Disclaimer: Everything in the Twilight realm belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Not me.

Chapter Two – Eastwood Academy

Renesmee's Point of View

My father insisted on taking me to school the first day and every day after. He wouldn't let me drive. He wouldn't let me run. Bloody everything. I was technically sixteen, and I was fast. He could hear these irritations in my head of course, and therefore, decided to go into another round of "Let's-Remind-Renesmee-about-the-Rules."

"Renesmee."

Oh no. Here we go. Serious dad tone.

He ignored the thought and continued, "Vanessa Masen. Born May 5, 1995."

I continued his thought in my head, eyes rolling. My parents Carlisle and Esme Masen are away on extended post in Japan—and therefore I'm staying with my father's younger brother, the annoying, overbearing Edward Masen and his just as painfully parental new (by vampire standards, anyway) wife Isabella. La dee dah dee dah. I know this dad. Do you really have to walk me inside?

He shrugged and hopped out of the new Volvo and into the parking lot. "No one is going to believe I'm your father anyway, so I'm truly sorry if I don't feel devastated for ruining your coolness quotient."

I didn't even get a chance to explain my fears before they were realized. Three girls were at the edge of the lot, leaning against a shiny red beamer. They were gaping at my father.

Even though we were across the parking lot, we had no problem hearing it when the tall bottle-blond leaned over and half-whispered to her friends, "Abercrombie and fuh-uck me now." Her darker friend snickered but did not take her eyes off of my father. The paler, chestnut haired girl behind them simply looked embarrassed.

Thanks, dad. Yeah, great job bringing me to school. Ew. Dad, you see, this is why you really…

Before I could insert another insult, my father had jerked me forward at barely-human speed and was marching us both up the steps to the administration building.

Huh. They must have been thinking even worse things to have pulled this response out of him. His mouth tightened at my thought, before marching me into the office. I really hoped he wasn't rethinking the whole Nessie-goes-to-school thing. . .

He marched straight up to the front desk, and spoke brusquely. "Good afternoon, I'm Edward Masen. This is my niece Vanessa Masen. And this is her first day of school. She needs to be registered."

His irritation must have been seeping through, because the poor front desk lady just blubbered something that was not a word, and proceeded to drop the entire stack of papers she was carrying.

Great job, dad. Way to go vamp on her.

He gave me a stony look, and we both proceeded to gather the flying papers.

Let me handle this.

I grabbed the pile of papers from him before handing them to the woman. "Vanessa Masen?" I queried.

"Oh. Oh, yes, dear. So sorry. New student. Gotcha right here. Masen. Vanessa Masen." She did not move her gaze away from the line between me and her desk, purposefully avoiding my father's gaze. "Oh, yes. Right here. Your schedule. And everything else seems to have been taken care of. So here's your schedule, dear. And there's to be another student—oh, good! Right on time. Here's your welcome student. She has her first class with you. This is Abigail Walker."

The chestnut-haired girl from the parking lot had entered the room. She looked still looked embarrassed, but she had a warm smile on her face. "I'm Abby," she greeted. She smelled like strawberries with a tinge of pine.

"Nessa," I replied, surprising myself by how shy I sounded. I had already decided on Nessa. No teenage girl should be addressed as "Nessie" if they didn't have to be.

Then the lady at the desk called Abby over and I had a brief moment with my father.

"Are you going to be okay?"

I gave him a wry smile. Of course, dad.

He looked towards Abby. "She seems nice. Much better than those other young ladies. . ."

Don't worry, dad. I paused staring at his face. Oh, holy crow, you look like you're really upset.

"Hush." He put his fingers to my lips. "Just promise me you'll be safe and smart. Alice will be keeping an eye out—as best as she can, anyway."

"Sure. Sure." I said aloud as I turned back to the front desk.

He half smiled and half grimaced. He knew where that line came from.

Before following Abby out the door, I gave him a big hug, and followed her, knowing my father's agonized gaze was following me down the hall.

