Things only seemed to get stranger over time.
Ash was spending a lot of time hunting by himself. It wasn't like I had to have him with me twenty four-seven, but it wasn't like him to want to be alone so much. It made me worry a bit, I guess. That and seeing as I couldn't sleep without him, I was really feeling tired after a couple of days.
School wasn't making things any easier…but then, when does it ever. Forks is in the running for strangest place in America. In fact, this place could very well be about a mile ahead. All of its inhabitants appear to either be complete and total idiots, malfunctioning as sentient beings, or – as is my guess – they aren't afraid. As simple as that; they just don't fear me.
I don't mean that I don't weird them out or that any of them at all can relax when I'm around, but it's strange. I've yet to scare anyone out of a room. I get plenty enough weird glances, but it's less afraid or worried and more…curious.
The strangest of it all: they've tried to talk to me.
"Ehm… Hi." I glanced up from painting my pinky nail and found a bouncy girl smiling a nervously down at me. "I'm Ashley Kowalski."
I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. What type of idiot offers themselves up to a freak like me? Did she have a death wish? Not that I would ever oblige one, but she wouldn't know that. "Tessa Hartmann."
"Well! Er… Nice to know you can speak." She giggled. It sounded like she was in trouble; like when some people get caught breaking the law and they start laughing because they don't know what else to do.
"Yeah."
"I…I just wanted to s-sorta welcome you to the school. I mean, I know you've been here a few days, but you have a knack for disappearing."
A knack for disappearing? She didn't even know how right she was. I wanted to laugh. To throw my head back and laugh.
"Thanks," I gave her a little smile. "and just so you know; I don't disappear. I'm just not a big fan of crowds."
The girl's eyes went wide at my smile and her cheeks heated to a cute pink. "Oh."
"If you don't mind, I need to make sure these are done and dry before next period." I waved my fingers in front of my face to give her the hint.
"Y-yeah, of course. Bye." And then she finally left.
Weird, right?
Yeah, if only that was all of it.
At lunch it wasn't raining. The sun wasn't out and the rain wasn't falling. The clouds were stretched grey and taught, as if they were trying their hardest to keep a hold of themselves. This meant that I had an obligation not to waste this time hiding out in my car.
I sat on top of an old picnic table, abandoned in the grass and settled in to unwind a little. I had a sketch pad in my lap and a pencil in my hand and I was happy just to have a good, quiet place to rest. The trees in Washington were getting antsy, waiting for me to sketch them.
If only things would've gone the way they were supposed to.
I spotted the little group as soon as they left the cafeteria. Three boys and two girls. One of said girls was hanging on one of said boys in that grossly overdone way that always made me want to gag. I realized after a moment that they were headed my way. Oh, joy.
"Hey, Tessa, right?" The boy in front called out to me. He looked like a cocky asshole; manicured brown hair and an averagely attractive face. I always thought it was pretty funny that the ones who were typically average were the ones who were cockiest. After all, the prettiest humans were too narcissistic to care about being cocky.
"What is it?"
"Hey, hey – don't get on edge. We just wanted to say hi. Thought you might use some company, seeing as you're sitting alone out here and all."
I glanced up at him, making sure I wasn't glaring. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, leaned back to get a better look at me. He had one side of his bottom lip sucked in like he was appreciating a car engine. I wanted to find out what face he might make if I threw him onto the roof.
"Thanks for the consideration, but I do just fine on my own." I smiled, knowing full well it wouldn't look happy or kind at all. "Oh, and hello. So bye-bye now."
I had my head turned to my sketchbook so I couldn't say which, but one of the girls scoffed, then, as if I'd mortally offended her.
They left, muttering and M.F-ing me the whole way. They left behind one member of their little set though.
She was a tall girl, a little gangly, with long dark hair that looked a little heavy on her frame. She seemed pretty hesitant, but still she stayed – even with me doing my outright best to ignore her. My best was pretty damn good, too.
"Do you mind if I sit with you for a bit?" she asked
"Do whatever you want."
She sat tentatively beside me. It was obvious she was uncomfortable. That made me uncomfortable; what on earth could this silly human want with me? What could provoke such stupid determination?
