Alice tilted her head. "Edward wants to know why he can't hear your thoughts."
"He can't?" I asked in surprise. "Oh, that's why he was staring so hard! Well, I have no idea. Maybe whatever makes it so I don't forget my past lives puts me on a wavelength he can't access. Maybe this body has some natural immunity for some reason. I really couldn't give an explanation either way, though."
"Have you had any gifts in previous lifetimes?" Jasper asked, eyeing me curiously. He was maintaining the biggest distance from me.
"Not that I can recall. I mean, nothing obviously spooky. When I was a Spartan during the Peloponnesian War, I survived a lot of injuries that should have killed me. I thought that was pure grit, but maybe that body had a talent for fast healing or something. And I was a hypnotist with a traveling circus in Eastern Europe in the late 1800s, and it actually seemed to work for most of my clients. But nothing carries over to my other bodies, so it's probably down to the genetics of that particular body while my spirit was possessing it. So Isabella Swan's body might have a natural shield against mental intrusion that keeps out Edward's telepathy," I thought out loud. I looked from Jasper's eyes to Esme's, noting the difference in colors. "Um, no offense meant, but I thought black irises meant hunger in your species. Should you really be here talking to me instead of hunting?"
"We didn't want to be rude and leave you with just Carlisle and Esme," Alice explained.
"Well, that's silly. I'll leave now that we've worked something out, the rest of you should get some blood in your bellies ASAP." I rolled the bag of chips shut. "I'm taking these, Mrs. Cullen. They'd just go to waste in this house, after all."
"Please, call me Esme. And feel free," Esme said with a beaming smile.
"Well… see most of you at school tomorrow. I hope we can be friends, Rosalie hating me and Edward's instinctive desire to murder me notwithstanding," I said before turning for the garage. I heard Emmett bursting into raucous laughter as I walked away, guess I'd amused him.
I got in my truck, did a 3-point turn, and went back to the main road and from there to my and Charlie's house in Forks. I brought my bounty of Ruffles inside and set it on the kitchen table while I pulled out all my homework.
Around 6:00, I was finished and ready to start making dinner. I checked the drawers and fridge, and saw alarmingly slim pickings. Charlie, it seems, had no problem living purely off pizza and takeout. There were eggs and I found a box of pancake mix in a drawer, so I decided on breakfast for dinner.
Charlie came in around half an hour later. "Izzy?" he called.
"In the kitchen!" I called back, putting the finishing touches on our meal.
He came in after hanging his jacket and gun holster on the coat rack. "What's the occasion?" He asked when he saw the stack of pancakes.
"It's 'Beggars can't be choosers' night," I said lightly. "I'm in charge of grocery shopping from now on. This is not a negotiation, it is a notification."
"Sure thing," Charlie shrugged. "You don't mind cooking every night, though?" he checked.
"Dad, I love cooking. I might even go to culinary school to end up a chef, though that might take the fun out of it. I'm still debating," I told him. I laid two plates with pancakes and scrambled eggs on the table.
We sat down to eat, though I was the only one to say a quick prayer before I picked up the utensils. I went with a simple "Itadakimasu," rather than a formal Christian grace or some other prayer. Acknowledging all that had been sacrificed and the work needed to make the meal appealed to me more than a token thanks to a Higher Power. My relationship with the divine was complicated, and I really didn't plan to get into it here and now.
"So, how was your first day?" Charlie asked after he'd made sure his butter-to-syrup ratio on his stack of pancakes was within acceptable parameters.
"Not too bad," I shrugged. "I officially like Eric Yorkie as a friend, and want nothing to do with a girl named Jessica. I met the Cullens at lunch. Edward and Rosalie have problems with me, Alice seems to really like me though. I got less of a read on Emmett and Jasper."
"Must be Jessica Stanley. How come you don't like her?" Charlie asked.
"She asked if being non-binary was a mental illness, and then she said something very homophobic. That officially was enough to make me not want to get to know her better," I replied honestly.
Charlie winced. "I warned you, Izzy."
"You did. And I'm not going to hide in the closet just for the sake of making a few more 'friends' than I would make being myself," I said resolutely. "How was your day?"
"Quiet, like usual," Charlie shrugged.
We focused on eating, and then Charlie grabbed a beer and went to watch TV. He left his dishes on the table, either leaving them for later or expecting me to do them. I washed them in the sink for tonight, but we'd have to have a talk about division of household chores soon.
I went up to my room and got comfy before starting to read 'The Da Vinci Code'. I was really getting into it when I distinctly heard a pebble hit my window. I blinked, and went to investigate.
Alice Cullen, her eyes now the same honey-gold her parents' eyes had been, was standing in my backyard. She waved up at me, then pantomimed lifting the window.
Deciding to just roll with it, I unlocked the window and, by dint of much elbow grease, got it to a fully open position. The chill of the Olympic Peninsula in January after sunset spilled into the room. I went to wrap Grandma Helen's quilt around myself, and by the time I turned Alice was in my room. Vampires like her were as swift as they were silent, at least to human ears.
"Hi, Izzy. I hope I'm not intruding," Alice grinned.
"No, I'm just wondering why you wanted to be alone with me," I said honestly, sitting on my bed facing her.
"Well, we all have tons of questions for you, and I'm sure you have some for us. I volunteered to be my family's representative." She got a sneaky grin. "Also, I wanted a chance to have some visions I didn't want Edward sticking his nose into."
"Ah. I see, I think," I shrugged. "So, what do you want to know?"
"Everything!" Alice said brightly, settling on the other side of the bed.
"Alice, I could talk until this body died of natural causes and not cover a tenth of what's gone on in my lifetimes. You'll have to be more specific," I chuckled.
"Okay. Who were you in your last life?" Alice asked.
