The lunch bell rang through the shrill silence of my mind. Startled out of my trance, I made my way toward the cafeteria. It was quite big. The walls mirrored the cold, dirty white paint that was to be found throughout the school. A normal person wouldn't have given this much thought, dismissing the flaking paint as a need for a touch-up. To me, however, white represented purity and goodness, and the slow decline of the paint into a decrepit, sinister, dull colour showed how we cannot stop fate taking its course; we all get tainted over time. Even if a new coat was added, it would act as just that, a coat, hiding the imperfect truth underneath.

I quickly made my way through the lunch queue, buying a portion of pizza and chips. I spotted a lone table in a corner, slightly away from the rest of the students. To my delight, it was unoccupied. I walked toward it, the small heels of my black suede pixie boots clicking against the tiled floor. Placing my earphones in my ears, I blocked out reality. Music had become my source of comfort. When I listened to the words of a song that I felt referred to my life, it made me feel closer to the composer. In the few precious minutes the song lasted, it was as if I was not alone, that someone else had experienced the isolation that had smothered my life.

I opened my sketch pad and soon became engrossed in drawing. An image of a lone girl standing facing three mirrors started to form. The first mirror reflected a small child with a bright smile spread across her face, bows and ringlets blowing softly in the wind. The next mirror was slightly blurred, but the small child had grown and now stood as a young teen. Her smile was not as carefree as the last - it was tight lipped and did not reach the girl's eyes. The words of my favorite song pulsed through my head. This song that spoke of hidden secrets and danger, seemed to describe my life. As the faithful sentence, "I will never surrender," entered my ears, I smelled it.

A gust of air from the open window across the cafeteria carried the sweet scent towards me. That scent, so mesmerising and delicious, that it tickled all your senses - a familiar scent that I had hoped never to encounter again. I stopped shading in the third mirror, which was complete sheer darkness.

I raised my head looking for its source. My eyes travelled up a blue pullover taking in the faint outline of a muscular chest. Then I saw his face. Sheer immortal perfection: milk-white skin and strong, prominent, high cheekbones. His copper-coloured hair was a messy ensemble, and yet he managed to look like a model advertising shockwaves. What surprised me the most were his eyes that were a light warm honeycomb heaven, deep and inviting. Underneath were purplish bruises that many naive people would attribute to insomnia; however, I was quite aware that this sleep deprivation was more permanent.

I glanced around quickly for a route of escape, but was stopped in my tracks as my eyes met four more sets of hazardous amber eyes. Possibly the most beautiful person in the world sat across from me, her soft hair cascaded down her back a mixture of gold natural highlights. She was the type of girl who was the envy of everyone. Beside her sat a huge muscular boy with short brown hair. Of all of them, he looked the most powerful; no amount of steroids could get you that buff. Despite his intimidating exterior, there was a twinkle in his eye that suggested that he wasn't at all as serious as he looked. The other boy had blonde hair and, like the other two, was extremely handsome. Muscles could be seen outlined through his black sweater. Of all of them, I sensed him to be the most dangerous. His body was positioned to strike at a moment's notice. The last member of the group was a small girl with black hair styled in a pixie cut. I did not underestimate her though; I knew she was probably every bit as strong as the others. They all stared at me. I couldn't understand it, their eyes were not the crimson velvet of usual vampires, but there was no doubt that that's what they were. Each of them had pale skin and dark shadows under their dazzling eyes.

I quickly scanned my brain for a way out of the treacherous situation. I knew I wouldn't get very far if I ran away from them at that point. Their speed would have them catch me in the empty corridors before I would make it outside. My only chance was to stay close to large groups of people at all times, and at the end of school escape to my car and leave. They would not risk exposure by attacking me in front of others. For the time being I had to pretend that I didn't know anything, which was hard since I had gasped and my heart was thudding close to a cardiac arrest. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. Slowly my heart returned to normal. I pulled my earphones out and placed them in my pocket. I went back to idly munching on the cold chips, ignoring the protests of my churning stomach. Although they were not staring at me anymore, I could tell they were monitoring every move I made. The tension was almost unbearable. The boy in the blue jumper was picking through his food with his fork but I could tell he wasn't paying it any attention.

I had never before heard of amber-eyed vampires. It just didn't add up. Why was a group of vampires going to school and how were they able to avoid the temptation of so many rich-blooded humans?

Suddenly I felt a hand grab my shoulder making me jump in my seat.

"HEY, I'M MIKE" shouted a blond boy standing to the side of my chair.

He sounded out the words obviously thinking I couldn't speak English. I was instantly annoyed at this idiot. There I was in a life-threatening situation and the so-called local player had just invited himself over and shouted into my ear.

"HI, I'M IRISH NOT DEAF," I replied, preferring to use his method of sounding out the words to see how he liked it. From across the table I heard a loud snort. I looked over to the beefy brown haired vampire to see an amused grin light his face. I resisted the urge to grin back.

"That's good to know. I presume even Irish people have names though?" he asked hiding his embarrassment.

