evenly, winking at me.
"That is prejudice...!" Alice yelled.
"Name one..." Emmett demanded.
"Renesme" Leah said with finality, countering Rosalie's aggressive stance with a defensive one. "She is like the mascot of home schooled kids gone wild"
"Renesme is..."Alice tried, squinting her eyes the way she did when she was having a vision "Well, she got an education didn't she. I mean, she was allowed to go to school in the end"
"In the end, it's what Charles wants that matters" Esme said softly. "What do you want sweetie?"
"To go to... school" I said slowly. This was too strange, I was negotiating school...?
"The worry is that you can't be alone at school" Carlisle breathed, looking around the lounge "You will need someone there with you..."
"Edward had already volunteered" I stated calmly. Leah and I had already rehearsed this-she had warned me that high school was the vampire's least favourite activity thanks to the Bella tragedy.
"I had" Edward said grimacing a little "But that was before... there are things I need to do with your father Charles"
"You can do them after school" I grinned and he frowned at me.
"It will take a lot of my time and energy..." he murmured.
"Good thing you have limitless energy and time is on your side, Oh Immortal Mind Reader" I said excitedly and they all laughed.
"You have me cornered there" he sighed. "School... I hate school, it's like..."
"Purgatory" Jasper breathed wearily "Yeah, we know... you tell us every time we have to start a high school, so that's what... about sixty times..."
Xx~xx~xX
It felt like a holiday, going back to high school.
It wasn't that the Cullen Manor had turned into some form of luxurious prison-well, in a way maybe-but the thought that I would be returning to books, pens and teachers filled me with excitement. I would be returning to teenagers who didn't know anything about Mozart or how to fine tune a European sports car... just regular bumbling people like me...
It also turned our Alaskan move into just another city were Leah had to find a job and I had to go through the pain of starting school again. The whole part vampire and giant wolf business could fall into the background. I could just walk through the doors of a government institution, stumble my way through a crowded hallway, knock over someone's books and be given the death glare before taking a seat next to the school bully and be harassed the remainder of my stay.
Paradise...
"That's rather... sad" Edward breathed. I realised it took quite a bit of conscious effort to tune my thoughts just right so he didn't hear my voice, as he put it... and in times like these when I was happy and unfazed, I didn't mind him prodding around in my mind.
We were back in town. We were shopping again. It all felt new and clean-truly like I hadn't half-changed... or was it turned... it may have been morphed...
"Phased" Edward sighed irritably. He was using every second of our shopping time to illustrate to me how much he didn't want to go to school-literally. I had already been told that back in his day, sometime in the Tyrannosaurus era-a boy his age was considered a man and ready for marriage.
I had laughed; he had done that already-gotten married at seventeen and had a child-and now he was a seventeen year old grandfather.
I was now the same height as Edward-no were near my dad's towering height but it had helped considerably to wake up and realise you could reach the top shelve without standing on your toes awkwardly. The joy was short lived when I stood in the mirror fully and saw how lanky I had become even though my appetite had returned with a little extra oomph in it. I could join the basketball team maybe, if my eyesight and throwing skills would go through a growth spurt like the rest of me...
"No hoodies" Edward stated. "Or jeans"
"You want me to go naked?" I huffed. "I like them..."
"They make you look like an outcast"
"I am an outcast, Edward" I said and frowned when it came out whiny "Stop..."
"Bullying you?" he said humorously, raising a dark eyebrow "I didn't quite catch that thought...?"
"It was nagging" I hissed, attempting to grab the black hoody from his white clenched fist and then having to tug on it hard "Let the hoody go"
"Choose something else" he said dryly. "Anything else... a sweater..."
"Let it go!" I growled, pulling on it with both hands now, comically trying to twist and shove at Edward's immovable hand that seemed to be relaxed against my violent tugging.
"There is a yellow cardigan over there" he said bored, flipping his eyes in the direction of the cardigans but not releasing the hoody.
