Encounter
EmPOV
"The dreaded lunch hour," Edward whispered.
"Ew. Food." Rosalie shuddered under my arm.
I pulled her tighter. "Come on, Rose, it'll be all right. Just fake it."
"And don't buy too much," added Jasper. "It's sort of a waste, to buy lunch every day and not eat it."
"Yes, a waste," agreed Alice. "People have to grow these crops. They don't appear like that." She snapped her fingers.
Bella's eyes lit up. "I'll eat it," she volunteered.
We just stared at her.
Finally, I broke the silence. "What?!"
"I'll eat it," she repeated.
Edward seemed torn. "Bella…." He trailed off, and then started again. "Bella, you know that I would be the last to second-guess your choices, but are you sure?"
"Yeah, Bella!" Alice was right beside Edward in a flash. "How can you eat that disgusting, oily, greasy, overcooked cafeteria food?"
"It's only like that to you," Bella contradicted. "And let me tell you, I can remember the 'oily, greasy, overcooked cafeteria food' well from my days. And schools have made a big improvement since then, let me tell you."
"But food! How can you eat it?" muttered Rosalie, hissing in revulsion.
Bella suddenly looked embarrassed. "Okay, so up until very, very recently, I hadn't eaten food for all this time. But this morning I saw an unopened bag of chips and I don't know what came over me and I just ripped the bag open and I swallowed the chips and I thought it was going to be really disgusting but it wasn't and so I kept on eating and they tasted just like they did in human years and – "
"Love," cut in Edward. "Can you stop for a minute?"
She stopped, and took in a deep breath.
"First," he began. "you're killing yourself by talking without oxygen."
Nice joke, Eddie-kinz. He scowled at me when I used our little annoying pet name for him. "Second, don't explain why you aren't disgusted by human food like the rest of us."
Eddie-kinz has gone crazy.
The subject glared a murderous glance at me. As if he could hurt me! Abruptly, his face changed, and he muffled his laughter under his hand.
"What, Eddie-kinz?" I growled aloud.
He shook his head and proceeded with his speech. "Third, we're getting very, very close to the other vampires – if none of you can smell them, I'm assuming that you'll need a checkup from Carlisle – and I don't want any of you exposing your talents or anything at first, or until they expose their own. If they're the first, then yes, you can use your own. Is that clear?"
Yes, sirree. That caused the most murderous glance yet.
"I'm watching you, old man," he declared. Alice laughed. It did no good to call any of us "young", seeing as Bella was well over eighty and she was the youngest in the group, apart from Nessie.
Ah, Nessie. She hadn't spoken much today. The girls seemed friendly enough to her, as far as I could tell, but the guys were acting inappropriately. I wished that Jacob was here, so I could see some human brains on the ground. Edward looked up at me, exasperated.
"Please, Emmett!"
Whatever.
In a much lower voice, he whispered, "The separation's slightly painful. Be nice."
Nessie's gaze snapped to us. "I heard that," she accused. "Don't talk to me like I'm not here."
"Ooh," I muttered. "Disrespecting your elders – Daddy's going to spank you for that," I teased.
"Shut. UP!" both Edward and Nessie shouted in unison.
"You're still disrespecting your elders," I murmured.
"Must I remind you, Emmett, that I am a few decades older than you?"
Technically, though –
"But we aren't talking in technical terms."
Says who?
"Says I. And if you would be so kind as to shut up, oh…no. The others heard us talking.
They're contemplating how to shut you up now, too."
Okay, that wasn't exactly the best first impression.
Rosalie elbowed me in the ribs. "Why is it always you, Emmett?"
I grinned down at her. "Don't blame me, it's a natural trait of mine."
"Hmph," grunted Bella.
Alice and Jasper were sort of lost in their own little utopia there, gazing into each others'
eyes.
"Alice, Jasper, save this for tonight, please?" pleaded Edward.
We were to the entrance of the cafeteria by this point. Being taller than everybody, I could see easily into the large, spacious room. I spotted them immediately.
Three of them. Two females, one male. A brunette, a blonde, and a redhead. Two juniors and a freshman.
How could this be?
They were sitting at our table!
"That's the least of our worries, Emmett," annoying Eddie-kinz muttered.
