Before we begin, once again I must ask for more feed back. Much more people have read this story than the number of reviews suggests and I'd like to know what those people think. Especially since I use Fanfiction partially as a means to develop the characters that I think up.
Also I've been finding the fact that "Prologue 4" and "Chapter 1" have steadily become the most viewed chapters. I suspect that "Chapter 1" is because it's actually part of the Twilight story, but why the other chapter is popular still confuses me. People please tell me why that particular chapter is intriguing. I'd like to know.
Anywho: Onward!
As I approached my first class I noticed to my great surprise that the classes were for some reason not ordered in any specific order. I hoped that it was just a computer failure and not how things had been run. English was indeed first but it was followed by Calculus and then History. Lunch was in the middle of the day, followed by Biology with Gym last.
This did mean that I had to do a fair amount of hopping around between buildings by the looks of the map. I had been expecting that but with the way the classes had been listed I had two classes in the same building before changing buildings. Now every time I had a different class I had to change buildings. Thankfully my Biology classroom and the Cafeteria were in the same building so that would reduce the amount of time I spent traipsing through the rain.
With that problem taken care of before it had reared its ugly head I changed my focus onto the more pressing issue of finding my English class. Glancing around I found a room number and looked down at the map that the secretary had given me. Great, I was in Building Three and my English Class was on the other side of Building One. I had about four minutes to make it to the class and the hallways were confusing enough that I'd just get lost again on my way there. Especially with the hustle and bustle of student life bogging my senses down.
Thankfully someone came to my rescue; there were a few advantages of being an attractive, "young" female. "Hey," a boy of Asian descent with acne problems called to me cheerfully, he struck me as a puppy that would trail after you faithfully and at times annoyingly, "You're Isabella…Creed was it? The new girl?"
"Yeah," I responded, giving him a quick sniff over. Shit, he was attracted to me and not just in a friendly way, as were the rest of the male student body most likely. So much for there being advantages of being an attractive, "young" female. Hopefully none of them were stupid enough to try and "force" me into any sort of situation. I doubted that Charlie could keep something like this quiet enough that my superiors didn't hear about it.
"You, uh, like need any help getting to your classes?" the boy asked with a hopeful look on his face.
"Yeah, English with Keller, Building One," I told him.
His face lit up like a light. "Cool! That's what I have first too."
Sigh.
He eagerly led me down the hallway and out of the building we were in, across the court yard between buildings, and into Building One. "I'm Eric Yorkie, by the way," he introduced himself, "Head of the newspaper."
I think he may have been trying to impress me with that comment. "Bella Creed," I reintroduced myself with my preferred name, "And don't get your hopes up buddy. I'm an independent girl."
"Huh?" he played dumb for a moment, probably hoping that I would think that he wasn't really as interested in me as he was.
"I've seen your look on countless other boys and even some older men," I told him, "The last one got laid up in the hospital. My half brother went in to visit him to tell him that he was lucky that I had been the one to beat the shit out of him. Kyle wouldn't have stopped with just breaking his arm."
In the back of my mind I made a mental note to tell Kyle that he might have to swing by to make an appearance as my protective older half brother now that I had used him as such.
"You beat up a guy," Eric looked at me with a wary expression.
"Yeah, would have made a lot of people angry had Kyle not been as popular as he was. Fucker was the starting Quarterback of the football team," I tossed my hair over my shoulder and walked on passed Eric who had paused to lean against a locker. Thankfully I could see my classroom from here and walked in to meet the teacher without his unneeded help.
"Isabella Creed?" the middle aged woman asked me, looking at me disparagingly through thick lenses. Apparently she did not agree with girls wearing the amount of leather that I was wearing or motorcycle boots. Either that or she could smell the cigar I had smoked before coming to school today.
"Bella, please," I told her and handed her the paper that she needed to sign. She signed it and pointed to a seat in the back of the room. The class didn't have anything new that I needed to know. I was intrigued by the final paper that we had to write though. Six pages or more on a social issue that concerns you personally. Thinking back on the last hundred years of women struggling to hold equal status to men that I had lived through I knew exactly what I was going to be writing about.
The bell rang and the girl next to me who smelled heavily of perfume, probably trying to hide the smell of a heated tryst the night before, looked excitedly at me. I stopped long enough to look at her.
"Hi," she breathed, "Bella Creed, the Chief's niece right?"
"Yeah," I said with a noncommittal shrug. She was dressed in tight jeans that looked brand new, high heeled shoes, a creamy blouse and a jacket that went well with her curly brown hair. I had a feeling that she was a cheerleader. Highly popular already, what did she want with the new girl in town? Especially one like me?
"Jessica Stanley," she introduced herself, "I was wondering," she paused momentarily, probably trying to find something to say that sounded friendly but not in a forced way, "did you need any help getting to your next class?"