"I hate yellow" I said "It looks weird on Quileute skin"
"Firstly, you are pretty pale for a Quileute..."
"Seth is pale..."
"Not as pale as you" he stated "And secondly, Leah has a favourite yellow sundress that very colour; and she is Quileute and you have uhm, similar tastes"
"No we don't" I mumbled, releasing the hoody and walking away from him to another clothing section-my mental barriers immediately being raised.
I knew the corrupting sundress he spoke of. It was the reason I hated the colour yellow...
Xx~xx~xX
"Let's go in the Aston Martin!" I chirped, practically bouncing in the garage. "Or maybe Rosalie..."
"Not in this life time" Rosalie laughed, touching her cherry red Mercedes lovingly on the bonnet. "Edward doesn't know how to handle curves like these"
I stared at her for a minute and then looked at Edward, who was pointedly ignoring the jibe by busying himself with a chunkier car under a grey cover-at human pace. He pulled at the bottom carefully and then unclipped the rear end from the cover before slowly removing the canvas from the car.
"A Volvo?" I said in shock "No way, we are surrounded by sports cars and you want us to arrive in that Volvo...?"
"We need to blend in, Charles" he sighed-he and I had been at odds since I put his name on the school-babysitter-chopping board.
"You need to blend in to just be popular!" I hissed, running my hand over the Black Mercedes "You have shiny and sparkly built in dude... I need something to make me sparkle"
"You sound gay" Leah stated and I stuck my tongue out at her; she giggled a little, her eyes gleaming and finished with a soft smile. She was enjoying this part-the part were I tried to get the Cullen's to help with my built in dorkiness when she thought they were even bigger dorks-except they shimmered in sunshine instead of getting sunburnt...
"You are supposed to be yourself, Charles" Edward breathed.
"Maybe I have a split personality, then what?" I challenged, stopping the inspection of the yellow Porsche.
"We are going in the Volvo tomorrow" he said shaking his head in disapproval. "There is nothing wrong with that car, I love Volvo-that's the new model I got this year"
"You get a new model each year?" I asked
"Yes" he murmured, crossing his arms over his chest "They are very good cars; very safe..."
"Why do you get a new Volvo...?" I tried and Rosalie and Alice waved their hands behind him-signalling I not go there-and Edward rolled his eyes.
"I can hear your thoughts" he said dryly "Does everything have to end up being Bella's fault"
"Uhm..." Leah pretended to think "Yeah... maybe not global warming, but pretty much everything"
Xx~xx~xX
"Your Grandfather is a weirdo" Leah laughed. I followed her out of the garage, marvelling how I was now taller than her-she didn't seem so intimidating and older now.
"No one beats Charlie in the weirdo department" I laughed back.
"I bet not... that there is the catalyst for the Bella pandemic" she muttered with a slight indignant tone "I can't believe he was doing my mum..."
"Was...?" I laughed. "Uh, he is still alive Leah..."
"Thank God for old age, is all I am saying" she breathed in relief.
"And I bet he is thanking God for Viagra... everyday!" I chuckled, dancing away from her playful swipe at my head.
Xx~xx~xX
It was the first day of school and I was already in the shower at four in the morning.
I had managed not to wake Leah up-Dad had said, with much relief in his voice; that he was spending the night as a wolf. He was thrilled that he didn't have to tiptoe around that fact and he could be natural about it. I felt like I had let him down by not morphing...
By not phasing; he wanted me out there with him, I could feel it. He wanted me to know exactly what it meant to be a Quileute protector and the good side of shape shifting.
"And here I am" I whispered to the tiles, the water spilling through my hair and over my back "Not phasing but aching..."
I woke up to the aching sting of my joints, I woke up to wet sheets tangled with my limbs and my own soft moans and I had lain there in silence. Listening to the sound of the wind and waiting for Leah's door to open; she almost always heard me. I hadn't been that loud I concluded and tried to move slowly inch by inch.
