Author's note : A little change in Twilight vampires in my fanfiction : they have fangs. Because vampires without fangs is a concept I can't quite grasp and just creepy to me. Still a good read I hope, darlings !
strangers.in.the.night : Thanks love. I mixed the names with a few of my other stories and didn't realize 'till you pointed it out !
Sboyle92 : She's spent the last few months hiding under way too big hoodies, and being careful in her seats in classes, restaurants and so on. That's how she managed to hide the sparkle. I hope you continue to enjoy the story !
••••••••
The next morning, I could hear Bella rustling under her covers, not eager to wake up while I was already up and running.
I must say, this not-sleeping thing really had its advantages. I mean, sure I could never again indulge in the lovely art of sleeping but now, with an hour left on the clock, I was already dressed and ready for the first day of school. I'd put on my black skinny jeans with a flowy red top, as well as a black coat and high-heeled boots. My hair was in its usual state : down and I just put some lipgloss on.
I took care of breakfast for those who could eat made myself coffee with blood... a lot of it. It's a trick I discovered when I was bored—which is nearly all the time—; by mixing blood with my warm drinks helps with the cold skin. I only did that for my family as we didn't feel this hardness or coldness from other vampires. Mind you, I was still cold to human touch, but with those drinks I was unnaturally cold enough and I had a constant intake of blood in my system so that was a win-win situation in my book.
Breakfast was a quiet affair for Bella—still sulking about the weather—as dad and I caught up a bit before he left first for work, wishing us good luck.
Bella, still not talking to me, cleaned our plates and set to the door and into our truck. I let her drive since I reckon neither her nor the truck would appreciate my fast driving that much.
••••••••
Forks High School was just off the highway and unlike any other schools I'd seen. The big building was like a collection of matching maroon-colored brick houses, surrounded by trees—a lot of trees.
"That's the front office." I gestured for Bella to park in front. "I think we need to get our schedules here."
Bella parked just in front—we were surely not allowed to but I'd rather get a map and a feel of the school without wandering in it.
Warm air hit me as I opened the office... well it didn't hit me that hard, I just felt a little warm breeze but looking at Bella's flushed cheeks, it was warmer inside than outside. There was a large, red-headed woman behind a desk, and she looked up and pulled her glasses up upon seeing us.
"Can I help you?" Her voice was soft and pleasant but her eyes told another story—she knew who we were and she'd been expecting us.
"I'm Annabelle Swan, and this is Isabella Swan." I said, seeing as Bella was content to play dead next to me.
"Of course." The woman breathed, looking through some documents while stealing a few glances at us. Sigh, small towns.
Daughters of the Chief of police's flighty ex-wife, home at last.
"I have your schedules right here." She announced. "And two maps. "This is Annabelle's and this is Isabella's."
While giving us the papers, she went through the different classes with us, highlighting the best routes on the maps, as well as gave us a slip for each teacher to sign and return at the end of the day. They wanted to make sure we didn't miss class right from the get go. The lovely but gossipy lady then smiled at us and wished us a good day.
While we walked back to the truck, other students were arriving, and as Bella followed the line of traffic, I realized there were a lot of cars like ours. Thank god. The nicest cars here were a shiny Volvo, and an expensive-looking Jeep—both stood up to me as I'd seen them before, in a vision, along with seven vegetarian vampires. Five of whom were going to be my classmates.
Nerves be calm. Actually, I wasn't that nervous; I knew we were going to be the best of friends, I just didn't want small town Forks' population to realize we were indeed not human. What with our 'beauty' and tendencies to evade public areas when there was some sun.
There was a thing that unnerved me though, something to do with my diet. Although I shared the same golden eyes as these vampires—indicating a vegetarian diet—, I was clearly hooked on human blood and hadn't seen how they would react to that. Oh well, life's an adventure.
Bella quickly found a parking spot and cut the engine off, ridding me of that horrible sound it made... of course the sound was only for my ears as it didn't bother Bella's.
I put the map and schedule I'd already memorized in my bag and got out of the car. "Later." I didn't wait for her since we didn't have the same schedule and went ahead. To a new life.
••••••••••
My first class was English with Mr. Fitz, a balding old gentleman who looked in his forties. He had a gentle contenance, and after introducing me to the class, sent me at the back of the room.
Sitting at the back of the class, I was amused at how it didn't stop my classmates to ogle me 'discreetly' and whispering between themselves. 'That's one of Chief's daughters?'
'God she's hot!'
'You think she'd let me take her to prom?'
'Doesn't she look like the Cullens?'
That last whisper caught my attention. The Cullens. Fellow vampires and future friends.
Bored, I listened to the girl and her friend's conversation where they listed all the things that made me similar to the family. It should have worried me that people were even comparing us, but I knew it wouldn't go further than teen curiosity.
All in all, English was quite boring—Bella and I had already done this program back in Phoenix anyways.
The third period was it. The turning point, the period where I met three of the Cullens.