I did need help and I figured as long as people were offering it freely I should take it. "Yeah, I've got Calculus with Masters," I scrutinized my schedule, "Building Two, I think."
"That's perfect!" she exclaimed beckoning me to follow her, "I have him next too. Sorry to say this but he tends to drone on and on about the "fascinating world of math" and tends to put half the class to sleep."
Great.
On the way to our class she began drilling me on my past. I'd been expecting this and had been piecing together a story as I came out here. I'd just put the finishing touches on it earlier today while shaking off Eric the Puppy.
She looked sad when I told her that my parents had died in a car crash six months ago and my half brother, Kyle, and half sister, Ann, and I had gone to live with their older brother James who had graduated from college and was living on his own. I had gotten into some trouble in my new school in the big city when the last guy to try to hook up with me ended up in the hospital with a broken arm. She looked shocked and slightly impressed that I had been able to do such a thing.
My counselor had then decided that I needed a smaller school setting and since my "Uncle Charlie" had been tracked down in Forks I was transferred here to complete high school. I think that Robert would have found this story a little funny. Lately I found that I did a lot of things lately because my old friend would have found it funny. I hoped that I could honor his memory in this fashion.
"Whoa! You're eighteen already?" she exclaimed as I told her what I was passing my age off as.
"Yeah, didn't do too well early on in school so got held back a couple grades," I told her, "My half sister Ann is two years younger than me but fuckin' brilliant so we're in the same grade level. I've told you about her older brothers already. Sadly I think the genius DNA came from the father's side who was different for them. Mom divorced after giving birth to Kyle, dated around before getting pregnant with me, he didn't want me so Mom dumped him and then ran into Dad again prior to me coming out."
We had reached Masters classroom by now and I handed the piece of paper requiring his signature to him before sitting down next to Jessica and another girl, dressed similar to Jessica with blonde hair, who was introduced as Lauren Mallory. Lauren gave me a quick look over, kind of wrinkled her nose a bit, but didn't seem to want to go against Jessica. Probably another cheerleader but not the Captain of the Squad, so not as popular.
Today was a review day for the upcoming exam, which since I was just now joining Mr. Masters was kind enough to not make me take. I liked him already. But this meant that today's activities were doing review problems and asking questions if you needed help and students moved their desks into little groups. Jessica, Lauren, and I moved our desks together and were joined by another girl who seemed to be like me, somehow unlikely friends (if I could call myself that yet) with these two other girls.
"Angela Weber," she introduced herself shyly. She had shoulder length brown hair that looked quite attractive, but she seemed very meek. I wondered if most boys looked over her and moved on, especially considering who her friends were.
"Bella Creed," I smiled warmly at her, "Now then, judging by how everybody's so excited to see me would I be correct in guessing that my uncle has been talking about my arrival and since it's a small town gossip travels fast and so everyone in the school knows who I am?"
Jessica gapped at me before blushing, Lauren blanched a bit, and Angela giggled.
"Yeah," Jessica said after a moment, "and I guess the boys, especially after seeing you ride in on a motorcycle this morning, are all preening themselves so that they can impress you the moment you walk passed."
'So that's why a popular girl would take interest in me,' I thought as I scribbled stuff down for the review problems. Just because I wasn't taking the test didn't mean I was excused from doing the work. 'She's probably gunning for a boy who hasn't noticed her yet (for some reason), and is hoping that he'll notice her with me.'
Damn, I've been spending too much time around Kyle. This reading people shit was becoming way too easy.
"Well they can look but they can't touch," I grumbled, I was tired of men looking at me like I was just bimbo. Hell! I wasn't even Blonde!
My words made Lauren shift uneasily in her seat. I glanced at her, giving her a look saying "I saw the way you looked at me earlier what's up with you?" She looked down guiltily.
Jessica caught on. "Lauren, did you think that Bella was going to steal Tyler away from you? You two aren't even dating yet!"
"A girl can be possessive of her future boyfriend," Lauren hissed back, Mr. Masters was wandering passed our little circle and we hurriedly started whispering about the problems. Angela seemed to be the smart one of the trio, which may have been what started this friendship, and I made a mental note to go to her with questions concerning this class's homework.
"Yeah, but a girl can be a bitch too!" Jessica hissed back as the teacher walked away. I couldn't help but snicker at the bickering between the two friends. Lauren looked at me and gave me a shy smile. Maybe I didn't have to worry so much about friends while I was stationed here. One job down, two remaining.
Angela was in my History class, I thanked whatever god had been looking out for me when my schedule was being put together, so we walked to Building Three together. Classically it was raining outside as we ducked between buildings and I was glad that Kyle was the one who made my bike. I could drive off a cliff into a lake, drag it back out, and start it up without doing anything to it and it would work just fine. I still took good care of it and put coverings over it when I had it parked for long periods of time.
