A/N: Thanks to all who took time to post review/s. Special shout-out to Sasha aka sas nessie who reviewed each chapter in one day.
Disclaimer:
Characters based on Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga.
(Ren POV)
Sabrina was waiting for us by the cafeteria. The four of us walked in together. There were some people who stared at us. Alice warned me beforehand that we would get this kind of attention because we looked different.
Alice didn't bother to get a tray. I grabbed a slice of pizza and a can of orange soda. We followed Sabrina and Marianne to their table.
"Alice, how come you didn't get any food?" Marianne asked.
"I'm on a special diet. I have a lot of allergies," Alice said, not a total lie. She really was on a 'special' diet.
"Do you bring your own food, then?" Sabrina asked.
"No. I eat at home. I could stretch my hunger so I could wait until I get home to eat lunch. I'm so used to it. I would rather wait than get allergic reaction." Sabrina and Marianne nodded in agreement. At least we already settled any questions about Alice's eating habits.
"So, how do you like the school so far?" Sabrina asked.
"It's different, but it's good kind of different," I smiled.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you move here?" Marianne asked.
"We could only take so much snow and dark days," I laughed lightly and Alice joined in. Please don't ask anymore, I thought to myself and they didn't.
Sabrina and Marianne had been friends and schoolmates since Junior High. They used to have the exact the same classes, except this year because Sabrina took some elective classes already. While they were telling us the 'things to know,' I heard footsteps behind me; someone approached our table. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your new friend, Bina?"
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Ladies, standing behind you is my older brother, Ken." Both Alice and I turned our heads and I pretended to cough. Alice did the same thing. We looked at each other; I knew exactly what was going on in her head. Sabrina's brother was tall, blond, and handsome with a perfect body and dressed well. He was the spitting image of Ken, Barbie's Ken. I wondered if anybody pointed that out to him at all.
"Ken this is Ren and Alice, both Juniors. Ladies, Ken's Senior, in Varsity Basketball, captain and star player," Sabrina continued her introduction.
Ken shook both our hands. He held on to my hands longer than necessary. "Bina forgot to mention that I'm single and available." Alice and Marianne giggled. Sabrina rolled her eyes. My face burned. I slightly tugged my hand from his and he got the idea; he let go but not after one last squeeze.
"You were here last week, right?" Ken asked.
"How did you know? I didn't see anybody."
"I was in my car, taking a breather before heading to basketball practice. I saw you walking with your parents."
"They're not my parents; they're my uncle and aunt."
"I see. When you guys left, I went to Mr. White's office and asked the secretary who you were. I had been looking forward to meeting you. Too bad I couldn't change my class schedule to match yours," he said with a smile. I almost forgot to breathe.
I was saved by a group of guys who came over our table, "Ken, time to go." They patted him on the back and he nodded. He turned to us, "Duty calls. See you ladies later." He then turned to me, "Bye, Ren." He winked and left.
"Looks like Ren's got an admirer, or more like a stalker," Marianne teased; Sabrina and Alice giggled.
"Stop it," I blushed.
"Oh, don't worry, Ren. I won't mind if you date my brother. He never said anything about a new girl, or two new girls, coming to school today. Don't want to jinx it, I guess," Sabrina teased some more and the three of them chuckled.
"Wait, you guys are available, right?" Marianne asked.
"I'm taken," Alice said, "She's not, but maybe not for long." They giggled again. My face felt so hot.
"Where are they going anyway?" I asked.
"They have an away game; they're leaving early. Miss him already?" Sabrina teased.
"Just asking," I mumbled. I tried to look somewhere else and noticed a couple of tables away, five girls were seated; two of them stared at us.
I looked away and asked Marianne, "Who are they?" I nodded towards the girls.
"The Kittens. The long haired blond is Kitty, senior and head cheerleader. Typical scenario, dating the quarterback, Cedric." Kitty was pretty, tall and had a body to show off but she had nothing compared to Rosalie.
"The brunette is Tabitha," Marianne continued. "Junior, Assistant head cheerleader, dating the lacrosse captain, Nathan." She was pretty, although Kitty's prettier.
"The short haired blond beside Tabitha is Kara, Kitty's sister. She's a Junior and cheerleader by force since Kitty's the head. She's really nice, unlike Kitty. The other two are Sasha, the one with the red highlights, and Beatrice, Sophomores. They are like Kittens on training." Alice and I nodded when Marianne was finished telling us who they were.
When I looked at their table again, I met Kitty's eyes. She rolled her eyes on me and signaled the girls to go. Kara was not done with her food yet, but got up anyway. Kara smiled at Sabrina when they passed; Kitty glared at her. She bowed her head and followed her older sister. We looked at Sabrina.
"Ken went out with her for a couple of months last year," Sabrina said as soon as the Kittens left the cafeteria. "Ken was a candidate for team captain, but Coach Genson picked a Senior instead. Kitty said that the Kittens only dates team captains but since Oliver was already dating someone from a different school, Kara was left on the sidelines. Kitty broke up Kara and Ken."
"Oh," Alice and I said.
"Yeah, I know. Ken tried to talk to Kara but Kitty's always there so Ken gave up and started going out with some other girls. Nothing lasted more than two or three dates, though. He really liked Kara," Sabrina shrugged.
Alice suddenly fell silent, her eyes focused nowhere. I knew that look; she just had a vision. She looked at me. I pretended to move some hair from her face; I slightly touched her face to ask her, "What did you see?"
She shook her head. She looked at Sabrina, "So, how about now? If he still interested in her?"
"Well, obviously, his attention is now directed to someone else," Marianne said and the three of them giggled once more. I groaned.
Finally, the warning bell rang. I could only take so much teasing in one day. Sabrina walked to her next class while Marianne, Alice and I headed to our Spanish class.