"Isolde. Did you want something?" I asked praying he'd get the hint and move along.

"Just thought I'd come over and introduce myself," he trailed of in thought, before he bent down and whispered "Do you want to come over and sit at our table, instead of this freak show?" into my ear. I was well aware that the freak show he was referring to could hear him perfectly and personally, I wouldn't have minded if they ate him.

As incredibly inviting as his offer was to get away from them, I was curious. I knew that they wouldn't touch me in such a public place and I decided to use my time to observe them, see if I could get any information from their actions.

"No thanks. I'm fine," I insisted and turned around and ignored him. Luckily, he got the message and walked away.

With nothing to do, I took out my schedule and examined it. With my sensitive hearing, I could hear an almost silent conversation going on around me that a normal person would fail to hear; I couldn't make out the words though. If anything, it was extremely irritating and I had the urge to shout at them for being so rude. Thank god my sense of self preservation was good enough to keep my mouth shut. I looked up at the bronzed-haired beauty, I knew he would have to stop taking if I looked directly at him. His eyes met mine and they turned cold. I decided I might as well play the new student card.

"Hi, I'm Isolde," I said putting as much confidence into my voice as possible.

"Hmm." was all he murmured and my blood boiled. I had a few choice words that I felt like throwing at him but I resisted.

"We would appreciate it if you didn't take our table from us in future, you should find somewhere else to sit," came the icy voice of the immaculate blond girl.

"Rosalie, don't be so rude," began the black-haired vampire sitting beside me.

"Well, it's not as if we should mislead her into thinking we want her here," the girl called Rosalie continued.

"Bite me. Or on second thought, don't. I'm sure Irish cuisine wouldn't suit you," I barked, and gave her a threatening glare of my own. This time, it was their turn to gasp. All their eyes were set on me, now they knew that I knew. At that moment, the bell rang and I quickly gathered my stuff, avoiding their eyes, and rushed from the cafeteria.

Four Months Previous:

The golden leaves of autumn waltzed and twirled through the air carried by the strong breeze, the faint sunrays catching the golden threads that ran through the burgundy leaves. It led the way for a young boy no more than twelve who walked along the sidewalk. There was an element of confidence in his step, his hair gelled into a stylish mess of hackles. It was obvious he thought he was invincible.

He greedily tucked a crisp twenty euro note into his pocket, a generous gift from the stranger for such an easy task. The boy walked towards a group of school girls about to board a bus, their long yellow, green and red tartan skirts billowing in the wind. The crowd thinned as the teenagers started to fill onto the bus. The boy walked up to a girl about to get on the white coach and put his hand lightly on her shoulder. She turned, her long hazel ringlets fanning out behind her as the breeze ripped through it. She smiled a little confused at the boy. Then he handed it to her, a single black rose. Her dark brown eyes grew wide as comprehension dawned on her face, if possible, her porcelain skin grew even paler as her head shot up and found the eyes of a man that stood three yards down the sidewalk from her. Dark thirsty eyes smiled back at her, a malicious smile lit the god's face.

The rest of the world was oblivious to this small interaction as they carried on with their own busy lives. Then, the stranger disappeared leaving the young woman with a promise, conveyed through the thorny sinister rose in her hand. A promise of death.

Such a picture of perfection as the beautiful girl stood with her hair wildly tossing through the air. The faint evening sun captured a glistening tear as it descended down her cheek.

Awoken from her reverie by the calls of her classmates, she ascended the steps into the bus and masked her face with a blinding smile to the oblivious girls. She sat down at a window seat and placed her cheek against the windowpane. Her face contorted into utter and total despair as the bus moved away from the sidewalk.

Present Day:

What had I done? This was not good. I definitely had secured my death warrant. Humans were not allowed to know about the existence of vampires. The unfortunate ones who found out were killed. Apart from that, I had drawn unwanted attention to myself. They were going to come after me now for certain. I always had a problem with my temper and was known to say things without thinking, but I couldn't just let the bimbo walk all over me.

I walked into English and took an empty seat at the back of the room. I watched as the class filled in. I nearly groaned aloud when I locked eyes with none other than bronze haired beauty. He started towards my desk and I instantly figured out he was planning on sitting beside me. I quickly lifted my bag to put it on the empty seat, but it was too late; he had already pulled the seat out.

"Sorry, that seats taken." I said harshly.

"Actually, this is my seat," he replied smugly. I was struck. I never thought of their being a seating plan, but I could use this to my advantage.

"Well then, I better ask the teacher where he wants me to sit," I muttered through gritted teeth starting to get up.

"Don't bother. This is the only empty seat," he said. I sat down and stared at the front of the room. I could feel his gaze burning my face but I refused to look at him. To tell the truth, I was terrified of him and his coven, but I tried to hide it under a confident tough exterior.

I saw him scribble a note on a piece of paper and pass it across to me, but I ignored it and focused on the teacher as he started discussing the play "Macbeth". I was definitely not going to read his note, because it would hold a question I knew I was not prepared to answer.

