Chapter 15

Closer

I couldn't take my eyes off of him. It was almost impossible to believe that Alice had seen me (far from pretty) with this gorgeous boy.

"What is that boy's problem?" Harley asked.

"What do you mean he doesn't have a problem" Gabi said.

"Naturally I mean how can I guy as hot as him have problems" Brea said.

"I'm sorry but I'm confused" Keri said.

"What do you mean by 'what is his problem'" I asked her.

"I mean that he can't take his eyes off of you…like literally" Harley said and she wasn't lying I turned back around and saw Jason looking at me.

"I'm so totally telling you Hazel he likes you" Harley said.

I shrugged, "I don't know" I said even though I did since Harley was not lying.

"I find it funny how they have the exact same skin tone" Ian said.

"I know flawless, perfect, & pale" Gabi said.

I smirked but in an uncomfortable way. What if they found out? What if they assumed I was something worse than a vampire?

"So any guys you think are cute" Ian asked Keri.

"Jason Weisman" Keri immediately said.

"KERI! You don't just say that out loud gosh" Gabi said and then the bell rang for advisory and we had to go inside.

I dropped my books purposely in the hallway at my locker simply because I was bored. As I closed my locker and pretended to be mad I saw a hand coming to help me pick up my things. I looked up before I even heard my name.

"Hazel" an angel's voice said and I stared into his eyes again. "It looked like you dropped these" Jason said touching my hand again seeing my history and laughed when he saw what Alice made me do.

I swallowed "Yeah…thanks."

Jason shrugged "See you in Social Studies" he said and walked away.

I tried to hold my smile back so it looked like what my brother did before he was going to speak when he was embarrassed. (Not that I wasn't already) I mean Jason freaking Weismann had come up to me…I watched as he was gracefully walking away.

"So this is what it's like to have a crush on someone." I thought to myself. Please tell me Edward did not hear that I did not need to hear him tease me later. He did hear it however and I scowled and walked to first period…Social Studies.

As much as I wanted to walk slower I walked fast…not running (well if I ran people would be shocked by my speed which clearly wasn't normal) I walked at a normal but slow speed for me I saw everyone in the hallway walking by some popular girls were talking by their lockers.

"What does he even see in that new girl?" a ginger haired girl asked.

"I know she's got nice skin and all but he could have one of us any day" said a Blondie.

"Ikr" the ginger said.

"Holy crap there she is right now! What if she heard us" an auburn hair girl said.

"Oh my gosh I love your shirt" said the ginger and I felt a vibration I knew it might get me into trouble but I said something back.

"Thanks…you know this style was actually invented by my sister (this wasn't a lie) who actually has a few trends (again not a lie) you should check out her website (Alice did have a website) it's called " I said.

"Listen to me bitch whatever that Weismann kid sees in you it's not real he doesn't like you so cut it out and be nice to us if you were smart" the ginger said pulling my shirt and I felt the lie detector again.

"You know you don't scare me…I know what people like you want they just want power because they think that they're the greatest ones that ever existed well news flash Emily (her name) you are just like everyone else and I would try to be nicer and not lie to people if I were you…OK" I said.

"You just got served" some boy said.

"Shut up" Emily snorted and walked away.

I was pretty proud of myself for handling the situation that well. I entered the classroom and he was already there. I realized my legs were shaking. Even though I was a vampire I still had the rights to be nervous once in a while…right? I thought of my brother and tracked him…funny what he was doing…making out with Bella. He would kill me if he found out that I was watching I smirked and figured if I was going to spy on Edward I might as well enjoy it since there were times he wouldn't know I had seen.

I felt Jason's stare from the other side of the room almost drilling through his perfect, golden eyes. I sat down in my assigned seat next to him and Mr. Mint started his lesson about the diseases and sickness during Westward Expansions

"Now did you hear the story of the man who was thought to be back from the dead" Mr. Mint said and was the only particularly interesting things he said no one raised their hands but Jason and I smirked at each other.

"Is there something funny Mr. Weismann?" Mr. Mint asked.