I sighed. Only one way to find out. "I'm Tessa."
She breathed out a funny little tight breath as if she had been holding it in for a while. "Hi. I'm Angela."
"Anything I can do for you Angela?" Dear Lord, don't let her say something stupid.
"Er… I kind of wanted to ask you something."
"Ask away." I grinned a true devil's grin "I certainly don't have anything to hide."
"Well, it might seem strange, but… Do you know the Cullens?"
"Who?" Was that a band or something?
"The Cullen family."
"Sorry, can't say I've heard of them."
"Alright."
It got a little quiet then. I tried to sketch the tree line, but this girl sitting there next to me with her thumb tapping on her arm was making me want to tear my hair out.
I stuck my pencil into the binding of my sketchbook and put them both down on my lap.
"Am I supposed to know them for some reason?" I asked, finally bothering to turn her way.
She blushed and smirked an oh-so-familiar fool's smirk. "Well, I was…" She dropped her chin for a second before she could start again. "Everyone here has been wondering since you got here if you were their cousin or something."
Yet another moment to make me laugh.
I couldn't hold back my grin. "And why would they think that?"
"…because you look like them." She told me.
That was a bit of a shock. I looked like them. I looked like them? So everyone in the school had fallen of their rockers. Nice.
Then it hit me. Why it didn't happen sooner, I'll never know, but I knew what she meant. I looked like them. The Cullens. A family that looks like they could be my cousins in a town where I knew there were vampires – other than my own coven.
"Well, that's interesting. Would you like to tell me about them?"
She paused for a second and thought through something. "I didn't really know them well."
Didn't?
"That's alright. I'm an easily pleased person, so just tell me what you think of them. From what you do know, I mean."
I wasn't sure if she had meant to say didn't or if it was an accident so I tried to weasel more out of her. Didn't. Didn't might mean they were gone, but I knew they couldn't be gone for long. Their scent was still pretty fresh when we arrived and what could make a bunch of vampires just abandon their territory?
"Well… Dr. Cullen and his wife couldn't have kids so they adopted. It was a little strange because they adopted teenagers. Apparently they adopted kids from two families one with two boys and a girl and another with one boy and one girl. It made it even weirder that they dated each other."
Wait…what?
"The kids dated each other? Even though they were supposed to be a family?"
"Yeah and Dr. and Mrs. Cullen were fine with it."
"That's a little awkward, don't you think? What about the fifth wheel?"
"Uhm… there's something I should explain first." I nodded to urge her on, "Since they were in relationships they stayed with each other all the time – even the fifth wheel. And they were really…well, pretty; like you."
I tried to look embarrassed. Too bad I couldn't blush; I didn't want to seem stuck up by agreeing or something.
"Everyone here was a little intimidated. No one really wanted to talk to them and when anyone tried to, they usually gave them a cold shoulder."
"So if a shy, pretty person who doesn't like to talk mush intimidates everyone so much…why are you here?"
"Ehm… I was getting to that." She smiled and shifted her weight like she felt out of place. "The fifth wheel; his name is Edward. He was always with his family and by himself, you know? Some idiots even thought he was gay because he never paid attention to girls… I'm pretty sure they were just mad that he never looked at them." We both laughed at that and Angela started blushing even more furiously.
"Last year, though, a girl moved here and Edward stopped ignoring everyone. They started dating and were really serious with each other, but that all got ruined. Earlier this month, Dr. Cullen got transferred to a hospital in Los Angeles really suddenly and they all just picked up and left. He broke up with Bella and she took it really hard."
"Oh."
"She's a friend of mine and I feel like I have to do something. I was hoping you were related to them… Like maybe you had moved here to be near them and didn't expect them to move so soon. I don't know what I would've done if that were the case, but…I had to check."
I watched her closely. She almost looked like she was going to start crying for her friend. It was a little jarring. I wanted to hug her. I wanted to hug this Bella. To tell her I was there for her. To show her how much this friend loved her. To let her know she wasn't alone and that there were people here who would be with her no matter how bad she felt.
I wanted to tear the sick son of a bitch who could do this to someone into a million pieces.
