It's long! I'm happy! You should be too! I wrote this instead of working on a science project, so you better feel grateful! Ha, just kidding, in fact, I probably would've been fine working on basically anything instead of my science project. Circulatory system model? Blah. I hope you like it, I kind of do (she says, oh so humbly). Enjoy! :)

PS: tomorrow's Monday, so I probably won't be able to write much over the next few days. Luckily it's only a four day week for me, but un-luckily, I have exams! *gasp* So sorry if I don't update for a while! Having only one story to concentrate on seems so easy, I feel so guilty, haha. OK, BYE!

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to Stephanie Meyer. Barrack's how I roll. HA! Sorry, just had to fit it in somewhere! =P

"So, do you have fangs?" I asked Alice, laughing a little but still being completely serious at the same time.

It had been about an hour since I'd found out that the Cullens were vampires, and I guess you could say that I was taking it a lot better than most people would. Maybe it was because I could read minds, so I knew that they weren't joking, or just because I could read minds, and so I knew that crazy things like this had to be possible.

Whatever it was, now that I knew, I felt a lot more at ease around them, particularly Alice. That's probably the opposite of how most people would deal with it—being closer with people once you know that they're vampires—but what can I say, I guess I wasn't quite a normal kind of person. We were even joking about it.

"Oh yeah, and believe me, it's murder trying to find a good dentist," she said, laughing a little darkly. She was looking through a stack of movies that had been stored in a small cabinet under their television. It really didn't seem like they watched any TV, or any of the movies much, and I couldn't blame them. I guess if I were a vampire, I wouldn't either. They were all corny horror flicks though, the kind that I really like, and I guess so did Bella.

Alice jammed an old VHS tape into the machine and turned on the television. She tossed the case aside, and I picked it up while she took a seat next to Bella on the couch we were all sitting on.

"Dracular-Spectacular" the title read in bold flashy printing. I laughed, just reading it and looking at the heavily made up man with pale skin and wide eyes, holding a cape up to shield his eyes—posing as a vampire.

"So at school, do you eat lunch? Do you even bring food or anything? Or just tomato juice cans that you mysteriously refuse to share with anyone," I said, glad that I could now speak so easily around them all. Well, most of them.

Alice was grinning, and I could tell that she was definitely the kind of person that I'd want to be friends with. Jasper was there too, although his face was blank. From what I'd been told about his special gift though, I had basically seen that coming.

Edward and I—because of his gift, and mine, which he'd told everyone about (and luckily they accepted me for it)—seemed to be kind of stuck with each other, and even Emmett, whose thoughts I'd been careful to avoid, seemed to be pretty nice.

Rosalie, however, had disappeared almost as soon as I'd been told, and Carlisle and Esme had followed soon afterwards, trying to get her to calm down. That was okay with me though. As much as I wanted Rosalie to like me, or at least to accept me, I was used to people treating me more like she had.

"Before you even ask, yes, I can turn into a bat. But I save that one for special occasions," Alice said, laughing lightly. Her laugh sounded like a symphony—all of theirs did. It made me wonder just how amazing it must be to be a vampire…

Edward's eyes widened slightly, and shot me a pointed look. It's definitely not all that you might think it is.

Bella glanced quickly from him to me, and murmured, "Did I miss something?"

"No, of course not Bella, love. I think it's time for Juliet to go home no though, don't you? It's almost nine and there's school tomorrow."

He sounded almost like an adult, or a mom, but I knew that he was telling the truth. I hadn't made it through my first day even with a good night's sleep. I saw that Bella knew that he was right, too. Her face softened slightly as they stared at each other, and I rolled my eyes a little, but said nothing.

Alice cleared her throat lightly, clearly used to the two of them being sickeningly in love. Then again, she had Jasper, so there wasn't much that could be said for her either. "I'll drive Juliet home," she said, perking up instantly as soon as the though popped into her mind. That's partly what I liked about Alice—she shared most of her thoughts with the rest of the world, because most of her thoughts were kind, and exciting. She wasn't the kind of person who thought about people one way, and treated them another. She wasn't like me, I guess.

You shouldn't think like that, Edward thought. It's not true, you know.

I rolled my eyes, even though I would've liked to think that he was telling the truth. Why don't you go back to staring at Bella?

A smirk crept onto his face, but other than that he ignored me. "We'll see you at school tomorrow!" Bella said, smiling. Everyone else said some form of 'good-bye' while I slipped on my boots and jacket.

Alice had disappeared, but by the time I got outside I saw her, dressed in a cropped jacket and a pair of flats as well as her other clothes (which I hadn't really noticed before—she was wearing a blue-silver dress that looked a little short to me, but she looked perfectly comfortable in it). Actually, she looked like she'd be really cold, given that it was still raining a little, but I guess that wouldn't matter to a vampire.

As soon as I was in the car—it was a flashy sports car. Definitely not what you'd expect to see in Forks—I buckled up my seat belt, and as soon as Alice started driving, I was glad that I had.

