I was the picture of nonchalance as I leaned back at my lab table with earbuds in and the music blaring from my mp3 player. No one sat next to me, my "don't even think about it" stare was down to an art after all these years of avoidance. Add that to people's natural aversion to us, and they were easily swayed. Anytime someone made a move to sit next to me who wasn't in my family, they got the same treatment. I had no patience for people who thought they were "brave" for approaching me or pitying looks at the "damaged" Cullen. So I played it cool and calm, and only applied my vitriol stare as needed. By now, people had learned to give me my space. It was easier to maintain the uncaring facade that way. No one who looked at me now would think I was anything but bored.
I couldn't mask my emotions from myself, though. Just then my eyes were glued to the door, waiting for the two small girls to appear so I could put this madness to rest. No one had to be the wiser.
I would hear Bella's thoughts, they would be mundane like everyone else, and I could go about my day like this had never happened. Everything would be fine. But the seconds kept ticking by, and I grew nervous that neither of them would show. My leg bounced in agitation and I started to panic that maybe I had misheard Alice.
By the time Alice and Bella actually arrived, the rest of the seats in the classroom were full except for the one directly in front of me, and the seat at my table. I was also about ready to start pacing with my need for answers. People watched me and the latest arrivals eagerly, wondering if there was going to be some kind of showdown.
Everyone knew to leave Edward Cullen the fuck alone.
Alice took the seat in front of me, smiling apologetically at her cousin as she was forced to share my table. Her thoughts were both contrite and relieved that she wasn't the one who wold face my ire, if it came to that.
Bella sat down next to me, looking shy but determined. Up close I could see she had a soft heart shape face, full pink lips, and a smattering of freckles along the bridge of her nose. It didn't even look like she was wearing chapstick. After seeing so many girls apply layer upon layer of goddamn paint to their faces, it was almost refreshing to see bare skin. Bella was prettier than my initial assessment, and I felt my "fuck off" mask slipping for just a moment as she turned and smiled at me nervously.
Remembering why I was allowing my space to be invaded, I didn't return the smile and focused where her thoughts should be as I oh-so-casually pocketed my mp3 player. It felt like my reaching mental threads ran into a building. I could tell where her thoughts SHOULD be, but something was keeping them guarded and hidden from me. Brows furrowing, I pushed hard enough to make my head scream in agony, but there was nothing. And once again, the more I focused on her silence, the less I could hear of the mental voices around me. After a long moment it sounded like I was hearing them from far away, or maybe underwater.
"Hi, I'm Bella Swan. New girl, and I guess...your lab partner. It's Edward, right?" It would have been easy to miss her soft alto voice as she extended a small pale hand in my direction. I nearly just glared at it and turned away, distraught by her resistance to my talent, but then I wondered if maybe touching her would help. I had never needed physical contact before, but who knew?
Desperate times and all that crap.
I grabbed her hand in mine and drew in a sharp breath at the hum of electricity than ran through me at the contact. My skin felt alive and thrumming with some unknown energy I had never felt before. Mercifully I recovered before my features could give me away, and I stared into her wide brown eyes as I reached out for her mind again.
This time, it wasn't just her I couldn't hear. Whatever silence surrounded her mind seemed to have blanketed me as well, and the world was blissfully...empty. Not a single thought was present aside from my own.
Retracting my hand sharply I turned to scowl at the tabletop.
What was this infuriating girl?
I was torn between fear, anger at her doe-eyed destruction of everything I knew, and the desire to glue her to my side so I could embrace the silence she seemingly carried with her. As soon as I had released her from my grip, the voices came flooding back in and I sighed. For a brief second I had felt...normalcy.
Like a junkie getting a hit, I immediately knew I would want more. But I couldn't hear her, couldn't know what she was thinking, and that was terrifying and dangerous for me and my family. So when she pushed the syllabus at me gently, I did the only thing I could think of. I glared at her with as much hate as I could muster.
She drew in an unsteady frightened breath and her face turned a delicate shade of red as she focused on the paper in front of her, shaking her hair to hide her face from me.