I had initially thought it had been a nightmare-maybe I was being dramatic about it, I guess in context it was actually a dream. A dream that I had was possibly the reason I had woken up confused, vigorous and moaning. Nightmare... there was nothing remotely scary about dreaming about Leah and her sundress except being found out. Edward was to blame for that, he was to blame entirely; hadn't I managed to suppress that particular memory somewhere in the vault of my mind?
Aches and pains were more manageable- three painkillers and a shower would have to work.
There was no way I was backing out of the whole going to school thing. I couldn't handle sitting around at the Cullen Manor waiting on something to happen to my body while being home schooled by vampires... that I loved... but they were still vampires and in my all too humanness-the zooming, not moving and not blinking got distracting at times.
"Charles?" Leah whispered through the door.
Dammit.
"Hmm?" I murmured, not trusting my voice coming out through my sore throat in a normal pitch.
"You okay?"
"Peachy" single words would be safer to start with "Just... eager"
"Oh, okay..." she sighed. "It's four thirty, you know..."
"My watch is ahead then" I said. "I'll..."
"We didn't move from frigging England to here, Charles" she said dryly "Just be a little more quiet, no moaning or singing... whatever it is... I don't want to know. I have an operation to do this morning"
"You are doing operations now?" I asked, a little in awe.
"Okay, I am watching but it's kind of like doing it" she said self consciously "Anyway, goodnight... or morning... I am afraid I won't be holding your hand to school today"
Right, she had held my hand to about three of my schools before telling me my equilibrium wouldn't be off balance if I walked with my hands by my own sides. She had walked me to preschool holding my one hand while Dad held the other...
"Uh..." I blinked stupidly as water glided over my face with trails of shampoo, ending up rubbing my eyes furiously as my vision blurred and eyes stung. This was one of the main reasons I hated shampoo...
"Night!" she breathed irritably and I heard her bedroom door slam in the next second.
Xx~xx~xX
"I thought we agreed on the grey turtleneck?" was the first thing Alice said when she walked through the kitchen door. "I would love to support you on this quest to be the 'misunderstood rebel' but it's hard when you refuse to do it fashionably"
"A lot harder to bully than Bella, eh?" Dad laughed, grinning at me. It was hard not to feel warmer with the pride radiating from him. It was hard not to feel hopeful with the light dancing in his eyes. A light I didn't remember seeing in my childhood.
"Okay, I came with back up..." Alice ignored him and moved towards me-I barely felt her ice fingers tugging and removing the green hoody and only when she said, "Dip your head" did I understand what her fleeting movements around me were.
"Put the black jersey on..." she instructed "I think I saw that you liked it"
"You think you saw...?"
"Jacob and Leah" she sighed, pointing at Dad accusingly and pointing up at the ceiling, through the concrete slab at a sleeping Leah in her bedroom. "In any case, it makes you and Edward look like brothers"
"Hmm" Edward breathed from the door, his face unrelenting. He was wearing a dark grey jersey and an annoyed scowl to match.
"I would hate to be you in shotgun" Seth whispered to me.
"Maybe you can sit in the back..." Emmett laughed.
"I am not a chauffeur" Edward snapped "He will ride in the front and bear witness to this"
"You would think as my grandfather he would be a lot more supportive of my education" I laughed, following a broody Edward to the Volvo and waving goodbye to them.
"If you could hear thoughts..." Edward sighed "You would understand my reluctance to be in a closed up space with a bunch of hormonal angsty teenagers"
"Said the hormonal angsty perpetually teenage vampire" I chortled strapping the seatbelt on "At least we mortals can out grow that faze..."
"Humph" he scoffed "Most of you..."
Xx~xx~xX
It was bigger than my last school.
A building propped between the encroaching forest and a few large houses with a stone face and small car park. I could feel my nerves working up already, that tingling sensation that starts in the middle of your palms before spreading to your fingertips; the foreplay to sweaty hands.