"Beth-Anne Sage nee Florian," I recalled. "Born 1907, died 1983. I married a stockbroker named Gary in the Roaring 20's, and he enlisted to keep a steady paycheck after the Depression hit. He and our oldest son both survived World War 2, but Peter died in Korea. Our other son got into factory work and died in a car crash in his 30s, still unmarried. Our two daughters both married for love, one into money and the other to a Polish Jew who immigrated here with his family. I was a stay at home mom for the most part, never had a formal job. Though I practically ran a daycare, I was the go-to babysitter for whatever base we ended up living on where Gary was stationed. I just went to sleep one night and woke up in this body in the maternity ward. Guess I had a heart attack or stroke in the night or something."
"And that was just the most recent life before this one?" Alice asked.
"Yep. I've had hundreds over the millennia, possibly over a thousand. I lost count a long time ago," I shrugged.
"Is there any rhyme or reason to where or when you wake up in a new body?" Alice asked eagerly.
"As to where, it's completely random. I've lived on every continent besides Antarctica. I was a bit surprised to be American two lives in a row," I answered. "As to when, it's always after my last body died, but never longer than a decade. The closest it's ever been to my knowledge was when I died in March of 1605 and was born in November that same year."
"What have you done, over all those years and lives? I know you said you never made history, but what have you done?" Alice pressed.
"Well, I always have more options when I was born a man, that's been consistent," I shrugged. "And for, like, 90% of them I was either a hunter or gatherer. But I've been a soldier, a scientist, a politician, a seamstress, a midwife, a nun, almost every choice there is, really. I figured I can't know whether I like it until I've spent at least one life doing it."
"What's your favorite thing to do?" Alice wondered.
"They're all hobbies, really. Cooking, reading, writing, exploring nature. When it comes to work, I just try to do my best at whatever opportunities are presented to me. I have more options than I've ever had as a woman, living in America in the modern era. I'm spoiled for choice, really," I shrugged.
"If you had unlimited funds, what would you do with your life?" Alice asked, her eyes having a curious light to them. Like she knew something I didn't.
"Try to read every book ever written. Or at least make a dent," I chuckled. "But I'm not sure I'm cut out for a life of never working, idle hands do the devil's work after all. I'd probably open a bakery or restaurant just to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Can I ask my questions now?"
"Sure!" Alice agreed readily.
"What kind of visions did you want to hide from Edward?" I asked.
"Well, ones involving you, actually," Alice said with a giggle.
"Why would you want to hide visions about me from Ed… ward…" My voice trailed off as I was hit with a blinding flash of the obvious. "Alice, do you want to set me up with your brother?" I demanded.
"Don't you see? You two would be perfect together!" Alice said excitedly.
"You barely know me, what makes you think we'd get along at all, let alone fall in love?" I asked her.
"Your gift! He can't read your mind. You're the one person who can surprise him, who can keep secrets from him. He won't be able to resist, and I'm sure you're a charming individual in your own right. Oh, please let me do your wedding!" Alice begged.
"Slow down, Alice. Slow WAY down," I told her. "All I know about Edward is he wants to eat me the most out of every human he's ever smelled. You're a few months of dating away from me even remotely deciding I'm going to commit to the rest of my life with him."
"Just give him a chance, please!" Alice begged. "I can't see everything, neither of you have chosen to walk that path yet. But I can see you with the rest of us since you agreed to be our friend, and you fit in so well! I just KNOW you're meant to be Edward's mate, complete our family."
"Does he get a say in this?" I asked dryly.
"Of course. And I'll work on him as subtly as I can, given he can read my every thought if he's determined. But would it be too much an imposition to ask that you stay single until he gets up the nerve to ask you out?" Alice asked with big puppy-dog eyes.
"Um, kinda. I'm not going to put my whole life on pause just because you want me to end up with Edward, Alice. At the very least, I'm having a lunch date with Eric Yorkie tomorrow," I told her.
She pouted, before perking up. "Actually, this could be a good thing. He's never been jealous before, seeing you with another man or even a woman could be the nudge he needs to ask you out!"
"Alice, have you stopped to consider how hard this will be on him? He can barely be in the same room as me without the urge to kill me. Imagine us kissing," I pointed out.
"His control has always been some of the best, up there with Carlisle and Rosalie," Alice said confidently. "Give him time to get desensitized and he'll adapt, I'm positive."
"Is there any way I can help him get used to my smell, either way? I'd rather not die of exsanguination in this life," I asked.
"Are you particularly attached to anything you're wearing? Something you've worn all day will be soaked with your scent," Alice told me.
Like hell was I giving a teenage boy I barely knew, vampire or otherwise, my underwear. And these were some of my best clothes I was wearing. I had a brainwave and pulled off my socks. "Here, will these work?" I checked.
"Definitely!" Alice nodded with a grin.
I handed her my socks and got under the covers to protect my suddenly bare feet from the winter chill. "So, can I get a cheat sheet on each of you? Like, who you were before you were turned? How's that even work, actually?"
"We call it our venom," Alice replied right away. "We have no idea where it comes from, or if it even evolved on Earth originally. It seems to be a symbiote. It spreads within a human host and enhances every cell to superhuman levels. We actually mutate, we have two extra chromosome pairs compared to ordinary humans. In exchange for making us the world's most dangerous predator, it demands payment in blood. It rejects plain water, and Carlisle experimented and couldn't isolate what part of blood itself appeals to it. All we know is that blood seems to fuel the venom, keep these superhuman bodies going. Animal blood keeps us strong as human blood, but we're never fully satisfied. It's like a human living only on tofu. Anyway, every feeding on a human is either lethal or ends with them being turned by the drinker's venom."
"Can animals be turned?" I wondered.
"Yes, but it's forbidden by the Volturi, for the same reason it's illegal to turn a prepubescent. We may be immortal and have enhanced intelligence, but we're frozen at our level of emotional development when we're turned. Animals would just ferally attack every human, and the immortal children were known to take out whole villages in a tantrum before the Volturi cracked down and hunted them all down," Alice said solemnly.
"Good to know," I nodded. "So, what about each of you? What're your stories?"
