Thank you to all those who review and read. Thanks Joreyna.

My paintbrush moved with fury over the mural of my family. I couldn't get Bella's expression just right, and I was more frustrated than anyone could imagine.

"They're coming home now." Alice said to me, frowning at my rigorous scribbling. "Why can't you get her face right?"

"Because," I grit my teeth, "she's human."

The door opened and with it, bringing Bella and her leg in a cast. They seemed to have been sharing a joke when I stomped up to Bella, picking her up by her shoulders (much to Edward's dismay) and placed her by my mural. I positioned her the way she was in my mural, but it still wasn't right. I took Edward's arm and pushed him forward, positioning both of them the way they were in the painting behind them. Bella still didn't understand what I was doing and I wasn't about to explain or she would blush and refuse me to paint her. She had this thing about "not being anywhere near comparison to us Gods and Goddesses".

"Now, Bella, don't look at Edward just yet. I want you to slowly lift your eyes to him when I tell you to." A minute passed with her confusion mounting. "Now."

He eyes slowly scanned up to Edward's face and there it was. The look I had wanted to capture. It was pure awe as her breath disconnected itself from her lungs. My paintbrush glided over the wall, Bella's face coming to life before my eyes. A huge smile played about my lips as I put on the finishing touches. Stepping back, I surveyed my work. Alice and I nodded our heads.

"They look more like themselves in the mural than in real life." Alice laughed with me as both of them turned around to see what I had been doing.

Bella shook her head. "Please, take this down."

"Why?" I whispered, feigning fresh hurt in my voice.

"I don't belong in it. I don't…fit."

"You fit better than any of us." Edward whispered in her ear, taking hold of her waist and drawing her to him. "Stop complaining and thank Lilly."

"Thank you." Bella forced sincerity and though it was strained, it was truthful. She would sit for long minutes and view Edward's face on the wall, completely in love with it. It was only fair that I put her in her rightful place — by his side.

"You're very welcome!" I beamed at her before cleaning up my art supplies. But then I remembered that I had to hurry and leave before Edward could bring up the one subject I didn't want to hear.

"Bye Edward! Bye Bella! Alice!" I dashed for the stairs but luck wasn't with me this time.

"Lilly." Edward's velvet voice called from the stairs below. I couldn't not answer as he would just find me later, no matter how far I ran this time.

"Yes?"

"Come down here, please."

I obeyed like a guilty child and thumped down the steps, awaiting my fate. His heat-full gaze was glued to me; much like Bella was to his side. "You are going to school tomorrow."

I folded my arms in defiance. "You can't make me."

"I will use force if necessary."

"Fine." My lips pursed themselves into a line of disapproval.

"Why haven't you been going to school?" Bella asked, curiosity claiming her attention.

Edward beat me to the punch. "She is avoiding Heath asking her to prom as it is only two weeks away."

I scowled at him and stomped off down the hall when a voice came to me from Carlisle's office. "Lilly?"

I turned around, surprised, and found myself walking into Carlisle's office. Esme was perched like a Roman Goddess on my adoptive father's desk with a kind smile perched on her lips. I went to her and hugged her, wrapping my fingers into her hair.

"Such a silly human." She chuckled to herself.

I wasn't human but my mortal-like qualities proved that otherwise. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, my little love." She hopped off the desk and took my hand. "I wanted to speak to you about something you said to Carlisle, something you said about Hell."

I gulped. Would she reprimand me for thinking we went to Hell? "You want to know what I think about it."

She nodded.

"I," a gulp slivered its way down my throat, "believe that there is an outer darkness that we — go to. There's no particular world underground where the evil spirits roam, more of an outer space where there is nothing but darkness. And there…there is pain, the licking of flames to our souls, the despair of loneliness." I turned my eyes towards the paintings on Carlisle's wall before speaking again. "But, then again, haven't we felt all of those things before? So, that leads me to believe that this is it. This is hell. Our lives are hell. We felt the fires when we were turned. We live in the darkness, in the outer recesses of the world, never being able to quite fit even though we try. And the loneliness, that's the worst part. Especially for those of us who know it inside and out, who rocked back and forth in the corners of that darkness and prayed for someone to let us age, eat, drink, sleep, cry, and die.