"No it's just my great grandfather was traveling in Westward Expansion" Jason said and I felt a vibration.

"Jason" I mumbled in a voice too low for humans to hear.

"What he doesn't know the difference" Jason said with his lips barely moving.

"Oh so you know the story" Mr. Mint said.

"Not in particular" Jason said and Mr. Mint got a stern look on his face.

"Anyways back to what I was saying the story of the man who was presumed back from the dead is Christian Wise he was traveling with his parents and four siblings when he was presumed dead by typhoid fever. His parents buried him and prayed over his grave since they were devout Christians"

Jason smirked (in a laughing sort of way to hold it back since this was the actual story of Kyle and Mr. Mint was getting the story wrong).

"Christian Wise was unconscious for several hours before getting out from his grave and stumbling to find his family. We do not know what happened to Mr. Wise after some people believe he died and others believed he went on to live with another group of people or went off on his own. But the truth is we don't really happened…no one does" Mr. Mint said.

Jason smirked again. "I do" he said in a voice way too low for a human to hear and his lips were barely moving. I smirked a little because I knew what he was referring to.

I had gym next period and then algebra advanced (I was in an 8th grade class) but it was still too slow moving for me and I had to make it look like I was an average student (but that I belonged in the class) I mean compared to the tenth grade math I had done this was nothing not that my vampire brain could do higher and more advanced math. Sometimes it bugged me about how I just knew things…I actually wanted to learn…it fascinated me and Carlisle said that is why I have enhanced intelligence then most vampires (Edward has enhanced speed, Emmett enhanced strength, Esme enhanced love, Carlisle enhanced compassion, Rosalie enhanced beauty, etc.)

After I had my first 3 period classes I had lunch and I sat with Harley, Brea, Gabi, Keri, & Ian. I got to know their stories a little bit better.

Harley had an older sister and younger brother named Taylor (her sister that was sixteen) and Andy (her brother who was eight).

Gabi, whose real name was Gabriella had a twin brother named Roman (who was in my Science Class) and a younger sister was Giovanna (who was seven) Gabi worked sometimes at her parents restaurant and had to help around the house with her sister a lot.

Brea lived with her father who had divorced her mother (like Bella) but Brea had grown up a little differently. She had three brothers two older and one younger and she was the only girl her older brothers were Diego (who was eighteen) and had just graduated High School (in Edward's class) her other older brother Penn (short for Pennsylvania since that was where his mother had been born) was fourteen and her younger brother was Tommy he was eight and her only full brother.

Keri was an only child and had two very hard working parents Keri was a sweet girl but I have to admit a little dimwitted.

Ian had an older sister named Janis who was twenty one and his full sister.

"So who are your siblings…is it just you and your brother?" Harley asked and the others nodded curiously.

"Well, Edward and I were adopted together we are biological siblings" I began.

"What is biographical?" Keri asked.

"Biological" Gabi said.

"Oh" Keri said.

"I have two older brothers named Emmett and Jasper. Emmett is twenty and Jasper is nineteen. I also have two older sisters named Rosalie and Alice. Rosalie is eighteen and Alice is nineteen like Jasper." I said.

"No offense but they have kind of old fashioned names" Harley said.

"Yeah Carlisle and Esme prefer old fashioned but they kept the names my biological parents wished Edward and I to have" I said.

"Who are Carlisle and Esme?" Gabi asked.

"They're my adopted parents" I said.

"Oh" Harley said and I shrugged.

"That's so cool" Brea said.

"What is?" I asked.

"That you're adopted I mean that is like really cool but do you ever wonder about your real parents?" Brea asked.

"Yeah I do sometimes…what they're doing and if they will ever think of me…I guess so" I said and Brea put her hand on my shoulder as I smiled at her.

When lunch was over I went through with the rest of my day (sadly not seeing Jason) but then realized it was OK that I wouldn't be seeing him. Yes I loved him already but I had managed how long since I was a vampire? Eighty Nine years? That was a long time but I had gone through so if I didn't see him I was going to live and like Charlie told Bella "you need balance in your life…you can't revolve your life on one boy" and maybe he was right but I knew I needed to think of Jason to…if he wanted me as well think of how long he'd waited.

