This was the time of day when I wished I were able to sleep.

Open house. Move in day. Day zero of college.

Or was purgatory the right word? If there was any way to atone for my sins, this ought to count toward the tally in some measure. The tedium was not something I grew used to; every day seemed more impossibly monotonous than the last. I had been through the routine of high school to college graduations countless times. It never got easier.

I suppose this was my form of sleep - if sleep was defined as the inert state between active periods.

There was no true reason for my family and I to be here today. We weren't going to be moving ourselves into the tiny, cramped dorms. The idea was absurd, even if this town wasn't as small as it was. The humans loved the sense of freedom and adulthood it granted them, having their own space instead of having to remain in their parents house.

Our absence was not completely unnoticed these few years. There were various rumors they humored about why the Cullens chose not to dive into the full college experience with room and board. Nothing much happened here, so the slightest trivial bit of drama was sure to be overblown to provide entertainment in this otherwise boring space.

No one ever had the courage to ask us directly, of course, but most deduced from the way a few of their parents spoke about our house that it was simply beneath us to leave the comfort of our mansion.

Their thoughts would sometimes shift to what it would be like to share a confined space with one of us. They weren't co-ed dorms, of course, but that didn't stop them from sneaking past the RAs. Most of the students here were terrified of Emmett, and by proxy Rosalie, so that idea wasn't entertained was often the one centered in their thoughts. She didn't make it a point to make friends with them, but her niceties were almost enough to cover the uneasiness her presence made them feel.

It was a particularly cold August morning, my siblings and I appropriately bundled up against the sharp chill of the wind. Not that it mattered. We wouldn't be bothered by it.

Everyone's thoughts were alight with excitement with the new year. Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie were once more in their Junior year, while Alice and I were starting our Sophomore. The two of us enrolled midway through the year as seniors in high school, and today marked the enrollment of the students a year below us as freshman. The nervous aura of their thoughts made it obvious which ones were new. I found it ridiculous, personally, to have so much fear over starting college in a town where pretty much everyone knew everyone. There weren't many secrets to be had here in Forks.

Except for ours, of course.

There were temporary booths set up outside, encouraging students to sign up for various clubs and activities. A few parents had brought snacks as a welcoming treat. Each of us had a plate with food that we would not be consuming. I had already torn the sickly smelling plain donut into shreds. It wouldn't cause too much alarm if we went one time not getting food, or taking a "bathroom" break, or simply not showing up for this pointless circus, but Carlisle and Esme both encouraged all of us to remain as inconspicuous as possible. This meant going through as many motions as possible, no matter how annoying. After so many years of pretending, it came almost instinctively.

I stared at the whirls running through the old wood that made up the small table we were sitting at, imagining patterns and shapes into them that were not there. It was one way to tune out the voices that babbled like the gush of a river inside my head.

Several hundred of these voices I ignored out of boredom. Only four voices did I block out of courtesy rather than distaste: my family, my two brothers and two sisters, who were so used to the lack of privacy in my presence that they rarely gave it a thought. I gave them what privacy I could. I tried not to listen if I could help it.

The super hearing our kind had was already difficult enough to handle in crowds. Let alone hearing thoughts, or in Jasper's case, sensing emotions. It became just as overwhelming for him as it did me, at times.

A few unfortunately familiar voices came in loud and clear.

Jessica Stanley, for example, was chattering incessantly to someone next to her, and I sighed deeply knowing I was going to have to deal with 3 more years of her shallow inner thoughts. I was regrettably no stranger to her mind, to the R-rated fantasies she had that plagued me for the few months I previously shared a school with her. Her misplaced attraction to me left a bad taste in my throat, and I felt grateful for not only the gap in our enrollment, but also in our GPAs that would prevent us from sharing any classes.

Almost everyone remained standing outside despite the cold. It wasn't going to rain today, but eventually they would give way to begin dragging boxes, suitcases, and cheap furniture into their rooms. The professors were also in to allow students to come by and acquaint themselves. It wasn't a large college, and I already had the location of my classes easily memorized. The fanfare was mostly for the freshman.