The cars were more or less similar in price range to Edward's Volvo and I was thankful my momentarily juvenile need to show off hadn't swayed him. I didn't want to be stared at-I never faired well with one pair of eyes watching me and I couldn't handle being propped under a public telescope. Whatever dreams of popularity I had been entertaining on our way here vanished immediately-my only dream was falling to the background now.
I realised that was how I always entered each new school, with that singular intention...
"You can unfasten the seatbelt now, Charles" Edward sighed, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel impatiently "We have arrived to your... Paradise"
"You seriously don't want to be here?" I asked-my voice shaky and hitched. He looked at me, boring at the side of my head when I refused to allow the soft prickling of his telepathy to enter my mind.
"I have been here many a time before" he murmured "You have to understand; it's like watching a bad movie a hundred times for me. Don't mind my surliness... I am just dreading going through the first week of staring girls, swirling lurid fantasies and boyfriend requests"
"Sounds terrible" I said sarcastically.
"You have no idea..." he breathed heavily, opening his door and letting in the cold Alaskan air "Now let's get this done..."
Xx~xx~xX
"Edward Mason" he said fluidly, frowning just the tiniest bit at the audience-at the classroom that was dead quiet and staring at us.
The teacher had decided to let everyone walk in and take their seats before figuring out where Edward and I could take our seats. She had done this, with us standing awkwardly-well, I stood awkwardly while Edward huffed once and went into Armani Model pose-while every student had the chance to gawk at us as they passed and then stare freely when they found their seats.
"And you?" the teacher asked. She was an old woman with thick glasses and greying black hair.
"I am..." I forgot my alias, did I have an alias... "Me"
"He is my brother..." Edward said over the many giggles. She raised an eyebrow, frowning a little and scrutinising Edward and me's resemblance; pale glorious hypnotising beautiful slightly athletic built young man against scrawny awkward slightly tanned pimple-sprinkled boy.
"Half brother" Edward sighed and I didn't need to have a telepathic link with him to know the Edward-pinched-nose pose he was fighting off. "Charles...?"
"I am Charles" more giggles and I felt my face heat up.
"He is painfully shy" Edward smiled at the woman-our teacher, Ms Potter-and she smiled ahead of fluttering her eyelashes and pushing her glasses up her long hooked nose. "If we could sit together?"
"Of course" she said breathily, her smile revealing creamy stained chipped teeth and drawing my eye to her chapped lips. "At the back... we are starting on Macbeth, Charles and uhm... Edward. I hope you are prepared"
"Marginally so" Edward smiled again, leading my stumbling self to the back and ignoring all the whispering around us.
Xx~xx~xX
"Why Mason?" I asked him and he smiled.
"My actual last name for a change" he said "It's... refreshing"
"Am I Mason too?" I asked.
"Only a Quarter" he chuckled, writing in the notebook although the teacher hadn't begun dictating the note's on Lady Macbeth's character. "In this school... you are a Black"
"I really wanted an Alias" I sighed. "Leah and I..."
I frowned. I had wanted this to be like all the other times and had foolishly and childishly attempted to disregard all the other factors playing in my life.
"There is no need for an alias, now Charles" Edward said "The Volturi knows you are here, they know you are protected. We can only hope the change will reveal something on their side"
"The Vol..." I begun and he shushed me, passing me my pen.
"Time to do school work" he whispered grinning "The joys of paradise, eh?"
Xx~xx~xX
Maybe I picked the wrong vampire into being my babysitter.
Edward pulled in all manner of attention by simply sighing, pretending to cough or raising his hand in class to answer a question. He was dead on about the staring; almost all the girls were staring at us, I was sure-as we sat in a far off corner of the cafeteria. Staring at us-staring at him and being forced to acknowledge my presence by his side eventually.
He was muttering something about wolves and actually missing hunting them now that it had been a few decades since he had the joy of facing a pack.
"But my Dad..." I squirmed. I hadn't seen Jacob as a wolf yet-I was secretly terrified after watching the werewolf transformation in Van Helsing and comparing it to my own pain when I half-phased. I just imagined he was about the size of a large timbre wolf maybe, as a high as my middle...
