Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight Stephenie Meyer does, however I do own any original concepts which arise in this. I do not own Brie Gwin De Luca however; she belongs to my close friend, and the incredible, frostfur72, and so give her all credit please guys!
A/N: Here we are on Chapter 3 and it's in Nelle's POV again, with the upcoming one to be in Rhett's again. This chapter happens on a Friday and reveals some important factors to my story I must explain to you, my readers. First of all, this isn't set in either the book or film universe, its set in a mixture between the two which you'll notice due to several choices I make whilst writing. Second of all, this is the first chapter in which Rhett and Nelle interact but he acts a little strange and do not worry, I am not going to rush any of the romance involved because that might dampen the story. And thirdly, and most importantly, Bree Tanner isn't dead in my fanfic! Call it set in a 'paradox/what if universe' because she didn't die after the confrontation but the next chapter is going to explain this in much more detail so you'll understand it better. I loved Bree so much and thought to myself, why don't I make it so she survived? To be fair, I only decided whilst writing this chapter, so that's why she wasn't mentioned in the former one but she is in this one, I did not accidentally have a continuity error this time luckily. R & R please, thank you!
Beautiful. That was the first thing that came to mind when I was presented with the rest of Nora Wise's family, whom either shared her surname or were Fuller. I was surprised when Nora, one of our schools' infamous new students was placed next to me in Spanish, and then decided that she wanted to become my friend and began talking to me, but her family shocked me even more. Firstly, I've never been key social butterfly material; like everyone else, I've wished to be more popular, but never achieved it; and secondly and possibly most importantly, was the friendliness of Nora which shocked me. Most people when their new are attracted to those with bursting friendliness and personality, people such as Hannah Lambert, Anna Guerra or Lydia Wong; not people like me who prefer to fade into the background. But Nora Wise, one of our new students, began talking to me as if we were best friends.
And then, when the bell had rung, she insisted on introducing me to her rather large, extensive adoptive family, including her adoptive brother and boyfriend, Damon. When she first told me that, I was a little bemused, but slowly adjusted to it as I led her down to our school's cafeteria. She told me she had siblings in our year, two, but neither of them had been in my four previous classes, and I had my last period after lunch, History. According to her, after I showed her my timetable, her brother Rhett would be in that class, and I wasn't too sure what to think after she led me over to the table. He'd taken Double History, she'd told me, whilst I'd only taken singular, which explained why he was only in one of my classes for the subject.
Vanessa had given me a strange look from the seat at our usual lunch table when she saw me with one of the new students, approaching the table they'd chosen but it wasn't a jealous or rude look, it was one of curiosity which made her border lining amber eyes glimmer. As she'd walked me over, Nora's impossibly long hair the colour of copper had waved slightly, bobbing with each step she took from her meagre 5'0" height which made me feel a lot taller. Till I met Damon. Nora, similarly to the way he must've, had immediately caught the entire of our Spanish classes attention the second she stepped into the small room. Her skin was a ghastly, white sheet colour which made me question if she was down with flu, but when she spoke it was crystal clear she wasn't; her face was rounded with dimples in her smile, and her eyes were an unusual golden colour I'd never seen before, but like her emerald coloured blazer, they made a pretty contrast with her copper coloured river of hair which was reaching her thighs. Her nose was snubbed and made her seem cuter and slightly younger than everyone else in the class, going well with her filled out lips which parted into a sunny smile, the sunniest I'd ever seen, when she walked in. And her voice had the thickest Irish accent I'd ever heard, although it was the first I'd ever heard in person.
I'd assumed no-one could top her eye-catching, stunning appearance, but the rest of her family seemed to match her on open ground of astounding beauty and wonder. Something almost inhuman about the five of them put together. Damon sat nearest to where we were standing, and the height difference between him and Nora borderlined comedic it was so stunning; whilst she stood at a small, unimpressive 5'0", he towered over the rest of the student body at an impossibly tall 6'7", an entire foot and one inch taller than myself. He was of Hispanic origin, his skin possessing that lovely olive hue, with a face made of almost entirely straight lines and sharp edges, with prominent features, but soft, smooth lips curved into a smile just as curious as the look in Vanessa's eyes. His hair was cut short and curling at the ends, the colour of raven feathers, and showed off the silver pieces of metal embedded into his ears. He was dressed in an old, tattered looking grey t-shirt which was such a dark shade it almost borderlined the colour black, an expensive, but strangely plain silver pendent hung around his neck and brushing against the collar of the t-shirt, whilst fully black jeans which flared outwards at then ends coated his long, muscular legs which seemed to stretch on for miles.
