All credit goes to Stephenie Meyer. I do not own Twilight.
10 years into the future
Chapter 2
One of my new acquaintances, who considerately reminded me that his name was Adam, had Biology II with me next hour. We walked to class together in silence. He was shy, too.
When we entered the classroom, Adam went to sit at a black-topped lab table exactly like the ones I was used to. He already had a neighbor. In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, I recognized Renesme Cullen by her unusual hair, sitting next to that single open seat.
As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, I was watching her surreptitiously. Just as I passed, I stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch myself on the edge of the gable.
I'd noticed her eyes were brown – chocolate brown. Ms. Banner signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. Of course, she had no choice but to send me to the one open seat in the middle of the room. I kept my eyes down as I went to sit by her, bewildered by the friendly stare she'd given me.
I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took my seat.
"Hello," said a high musical voice.
I looked up, stunned that she was speaking to me.
"My name is Renesme Cullen," she continued. "You must be Ash Sutten."
"H-how do you know my name?" I stammered.
She laughed a soft, enchanting laugh.
"My fa- I mean Edward told me," She quickly said.
"How did Edward know?" I asked.
"Oh, I think everyone knows your name. The whole town's been waiting for you to arrive."
Class passed quickly but Renesme never said another word. The bell rang loudly, making me jump, and Renesme Cullen was out of her seat.
"Aren't you Ashton Sutten?" a girl voice asked. I looked up to see a cute, baby-faced girl, her pale blond hair carefully gelled into soft waves, smiling at me in a friendly way.
"Ash," I corrected her, with a smile.
"I'm Michelle."
"Hi, Michelle."
"Do you need any help finding your next class?"
"I'm headed to the gym, actually. I think I can find it."
"That's my next class, too." He seemed thrilled, though it wasn't that big of a coincidence in a school this small.
We walked to class together; she was a chatterer – she supplied most of the conversation, which made it easy for me. She'd lived in California till she was ten, so she knew how I felt about the sun. It turned out she was in my English class too.
But when we were entering the gym, she asked, "So, did you give Renesme Cullen happy pills or what? I've never seen her act like that."
"Was that the girl I sat next to in Biology?" I asked artlessly.
"Yes," she said. "She looked like she was extremely happy or something."
"I don't know," I responded, "She just was extremely bubbly."
"She's a weird girl." Michelle lingered y me instead of heading to the dressing room. "If I were lucky enough to sit by you, I would have made you feel comfortable."
When I got home that night, Charlotte and I ate Steak and potatoes. We ate in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable. Neither of us was bothered by the quiet. In some ways, we were well suited for living together.
"So, how did you like school? Have you made any friends?" she asked as she was taking seconds.
"Well, I have a few classes with a boy named Josh. I sit with his friends at lunch. And there's this girl Michelle, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice."
"That must be Michelle Nickel. Nice Kid – nice family. Her dad owns a sporting goods store in Port Angelus."
"Do you know the Cullen family?" I asked hesitantly.
"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."
"They… the kids… are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school." Charlotte surprised me by looking angry.
"People in this town," she muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," she continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him – lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature – I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. And they stick together the way a family should – camping trips every other weekend … Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."
I backpedaled. "They seemed nice enough to me. I just noticed they kept to themselves. They're all very attractive," I added, trying to be more complimentary.
"You should see the doctor," Charlotte said laughing. "It's a good thing he's happily married."
The next day I walked alertly to the cafeteria with Josh after Spanish. Mush balls were flying everywhere from the new snow. I kept my binder in my hands, ready to use it as a shield if necessary. Josh thought it was hilarious, but something in my expression kept him from lobbing a snowball at me himself. And then I froze where I stood. There were seven people at the Cullen table. Edward mumbled something to Renesme and she looked up and waved. My ears turned red.
They were laughing. Edward, Jasper and Emmett all had their hair entirely saturated with melting snow. Alice, Rosalie, Bella and Renesme were leaning away as Emmett shook his dripping hair toward them. They were enjoying the snowy day, just like everyone else – only they looked more like a scene from a movie than the rest of us.
When the bell rang, I headed unwillingly to Biology. It's not that Renesme wasn't friendly – she was, but something about her made me uneasy. I just couldn't put a finger on it. She was different than her siblings. And why did she look a lot like Edward and Bella? I trudged into Biology and sat next to Renesme.
"Hello," she greeted me just like the day before. I muttered a hello and started working. Ms. Banner came to our table then to see why we weren't working. She looked over our shoulders to glance at the completed lab, and then stared more intently to check the answers.
"So, Renesme, didn't you think Ashton should get a chance with the microscope?" Ms. Banner asked.
"Ash," Renesme corrected automatically. "Actually, she identified three of the five." Referring to the lab we just finished. Ms. Banner looked at me.
"Were you in an advanced placement program in Phoenix?
"Yes."
"Well," she said after a moment, "I guess it's good you two are lab partners." She mumbled something else as she walked away.
"Why did you come here?" she asked.
"It's complicated."
"I think I can keep up," she pressed.
"My father remarried and my mother lives here so I decided to come live with her for a while," I told Renesme. Her mouth dropped open.
"Th…that's….never mind," she said quickly.
"What?" I asked.
"That happened to my mother," she said, "that's why she came to Forks. She met my father at this exact lab table actually." She laughed. I gazed at her. I knew something was different.
"You mean Edward and Bella?" I said. It wasn't a question. She stopped laughing.
"How did you know?" She asked coldly. I was right.
"You have your father's hair, your mother's thickness of your hair and their something, I just can't place it," I told her.
"You're right," She told me looking down, "There is something else." I looked at her.
"Do you want to go to Port Angelus with me tomorrow after school?" I asked her.
"Sure. But if you were smart, you'd stay away from me," she said just as the bell rang.
I was excited for tomorrow. And when it finally came, I was ready. We would take my truck. I got to school and there was ice everywhere. I was standing near my truck in the parking lot staring at the tires. Charlotte put snow chains on them. Struggling to fight back the sudden wave of emotion the snow chains brought on, when I heard an odd sound. It was a high-pitched screech, and it was fast becoming painfully loud. I looked up, startled.
I saw several things simultaneously. Nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it does in the movies. Instead, the adrenaline rush seemed to make my brain work much faster, and I was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once.
Renesme Cullen was standing four cars down from me, staring at me in horror. Her face stood out from her family all frozen in the same mask of shock. Edward and Bella exchanged a quick glance. But more immediate, was the dark blue van, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning widely across the ice of the parking lot. And I was between the van and my truck.
Just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit me, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting. I felt something solid and warm pinning me down.
A low oath made me aware that someone was with me, and the voice was impossible not to recognize. Renesme turned towards the van and put her hands out to stop it. Her hands made a dent. She turned to me. My eyes were wide. I had a date with someone truly impossible.