"Of course I wont confuse a normal wolf with Jacob" Edward laughed out loud-startling a nearby table with a group of nerdy girls with his musical laugh. "And he doesn't smell anything like food..."
"Smell like food?" I said absently, remembering Carlisle and the single drop of my blood. "How does food smell like to a vampire?"
"Food smells horrid-but I know you didn't mean human food" he said, a ghosting smile on his lips. "How doest a vampire decide on whether something is edible-or rather suitable to quench a vampires thirst?"
"Yes" I looked behind us-a group of teenagers, a mixed group with boys and girls was throwing us obvious looks and then whispering furiously.
"Let me put it this way" he said finally after thinking for a minute "Human's would be the gourmet meal and animals... animals would be dry bread"
"How do I smell like to you" I tried and he looked at me suspiciously.
"Why?"
"I am curious" I murmured.
"What has this got to do with Carlisle?" he asked.
"Nothing really, I am asking you... I want to know from you" I deflected and he sighed.
"You smell... good" he murmured and then smiled softly "You would think that being part wolf would make you repulsive!"
"So I am... the opposite of repulsive?" I asked and he sighed again, flicking his eyes up to something behind me before straightening up.
"Back to high school now" he said pursing his lips. "We have a brave teenager coming our way"
"Huh?" I asked and then felt the presence of someone behind me. I remained still, looking at Edward instead-who went back to pretending to enjoy his fruit salad.
"Sorry" a girl murmured from behind me "You must be Edward... and Charlie"
"Charles" Edward corrected stiffly.
"Oh, you are Charles?" she asked him and he exhaled impatiently.
"No, he is" he stated and made no move to acknowledge her again.
"I am Julia" she said timidly and shifted, entering my view.
She was pretty-not Cullen pretty-just regular pretty. Blonde hair was shiny somewhat, blue sparkling eyes and a slight stylish flair to her clothes. She was pretty and definitely popular-would explain her guts to approach Edward and his death glare of doom. She was the resident High School Queen.
"I uhm..." she said shakily, casting her table a longing look. She wasn't used to this type of response. "Well, if you two need anything, be sure to let us know"
"Us?" I asked abruptly.
"Oh, I am the president of the student committee" she said proudly "Also head cheerleader..."
She is a cheerleader, Edward. I thought with maximum volume and added recollection of the movie 'Bring it On' for visual reference in case he wasn't aware of what that meant in this day and age. A cheerleader... this was as close to...
"We'll ask" Edward said detached, not looking at her and mashing his fruit into an orangey paste "If we need anything, Julia..."
"Oh, my number...?" Julia breathed.
"I didn't ask for it, but thanks again" Edward finished, rising suddenly and saying ominously "The bell"
The bell rang and I backed away from a shocked slightly traumatised Julia and followed Edward's quick gliding step out of the cafeteria.
Xx~xx~xX
"I hate gym" Edward grumbled, pulling the green t-shirt over his head. I stared jealousy at his defined toned body. Stupid vampire who didn't know how good he had it...
"I am going to ignore that" he murmured, tying his shoelaces in a single blur "Are you thinking of doing any sports?"
"Why?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest and rushing to lead this time in a petulant quick step ahead of him. He laughed from behind and then zapped unnoticeably in front of me-prodding my annoyance further.
"Because you will be alone there" he chuckled "I can handle the physical taunting of P.E but sports... now that's an insult to my speed and dexterity that I cannot take lightly"
"You are a bag of fun, you know that"
"Is 'Bring it On' not a movie for girls?" he asked, trying to make eye contact with me. I ignored him and searched for Julia amongst the girls at the far east of the indoor court.
"Leah likes it" I said-a half truth, trying to source the pretty head cheerleader out.
"Do you like it?" he prodded.
"She made me like it" I murmured, checking the entrance for Julia and her group of friends.
