Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer, not me…
A/N: Well, that was quite quick really, for me, update-wise. I'm not too sure about this chapter, it's a bit rushed, but I'm excited to get onto the rest of the plotline, and this chapter just needed to be in there. I would really appreciate any reviews and comments! Thank you!
Chapter 3 - Confessing
"Ladies and gentlemen, as you have probably noticed, we have started our decent into Brazil Airport. Please remain seated and fasten your seat-belts. I hope you have had a pleasant flight and will enjoy you whatever Brazil has to hold for you." A load, crackly voice boomed down over the speakers, and everyone sat down into their chairs.
"So Ness, Brazil, eh?" Toby smiled at me, both of us now a lot happier after our random laughing session.
"It's a beautiful country, and…" I started.
"So is America." He looked at me, seeing straight through my lies. "Why are we really here?"
I took a deep breath. "I have a… relative here."
He frowned at me. "Didn't we just sit on this plane for hours to escape from your family?"
"Well, she's not family. She's an old friend."
"Vampire?"
"What do you think?" I smiled sarcastically.
"Alright, alright" he said, digging his elbow into my arm. "Can I ask why?"
"Why's not important. All that's important is that we're going to see her" I snapped.
"Gabs, get me a drink please" I said, dancing round and making sure I was the perfect host. This was perfect, my eighteenth birthday party, just how it should be – all the attention directed towards me.
I moved over to talk to Kayliegh and Pablo, who were dancing like lunatics in the corner.
"Hey Kay, Pabs" I said, shouting so their human ears could hear me above the music. "How's things?"
"Okay" Kayliegh said, edging in front of Pablo protectively.
"What about you Pablo? Are you enjoying the party?" I smiled.
"Yes" he said, his Mexican accent strong and husky behind his American words. "Are you enjoying your not so surprise birthday party?" He laughed, but Kayliegh shoved him hard in the ribs, obviously not wanting to remind me of her slip-up.
I forced a smile and walked away, my hands now clenched around my dress. Why did he have to mention that? Why? He couldn't have just left it could he…
I felt myself slowly getting angrier, so I raced for the door, and let myself out into the garden, before my temper started to show me up. I didn't often try to control my temper, but this night had to be perfect, and if I could just get some fresh air for five minutes…
I stopped dead in my tracks. Before me, just in front of the river, stood a boy, with soaking wet curls, throwing stones to the water. I'd never even seen him before. How did he get in here? I looked at him, trying to see if I knew him, when my eyes locked on his hair. In my tantrum, I hadn't even realised it was raining. I looked down at the once plain white silk of the dress, and watching as the rain made dark splodges all over it.
Again, my anger took over me and I saw red. I grunted, and made for a near-by tree, and snapped it clean in half with one quick blow, as tears stung my eyes. My dress, my make up, my party… all ruined because of the stupid weather, and stupid Pablo!
"Excuse me? Are you… alright?" the boy had turned around, and was staring, warily, at me now.
"What do you care?" I retaliated, my hand still gripped around the remainder of the tree trunk.
"Oh okay. Erm, sorry…" The boy started to walk past me, keeping as much distance as he could between us at all time. He walked quickly and clumsily, tripping in his haste. He was treating me like a predator.
No one ever acted like that. My temper was totally overwritten by my beauty and people just wanted to be friends with me at all costs. I was popular, and people seemed to smell it on me, and it drew them in. But this boy…
"Wait" I said, my heart still pounding in my ears. "I need some help." I looked up at him, using my irresistible smile and fluttering my eyelashes.
He turned around, but still kept backing away. "Erm, I'll get one of your friends."
What? He'll get one of my friends? "But I need help now."
He looked around him, and seeing no one there, he walked back to where I was. "What's the problem?"
"Erm… this tree! Erm… My parents will kill me if they find a snapped tree. They'll think we had a wild party, and… erm… it's not that wild anyway…"
He laughed, and I was relieved to see that at least one of my many charms was working on him, even if he did look really uncomfortable. He smiled at me.
"Well, we'll have to hide it in the forest maybe. I'm not sure what we can do about the stump… erm…I can try and rip it out…"
"No, erm, we'll just hide that bit in the forest" I said before he started over thinking things. The poor guy was about to break his back trying to get rid of a tree that didn't even matter.
"Right." He walked up to me, and picked the snapped tree up, and walked into the forest.
I stomped along behind him. "I'm Ness, by the way."
"Toby" he said, walking slower so he could talk. "Nice to meet you."
"Yeah. Wait, hang on a minute, how did you get in, I didn't invite you? I don't know you."
"I'm Liam East's cousin. My mum and dad just moved down here and Liam thought I should come, to meet a few people."
"Oh. Right."
