Chapter 5
Keep Seeing Visions Of You
Alice
Alice Cullen was used to the new kid, new school routine. The stares, the whispers, the way every eye always seemed to be trained on me and my siblings. I was used to it, but it still never got old. Attending high school over and over again might seem like a drag to most normal teenagers, but I'm not a normal teenager. After walking the earth for almost 100 years, it was still exciting to start at a new school with new faces and, most importantly, new fashions to study. I love fashion, clothing and shopping more than anything, so at each new school I was always thrilled to get a look at what the kids today were wearing. Magazine's can't teach you everything.
The only thing that annoyed me about the new setting was that in a small town like this, my family stood out. Anything new here was instantly noticeable and, try as we might, the Cullen clan was never overlooked easily. We stand out to the humans in a way that the humans themselves will probably never fully understand. We're all good looking, which pulls the humans in, especially the young ones at the high schools we've attended. At first they were always drawn to the Cullen's, but most times the humans stopped short of them, they would come close but not all the way, never all the way. For the most part they couldn't even work up the courage to speak to any of us, even me, who was decidedly the most friendly looking in my personal opinion. I understood why they stayed away from Rose and Emmett, they were clearly a couple and the death glares Rose could give and Em's gigantic size pretty much kept everyone away. Jasper always lookd like he was having a rough time and Edward has a way of looking down on people. I guess all and all we weren't the most approachable group.
"That boy over there thought about introducing himself to Rosalie for a whole five seconds, that's a new record." My brother Edward informs us with a chuckle.
Edward has a gift most vampires don't, he can read minds which often comes in very handy, other than when one has a thought they'd like to keep to themselves. Rose, Emmett and Jasper all turn to the boy Edward indicates. When he sees them staring a look of panic crosses his face and he hops up from his seat all too fast, resulting in his entire lunch tray falling into his lap. As he races from the room, beet red with embarrassment, Rosalie and Emmett laugh while Jasper merely looks on with a slightly amused look on his face. Jasper has a hard time out in public like this, he's the newest addition to our family and he still struggles a bit with the vegetarian diet. We won't hunt humans, that's what allows us to blend into small towns like this. We play the part and most people never suspect a thing. When they do, Edward usually knows and we move on. Sometimes I'm the one that has to warn everyone, I have a gift, like Edward's, though still different. I can see the future, although it's always changing. I can see the path people are on when they decide on one, but people's minds change a lot and thus my visions change constantly. For the most part though they're helpful, and I'm glad to have them.
"I think I'm ready to get out of here, I need to stop by the bathroom to check my hair before class." Rosalie says.
Rose is a bit obsessed with appearances, she looks great all the time and still she constantly frets that she isn't at her best. I'm not sure why she cares what these people think, it's not like any of them plan to befriend us. Plus she already has a mate who adores her, my brother Emmett would do anything for her. Rosalie is a difficult one to figure out sometimes.
"I'll go with yah babe, we can explore the school a bit, maybe find a nice dark closet." Emmett winks suggestively at Rose, who just laughs and gives him a light slap to the shoulder.
"Slow your roll monkey man, we can't be knocking the school down." Rosalie giggles.
"Gross." Edwards mumbles, to which Emmett laughs even harder.
"One day you'll find a lucky lady, then you'll understand Eddie."
Edward just rolls his eyes and looks down to his uneaten lunch. Both Edward and Jasper haven't found mates yet, though Edward has been spending some time with Tanya, a member of the Denali clan. Like us, the Denali's only hunt animals, they've been friends of ours for many years.
"I'll head out with you guys, it's a bit stifling in here. Think I'll check out the library." Jasper says with his southern drawl.
Edward looks over at him with a slight frown. I can tell he's trying to get a feel for Jasper's thoughts, he wants to know if Jasper is as calm as he's trying to portray. I close my eyes for a moment and let my vision stretch. He's okay, I see nothing terrible in his future. Edward hears my thought and gives me a tiny nod.
"Me and Alice will just stay here, catch up with you at the car later." Edwards tells them.
Rose, Emmett and Jasper stand together and make their way across the crowded room. Every eye follows them and it makes me laugh. Even though the humans subconsciously know that we're dangerous, it doesn't stop them from being enthralled by us. It gets a little annoying to be honest, it's a bit of a pain to have to pretend to be human. Pretend to blink, pretend to breathe, pretend to fidget, pretend to eat. It gets old and it doesn't help that the humans are always watching so we have to be very careful to never slip up.
It takes me a moment to realize while every eye in the room is on the retreating backs of my siblings, there's still one set of eyes trained on Edward and I. I glance across the room and my eyes meet the most gorgeous pair of chocolate brown I've ever seen in all my years. The girl is pretty, beautiful even though she's wearing kind of scrubby clothes. A tom boy of sorts, but her long brown hair is silky and looks like it'd be as smooth as butter and I wonder briefly what she uses in it. The girls heart is racing a million miles a minute, I can hear it across the room and she's blushing, but she doesn't move an inch or look down. What a strange human.