Although he was born in 1933 and I was old enough to be his mother since we were technically the same age it didn't matter. However he was not officially mine yet he would always be. I needed to find a way to make sure I didn't lose him…if he didn't love me back it was OK but I wanted to make sure he was happy.

After I went through my day I stayed after school for homework club since I figured maybe it was a good idea to hang out with friends. Rosalie, Carlisle, & Esme warned me though in case things got a little complicated but I knew what I was doing… even though they were humans and I was a vampire things weren't too different (well they were) but they didn't' know that and they were nice girls and there were one thing I knew…that they couldn't know about our existence because if they did…there would be trouble for them and for my family.

"What is the answer to problem twelve?" Keri asked Gabi as she struggled over her homework.

"Here Keri let me help you" I said sitting next to her.

"I don't understand these numbers" Keri said sadly.

"It's OK' I said.

"What does this mean" she asked pointing to the equation (9xy) 2 (3) = 15,552 solve for x and y.

"Well, what are the basic rules of algebra?" I asked her.

"I don't know" she said putting her head in her hands I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Well what you do first is you do the opposite operation for the number that is not attached to the variable" I said.

"What does that mean" Keri asked.

"What number doesn't have a letter next to it" I asked her.

"Three" Keri said.

"Good so what operation does parenthesis mean?" I asked.

"Subtraction?" Keri guessed I felt a vibration knowing she was guessing.

"Multiplication" I told her softly.

"Oh" Keri said.

"So what do you think the inverse operation of multiplication is" I asked her trying to get her to do the work.

"Addition" Keri said.

"Well think about it does adding and multiplying work opposite ways?" I asked.

"No" Keri said.

"So it's either division or subtraction" I said.

"Division" Keri said.

"Right" I said.

"So you do 15,552 divided by 3?" Keri asked.

"Yeah" I said.

After a while she said "I got 5,184 is that right?" and I checked it over.

"Yep it's right now what you do is rewrite the problem but as (9xy) 2 = 5,184 because if the dividing by 3 is that then that is what you have to multiply. First do 5,184 divided by nine" I said and after about an hour and a half Keri got the problem right.

"Thanks" she said.

"For what?" I asked.

"Helping me" Keri said.

"No problem" I said.

"Do you want to hang out sometime? Maybe tomorrow because I have a math test tomorrow and I need you to help me study."

I paused for a second, "Um, I have to see what I'm doing…see you tomorrow" I said and left the room to go outside to the parking lot where Edward's silver Volvo was parked waiting for me.

"How was school?" Edward asked me.

"Is that a necessary question when you already know the answer" I said.

"Just making conversation" Edward said and I laughed as he ruffled my hair.

"Can I ask you something?" I said.

"Yeah…anything Haze except…" Edward said.

"NO! It's not that kind of question gosh it's about…hanging out" I said.

"Oh gosh. Hazel what have you done" Edward said.

"Nothing" I said.

"Uh huh sure" Edward said.

"No, well there's this girl…one of my new friends she needs extra help…she's not very smart." I started.

"Go on."

"Well she kind of asked me if I wanted to come over tomorrow and help her study for her math test the day after tomorrow" I said.

Edward stared at me for a long time. "Well if you feel that you can handle it…but you have to be on your best behavior and act like a complete human do you understand…I would talk to Carlisle and Esme if I were you though" Edward said.

"Yeah you're right. No vibration" I said.

Edward smirked, "Hazel, Hazel, Hazel" he crooned and I smiled as he ruffled my hair again.

"Alright I'm driving fast now…and I don't want to hear you complain" Edward said.

"OK fine got it" I said as Edward hit the pedal and we sped off towards the house.

When we got to the house Edward sped to open the door, picked me up and swung me around…carrying me.

"Put me down" I said laughing.

"Never" he said turning me upside down and putting me on his back by my feet.