The others, having seen us immediately, sat unmoving and wary. As we made our way to that table, I could feel the gazes of everyone we passed. Poor Eddie-kinz; he had to see
what they were thinking.
As we arrived at our previous table, a queer feeling washed over us all, one that even
Alice didn't see coming.
All of a sudden, we knew. The blonde male was Timothy, the redheaded female who was obviously with Timothy was Isabelle – I saw Bella stiffen – and the brunette female was Tatiana. Their parental figures were William, who worked as a lawyer, and Alena, who
was mostly a stay-at-home mom, like Esme.
Of the five of them , two had gifts. Isabelle was the one who had just 'subtly' introduced them all to us, and Tatiana was very interesting – she could stop anything from affecting the object of her focus.
We were shocked into silence until I broke it, again.
"How the hell did you do that?"
Isabelle smiled wanly at me. "Oh, I think you know already."
Timothy and Tatiana just stared at us.
"Oh, excuse me," apologized Edward, ever the gentleman. "It's very rude of us to not introduce ourselves when you have already. I'm Edw – "
"Edward, Bella, Renesmee, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett," Isabelle finished for him. "My power works in reverse, too."
Us Cullens exchanged glances. "I believe that we have much to discuss." Edward was slightly taken aback at Isabelle's gift.
Bella looked confused. "Wait…what are you doing? Did I miss something again?" she frowned.
FM frequency, huh, Edward?
"Oh, love, Isabelle had just sort of introduced them to us," he explained. "I'm sorry, I'd forgotten that you…."
Isabelle's brow furrowed, and relaxed a second later. "Oh, I see. So, Bella, I am Isabelle, my mate is Timothy here, and this is our sister, Tatiana. I can introduce people suddenly and subtly, if I choose to, and it's as if they'd introduced me to them, too. So that's how I know the basic facts about your…coven." She paused. "Tatiana has a power, too. She can stop anything – physical or mental – from happening to whatever object she's focusing on. Our parents are William and Alena."
"Um…." Bella glanced at Edward.
"I'll explain later," he promised.
"So, you, Bella, can stop anything from entering your mind?" asked Timothy, speaking for the first time.
"If I choose to," replied Bella. "I can take away my shield."
"Bella, why not right now?" I suggested, with a good idea for once. Edward nodded in agreement to my good idea revelation. "So you can be introduced, too."
"All right," she muttered. "Here goes."
A second later, she smiled. "Got it," she said with a smile.
Edward glanced at Tatiana. "No, Renesmee is not fully human."
She leaned back, shocked. "Did you just…."
"Read your mind? Yes," he answered.
Isabelle's eyes darted from Edward to Bella to Nessie. "Oh, I see. And you like to call her Nessie."
Bella rolled her eyes. I couldn't help but agree. It wasn't my doing – not at all. This time, I was not to blame. It was the dog. Edward glanced at me sharply.
The whole conversation had lasted about twenty seconds so far, and we were incomprehensible to humans except for the few tidbits of harmless information we had no need to keep secret.
There was another moment of quiet.
"Awkward silence," I coughed.
That did it – there was nervous laughter all around.
"Well, I think we need to get our food," said Alice.
Timothy smiled pityingly. "It's especially disgusting today – hold your breaths," he warned.
"Oh, look, Edward!" exclaimed Bella. "It's the salad bar today! I remember the last time I had a halfway decent meal from a salad bar – I made a salad I nicknamed the Sears Tower salad, and I'm going to make it right…now…."
"Yes," answered Edward, but looking at Timothy. "We just found out today that she can, in fact, swallow that vile shit."
I stared at Edward. He so very rarely cursed, especially in front of Bella – or any lady, for that matter – but this was excusable. The especially disgusting odor that wafted from the kitchen nearly made me gag. As it was, I did choke a little bit. All right, not a little bit, but more like a nine-one-one coughing fit. Rosalie's breathing abruptly stopped, and she fanned the air with her hand. Jasper and Alice had simply stopped inhaling.
"Edward," Bella reprimanded him.
He kissed her forehead softly. "I know, love. I'm sorry."
"Okay, so we need to see Bella's trademark salad," I joked. Timothy and Isabella leaned
back, while Tatiana still made no movement.
"We'll be right back," Edward promised them.