She entered then, hair flowing in the air delicately and smiling at something funny. I was aware that I had begun to smile with her even though I didn't know what was funny and the fact that Edward was still talking and looking at me fell into the background.
"Oh, please" Edward huffed. "You can do better"
"No, I can't" I said loudly, staring at him in disbelief. "Head Cheerleader, President of the student council and did you see her..."
"You better say eyes, Charles" Edward warned.
"Eyes" I finished dryly "She is a ten and I am just above average and that's only with the new height. Your stupid hair colour works weirdly on me..."
"I thought you didn't worry about girls?" he frowned.
"I am a teenage boy" I laughed derisively "the past few weeks with the half-phasing and Dad and Mum... that had been a holiday from worrying about girls"
"Give it more time at least..." he sighed. "There are more girls in this school besides her"
"But she is the... the... Alpha of the Girl Pack" I said.
I was being ambitious but I was allowed to do so if my grandfather slash half brother was a compellingly beautiful vampire with light reflecting bronze hair who could get women do just about anything-be it old, young and blind-with the sound of his voice and brooding mystic.
"I am not being... I don't even have a word for that" Edward glowered distastefully.
"Pimped is the word" I grinned. "Please?"
"No"
"I can't quite remember what you got me for my birthday" I tried and he laughed.
"You know, this isn't about anything but you trying to prove something to yourself" Edward chuckled shaking his head "Firstly, you are shy and have no actual interest in what Julia's group stands for. Secondly, why the sudden need for a girlfriend..."
A distraction...
"A what?" he frowned looking at me through narrowed eyes.
"Uh..." I thought about my dad's smile quickly; stretching from end to end all because I was growing tall too fast.
"Let me guess..." he said raising an eyebrow "A distraction from... phasing. No, that's not it... hmm, from Renesme? No, that can't be it either..."
"The coach is here" I whispered quickly, walking away from him.
I knew he knew. I don't know how, because I was always meticulous with my hidden personal thoughts with him and I prayed I wasn't showing anything strange outwards. But Edward knew... he was going through formalities with his one-man guessing game.
I needed a distraction from the little prickling sensation I was under when near Leah.
Xx~xx~xX
"How was school?" Leah asked.
"Okay" I grumbled. I could hear the soft purr of Edward's Volvo as he pulled out. He would return later on foot to help me with my mathematics.
"Did Edward meet any mental mute plain girls with muddy brown eyes?" she asked and I laughed weakly.
"No, but he has a new supernatural gift" I grumbled, poking at my early dinner. She was heading to work for a late shift. "He is unbelievable in the art of cock-blocking"
"So there are pretty girls in Alaska after all!" she laughed, ruffling my hair the way she always had and I stiffened at the contact-an entirely new thing that was proving difficult to shake.
"Pretty enough..." I murmured. "I shouldn't really put all the blame in him, I guess. He can't help it..."
"Being a pretty boy or having no game?" she asked standing opposite me.
"Both" I grumbled. "Irritating telepath"
"So it was bad?" she asked.
"No, not really… better than most" I sighed. "I didn't manage to get on any bully's list"
"Kind of difficult when you are pushing for six foot three, there kiddo" she murmured. "Have to go, enjoy the extra lessons with Eddie"
"I'll miss you" I said unexpectedly and felt the heat crawl up my neck.
"Miss you too, kid" she winked and left me to deal with my blushing, conga heart beat and warring jumbled thoughts.
Xx~xx~xX
I have my suspicions about Leah and the worst part is I don't want to have them. I don't want to think about them, to feel them let alone dwell on them. It is hard to go back to the safe haven of my intentional ignorance when everyone has decided to be true and clear in front of me... everyone but her.
My father and Seth are giant wolves. My mother's entire family is vampires save for two. My mother ran off to South America to be with the only male of her kind.
Maybe said male has a half-Shapeshifter daughter... there's something to enquire on a dating site; seeking girlfriend who goes through freaky growth spurts and hairy panic attacks like me.
