School…worse yet, high school. Teenage boys brimming to their hair lines with testosterone and girls so vain and ego-centric that they wouldn't be able to see another's point of view if it slapped them upside the head with a fly swatter. Tenacity, envy, odium, lust, jealousy, malice and hormones through the roof. Doesn't that sound like fun? Oh, and don't forget the cherry on top – this was a high school in the middle of a town full of vampires.

Wasn't I so excited I was in a tizzy? Uhm…no.

Reasons not to be fluster up like I was a middle-aged house wife at an ice-cream social:

1) I got sick of boys checking me out back in 1932.
2) Vegetarians and Cannibals usually don't mix well.
3) High school sucks tarred and feathered pig balls.
4) I could only learn the same things over again so many times before they made me want to shoot myself.
5) Shooting myself would do pretty much nothing.
6) Vampires rank worse than rotting bodies in a fetid pile.
7) I had a very big suspicion that Ash was holding out on me.
8) I just didn't like it all together.

But I didn't have a choice in the matter. In any matter. Mr. I'm-your-sire-and-I'm-in-charge had already decided that little old me was an eighteen year old and I needed a proper education. Boo him. Like I needed another man to try and control me…and yet, there I was chucking my stupid tote into the back of the mustang at 8:10 in the morning. I didn't really have a choice.

"Darling-dearest, you forgot your goodbye kiss." Ash called from where he stood in the doorway, watching me like a little creep. I flipped him the bird with both hands for good measure.

He laughed at me and then I peeled out of our drive way and down the street. We always picked our houses carefully. They had to be a little out of the way from the hustle and bustle, what little of it there was, in the little towns where we squatted. We had to be careful to avoid prying eyes. We also didn't want to be too far away and make it seem like we were hiding something and not just that we wanted our privacy.

People suspected strange things enough just with the fact that I was an eighteen year old living with a twenty-seven year old. Humans had strange enough minds to see error in that even with the story that he was my uncle. Perverts.

Driving through the little town was my first chance to really get a good look at everything. I didn't bother checking much out before I went hunting and our house was on the outskirts so we didn't even see other houses when we arrived from Seattle. This was one of the smallest towns we'd visited to date. There had been a few smaller in Canada…a lot smaller, but that didn't change the fact that this place was more like a village than a town. The people were typical, happy small-towners. They walked and drove and stood talking to their neighbors. Most had likely aged together, knowing one another their entire lives. That was something I envied in humans. They could believe they would be able to keep their loved ones forever…until that all came crashing down on them.

My stomach burned and I winced. I knew it didn't really hurt, but I still felt it. That was pain that never left you.

Then I was turning into the student parking lot of the little Forks High School. With gloomy, overcast skies, I couldn't help but find the place a little ominous. One of the few things that made me wish Ash had said I was his young bride instead of his niece, like he did every now and then to give me a break from school, was the fact that I could only go out in this weather. Only in the murk and gloom could I even pretend to be normal. When I pretended to be an adult, though, I got to do whatever I wanted. If that meant me taking a trip out to our beach house in southern California and spending a couple of weeks in the water, so be it.

Teenagers can't do that.

I parked and stepped out to the little office building. I had the car practically crawling here so I could take in the sights, and I actually ended up being late. The little woman at the front desk seemed even more shocked than most when I walked up to her.

"Good morning. I'm starting here and I don't know where I'm supposed to be right now."
"O-oh…er…oh." She sputtered.

Right…

So the first happy little Forks…ian I spoke to was a total freak; misfortunate fluke or ill-omened warning for a very strange few years?

"Here you are…ehm…T-Tessa…" Her voice was all high and squeaky with anxiety.
I took the paper she handed me and was on my way as quickly as humanly walking made it possible. "Thank you."

I was going to have to tear some of Asher's tows off if my day got any worse.

So I had English first period. The map the secretary, or whatever it is her title was, had printed for me directed me to the room and I found a seat away from the humming students.

They were staring. I didn't really hold it against them, since that was how everyone had reacted to the sight of me since I was turned. Hell that was inches from my own reaction when I saw Asher for the first time. Your first time seeing a vampire is something no one is really ready for.

I sat there listening to them whisper and murmur about me for a quick moment until the teacher was ready to start his lesson.

"…Oh, my god…" a girl gasped. "Do you see that?"
"Yeah…it's like those freaks never left…" a boy told her.
"What do you think the story is there?" another boy was saying.
"…Maybe she's a relative…" yet another boy answered.

They really didn't know how to keep their traps shut, did they? Maybe I could teach these folks some manners during my stay.

The teacher turned out to be annoying as hell. The lesson was identical to any of the hundreds of lesson plans I had encountered in my many, many years of education. The students seemed to be paying more attention to me in the back corner of the room than they did their studies. That made me think I had fallen into a literary shit hole. Or even a cesspool of idiocy. Oh, goody, and I was so looking forward to my time in Forks, already.

As slowly as the day passed I eventually made it to lunch. I spent the hour in the car. I didn't want to risk having to sit next to any of them and pretend to enjoy their revolting excuse for food. My food might still be kicking when I eat it, but at least it didn't taste like shit and ash. Here, would you like a shit and ash sandwich, Tess? No thanks, I'm good. You enjoy that, though, you slavering mongrel.

Nasty little beasts.

I started thinking about what the blithering twits in English had been saying. The way they were talking about me wasn't normal. It wasn't 'Ooh…pretty…' it was 'She looks familiar'. So then were the vampires here walking around amongst their prey? Did they spend time in town as if they weren't a bunch of monsters awaiting the moment they could strike? How sickening.

When I heard the bell ring, I waited in my car for all of the humans to get inside – savoring those little moments of peace. I didn't hate humans, but I didn't like crowds and proper human behavior was to travel in packs; like wolves. When my time ran out I reluctantly ran to class. I made it there on time, of course…but I wished I hadn't.

Ash was already waiting for me in bed when I got home.


Anyone who has read this far, i would love to hear what you think is going on or what will happen next. Any thoughts on anything are welcome really. =)

Hope you're enjoying reading as much as I'm enjoying writing.