"I'm sorry if I intruded." He turned round and smiled apologetically at me. I smiled back.
"Shall we just leave it here?"
"What? Oh, the tree. Yeah, here's fine."
He bent down, put the tree on the floor, and covered it with soil and leaves. "There. You can't see it, can you?"
"No," I lied. "That's fine."
He stood up and came and stood next to me, looking at me again. We stood there for a while, both of us feeling a little bit awkward.
"Erm, shall we get back to the party? Before we freeze?" he laughed.
"Yep" I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him back towards the house.
We dawdled through customs, and waited for our bags to come in silence. Both of us knew that I had no idea what to do now. I had banked on coming here and everything falling into place, but I hadn't planned exactly what I was going to do.
After we got our bags, Toby set off towards the door.
"Toby, where are you going?"
"We need a taxi, Ness. We need to go somewhere."
"Toby, I don't know where we're meant to be going anyway. I have no idea." I played with my hair as I waited for Toby to react, but he didn't. He just kept walking.
"I know Ness" he said, when I finally caught up to him. "I know."
We wandered around, and finally found a taxi. We asked the driver where the cheapest hotel he knew was, and he set off driving, telling us it would take a while. I checked the wad of cash in my pocket. We definitely would have enough money for the fare.
"So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" Toby looked at me from across the cab. "Who is this friend of yours?"
I glanced at the driver, who had his music so loudly even Toby could've heard it, and took a deep breath and started to explain.
"Human-vampire relationships are forbidden. There's like a… erm… vampire police system, which hunts down and basically kills anyone who gets in their way. And, well, my mum and dad got in their way…"
I went through the whole story, explaining every little detail, and answering all Toby's questions. When I finished, he said "That's fascinating Ness, but I still don't understand, who's your friend?"
"Oh right. Do you know I told you that vampires came from all over the world to help us? Well, some came from the Amazon. A woman called Zafrina really liked me, and we worked on our skills together. Her gift is similar to mine you see; only she doesn't have to touch anyone to make them see things. She's the only vampire I know, who isn't in my family, that wouldn't report us to the Volturi if we visited her. She'll help us, you know. I think." I watched Toby very carefully, trying work out what he was feeling, but again, he said nothing.
We drove further on through Brazil, and both Toby and I looked out of the window, taking in the beauty of this amazing place. Every now and then, I'd look over at Toby, but he was just staring out of the window.
"Ness" he said, not turning away from the window, "what happened after that? You never tell me anything about yourself, so, I was just wondering."
I took a deep breath, and looked out the window. I didn't like talking about things. Toby knew enough about me to understand about what was going on in my life, but the whole story was a bit rough. Toby had just had a normal life, and I almost envied him. But still, after dragging him across the country, and tearing him away from everything that he'd ever had, I at least owed him the truth.
"When everyone left, me, mum and dad lived in our cottage for a while. It was nice, just us, and I was totally spoilt by my family. A few years after, Mum and Dad went off to college. They wanted jobs, and not to just take all of Carlisle's money, I suppose. No one wanted to go back to school after I was born anyway, but they still wanted something to do. While they were away I stayed with Rosalie and Emmett. All I remember was wanting to be like her, and that was when I really became a teenager, in my attitude and stuff. Then, my mum and dad came back, when I was around fifteen-ish. I asked to go to school, and they wouldn't let me at first, but eventually they gave in, and I joined school in Port Angeles, not Forks, because I look too much like my parents to go unnoticed. And, of course, my family stopped going into town, now more than ever, because they all don't age. So, Port Angeles was the only option without us moving away from Granda Charlie…" I paused, because the next part was a bit more serious. "We'd planned, as a family, to leave the area after I graduated."
For the first time in about an hour, Toby turned around and looked at me. "What? Does that plan still stand?" he said, looking worried.
"Yeah" I admitted.
"But, you've graduated."
"Yeah. We were planning to move. France, we were headed. Well, they were headed – I never intended to go with them."
"So that's why we left" he whispered.
"When the Cullen's move, the Cullen's move. Why do you think there are no traces of Carlisle and Esme anywhere? Its vampire regulation – where-ever you've been, you leave no evidence that you were ever there..."
I dared to glance over at Toby. He ran one hand through his hair, and sighed loudly. "Ness, why didn't you just tell me" he said, in a surprisingly calm tone. "Can I be honest? I didn't even think that this would be anything serious, but… This is it, isn't it? We go back now, and you… go away?"
"I'm sorry Toby."
He sighed. "It's alright Ness. It's alright…" He looked out the window at the rainforest. "All we have to do now is search all 1500000 square miles of the Amazon rainforest for a vampire who might possibly kill us within the first thirty seconds of meeting us. Like I said, we'll be fine."
A/N: Again, thank you for reading, and don't forget to review!