Chapter 2

Jazzlyn Rose Cullen-Black's POV

I stirred my cereal around in my bowl, too nervous to really eat it.

Renesme and Jacob were on either side of me, both looking too young to pass for my parents. Dad had an oversized stack of pancakes in front of him and Mama had a much smaller stack. EJ and Carlie were out hunting, one as a wolf and the other as the strong predatorily vampire that he was. I sighed in envy.

Here I was, a sixteen year old girl about to go to her first day of school, and the biggest thing that I was worried about was that I wasn't as 'normal' as my werewolf/vampire family.

I'm a freak among freaks and that has got to be the worst feeling in the world.

My big brother Edward Jacob looked like my Grandpa Edward when he was human, with the bright green eyes and bronze tinted hair. Despite the black hair mixed in, he definitely took after my mother's side of the family, being half vampire, half human.

His twin sister, the ever beautiful Carlie looked like a female version of my dad; pale russet skin, big brown eyes, and long black hair. She had ringlets like my mother though.

Me, well despite being named after my favorite aunt and uncle, I was a complete mix of both parents. I have pale russet skin that shimmers in the sunlight but luckily only looks like I have on a little too much body glitter. My brown eyes tint gold after I've hunted and tint a dull pink like EJ's whenever I'm thirsty (for blood of course). My long straight brown hair definitely came from my Grandma Bella, being too dark to match my mother's and too light to match my father's.

The fact that I can project my thoughts into other people's minds and read someone else's mind makes me even more of a freak. Even though one power came from my mother and the other from my Grandpa, I still feel like the biggest freak of them all.

Carlie got lucky, she didn't get any extra powers like me and EJ did. I guess it must be a vampire trait.

EJ inherited Bella's mind shield so most of the time I can't get into his mind. Which is sort of a relief because before he figured out how his shield worked, I had to listen to his murderous, always thirsty thoughts about the few human relatives we've gotten to meet. Lets just say that Grandpa Charlie isn't allowed to visit us anymore.

Carlie grew like a normal human should, until she turned 13 and started phasing. Then she skyrocketed, buffing up, getting taller, and overall more werewolf looking. She looks about her actual age now.

EJ grew as quickly as my mother did and was completely grown at seven years old. It was hard to claim the two of them as twins when he looked seventeen and she looked ten years younger.

I, once again, was the weird one. I grew randomly, having growth spurts every few months. By six, I looked twelve, and by twelve, I looked fifteen. I am now fully grown (I hope) and look like I am eighteen. This pleases me slightly that I look older than my mother and siblings, especially Carlie considering that she got all the beauty.

Heck, I can't even phase for longer than a few hours before my body forces me back to human form. And as for hunting like the rest of my vampire family, well lets just say that I don't have the speed or the drive to take down my prey. So I'm stuck eating human food almost all of the time.

My mom takes pity on me and eats as much human food as she can force herself instead of hunting with EJ everyday.

Dad usually takes Carlie out and they bond as wolves. I tag along whenever I can, but their hunts usually last longer than my body allows me to stay wolf.

I guess that's the price I have to pay for inheriting both vampire and werewolf DNA. The two are mortal enemies so I can see why this isn't working out for me.

The only one who never gave up on me when I wanted to hunt either way was my imprint Jesse, but he was finishing up school himself so I wouldn't get to see him for a few months. I miss him like crazy already, though he just headed back to Tennessee with Aunt Rebecca and Cousin Mandi a few days ago, right after celebrating my sixteenth birthday.

I really wish you'd eat something. Dad thought, glancing at me and eyeing my bowl of now soggy Lucky Charms.

I will, Dad. I promise I'll have a big lunch at school to make up for this. Just…I've got too many nerves right now. I thought back to him and smiled, embarrassed.

Carlie and EJ walked in the room, both of their faces lit up like the fourth of July.

"Man, I forgot how great the deer taste here." EJ commented as he took a 360 sweep with his eyes. We had just moved back to the Cullen mansion, not wanting to overcrowd Grandpa Billy now that he has Uncle Paul and Aunt Rachel living there with their twin teenage boys.

I had only ever met the boys once. At the time, EJ had been too dangerous still after his mishap with Grandpa Charlie so me and Carlie went with Mama and Dad to visit the family at La Push.

Johnny and Joey are a few months younger than my siblings and just barely older than me thanks to the short werewolf pregnancies. We were all about six at the time. I looked twelve, Carlie looked about seven, and the twins looked nearly ten. I could definitely recognize the werewolf genes in those two.

"You're Johnny, right?" Carlie asked the taller of the boys.

He nodded, his mildly long hair swaying back and forth. Carlie smiled, victorious that she could tell them apart without even getting them introduced.

"I'm Carlie Alison and this is my little sister Jazzlyn Rose…your cousin." She continued when neither boy seemed to make the connection. "Our father is Jacob…your mom's little brother."

That seemed to clear things up for the boys. Joey, the less tall but definitely the cuter of the two, nodded. "Yeah, Mama told us that you guys were coming. She said there was a boy too though. ET or something."

Carlie and I giggled.

"EJ." I corrected. "He's not…feeling well right now." I lied, not sure how in-the-know they were about the whole werewolf/vampire thing since they obviously hadn't started phasing yet and from what Dad told me, Uncle Paul had stopped phasing a while ago.

"Yeah, but he will be better soon." Carlie interrupted, giving me a glare. 'What did I say?' I thought to her but she just shook her head.

Joey pulled me aside after lunch, his expression pained. "You're one of them, aren't you?" I looked at him, confused so he continued. "A…vampire. Like your mother." I gasped.

"Don't try to deny it, I can smell it on you." He explained. "I may not be a werewolf yet but I sure have all of the before effects. Tessa Uley explained it all to me the other day. Apparently, I'm her imprint so whatever I ask she's gotta answer. I was curious about why most of the locals had moved after the Cullens left six years ago. Apparently, they didn't want to be here when the Cullens came back, or I guess maybe it was your mother's return that they were fearful of. You'd better keep your distance, Paleface, if you know what's good for you."

I gasped again, not sure how to react to that. No one had ever talked to me like that before. All I knew was that if my cousins didn't accept me, there was no way that anyone else at the reservation would.

Even though it had been ten years, I doubt the feelings had changed much. And that was why I didn't want to go to school at La Push. I may be part werewolf like most of the kids enrolled there, but I most definitely wasn't welcome there. I felt terrible for EJ, he was going to have it the worst of the three of us, being completely half vampire and all.

"Ready for school, Rosie?" Carlie asked with a smile. God, when wasn't she happy?

I forced a smile onto my own lips and said as enthusiastically as I could, "Of course. What could be better than getting to go to school with people like us?"

On the inside, I wasn't sure this was the best idea. Oh well, there's only one way to find out. I grabbed my designer book bag and followed the rest of my family out the door.