While we all made an effort to show up for appearances, I knew my siblings were going to leave shortly, having had their quota of appearing normal filled. Rosalie was already ready for the year to be over and didn't want to spend more time here than absolutely necessary. Emmett would follow wherever she went. Jasper, try as he may to be strong, had no reason to struggle longer than absolutely necessary- Alice already saw herself leaving with him.

I decided I would stay behind, mingle silently until the rest of the students grew bored and left. I'd use the opportunity to slip into Carlisle's new room. He had taken up a part time gig as an advanced anatomy professor this year, only having just enough students to fill one class during the day. It would be nice to have a moment for just the two of us, the rest of our family at home. While I loved them all dearly, it was still pleasant to have time alone with my adoptive father. Those rare moments reminded me of the years we spent together as a pair when he first turned me. They weren't exactly the epitome of peaceful times, but I still enjoyed Carlisle's uninterrupted company fondly.

When it came to the human mind, I'd heard it all before and then some. Today, many thoughts were consumed with the trivial drama of a new addition to the small student body here. It took so little to work them all up. I'd seen the new face repeated in thought after thought from every angle. Just an ordinary human girl. Most were memories of photos they had seen, proudly paraded by Charlie Swan off of his beat up smart phone. Only a few had seen her first-hand until today. The excitement over her arrival was tiresomely predictable - like flashing a shiny object at a child. Half the sheep-like males were already imagining themselves in love with her, just because she was something new to look at. I tried harder to tune them out.

Edward.

Reflex reaction. I turned to the sound of my name being called, though it wasn't being called, just thought. Jessica was across the yard, and I finally noticed who she had been speaking to.

The Swan girl was a few inches taller than her counterpart, though the smaller girl's curly hair almost made up for the difference. Her shoulders were slightly curled in towards her body, whether to protect herself from the cold or from the sudden barrage of attention I wasn't sure. Her eyes locked on mine and widened. They were a deep brown color, framed by long eyelashes nearly identical in shade. Her face was heart-shaped, her skin a shocking ivory shade for someone who had just moved from sunny Arizona. It looked almost translucent, especially being curtained by the dark hair that cascaded down her shoulders.

I could see the way my family looked in her mind's eye. Rosalie and Jasper sitting straight up with perfect posture, Rosalie's more out of vanity and superiority. She'd caught sight of her profile in the reflection off someone's glasses, and she was mulling over her own perfection. Rosalie's mind was a shallow pool with few surprises.

Jaspers was stiffer, as if he was stressed. He was, of course. But not in any way she would think to guess. Jasper was letting his imagination get away from him, imagining himself getting up from his seat- standing next to a small girl that had stopped at a table close to ours to talk to a friend. The wind had blown her scent in our direction, and he was thinking of leaning down and in, as if he were going to whisper in her ear, letting his lips touch the arch of her throat. Imagining how the hot flow of her pulse beneath the fine skin would feel under his mouth...

I kicked his foot.

"Sorry," Jasper muttered.

I shrugged. I was used to the way that scent made me feel - the dry ache in my throat, the hollow yearn in my stomach, the automatic tightening of my muscles, the excess flow of venom in my mouth...

This was all quite normal, usually easy to ignore. It was harder just now, with the feelings stronger, doubled, as I monitored Jasper's reaction.

"You weren't going to do anything," Alice murmured to him, soothing his chagrin. "I could see that."

I fought back the grimace that would give her lie away. We had to stick together, Alice and I. It wasn't easy, hearing voices or seeing visions of the future. Both freaks among those who were already freaks. We protected each other's secrets.

Emmett had one arm thrown over Rosalie's shoulder. He was still fuming, however, over a wrestling match he had lost to Jasper during the night. It would take all of his limited patience to make it home to orchestrate a rematch. I never really felt intrusive hearing Emmett's thoughts, because he never thought of one thing that he would not say aloud or put into action. Perhaps I only felt guilty reading the others' minds because I knew there were things there that they wouldn't want me to know. If Rosalie's mind was a shallow pool, then Emmett's was a lake with no shadows, glass clear.