We arrived at my aunt's house faster than I'd ever thought humanly possible. Ha, humanly possible. I crack myself up. If only Edward was here, of course he'd appreciate my hilarity.

I rolled my eyes at my own stupid thoughts, and let myself out of the car. My legs were actually a little wobbly as I tried to make my way over to the door. "What can I say," Alice said, grinning, "I don't like to go slow."

Then she developed a very strange look, almost like she was seeing something that I couldn't, something that wasn't there. I tried to follow her gaze, and saw that she was staring with her weirdly empty eyes at the side of Aunt Joan's house. Actually, come to think of it, she was staring right at my window…

Oh! I suddenly remembered what I'd been told about Alice's gift. She could see the future. But what did that have to do with my window…?

"Alice?" I said, shaking her arm a little. She was really starting to freak me out. "Alice, are you okay? What do you see?"

She was quiet for a few more minutes, and for some reason I couldn't help but wonder if she was broken. Not broken like, insane, but rather broken like a child might brake a toy. For some reason her small frame and pale skin reminded me a lot of a doll—she seemed really fragile.

Oh come on. You're just like Bella. Believe me, Alice is fine, and she can look after herself. That was Edward. It was amazing that he could access my mind from so far away, but I wasn't really all that surprised.

I tried to calm down, and a few moments later Alice took a deep breath, and shook her head. "You okay, Alice?" I asked her a little shakily.

She nodded, and said, "I'm fine," although she didn't seem quite as—dare I say it—'perky' as she had earlier.

"Alice, what did you see?" I asked a little hesitantly, not knowing for sure if I really wanted to know what she had seen.

She was silent for a moment, which really freaked me out, but then she turned to me and smiled—although I couldn't help but notice that it was a little shaky. "Oh, n-nothing," she stuttered. I was hanging on her every word, or more like her every mistake, trying to figure out what was going on. "I really have to get back to ask Carlisle about something."

She looked from me, to the house quickly, and then made a motion for me to wait where I was. She walked over to my aunt's house and was back a few minutes later. I didn't even begin to wonder where she'd gone, or what she'd done.

She walked back around and opened her car door, slipping in. Whether she forgot about my gift, or just didn't really care, I could distinctly hear her thinking, Ugh, I don't know what to do! Why do those stupid dogs have to pick tonight to show up?

I jerked my head away, not even really realizing that it had been inclined before. I really hoped that by 'dogs' she meant, literally, dogs. A few adorable puppies storming the house just before midnight might actually be a little fun. I was pretty sure that that wasn't what she'd been talking about.

Before I could think to ask her about it, Alice had zoomed out of the drive-way just as fast as she'd driven here, leaving me to open the door and walk in, still slightly scared.

There was a note sitting on the coffee table when I got into the living room, looking for Aunt Joan. My boots were sitting by the door, and I neatly folding the coat and put it away before picking up the piece of Hello Kitty stationary and examining it.

Hey Juliet,

I hope you had an amazing time, I'm sure that you did. Sorry that I'm not awake—and sorry about the paper! It's the only thing I could find!—but I have an early morning tomorrow. Go to school if you feel up to it. If not, I'll see you at lunch. Have a good sleep, darling!

—Joan

I smiled. I guess after all that had happened, I was pretty lucky to end up with someone like Aunt Joan. I took the note and stuffed it in my pocket before making my way up to my room.

For some reason, after having been at the Cullen's, I was really glad of everything that I had… maybe it was because virtually all of their families—well, their blood families—were dead. It made me feel a little sad to think of them that way, and a lot sad to think of myself that way, so I tried to drag my thoughts away from it.

Aunt Joan was sleeping alone in her bed. She wasn't dreaming about anything in particular, but rather a lot of flashing images. It hurt my head to try and focus on, so I turned to my dresser to grab some pyjamas.

I didn't really know what Aunt Joan did for work, and thus why she needed to come in for an 'early morning'. I would have to ask her about that some time… I'd also have to ask her about where Uncle Mortimer was—although I felt a little bad making her talk about it. For some reason he didn't really seem like the best subject.

I sighed, and took a book off of my shelf at random. I hadn't had much packing room for my extensive book collection, so I'd basically only brought my favourite to America with me, all of which I'd read several times. I would also have to ask Aunt Joan if she knew of any good bookstores nearby.

It was the first Harry Potter book. Admittedly, maybe I was getting a bit old to still enjoy Harry Potter as much as I did, but I couldn't help it. I cracked open the book to the beginning, and started reading.

I had gotten up to the point where Harry was sorted into Gryffindor when I fell asleep. It was some time later—well, actually 1:26 AM, I checked my alarm clock—when I woke up. The book was still laying open on my stomach, so I picked it up, closed it, put it on the shelf, and rubbed my eyes, wondering why I'd woken up in the first place.

Normally I was a very sound sleeper. It was the only time that I could really get away from everyone else's thoughts, so I liked to savour it. Or, at least, I had in the few years that I actually listened to their thoughts. This time, however, I couldn't come up with any reason.

That was before I heard the footsteps.