"That's why I have accepted that Bella is the best thing on this Earth for Edward because she is the light that shines on him. She is the liquid to still the fire, the filler for his void."

Esme had closed her eyes to picture what I was saying, her form entirely still. "I understand."

"However, I have so much time to figure it out. So…much…time."

I wanted to kneel down and stare off into space because at that moment, my heart felt heavier than it ever had. I never stopped to think about it too much, to think about the time I possessed. I had all the time in the world to live a thousand lives. I had millenniums to see, wars to experience, independence to be won.

"Come back, Lilly. Thoughts like that can render a soul unconscious. Not that you haven't been there before." She stroked my cheek and pushed me out the door.

Light sparkled through the trees along with my skin. The smell of crisp morning's dew on the grass outside as I made my way to the center of our baseball field. I just stood there, smelling the sweet scents of mist and rain soon to come. I pulled my hair from its loose bun and shook my head, letting it splash down my back.

I sighed. There was nothing I could do to stop this. But, a part of me couldn't help but be curious as to how Heath would ask me. Surely he knew that I wouldn't be able to give him anything but friendship. What did it matter? I was in love with someone else.

Gah! I was in love with a mural and nothing more. There was no true love that emanated from it! What's wrong with you? You know Corpus is real. He's waiting for you.

Yes, but where? And did I even know that this Corpus was good? That he was not going to use me for some ulterior motive? It would make sense, after all, that someone would. I was always the weapon for someone's plan of mass destruction.

"Lilly!" Alice called from the edge of the trees. "If you don't come here right now, I will get the entire family out here and drag you to school!"

Taking one last sniff of the air around me, I left my solace to where Alice stood. She took my hand in a grip that was unworldly, dragging me back to the house and into the car. Luckily, I had dressed well enough to her taste so that she wouldn't feel the need to dress me herself.

Rosalie was driving the car with Emmett in the front and I wasn't above admitting that I hated riding in the back with two other stone statues, cramped to one side and unable to get comfortable.

I was much annoyed now by the fact that we all drove to school. I wanted to drive my own car and have my own freedom. I supposed it would take a lot of guts to ask Carlisle for permission, though I doubted he would deny me it.

As soon I closed the car door, Edward was by my side, Bella under his arm, with the most amused face on the planet. "So, should I get you a car now, or wait until your birthday?"

My mouth dropped. Bella seemed excited for me though as she usually would be. Always excited for someone else getting gifts and never herself. "What kind do want me to get you? A conservative car like mine or something distracting like Rosalie's? Or possibly big and bulky like Emmett's jeep."

"You don't have to, Edward. It was just a fleeting thought, nothing more."

That wasn't going to stop him. He would go through with his plan which was probably already in place and in motion. "No, this is something I will quite enjoy. Alice, will she allow me to buy her a car?"

Alice concentrated for a moment, coming back in a few short seconds. "Most definitely."

I was overcome by dread as I sat in my first period in the back with Edward. I hung my head, knowing full well that the day would progress in this same state. I was doomed, damned, shunned into the pits of despair. I took my notes without paying attention and ignored Edward's smirks and his interjections into my thoughts. He had something to do with this, I knew it. But what was it?!

Second period came. It seemed the whole school was aware of my abnormal paleness that day and the look in my eyes that could kill. My eyes scanned the crowd for him. I wouldn't be able to ignore him if he had a big goofy sign with cheesy balloons or something. I sat wearily at my desk in second period just itching to bite my hand in frustration. Please, please, please don't let him do something to give me shame for the rest of my existence! It was pointless to beg. I couldn't even cry so that was no way of getting my frustration out.

The announcements came on then, the Vice Principle's dull voice dragging on for a minute or two until she was cut off by something else. It sounded like an intro to a song, the acoustic playing clearly on the speakers.

"Have you seen this girl? This girl with the long brown hair and purple eyes that sees everyone but me? She's been here for quite a while, this girl, but she's blind to the fact that every male loves her, lusts her, hugs her in his mind. She's one of the Cullen's, one of The Classicals, but she's the first one to break the ice, to make things warm, to make us comfortable. She may appear pale but I see the blush that gushes under her cheeks when she thinks about something no one else would want to know. There's a bravery unnoticed, a selflessness as her motive. Her graceful movements entrance us, enhance us, putting America's finest models to shame. But she doesn't realize how beautiful she is, how easily she could have been his. And for this I have fallen though she doesn't see me. But I have a chance and that would be prom, so I'm begging Lilly Cullen will you please tag along?"