Class with Abby was really nice. She asked me a few questions on the way to class, before introducing me to the teacher, Ms. Carter, who assigned me a seat next to Abby.

I even liked the reading choices for my first class, Literature and Composition. They were all works in translation. I liked the authors: Tolstoy, Hugo, Kafka, and Borges dotted the list. Sure, I had read half of the book list, some in their original languages, but I had really enjoyed them, so I was rather sure that the rest of the selection by Ms. Carter would also be worthwhile.

In class they were discussing, So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba. It was a completely new experience to see how my classmates responded to the text. Very odd. Very human. The thought of anyone in my family betraying their beloved was completely foreign to me. Yet, I wasn't sure that my family was even normal. Domination was a set part of the vampire world. I thought of the Amin and his mate, who we had visited in Egypt. Amin was not happy to see us and still refused to touch me. Even if I was three feet higher than the last time he had seen me. Joy. And the empty relationship between Jasper and his former mate, Maria. I know I wasn't supposed to know about that, but I heard mom talking to Alice about it one night, and couldn't help but listen for a brief bit… Huh. I'm not sure it mattered though. No human man-thing could really control me. I could split him up and fold him into a pretzel, not to mention the whole draining him until his last drop part.

As we walked into our German class, I couldn't help but notice that the bottle-blond from the parking lot was sitting with her dark-haired pal in the desks in the back of the room. Ugh. Embarrassing. The blond spoke up first. "So, Abby, are you going to introduce us to Goldilocks, here?" She turned to me. "New girl. What's your name?"

I stopped, trying to decide whether being called Goldilocks was a compliment or rudeness to the extreme. Abby stepped in and introduced me. "Alyssa, May, this is Vanessa Masen."

I piped up then, "Nice to meet you. Please call me Nessa."

They gave me a very strange look. Odd. Like they were trying to assess me.

The darker one leaned forward. Her scent caught me. She smelled like plumb blossom and limestone. "I'm May Li. This is Alyssa Bernard. And pleeeeazzzze tell me. Is that shirt Seb Lam? And second, was that sexy man who walked you in your boyfriend."

"Uh, as far as the shirt goes, I'd have to check the label. My aunt bought it. And my lovely uncle is happily married."

Alyssa, the dyed blond, raised her eyebrow as if to say, Oh, really? before continuing, "We thought you looked related. Same hair color, facial features. I would have thought you'd had a really good colorist, but then you both had the exact same hair—like one of those colorized 1950's flicks, where all the women have brilliant bronze hair and ruby lips. Hmm. I'm not sure that even my colorist could really mimic that—especially with curls. Very fucking pretty." She flashed me a very full smile.

"Hmmmm… Abigail, do you think Nessa should join us for lunch?"

"Yeah. I already invited her."

Alyssa smiled up at me from her desk, while twirling her hair. "Oh, how thoughtful. Well, we'll see you at lunch then."

Then, Mr. Kern marched in yelling out instructions as he walked to the front of the room.

Abby walked me to lunch with Alyssa and May Li. "Nessa, how are you enjoying your first day so far?"

"It's really good. Eastwood is great."

I couldn't help but notice May Li snort in the background. She smiled and added, "Well, except the total absence of all things male."

"Well, to be honest," I responded, "I'm not sure my father was keen on sending me anywhere Y-chromosomes might be present. He's a little ridiculous."

"Yours, too?" Abby chuckled. "I think mine is hoping I'll 'git me to a nunnery.'"

I laughed in response.

I followed them to the lunch line, and I gazed about looking for anything that was remotely appetizing. I had promised my parents to eat human food, which I did on my own on occasion—like the time Jake challenged me to an all-you-can-eat steak challenge. Rare steaks, of course. Jake beat me, but then again, I think if I'd eaten anymore, the entire restaurant would have signed a collective petition to have me hospitalized. Jake had been so funny, then. Jake. Crap. Don't think about it.