When he walked into the house holding me that way Rosalie and Emmett were sitting on the couch.

Emmett laughed and said "nice Eddie."

Edward laughed but then scowled, "The only one allowed to call me that is this thing" he said gesturing to me as I "stood" there with my arms crossed.

"Put her down Edward…you could hurt her" Rosalie said.

"OK" Edward said dropping me on my head and I jumped on him…tackling him to the floor playfully.

"Calm yourself, Haze" Edward said.

"Never" I said imitating him and he laughed again.

"Bet you can't beat me in chess" Emmett said.

"Wanna bet?" I asked.

"Hell yeah" Emmett said racing to get the set of chess and we had it set up in a matter of seconds.

"I want to see this" Alice said as she and Jasper came down the stairs

"How about this I'll make you a little deal" I said.

"Fair enough" Emmett smirked.

"If I win…you do everything I say for the next two days" I said.

"No" Emmett said.

"What are you too scared you're going to lose" I teased and my siblings laughed.

"Fine" Emmett said. "If I win I get to call you dwarf instead of Hazel for the next week."

I scowled but said "fine" and we shook on it before I twisted his wrist.

"Holy shit Hazel" Emmett said holding his wrist.

"Did she hurt you again" Edward teased.

"Shut up Eddie" Emmett said and I laughed as I made the first move…rook first.

…

"OH WHAT NOW BITCH?" I shouted pounding my king on the table as I took Emmett's. Emmett groaned.

"You just got served by a twelve year old vampire" Rosalie said punching his arm.

"ROSE!" Emmett said.

Rosalie laughed and shrugged, "sorry Em but I'm afraid Hayzster here is right" she said.

"Oh and you're taking me to school tomorrow…with Edward" I said winking at Edward who was smirking. "Oh" I added "and you're coming in."

"No!" Emmett shouted.

"You two had a deal" Alice said.

"I would attack you…if you weren't so damn annoying all the time" Emmett said.

"Oh so you like it when I'm annoying" I said.

"That is a yes or no question" Emmett said.

"Do you like it?" I hinted.

"That is for me to know and you to find out" Emmett said and I smacked him. "Um ouch" Emmett said.

I smirked, "too bad for you" I said and my siblings laughed as I ran up the stairs to my room.

I was on the internet Instant Messaging Kate from the Denali Coven who was telling me that Anna (who had since left the Invisible Coven for a life on her own) probably because she felt the vegetarian lifestyle just didn't suit her. So she moved to a deserted area with fewer humans but a cooler climate. She was trying to be a vegetarian but couldn't.

Hazcul12: yeah I guess you could say that

electricimmortal: well I guess us of all vampires should understand how hard vegetarianism is "lol"

Hazcul12: well then…oh and btw how are Tanya, Irina, Eleazer, & Carmen?

electricimmortal: how do you think?

Hazcul12: is that not a good thing

electricimmortal: no it's good…Tanya and her seriousness is just a little annoying…Irina is good but still quiet and sullen, Carmen and Eleazer are the same.

Hazcul12: did I tell you about the run in with the Volturi?

electricimmortal: no what happened?

Hazcul12: oh nothing just a little battle, held prisoner for a couple of weeks, made amends no biggie

electricimmortal: holy shit! They really did it didn't they?

Hazcul12: yeah and I just dissed Emmett

electricimmortal: ha it's about time someone show that loony toon some stuff

Hazcul12: yeah he bet me in chess

electricimmortal: hahahahahahaha x3

Hazcul12: got to go Edward is calling me

electricimmortal: kk tell him and everyone else I say hey

Hazcul12: got it

Hazcul12 is now offline

And that was my IM conversation until Edward called me. I sprinted down the stairs and saw him, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, & Jasper standing there.

"What's up?" I asked.

"We were going out to play baseball…a thunder storm is coming" Alice said and I didn't feel a vibration.

"OK cool" I said hopping off the stairs.

"Are we going to the same old field?" Emmett asked.