Alice was perched similarly to me, confident but relaxed. Bored. Her mind raced underneath the picture of calm, searching the future for anything of concern. Most of her visions and thoughts surrounded Jasper and his suffering, his waning self control.

It had been two weeks since our last hunting trip. That was not an immensely difficult time span for the rest of us. A little uncomfortable occasionally - if a human walked too close, if the wind blew the wrong way. But humans rarely walked too close. Their instincts told them what their conscious minds would never understand: we were dangerous.

Jasper was very dangerous right now.

I, however, was the poster child for an aloof, too-good-for-you college student, my chin propped up on one hand, gloved in dark leather. My hair was a mess, as usual, my expression one of disinterest. This wasn't a completely inaccurate interpretation.

It took me a second to realize that the new girl had not been the one to think my name. She was not the one I joined in studying us.

Only a short moment had passed. I broke eye contact and turned my head away, not particularly enthused with the idea of hearing any more of Jessica's crude thoughts as she mentally prepared her disposition about us.

We were an unfortunately interesting group of people. Gossip was, in turn, an unfortunate consequence.

"Hello, earth to Bella," Jessica giggled. "Yeah, they're gorgeous but it's rude to stare." Of course she's already crushing on the Cullens.

"They are… Very nice looking." Isabella responded, seeming to have trouble with the statement. "Who are they?"

"The Cullens. Edward, Emmett, Alice, Rosalie, and Jasper," Jessica ticked off our names. "Well, Rosalie and Jasper have a different last name. They're twins or something. I think they were fostered, but they all live with Dr. Cullen and his wife. "

"Oh. They don't look related."

"They're not. Except for the blondes, that's Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The other three were adopted. They're all together though. Like, together together. Rosalie and Emmett; Jasper and the tiny one, Alice. And they all live together. They have since high school at least. Dr. Cullen is really young, and Mrs. Cullen is like the twins' aunt or something like that. They've been with her since they were eight."

Jessica's loud internal monologue had me growing weary, and I found myself irritated at Isabella Swan for allowing Jessica the easy opportunity to talk about us. Not that she ever needed much of an excuse to do so in the first place.

"Jessica Stanley is giving the new Swan girl all the dirty laundry on the Cullen Clan." I murmured to Emmett as a distraction.

Chief Swans kid? The freshman? Emmett chuckled under his breath. I hope she's making it good.

"Rather unimaginative, actually. Just the barest hint of scandal. Not an ounce of horror. I'm a little disappointed. "

And the new girl? Is she disappointed in the gossip as well?

I listened to hear what this new girl thought of Jessica's story. What did she see when she looked at the strange, chalky-skinned family that was universally avoided?

It was sort of my responsibility to know her reaction. I acted as a lookout, for lack of a better word, for my family. To protect us. If anyone ever grew suspicious, I could give us early warning and an easy retreat. It happened occasionally– some human with an active imagination would see in us the characters of a book or a movie. Usually they got it wrong, but it was better to move on somewhere new than to risk scrutiny.

Very, very rarely, someone would guess right. We didn't give them a chance to test their hypothesis.

We simply disappeared, to become no more than a frightening memory...

I heard nothing, though I listened close beside where Jessica's frivolous internal monologue continued to gush. It was as if there was no one standing beside her. How peculiar, had the girl moved?

That didn't seem likely, as Jessica was still babbling, uninterrupted.

I looked up to check, feeling off-balance. Checking my extra 'hearing' – it wasn't something I ever had to do.

Again, my gaze locked on those same wide brown eyes. She was standing right where she had been before, and looking at us through the busy bodies. A natural thing to be doing, I supposed, as Jessica was still regaling her with the local gossip about the Cullens.

Thinking about us, too, would be natural.

But I couldn't hear a whisper.

An inviting warm red stained her cheeks as she looked down, away from the embarrassing gaffe of getting caught staring at a stranger. It was good that Jasper wasn't looking in her direction. I didn't like to imagine what that easy pooling of blood would do to his control.