"Carlisle was born in 1640 and turned at age 23," Alice recalled. "His father was an Anglican priest, and led hunts for witches and vampires and other monsters. One night, they managed to hunt an actual vampire. He attacked Carlisle but fled before he could finish the job. Carlisle hid in a cellar and tried to stay quiet for the 3 days it took the venom to spread. You should know, it's the single most painful experience that we're aware of. I think a big part of his self-control comes from his mental toughness in not screaming in pain and alerting people to his presence."
"What did he do once he woke up as a vampire?" I asked.
"When he realized he was the same thing that he'd hunted, a blood-sucking monster, he attempted suicide. Multiple times, each of them failing. When he gave up on that, he went into the woods and tried to starve himself. One day a deer came across his path and he attacked in blind hunger. When he felt strength come back to him, he realized there was a way besides feeding on humans," Alice told me. "He's stuck to animals ever since, he's never even tasted human blood. He swam the Channel to the continent and lived among humans at night. He ended up living with the Volturi for a few decades, actually. He settled on medicine as a career path and learned how to heal, refining his control until there was no danger to his patients. He made for the New World and lived pretty much how we live now, staying in one place until the illusion couldn't be believed any more."
"In 1918, he was getting lonely. He'd yet to find a companion who shared his lifestyle choice, and he was debating making his own. He was treating Edward and his mother during the Spanish Influenza pandemic. Edward's mother begged Carlisle to save her son, and when she died he made his choice. He snuck Edward out of the hospital and turned him. In 1921, Esme attempted suicide by jumping off a cliff when her baby died. They wheeled her straight to the morgue, but Carlisle could detect her heartbeat. He snuck her out and turned her, and they've been very happy together ever since. Rosalie was a socialite whose fiance and his friends gang-raped her one night. Carlisle found her by smelling the blood and turned her. She's never quite forgiven him for that. She found Emmett being mauled by a bear and carried him all the way to Carlisle for him to turn him in 1935," Alice explained to me.
"What about you and Jasper?" I asked, noting she hadn't mentioned either of them.
"I'm a bit of a mystery, actually. I woke up in 1920 alone in the woods, with no memory of who I was other than my own name. I would have gone feral if not for my visions. I saw myself meeting Jasper and our life with the Cullens. I waited until Jasper was ready to meet me, let him find me in 1948, and we went for the Cullens after a brief honeymoon period where we could be alone together as mates, just the two of us," Alice said with a nostalgic grin. "Jasper is a war veteran, in both lives. He was turned during the Civil War by a vampire named Maria, and he quickly became her lieutenant in the Newborn Wars of the South."
"Vampires have wars?" I asked in shock.
"They're rare, and the 19th century here in the United States was the bloodiest time in our history. A vampire named Benito, in 1820, had the bright idea to create an army of newborns and kill off every other vampire in his territory, freeing him up to hunt as much as he pleased and the deaths be explained away by the usual murder rate. It grew out of control, and the Volturi came to wipe him and his army out, but the idea remained. Maria was one of maybe a dozen coven leaders vying for territory in the Southern states and Mexico. Jasper was a fierce fighter, and his gift made him ideal for pacifying and keeping the newborns under control. He finally ran away with a mated pair named Peter and Charlotte. But he was still unhappy; he feels the emotions of each human he kills, you see, so just keeping fed is a traumatic experience for him. He went off on his own, and we met in a diner in Philadelphia," Alice revealed to me.
"So, Carlisle was a loner for 255 years, then got Edward, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett within 20 years of each other. Then you two joined the family sometime after 1948. And that's it?" I checked.
"Yeah, just the 7 of us for the last half-century. We have our 5 cousins up in Alaska, though. Tanya, Kate, and Irina are three sisters from Russia who developed 'consciences' on their own and abstain from human blood. They actually are the origins of the succubus myth, they had the habit of 'playing' with their food before eating him. Now they just do it for fun," Alice chuckled. "Eleazar was a member of the Volturi, but his mate Carmen convinced him to leave. They ran into the three sisters and have been vegetarians ever since."
"So that's 12 vegetarian vampires out of… how many in the world?" I asked.
"There's nothing like an official census. And we're solitary creatures by nature, we rarely group together outside our mateships. After the Volturi, Carlisle's family is actually the largest coven in the world we know of. I'd hazard a guess that there's less than a thousand of us total in the world, though," Alice said after a moment of thought.
"And how often do you hunt, and how many humans does it take to feel 'full'?" I asked, morbidly curious to learn more about the species designed to prey on my own.
"It's a matter of preference. Even with our enhanced bodies, hunting is exercise, ergo a chore. Edward actually had a brief period where he went off on his own and tried the traditional diet. He hunted criminals, rapists and murderers and such, until his conscience got to him and he tracked down Carlisle and begged him to take him back. He would feed once a week, usually just one man or the occasional woman at a time," Alice told me.
I processed that. "Well, even when he was a 'carnivore', he tried to go for those who had earned the death penalty. And he's back on the wagon now, so I guess I don't really care."
"That puts you ahead of him," Alice said with a frown. "He holds his 'rebellion' against himself like you wouldn't believe. I never knew him before, but Carlisle says he's never been the same. He thinks he's a monster damned to go to Hell if and when he dies."
I blinked. "Um, wow. Is there such a thing as a vampire therapist? He needs to talk that shit out with someone."
"Maybe you can be that someone, Izzy," Alice suggested with a grin.
I sighed. "Fine. If I have no other interaction with your family, I'll do my best to make Edward a smidge less depressed."
"Yay!" Alice grinned. "Hey, are you free this weekend?"
"I had no immediate plans, no," I shrugged. "Why?"
"Would you like to go shopping?" Alice grinned.
"Um, sure," I nodded. "My wardrobe is pretty light, I didn't have much suited for Washington state. When do you want to leave and where should we go?"
"First thing Saturday morning, I promise we'll be back by your curfew! We'll go to Seattle, that's the closest place with anything decent," she said excitedly.
