Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters. Stephenie Meyer owns all.

CHAPTER 9: ENCOUNTERS

My days with the coven were long and boring despite the new atmosphere that surrounded me. It felt as if I had no real place in the house outside my room that I could call my own. The books in which I had tried to drown myself in weren't holding their shapes up in my imagination, were not vivid enough anymore that I could completely immerse myself within the writings of these brilliant authors.

As the days passed, I felt as if I had become nothing but a hermit that the homeowners had taken pity on. I was brought food and clothes and I had plenty of entertainment but I just didn't take to it like I suppose Aro had thought I would. That was all well and good though. Attachment to this place wasn't really what I needed now. Right now, I needed a plan.

I wouldn't find a way to end my life here, not when these creatures of the darkness were my keepers. If I were to be fatally injured in the time that I spent with them, they would be blamed and I could not release such a powerful force of terror upon this family. Because that's what this coven was: a family.

I wouldn't have expected it at first. They all seemed to go about their own business: the psychic sketching out designs with a carbon pencil; the empathic one reading over old scripts that looked worn and delicate; Blondie flipping through a fashion magazine and sneering at the models that she surely surpassed in beauty; the large one watching football and offering up fights with his brothers; Edward listening to music up in his room (he seemed to take an interest in music from what I could see); the kind looking one, Esme, looking over blue prints for large houses (she had offered to show me more when I had passed her by in the hall but I declined); and Carlisle, always taking extra shifts in the hospital. But when they had all gathered together in the brightly lit sitting room, sitting comfortably upon their various white seats and taking comfort in one another's company, I could see it. I didn't have to be there to witness it to know that they had what I wished I could have.

I shook my head. The seat beneath me was warm and comfortable even when the weather outside the tinted glass was not. A cold fog had covered Forks earlier in the morning and would most likely stay until midday. It seemed like a bad omen to me but I couldn't help that. A part of me was excited that I was getting to go to school. After all, it had been years since I had actually entered a real classroom with a human teacher just waiting to teach me something new. But there was that strong sense of foreboding that led me to believe that the vampires were hiding something. They had already registered me at Forks High School, had gotten my schedule and refused to let me see it, and had avoided giving me my new school ID (which I never even took a picture for).

I silently glowered at the trees we passed. The car was nearly empty save for Edward, Alice and I. The others had taken one of the other cars, a red convertible from what I had seen. It was easy to see that I had caused this invisible fission between the family and was there for at fault. Alice (I still had trouble saying her name out loud; it made her seem too human for my tastes) had reassured me that Jasper had only gone in the other car because of the scent but I worried that he may have been upset with her for taking my presence so lightly. He was her mate, after all, and though their bond couldn't have possibly been broken by one little spat doesn't mean that I didn't care. I was just very careful not to show it.

In my days hidden within my room, I had come to accept that the coven was my new family –in the loosest sense of the word– and that no matter what I would have to look to them for help and support. What they would be supporting I had no idea at the moment but I would try to look at them as something other than creatures that were made to kill.

"Bella?"

"Hm," I responded, watching as the school came into view. I had never seen it before, even when I spent my summers with Charlie.

"Before we go in, I'd like to warn you," said Edward, his voice wary. "You might not like what people will be addressing you by," and with that, he exited his parked car leaving Alice to pull me out. Whatever he was saying, it didn't make sense. Not only was my attention focused on the separate school buildings like that looked like large brick blocks set across each other, but I couldn't comprehend why the school looked like that. Weren't schools supposed to look, I don't know, bigger? Scarier? Intimidating?

"So," Alice began as she handed me my backpack (leather, not at all what I expected). "Your first day of school; exciting, isn't it?" I didn't respond. She was talking happily, a peppy soprano voice that I was jealous of and yet I despised. So perfect and bubbly.

In every one of my classes I was accompanied by a vampire guard that I didn't want. They had told me and had therefore felt no need to give me my schedule. It left me curious why they wouldn't give me a hint of freedom. They could have at least pretended to leave me alone and just spied on me from afar to make sure I wouldn't try to make some sort of reckless escape.

Alice escorted me to an empty classroom with various grey desks with green seats. The fluorescents were bright and brought a glare upon the desk that I sat at. I pulled a notebook and pencil from my pack and watched as circles appeared on my paper, the thin lines swirling into one another. Students had passed us by just as we entered the classroom; staring blatantly at me and making me blush in embarrassment. I tried not to stare back. Did they find me strange looking? Did I not look like the human I once was or was this all just because I was a new face at this school?

