The days following Bella and Mia's first day at school were better… but also only seemed to grow stranger and stranger for Niki.

At first, the weird change was gradual and revolved around one 'Cullen'. Niki had been so dreading Spanish class the next day that she'd debated feigning sick right up to the moment Jasper arrived. But, to her surprise, Jasper was more pleasant albeit very quiet when he slid into the seat beside Niki's just before class began. He only spoke a brief greeting to her in the most heavenly voice Niki had ever heard before Ms. Goff called the class to order; and he left fairly quickly at the end of class, although nowhere near as quickly as he had that first day. The pattern repeated itself the next day and the day after that with Jasper entering the classroom at steadily earlier intervals and leaving later although he and Niki rarely exchanged any words other than quiet greetings.

But the first major sign that something was changing for her, occurred a few days later on Thursday morning. Niki was at her locker as usual, packing up before she went over to chat quickly with Angela, Mia and Bella before class, when Alice appeared next to Niki's locker so suddenly that she almost gave Niki a heart attack.

"Hi, Nico!"

Niki started so badly at the musical chirp that she barely managed to save her textbooks from the grisly fate of falling to be trampled in the school hallway. If she hadn't had pretty good reflexes thanks to her volleyball training, she was certain her textbooks would not have been so lucky. Apologetic but amused golden eyes stared up at her as Niki faced the pixie who had somehow appeared beside her locker without a sound. Niki attributed this to the fact that students were noisily making their way from lockers to classrooms and that, despite how Alice's fair skin stuck out even amongst the pale Forks students, the petite girl would be pretty hard to spot amidst the throng of students given she was generally at least half a head shorter than the masses.

"Alice?" Niki asked a little breathlessly, her heart still beating wildly from her fright even if her mind registered that there was no immediate danger.

Alice beamed like Niki saying her name was the greatest gift in the world. Like this meeting wasn't getting weird enough.

"You know," Alice began blithely. "It's so weird that we've been at school together for two years and yet we've never talked."

"Yeah… weird."

Niki couldn't quite keep the sarcasm out of her voice. But she had no clue why on Earth Alice Cullen was talking to her, let alone like they had been best chums forever, and she admitted it was making her feel nervous. Niki shuffled the books in her arms just for something to do before peering down at Alice curiously when the girl seemed to bounce on her feet impatiently.

"Uh, was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yes!" Alice grinned widely before gesturing at Niki.

"I just had to come by and say your outfit is stunning today. You always dress well - you have such a nice figure, I'm so jealous - but I love this blue turtleneck, especially with your black jeans. Very simple and tres chic. Although I would have braided my hair if I were you, instead of pulling it into a ponytail. And maybe added a scarf or maybe a hat, maybe a black or red beret. No, actually, definitely red, the black wouldn't stand out as well with your hair being so dark like mine. And it's not like it would clash with anything else you're wearing."

Niki could only stare back at Alice as the other girl rattled away, chatting like they had been friends for years. It wasn't that it felt… bad. Niki thought Alice was quite a sweet girl actually now that she had spoken with the girl (or rather, had been spoken at by her), even if she was a little bit strange. And her flattery a bit thick (Alice, jealous of her body? Unlikely; Niki was only slightly taller than average height and had a regularly athletic build, nothing special). And her fashion was extravagant. Aside from the pointers Alice was giving Niki (a beret? To school? Really?), Alice herself was wearing quite the ensemble. A creamy white knit top just a few shades darker than her skin was covered by a black and white checkered overall dress that hugged her figure, complete with knee-high socks and ankle boots. She had finished off the look with an expensive looking short trench coat and a scarf of her own - except, it was one of those short, silk numbers that wrapped around the neck. It was the kind of look someone might find on a magazine cover, not in a small-town school.

Niki tuned back in to what Alice was saying as the girl was saying, "Not that your hair looks bad the way it is now, I just think that letting it out and shaping it into defined curls would-"

Whatever Alice was about to say, Niki never found out. Because at that moment, Timothy and Jasper appeared behind Alice, the former looking slightly exasperated and the latter looking somewhat uncomfortable if his tense shoulders were anything to go by.

"Alice," Timothy began in a surprisingly deep but nonetheless pleasant voice. "It's time for class."

The look that Alice gave Timothy and the one he returned baffled Niki. Alice seemed almost petulant; but Timothy just gave her a meaningful and oddly disapproving look that seemed to make Alice relent. And throughout the entire exchange, Jasper continued to look awkward and stiff where he stood very close to Timothy. It reminded Niki a little bit of how he'd looked in class just a few days although he was nowhere near as hostile as he had been then.

Alice turned to Niki regretfully and she said in a mournful voice, "I guess this is goodbye then, Nico."