Immediately I felt relieved, and like utter shit.
This slip of a girl didn't know how much damage she could do, and here I was being a complete asshat on her first day in a new school.
My next thought chilled me to the bone.
What if she did know and was just toying with me? Perhaps I had finally been found and she was the first spy. Everything about her seemed so non-threatening...but that would be the perfect cover, right?
My mind deliberated back and forth, the rage on my face never lessening the entire hour. As I stared straight ahead, I caught Alice looking back at Bella and I with a disconcerted expression on her face. Guards back up, I blocked out her internal voice, not really giving a shit if she was upset I wasn't making nice with her cousin. If that's even who she still was.
The bell rang and I practically sprinted for the door, needing to get some space and perspective. It took less than a second to decide to ditch the last class of the day, as I saw Bella walking in the direction of the gym from her locker. No way was I sharing another class with her. Shoving my books haphazardly into my own tiny metal cubicle, I shut the door and made a mad dash from the nearest exit to my car. The rain pelted down against the windshield fitfully and I turned on the c.d. player in an effort to calm my jumbled thoughts. The strains of Chopin that drifted from my speakers failed to settle me like they usually did. I felt like a caged animal.
Through the rain I saw a small black and red figure moving in the direction of my car. Someone else had obviously decided to ditch last period. They made their way towards the parking lot, moving closer and closer to my small refuge. It wasn't until my passenger door opened without so much as a knock that I could discern who the figure was, and that they were out here for me.
Alice
Slipping into the passenger seat silently, she adjusted the hem of her red trench coat and fluffed her short hair, turning the vents to warm her. In complete open-mouthed shock, all I could do was stare as she made herself right at home in my car. Hands clasped primly in her lap, Alice finally turned to face me. I let down my guard and reached for her mind, prepared for an onslaught of bitchiness about being mean to her family member. Before I could dig, she gathered her courage and spoke.
"You need to stay away from Bella." Alice's tinkling little voice didn't match the severity of her tone, but the words were expected. If only she knew that I intended to avoid Bella Swan as much as possible already. She was an enigma, a possible threat, and I hated her for it. No overprotective pixie-bitch needed to boss me around. I narrowed my eyes at Alice and sneered, letting her know exactly what I thought of her coming out here to issue edicts.
Who the hell does she think she is?
Prying into her mind again, I expected more rebuffs, but instead I found fear. Undefined but all-encompassing fear about what would happen if I didn't "stay away." Sitting back and blinking rapidly, I watched that same fear crumple Alice's small face into pain.
"Please, Edward. I know we don't really know each other, and you have no reason to believe me, but I just...have this feeling. Something really really bad is going to happen if you don't leave my cousin alone." And with that, she opened the door and stepped out of the car before pivoting to face me again. Leaning against the frame her eyes turned wide and beseeching. "I love her, but if you have to make her hate you so she stays away too, do it." She shut the door with a soft click and hurried off back towards the school building, leaving me utterly dumbfounded in her wake.
So now apparently I not only had mystery-girl Bella who could resist my ability and was possibly here to find me; Alice fancied herself some kind of fucking psychic.
Wonderful. What else could go wrong?
I barely noticed when the period ended and my family joined me in the Volvo.
What is goin' on with you today? And don't try and play it off as nothin'.
Jasper's pointed thought hit me as soon as his ass was in the seat Alice had occupied minutes before. Sighing, I signed the only thing I could to sum up my migraine inducing day.
The new girl is trouble. I can't hear her at all.
"Dude, that's never happened before, right?" Emmett asked nervously from the back seat. I glared at him in the rear view mirror and shook my head. It was at that moment that the wretched person in question walked out the double doors of the school, arm in arm with Alice. Without even pausing, I flung the car in reverse and peeled out of the school parking lot, leaving a trail of angry horns blaring in my wake.
Fuck 'em. I needed out.