--
Thanks to Alice's Spanish classes at home, I could easily get an A in this class. The exercises on the books looked much easier than the assignments that Alice had me do before.
After Spanish, Marianne pointed me to the gymnasium. Alice excused us from Marianne.
"Renesmee, this is the only class that we don't have together and I can't watch your back, so be careful, okay? Watch your surroundings carefully," Alice said.
"Why don't you just tell me what's going to happen?" I asked.
"I don't know exactly what's going to happen. Remember, my visions depend on the decisions made. I can't be sure, so just watch your back. And act human, okay?"
"Okay."
Alice squeezed my hand before she headed to the Art building with Marianne.
--
Sabrina was waiting for me by the gymnasium and we walked in together.
"Coach Noble, this is Ren Cullen, new student," Sabrina introduced me to our PE teacher.
"Thanks, Sabrina. Go ahead and change." Sabrina nodded and headed to the locker room.
Coach Noble signed my registration card and handed it back to me. "Excuse me a second." He blew his whistle and made an announcement, "Everyone, get the balls and play. I'll be walking around in a few."
He turned to me, "September to December, we are playing volleyball. January to March is Badminton then on spring, we'll play on the softball field. Do you play any sports?"
"I played a little of everything here and there," I said, totally true. Uncle Emmett thought me all the sports out there, vampire baseball included.
"Good. Do you plan to try out for any team? There's still a spot open for the softball team."
I was about to answer when a ball hit the left side of my face. I dropped my registration paper and held on my face, "Ow!" It hurt only a little, just like being pinched, but I remembered what Alice said, act human. I closed my eyes and pretended to be in pain.
"Are you alright?" Coach Noble supported me. He blew his whistle and everyone stopped.
"Oh, my. Ren, are you okay?" I heard Sabrina asked while she ran towards me. I was okay, but I had to lie. I shook my head.
"Who did that!?" Coach Noble was mad.
"Kitty and Tabitha," Sabrina answered. I opened my eyes and looked at Kitty and Tabitha on the other side of the net with a smug look on their faces.
"Kitty, Tabitha, detention," Coach Noble said.
"So worth it," I heard Kitty snickered. It was not meant for the others to hear, but being a half-breed, I heard her clearly.
"Bring her to the nurse's office," Coach Noble instructed Sabrina and we walked out of the gymnasium.
--
After we walked a few feet from the gymnasium, I let go of my face. "Sabrina, I'm fine."
"No, your not. Your face is so red."
"Can we go to the restroom first?" I asked.
"Sure. This way."
We went inside the restroom and I looked at my face. Sabrina's right, it was red and no way would it be gone before we go home. My parents would be furious.
"I think I'll just head to the car," I said to Sabrina.
"Oh, no you don't, Ren. You need ice on that," she pointed on my face. "I'll drag you if I have to." I could easily pry her off me if she decided to drag me, but I obliged and walked with her to the nurse's office.
--
As soon as the nurse gave me ice pack for my face and told me to lie on the bed, Sabrina excused herself so she could get her stuff from the locker room. She said that she would send a message to Alice in their Art class that I was in the nurse's office, although I knew that Alice saw me sitting here before the ball hit my face.
When the final bell rang, not five minutes passed and Alice was already in the nurse's office with Marianne.
"What happened?" Alice asked as if she didn't know already. She whispered low so that only I could hear, "Sorry, angel."
"Kitty and Tabitha," Sabrina said.
"What!?" Marianne said in disbelief.
"It was my fault; I wasn't looking," I said.
"You're targeted, Ren. Don't defend them," Sabrina said.
They helped me off the bed and we walked towards the car. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" Sabrina asked. I nodded and they left.
Alice pulled out from the parking lot. As soon as no more students were in sight, I put down the ice pack and flipped the mirror. "Great! Dad's gonna kill us!"
"Now you know why I hid my vision from your dad."
"What exactly did you see, Alice?"
"Ken and Kitty. Ken practically stalking you and Kitty hating you the moment Ken approached our table. If Edward saw Ken's interest in you and Kitty's reaction, he wouldn't let you go to school."
"I'm sure after seeing this face, he's never gonna let me out of the house, ever!"
"We'll just have to convince them that it was an accident." I nodded.
--
When we were a few blocks away from the house, Alice told me to put my hair on the side, "It will help hide your face."
I ran my fingers on my hair to distribute the curls evenly. Alice started singing an old song that I knew, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I wondered what she was doing, then she mouthed 'Edward' and I knew right away what she meant. We had to block our thoughts about the accident. I sang with her and we were still singing when we entered the house.
"Looks like you had fun," my mom greeted me with a tight hug.
"It was great mom!" I exclaimed.
"So, tell us what happened," dad said. I put my hands on their faces and backtracked from the beginning of the class. As soon as I got to the part that we sat with Marianne and Sabrina for lunch, I put my hands down. They didn't need to know about Ken and the events afterwards.
"Looks like you have new friends," mom said with a smile.
"Yes, they're really nice there," I said.
I stiffened when Dad tucked my hair on my right ear. He noticed my reaction, "Are you okay, angel?"
"Yeah, I just remembered I have an assignment in History. Don't tell Uncle Jasper," not a lie, but it was not the reason I stiffened. "We have so much homework to catch up on."
"Well, you better get started then. What do you want to eat for dinner? I'll cook before we leave for school," mom asked.
"Pasta?" I said the first thing I thought of.
"Okay, angel," mom kissed my forehead.
I continued singing while I went upstairs. As soon as I closed my bedroom door behind me, I ran to the bathroom and checked my face again. The redness faded a bit; I sighed in relief. With a coat of foundation, I could easily hide the rest of the mark.