I had sunken into my hands; blinding my blushing face which I'm sure no immortality curse could discard me of. The whole class was watching me with open mouths, but no one was silent. The girls were awing and commenting on the adorableness of the entire situation. The guys were waiting for me to say no as I was obviously a top choice for them, along with Bella.

Edward who had been stifling his triumphant laughter jabbed me in the ribs. "We're all waiting for the verdict."

I slowly dragged my eyes from the privacy of my pale fingers and looked up to see the whole class about to faint. No one was breathing. What the hell was all this nonsense about?! It wasn't like I had been proposed to for god's sakes! "I…uh…well," I gulped, "yes?"

The whole class erupted in a ruckus of claps and cheers. Heath opened the door then and wasn't surprised to see me buried in my arms. He held out a single Lily to me. A black Lily. Why, oh why, did he have to know me so well as to buy me a black Lily? He was like the perfect morbid date. I was almost positive we would be dressed in black — all black. He didn't have to ask to know what my answer was. I reluctantly took the Lily without looking at him. He bent down and kissed my cheek, unshaken by its deathly exterior. Had he figured it out that I was immortal? Or maybe because his entire family was like this that it didn't bother him? That had to be it.

"I could get into a lot of trouble for this, you know." He mumbled as I refused to look at him.

"Sorry, it's just that I'm not used to attention."

"I doubt it." He laughed under his breath. "Your brother will fill you in on the other details when you finally start breathing."

He disappeared without my knowledge but I was laughing. Like I needed to breath. I would just hold my breath for the rest of the day and —

"Don't act like such a child. I'm bound to tell you what he wants you to know anyways."

"Fine, but spare me for the rest of the day by not talking to me. I don't want anyone to look, touch, talk, calm me, see my future, or read my thoughts!"

His attempt at hiding his smile was weak, which for him was almost impossible as he was the master of composing his features into a mask of indifference. "I'll pass the word on. You are a bit like Bella in that sense which is creepy for me."

"Then don't think of me as Bella. Now, get on with it. What is it he wants you to tell me."

"Two things. One would be what he verbally said and the other would be what he mentally said, both of which have two different meanings. The first being that he will pick you up around six, take you to dinner at some snooty restaurant in Seattle, take you to the dance and then bring you home responsibly."

The grin that touched his eyes came with full force. The second part wasn't going to be appropriate, I could tell. "His mind was screaming all the things he was going to do for you. His parents aren't home much, so they leave him loads of money to blow on random entertainments and he has decided to occupy a VIP room that overlooks the harbor. He is renting a limo, which for Forks is highly extravagant. After the dance he is planning on stopping, hiking up a forest side that overlooks the twinkling lights of the city and getting a kiss from you."

I just about died in my seat. Not only was that knowledge on the TMI scale, but it was coming from my brother. I was speechless. He wanted to kiss me? Did he have any idea what he was getting himself into?

I ignored my family for the rest of the day, boiling in my grudge. Unlike Bella, I was able to remain angry for quite some time. I was courteous to those that congratulated me as if I was having a child, but said not one word to Alice. She was upset by the end of the day and pestering me to speak.

"We know you're mad at us for helping him, but you're acting like a child! Heath is going to be depressed if you keep acting like this. And, I'm positive of it."

However distressed I was by my siblings dealings in my life, I put on a mask of no emotion, playing with a small smirk to make it seemed as if I were amused. Bella just stared. "Not you too!" She meekly cried the second I glanced in her direction.

"What?"

"You're the only one who has human emotions, the only one I can look at to see what's going on within the family. I hate it when you wear masks."

"I promise to take it off when we get home. You are still joining us tonight, right?"

She nodded. "Yes, for a Cullen feast."

"Well, it's more of a 'Bella Swan' feast as I am making food for you."

"This is going to be interesting." Edward grumbled under his breath.