It was just like the beginning of a horror movie. You know, the part where our young, helpless, and incredibly naïve heroine just has to go see what the cause of the mysterious footsteps is, and then gets eaten by a giant squid? It's always the same plot. Ha.

Anyways, that's what I was thinking about as I got out of my bed and slowly made my way over to my window from where most of the sound was coming. If what I was hearing was correct, they were just walking up to my window, and then…

"Ow! What the hell! Who put that rake there?" someone exclaimed. I smirked despite myself, good job, Alice.

"Shut up, Jake, you're going to wake up Juliet," replied someone else. Oh god, I thought, they know my name!

OK, Edward, I haven't really been too happy about you reading my thoughts before now, but now I would seriously appreciate some help! I thought at the top of my lungs. Yeah, it's just as weird as it sounds.

No reply.

"Oh, I'll wake up Juliet? Sorry if your girlfriend doesn't get her beauty sleep," responded the first voice, and I could practically hear their eyes rolling. Okay, I sighed a little, at least they clearly weren't professionals. That was good.

"She's not my girlfriend!" exclaimed the one who'd replied earlier. I recognized that voice… Seth! Why was he here though?

My fear started ebbing, and I focused instead on listening to what they were saying. "Seriously, Jake, even if she had a meeting with the Cullens, we don't know if she's one of them," said a new voice.

Jake…? Hadn't Bella mentioned something about somebody named Jake earlier this evening? I couldn't remember, although it did sound familiar.

"Well, we should at least make sure," I was beginning to recognize their voices now. That was 'Jake', and there was also Seth and the other boy. By the sound of their voices, they didn't sound much older than me, but I couldn't be sure.

When no one objected, and I didn't hear anything for a little while, I quietly picked up an umbrella. I didn't even know what it was doing there, but anything that might work as a weapon was good by me. I also grabbed a flashlight.

If these people thought that the Cullens were at all a threat, then they probably knew about them being vampires—or they were just jealous of Alice's crazy fashion sense. Yeah, I'm so sure that's it—which seemed a little weird, as Carlisle had said that they didn't want anyone else to know.

Because they were just below my window, I crawled across the floor so that I wouldn't be seen. Just because Seth was with them, didn't mean they were good. After all, I didn't even know Seth that well…

Should we go through the window? Or around to the door? Jake really should've thought this out better. And it's not even raining! Nothing to cover up our footsteps. Man, some real planning must've gone into this.

---

Damn it! I hope she doesn't wake up! I don't really want to be here. That's stupid though, I was the one who arranged this—well, technically Sam I guess, but who give's a crap?—that's right, you idiot. You want to see her, to see if she's a leech, but you don't want to see her eyes, because you're afraid that you might imprint on every girl you see, aren't you?

---

Oh man, it's cold. I can usually deal with the cold with the whole werewolf thing going on, but tonight… I dunno, it just seems weird. When I met her I could tell she wasn't a vampire, but not many humans get meetings with the Cullens…

---

There thoughts flooded my mind as soon as I focused on them. At least I could tell that there were only three of them, that was a little comforting, but not much. If they were all as big and muscular as Seth, then I still didn't stand a chance—not even with my trusty umbrella.

The first person seemed to be mainly concerned with what they were doing, and that was good, in a way, because at least now I knew that they didn't have that great a plan. I didn't even really want to try and figure out what was going on in the second person's head. Imprint? What was that about?

The last person, Seth, was whose thoughts I focussed on, because he'd said something that really made me wonder. Werewolf? I knew those only existed in books and stories.

I tried to close my mind before I could hear anymore, and snuck out of my room. I made my way quickly and quietly down the stairs, silently thanking my parents for making me go to dance class for a month when I was little, as it had taught me how to walk very quietly. I was out the door before I even truly knew what I was doing, and rounding the corner, coming up to my window where they'd surely be…

Although I couldn't hear much, I could make out their three shapes in the darkness, and decided that surprise was the only advantage I was going to get. I took this to heart, took a deep breath, and clicked the flashlight on, shining it in their eyes.

"Ah! What the hell!" one exclaimed as they all recoiled, temporarily blinded by the sudden change in light.

I quickly took note of what I was up against, the umbrella held steadily in my right hand. I knew this definitely wasn't what you were supposed to do in the event of a home invasion, but I didn't exactly care.

They were all big, and all strong looking, just as I'd feared. The one in the center who had been swearing was the biggest. His voice clicked in my mind—he was 'Jake'. Next to him was Seth, who was now looking at me with a certain recognition, and the third boy had his mouth open.

I looked at myself, for the first time realizing that I was wearing a tight tank top that was basically see through in what little rain was still coming down, giving him a nice view of my black bra, and shorts that were far shorter than anything I'd consider wearing in public. They had originally seemed like comfortable things to wear, but now I was blushing.

"J-Juliet?" Seth managed to stammer while the other two stood basically still. I realized that it wasn't just my clothes, but probably the fact that I was wielding an umbrella above my head like an axe.

I remember his thoughts from earlier, and realized something horribly obvious. Werewolves only existed in stories and books, just like vampires.

…it was about then that all three of them burst out laughing.