My eyes drifted across the table to the two who were sitting on the opposite side, and clearly the most beautiful to look at. Nora had mentioned their names as Leon and Brie, with the former being her older brother, although he'd apparently took after their dad more and I could tell. His facial features were sharp where her's were soft, but perfect in the midst of his lean, sculpted face which was outlined with a crop of short, treacle blonde hair, cut above his ears just like Damon's was. He stood at 6'2" and was leaning back into his chair, his long, papery white arms a couple shades darker than Nora's own, were resting on the back of his head, so he was clearly more comfortable. He had a deep grey-green hoodie, partly covering the night sky black t-shirt with the Five Finger Death Punch band logo covering the centre, and greyish coloured jeans with blackish-blue bovver boots; kinda like the punk look but he had his own flair about it. Everything about him seemed defined and he was that 'bad-boy' sort of attractive which a lot of high school girls are attracted to, although he didn't seem to have that cocky, brash nature about him which most typical 'bad-boys' are. His golden eyes, just like all the others I'd noticed, blazed hypnotically within his beautiful face, matching his amused, intelligent grin.
For a second I thought he was the most beautiful, til I looked a little to my right and saw Brie, making my entire perception of that change. Her face was heart-shaped, with rose petal lips, and a light pink blush peppering her cheeks, with her long, slim nose improving her perfect facial balance and her skin was a creamy colour, a light, delicate white shade which didn't make her look ill like Brie or ghostly like Leon, but made her look like a storybook faerie, or maybe even a faerie princess. Her perfect face was outlined with a rolling waterfall of lush; smooth waves the colour of fudge chocolate which stopped just a few cm's above her waistline. I placed her height at about 5'8", and her clothes were equally as perfectly chosen as her features had been by whoever created her. Again, her eyes were golden and looked slightly honeycomb when compared to her beautiful hair which rolled down her back, and I instantly envied her. There was something so angelically beautiful about her, almost inhumanly so; I wished I could've looked like her. She was dressed in a white tank top a couple shades lighter than Nora's skin, and she had a pair of icy blue jeans on, with a pair of beige heeled boots reaching her calf-line; a lavender coloured leather jacket was draped across the back of her chair.
Finally, I cast my glance back to the side of the table where Nora was supposed to be sitting, but had still taken her place standing next to me. The final family member, I'd originally missed, was leaning now, so I could see past Damon and properly look at him. It must've been Rhett, the one who was apparently going to be in my History class, seeing as I'd put names to faces when relating towards the other three sitting there. His face was softer than Damon's and Leon's, with his mouth being softer, his nose being less sharp and his liquid topaz eyes holding a much more peaceful, yet distant gaze to them, as if he wasn't sure what to say or do. The hair which outlined his face was unbrushed and a little bit longer than his brothers, just covering his ears, but not notably so and was the deep, almost soothing colour of caramel. His paler coloured outfit enforced this softer look about him; his jacket was dark, the colour of mist in the early hours in the morning, but a little lighter than Damon's and went well with his navy blue t-shirt, and much lighter blue jeans the colour of a cloudy sky, contrasting well with his pure white converse shoes. After glancing at me he swallowed, almost painfully tight, leaned back and concentrated back on his food, as if bored or uninterested.
That small gesture offended me slightly but I didn't open my mouth to confront him about his response, and figured maybe I was just too boring for him. Being as beautiful and mysterious as he was, I obviously wouldn't peak his interest in any way, although I tried to pretend it didn't care and apparently my act worked because Brie spoke up and I figured either they didn't realise or were used to Rhett giving girls of his age the cold shoulder.
"Who's this?" She asked; her voice was elegant, velvety and soft, like Honour Blackman's, unlike Nora's soprano which was so loud it almost borderlined into a shout.