As students entered the classroom, their curious stares grew warmer on my down-turned head. I didn't look up until I realized there was a shadow on my desk and someone was staring at me. One of the braver students had gathered up the courage to come near me and the vampire whom I was sure they were secretly wary of. The boy had greasy looking hair and a bad complexion, his thin lips spread into a smile. I blushed at how he was staring at me.

"Hi, I'm Eric Yorkie," he thrust his hand out for me to shake. "You must be Isabella Volturi, the foreign exchange student!" I had already taken his hand and shaken it but my grip had immediately slacked at what he had called me. Slowly, I turned my head to Alice only to see that she was giving me a pleading look that said "Please just go with it". I grimaced but turned back to the boy and tried to smile. His grin faltered for a moment before he got it back up again.

"I prefer Bella," I said quietly, trying to keep my anger at bay. Eric didn't seem to notice. His smile widened. He leaned down towards me. I tried not to let him see me lean back a bit. I felt awkward with him so close.

Almost conspiratorially, he spoke quietly with wide eyes and a matching grin, "Well, I'm pretty much the ears and eyes of this school so if you need anything at all, a guide, a lunch buddy, a shoulder to cry on, I'm the guy. I'm also head of the school newspaper and babe, you'll be the front page!" His forwardness shocked me and I found myself shaking my head back and forth, unable to say much.

"No, no, no, no articles or front page or pictures; I'd rather not be publicly announced," I stuttered. "I'm more of a "suffering in silence" kind of girl, you know?" My throat felt dry. Were humans always like this or was it just this person? Because if it was the prior, I was going to be a mess by the end of the day.

His face fell for a moment before turning understanding. "I get it babe, don't worry about it. But will you need a guide or anything? I could give you a tour..." I shook my head.

"My...sister, she'll show me around, won't you Alice?" I turned to her and gave her a look that better have said that she better say yes or she'd get it.

She nodded, "Sorry Eric. I promised Bella I'd show her around a bit." Eric eyes had become transfixed on Alice's polite smile, his eyes glazing over.

"Uh, yeah, sure, that's alright..." he walked away, his steps a bit uneasy. As soon as he was out of ear shot and I knew he was busy being interrogated by the other students, I turned to Alice and glared again.

"Volturi?" I hissed. She just stared back with a calm expression and nodded.

"We didn't have much of a choice. Aro requested it," she said, as if explained everything. I was still boiling from the inside out.

"You couldn't have lied? You couldn't have done anything, anything else?" She shook her head and looked forward, mumbling, "I knew he should have told her," under her breath.

"Calm down; you need to act normal. We're going to have more visitors. Oh Angela," she called brightly, "come meet my new sister, Bella!" A couple of desks away, a tall girl with long, light brown hair looked up from her desk with a confused and startled expression on her face. At Alice's beaming face, she shyly walked up and began talking to me, exchanging pleasantries that were mostly Alice's attempt to distract me from my anger.

The teacher came in moments later, calling out to the hall, "Don't let me see you around this school around, young man, or I'll be calling the cops!" He was shaking his head when he faced the class, muttering in an irritated fashion. When he saw me, he paused to stare at me with a look of comprehension on his face. He called the class to order from behind his desk and began the lesson, only having introduced me briefly while everyone stared at me in undisguised wonder.

--

The day pretty much went on the same way with me seething about the new addition to my name. Saying I didn't like it was an understatement. I despised it with a passion. I would have rather had a completely new pseudonym than have had what I got. Being named as a Volturi meant that I was now officially their property. And what was worse was that people had begun asking me questions all about Italy (seeing as someone had let it slip that I was from Italy) and had kept me busy with questions all about my old life, schools in Italy, why I was adopted by the Cullens. The public story that I had to tell them had already been worked out by the family earlier on in the week. Apparently, I was Carlisle's goddaughter and had been adopted because my parents had died in a house fire. People tried to show sympathy for me but I could see their excitement and awe shining through their eyes as they skipped over topics that may have been hurtful and asked me to demonstrate the Italian language for them. My time in the spotlight was too long and I tried to avoid it as much as possible by being as near to my body guards as possible in hope that the proximity would be too uncomfortable from the overly curious humans.

Rosalie or Blondie grudgingly led me to the cafeteria, striding ahead of me with an obvious air of superiority. I was embarrassed to say that the only reason I followed her was because I was completely scared of the humans. It was ridiculous really seeing as I too was human but they were just all over the place, invading my personal bubble and asking questions to which I answered falsely. I felt like I was being cornered. So I sat at the table with the Cullens where trays were already waiting along with Jasper, Emmett, Edward, and Alice. I felt safer around them, which was saying a lot. I didn't feel like I had to lie about anything. And I noticed that people were visibly avoiding this table in the corner, all keeping at least several feet away at the other round tables. It didn't bother me.

