Part 1 - Chapter 2: Acting Skills
Silver, you've got to loosen up!" Emmett had been the second person after Alice to try and fix my vampire-like habits. "If you stop yelling at me, maybe I might." Emmett let out an exasperated sigh. "Rose! Can you help her? I give up!" Rosalie came out and plopped down across from me. "What are you doing wrong?" I shrugged my shoulders and jumped up in about a nanosecond. "You have to stop doing that! You are the only one who always uses super speed."
I groaned and said, "I don't know how to stop!" Rosalie pressed her lips into a line before reminding me, "You won't be able to go to school if you can't learn it." I glared at her. "I know that! But it's really hard." She rolled her eyes and left the room. I was so frustrated. I sped to my room and started pacing. My rug was already threadbare, but I would just get another one. And then I jumped out of my window and leaped into the trees.
My frustration showed in my hunting. I usually only ate the smaller animals ranging from squirrels to elk, but I ate four mountain lions before I laid on a rock, not tired physically, but needing some time to think. I only had a week left and I still didn't have the mandatory human basics down. I wondered if I ever would be ready to go to school. I stayed out about three days before going back. I'd eaten more than my fill.
Edward and Bella were playing with Renesmee and Jacob outside. "Back to the land of the living, have you?" Jacob taunted. I growled at him before speeding into the house. I almost collided with Carlisle. "Oh, I was just about to go looking for you." That was odd. He never got worried about my prolonged and solitary hunting expeditions. "What's the matter? Or what's up as I should say." Carlisle laughed a little. "You're doing better with that. I was looking for you so I could possibly assist your training in humanity."
I nodded, relieved. "That would be great." We swept away into the living room at human speed. "Let's practice walking. I want you to walk across the room as nonchalantly as possible. And slowly." I took it one step at a time as Carlisle had taught me instead of letting my instincts guide me. "Humans often multitask while walking. Try having a conversation with me as you do that." I nodded again and asked, "What else is there to learn?"
I looked over to him while walking back and forth, changing pace every few laps. "Well, you must practice breathing. That is the most important thing. If the stench of that amount of human, you will have to fake it with your shoulders. But I don't believe you won't have a problem with that. So take a few breaths every few moments." I started doing that, slowly and rapidly, testing out my levels of difference. "You also need to blink. At least three times a minute." I practiced that too. "Now all at once. Let's try walking outside together talking."
We both strolled outside as human as possible. "I finished the recreation of your painting." He smiled minutely, "I always loved that painting. Only Edward was desperate enough to do something like repaint something someone else had already painted." I continued in my mortal strides and we fell into companionable silence as we edged the beginning of the foliage. "You might need a new name, Silver."
I paused in my stroll. "Yeah, I guess." Carlisle turned around to face me. "Any thoughts? You have until tomorrow. That is when they need the papers." I shook my head. "I shouldn't name myself. No one ever names themselves." Carlisle looked down with a smile on his face. "Yes, I suppose not. I'll get everyone to think on it. Try sitting down on this rock really quickly and test yourself. Now, the reason I was looking for you was other than training. There has been something that I heard wind of before Alice predicted. We're having a family meeting tonight."
I was so shocked I stopped breathing. "Oh, don't be so alarmed. You know Alice has blind spots. You're doing great with your acting skills." Esme came out and smiled at them. "I saw how well you were doing, Silver. I was just gazing at your recreation of the Volturi portrait." Carlisle raced towards the Edward before whispering into his ear. Edward turned to his family and told them something I didn't try to hear. Carlisle took one last glance at me now stiff on the rock before dashing inside. I followed knowing this meant a family meeting discussing something momentous.