"This!" Nora practically threw her hands above her head in over the top, theatrical fashion, like an actress receiving her awards at a formal ceremony. "Is Nelle Hillon!"
Damon nodded, his lips pursed into a playful smirk. "Nice to see you've made a new friend, Eleanor." I felt my eyes go wide and stared at her. I did not know this.
"Don't call me that!" Nora snapped in her high pitched vocal tone. "I've told you time and time again that it's Nora! Eleanor is far too formal and besides, I wanted to tell Nelle that myself!" She snapped quickly. "Sorry!" She said quickly, turning to me and smiling apologetically. "Damon often forgets himself, don't you?" He responded by rolling his eyes, and Nora tutted, shaking her head but she obviously wasn't mad. "For that, you can get Nelle a chair."
"Fine!" He sighed, rolling his eyes and walking off to find a spare one, which wasn't too hard in our small, slightly cramped school cafeteria. Most people chose to eat outside but my friends and I had always eaten in here so we were sure we'd have a table reserved for when it rained. It seemed the Fuller/Wise family had either had the same idea, or just preferred eating inside, and hated the overbearing summer sunshine just as much as me. At this though I shook my head and smiled slightly, looking down at her as she'd decided to sit down in her own chair whilst Damon fetched mine.
"Where should I sit?" I asked her, worried if I chose the wrong seat the situation would become awkward or I could end up accidentally getting too close to someone's personal space or inside their 'personal bubble' as I'd once done before with Lissy. I've always found 'personal bubbles' stupid and pointless things to believe exist, but some people, especially those with extreme claustrophobia I presume, clearly like having space between them and others.
"You can sit next to me," Brie said before Nora could speak again, and the more she spoke, the more she made me think of the British actress Honour Blackman. They had that same, almost purringly elegant voice, which I remembered the time I watched Goldfinger with my dad and Misha. She gestured to the empty space next to her and smiled which blossomed her face into a perfect flower of beauty and generalized perfection. "It'll be nice to get to know you, seeing as Nora will probably practically invent you into our new lodger." With that all four of them laughed, including Rhett whose eyes remained on his plate of food. But I could pick out their laughs easily enough; Rhett's was sweet, like honey, and rolled slightly, whilst Nora's was high pitched and immediately made me smile as well, like infectious laughter. Brie's was light and fluttering, almost like a flute's sound, whilst Leon's was like a bark, piercing and slightly sarcastic.
Just at that moment, Damon returned and dropped the chair down next to me in the spot which Brie had gestured towards, and after a brief hesitation, I took my seat. The strong, overpowering yet lovely scent of rose and jasmine hit me and my nose crinkled slightly like whenever a potent, powerful smell hits me.
"I think you went on perfume overkill this morning, sweetie," the voice made me look up and I was slightly surprised at who'd spoke. Leon. His accent was strongly Texan, like that Southern drawl, and was sharp like his laughter. He gently patted Brie's shoulder and she scowled at him, but it was all light and non-serious. Just by the endearment term he'd used I could tell him and Brie were in a relationship; I've never met a boy who calls his sister, biological or not, 'sweetie' without it having a much deeper meaning.
"Sorry about that," Brie smiled lightly at me, before looking back at Leon. "Oh well, smells nice, doesn't it? Anyways," she returned her glimmering eyes to me and cocked her head to the side slightly, her long curls falling over her shoulder, coating most of her shoulders and tank top with the chocolate waves. "Got any interesting knowledge or information on this place?"
I smiled slightly and shook my head. "Not really. Nothing ever happens here. No murders, no gun crime, not even shoplifting really; it's one of the quietest towns in the state, as well as one of the mistiest, and the coldest but I don't really mind. I burn easily in hot weather so I've never really liked the summers."
"I can agree with you on that." She replied. "None of us are big hot weather fans either, but our parents are! Every time we have a spout of good weather they take us off to do water sports in the rivers and lakes behind our house. We always pick sports near water because they're so lovely, there's something so peaceful about water."
"Where do you live?" I asked, curious after she'd bought this up. I was aware they must've lived out of town, because none of the big houses in town had ever had any for sale signs going up.