"Shut up" Rosalie said playfully elbowing him and he kissed her.

"Come on we've only got three minutes" Alice said based on her vision. I tracked the storm and saw we had six minutes .

"We have six minutes" I said.

"Whatever" Alice said playfully shoving me.

"Are you going to slide this time" I hinted.

"UGH GROW UP!" she shrieked. "Do you see what a bad example you two are" she said gesturing to Edward and Emmett and I laughed.

"That is for me to know and you to find out" Edward said.

"Shut the fuck up Eddie" Emmett said shoving him.

"Ahem" I said clearing my throat "the game" I gestured to the baseball bat and Jasper laughed.

"Who's going for captain this time Alice" Emmett said playfully.

"Me" I said kicking him and he pretended to flinch.

"Cool…me too" Emmett said.

"Who's picking first" we did the hands on the bat thingy and Emmett was first.

"Ha" he said.

I slugged him, "You'll be saying that after I win I suppose?" I asked and he pushed me.

"Just pick already" Alice said getting annoyed so we picked teams.

It ended up being boys verses girls. Emmett chose to go second at bat (so he could get last licks). It was decided Rosalie would go up first then me then Alice since Alice was the pitcher and the pitcher had to go last.

"It's time" she said and Jasper pitched the ball. Rosalie smacked it just as the thunder hit a perfect shot into the woods. Edward ran for it and got the ball, then threw it to Emmett who was ready and waiting. He threw the ball to Jasper who was waiting by home plate. Rosalie had crossed it before the ball got there.

"EMMETT YOU SUCK!" Edward yelled at him.

"YOU'RE SLOW!" Emmett yelled and they both tackled each other playfully.

Once we finally got to the game it was after dark and the storm was going strong. We played until about 3am when we went back to the house. The score was 3 – 4 the boys. Alice and Rosalie were too worried about messing up their hair so I basically did all the work. Emmett teased me the whole time and I was quite looking forward to torturing him tomorrow.

"We're taking my car" Emmett said.

"No…I tell you what to do remember" I said.

"Not everything bitch" Emmett said and I scowled but gave in.

Edward, Emmett, & I got into Emmett's truck and went to my school which was ten actual minutes away from the house (driving like a human). We got a few looks from people (I mean it was the middle of January and we were driving around in a jeep truck but we just ignored everyone.

When we pulled up to the drop off area I saw the girls and Ian waiting for me before we went inside but I also saw Jason sitting in the corner with his black hoodie pulled over his head and his head was down as he listened to his IPod and watched everyone else.

"See you guys" I said to my brothers before getting out of the car. Edward and Emmett both rolled their eyes.

"Bye Haze" they said waving and I jumped onto the sidewalk and watch the car drive away.

"We're just waiting for Keri and Gabi" Harley informed me as I approached her.

"I'll be right back guys" I said and walked over to where Jason was. I pushed my side bangs out of my face and sat down beside him. He looked at me for a second and took a deep breath. I studied his face to see what emotions he was showing; nervousness, sadness, fear.

"What's up" I asked him casually and he took the ear phones out of his ears as he swallowed.

"Um, nothing" he said shrugging.

"What's wrong" I asked in a lower voice too low for humans to hear.

"The Volturi…called my house last night. They want to know how you guys are doing if you are breaking any laws. Kyle said he hadn't seen you only one time and you guys were completely clean. They might come back…for you guys they might not be true to their word or the treaty." Jason spoke in a low voice and he wasn't lying either.

"I knew it…I just knew it" I said in my low but angry voice. Jason smiled. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing" Jason said I nudged him with my elbow.

"What is so funny" since I noticed he was smirking.

"Did I ever mention you were sort of…pretty when you're mad" he said.

I slightly laughed, "Um no."

"Well I'm saying it now" Jason said I smiled and laughed a little.

"Thanks" I said.

Jason shrugged, "just stating a fact" and the bell rang. "See you in Social Studies…Hazel" Jason said.

See ya" I said and we both turned the corner.

"Well are you going to tell us what that was all about?" Harley asked.