"She's not human." Edward whispers to the side of me. "She's a shifter, probably one of those Quileute's from the treaty. I can tell from the scent. Not sure why she's here though instead of in their school."
A shifter. A werewolf. I know that this information should make me want to stay away from this girl, but it doesn't. If anything, it intrigues me even more. Suddenly I feel my head compress slightly and I know a vision is coming on. I break eye contact and look down at the table as my eyes cloud and a new world is open to me.
The dark haired girl stands in front of me smiling. We're in the forest somewhere. She holds her hand out to me and I take it.
We're sitting on a bed, books in our laps. We must be doing schoolwork or something, this might be her room, it's not familiar to me. We're laughing, laughing like best friends.
We're on an empty beach, one I don't know. The sun beats down on us and my skin sparkles. The girl runs her fingers across my exposed belly with a small smile on her face and I smile back at the sky, content.
We're running though the woods, a giant wolf at my side. The wolf is the color of her hair, it must be her. She looks up at me and I swear that wolf is smiling.
Running again, a different forest, this time there are no smiles. Someone is chasing us, someone bad. I see the flash of a man and a flash of a woman with vibrant red hair. The wolf jumps in front of me and crouches down in a protective stance, letting out a threatening growl to the trees around us.
The girl is on the ground in some kind of field. She looks like she's unconscious, she's covered in blood and it seems that she has no clothing on. A man with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail leans over her arm and bites down.
The girl and I are in an empty room, she looks different. More pale, her eyes are darker with bruise like circles underneath them. They have a funny tint to them that wasn't there before. She doesn't look much older, but something is different. She smiles at me but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. Something has changed.
We stand inches apart in a little meadow of sorts. The girl is taller than me, looking down into my eyes with a small smile on her face. I lean up and our lips meet.
I hear Edward let out a small gasp next to me and it pulls me from my vision. I hear the cafeteria door slam open and then shut before my eyes even clear all the way. The girl is gone, I can tell from how her scent has faded to almost nothing. She smells good, like sunshine and grass and the forest the surrounds this sleepy town. I feel like maybe my nose isn't working right because just this morning Rosalie was complaining about the wet dog smell she was forced to endure in math class. The girl doesn't smell like wet dog to me though, she smells like earth, like growth, like flowers blooming in spring. I glance over at Edward and he's regarding me with his usual serious expression. Right now it's mixed with concern and confusion and, not for the first time, I wish I could keep thoughts to myself.
"Alice, what was that?" he questions.
"I don't know, it was like as soon as we made eye contact all that came on. I don't see how she could decide on me so quickly, I mean our kind are natural enemies. I don't know what just happened." my voice sounds distant, I'm a little dazed.
"Well I don't know either." Edward sounds frustrated and I glance at him again. "I couldn't hear anything in her mind, it was a blank slate. I've never had that happen before. I think she's trouble."
I shoot him an annoyed look.
"Just because you can't hear her doesn't mean she's trouble. I think we're meant to be friends, best friends." I can't keep the wistful note out of my voice. I love my family and I love spending time with them but sometimes I wonder about what it'd be like to have a friend outside of them. I don't think I've ever had what you'd call a real friend. I might have before I was turned into a vampire but I don't really remember, I can't remember anything from my old life. I only know my name because it was written on the tag of the dress I was wearing when Carlisle found me and turned me. Mary Alice Brandon, but I decided I would be just Alice in this new life of mine. I liked the way it sounded. I wonder briefly what my name would sound like coming out of the shifters mouth and quickly try to stifle the thought when Edward glares at me again.
"We'll need to inform Carlisle about her. He should know." Edward tells me.
"I suppose so." I sigh and try to keep my aggravated thoughts to myself.
The rest of the day drags on and when the final bell rings I make it outside to the car in record time. Edward is driving today and since I'm the first to make it there I slide into the passenger seat and await my siblings. When we're all there Edward takes off, it takes all of five minutes to get home when you only drive 80 mph. We all make our way into the house where our adopted mother, Esme, stands waiting.
"Oh good you're all home, how was it today?" She asks while giving us each a hug at a time.
"Same as it has been for about fifty years now." Rose says with some disdain.
I don't think Rosalie enjoys the whole school over and over again thing at all. I know it's tedious and none of us exactly enjoys it but I think it drive Rose nuts. She wants to try out college next time we move homes, I think I might enjoy that as well. It would be a slightly new experience anyway.
" When will Carlisle be home?" Edward asks. "I think we need to have a small family meeting."
"What about?" Jasper asks curiously.
"The shifter." That's all he needs to say, we all know who he means.
"All I smell every morning is wet dog, it's ridiculous." Rose grumbles. "I thought they were all supposed to be on the reservation?"
"Since when do girls even shift?" Emmett questions.
It had been long standing knowledge that only males phased, ever since the beginning of their kind it had always been just the men. My future friend was different in many way apparently, she was special.