"I don't think you should hang out with Jessica," Edward said quietly, his eyes intent on a roll that he was tearing apart with his fingers.

"Who?" I hadn't gotten a chance to memorize faces and names. It was so overwhelming to be around them all and have them all talking at once.

"Curly hair, blue eyes, talks like a maniac," said Emmett, looking at the food on his tray as if wondering whether or not he should begin tearing it apart as well. "She's a major gossip. Not really "friend" material."

"Doesn't matter," I muttered. "I'm not looking for friends; just observing." I looked at the food on my tray and began ripping apart the crust of my slice of pizza.

"You know you can eat that, don't you? You don't have to pretend or anything," Alice stated, her delicate eyebrow raised. I just shrugged and continued breaking apart the pale bread. "Not hungry."

--

After Biology with Edward and Gym with Emmett, I was to be escorted to the car, my little slip of paper already turned in by Emmett who had already decided that his favorite class was now gym. After seeing me trip many times while just climbing up the steps of the bleachers to watch (Coach Clapp had decided I didn't need to play until the next week when he could get me a set of clothes to change into) he had figured that if that's what happened when I wasn't even on the court then I would surely be just as entertaining while attempting to play a sport. I tried not to let that bother me.

I waited outside the front office for Emmett to pass in the slip. I was looking at a nearby bulletin board, a neon yellow flyer brightly showing:

SAVE THE OLYMPIC WOLF

Underneath was a silhouette of a wolf howling at an unseen moon. But I didn't have time to really read anymore. Something too-warm covered my mouth and began dragging me away, a large, muscular arm wrapping around my waist. Whoever grabbed me cradled me in his arms securely and began running too fast to be humanly possible, the parking lot flying past us as he dove into the trees that surrounded the school. I couldn't see the face of my captor when he looked down at me, the little light that passed through the canopy of trees shadowing his features.

"I'm going to move my hand," his rough voice said. "If you scream, I'm putting it back, alright?" I nodded jerkily, his hand making it difficult. It was swelteringly hot. He removed his hand from my face and I gasped. The blurring trees that towered above us were making me sick. I couldn't breathe properly. He didn't stop for awhile.

When he finally began slowing, I tried to even out my breath but I still felt dizzy. His still fast walk continued. He came to a secluded area and came to a stop. He set me down on my feet where I swayed dizzily and bent over, trying to rid the feeling of my stomach entering my throat.

"Are you alright?" the man asked, his voice only slightly concerned. I shook my head and closed my eyes, trying to keep the walls of my vision from blurring any further.

"Jeez Sam, you didn't have to make her sick," said another rough voice. My eyes shot up from the ground to see a tall boy with russet colored skin and cropped black hair coming towards us. I shakily stood up straight and backed away. There were three boys surrounding me, the one who had taken me, Sam, who looked to be the oldest; the boy who had just spoken and was now nearing me warily, his nose wrinkled, and another boy with russet colored skin and cropped hair, who was shaking tremendously, his fists clenched tightly and his jaw tight as he glared at me with dark eyes.

"Calm down, Paul," Sam said calmly to the trembling one. Almost immediately, Paul began relaxing though his fists and jaw were still tightly clenched.

"Now," Sam, whom I had already inferred was the leader of this group, turned to me, "who are you and what are you doing with the bloodsuckers?"

A/N: I can honestly say I wanted to continue this chapter but I've got tons of stuff to do. This point will give me a good, solid beginning for the next chapter.

And I'd like to thank all of you who actually listened to me and PMed me rather than reviewed my AN. Those of you who did review...eh, you probably won't be able to review this chapter. I got a couple of really nice comments from people who PMed me. Danielle012, that was very sweet of you! Thanks for being so supportive. I told you all I would update as soon as I could! Anyway, hope you all liked this chapter. I gotta go finish up the next chapter of Blinding Lights and Human Trafficking. Feel free to check those out as well.

Oh yeah, I'd like to mention a little something really quick. I've gotten a couple reviews about grammatical or spelling errors. If its something huge like a sentence that doesn't make sense at all because I'm butchering the English language then tell me immediately so I can go back and fix it. Otherwise, please don't make a huge deal about a word that is missing a letter because a button on my keyboard got stuck or something. Most likely I won't fix it until the story is already over and done with. I dislike getting chapter alerts for chapters I've already read. It gets my hopes up and fills my inbox.

Well....REVIEW!!!