The three fellow vampires were shell-shocked as the government teacher introduced me to the class and began speaking to each other—in vampire speed. They indeed were shocked as the one called Alice hadn't seen me coming, and the present Jasper couldn't get ahold of my emotions. Weird.
Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett—those were their names—were extremely weary of me, so I took my assigned seat and acted as though nothing was amiss.
~
When the bell rang, the three shot out of their seats and out the door as if the classroom was on fire, probably to seek this Alice out. I knew we shared a common gift, so how she hadn't seen me, I wonder.
~
One of the girls in my trigonometry class —Angela—was an absolute sweetheart.
She was five foot four inches to my five foot seven inches, but she made up for it with her wavy black hair. She was soft-spoken and intelligent, carried a camera around and invited me to eat with her group at lunch. Absolute sweetheart.
When we arrived at lunch, I held a sigh in when I saw Bella at the table, with her new friends—Mike, Jessica, Eric, Lauren and Tyler. When Tyler got my chair for me, I didn't hold my eye roll this time at seeing the glint of jealousy in her eyes. Gosh. Why would you even be jealous of your own twin is something I couldn't fathom.
I wasn't affected anymore now—at least I told myself that—but when I was younger, I wished, no prayed for a real sibling, one who would return the love I gave out. And lord did I give much to Bella when we were younger but when you get constantly rejected by your own twin, you end up not giving a damn.
After a short while into the lunch, I saw her staring at something behind us and turned to see what the fuss was. Sure enough, she was gawking at the Cullens' table, where the five vampire were seated.
As I sipped on my thermos—with a blend of coffee and blood—, I slightly shook my head at them. They weren't even trying to eat, least the students get suspicious. And with those dark eyes I spotted, why they even dared to come to school without feeding was beyond me. Did they not care about the empath in their midst who was being fed all these teenagers' emotions, his thirst and their own?
The five of them weren't even looking at each other—talking in vampire speed didn't count for me—, just looking anywhere and elsewhere.
"Who are they?" My twin asked the table, in an obvious awed tone.
The bronze-colored vampire turned to look at Jessica before he looked at Bella, his brow slightly creasing, as though trying to solve a puzzle.
Hm, interesting.
He quickly looked away though, as if uninterested by what was happing at our table but I knew him, heck all of them, were intently listening in.
"That's the Cullens." Jessica said in giggles, as though she was giving us the big scoop on the school.
Well, seeing Bella's eager expression, it probably was, for her.
"They're Dr.Cullen and Mrs. Cullen adopted children." Jessica continued. "And they're all together together. I don't even know if that's legal."
"Jess, they're not actually related." Angela gently admonished the gossiper.
"I know but it's weird." Jessica defended her words. "Anyways the big, burly guy, that's Emmett Cullen. He's with the gorgeous blonde, Rosalie Hale. The small brunette who looks like a pixie is Alice Cullen, and she's with Jasper Hale, the blonde guy who looks like he's always in pain."
I really had respect for Jasper. Imagine being an empath in an establishment full of horny, angsty, full of blood teenagers.
When I glanced at their table, none of them were looking at us but their conversation was on Bella and I.
Apparently Edward, the bronze-colored vampire couldn't read mine nor Bella's minds. Alice had seen Bella coming but hadn't seen me and Jasper couldn't feel nor alter my emotions.
I did a mental high five to myself. It was a bit hypocritical to long for my own privacy when I could see and feel so much about them, but I was happy nonetheless.
"Who is he?" Bella nodded at Edward's profile, a weird glint in her gaze.
"That's Edward Cullen." Jessica said in a hush tone. "Totally gorgeous, but apparently no one in this school is good enough for him." Jessica looked at Bella. "Seriously, don't waste your time."
I chuckled at her long face, I wonder when it was that Edward rejected her advances.
"I wasn't planning to." Bella replied, the lie evident, to everyone, in her voice.
Fuck. Me.
••••••••••
The only class I shared with Bella besides gym was Biology II, and thank god Angela was with us. The sweet girl walked us to class, blabbering the whole way, though my attention wasn't on her.
Each step towards Biology was like an ominous sound towards destiny. Not mine tough, Bella's.
What I saw of their future was all too confusing and not nearly enough to make sometimes of. It definitely involved Edward's infatuation with my sister's mind, her blood and Bella's strange obsession with his 'beauty' and his family.
As we entered the classroom, I'd already spotted the only seats left, one next to Edward and one next to Angela.
I already knew who my partner was so I quickly gave the teacher my slip and walked towards my seat. As I walked past Edward's table, I threw him a bottle when no one was looking and talked to him in vampire speed.
"It's animal blood. Drink and stop glaring at nothing." I chuckled at his stunned expression.
Faster than anyone could see, he downed the entire bottle, heaving a small sigh of relief. His previously dark eyes regained a bit of their gold, and he turned to me with a small, grateful smile.
Bella was approaching so I sat down next to Angela, but I could tell he had a billion questions, inquiries I could only answer after school.
I'd seen Edward and I grow into a beautiful friendship—along with the rest of the Cullens. And I couldn't wait to give him the tools to grow out of teenage angst and into the wonderful man he was meant to be.