"In this custom built house," It was Leon who replied, not Brie this time. His accent seemed to make everything have an edge to it somehow, as if it immediately made his voice more eye-catching and special, which I found accents, always did. "In the forests surrounding this place," he grinned. "We like being closer to nature because our adoptive mom gets headaches easily, so we often don't live in busy places or town centres. That's why we chose here; it's quite and pretty dull, no offence to you or anything, but we like dull. Lots of action, adventure and horror aren't really our, as mom would say, 'cup of tea'." For the last three words he put on a bad English accent which made the other four smile and I found myself grinning as well. "How about you?" He asked politely.
"I live near the town centre, but not directly in it." I said, not really sure how to describe the location of me and my mom's white plaster, two story house with two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a kitchen-diner, front room and conservatory. "We more or less moved nearer to the hospital because my mom's a nurse there, and liked the fact she can now walk."
"Your mom works at the hospital, cool, so does ours." Damon said with a grin, that I couldn't really place but he seemed amused again. "Our mom works there too; children's ward."
"My mom moves around," I shrugged. "She's worked in the children's sector before but mainly works with the midwife team for some reason. Maybe she's just one of those people who loves working with babies, I d'know." I smiled slightly. "For the record, her names Helena Hillon in case your mom's met her."
"I'll keep that in mind," Damon smiled. "Our mom's called Letitia Fuller, but she sometimes goes by her maiden name, Wise, so you'll have to look out for her." I smiled and nodded. The only thing truly bugging me was that Rhett hadn't said anything, and I wondered if my presence had unnerved or maybe irritated him, like he didn't really like me being around, but I couldn't voice this worry because it'd surely cause offense one way or another so I simply bit my tongue and stared at the table. I'd not eaten but I wasn't really hungry, mom had given me a large pancake based breakfast, so I wasn't really up for much food that day anyways. But it was the voice which filled the silence which truly made my stomach clamp and then lurch violently; not in an ill, sick way, but in a sort of…Well, shocked way.
"Gee, Nora, I'm surprised you haven't invited her over yet." The voice made my eyes go slightly wider because it could only belong to one person; the texture was soft, yet cold and slightly flat, as if he was trying to emote as little as possible when addressing me as a subject matter. It was Rhett. Rhett was finally talking. Although he didn't sound pleased that he was.
Nora's response to his statement was a simple, slightly agitated eye roll, and she frowned slightly at him. "I can't do that Rhett, and you know why."
"Please expand." Rhett almost snapped back, looking at her like he was uncomfortable with the situation, before briefly casting a glance towards me and the hostility dropped, he simply looked bashful and a little ashamed, dropping his head back down towards the table whilst Nora rolled her eyes but responded to what he'd said, although it was clearly directed at me, not him. She spent the entire time looking at me, and didn't even so much as flicker her eyes towards Rhett as she explained what he'd said.
"Sorry about him," she sighed quickly before proceeding to explain the situation. "Basically we have family coming over this weekend. It's our cousins from Washington, they're going to visit us because we haven't seen each other in a couple of months, and we like to keep in touch. There's eight of them in total, so we made sure we built our house extra big for when they, or our other cousins in Alaska, come down to visit us. Y'know, so it's not just like some bizarre sleepover where we're all sharing rooms." I smiled slightly at the mentioning of Alaska, due to my childhood wish, and Nora smiled back, as if she'd totally forgotten Rhett's behaviour.
"What are their names?" I asked politely, trying to keep her spirits up, and trying to push Rhett's odd outburst to the back of my own mind, wondering if I was the problem.
"Carlyle is our dad's brother, then there's his wife Esme, and their adoptive kids. Yeah," she grinned at my slightly surprised expression. "Our family seems to like adopting people, I know, but I'll continue!" She laughed lightly, like a small trickle of water running through a stream. "There's Rosalie and Emmet, Jasper and Alice, Bella and Edward, with their little girl Renesmee, and then there's Bee."
"Well," Leon cut in at this point. "Bee's actual name is Bree, but seeing as we've also got our lovely Brie, only she spells it 'B-R-I-E' instead of the usual 'B-R-Double E', she shortened her own name to Bee so people didn't get confused when we met up as a family."