Alice's tone seemed absurd to Niki; she hardly thought the situation warranted such a pitiful tone given they barely knew each other and would see each other in class in three or so hours. And had Alice called her 'Nico' again?

But then Timothy grimaced slightly before sighing in what sounded like resignation. And Niki realized belatedly Alice, for whatever reason, had been trying to guilt-trip Timothy… and it seemed it was working.

Jasper seemed to notice this as well, because he said disapprovingly, "Don't guilt Tim, Alice."

Even though this wasn't the first time she had heard him speak, Niki had never quite been struck by his voice as now. Possibly because this was the loudest he'd spoken around her or because this was the most words she had ever heard him say. Either way, she was quite shocked by how musical his voice was despite how low he had spoken.

'Does Dr. Cullen only adopt kids who are exceedingly good-looking and have a nice voice? Or does he somehow operate on them to give them all such beautiful voices?' Niki wondered.

There was also a faint Southern twang in Jasper's voice that she hadn't noticed before, which was interesting because Niki hadn't heard the same in his siblings. Timothy didn't appear to have it. It made her curious if Rosalie had it too. Alice meanwhile just stuck out her tongue at Jasper.

"I'm not doing anything, Jazz." Alice replied before grabbing Timothy's hand while waving at Niki with her other hand.

"I'll see you in class, Nico!"

Niki wasn't the only one staring at Alice as she all but danced away; by this point, quite a crowd had stopped to gape at the sight of the Cullens socializing outside of their family. Alice was the only one who seemed oblivious to the attention however. Timothy looked faintly frustrated as he glanced around before saying in an almost reluctant tone, all while allowing Alice to drag him off, "Goodbye, Nicole."

Jasper followed his siblings fairly quickly as they disappeared but he also said in a low voice before he left, "See you in Spanish, Nicole."

Niki could only stare at the trio as they merged into the crowd of students headed to class. The warning bell made her start and scramble to get to her own class in time, but she didn't get over the oddity of her first official meeting with three of the Cullens for quite some time. It wasn't until the pattern repeated itself the next morning that Niki realized that Alice Cullen was likely going to become a new part of her life. And it wasn't just in the mornings. Alice was typically quieter in Government (Niki suspected it was more out of courtesy to Angela than the fact that the teacher lectured for the majority of the class) but she would often throw across notes and would chatter with Niki on the way out of class to the great confusion and curiosity of the rest of the class. Angela never said anything - and soon, Niki thought Angela even liked Alice even if she never seemed to quite get comfortable with the shorter girl.

And speaking of never getting quite comfortable with someone… by the end of the week, Niki found herself in a very strange relationship with Jasper Hale. Despite his softer greetings to her and his hovering near Timothy when the latter picked up Alice from Niki's locker in the morning, they hadn't really conversed. But on Friday, the second day after Jasper started arriving before Niki in the classroom, Jasper spoke for the first time after their customary short and awkward greetings.

"That's wrong."

"What?" Niki looked up from her history homework that she had forgotten about and desperately needed to get done before class later that day.

She had been more startled to hear Jasper speaking than anything else but she was in for a greater surprise when Jasper elaborated, "What you just wrote - that's wrong."

He pointed at the sentence she had scribbled hurriedly in response to one of the questions.

"The Immigration Act of 1924 most directly reflected social tensions emerging from the first world war... not the second. The second world war hadn't even happened yet."

"Oh..." Niki answered blankly, still shocked that Jasper was speaking and was speaking to her. But when his eyes lifted to look at her curiously, wondering why she wasn't changing her response, she hastily scratched out her answer to correct it.

"Thanks." Niki muttered, keeping her head down as she tried to fight the blush that threatened to burn her face.

Jasper was silent for a moment and Niki hoped he didn't think she was a moron for being so easily embarrassed.

"That's also wrong… The Immigration Act quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census."

So he probably thought she was an idiot anyway. Niki's face was on fire by this stage as she crossed out her sentence once again and replaced it with what Jasper had said. Except…

"Did you say 'each nationality'?"

"Yes."

"What was the year of the census again?"

"1890."

"And it was a national census?"

Niki was fairly certain Jasper was laughing at her by that point. His ochre eyes seemed to shimmer with amusement and his lips had tilted up just slightly but his voice was quite controlled when he answered.

"Yes."

"Thanks." Niki muttered, wishing she could just kill herself. As if she didn't loathe US History already, she was making an immense fool of herself in front of an extremely cute if unattainable boy. 'Thanks for nothing, history.'

"You don't enjoy history, do you?" Jasper asked as he observed Niki's dismay when she turned the page only to find there were more questions.

"What gave it away?" She asked sarcastically, still staring at the piece of paper as though it had betrayed her to Jasper's great amusement.