I felt a pang of unease at the sheer exuberance on Alice's face. "Okay… should I be worried? And my budget is a grand total of $200, just so you know."
"It's all on me. We're made of money, I've been playing the stock market for decades. Let me cover everything," Alice told me with a dismissive wave.
"Sure," I said hesitantly. What had I gotten myself into here, shopping spree with a vampire?
Alice waved my dirty socks. "Well, I'll get these to Edward while they're fresh. I'll pick you up Saturday! Bye, Izzy!" Alice dove out the open window as casually as you please. I got up to close it, and she had already vanished out of sight.
Well, that had been mildly more exciting than an evening of reading like I'd planned.
I managed to fall asleep after taking a hot shower. My dreams were blurry and unclear, but I'm positive the glimmering form of a vampire in the sun featured in at least one. I got up to my alarm and turned it off with a bit more force than necessary. I dressed in a t-shirt and black jeans, deciding to be casual for the day. I went down and had cereal with milk and coffee. I exchanged nods with Charlie, grabbed a pile of crumpled bills from a jar labeled 'food money' and went to my truck.
I pulled into the school lot, and Alice was waiting by her car. "Izzy!" she greeted me as soon as I got out of my truck. "Would you mind if Esme and Rosalie joined us on our shopping trip? Make it a real girl's day?"
I shrugged. "Sure. But are you sure Rosalie wants to come on any outing with me in attendance? I got the sense she hates my guts after I said I didn't care either way whether I died or was turned."
"Rose doesn't hate you. It would be more accurate to say she envies you," Alice said, her face turning serious. "You're human, which she wishes she was. Given the choice to go back and change things, she'd either have died that night before Carlisle found her or gone on to live and die an ordinary human life."
"But she can't. If she's not going to launch herself into a bonfire and end it, then she might as well grow up and make her peace with her lot in life and appreciate what she has," I said, maybe a tad harshly but I had zero patience for people who dwelled and stewed on 'what could have been'. The past was past, the present and future were much better foci of your time and energy.
"How'd you know fire can kill us?" Alice asked, tilting her head.
"Oh, in one of my lives, I was the wife of the first Quileute shape-shifter. You know about the spirit wolves, right?" I checked.
"Carlisle and the others met the pack when they lived in Hoquiam in 1936. We think they've died out, though, we haven't run into any since we moved back here," Alice explained.
"Spirit wolves don't 'die out', they just either activate or they don't," I shook my head. "If you moved back here in 2003, I'd bet everything I own that there's at least one spirit wolf on La Push."
Alice frowned. "Oh, I see. I'll have to tell Carlisle. It's odd, though, I haven't seen us making contact with the pack… actually, now that I'm focusing, I can't see them at all. It's not that they're not there, I just can't see them." She sounded rather disturbed by this revelation.
"Maybe the spirit wolves are immune to your gift the way I'm immune to Edward's?" I posited.
"If that's true, then what else can't I see?" Alice said, mixed uneasiness and curiosity in her tone.
"What can you see for sure?" I asked her.
"Humans and vampires. And the weather, though that's hardly up to anyone but Mother Nature," Alice replied.
"So you can see humans, which you used to be, and vampires, which you currently are. Maybe every other species is off the list, not just spirit wolves," I mused. "I was a Viking, and I'm 99% sure I was killed by a mermaid. A group of them sang at us, it was hypnotizingly beautiful. When we washed up on shore and went to them, we were attacked and dragged into the water to be drowned."
"I'll have to do some research," Alice said, almost to herself. "Anyway, Saturday, you're good with Esme and Rose coming along?"
"Sure thing, as long as I'm back by curfew," I nodded.
"Definitely. I'm covering everything, I promise. Including meals, I just remembered, you need those more often than we do. See you Saturday morning, bright and early!" Alice leaned in to kiss my cheek and all but danced back to the waiting Jasper, she was so graceful.
I rubbed the cheek she'd kissed, which tingled more than any kiss I'd ever gotten. Her skin had been ice cold, her natural scent had appealed to me more than any perfume or cologne I'd ever smelt, and the pressure against my cheek had sent tines of electricity throughout my body, like I'd been struck by lightning. If that was what a simple kiss on the cheek felt like to a human from a vampire, actual sex could give me a heart attack. What a way to go, though. I thought of Tanya and her sisters, and wondered if any of them were single at the moment. If things didn't work out with Edward, I was now very curious. I was still demisexual, we'd have to fall in love, but if things worked out…
I shook my head to clear it of thoughts of lesbian sex with Russian vampires. I went to Building 3 for my first class of the day, English. I got in, and saw Eric was already there. "Hey, Eric," I grinned as I went to sit in the seat next to him.
"Izzy! Good morning," he grinned back at me.
"You're here early," I noted. The clock said we had 15 minutes until the start of class.
"The newspaper meets every day before school," Eric explained. "Hey, any input on your feature? You're front-page news for the next issue!"
"Were you going to ask for an interview at some point or is it all going to be speculation and hearsay?" I asked, trying to keep my tone playful. I could not care less what was written about me in some high school newspaper, but I would have preferred they ask for my input or permission before just posting it about me.
"Oh, would you be open to one? That would be very helpful, give us a ton of material to work with," Eric said eagerly.
"Sure. We got our lunch date today, and I have to go grocery shopping after school. How about at lunch tomorrow?" I offered.
"Of course!" Eric nodded.
"Hey, Izzy," Mike said, sitting down in the seat in front of Eric. "I see you met my boy Eric."
"You two know each other?" I checked, noting the way Eric's face fell.
"We were close in middle school. Then Mike got on the track team in freshman year and got too cool for me," Eric said, a trace of bitterness and old hurt in his words.
"Water under the bridge, mi amigo! So, what you two talking about?" Mike said, focusing more on me than Eric.