"We should tell Carlisle." Jasper stated matter-of-factly and I nodded. Rosalie scoffed from the back seat, irritated that I was once again rocking the boat in her little world. Pulling out his cell phone, Jasper dialed the hospital and waited to be connected to Carlisle's office as the tiny town sped by. I was going way too fast, but no cops were on the road and I had to get as much space between Bella Swan and myself as possible. Finally Jasper cleared his throat.
"Carlisle, it's me. You need to come home. No, we might have a serious problem and the whole family should be there to discuss it. No, o' course nobody did anything reckless. Yeah, alright, see ya at the house." He ended the call and nodded at me before I took the turn sharply onto our heavily wooded drive.
We twisted and turned our way through the trees until I came to a screeching halt in front of the garage. Our motley crew trekked inside, dropping backpacks by the door and sitting at the dark wood dining room table quietly. Emmett looked amused with just a hint of nerves, Rosalie wore her usual "how is this going to affect me" bitch-face, and Jasper seemed resolved. I was going to look like a total idiot, whining about one small girl, but we couldn't afford to take chances. Not when so much rested on so little.
Carlisle and Esme pulled up at almost the exact same moment, four sets of tires crunching on the uneven gravel. Cracking my knuckles nervously, I waited for them to walk inside, steadying my breathing slightly.
Esme walked in first and hugged each of her "children", her impeccably styled caramel hair tucked away neatly from her light green scrubs. She sat at the right of the head of the table, waiting for Carlisle to take his official seat as family leader. Not a moment later he claimed that chair, kind blue eyes fitting with the goodness that radiated from his being. Loosening his tie he sat back and folded his arms, glancing at each of us in turn.
"Tell me." No judgment or condescension colored his words, merely authority and curiosity, so I took a deep breath and started signing rapid-fire. I spilled my proverbial guts about everything that happened, right up to when Alice Brandon got into my car. Jasper's face darkened, thinking I had somehow gotten her involved in this, and I shot him a heavy dose of annoyance.
She came to me. I signed at him directly and he nodded, but was still stewing. The rest of the family thoughts were shocked and concerned. As usual, Carlisle was the first to recover.
"I believe it would be in all of our best interests to stay clear of the Swan girl. As for your theory about her being a scout, I understand your concerns Edward. However, Chief Swan has been talking about his daughter since we moved here two years ago, and was particularly excited when she decided to move to Forks after her mother remarried this summer. Now that doesn't mean she hasn't been compromised, so I recommend taking a short trip up north for a few days. Camp out, and lay low. If she is here for you, she should depart to make her report as soon as she realizes you are not in school and we shall have our answer. Other than that, I see no cause for rash action. Observation and avoidance are going to be our safest bets as well as making sure we are prepared in the event that we need to move."
"But Alice..." Jasper began and Carlisle silenced him with a look.
"She is not part of this family, and we will not put all of us at risk of exposure simply because she might be involved."
Pushing his chair back, Jasper left the room angrily, a trail of resentment in his wake. We all shook it off and I turned to Carlisle.
When should I leave? I signed, hating being chased out of town by the fear and suspicion we lived in.
"Right away would be best. I'll make the call to the school." He replied calmly, tossing me the keys to the Aston Martin. Nodding, I stood to kiss Esme on the cheek, before sprinting up the stairs to my third floor bedroom. I packed clothes and my sleeping bag without much thought, grabbed a toothbrush and some toothpaste, and was out in the garage in minutes to retrieve a tent.
Good thing we kept this stuff ready to go.
The car started with it's trademark purr, and I couldn't help smiling slightly as I backed it out of the garage. My makeshift family was on the front steps to see me off. Waving from the front seat, I mentally promised myself that I would do whatever it took to make this blow over. For now it was just a week of waiting, and I could live with that.
But as I sped off down the driveway, Bella Swan's hurt and frightened face flashed before my eyes. I swallowed thickly and maneuvered out onto the main rode, telling myself over and over that she was to blame for all of this. Even as I thought it, though, I knew better.
Even if she was a spy, she wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me.
***A/N: Now we're starting to get a few details, eh? Reviews are welcome, of course. Chapter 3 probably won't be up tomorrow, but it should definitely be posted by Sunday. Happy Friday everyone!***