"Your expression," he answered, "and your apparent sheer lack of knowledge in the subject."

"Wow, way to be brutally honest."

Niki grimaced - but she was surprised when Jasper pulled the paper just slightly closer to himself so he could quickly scan it before he glanced at the clock on the wall.

"I can help you finish before Ms. Goff comes in." He told her to her shock. "Just write down what I tell you. Although you really should study up on these before the midterms otherwise I'm certain you're going to fail."

Niki let his jab slide, too grateful to be saved from having to dig through her history textbook to (usually) no avail. Jasper dictated while she wrote and Niki was amazed when they were done with three minutes to spare before their class even started.

"I can't believe it - that's the fastest I've ever done my history homework, even with help." Niki beamed as she stared down at the paper in relief. "Thank you, Jasper! I could never have done it without you."

"It was my pleasure." He answered, appearing to find her joy funny as his own lips unconsciously lifted into a smile.

Niki glanced at him and she asked curiously, "So, I guess it goes without saying that you like history?"

"You could say that."

Jasper chuckled, apparently at some internal joke because Niki didn't think what she had said was particularly funny.

"I've always, shall we say, had a fondness for the way things were."

Again, he seemed to be enjoying some kind of inside joke. Niki just shook her head. She was too pleased to have escaped her history homework to be bothered by Jasper's weirdness. But as she watched Jasper smirk absently as he continued to be entertained by his own private joke, Niki finally gathered her courage to ask a question that had been on her mind for days now.

"Do you wear contacts?" She asked curiously.

Jasper looked at her oddly and he answered slowly, "No… why?"

"Oh… your eyes look different sometimes." Niki explained a little lamely but she was puzzled.

She was so certain that his eyes had been pitch black on Monday and she was sure she wasn't confusing him with anyone else. It was kind of hard to forget his look that day. His eyes had been like the darkness of Hell itself, they had been so void of colour. It had only been as the week progressed that Niki noticed the colour change as she managed to meet Jasper's eyes when he greeted her. And it was then that she suddenly realized she wasn't sure what colour the Cullens' eyes had always been. She thought they'd had dark eyes on Monday when she watched them at lunch with Bella and Mia, but Alice and Timothy's eyes had been a honey-gold colour when they greeted her on Thursday. And that morning, their eyes had looked a little darker, almost like butterscotch. Neither of which were very natural eye colours, especially between two people who weren't related like Alice and the Hales.

It was odd for Jasper to lie, though. Niki had assumed that Alice had coerced them into wearing them for fashionable reasons, particularly as Alice often appeared to coordinate her siblings' clothes. That, or they all just happened to match somehow despite Alice's occasionally odd daily themes like today when she actually did wear a red beret to school and had Rosalie match her with a red hair ribbon while the boys wore varying shades of red shirts under their sweaters and coats that went a little too well with Alice and Rosalie's jackets. As Mrs. Goff called the class's attention, Niki wondered if Jasper had lied because he was embarrassed by Alice's outrageous fashion.

But, of course, the strangest thing that happened throughout the week was that the Cullen table only had five people. Because Edward Cullen had not come to school once since the disastrous Monday when he'd terrified Bella. Not one single day.

At first, Niki wondered if Edward had become ill… although given the way he'd reacted against Bella, she was extremely skeptical that this was the case. After Edward failed to show up for a second week in a row, she finally asked Jasper about it - only for him to become instantly guarded and evasive. Unlike when he'd failed to answer her question about his eyes, Niki was less willing to let this one go and it solidified her suspicion that Edward was avoiding for some reason evading Bella, irritating her greatly.

"He's just… busy." Jasper told her when he realized Niki had gone too quiet beside him.

"I'm sure he is."

Niki made no effort to hide her sarcasm. Jasper frowned but Mrs. Goff called on him and he reluctantly turned away to answer her in perfect Spanish. Niki almost rolled her eyes; she didn't know why any of the teachers bothered trying to wrong-foot the Cullens. She'd noticed it happen a few times with Edward and Alice over the years, particularly Edward who often didn't try as hard to hide his boredom in classes. Alice was better but it seemed Jasper was almost as bad as Edward in paying absolutely no attention, at least in Spanish. But just like his siblings, whenever the teacher tried to catch him off-guard with a question, he had the perfect answer ready.

It was just another weird thing about the Cullens. They were… for lack of a better word, too perfect. Like a picture. A snapshot of a moment that they wanted people to see without ever seeing the real thing behind the scenes. Niki folded her lips tightly as she stared without seeing at the front of the classroom, unaware of Jasper's wary glance her way. As if he could feel her suspicion rising.