I refused to speak until Alice grasped my shoulder with the largest grin on her face. "Why don't we invite Heath?! To a 'Meet the Parents' sort of thing?"

I was already protesting when the whole family decided to join in and agree that it was a fantastic idea. To them, it was simply picking his brain apart and seeing what a threat his family was to us, but to me this was a nightmare. "Please, please don't do this!"

"Hey, Heath!" Emmet called to Heath who was mingling with his own crowd of boys. Needless to say they were the best looking boys of school besides us Cullen's and Heath was their leader. No wonder, what with his shaggy hair and impeccable style. We Cullen's, except for Alice, were very simple in our dress. But Heath was a different story. He was the best dressed of school.

His inquiring blue eyes came up to meet mine before I glanced away. He nodded to us, said something to his friends that threw them into a rock of laughter, and made his way towards us. I was pushed out to the front like an unwilling child awaiting her beating.

"Hey, what's up?" Heath asked, a smile of knowledge hinting at the corners of his mouth.

"I…I…uh."

"You don't usually stammer, so I take it I make you nervous which for you Cullen's is virtually impossible. I must have some power." He rocked back on his heels and gave me a flawless smirk. I wondered what he wanted to do when he got out of Forks. Possibly become some model?

No idiot, I'm trying to keep myself from saying "Do you want to die tonight, Sidney?" "Um, I was just wondering if you would like to join my family and me for dinner. I'm cooking…"

Please say no. I couldn't live with myself if he were to be killed. His eyes flashed to the group of waiting vampires behind me. "I would love to." He was silent for a moment, waiting for me to answer. "How do I get there?"

"Actually, Lilly, why don't you two go shopping for grocery supplies?"

Damn you Alice! "Sure, but what car am I taking?"

"That's alright, I'll drive." Heath was too quick to answer.

"See you tonight then!" Emmett called out, closing the set date and forcing me to come to terms with what my family was doing to me. I would be dead long before Heath could push up his own daisies.

I hugged my leather bag closer to my side and headed off awkwardly with Heath. My mask was once again in place and I was able to focus on what I was going to say to him. Heath walked us over to where his friends stood, but my hearing was attentive to my retreating family who threw quick glances my way.

"She fits in so well." I heard Rose whisper to Alice.

Alice turned to her without moving her eyes from me. "Poor unfortunate Lilly. Too innocent to realize how life was ripped from her."

I wasn't sure if they had meant me to hear that, probably not. But what Alice didn't understand was the life I had gained from this eternal curse. I would have never experienced dating, family, or a life if not for this kiss of death. And for that, I loved what I was. I loved being a vampire.

"Lilly, this is Luke, Henry, Greg, and Julian." Heath motioned to all the handsome humans with a smile that could warm the soul, if I had one.

They all nodded and said hello, their eyes moving over me with questions and male lust. As we turned to leave, Heath having turned down his plans with them, Julian leaned over to his ear.

"Have fun." He whispered, thinking I wouldn't hear.

I clamped my mouth shut from whipping out a sarcastic comment. Heath took a hold of my arm and guided me towards his Isuzu Rodeo, opening the door for me and helping me up into it. I ignored the stares from my classmates as we waited in line to leave the parking lot. My family was already gone and I was now completely alone with a male. This was a first in my entire lifetime and I was almost positive that I wasn't ready. Yet, being with Heath wasn't as nerve-racking as I had imagined. He was playing some Indie band that I was secretly in love with, driving with the windows down to let the freezing wind lather up and down his arms, one hand guiding the steering wheel, and looking completely relaxed.

"That was really sweet, what you did." I said to break our somewhat normal silence. "That song — it was really good."

"I wrote it a long time ago but I never had a chance to sing it for you. You and your family are — close."

"Inseparable. Until now."

"Are you mad about that?"

"No, it's actually nice not having anyone listening to my every thou — word — as if it meant the world to them." This was going to be tricky in pretending I was human. "How long?"

"How long what?"

"Have you liked me?"

"Since freshman year. But, I was young then and didn't really have the guts to ask you out. Plus you were quite, intimidating. You didn't look like a freshman, but I guess I've caught up with you."

"Oh, well it's a good thing you hadn't asked me until now, though you didn't really ask me out."

"No, I didn't. But you did." He shot me a quick grin before we entered the grocery store parking lot.