I didn't need to have Edward's gift to know Mike was interested in me and trying to occupy my focus over Eric. Trying to be diplomatic, I answered evenly "We were talking about the newspaper."
"Oh, really? He tell you how he wants to win the Pulitzer?" Mike asked with an eye roll, as if such a thing were ludicrous.
"Really? That's admirable, Eric!" I grinned at the boy I certainly liked more than Mike by this point.
"Thanks, Izzy," Eric grinned at me.
Mike backtracked, seeing I didn't blow Eric off like he thought I would. "Oh, yeah, you can totally do it, buddy. So, Izzy, you into sports?"
"I was on the swim team back in Phoenix. I'm not planning to join any of the teams here, though. I'm too clumsy on land to do anything on offer," I shrugged.
"Oh, I thought you worked out. You look real good," Mike said, with what he must have thought was a charming grin. It came off more as a leer.
I'd long since learned that honesty was the best policy when it came to dealing with people. "Mike, you're making me uncomfortable. If you aren't interested in getting to know me as a friend or reconnecting with Eric, please sit somewhere else," I told him.
He blinked in shock. "You're… you're asking me to move?" he asked.
"If the only reason you sat here was to try and fail at putting the moves on me, then yes. I'm not attracted to you, you haven't made the best impression with your words, and I was in the middle of a talk with Eric before you butted in. If you aren't interested in platonic discourse between us three, then get up and find another seat," I told him firmly.
Mike stared at me in disbelief, before scoffing and getting up to sit at the other side of the room.
"Wow, you shot him down flat," Eric said in awe.
"He was being rude. Why do you seem so surprised?" I asked him.
"Mike's a jock, and one of the most popular guys in school. Girls never turn him down," Eric explained.
"Well, I'm not a proper 'girl', so I guess his record is still clean," I shrugged. "So, interview at lunch tomorrow?"
"You bet!" Eric nodded. "So, what do you think of Wuthering Heights?"
"I think it's a tragic angst-fest that makes 'Romeo and Juliet' seem downright peachy," I chuckled. "Heathcliff is a total possessive stalker, Cathy is a selfish bitch, and Edgar deserved way better. I get it as a parable of warring id and superego with Cathy as the ego torn between the two, but really, it's just sad and pathetic, how it all turned out."
"So, what kind of love stories do you like?" Eric asked curiously.
"I think the 'Parent Trap' remake is a beautiful love story," I said. "And 'Edward Scissorhands' was nice. So definitely more lighthearted stuff, make you laugh and cry in 90 minutes sort of thing. Life imitates art, I believe that, and who doesn't love a happy ending?"
"So you don't like sad love stories?" Eric checked.
"I can tolerate them if things work themselves out in the end, but drama for its own sake bores me to tears. So yes to 'The Notebook' and no to 'West Side Story'," I said. "'Titanic' was okay, I guess, though I still say they both should have been able to balance on that door."
"I'm with you on that one," Eric chuckled.
We talked movies until Mr. Mason called the class to order. Eric walked me to Government again, and I told him I was looking forward to a proper lunch date. I got through Government, Trigonometry, and Spanish classes before heading to the cafeteria. I paid for my food, waved politely at the Cullens, and found Eric seated at the table he'd been at yesterday. "Hey, Eric," I grinned as I sat down.
"Hey, Izzy!" he beamed.
"So, what would you like to talk about on our second take at a first date?" I posed, taking a bite of my apple.
"What movies are you looking forward to?" Eric asked.
"I don't really want to see the new 'Phantom of the Opera', but I might buy the soundtrack to give it a listen," I mused. "'Constantine' seems interesting, though I'm not really into comic books or graphic novels or whatever you call them. I liked 'The Mask' so I might go see 'Son of the Mask', though maybe I'll just wait for it to come out on DVD and rent it instead. And I don't care if I have to sell a kidney or camp out, I'm watching the midnight premiere of 'Goblet of Fire' whenever it comes out."
"Oh, you're into Harry Potter?" Eric asked excitedly.
"I'm a total Slytherclaw. That is, a Slytherin smart enough not to get sorted into Slytherin and out myself as a cunning bitch, and ended up in Ravenclaw instead," I chuckled.
"I've read all the books. I've got 'Half-Blood Prince' preordered," Eric said with a big grin.
"I'm really eager to see what Rowling does with their sixth year," I grinned. "There's the question of who'll be DADA teacher, of course. But Voldemort was seen by Fudge and the Aurors at the end of 'Order of the Phoenix'. While that's good in that the Ministry is on guard now, that also means the Death Eaters don't have to try and be subtle anymore. It could be a state of open warfare when the book starts, and you have to wonder how much the Muggle world is going to notice. Then there's how Harry processes Sirius' death and the prophecy, the fact he's basically destined to kill Voldemort or die trying…"
We happily nerded out about Harry Potter for the rest of lunch. When the bell rang in the middle of us describing what our respective Patronuses would be, I grinned. "I really liked our lunch date, Eric. In fact, I'd be up for a proper dinner date. Want to hit the diner Friday night?"
"Really?" Eric asked, like he couldn't believe his luck.
"Going once, going twice," I said jokingly.
"Sold! I'll pick you up at 6:00!" Eric said brightly.
"Should I be concerned that you know my address already?" I chuckled.
"It's a small town, everyone knows where the Chief lives," Eric blushed.
"Fair enough. Looking forward to dinner, Eric. And we still have the interview tomorrow," I told him before getting my backpack and going for Biology.
Edward was seated at the seat next to mine when I arrived. I sat next to him. "Are you good? Should I move further away?" I asked under my breath.
Faster than I could see, he'd torn out a page from his notebook and slid it to me. 'I won't be breathing for the duration of class. Alice will stop by your house after school to collect another piece of clothing. When I'm reasonably confident your scent won't make me lunge, we can speak during class. Otherwise, I will be keeping silent.' It was all written in beautiful calligraphy. I wondered if that was a vampire thing or an Edward thing.