Edwards P.O.V

We had our suspicions that she knew we were vampires when she gasped at us, but then she didn't try and run, she didn't scream and her pulse slowly returned to normal. We were a little on edge, though. Alice was trying furiously to see her in the future but she couldn't find anything.

Unknown to her, the topic of every conversation was why she was sitting with us. I spotted Mike Newton as he started towards our table, brimming over with confidence that Isolde would not be able to resist his charm, already imagining their first date. She was obviously more tense than we realised, because the moment he put his hand on her shoulder she jumped in her seat. The first mistake he made was assuming she didn't speak English without doing research. I would be surprised if Newton could even find Ireland on a map. Actually, he couldn't, considering he thought Ireland was in Russia.

The second mistake was shouting his slowed down sentence in her ear.

"HI, I'M IRISH NOT DEAF," flowed from her mouth in a thick Irish brogue. It was quite funny seeing Newton brought down from his pedestal. Her statement amused us all. She and Emmett shared the same wit, and he actually snorted when she spoke. As Mike continued to try to salvage his reputation, she blatantly all but gave him the cold shoulder. He then had the nerve to call us freaks and ask her to sit at his table. If only he knew that any one of us could kill him with our eyes shut. Isolde surprised me again when she refused his invitation, even though she was uncomfortable with us.

I like this girl already, Emmett thought.

"Do you think she knows?" I whispered to Jasper.

"I don't know. She's very uneasy, but I think it's just the normal human reaction," he answered.

"We should tell her to get lost," Rosalie hissed.

"Rose, it's her first day. Give her a break," Alice joined in.

"I'll be subtle, don't worry," Rosalie grinned.

As I was about to tell Rosalie how subtle was one thing she was incapable of being, Isolde looked at me. I don't know why, but she kind of grated on me. This girl needed to know that we weren't people she should be friends with. I hardened my face and gave her a cold stare. Ignoring my glower, she confidently introduced herself.

"Hmm," I replied, trying to act un-phased by her introduction.

A slight blush grew daintily up her cheeks and her face hardened. Rosalie choose this moment as the perfect opportunity to show just how subtle she could be, which meant she pretty much told her to eff off. We were not prepared for what came next.

"Bite me. Or on second thought, don't. I'm sure Irish cuisine wouldn't suit you," she snarled, seething with anger.

For once every member of my family's minds were blank with shock. Before we could say anything, the bell rang and Isolde had risen and darted out the door.

"What are we going to do? How did she...? We are going to have to leave," Emmett said anxiously.

"Call Carlisle - see what he says," Alice suggested.

When I phoned Carlisle, he told us not to harm her - to wait until after school and bring her home with us so that we could talk to her. In the mean time, he advised us to keep an eye on her.

As if by fate, when I walked in the door none other than Isolde Smith was sitting in the empty seat at my desk. She made a scurry to put her backpack on the seat to stop me from sitting down, but I was too quick for her. A small smirk tugged the corners of my mouth as she attempted to get away from me, but she soon realised that she had the only available seat in the room and was stuck with me. Her posture was stiff as she sat down and kept her eyes on the teacher. I quickly tore a piece of paper out of my notepad and wrote her an invitation to come to our house after school. Don't get me wrong, she was going whether she wanted to or not; I was just being polite. She vehemently refused to read the note. I kicked the leg of her chair too hard, trying to get her attention, and she fell onto the ground before I could catch her. I slipped the note off the table and into my pocket before anyone could see it. The beret that had covered her hair fell off and her hair fell in soft ringlets around her face on the floor. The class erupted with laughter, though many of the boy's jaws were unhinged by her beauty. Her face was scarlet and angry as she looked at me.

"What is going on here?" Mr. Banner inquired, annoyed at the disruption.

"Sorry sir. I dropped my pen and lost my balance when picking it up," she answered in her rhythmic accent before lifting herself up. I could now see why the boys in Forks were so taken by her. Her beauty matched that of any vampire. She stood around five-foot-five, with a petite figure. Her clothes were simple yet stylish. She wore a pair of black skinny jeans, black pixie boots and a white plain t-shirt with a long light grey cardigan. Her curly hair reached mid-back, mahogany mixed with lighter tones that I imagined would become more prominent in the sun. Her hair framed her symmetrical face and complemented her perfect features.

I was surprised she didn't get me into trouble with Mr. Banner. When she had cautiously sat back down in her chair, I apologized and thanked her for not snitching on me. She ignored me again and placed her beret in her bag before returning to looking at the teacher. The class passed in silence between the two of us, after that I didn't attempt to pass the note to her again. When the bell rang, I did not get a chance to say a word to her before Jessica Stanley had made her way over and started introducing herself. I left the classroom listening to the short answers she provided to the inquisition Jessica was giving her. I could feel Isolde's eyes following me the whole way out the door.

No matter, I thought only two more classes and she would have no choice but to talk to me.