No one had obvisouly seen our exchange so the class went on, with Edward sitting as far from Bella as he could get, his face averted as if he smelled something bad. Bella's face fell, and I could see she was hurt by his behavior—she even sneakily sniffed at her hair to see if she smelled, in vain. After all, what Edward was smelling was her blood, or rather craving it.
Now, at this point, some righteous people would be like : 'Do something! That's your twin sister!'
And to that I would deadpan : 'Do I fucking look like I care?'
That bottle of animal blood was the best I was willing to do for Bella. Call me heartless or a bitch, I couldn't care less and I knew Edward wouldn't hurt her.
As for family links, I believed in choosing your people. If your own blood didn't treat you right, spare your awesome selves the trouble and show them the door.
Show love, appreciation and support to people who truly deserved it.
Besides, I never was much of a good samaritan , even as a human and it suited me—and my morals—very much.
The bell pulled me out of my thoughts in time to see Edward's escape from the classroom, he swiftly and elegantly rose before he left in a hurry. A hurt Bella was left behind, her heart beating so wildly in her chest I heard it as clear as day.
"Hey, what was that with Cullen?" Mike appeared in front of her. "Did you stab him with a pencil or what? I've never seen him act like that."
Bella, flustered that we'd all seen her predicament, stuttered. "I-I don't know."
Sigh.
•••••••••
"Do I smell?" Bella asked me as we were on our way to gym class.
I raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that a trick question?"
"Can you be serious for once in your life?" Bella huffed.
"When you pull that stick out of your ass, I will." I replied, already annoyed at her.
She sighed—that was as much of an apology as I would ever get—. "I think Edward Cullen has something against me."
I rolled my eyes. "You do realize that not everybody is obliged to like you, right?"
She wasn't deterred. "He doesn't know me, how could he feel that way already?" Arrogance will be your downfall.
"That's called life." I replied as we got to our gym lockers.
"You just don't understand." Bella sniffed, gathering her stuff and moving to a further locker.
Oh well, she could go and be miserable on her own, brooding about a guy she'd known for all of five minutes and hadn't even talked to yet.
~
Jasper and Emmett were in our gym class and I got along with them pretty well, to the obvious surprise of the rest of the students.
The three of us were put in the same team, and though we played at a human pace, we crushed everyone.
"See you later, Loopy Loo." Emmett boomed when the class was over.
"Nicknames already, big guy?" I chuckled as I walked backwards.
Jasper had on a soft smile as Emmett replied. "You know it!"
I shook my head and smiled, turning around to exit the hall.
~
"Why were you talking to Edward's brothers?" Bella asked as we walked to the office to give in our slips.
"Oh, you mean Jasper and Emmett?" She made a face at my thick sarcasm. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know, maybe because of how he treated me in Biology. Some twin you are."
One.Two.Three.Four.Five.Si—
"Get your head out of your ass Bella." I snapped at her. "Everything doesn't revolve around you." I sighed as I opened the office door.
My voice wasn't exactly low nor nice, but I didn't care. Anyone hearing would just chalk it up to siblings fighting, nothing weird about that.
I marched to the desk while a frozen Bella stayed behind, the appearance of Edward startling her. I didn't really care and was already annoyed so I gave my slip to the redhead lady of this morning.
"Everything okay?" I heard Edward ask beside me.
I turned to look at him—figured he'd hear our little fight—but his eyes only held clear concern. See, gentleman through and through.
This made me give him a genuine smile. "Nothing I can't handle."
We were interrupted by the lady telling him there weren't any more spots available in other Biology classes.
Huh. Bella's blood was that powerful to him?
"Never mind." Edward stiffly said, having sensed Bella behind us. "I'll just have to bear with it then."
He acted as though my twin wasn't even in the room as he turned back to me. "Jasper told me, are you still coming to our house?"
I nodded. "Yeah, just give me the address. My sister and I share a car."
"No need." He said, a rare genuine smile on his lips. "We'll drive you."
After we exchanged numbers—leaving only Alice and Rosalie who didn't have mine—, he left the office, leaving a wide-eyed Bella behind, and me still not looking at her.
As she gave in her slip, I spoke up. "I already called dad, he knows the Cullen invited me to their place. I'm eating there tonight."
As I was walking away, she hurried after me. "Wait! Ask them if I can come with."
"No."
"What do you mean 'no'?" Bella asked, looking at me as if I was the crazy one.
"I mean the exclamation 'no', used to give a negative response, Isabella." I sassed.
"This isn't the time for your sarcasm, Annabelle." She whisper-yelled.
"You're right." I looked at her. "It's time for you to go back home, wait for people to talk to you before you invite yourself to their house."
Leaving my fuming sister behind, I opened the doors and walked out the school and into the parking lot, spotting the gorgeous Rosalie, who was waving at me.
Under the bulging, gossipy eyes of Forks' high-schoolers, I hopped into Edward's Volvo with Alice and Jasper while Rosalie got into Emmett's Jeep, the six of us driving into the cloudy sky.
Well, this should be interesting.