The emotions had been as clear on her face as if they were spelled out in words across her forehead: surprise, as she unknowingly absorbed the signs of the subtle differences between her kind and mine; curiosity, as she listened to Jessica's tale, and something more...fascination? It wouldn't be the first time. We were beautiful to them, our intended prey. Then, finally, embarrassment as I caught her staring at me a second time.

And yet, though her thoughts had been so clear in her odd eyes– odd, because of the depth to them; brown eyes often seemed flat in their darkness– I could hear nothing but silence from the place she was standing. Just… silence.

I felt a moment of unease.

This was nothing I'd ever encountered. Was there something wrong with me? I felt exactly the

same as I always did. Worried, I listened harder.

All the voices I'd been blocking were suddenly shouting in my head.

They flooded in simultaneously–

Mike Newton, a Sophomore with a puny God complex, desperately trying to make it to where the two girls stood as quickly as he could, feeling grateful he knew Jessica already and could use her as an excuse to talk to Isabella. He thought she was quite pretty, having seen the photos of her already. It didn't take him long to decide she was going to be his new infatuation, especially after catching a glimpse at her in person. Most of the photos Charlie Swan had shown were of a younger Isabella, and they didn't do her any justice as she grew into her adult body, Mike decided.

Eric Yorke, another Sophomore I had graduated with was following Mike, his thoughts drowned in irritation as he wished for comparable confidence.

Lauren Mallory, a friend of Jessica's from high school, stood just a pace behind the other two girls. Her thoughts were nasty, which was no surprise from her. She had never been a nice girl, and it seemed those habits were going to follow her. She was bitter– thinking about how Jessica had ditched her a few times over summer break to hang out with Isabella.

Look at Jessica, still trying to get in good with her new best friend. So what if she's the police chief's daughter. Big whoop. I mean, Jesus Christ. She's all anyone has been talking about lately. Even Edward Cullen, staring!

–I could hear them all, hear every insignificant thing they were thinking as it passed through their minds. But nothing at all from the new student with the deceptively communicative eyes.

I should have turned away, knowing I was drawing myself undue attention now, but I couldn't.

Isabella had already looked away.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" She asked, sneaking another look at me from the corner of her eye, only to look quickly away once more when she saw that I was still staring.

If I'd had time to hope that hearing the sound of her voice paired with her face would help me pinpoint the tone of her thoughts, lost somewhere where I couldn't access them, I was instantly disappointed. Usually, people's thoughts came to them in a similar pitch as their physical voices. But this quiet, shy voice was unfamiliar, not one of the hundreds of thoughts swirling around the air, I was sure of that. Entirely new.

Oh, good luck, idiot! Jessica thought before answering the girl's question. "That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." She sniffed. I finally turned my head away to hide my smile. Jessica and her classmates had no idea how lucky they were that none of them particularly appealed to me.

I wished for a moment that I could explain to her exactly what would have happened if my lips, and the teeth behind them, had gotten anywhere near her. That would have silenced those annoying fantasies. The thought of her reaction almost made me laugh.

Beneath the transient humor, I felt a strange impulse, one I did not clearly understand. I had an innate need to step over to her, this Isabella Swan, and take her far away from the vicious edge to Jessica's thoughts. To separate her from the bustle and busy, to a quiet area. One that would allow me to study her voice, the depth in her eyes, one that would let me unlock the secret behind her silence. I needed to dissect her. What an odd thing to feel, the sudden peaked interest in a boring human made me uneasy.

Trying to ferret out the motivations behind the impulse, I examined the new girl one more time.

There was a faint crease between her eyebrows that she seemed unaware of, chewing on her lip. It was unbelievably frustrating! I could clearly see that it was a strain for her to be here, to make conversation with strangers, she herself a stranger in a town vastly different from the one she came from. I could sense her shyness from the way she held her body, as if she was expecting a rebuff at any moment. And yet I could only sense, could only see, could only imagine. There was nothing but silence from the very unexceptional human girl. I could hear nothing. Why?

"Shall we?" Rosalie murmured, interrupting my focus.

I looked away from the girl with a sense of relief. I didn't want to continue to fail at this - it irritated me. And I didn't want to develop any more interest in her thoughts simply because they were hidden from me. No doubt, when I did decipher her thoughts - and I would find a way to do so - they would be just as petty and trivial as any human's thoughts. Not worth the effort I would expend to reach them.