It was another regular morning at Forks as Niki drove into the parking lot the next Monday morning, colder perhaps than it had been but thankfully not raining - yet. People greeted her as they all swarmed toward the classrooms, and she waved and smiled back at everyone who called out their hellos to her like usual.

Alice accosted her at her locker, as was the new norm, babbling excitedly and asking how Niki's weekend had gone. Niki smiled, not missing the way Alice's eyes were much lighter again when last Friday they had become almost black they were so dark, but she kept quiet on the matter. Timothy arrived just before the bell to escort Alice to class, as usual, and Jasper followed the pair with a quiet "See you in Spanish, Nicole", as was now customary. Both boys' eyes were lighter again too, Niki noted. After the Cullens left, Niki joined Mia and Bella bid them goodbye while Angela waved to them as they crossed paths on the way to their respective classes. Jessica was nicer than usual as she called a good morning to the girls as well - she'd probably had a good weekend as well.

All in all, despite Niki's growing suspicions around the Cullens' weird eyes, it was a good start to her day and the week.

The second she and Mia walked into Calculus however, Niki screeched to a halt and for a brief moment she just stared. She realized Mia had done the same when Mia let go of her after a moment and started marching toward her desk. Her own brow rising, Niki followed her friend. She was very tempted to say something but instead she just took a seat at her desk while her fuming friend stood without moving beside the copper-headed boy who sat in the chair beside hers.

Edward didn't even look up from where he was reading Wuthering Heights (probably catching up for their English class later that day) but he greeted in a subdued voice, "Good morning, Mia."

'Yes, I'm sure it's a fine morning for you, Edward.' Niki thought sourly as she listened in on the conversation.

All her former anger at the boy had returned at the sight of him, and she knew Mia's was even stronger than her own. Mia was fiercely protective of her sister, whom she loved dearly, and it was clear she was about to demand where the hell Edward had been when the bell rang and Mr. Varner called the class to attention. Mia reluctantly sank into her seat beside Edward as the class started. Niki passed the time thinking of ways she would attack Edward (not always verbally) for his behaviour toward her friend before his mysterious disappearance. She hoped Mia would think of and use some of her ideas; some were particularly refreshing.

However, when the bell rang for the end of class, Edward spoke to Mia without giving her a chance to speak.

"I apologise for the way I acted two weeks ago." He said in a rueful voice that didn't seem fake but still put Niki on guard suddenly for some reason. "More so to your sister, but I'm sorry for offending you as well. I swear, that wasn't my intention. Your sister just... reminded me of someone that I didn't care for and my feelings unintentionally leaked through."

"Oh..."

Niki could tell Mia was feeling cheated as she paused unhappily. She was clearly still angry but it wasn't right to try and attack the boy when he clearly felt bad and was genuine in his apology even if something struck Niki as… well, off about his explanation.

"It must have been quite the grudge you had against that person." Apparently Mia felt something odd too.

"Let's just say, it could have led to the biggest mistake of my life." Edward answered.

Niki frowned as she glanced back while gathering up all her books. There had been something… too smooth about his delivery of his apology. Like it was rehearsed. Although Niki supposed it was also not impossible he had spent the whole class or even the whole weekend thinking through how to apologise.

"As long as you apologise to my sister as well, I suppose then I can forgive you." Mia finally said, albeit a little reluctantly.

She was clearly not happy but there was nothing more they could do. Although, if Niki was being really honest, her instinct was still telling her that Edward wasn't being entirely truthful - and she had to admit her curiosity and suspicion was piqued.

Edward glanced her way suddenly and Niki grimaced when she was caught listening. But Mia rescued her as she locked arms with Niki and walked with her alongside Edward as he reassured them, "I plan to."

They exited the classroom together but Mia wasn't done as she asked suspiciously, "So, where were you the whole time you were gone? Surely it wasn't my sister or your apparently strong dislike of her face that scared you off?"

"No, it was just bad timing." Edward answered, again in that smooth voice that did little to soothe Niki's suspicions. "My family in Denali had an emergency. My cousin there is very close to me so I went up to be there for emotional support."

"Oh."

Again, both Mia and Niki found themselves stumped. Edward's answers were all unexpected, completely different from anything they had imagined, and seemed reasonable enough. But again, and Niki couldn't quite put her finger on why, something just didn't feel right. Perhaps it was the earnestness in Edward's voice and eyes that felt a little bit too rehearsed; or perhaps it was the fact that something about his explanation didn't seem to add up although Niki wasn't sure why.

But she couldn't exactly accuse someone who was little more than a stranger that she didn't believe him based on her gut feeling. And so it was with some resignation that Niki bid a disgruntled goodbye to Edward as she headed off to Spanish while Mia headed off for Government, unaware that Edward's pleasant expression had switched to a worried and thoughtful one as he watched them disappear into the throng of students.