APOV

My visions aren't perfect, ok? I try my best, but I see outcomes, and that's it. I see the end result, with no way of knowing what led to it. And the future changes. I'm aware of this, so why do I, and my family, put so much stock into what I see? Because most of the time, people don't change their minds; the problem is that the future isn't just dependent on one person's decisions, but also the decisions of other people around them and how they will react. Something as small as a red light causing someone to get stuck 5 minutes behind someone else can alter the future in drastic ways.

With this knowledge, why then were we so stuck on this new girl? Because no matter who I looked for in our family, Bella Swan was there as well. Sometimes human, sometimes vampire, and unfortunately sometimes dead. There was really no nice way to put that. I was going to try to keep her alive, but it's actually pretty damn hard to force a specific future; as I said, I can only see outcomes based on decisions - I don't know what is leading to her death, just that it's a possibility.

Despite all of this, I was still being asked over and over again what the 'percentage' of each outcome was. I wanted to scream at my family - I had no fucking clue. Just because I see five different ways she could be a vampire, doesn't mean those are the only five, nor that they somehow outweigh the two visions I've seen of her dead. They really don't get it sometimes. Tomorrow some woman could finally decide to leave her husband, he gets drunk, gets behind the wheel, and bowls Bella over in the middle of broad daylight. I can't see it today, because the wife hasn't made that decision.

And yet, here I was, looking for this girl's future yet again. It was like a bad habit you knew you needed to break, but your supplier just kept coming back. In this case, Edward was the supplier. It was clear Bella was drawn to him, so of course he just had to know all he could. My fool of a brother couldn't just let nature take its course - oh no, he wanted to try for the best outcome possible. Well, two can play at that game.

Edward and I had a bit of an understanding about how each other's abilities work. I know he can only hear the exact thought at any given moment, and that conscious thought was louder than the subconscious fleeting ideas that pass through our brains on their own. He knows that I can 'see' a future if I picture every single possible decision, but that doesn't mean it's actually going to happen; it's a possible future, if all of the decisions leading up to it are true. Because of this, I had the upper hand, and Edward was aware of that fact. He may be asking about her, and keeping tabs on my visions, but he also knew not to trust them, or my thoughts.

What a pair we made, huh?

There was one other aspect of our abilities that Edward had figured out early on. Despite him being the mind reader, I knew what he was going to say a fraction of a second before he spoke. That's how I found myself this morning, hair partially done, makeup strewn along the counter and walking around in just my jeans and a bra, answering his questions before they even had the chance to leave his mouth. It was quite bothersome in reality. I couldn't see the forest through the trees, or better yet my room past hundreds of possibilities for how our day could go. Sometimes the inner eye really did cloud my worldly vision, and frankly, I was fed up.

"Edward! Leave this house, right now or so help me I will throw you out!" On this my mind was set, and he saw clearly that I would not waver on this one point. In a matter of seconds if he was not on his way to school I would grab him by the arm, swing him around and let go, and he would go spinning across the yard like a shot-put disc, ending up on the Sol Duc riverbank. Luckily he heeded my warning and I was able to finish getting ready in peace.

True to my vision that started this nonsense, Jasper had whisked me off to New York for a back to school shopping spree. The bracelet from Tiffany's glittered brightly under the bright light of my vanity and I spent a second smiling at the ostentatious piece that adorned my wrist. Sure, it was out of place in Forks, but so were we, and no one had said anything yet.

I finished spiking my hair, threw some gloss across my lips, and pulled my long-sleeved, sheer white top on, finishing it off with the cropped vest. Finally I looked like my vision and knew I was ready for the day. It had only taken a few seconds once Edward was out of my head and I could see clearly again.

Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, and I were taking her BMW; Edward had sped off in his Volvo. I was actually glad for his little scene this morning, as it afforded us more space - sure I may be tiny, but I didn't really like getting scrunched up in the back of his little car. I had finally convinced Carlisle that it was safe enough for us to be seen with our vehicles when Kristi Travis, head cheerleader and Student Council President, had been given a Camaro for her eighteenth birthday. We no longer had the only nice vehicles in town, so there was no need to hide them. Sure, ours were outfitted with all sorts of aftermarket accessories, but no one would know that from the parking lot.

This also gave us an easy way home when Edward would disappear at lunch time. This was one vision I had kept from him, wanting it to be solely his decision and not based on a vision so he thought he needed to go through with it. Around seven this morning the vision came to me. I'd seen that Bella would deviate from the former vision and no longer enter the cafeteria with a group of classmates. What caused this change, I didn't know, but she had lost the crowd when she ducked into a bathroom and insisted they didn't need to wait for her - she could follow the signs just fine.