I picked up something that resembled pasta and added extra meat balls. At least I wouldn't want to gag on those. I had barely sat down when I noticed May Li not sitting down but standing behind me. She pushed my mass of curls around my shoulder and pulled on my shirt's tag.

"Seb Lam. SEB. LAM. Not a knock-off. I knew I saw this shirt on the fashion week site." She started squealing.

Oh dear. This was as bad as Alice.

"My aunt picked it out—she's a bit fashion obsessed."

It seemed like May Li had not heard a word I said. "Nessa. You're wearing art. How much did that cost? How did you even get it? They aren't even filling orders yet. Are you sure it's not…"

She paused and started examining my shirt more closely. "No its hand-stitched here, exquisitely hand-stitched." She paused again, taking a long breath, her nostrils flaring. "Nessa, you smell really nice. Floral. Mmm." She leaned in closer to me, smelling, her hands pulling on my shirt's tag.

"My God, May Li," Alyssa cut in. "Please stop trying to pull off Nessa's clothes. I don't care whether it's because you covet her shirt or her yumminess. She doesn't seem to want you to strip her publicly, and the lack of males at this school should not be driving you to assault the new girl."

May Li pinkened. I knew I looked confused. Abby chuckled.

May Li sat down next to me, grabbing my hands. I jerked slightly, so she just caught my fingers.

"Sorry, Nessa. I didn't mean anything by it. It's a really beautiful shirt, and you look really perfect in it." She flushed again. I'm not sure she had meant to say all of that.

Alyssa was clearly annoyed with the conversation, so she finally cut in. "Abby, I'm still waiting to spill about your date this weekend."

Abby smiled softly and proceeded to tell us her impression of Brandon, a senior at St. Mark's.

I smiled and listened in. This was really nice. No dad listening in. No vampire blood sucking. Just human stuff.

Might as well play my role. I forked a meatball and took a bite. I almost spit it out. Garlic. Nauseating. I would really need to go hunting tonight.

Rosalie picked me up after school, and I couldn't help but notice an overly curious Alyssa peeking in our direction as I hopped in the car. When she saw Rose, she looked somewhat disgruntled. Hah. That was funny.

As we were driving away, Rose noticed my expression. "What's up?" she asked, before giving the car a rev. One of the best things about Rose, she really knew how to work a car.

"I think she was hoping my uncle would be here to pick me."

Rose didn't miss a beat. "It happens to all of us dear. Nessie, it's not like you haven't been getting those looks since the summer began." She affectionately brushed the top of my nose and one of my corkscrews with her fingertips. "My beautiful little goddaughter, turning into a beautiful young woman." She sighed, and then perked up. "So, got any hot male teachers?"

I immediately blushed. "Auuuuunnt Rose…"

"Oh, come on, Nessie. Edward is not hovering over your every thought at the moment, so you can feel free to be perfectly open with me."

"Well, we'll see about tomorrow. I think I saw two men the entire day, one of them was my fifty-year old, bald German teacher and the other was a prune-faced priest, so I think my dad will be happy."

"Yes, do tell him. It'll cheer him. He's been misery the entire day with you gone. Pacing. Fretting."

"Ah, yes, the usual."

"Exactly." She chimed. "Well, don't worry Nessie. You won't be alone on Christmas. Guess who is coming?"

I patted her cheek, and the image flashed into her mind. Jacob.

"Ugh. Yes, the dog is coming. But I was talking about a being without the stink."

"Who?"

"Nahuel and Estela, and the Amazons, too."

"Oh, good! I haven't seen them in ages, especially Zafrina."

"Ah, yes, two years, quite long age."

"I was at least a foot shorter."

"Yes, and you didn't have those lovely curves, then, either. I wonder how Nahuel will respond to those. He isn't named after a jungle cat for nothing…"

I smacked her arm and let the image of my outrage seep into her mind.

Rosalie laughed.