"Exactly!" Nora said airily and grinned, continuing her line of speech. "Basically, the eight of them are going to come and visit us, so we can sorta have a housewarming party! I would've invited you it's just…"
"No! It's fine!" I said quickly, stopping her from feeling bad. "It'd seem a little weird if someone you'd only met the day before turned up for a family party. Besides, it's like, your family, and my dad might be coming down this weekend anyways with his wife and my half-siblings, so I'll be busy."
"Your dad doesn't live with you?" Leon raised an eyebrow, staring directly at me.
"No. My parents divorced when I was two years old," I shrugged slightly and smiled thinly. "He lives in Salt Lake City, and as I said, I'm not a hot weather fan so even if he had won the custody battle, I'd have never really enjoyed living there anyways. The weather is just…Like a sauna and I cannot stand it so…Yeah…" I smiled awkwardly as I drifted off.
"Don't worry!" Brie cut in, laughing that beautiful wind chime laugh again. "Like I said, we're not hot weather fans either, so you're not alone. Seriously, I've never got the appeal though; whenever its hot all you do is sweat and get agitated, but when the hot weather moves on, everyone suddenly begins whining about it being too cold. People are far too fickle these days; they can never make up their minds on anything, not just weather. How to run countries, fight wars, even simple things like divorces are now ending with murders because one spouse is too greedy for his or her own good. Things must've been a lot nicer two hundred years ago." Damon rolled his eyes.
"Okay Little Miss Past Lover, we get your point, but in all due fairness, she has a point." With that they all erupted into conversation on how life must've been back in the olden days but Brie kept her eyes on me, a slightly sad shine to them, or maybe it was disappointment or pity.
"I'm sorry about Rhett," she said almost shamefully, turning to face me, her slender body and gorgeous face looking even more perfect once she was facing me totally. "He just…Isn't too good around new people, he never has been, so don't' take it personally. Seeing as your in his next class, I'll make him walk you there as an apology." I laughed slightly at that and her smile grew. "I'm serious, Nelle, he needs to learn to control his temper a little better. He's just…"
"Nelle!" Nora cuts me off from her position in which she has now taken, which is on the table; she moved so quietly I didn't even here and for once was staring up at her, only not by much though. "I have just had the perfect idea!" Her face broke into an immaculate grin which everyone immediately shared, even Rhett, although his was a little more wistful than the other three's. "Why don't you come round on Sunday?" That shocked me. She hadn't even know me a day and she was already insisting I visited her house? Nora Wise was just way too kind for her own good. "I know our parents would love to meet you, and so would the rest of the family! I mean, seeing as you're now my friend, you'll need to get to know me!"
"Friend basis already?" Leon raised a blonde eyebrow. "You do move fast, Nora! How do we know Nelle considers you here friend?" He challenged her cheekily.
"Oh no!" I said quickly, smiling slightly. "We're definitely friends. I'm just surprised you want me to visit your home so quickly! Most of my friends have never been so openly hospitable towards me on the same day we've met, but maybe you're just more confident in me." I laughed a little at that myself. "Um…How will I get to yours?" I asked. I've never been good when it comes to directions, so if she gave me them, I could end up driving around the woodland roads in my mom's black 4x4 for several hours, and that was if she wasn't needing to use it herself.
"We'll pick you up." Rhett spoke for a second time that day and my eyes immediately diverted to him; the second I did, he blinked, almost as if he temporarily forgot he was supposed to and shrugged softly. "And I'll pick you up personally." I felt my eyes widen in shock. Had Nora just talked Rhett into making it up to me? Or was this him genuinely being nice? I'd known him for only about an hour, so I had no idea, but I decided that responding politely was the best option to take.
"Thanks." I smiled at him, polite as ever. "It's much appreciated."
"And I'll walk with you to History as well," he looked at Brie regarding that but she just smugly raised her eyebrows and grinned innocently. "Not like anyone manipulated me into that one." But his tone was lighter, playful, and he clearly didn't mean it harshly; he seemed to become more acceptant of my presence and back then I had no clue why he'd even acted strangely at first. Little did I know how much the truth behind it all would surprise me.