"Oh nothing" I said but secretly I felt like I was flying in my head…he had told me that for the first time…I was a little confused but happy in a way…a different kind of way.

"Come on…he was totally flirting with you. Did he ask you out?" Harley said.

"No" I said as if it were obvious.

"Oh he so totally likes you…it's like totally obvious" Harley said.

"Just because he talks to me doesn't mean he likes me…he might just mean it as a friend" I said.

"Oh come on Hazel that boy can't take his eyes off you I see the way he looks at you in Social Studies" Harley said I smiled a little. "Come on Hazel stop denying facts" she added.

"We have to go to gym" I said changing the subject and we both ran to our locker room (I ran as if I were human) actually I was a pretty fast runner in my human years.

We quickly changed and I got through pretty smoothly. This kid named Gabe kept talking to me "you're in my social studies class aren't you?" he asked.

"Um yeah" I said.

"What did you do to Weismann…I mean he never has smiled not once and now you've come in and he smiles like an elf all day" Gabe said.

"I don't know…maybe it's the weather" I said smirking to myself.

"You got a boyfriend?" he asked.

"No" I said then the bell rang otherwise known as that it was a little awkward.

At lunch I sat with Harley, Keri, Gabi, Brea, & Ian.

"OK I was wondering what you guys are doing on Friday…if you all wanted to hang out?" Brea asked Harley, Keri, Gabi, & Ian were all up for it but I had to take a second to think.

Would it be a mistake to get too close to these girls? I had already broken the rule of not forming close relationships with humans. What if this turned into a full friendship and we would start having sleepovers? I probably would die if that happened I mean what would my siblings do? What would Carlisle do? How would they react? I had to tell Alice this stuff.

"Hazel do you want to come over on Friday?" Brea asked.

"Um…" I started to say and I looked across the cafeteria and saw the angel's face nodding and mouthing yes.

"Sure" I finished and they all high fived.

"Cool we can go right to my house from school" Brea said and they all were talking.

"I'll be right back" I said and got up to talk to Jason.

I felt their eyes on me as I approached his table.

"Why are you sitting alone?" I asked.

"It's my reputation…I'm supposed to be the kid who likes to be alone" Jason said I sighed for a second and Jason looked around the room.

"Go back to sitting where you were…OK I don't want you ruining your social life because of me" Jason said.

"No I'm not I want to sit here…do you want to come sit with us?" I asked him.

He sighed, "No thanks" and I felt a vibration.

"Yes you do…you're just too shy…you're nervous about what they'll think of you" I said.

"You read me well" he joked knowing my power.

"You think I read people wait till you see Edward and Jasper" I said.

"Wait so let me get this straight. Edward, Jasper, and Alice have extra abilities and Emmett, Rosalie, Carlisle, and Esme don't" Jason said.

"Yep" I said and he touched my hand absorbing my history.

"Wow it seems like you had a tough time at school" he said seeing my time in Radnor and widening his eyes when he saw what Edward did.

"Come on…" I said gesturing to the table and he reluctantly got up.

"They already think I'm a freak" he muttered.

"Wait till you see what they really think" I muttered back.

"You are very stubborn" he said smirking.

"Proud of it" I said taking it jokingly as a compliment and we walked over to the table.

"Jason" Harley said in a surprised but nervous voice.

"Harley" Jason said in a polite voice nodding his head.

"What's going on?" Harley mouthed.

"He was sitting by himself I felt bad" I mouthed back. Jason pulled a chair up for himself and let me sit down first.

"So did you guys understand the algebra homework last night?" Jason asked and I kicked his leg under the table.

"I didn't but Hazel helped me" Keri smiled and I smiled back.

"It was challenging" Brea agreed.

"Yeah I understood it once I started" Gabi said.

"Me too" Harley said.

"Who do you have for math?" Keri asked him.

"Mr. Daly" Jason answered.

"What period" Harley asked.

"Seventh" Jason immediately answered again.

"I have Mr. Daly third period" I answered.