History was a joke. The teacher was lecturing on World War II, a subject I knew like the back of my hand, considering I fought in part of it. I surprised him more than once by knowing specific dates and locations without having to reference the book.
"How did you know all that?" Angela asked as we made our way to the cafeteria.
"History's my thing," I told her. I wished I could tell her the real reason, to see how she'd react, but that would blow my story and my cover before my job even started. I guess I'd have to wait for that kind of fun until later.
The cafeteria was like any I'd been in over the last twenty years. Angela and I waited in line together to get food from the buffet, where the food actually looked edible which amazed me, before she led me over to where Jessica and Lauren were sitting with a couple of boys. Both of whom perked up when they saw me walking their direction. I glanced at Jessica who was looking up at me. She smiled sweetly. Ooh, she knew I saw the boys react. I think she wanted to see how I was going to handle this. I smirked to myself. Hate to disappoint a new friend.
"So Jess," I said idly, "Who are these boys that are sitting with us?"
"That's Mike Newton," Jessica said, pointing to the tall athletic boy who had conveniently opened a chair right next to him for me, Angela took the "fall" and took it much to his disappointment, "and this fellow over here is Tyler Crowley." Tyler was sitting on the other side of Lauren so I was safe from either boy trying to cop a feel.
"Boys this is Bella Creed…" Jessica began as I sat down between Angela and Lauren—
"Who is eye-candy only," I finished for her, smirking as both boys hopeful looks dropped from their faces and were replaced with looks of shocked dismay, "I don't date."
"Eye-candy?" Lauren asked with a hint of a giggle, "you and Edward Cullen would make a perfect couple. He's "eye-candy only" too." She jerked her head in a direction of another lunch table.
"Cullen, eh?" I said, craning me head around to see where Lauren had indicated. In actuality I knew who she was talking about. Edward was the lone single vampire from the resident coven that I was to observe. But I needed to play along and it was so much fun to see the looks of dismay on Mike and Tyler's faces as I searched.
I spotted the Cullen's off at a corner table of the cafeteria away from everybody else. There were a few sparsely populated tables near them but for the most part they separated themselves from the human student body. I knew what it was that I needed to look for when determining if these vampires weren't a threat to humans and this fell along those lines. I hadn't expected my job to terribly long. The initial part would last a week at most depending on how much homework I had, that was by far my least liked part of doing high school, and the second part of my job which consisted of informing them of the fact that the government was watching them would be more difficult. Especially since I was by myself against seven vampires whom I had no real knowledge of how powerful they were.
Not like that was going to be a problem considering my training. Giving myself good odds I had a one-in-three chance of coming out with major injuries that would take a great deal of rest to completely heal. I would still come out of the fight the winner with seven dead vampires. However, if by chance the wolves were hostile to me as well and tried to take me on shortly after I wouldn't be able walk away from that fight. Which was why I had to be absolutely sure of my situation before I moved in.
"Yeah," turning back to the table nodding in agreement, "Definitely eye-candy."
The girls laughed and the guys tried to chuckle along but failed. Thankfully Jessica started talking about something her cousin had done a few weeks ago which brought the conversation off of me.
Carefully so that if the conversation was directed back toward me I would notice, I listened for the sounds of the conversation over at the Cullen's table. It was difficult considering the amount of noise in the cafeteria and how low they were likely to be talking, but I was able to hear a murmur of conversation from their table's location. Sadly that was all I was able to hear and I gave up on the effort in time for Mike to ask me what my next class was.
"Biology?" he said taken aback for a moment, "Banner, Building Four?"
I nodded, a slight sinking feeling in my stomach. I didn't like where this was going.
"I'm in your class," he said excitedly, "I could show you where you need to go, if you'd like."
"Mike, weren't you listening when she established her dating status as eye-candy?" Lauren groaned, rolling her eyes at his antics, "Not only that I believe the only people at this table not in the class are Jessica and Angela, and if she really wanted to she could just follow Cullen to the class. He is sitting in the only table with an open seat."
"True," Mike said, looking disappointed once again. Damn these boys were persistent. I was going to need to figure something out to get them off my back that wouldn't result in me getting hauled back to D.C. to answer questions about why a small portion of the male student body were hospitalized with what looked like knife wounds.
I was also beginning to get the feeling that this observational post was going to turn into something a little more dramatic sometime in the next few months. Things never, and I mean never went this easy. And if it did, Unwritten Rule Number 13 stated that previously unforeseen difficulties would arise out of nowhere. When situations like this happened agents were to report in as soon as possible to ask for immediate backup.
I laughed along with Jessica as Mike attempted to hide his forlorn look. But inside I was uneasy. Kyle was going to be called in to play "older half-brother" sooner than expected. Hopefully with luck he'd arrive at just the right time to deal with any unforeseen happenings before taking off again. And maybe he could intimidate all the puppy dog humans into backing off.