I nodded and focused on the class, ignoring the fact I was right next to the vampire for whom my blood 'sang' as Carlisle put it. When the bell rang, Edward got up and left as fast as a human could get away with. I got up and went to the gym. I got dressed at my locker and filed into the gym. I was assigned to a team and did my best, given my terrible clumsiness and atrocious aim. My team learned just to not pass the ball to me.
I got back into my clothes and went to my truck. I pulled out of the lot and drove to the Thriftway. I went through the list I'd made that morning, keeping the receipt in case Charlie wanted a record of how much I'd spent. I drove home and put everything away. I put two steaks in a marinade and prepared two potatoes for baking. Once the food prep was out of the way, I did my homework at the kitchen table. When I was done, I carried my bookbag upstairs. Wanting to get in touch with Renee, I turned on my computer for the first time. I found I already had 3 emails, the last of which warned me that Renee would be calling Charlie if I hadn't made contact by 5:30.
I rolled my eyes. Classic impatient Renee. 'Mom, calm down. I'm writing right now. Don't do anything rash. Izzy.' I sent that and got started on a real email. 'Mom, I'm good. Of course it's raining. I haven't sent an email because I was waiting for something worth writing about. Your blouse is at the dry cleaners, you were supposed to get it Friday. School is pretty basic, the curriculum is laughable. The kids aren't too bad, though some have already shown they're not worthy of my attention. I actually have a 'date' date with a nice boy named Eric, and I think I've made friends with a group of foster kids called the Cullens. I'm going shopping on Saturday with Alice, Rosalie, and their mom Esme. Charlie bought me a truck from his friend Billy Black, and it's adorable in an old, rusty way. I'll email you soon, but I'm not going to update you every 5 minutes on my life. Relax, focus on Phil. Love you, Izzy.'
I sent that and read 'The Da Vinci Code' until I heard Charlie get home. Oops, hadn't meant to read that long. I hurried to the kitchen and got the process started on dinner.
"Izzy?" Charlie called as he opened the door.
"Dinner will be in 20!" I called back.
"No hurry," he told me before going to the living room and turning on the TV.
When the steak, potatoes, and steamed broccoli were all done, I plated everything and called Charlie in. I said my 'Itadakimasu' under my breath and started to cut everything.
"What's that thing you say? It sounds Asian," Charlie asked curiously.
"It's a Japanese prayer, 'Itadakimasu'. Basically, I'm thanking all the animals and plants who gave their lives to become ingredients, the farmer who harvested them, the driver who took them to the supermarket, the worker who put them on the shelves, and myself for cooking everything," I explained. "It's just something I do, you don't have to do anything unless you want to."
"Gotcha," Charlie nodded.
"So, we need to talk about chores. I'm happy to do my own laundry. I'll keep the house vacuumed and tidy. I'm fine with cooking almost every night. But Renee and I had the deal that 'cook never cleans', so please wash the dishes on the nights I cook," I told him.
"Sounds reasonable," he agreed easily.
"Oh, and you're on your own for Friday and Saturday nights. Friday I have a date, and I have an all-day shopping trip planned on Saturday… Dad?" I asked, noting he'd turned an alarming shade of red.
Charlie took a big swallow with a gulp of water. "You're dating already?" he asked levelly.
"Um, yeah? Did you expect me to wait a certain amount of time before I started?" I asked him, just as confused as he seemed to be.
"You're a bit young to be dating, aren't you?" he said sternly.
I raised a brow. "Dad, are you serious? I'm 17. In other parts of the world, I'd already be married and maybe even have a kid by now."
"Who asked you out?" Charlie asked, dodging the point.
"Eric asked me on a lunch date yesterday. I'm the one who asked him out for Friday night, though," I reported.
"Where are you two going?" he asked.
"Just the diner. And if you follow us there, I'm officially not talking to you for a month. Dad, I'm not a little kid. If the date ends up blowing up in my face, I'll call you and you can come pick me up. Otherwise, I just want to have a meal with a nice boy and see if we have any chemistry," I argued reasonably.
"Alright, Izzy," Charlie sighed after a few more bites. "Guess this was going to happen at some point. I just… I missed so much of your life growing up. I guess I figured I'd get a little more time with you all to myself before I had to start sharing you with a boyfriend… or girlfriend," he tacked on, with a big blush.
"It's just a first date, Dad. You're not going to be giving me away any time soon," I assured him.
We finished the meal, Charlie did the dishes as we worked out. I left him to drink beer and watch TV while I went up to my room. I heaved my window open in anticipation of Alice, changed into pajamas and got all snuggly under the comforter of my bed and my grandmother's quilt.
There was a blur of motion and then Alice was standing by the window. "Hi, Izzy!" she grinned.
I picked up my t-shirt and held it out. "Here you go. I want this back, by the way."
"We'll wash everything and have it back to you on Sunday," Alice promised, tucking the t-shirt into a purse the size of her head.
"So, what have you been up to since this morning?" I asked.
"I talked with Carlisle about any other species he's heard of or run into in the last 300+ years," Alice said, sitting on the end of my bed. "He mentioned Children of the Moon, which is what the werewolf legends are based off of. And he's heard whispers from other vampires of the Fae Folk, but they seemed to have vanished from the world. I looked as hard as I could for either, and I saw nothing. But it wasn't a blank emptiness, like they were extinct. It was more like just staring at something I was blind to. So I'm going with your theory, I can't see other species since I've never been them. I can only see humans and vampires."
"Huh. Well, good to know. I wonder if drinking the blood of another species would unlock them to your vision or if that's just silly," I thought out loud.
"I'd be open to trying, but good luck finding a willing donor from another species who'd be open to giving me a few drops," Alice giggled in a sound like silver wind chimes.
"So, I'm pretty sure Charlie gave the okay for the shopping trip on Saturday. I'll check tomorrow night, he seemed to get hung up on my date with Eric," I rolled my eyes.