Leah...
It was like having that feeling of impending doom when I thought on what Leah could be hiding. It felt like if I found out, anything I ever thought extremely bad-from puppies being drowned alive to world hunger-would immediately be dimmed in the light of that discovery. If I found out... it would kill me because the only reason she would keep something from me is if she thought it could hurt me and right now, the only thing that could hurt me is if she left like Renesme...
So this thing... would make her leave.
Why was she even here? Why did she even bother...? She didn't need to be around this freakiness. In a small glimmer of selflessness in my rather overprotective love-no, not love... it wasn't... If it was love, it was platonic. It had to be platonic-I would make it that way because I couldn't be the freaky mutant child with a slightly incestuous... Leah and I were not related so... it mattered not. It mattered not because I would make it platonic because it was one sided in the end and creepy to my own self.
In a small glimmer of selflessness in my rather platonic overprotective love for her-I wanted her to be gone, to be away from this and become a vet somewhere with a husband and her own kids instead of looking after someone else's fucked up child with an inappropriate thing for her.
X
I almost missed the pale ghosting movement in the shadows of the trees under the giant moon. I was pacing my room trying to work out my thoughts quickly and I hadn't noticed that something was imitating my pacing outside the large round window.
I paused, freezing completely and my heart rate rising. Palms sweaty and eyes wide-I thought it was Edward. He may have developed a sadistic sense of humour...
I turned to the window slowly; sweat sliding down the nape of my neck in an astute chill and my eyes threatening to pop out of my skull. I almost didn't want to know what was outside in the forest watching and imitating me. A very prominent part of me wanted to jump out of the way of the window, away from the moon's bright wide light and hide under my bed-whether it was Edward or not. I felt naked and humiliated terribly after what I had been thinking with abandon.
But I turned slowly, terrified and irrepressible; and standing in the woods right by the fence of our little yard, in front of the many tall menacing trees and before the harsh almost white unveiling light of the moon was a pale beautiful woman with strawberry blonde hair.
She grinned at me and I gulped.
She tilted her head one side and exposed a long elegant neck, her blue blouse billowing around her gently. She made the outside look inviting; she made the Alaskan outdoors appear like a holiday destination instead of an alternate location for hell where it was freezing instead of hot. She was beautiful, she was everlastingly beautiful...
She waved at me and I felt my right hand rise on its own accord and wave timidly back. She smiled gently this time and motioned for me to come out. I shifted dumbly, making a move for the door with the intention of heading outside and then frowned.
She was a vampire and I was behaving like a stupid idiot male human...
You are an idiot male human who seems to want to crush on every pretty girl who walks past you... older than you, in the position of guardian over you or head cheerleader... a tiny voice that resembled Edward's reproachful tenor murmured in my mind.
I was alone in the house. I had been under the spell of a vampire for a good two minutes and now I had awoken to the realisation that I was very possibly in danger and Edward wasn't here yet...
There was a knock on the door. I ran back to the window-stupidly expecting her to still be outside and gasped when I saw nothing but trees and moonlight. She was at the door... she was at the door... I was going to die... I smelt like the opposite of repulsive...
"Argh!" I jumped in shock as my ring tone went off; knocking my lamp from the bookshelf and watching it fall in slow motion, bounce once on the floor before landing back in several pieces.
My phone continued to ring on my bed while I tried to calm myself. While I tried to make the shaking stop. I picked it up in a shaky hand-anger flashing in me when I saw Edward's name on the screen.
"Where the hell are you!" I shouted "There is a vampire outside my door... I am going to die!"
"..." I heard him breath and then a tinkling laugh erupted from his end before he joined it with his own deeper baritone.
"Edward...?" I whispered and he took in a breath, the other female voice carried on laughing.
"Charles, would you please come down stairs and unlock the door for Tanya and I" he instructed traces of laughter in his voice. "She would like to meet you, finally..."
