The Others

EPOV

"Bella," I whispered in her ear as we got in the car – the silver Volvo, still functional after all these years – in the morning. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. Are you positively sure that you can follow through with four more years of high school…in Forks, at that? You don't have to. And you must be thoroughly sick of this by now – your graduation hat pile is growing." I laughed gently.

She grasped my hand. "I can do this," she muttered. "Besides, our schedules are the same…right?"

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "I think they should be…at least, we'll have lunch and several other periods together for sure. There aren't many options for class periods and schedules, considering that the population of Forks High hasn't grown much."

She sighed. "A.P. Russian."

"Don't let it get to your head too much," I assured her. "If you can't catch up – which, of course, you can – I'll just tell you all the answers, very quietly."

Bella chuckled.

Jasper had heard us. "Don't worry, you guys. Relax…nothing's going to happen." And we felt a brief wave of peace.

"Nothing…except that I can see we're going to meet three new friends today," murmured Alice.

I had tuned her thoughts out. Now, as I instantly refocused, I saw what she saw. We were sitting at our…usual…lunch table – they hadn't even changed the placement of the tables in the cafeteria after all these years – by the window, in the corner, but we were also joined by three others. Alice's vision was murky and unclear, but I could see that there was a male and two females; one of the females was obviously in a relationship with the male.

Oh. My. Lord. My outfit does not freaking match!

I glanced over at Rosalie. She was wearing an emerald-green jacket over a white-and-silver-striped tank top. She was wearing a black miniskirt over tight jeans – they seemed to be exceedingly popular these few years. Fashion has been slow to change, and Alice was irritated with that, though it would have been shocking if someone wore that seventy years ago…I shrugged to myself. Her outfit looked fine to me.

Just then, I heard a mental outburst from Alice. What the hell was she thinking?

"Rosalie!" Alice yelped. "What was going through your mind? You can't wear that shade of green! It looks disgusting compared to your pale skin! And blue jeans? I thought that we'd specifically gone over that when you wear a black mini you wear black jeans, too! Unless they're white, which in that case, you have to…."

Oh, shut UP, Alice!

Bella leaned her head against my shoulder. "Here we go again."

Rosalie does look weird, thought Emmett. "Alice, cut it out…there's nothing we can do now. I'd certainly love to pull over into this mall but haven't you noticed? We don't exactly have lots of time on our hands."

"Oh, fine, Em," conceded Alice. "But Rosalie, I insist on having you take off that mini.

You'd look better without them."

Rosalie grudgingly obeyed. Bossy, stupid, fashionable idiot, she thought murderously.

"Shut up, you guys," Jasper put in. A wave of contentment and silence washed over us all, and Rosalie's negative thoughts and Alice's comments about fashion stopped.

Throughout all this, Nessie was silent. She stared dreamily out the window, looking more human than all of us. She was thinking about Jacob again. I smiled; finally, Jacob had someone he could be with like I could with my love…Bella.

As we pulled into the parking lot, I felt a sense of déjà vu. Seven decades ago, I had pulled into this very parking lot in this same car. Seven decades ago, the day that Bella came had seemed so monotonous, so usual, so ordinary. And now…we were coming back, as sophomores and juniors. The only change was that this day, seven decades ago, had made all the difference in my existence. It had changed me, from the inside out. And now we were two more in number.

This is going to be boring, thought Nessie. I couldn't blame her. She was, after all, a half-human vampire going through high school. Of course she was going to have those feelings.

As soon as Emmett parked, we jumped out the van. Emmett immediately hugged Rosalie tight to him, Jasper held Alice's hand tightly, and I put an arm over Bella's shoulders. I could smell the humans, but the blood wasn't particularly attractive today. Bella held Nessie's hand, and I could hear her heartbeat speed up. Even though she had gone through at least four high schools before she went to school on the reservation with Jacob, where there were no secrets, she always had this pre-high-school anxiety.

Edward, I can smell them! You can too, right?

I looked back over at Alice, and she gestured meaningfully to the doors of the school. I

could smell the other vampires, it was true. They were very similar to us, even in scent.

It'll be all right, see.

She showed me one of her glimpses of the future she had gotten last night while I was with Bella – when I was with my love, I tended to forget everything else. That look she had received portrayed us perhaps a year later. Nessie had become good friends with the one girl in the family without a mate. Carlisle and Esme had hit it off with the two parent figures in the coven, and the other couple had become friends with us "kids" in our family. We were playing…an interesting game of tennis while the "parents" were holding a friendly conversation. Nessie and the other girl seemed to be gossiping about school or something, like normal teenage girls would.

As we stepped into the school, I immediately smelled the vampires and could tell where they were in the school. I could hear them precisely, what they were thinking.