I didn't answer. Did he not realize that my family forced me into this whole mess? Or was he ignoring it because of that simple fact? He opened the door for me and inside we went to pick out food. I was actually grateful that Heath was there because I had no idea where everything was. I knew what the food was called and how much I needed, but I had no idea where to find it. Heath and I spent most of our time picking up items and not really talking until the ride home. I had to give him directions so that kept my mouth busy.

When we pulled up to the house, he was shocked. "I thought your family lived in some mansion, but I'm not going to lie. This is way better than a mansion."

"Yeah, it pays to be a doctor." And part of the dead.

"Shall we?" He grabbed the remaining bags, eyeing the bags I held with little consternation.

The door opened before I could even skillfully reach for the handle. My whole family was waiting for us, all statues in various places about the room. I refused to stay in the same room to watch my parents greet the poor boy who liked me. Instead, I moved off towards the kitchen with Bella and Edward in tow.

"Aren't you afraid Heath might want to help and suddenly cut himself, giving Jasper a perfectly good reason to go mad?" Bella asked with a worried expression I knew so well.

"Ask my brother." I grumbled while unloading the bags.

"He will be perfectly alright. Lilly would be able to keep Heath from any damage, but if something does happen…well, then that means we will have to turn him."

I ogled my eyes at him in horror.

"I'm sure his parents wouldn't mind. Save them the trouble."

"That is absolutely terrible." Bella whispered.

Edward shook his head. "No, Bella. It's not like that. His whole family is like us. He's the last remaining human of his relatives."

"Well, where is everyone else?"

"A little place in Italy. Now stop fussing over Heath and watch Lilly make your dinner."

They both took a seat at the bar and watched me begin my home cooked meal of tri-tip, gnocchi, asparagus, shrimp and other various expensive foods that Bella rarely ate.

"Why are you doing this again?"

I stirred the gnocchi before answering. "Because it makes me feel human."

"I know what you mean. It feels like life is on fast-forward and we're just guinea pigs for Mr. Banner's experiments." That was not a voice that was filled with immortal song.

Heath came forward, completely at ease with his surroundings. We all stared at him as if he were nuts. "My family does that all the time so if you're wondering, I'm used to it."

Suddenly, from the living room, came music blasting throughout the house. Great. Alice had put on one of her jazzy, cocktail party bands.

Heath pulled up a stool and sat comfortably beside Bella and watched me fry the asparagus. I flipped, buttered, sautéed, stirred and whipped our food into order, not saying one word. Heath was going to watch us eat this but that wasn't the problem. Where does this go once we're finished? Surely we can't digest it…

Edward answered my question. "We're all going to have to throw it up later."

That's just gross. I made a face, chuckling to myself as the thought of us throwing up the food we never digested into the toilets we never use.
"What's so funny?" Heath asked.

"Nothing, just thinking of something."

I didn't say anything else. That is, until I grabbed a hot metal pan and forgot to scream. Heath jumped up as the sizzling began to sound throughout the room.

"Crap!" He yelled when I hadn't reflexively let go of the pan.

"Oh yeah!" I grumbled and, with perfect mock horror to make an actress proud, I began to curse and rant, dropping the pan (carefully on the stove so as to not damage the food), and ran to the sink. Setting my "burned" hand under cold water, I fake cried into the sink.

"Cry more to make it more believable. Wail if you have to!" Edward screamed in my head.

I wailed at his command and I swore I could hear the window's crack.

"What's happened?" Carlisle ordered as he came into the kitchen.

"Nothing. Just…burned…my hand!" I moaned out in perfect exaggeration. I took it from the sink and wrapped it in a towel. Edward was quickly explaining, to fast for the humans to hear, what was really happening. Heath was holding onto my hand in the next moment, surveying it with an expression that we knew was bewilderment.

My hand was perfectly fine.

A/N: Ok just a few things. For those of you who don't know what TMI is, it is an acronym for Too Much Information. I do not own any of SM's work. And um, the "Do you want to die tonight, Sidney?" is from Scream for those of you who don't like horror. That whole movie cracks me up though when I was eight I was scared shitless. Lilly is just being scarcastic and Scream has nothing to do with vampires.