Xx~xx~xX
"Of course relations where a bit strained with the Cullen's after that" Tanya said sadly, looking away from me and gazing wistfully out the window. "But we had to try... in the end you have nothing but time to work things out in the midst of such eternal adversity"
"It was the Volturi's fault... in the end. There was nothing to be done" I murmured.
I had been enraptured in the tale-in the memory-as she spun it out. The details of her sister's death and the pain that it had caused her family-extended and immediate. Tanya stood by the picture window in the lounge while I sat still and huddled on the couch, Edward had propped our homework on the coffee table and moved to the dining room while Tanya told the story of Irina's death.
I had no doubt he felt guilty to some degree-Irina had died in essence because of witnessing his daughter, my mother and making an understandable assumption of Renesme's uniqueness. An immortal child... there was so much I didn't know, I realised. More than just what Leah's past held that threatened her existence with me but the connection with my mother's own existence and the Volturi's unyielding interest in all things to do with the Cullen's and their singular descendants.
"I came to your first birthday though, do you remember?" she asked smiling.
"Uhm..."
"He has a very human mind" Edward said entering the lounge finally and taking a seat adjacent to me.
"You say that like it's a mental disability" I muttered and Tanya laughed her tinkling captivating laugh. I blushed slightly; vampires were beautiful and glorious-but it was different witnessing a vampire who wasn't your family... not really...
This family thing. I just wanted a line to be drawn and those who shared DNA to step over it.
It all came to light somewhat, my questions on vampirism. How was any human to fare against this celestial creature even if they didn't possess superior strength, agility, a vast adapting mind and speed? All they had to do was smile at you and ask if they could sink their teeth into your neck...
Which man could refuse Tanya?
As if she could read my thoughts-which I knew was currently impossible with all the little barriers I had propped up against Edward-she winked at me and pursed her lips ruefully.
"He looks like you... so much" she breathed. Her voice was slightly husky-not like Leah's but it gave her a very tempest sort of allure that was worthy of any playboy bunny type scenario a teenage boy could conjure.
"Yes" Edward stated frowning at her. She was watching me and ignoring his disapproving look on her face-I wished desperately I could hear her thoughts.
"He smells delectable" she laughed, her hair bouncing slightly and shimmering like white gold silk. I blushed, hands sweaty and berated myself for taking such a comment as a compliment but when it came from those lips...
"I think we should start on Maths, Charles..." Edward said and I snapped out of my daze and looked at him in surprise. "It's six-thirty..."
"And I am sixteen not twelve" I grumbled and Tanya laughed.
"Will he shoot up like Renesme?" Tanya asked and Edward grimaced as if in pain.
"Highly inappropriate, Tanya!" he growled "I am glad you are interested in mending things with me..."
"I am glad you are moving again instead of standing around like a statue for months and letting pigeons shit on you" she snapped, her face going hard and showing a very inhuman edge.
"Just remember that he is my..." he began and the rest was said to fast and swiftly for me to catch.
"The joys of living eternally means I can wait" she sang waltzing into the kitchen before throwing a "Maybe I will end up having that cherry after all Edward. A duplicate will do... unless you want to trade yourself in"
"Inappropriate!" Edward roared and she laughed.
"I still count you as new" she chirped from behind the kitchen door "When you go to an amusement park-you can't just try one ride, Edward. More especially, the kiddies ride-you try them all!"
"She is the rollercoaster of doom" Edward grumbled, flipping the math text book too violently and ripping the thick book in equal halves before huffing. "Maybe let's start with English"
"But..."
"Get the damn English books out, Charles!"
Xx~xx~xX
Edward really doesn't like high school, huh. Back to pre-Bella brooding stick in the mud-if anyone has read the not to be read Midnight Sun.
AUTHORS NOTE:
Ooh, the mind of a teenage boy. lol. Thank you all once again for the reviews, love and favourites!
Hope you enjoyed Charles first day at school with a grumpy vampire
Xxx
Tj