She'd enter the room and glance around quickly, eyes scanning, not for Eric, Tyler, or Jessica, but for an empty table. She found one, the only one, right next to us. Her eyes glossed right over us as she narrowed in on the table that no one ever sat at. It was right beneath a vent; for most students they avoided it as no one liked getting pelted with hot air while trying to eat. Bella didn't notice though. She sat down, pulled out a notebook and pen and started doodling. The vent kicked on and suddenly we were blasted with the most fragrant scent I had ever smelled in my entire existence. Edward and Jasper both excused themselves.

I cringed internally as I saw this play out. I knew I couldn't change anything; the course was set and needed to happen this way. I started singing the Star-Spangled Banner in Russian, set on keeping Edward out of my head.

EPOV

What is that little pixie up to? I thought as I heard her song start over for the sixtieth time today. Something was coming, but what, and why she was keeping it from me, was going to drive me crazy. Well, that and the stupid song she was singing over and over.

I took the middle seat at our table, back towards the wall so I could see everyone as they walked in and out of the cafeteria. Luckily for Alice, the chatter, both external and internal, was so loud here that her song wasn't needed. Lunch was one of the worst times for me. While school in general was hard, with me hearing every rampant thought, most of the time it was just a loud droning, a humming in my head, as the thoughts were quite the same. Humans were so predictable, and when you have a room of twenty kids listening to a teaching go on about the quadratic formula, they tend to all think the same thing - namely, 'when is this going to be over?'.

Sure, sometimes I'd hear the occasional off thought - for example this morning a Freshman dropped his pencil and as he was picking it up, the leggy teacher passed by and he saw right up her skirt. If it was Emmett who could read minds, I'm sure he would have been looking right along with the boy, but me? I'd seen it all time and time again, and no amount of leg would do it for me, nothing did really. So I rolled my eyes and went on with my day.

But lunch, ah lunch was the bane of my existence. Everyone was vying for attention, no one wanted to say the wrong thing. The inner dialogue of hundreds of students all working so hard to determine the best course of action, mixed with the cacophony of those same students yelling to be heard over each other was almost too much to bear most days.

Despite this, I was sitting here tuned in to everyone except the quiet thoughts at my table. Most thoughts were on the girl, Bella. Mike Newton's inner monologue gave me great insight on her, as he literally could not stop thinking about her. "Isabella Swan, right? Hi, I'm Mike, Mike Newton." "Yeah, um, it's Bella." Great Mike, day one and you've already fucked it up. Of course she doesn't use her full name - when was the last time anyone called you Michael? "Right, Bella. Well, good to meet you Bella. How are you liking Forks so far?" … and there's where I lost her. That look, like I had sprouted a second head. Ugh, she probably thinks I'm a creepy stalker or something. I'll just have to play it cool, let her come to me. Mike's eyes darted across the room, searching for her. I hadn't seen her come in and wondered just what she was up to when the door opened just a little bit and there she was.

A little on the short side, though taller than Alice by a good three inches, she'd fit nicely by my side. What the hell, Edward? I thought to myself. This was not the first thought about the girl I should be having. We haven't even spoken yet, and I'm imagining her next to me, her head pressed against my chest. I saw Alice smirk in my direction. "Shut it!" I hissed, too low for anyone else to hear. She just smirked again.

I then noticed Bella's hair, soft waves hung around her shoulders, the harsh light of the cafeteria bouncing off the chestnut locks, exaggerating the reddish undertones.

She glanced around the room, eyes flitting past us, and while it appeared that she did not see me, I got a glimpse of her eyes; the warm melted chocolate would forever be etched into my memory.

I tried to tune into her, hear what she was thinking, but I couldn't find her voice. Maybe if she said something out loud I'd be able to hear her. "Alice, go introduce yourself," I mumbled. Alice startled in her chair; she hadn't seen that coming. I quickly saw the future spinning in front of us. The girl would choose to come sit with us. It wouldn't be easy, I could tell there was something about her that would make the venom pool in my mouth, but I knew I could be strong enough to withstand it; Alice's visions sped up and I saw Bella sitting with us day upon day, if Alice made this move. "Go!" I said, giving her a nudge.

A/N: Well, that ending happened. That was not at all what I had planned when I wrote Alice's portion, but, as she said, her visions are dependent on the decisions of others. She couldn't have foreseen Edward wouldn't be able to hear Bella and wanted to do something about it. Ta-da, a twist!