Waves crashed against the shoreline of La Push beach and a strong breeze shifted against the faces of everyone there. Eleanor's long brown hair flew around her shoulders while her blue eyes took in the gray scenery. La Push was one of her favorite places to go - she loved the beach and playing in the waves.
"Are you getting in the water, El?"
Eleanor turned to see Eric zipping up his wetsuit and nodded. "Yeah, I'm just waiting for a little bit."
Shouting sounded from further down the beach, causing Bella and Eleanor to look towards them. Three boys were making their way to the group, their long, black hair blowing behind them. Eleanor saw their tanned skin and realized they were from the Reservation.
Bella surprised the girl by meeting them and pulling one of the boys into a hug. "What are you stalking me now?"
"You're on my turf now, remember?" The boy teased back and Bella pushed him before motioning to her friends. "Guys, this is my friend Jacob Black."
"Hello." Jacob Black waved back at them. He pointed to the two boys with him. "And this is Quil and Embry."
Eleanor smiled at the boys. "You guys could keep Bella company while we're in the water."
"Yeah." Jessica laughed, leaning up against her sister. "Since her date bailed."
Eric and Mike broke away from their conversations and narrowed their eyes at Bella. "What date?"
"She invited Edward Cullen." Angela giggled, nudging a smirking Jessica.
Eleanor rolled her eyes, annoyed by how annoying they were being. "It's nice that she invited him. No one ever does."
"Probably cause he's freak." Mike shot back and Eleanor raised her middle finger.
The boy that Jacob had introduced as Quil began to laugh at Mike and Eleanor turned to face him with a raised brow. He met her eyes and, with a mocking grin, said. "The Cullens' don't come here."
Quil's tone of voice had Eleanor wondering if he knew what they Cullens' were. The boy met her eyes, his smile just as mischievous. Eleanor shot him a glare before standing up from her seat. "I'm going to change."
Angela followed her to the other side of the truck and leaned against the door as El began to change. She averted her eyes the ground to give Eleanor her privacy. "Do you think Eric's going to ask Bella to prom?"
Eleanor looked over at her friend, who was chewing on her bottom lip. She shrugged, glancing over at him and Bella. "He'll probably try to but I'm sure she'll say no. She doesn't seem interested in anyone but Edward. But don't keep waiting for him to ask you, Ang. If you want to go with him that bad, ask him yourself. The worst he can say is no."
Angela nodded. "You're right."
Eleanor turned her back to Angela. "Zip me up?"
"So can all of you read minds?"
Eleanor sat in the living room of the Cullen house the following day, full of questions for the family. Across from her sat Alice, Carlisle and Edward, each ready to answer her. It had been Alice's idea for Eleanor to find out more about the family.
"I'm the only one who can read minds." Edward stated and El waited for him to continue. "We all have different abilities though - Alice has visions of the future. Jasper can control emotions. Rosalie is extremely beautiful, Emmett is physically stronger."
Alice continued where he left off. "Esme doesn't really have one, she's just extremely loving. And Carlisle has really good self-control, that's why he works so well in the hospital."
Eleanor nodded as she processed the information. "So only you, Edward, and Jasper actually have useful powers. I mean Carlisle's would be useful as a vampire too but enhanced beauty?"
Edward chuckled. "Don't let Rose hear you say that."
She huffed, staring between each Cullen before eyeing Edward. "Can I ask you something?"
Alice and Carlisle leaned forward while Edward raised a bushy eyebrow. He motioned for her to go ahead and El hesitantly asked. "What's your problem with Bella?"
Edward sighed, casting a look to Carlisle, who nodded back. "You've heard of the term 'soulmate' before, right? Soulmates happen for vampires, more often than not. The bond with whoever your mate is makes it hard to stay away from them."
"So why are you staying away from her, then?" Eleanor asked, confusion written on her face. If Bella was Edward's soul mate, she couldn't understand why he would stay away from her.
"He doesn't want to hurt her or force her into this lifestyle. Like we explained yesterday, if any human finds out about us, they either have to turn or die." Carlisle explained, looking towards his adopted son. "It's not that uncommon to stayaway from a soulmate if they're human."
Eleanor slowly nodded, finally understanding why Edward wasn't trying to get close to Bella. As Eleanor thought, Carlisle studied his own mate. A part of him was eager to tell her exactly what she was to him, but Eleanor was wary of them as it was and he didn't want to make it worse. Carlisle smiled when he looked up and met his gaze before blushing and looking away.
Alice smiled knowingly at the two of them before she nudged Carlisle. He glanced over at her, waiting for her to say what she wanted to. "We were wondering if you could show us what you can do, Eleanor. Just so we can see?"
Eleanor's expression turned to one of uncertainty, but she stood up anyway, wringing her hands in front of her. "I'm not really sure what you want me to do."
The vampires stood, leaving Carlisle to raise a hand and tilt his head to the back door. "Let's head outside first, shall we?"
"Right." Eleanor smiled nervously as she followed closely behind Carlisle. Edward and Alice followed behind them, though stopped on the porch when they were outside. Carlisle stood by the stairs and, when El looked back to him, he smiled. "You said you have telekinesis? Why don't you show us that?"
"Or just try to do what you did to Carlisle yesterday." Alice mentioned before reconsidering. "Maybe to a tree instead."
Eleanor nodded in agreement. She noticed the rest of the family had joined them outside and shook off her hands, trying to rid herself of her nerves. El then eyed at the forest before her, deciding what she was going to do.
She glanced at the seven of them before bringing her hands up in front of her stomach. A ball of scarlet energy formed in her hands and she twirled it around slowly.
"Okay." Eleanor moved her focus to the tree closest to her. "So, when this happens, you all might want to duck or something in case wood flies everywhere. Especially since I'm not completely convinced that wooden stakes can't kill you."
Carlisle smiled at his mate as he eyed her hands. He made a note to explain to her how vampires were killed before focusing back on her actions.
Eleanor's hands raised and she spun them, before pushing her right hand forward and sending the energy towards the tree.
As she watched the energy connect with the tree, she realized her assumption about the tree splitting was correct. It split in the middle, causing a few stray pieces of wood to fly in different directions. She stared at it for a moment before jumping at Emmett's voice.
"That was badass."
Eleanor looked over to see the family staring at her with various expressions. Most of them looked thoroughly impressed including Rosalie who had a look of surprise on her face, though Carlisle's expression was full of awe.
"Thanks." El said nervously, entwining her fingers in front of her stomach. "Do you want me to do more while I'm here?
"You can if you want." Carlisle smiled, easily seeing that she was nervous once more. "Don't push yourself if you're not comfortable."
Eleanor and Carlisle locked eyes and exchanged small smiles. There was something between them that Eleanor couldn't describe. She felt something with him that she had never experienced before. A thought popped into her head, but she shook it out before she could really focus on it. Eleanor tried not to look at Edward, afraid that he had heard the thought that came through.
She took her eyes away from Carlisle's and put her arms out in front of her. The Cullens' watched as the human moved the scattered branches to a neat pile under the tree.
"Okay." She slapped her hands against her thighs. "I'm done."