"Spoiler alert, yes or no?" Alice asked me, her expression somber.
I sighed. "Alice, I appreciate the offer. But I've learned over the years that the journey is as important as the destination. I'd rather have mystery and find out the answer for myself than get a shortcut from you. Besides, I can't take anything you say seriously, you want me to be single for Edward."
"True, but I wouldn't lie to you about where your future's headed," Alice told me.
"Alice, again, thanks but no thanks," I told her. "Now, could you go? It's cold as balls outside."
She chuckled. "Sure. See you tomorrow." She vanished out the window. I got up to close it and went back to reading until it was late enough for me to go to sleep.
I checked with Charlie over breakfast about the Saturday shopping trip. He was hesitant, but the fact a parent would be present and my promise to be back by curfew finally won him around. I drove to school and sat down next to Eric in English. "Hey, Eric," I grinned.
"Izzy! I brainstormed titles for your headline all night. Tell me what you think," he said, offering me a rather long list. He'd really given this a lot of thought.
I gave them a quick read. "I like 'Non-binary, Not Non-human,' best," I told him. "I'm guessing that's what you're going to focus on for the interview?"
"Well, Izzy, it's kind of the most interesting thing about you, at least that I know of," Eric blushed.
"Oh, you'd be surprised. But that's for me to know and you to find out," I grinned at him.
"Oh, come on, give me a hint," Eric teased.
"Nope, my lips are sealed," I told him.
"Could I unlock them with a kiss?" he asked, somewhat dashingly.
I stopped smiling. "Okay, serious talk time. I'm very slow to warm up when it comes to physical intimacy, Eric. I'm talking 'saving myself for marriage' slow. It could be months before we even reach first base. If that's going to scare you off, I'd rather it scare you off now."
Eric frowned. "You're serious? You're not going to give it up until your wedding night?"
"I had to do a lot of soul-searching when I came out as non-binary, Eric. And I'm pretty sure I'm demisexual. I don't even get turned on unless I have an emotional connection with the person in question. So I decided that casual sex just isn't in the cards for me. And if I'm not going to hook up or fool around, then I might as well save it for my future husband or wife. If you have a problem with that, then that's fine. Just let me know whether we're wasting our time and whether we can save some money by not going out on Friday night," I said plainly.
Eric pursed his lips. "I like you, Izzy. And I want to date. But I want to have normal teenage experiences too. I want to lose it half-drunk on Prom night. I want to live with a girl. I want to do a lot before I settle down and get married. If you're saying the only way to be with you is a big white wedding… I'm not sure I'm ready to invest in all that."
"That's fair," I nodded. "So, want to cancel Friday night?"
Eric frowned. "... Let's give it one real try. One date, just to see how we click outside school. If I feel like you're worth the long haul, then we'll give it a try. If not, maybe we're better off as friends."
"That's very mature, Eric, and I agree. One date, just to see if we have a real connection. But if you don't see me as wife material, then I'd rather we not take up too much of the other's time dating when it's doomed to fail," I said seriously.
"Alright then," Eric nodded.
We talked about the newspaper article until class started, and he escorted me to Government like usual. I got through Government, Trigonometry, and Spanish before getting lunch from the cafeteria. I sat next to Eric and grinned. "Ready and willing for the interview."
"Izzy, what made you decide to come to Forks?" Eric asked, pulling out a notebook with a list of questions.
"My mom got remarried, and her new husband travels a lot for work. She stayed with me, but I saw she was unhappy. So I volunteered to move back in with my Dad," I answered readily.
"What's your most and least favorite thing about Forks so far?" Eric asked, filling in my answer beneath the first question.
"I love how close you guys are to the ocean. I was on the swim team in Phoenix, and I'm eager to get out to the beach to start swimming in the surf… though I might get hypothermia. Which leads us to my least favorite thing: the cold. Granted, I got here in January and this is probably as bad as it's going to get. But I was raised in an environment where 60 degrees counted as 'cool', so the Olympic Peninsula is a major adjustment," I told him.
"You identify as non-binary. When and how did you come to this conclusion?" Eric asked, his pen writing furiously as he left bullet points of the key details of my answer.
"I was just on Wikipedia and stumbled across the non-binary page. And then it was like finding religion. It described what I was going through perfectly. For the record, the technical term for the gender I identify as is 'androgyne'. I'm a mix of masculine and feminine, but I don't identify as either a boy or a girl," I answered.
He checked he had spelled 'androgyne' right and moved on. "Given you don't identify as male or female, how would you describe your sexuality?"
"I'm a panromantic demisexual," I replied. "I can fall in love with men, women, trans people, other non-binary people, and probably any sapient being. If and when we make contact with another intelligent species, I'd be first in line to give dating them a shot. But I don't feel sexual attraction to someone unless I develop an emotional connection with them first. I've watched porn online, and it was just moving bodies on a screen to me. But my last boyfriend in Phoenix could get my heart pounding and my panties wet with just a smile."
Eric blushed and coughed but continued with his list of questions. "What are your plans after high school?"
"Go to college, though I'm still deciding what for," I revealed. "I'll do core classes for a couple semesters while I figure out exactly what I want to major in. I hear a good hack is to do all your gen-ed requirements at a community college and then transfer the credits to a 4-year university. So maybe I'll go to Peninsula College for a year or two doing all the boring classes before I go to whatever big school will accept my application."
"What's your dream school?" Eric asked.
"Columbia in New York," I admitted. "I would love to live in Manhattan, even just for a couple years for school. And I like to think I'm smart enough to survive the Ivy League. But if all else fails, I can go to an in-state school to make it easier for my parents when it comes to tuition."
"I'm sure you can get in if you try, Izzy," Eric said with an encouraging grin. He glanced at the clock on the wall. "One last question. What do you do for fun?"
"Read while munching on something I cooked or baked," I chuckled.
I scoffed down my food in time for the bell and went to Biology. I acknowledged Edward with a "Hello," and left him to endure the class without taking a breath. He got up to leave, and I went to Gym.