I smell the new ones!

Are they peaceful?

Did they really come? Huh….

They were silent, though their thoughts were racing. Clearly, they'd detected us as soon as we'd smelled them.

I was unable to keep concentrating on their thoughts; the students' minds were producing extremely disturbing images.

Wow…but she's hot, man!

That guy should leave her, I don't see anything about her that he would like.

I wonder what that big guy would do if I asked his girl out?

"Hey, Em," I whispered quickly over my shoulder. "Check this out – this guy was wondering what your reaction would be if he asked Rosalie out."

I am going to tear every limb off that youngster's body – no, that's not enough. I shall tear every finger and every toe off, one by one, then the hands, and the feet, and the limbs. And afterwards….

"No, you're not," I muttered. "Shut up and try to make sure that everyone knows that Rosalie's yours."

So far, there had been nothing about me…or Bella, who had reached up to take my arm between hers.

Our luck was short-lived.

Oh my gosh…his eyes are gorgeous! He should leave that girl….

She looks so shy…well, the quieter, the better. They don't put up any fuss when we take them home….

I glowered at the boy materializing that train of thought. Just as I'd expected – one of those football jocks who are every bit as shallow as Rosalie. He and his friends were leaning against the wall, appraising Bella. One of them let out a low whistle, and my teeth locked together.

One of Bella's rare thoughts came through to me as she lifted her shield for a brief second. Calm down, Edward. You know I'd cheerfully beat that guy to a slow and agonizing death if not for the fact that we'd be exposed.

My jaw loosened, and Bella put her arm around me. The football jock's thoughts turned into pure fury, directed towards me.

I wonder…hmm, I already saw that dude at his car, so when school ends, I'll simply take a pebble, and chuck it across the parking lot. I'll either aim for his car so that it'll be damaged – probably beyond repair – or his head, so I can kill him. I saw two futures materialize in Alice's head; one was a vision with the boy on the ground, twitching, a hole in his skull. The other was one in which his car was destroyed from that little pebble; Alice had sent it at super-speed into the gas tank, and it was good that he was running on fumes. A small explosion blackened the back of the car.

"Oh no, you're not," I whispered.

Her thoughts turned smug. Too late.

Jasper was well in control of his emotions, even when some guys lounging around the corner were thinking inappropriately toward Alice and were making obvious jokes about her…inappropriate jokes. His eyes hardened, but there was no change otherwise.

I pulled Bella close to me as all six of us walked into the office. The secretary at the desk was, thankfully, in her fifties; she gave us no second glance as she handed over our schedules and other paperwork, bored. How do I make a pecan pie again? Right, the graham cracker crust, one cup of sugar, a half cup of….

Bella snatched hers out of my hand and compared them quickly. "Yes…yes…yes…oh, damn!" she exclaimed, then slammed her hand over her mouth and looked over anxiously at the secretary to see if she'd caught her cursing. Two cups of flour, and a tablespoon….

"We have every class together but two," she muttered, her lip sticking out slightly in a pout. I gently placed a kiss on her lips, and then looked at the difference.

I read the others' schedules quickly through their thoughts. "Well, Gym and General Music – " Was General Music really required? To learn how to play a simple minuet was nothing. Even Bella could do that – "you don't have with me, but you have General

Music with Nessie, and Gym with Alice and Jasper."

She sighed. "Nessie inherited her music gene from her dad. Jasper will crush me in Gym."

I leaned down to kiss her again. The office was empty at the moment, except for the secretary, who was checking her e-mail. My hands ran over her face, and I could feel her fingers lock into my hair. "I'll be sure to let them know," I breathed.

"What?"

I tore away from her. "Alice, Jasper, be nice to Bella during Gym – you have it together.

You know how she is," I added, teasing Bella.

"Of course," answered Jasper. That is, I'll try….

The first bell rang just then. Without taking her eyes away from the computer screen, the secretary shooed us out of the office. Finally, peace and quiet! Without all those young teenagers! Why am I here anyways? Oh, right…I'm the substitute….

As we walked out of the office, students in all directions stared again. The fantasies were just absolutely revolting.

What do I say to him? 'Hi, my name is, like, Sophie, and I wanted to talk to you….'

I turned my head just slightly in that girl's direction. Her lashes had heavy layers of mascara – I'd always considered mascara users stupid, since the point of eyelashes was to keep dirt away from the eye, dark eye shadow, and bright red lips. As soon as my head turned in her general direction, she started hyperventilating. Oh God, he looked at me!

Smiling gently, I bent down to Bella, who I still had my arm wrapped around. She caught onto my idea, too, and the girl named Sophie's mood abruptly changed as our lips touched. I tuned her thoughts out, and focused on this perfect girl who I was kissing.