"Isn't he an eighth grade teacher?" Gabi asked.

"Yeah" Jason and I both said at the same time and we looked at each other.

Harley nudged me under the table and I pretended not to notice. The lunch bell rang and we went back to class…Social Studies.

Mr. Mint was writing on the board and I heard the ever so faint sound of the chalk rubbing against the blackboard. A sound that was definitely too faint for humans to hear Jason and I cringed at the sound. He handed out the Do Now and advised us to work with our partners. Jason and I whizzed through it since we had both done this before.

Jason touched my hand again to see deeper into my history. He stopped after several minutes and I guessed he had seen all of it.

"Wow you were changed under horrific circumstances" he mumbled.

"As were you" I said in a borderline hearing voice. Jason bowed his head at the thought.

"I'd rather not talk about my past" he said.

"Sorry" I said.

"No problem you didn't know" Jason said.

"Do you think about them sometimes?" he asked me out of nowhere.

"Who? The people from my past?" I asked.

"I guess" Jason said.

"Why is it that I have to talk about my past and you don't?" I asked him.

"I never said you have to" Jason replied.

"Well…yes I do miss them but not as much as I used to" I said.

"What's that supposed to mean" Jason said.

"You'll find out" I whispered.

"Mr. Weismann, Miss Cullen are you working?" Mr. Mint asked.

"Yes, we're finished" Jason answered politely.

"Let me see" Mr. Mint scoffed and took our papers looking them over.

"Very nicely I see you two are a good fit for partnership" he said and I looked at Jason.

"Were you not a good student before?" I asked even though I knew the answer already.

Jason smirked, "Guilty" he said.

"Jason!" I slugged him playfully and he laughed his beautiful laugh…it always made me feel good when he was laughing. I took a deep breath and picked up my book which I was almost done with.

"OK, let's go over the Do Now" Mr. Mint rapped on the projector which contained a copy of the Do Now.

"Mr. Weismann?" Mr. Mint pointed to Jason who answered the first question.

"What do you think are some problems the settlers faced in the West? Some problems the settlers faced in the west was hunger, shelter, and proper heating" Jason read the question then the answer.

"Very good" Mr. Mint said and then looked around the room for the next question.

"Mr. Cruz?" he asked pointing to Gabe.

"During what year did the California Gold rush end? The California Gold Rush ended in eighteen fifty five" Gabe said.

"Very nice what about you Miss Schuster why don't you answer the next question" Mr. Mint said and pointed to Harley.

"Who founded the California Gold Rush? The California Gold Rush was founded by James W. Marshall" Harley said.

"Good so who can tell me what they think we will be learning about today?" Mr. Mint said and called on a standoffish girl named Reyna.

"The California Gold Rush period" she answered and Mr. Mint nodded

"That's right I want everyone to copy these notes and tell me why they think the California Gold Rush happened" Mr. Mint said.

I felt a piece of paper slip into my hand and saw a beautiful piece of handwriting.

"Meet me in the garden after sixth period" he wrote and I wrote back.

"OK"

I wrote back in my ugly handwriting. Sometimes I wished I had handwriting like Edward; neat, elegant, & good cursive.

The rest of fifth period went smoothly and I had Latin for sixth period with Mr. Velasquez who was an immigrant from the Dominican Republic and didn't speak English very well. It was a good thing I spoke Latin and could understand what he was saying because Keri and Brea had a really hard time. Latin is very similar to English because most of the words originated from Latin. Actually it was the second best part of my day besides Social Studies (which had always been my best and favorite subject). I hated biology and trig (this was something Bella and I had in common). I went through sixth period and endured Gabe's attempts to talk to me since he had no idea what was going on in Latin (like he ever did in any other subjects). Mr. Velasquez asked me if I wanted to deliver something for him and he would write me a late pass because the bell would probably ring while I was doing it. I took this as my opportunity to meet Jason when I was done.

He stood there…a smile on his face and whispered "follow me…there's something I want to show you" and he took my hand and we both sprinted away from the school leaving the air behind us.