In the locker room afterwards, a girl who I hadn't said two words turned to me and asked "Is it true you turned down Mike Newton for Eric Yorkie?"
I turned to her. "Hello, first of all. Second, I wouldn't say I turned Mike down, I just asked him to leave me alone. I am going out with Eric tomorrow night, though I don't see how that's any of your business."
"Gotcha," the girl nodded before walking off.
I went to my truck, waving at the Cullens as I passed. I went home, got my homework out of the way, and made chicken quesadillas for dinner. I laid my folded pants on the windowsill, and they vanished at some point while I was reading. I shut the window and then got all snuggly under the covers.
I had breakfast, wished Charlie a good day, and drove to school. I sat next to Eric in English, noting that kids were staring for some reason. I sat next to him at lunch as well. "Okay, are people looking at you like you're a goldfish in a tank all morning too?" I asked him.
"You should hear some of the rumors going around," Eric rolled his eyes. "Everything from I punched out Mike for groping you to us eloping at Vegas this weekend."
"Where do these kids come up with this crap?" I said in disbelief.
"This is a boring town, Izzy. When something happens, making up crazy rumors about it is an art form for some girls and a couple guys too. Drama for its own sake, as you put it two days ago," Eric explained.
"I'm honestly trying to imagine what life must be like when your world is that small," I shook my head. "Anyway, you're picking me up at 6:00? We can go dutch, I think it's silly for one of us to pay for the other when it's a first date and we're both still in high school."
"Oh, cool. Yeah, definitely," Eric nodded.
I sat next to Edward in Biology, and he at least graced me with a small smile even though he kept silent. I endured Gym, and rushed home to get all my homework out of the way. At 5:30, I went to shower and get all gussied up. I was just patting some raspberry lip gloss on my lips when I heard the doorbell ring. I slipped on my sensible heels and carefully walked down the staircase. I opened the door, and Eric was waiting with an umbrella up against the evening rain. "Hi, Izzy," he grinned.
"Hey, Eric," I grinned.
"You look incredible," he blushed.
"You're not so bad yourself," I complimented. He was in a nice button-up, tucked into khakis with a good leather belt. I went with him to his car, him opening the door for me like a gentleman. We drove to the diner, keeping up an easy conversation about Harry Potter on the drive. We were seated by the hostess, and I glanced at the menu. "I'm thinking of getting the garden burger. How about you?"
"I always get the shrimp basket. I don't know what it is, I just love shrimp," Eric chuckled.
We put in our order, and I cast my mind for a nice first date topic. "What's the last book you read for fun?" I asked.
"I'm working on 'Eragon' for the third time, I've got 'Eldest' pre-ordered too," Eric answered. "How about you?"
"I'm in the middle of 'The Da Vinci Code'," I told him.
"Oh, I've heard of that, but my mom wouldn't let me buy it. She thinks it's x-rated or something," Eric said while wrinkling his nose.
"There's graphic mentions of sex, but it's not erotica. Though if you're a devout Christian, you might find the subject matter scandalous. It's all about this secret society that believes that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and she was pregnant at the time of the crucifixion. The whole plot centers around a treasure hunt for a map that leads to the 'Holy Grail', which rather than being the cup used at the Last Supper is taken to be the 'cup' that carried Jesus' bloodline, Mary Magdalene's sarcophagus," I told him.
"No shit? No wonder the Vatican banned it!" Eric said with wide eyes.
"I read Dan Brown's other works, he has a habit of exaggerating innocuous facts and stringing them together into conspiracy theories. Even if he's right and the Catholic Church has been covering up the fact Jesus had kids for the past 2000 years… so what? Does the fact he had a wife, something expected of every Jewish man at the time, make his message or his miracles any less significant? And if he got Mary Magdalene or any other woman pregnant, wouldn't that bloodline be sacred? The Grandchildren of God?" I argued logically.
"Well, yeah. But the whole idea of Jesus Christ is kind of put on a pedestal. He was God in human form, if I got my Sunday School classes right. Him having a wife and kids humanizes him, which kind of goes against the whole point," Eric shrugged.
We discussed the books we were reading until the food arrived. I noted Eric had good table manners. I reached out and took his hand where it was resting on the table. "I'm having fun, Eric," I grinned.
"Me too, Izzy," he grinned.
I asked him why he got into the paper, and he explained his passion for journalism. He was a true member of the Fourth Estate, and I had hopes he'd find success in his field. I told him how my favorite thing was cooking but I wasn't sure I wanted to do it for a job. I discussed my half-formed plans to check out computers, either on the hardware or software front. That started its own conversation, turns out Eric was a serious PC gamer and had taught himself some of the basics of computer engineering and HTML. I listened in fascination, until the waitress came back to remind us we'd paid 20 minutes ago.
We got into Eric's car, and he drove me back to my house. As he put the car in park, he turned to me. "Izzy… this was fun. But it felt like two friends hanging out. Did it feel any different than that to you?"
"No, you're right," I sighed. "I'm sorry, there's just no… spark. I definitely want you in my life, Eric. But I don't think I'm meant to be your significant other."
"Okay. That's the whole point of first dates, seeing if there's any chemistry." He held out his hand. "Friends?"
"Friends," I nodded, giving him a firm shake. "I'll see you Monday?"
"Definitely," he grinned.
I nodded and got out. I rushed to the door, waved him goodbye as he drove away, and let myself in with my key.
"How'd it go?" Charlie asked. He didn't even try to pretend he hadn't been waiting for me, a pizza box and a couple beer cans were on the kitchen table where he was sitting.
"Good food, good conversation, but no chemistry. We're going to just be friends," I told my concerned father.
"Ah well. Was he a gentleman?" he checked.
"Perfectly polite," I assured him.
I washed my makeup off, and got dressed for bed. I set my alarm, remembering Alice's warning to be ready bright and early, and nodded off to the sound of rain on the roof.