"It's a relatively new development." Carlisle's voice comes from behind us as he walks in the door. "Perhaps we should take this to the dining room, we can sit and discuss. I have a bit of knowledge about this girl, not much but a little."
We all make our way to the table which is mainly used for this very purpose. We only have the table for looks, we don't eat so we put the table to use for family meetings so it's not completely useless. Carlisle sits at the head with Esme to his right. I sit next to her with Jasper next to me. Rose, Emmett and Edward sit across from us.
"Now, I had a talk with the chief on the reservation. At the moment a Billy Black runs the show down there, with the pack leader being a man named Sam Uley. He informed me that they had a new shifter, a female by the name of Isabella Swan."
Isabella Swan, even her name was pretty. I focused my mind back on Carlisle.
"Billy says that Isabella is only half Quileute, that the amount she has in her DNA is so small they can't figure out why she phased. They assume it's because she's got Billy's blood in her, her father was his half brother. The girl won't leave her home which is why she's at Forks High with all of you. Billy says she's technically not part of the pack but he made it very clear that they will fight for her if needed, so I'd prefer if you all just stayed out of her way. We don't need any trouble when we just got here." He finishes.
"Don't worry about that, she stinks. We'd be crazy to go near her." Rosalie sniffs in disdain.
Edwards looks over to me and I know what's going to come out of his mouth. I will him not to say it, I shout it in my head, but it doesn't matter.
"Alice had a vision that her and the wolf will be friends. Close friends." He says in a clear voice.
I silently thank him in my mind for leaving out most of it, visions of being friends with a wolf is bad enough, never mind kissing her. He gives me a tiny, almost unnoticeable nod and looks at Carlisle, who regards me carefully.
"Why in the world would you want to be friends with her?" Rose demands.
I shrug my shoulders helplessly.
"I don't know! I just saw it. Our eyes met in the caf today after you guys left and then I saw it. I didn't even talk to her, she ran off right after." I try to explain. "I don't know why I saw it, all I know is I did."
Rose continues to glare at me while Carlisle looks at me curiously.
"You'll need to be very careful Alice. She's a new shifter, they can be unpredictable." Carlisle finally says.
I raise an eyebrow at him, is he telling me this is okay? Can I befriend this Isabella Swan? Can me and her be best friends, and maybe even more? I've never really thought about another girl like this before but there's something about her, something different. Something special.
"You can't be serious, you're condoning this?" Rosalie demands.
"It's Alice's life." Esme says gently. "She can do as she likes. It doesn't seem like this girl is any threat to us, and if it comes down to it that she is, we'll go from there."
"I suppose it couldn't hurt, maybe we could even learn some more about the shifters, we don't know much about them." Jasper reasons next to me.
I shoot him a grateful smile which be returns.
"I don't like it. I can't hear her. How will I know if there's trouble?" Edward grumbles.
"Alice can see her, she'll know." Carlisle tells him gently. "Besides, if Alice befriends her maybe we can figure out why you can't hear her."
Edward nod his acceptance though he doesn't look too happy about it. My heart swells and I can't keep the smile off my face, I can't wait to get to school tomorrow so I can try and speak to Isabella. Rosalie stands up abruptly, pulling me from my thoughts.
"You're all nuts. Why would we want that dog around? I'm going to hunt." She snarls and stalks away.
Emmett gives everyone a wary smile.
"I think it's a good idea, just don't tell Rosie that. I've always wanted to fight a wolf." He says with a cheeky grin.
With that, he turns and follows his girlfriend out the door.
"Well I guess it's decided then." Carlisle declares as he stands up. "Just be very careful Alice, wolves can be unpredictable."
I smile at him and walk quickly around the table to give him and Esme a hug.
"Thank you, I'll be careful." I promise.
Esme gives me a small smile and a kiss on the forehead.
"Your sister will get over it, you have to follow your heart sweetie."
For a moment I'm a bit thrown off, the way Esme spoke makes me wonder if she knows more than she's saying. Like she suspects there's more to all of this. I don't see how that's possible though, so I let the thought go and turn around.
"I'm going to hunt a bit, I won't go the same way as Rose and Em." I say with a smile.
"Be careful." Esme tells her with her own smile.
I nod and head out the door. I smell the path Rosalie took and head the opposite way. I don't want her killing my mood, tomorrow is gonna be a great day. I smile up at the sky and start running towards the mountains, the scent of deer filling my nostrils.
Isabella Swan, ready or not, here comes your destiny.
xxxx
AN: Okay guys as you can probably tell from this chapter I decided to change my writing style just a bit. All chapters have been updated so that they're in first person POV rather than third. I just find is easier to write in first person, I feel it conveys things better. Not sure why I didn't do it from the start, hope it doesn't throw anyone off.
Thanks for the follows and favorites, I love you guys. I'm having a great time writing this story and I hope you enjoy reading it just as much. I got the chapter title from the song Visions by Dirty Heads. Pretty good song if ya'll wanna check that out lol. Until next time.
