Chapter Four- New Alliances and Pretty Girls

A/N- I'm sorry. Seriously. Antis unite. whoo. I'm tired...

Also, big warning because second part of this chapter has an overwhelming amount of descriptions of someone's beauty. Like, so many that you may throw up. But if you made it through the Twilight series' continued descriptions of Edward's apparent beauty then I'm sure you can stomach it.

Edward Cullen was not pleased.

He had met a young brunette about his age at school, and had saved her life. He was beginning to feel like this was a mistake. She was asking questions, and Edward knew that soon she would find out that he was a vampire. While she wasn't a genius, she wasn't stupid either, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he sucked blood.

The golden eyes could be passed off as a mere odd genetic trait. And while he had carried Bella to the office with incredible speed and never had a hard time holding her up, people could pass it off as 'he's strong and fast'. Nothing odd about that. But he had saved her from a speeding van in a split-second. That would take incredible speed. People who didn't see it clearly, which consisted of about pretty much everyone there at the time besides Bella, couldn't really say anything about it because it was so unclear what happened- it all happened so fast.

But these three things together, plus the fact that he sat with only his family at lunch, was a secretive recluse, and shared the golden eyes with every single Cullen would soon tip her off. Edward was secretly kind of shocked that no one had figured it out yet. He wondered absent-mindedly if all humans were as stupid as the ones at his school.

As he'd said before, Bella wasn't an idiot, but she wasn't a genius either. He found her attractive, but she could be annoying at times. In the back of his mind, a thought prodded at him- the thought that she idolized him, adored him, worshiped him. Many times he had caught her, out of the corner of his eye, staring at him lovingly, and with his hearing he could hear her gush to her friends about him.

He was curious to see what kind of family she had, so he went to her house as well- under cover, of course. He hid in her room and waited for her to fall asleep. Once she had, he picked up her diary. Of course, this wasn't moral- but he believed his soul was nonexistent anyway, so why bother with it? He had skimmed the pages, and was more than shocked to find that every page (the first one dated the first day at Forks High) had at least one mention of his name in it.

Simple motions like him glancing at her found their way to her diary, something he soon found out as he was reading it. He knew that teenage girls were very adamant about their crushes and liked them very much, but if this girl loved him-... He hadn't given her reason to love him, and he tried to convince himself that she did not. But still. If this girl loved him...

She could find out their secret. This was almost guaranteed. She would either tell everyone, beg to be a vampire, keep quiet and die in misery, or let it slip out.

Bella didn't seem like the type to blab to everyone about how he was a vampire, Edward thought. He hoped that she wouldn't beg to be a vampire, but seeing her feelings for him, it was probably the most likely out of the four choices. He didn't expect that Bella could do the third, and the fourth was probably very likely as well, if she did so by accident or purpose to a close friend.

He had put the diary back and exited as quickly as he had entered, with a new weight on his heart. He worried about their secret, and he knew that the Quiliete boy knew as well- Jacob was his name. While he could easily sense the boy's distrust and obvious dislike, he had acted pretty civil at the hospital- considering the fact that vampires and shape-shifters were apparently mortal enemies. Edward didn't have to read his thoughts, but he did- while there was the basic dislike, there weren't any threats to Edward's life, and apparently Jacob decided to leave Edward alone for the time being.

Edward had noticed that Jacob had seemed fairly fond of Bella, and this posed an obstacle. If Edward began to form feelings for Bella, of course Jacob would get in the way. However, this wasn't what Edward was worried about; it was mainly that Jacob would tell Bella...tell Bella that Edward, her dear Edward, was a vampire.

This frightened him.

Leah was self-conscious.

Not that 'she wasn't beautiful' or any of the bull the other teenage girls thought. Leah was conscious of every move she made that could be interpreted as 'girly' or feminine.