The lunch bell rang and I handed my tray off to Angela who said she had a study hall in the cafeteria next so would deal with the trays once the frantic line died down. Lauren led the way down the hall with Mike and Tyler trailing behind me. Sure enough I could see Edward Cullen walking by himself a short ways ahead of us. Not for long though, he moved through the crowd of students like a shadow. A shadow that was chiseled out of marble, but a shadow.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. After one hundred years of dealing with hormones and sixty-nine years of dealing with post-rape trauma I no longer hoped to find someone to fill the empty feeling inside of me when I watched romantic movies or read books where a dashing young man would suddenly appear in a women's life and sweep her off her feet. And a vampire certainly wasn't going to be the one to fill that hole for sure.
Cullen was already in his seat when my little group of followers walked in with me and Lauren. Scanning the room I discovered that Lauren's statement that he was in the only open table was indeed correct. If someone had told me that my job was going to be this easy when I first headed out I would have laughed at them. Still I accepted the situation gladly. I had enough problems with Calculus to deal with I didn't need this bogging me down as well, even if it was the real reason I was here.
Mr. Banner nodded at me as he signed my paper and directed me to where the only other "non-human" person in the room sat. I took a good look at what I had to deal with as I approached.
Well built, but lean. Pale skin. Bronze hair. Topaz eyes, Kyle had mentioned that Cold Ones eye color depended on whether they had fed recently and what kind of blood they fed on. Human blood made their eyes a bright shade of crimson while animal blood made their eyes various different shades. I liked this color. It matched his hair very well. It also meant that he drank animal blood.
His clothes looked very expensive. Well, when you didn't have to spend money to pay for food and the person creating income for the coven received a doctor's pay a person could afford such clothes. I had that kind of money too, but I spent my money on more important things, like cigars.
The last thing that I noticed, as I sat down, was that he never once took his eyes off of me. And as Mr. Banner started the lecture before I could even introduce myself I could feel his gaze burning into me. I sniffed the air and rubbed my nose as if I had an itch. I was really getting a scent of what Edward Cullen was made up of.
I was surprised to smell that he was aroused. Further inspection told me that he was sitting very rigidly, as if he were attempting to control himself. Given that his entire attention was on me I prepared myself for anything that he might do. I was not above killing someone in front of witnesses if I had to. Especially if the person I was killing was a vampire and the witnesses were humans.
Biology was a unique class in that it took up two class periods: one for lecture and the other for lab. Banner simply passed out the lab handouts and left us to our work. Glancing at my schedule I saw that this was the Advanced Biology class. I guess I was going challenged in more than one class this year. Thank you Kyle for making my schedule so enjoyable.
"Hello?" a soft voice from my left said. A hand waved in front of my face, causing me to jump a bit. Turning I saw Cullen sitting sideways in his chair facing me. He still looked as if he were holding himself rigid. Weighing the possibilities for why he was acting this way I decided the most likely reason was that he needed to go hunting and the smell of this much human blood was starting to become quite appetizing.
"Hello," I said back.
"You had a bit of a vacant expression on your face as I tried to introduce myself," Cullen said in a slightly apologetic tone, "I didn't mean to intrude on your thoughts but Mr. Banner likes his students to work and not just sit."
I nodded, any teacher would prefer that from their students. Though Cullen's behavior so far was slightly confusing to me. He was obviously aroused, likely by my presence given his stare earlier, however he was acting as if nothing was the matter.
I felt his finger tap me lightly on my forehead and I jerked myself out of my musings once again.
"You had that vacant look again," he said, seemingly amused by my behavior, "Perhaps we should start working so that you don't get distracted again."
I would have blushed at his teasing but I was used to being in control of my emotions. I didn't need someone I was supposed to be spying knowing that he could hit on me and it would work. Granted Cullen wasn't exactly hitting on me…
I blinked twice and shook myself slightly as I came to the realization for why my new lab partner's behavior was confusing. He was obviously aroused, presumably by my presence, but he wasn't trying to find a way to get into my pants. Why was it that vampires and Meta-humans were always the perfect gentlemen?
Well this is all that I've written up for now. I hope that you have been enjoying my blend of idea's, and perhaps some of the changes that I've made. If not, tell me how you would like things to be and if enough of you voice your opinions in a similar fashion I may try to revise the chapter accordingly.
On that note let me know what you think of my portrayal of Jessica and Lauren. Since Bella can read people like a book and won't stand for being around people that are going to try and treat her like dirt of use her for their benifit I've tried to alter their attitudes toward her according to Bella's new personality. There still may not be a whole lot of their characters but feedback--cough, reviews!, cough--on their characters would still be useful.