"So, is the new one afraid of us yet?" Emmett asked, still waiting for my response to his question before.

I shrugged. He wasn't interested enough to press for more information.

Alice's tiny hand was already out expectedly when I dug into my coat pocket, tossing her the keys to my Volvo. I'd catch a ride home with Carlisle. As my siblings and I parted, I could feel a pair of eyes on the back of my head, following my movements. Running a hand through my hair, I shoved the curiosity of her quietness into the back of my head as I considered how to bring this interesting development up to Carlisle.

Perhaps, if it didn't resolve, he'd suggest a trip to Italy. They would almost certainly have experience with something like this.

I shook my head in an attempt to rid myself of the idea. The last thing I wanted was Aro and Company sniffing around.

Hiding out in the library until most of the student body cleared out of the main campus and into their dorms, I decided I was too embarrassed yet to see Carlisle. He'd sense something was bothering me, and it would be best to wait instead of making a stink over something that may not matter. I found myself ruminating over the girl, frustrated at not being able to think of anything else.

There weren't many others in the library with me, and I was grateful for this. It served as the public library for Forks as well as a resource for the college. A few of the women peaked occasionally over their novels or around the corner of a shelf, trying to take a sneaky look at me. One of them debated if the age difference between her and a young college student was too much.

I imagined, briefly, what she would think if she knew I was old enough to be her decrepit grandfather.

Making my way out to the parking lot once the boiling of voices fell to a quiet simmer, I sauntered slowly to Carlisle's car, keeping a human pace. Not many students remained, some pulling the last box or two out of the trunk of their vehicles, a few others comparing class schedules that would begin after the weekend.

The wind blew, and I sensed something peculiar intermingled in the smell of rain, earth, and human. I couldn't quite tell what it was. It wasn't the mix of scents forming a new smell- it normally wasn't difficult to differentiate them; and the more time we spent around a particular person the more acclimated we became, able to recall who it belonged to. I couldn't tell who or what this was. The scent of some creature's blood, obviously. It didn't smell of any animal I recognized, and was far too dispersed and diluted to deduce any further.

I didn't like the tightness it caused in my throat, but I couldn't resist the shock of pleasure it sent through my chest. It would be time for my family and I to hunt again soon. Between Jasper's earlier fantasies causing a disconcerting twin thirst in both of our mouths, it was pointless and risky to wait too much longer.

Perhaps I was simply losing my mind. Carlisle was much older than I was and didn't seem to be losing his constitutions. Vampires had been around a long, long time– and some of the legends were simply that. Legends. However, I hadn't heard any about one of us becoming less effective hunters. When we turned, we were stuck in time with permanent, enhanced abilities and emotions. We were set in stone– yet why did I now feel so vulnerable, like a cornered animal?

My discomfort was broken momentarily as I heard the dreaded Mike Newton speaking excitedly. I looked over to see him on the opposite side of the parking lot next to a massive, rusted and red behemoth of a truck. I had never seen it before, but could see it was Isabella Swan behind the wheel. She was smiling politely as Mike rambled on in incoherent nonsense, waving his hands. She couldn't get a word in edgewise, and I resisted a cackle when she started the truck, the roar of the engine cutting Newton off mid sentence.

"Sorry, Mike! Gotta go, meeting Char- I mean, my dad for dinner." She called over the rumbling engine, louder than I think any other vehicle in town. She slammed the drivers door shut, having to pull on it with force to get the heavy metal closed all the way.

"Oh. Okay. Bye, Bella!" Mike Newton's shoulders fell, dejected as she drove off, and I couldn't resist snickering at the sight.

"Something funny, son?" Carlisle said with a smile, walking up coolly to meet me. Mike glanced over in our direction, scowling. He couldn't hear us, of course, but he could guess I had witnessed the rejection.

The fuck is Cullen staring at? Freak. I bet his dad is as weird as he is.

He had no idea. None of them did.

I shook my head, chucking again before sliding into the passenger seat of Carlisle's Mercedes.