She did not consider herself beautiful. But what teenage girl did? However, she knew that when she walked, she would roll her shoulders in a certain way and walk in a graceful manner. She hated this, and whenever she realized she was doing this she stiffened her entire body and forced herself to walk upright, ramrod straight, and in a way that was reminiscent of a military general.

As she had blossomed into a 'young woman', some of the girls she got along with at school started asking her what mascara she used to get her eyelashes that long, what facial creme she used to get her skin so smooth, did she pluck her eyebrows?, so many things.

When Leah had looked at them in confusion they oohed and aahed about her 'pretty' wide brown eyes. Leah now tried to keep her eyes hard and focused, almost narrowed in a way. When they asked about her soft and lightly tanned skin, Leah tried to stay outside and darken to make it look worse. When they complimented her 'full lips', she made sure to keep them pursed and in no way full, but wide and thin. As they complimented her she tried to fix her purported 'beauty'. This never worked.

She would start to notice boys looking at her, giving her stupid smiles. In return, Leah wore hoodies and kept her head down. A few had asked her out. She muttered about getting something and left immediately. Some whistled. She kept her head down even lower.

She had transferred from La Push's own high school to Forks High when Billy said it would be good for her. Billy looked out for all the La Push teens, and she respected him. He said that a lot of her friends went to Forks High, and maybe she'd be more comfortable. Although she disagreed with him inwardly, she loved him like a grandfather and felt that he knew best, and so enrolled into Forks High. Due to some complications with the paperwork, she would be joining Forks High a few days after the first day of school.

She was a junior now. Or, at least, would be.

She stood in Forks High's parking lot, feeling very awkward as she shakily retrieved her keys from her pocket and locked her car. She stiffened her back, stood upright, pulled up her hoodie, put her keys in her pocket, and was ready to lower her head in the way she always did when a voice broke the silence.

She turned around, only to see the Cullens walking towards her.

She could be meek Leah, the one at school who didn't like anyone but kept to herself, or could be wolfy, real Leah, the Leah that didn't have to worry about what anyone else thought. The Leah that could be herself.

Since she was technically at school, she decided to be meek Leah and try to leave the parking lot to enter the high school. She began walking away quickly, only for yet another voice to break the silence, this one female.

"Wait!" the voice called out. She turned back around and lifted her head fully, as well as straightened up even more. She made sure to try and harden her eyes, make herself look tough; her face portrayed no emotion, and she stared with confidence at the girl.

She was smaller than Leah, but most people were. Leah noticed her pixie hair cut and her golden eyes, thus verifying that she was indeed a Cullen. Leah paused to notice that the other Cullens had left; all of them besides a blonde one, the girl with the pixie-cut, and the one Leah recognized as Edward.

The girl met her with the same icy stare Leah was giving. She was surprised at the small girl's confidence. Most people would be afraid of Leah; she could be intimidating at times. But here the girl was staring straight at her, and Leah noticed how much like herself the girl looked, now full of confidence.

Leah calculated the girl's moves all while being conscious of her own movements, as to not antagonize any of the vampires. She knew that if she was normal Leah and rude to them, they would take it as Leah trying to be offensive- being a werewolf, a shape-shifter, an enemy. So Leah decided to do what she never liked doing-

-she laughed, and afterwards she let her eyes become wide and crinkled with happiness, her lips become full, her shoulders roll, the smile stay in place.

The girl automatically laughed as well and gave a friendly smile. The blond behind her still looked apprehensive.

"My name's Alice," the girl said. "She's Rosalie and he's Edward. You're Leah, hm?" she said, a smile on her face.

"Yes," Leah replied. "And if you didn't already know, yes, I am a shape-shifter." Leah knew that the girl already could tell by her traits; all the shape shifters in La Push had the somewhat Native American traits. While Leah would never admit it to the tribe- especially Jacob, with his extreme dislike of vampires- she respected the Cullens somewhat for the fact that they resisted drinking human blood.