Being seen with one of our school's eponymously 'bizarre, odd or strange' new kids got me a lot of stares as I tried to make my way down the corridor to History with Rhett. Most of the looks were the typical 'why does he want to walk with her?' or 'are they an item already' but a few caught me off guard although I tried to ignore them. Most people wouldn't see me as the sort to attract someone as outwardly attractive as Rhett Fuller probably because of my weight; as petty as it sounds, I still get the odd look when it comes to the subject of diet or weight in Personal Development, often shortened to 'PD' by most, which still sting, even now. We weren't even holding hands or linking arms, just walking next to each other, but according to some people at my school, that naturally equalled 'dating'. Rhett simply rolled his eyes at the stares and turned to me, as if he could sense my insecurity.
"You don't need to worry about the looks they give you, y'know," he smiled softly, staring down at me, his eyes warmer. "It's just an assumption and you can be the bigger person by ignoring it." I knew he was talking from personal experience; being that attractive meant that obviously women would want to attract him and I figured that's why most of the people staring were female, not male. One of the people staring was our year's formerly prettiest girl, and I say formerly because the second Brie and Nora arrived, she was bumped down to third place on the list. It was Lisa Sellers in all of her 5'4" of perfect, normal beauty.
Her slim, tanned face which was a natural colour, which matched the rest of her, watched curiously, her eyes shining slightly as she watched. Her eyes were a light, crystalline, sapphire blue which contrasted deeply with her hair the colour of raven feathers, similar to Damon's, only much longer, reaching her elbows and straight as a plank of wood. Her figure was slim and neat, with a decent sized chest, and she looked wonderful as ever in her white dress shirt, greyish-blue waistcoat and short, navy skirt which accented her long, tanned legs. Lisa's almond shaped eyes watched us cautiously, but she didn't make her move or say anything, she just stared before heading off in the other direction to go to her own class, which I had no idea of the subject.
"Anyone asked you out yet?" I asked him somewhat awkwardly, briefly glancing up at his 6'0" stance and lean, slender build, which looked taller compared to me. My question caused him to look downwards and he shrugged lightly, clearly unsure of how to truly answer my question.
"Not specifically asked, but hinting has been clear. People such as my English partner, Joanne Taylor, the Lisa Sellers girl, and a couple more girls in my Gym gave me what Nora calls the 'once over'." After telling me the basics, he concluded to clear his throat somewhat gruffly and looked back down at me, before swallowing tightly yet again. "Look um…" I'd guessed what was coming and somewhat braced myself for what was coming. "I'm sorry about how I was at lunch I just forgot myself." He mumbled. "If you hadn't guessed I just…Wasn't sure about Nora inviting you over so soon. People have used her before just so they can get close to me because I'm single, and, for some reason, I simply assumed you'd done the same thing. I'm sorry."
I smiled shyly, nodded slightly and looked up at him. "It's fine…I guess I can understand why they'd do that." I laughed, albeit awkwardly, but he smiled back and shrugged. "But I hadn't even seen you when I met Nora so it was kinda impossible for me to go using Nora to get to you because I barely knew anything about you. She told me you didn't have a girlfriend though, like…She was trying to play match maker." He laughed properly at that and for the first time I appreciated the sound, it was lighter than Damon's and fresher than Leon's, and I felt the colour rise slightly to my cheeks. It was weird hearing him laugh, even now when I look back it felt weird to me.
"She's done this before." He sighed, shaking his head and laughing still. "She often meets someone and somehow evaluates their personality within an hour, then decides whether she's right for me. She picks nice girls often enough but…" The smile faded now and he simply looked between a mixture of guilty and wistful. "They have a habit of never truly being right for me, I guess. I admit, I'm picky, fussy, rude and cold and possess all sorts of negative traits, but I don't like hurting those girls because they often truly fall for me…"
"Don't beat yourself up about it." I smiled slightly and looked up at him before lightly placing my hand on his shoulder, surprised at how cold his jacket felt. "Here we are the other History classroom the school uses." I looked back up at him. "Hopefully you'll get a seat next to me." And that time, when he smiled, my stomach lurched again, but in another way all over, and I looked down at the floor. Little did I know what was awaiting me regarding Rhett Fuller.