While she didn't like the fact that they were literal leeches, she knew the feeling of being someone you couldn't help being. She was born to be a shape-shifter and to turn into one later, to transform into the only female shape-shifter because of a deformity, to never be able to have children. The Cullens were vampires, all changed into them by other vampires, not making the choice themselves.

Leah did not want to continue a senseless rivalry and provoke them, so she chose friendliness.

"And we're vampires," Alice added, a small smile still on her face. "You don't seem as angry at us as the other shape-shifters."

Leah nodded. "I'm not," she said. "If I dislike you then I'll dislike you for being rude or inconsiderate or a snob, not for something you can't change. And you don't seem rude. Or inconsiderate. Or a snob."

"So we're friends?" Alice said, laughing afterwards.

Leah winced at the word. "Wouldn't say that, may flare up tribal anger or something. But I don't dislike you," she said, giving another smile afterwards. Edward looked at the other two Cullens and they both relaxed considerably. Leah was somewhat confused. It was like- he could tell them things without even, well, telling them. Maybe they just knew each other too well.

"Why are you here?" Leah asked. "You must have a reason to talk to me."

"Actually, yes," Alice said. "We haven't been planning this, mind you. But I just spotted you in the parking lot and- maybe you could help with a problem that Eddi here has."

Edward reddened at Alice's remark and Leah couldn't help but smirk. So even perfect Edward had a few things that irritated him, one of them being Alice's pet name for him. Good.

"I'm going to get to the point," Edward said, seeming agitated with Alice's continued chatter. "Jacob knows we're vampires. He doesn't like vampires. Jacob likes Bella. That means Jacob doesn't like me and does like Bella. Bella probably loves me-" Alice looked at him with disapproval for his frankness- "-and she may find out that I'm a vampire one way or another, but I'd prefer Jacob didn't tell her, but he probably will-"

"-and you think I can help," Leah finished lamely.

"More like hope," Rosalie said, finally speaking. Leah cringed as the girl finally spoke- she had been staring at Leah the entire time, probably criticizing her features. After all, the girl looked like a typical American beauty.

"I can't," Leah said in an apologetic way. "I'm sorry. Jacob and I aren't really close. At least, I don't think so. He hangs out with my little brother once in a while, and we talk, but that's it. Even if we were close, I couldn't control him. He does what he wants. Sorry," she said again.

Alice smiled in a sympathetic way. "It's no problem."

Leah sighed. "I don't think Jacob would do that though. Put- is it Bella?- put that girl's life at risk by telling her that. At least, not unless he thought she was in danger. But then again, Jacob's unpredictable. I don't know."

Rosalie was still staring at Leah. Leah did not like this at all. She did, however, feel much more at ease when the Cullens finally left, and she felt good about having a potential ally in this Alice girl- she seemed very pleasant.

"Did you see her?" Rosalie whispered to Alice, although with the three vampires' sensitive hearing, it wouldn't help keeping the sentence from Edward's ears that much. Alice stared at Rosalie, and then said, "Of course I saw her. I was looking right at her. What do you mean?"

Rosalie looked at Alice. "Alice, didn't you see her face?" she said, sounded a little confused. "I mean, we all have exceptional sight. And I couldn't see a single flaw on her." She sounded disbelieving. "She wasn't just attractive by humans' standards, but by vampires' standards too-"

"Can you please spare me the lengthy descriptions of her face?" Edward said, sounding irritated. "We get it, Rosalie. I never knew you swung that way-"

Rosalie glared at him, but Alice just laughed at Edward's uncharacteristic joke. While she knew that Edward was probably doing it to diffuse any possible tension that could be in the group, she still felt somewhat happy about the meeting.

After all, it wasn't every day that you got to meet someone as interesting as Leah Clearwater.

a/n- Oh my god. Dude. Seriously. This is the longest chapter I've written so far and it's pretty much everyone gushing about Leah's beauty while they're in a parking lot. Because of this crap I have to make a new chapter just to show Leah going into the high school. Oh god. I deserve to be shot. Please feel free. Why did I think this was a good idea? x_x