Human

AN: This is the beginning of the real drama…mwah ha ha….

APOV

Bella sat next to me, with Edward on her other side, but unlike yesterday, she didn't have any food with her.

"Carlisle said that even though I like food, I still have to throw it up eventually," she grumbled. "And it was disgusting when it comes back up. So I'm just giving up on the whole institution."

I laughed. "Took you long enough to figure out that food doesn't do you any good, huh?"

Bella just scowled, and Edward wrapped an arm around her, while trying not to laugh himself. "So that's why you left halfway through second period?"

She nodded, and Edward kissed her softly on the forehead.

Leaning back, I snuggled into Jasper's chest. Rosalie, like always, was being so shallow and superficial. She was examining the French manicure she'd given herself this morning. Emmett just looked bored.

"No, Emmett, that's going too far," Edward muttered.

I suddenly saw a flash of Emmett dumping a guy who hit on Rosalie into one of the basketball hoops on the court outside. Jasper leaned down so that his lips were at my ear and his breath tickled my neck. "What?"

"Emmett's going to dump a guy who was going to ask Rose out into one of the basketball hoops outside," I told him, pointing outside.

"Say what?" Timothy's voice came from behind us. "Can we help? I've a few hit list victims that I need to deal with, too."

Isabelle smacked him playfully on the butt, making me cringe. "No way."

I bet that Rosalie kicked Emmett in the shin because Emmett doubled over, wincing.

"Take it easy! It was just an errant thought."

"Whatever," Edward grumbled.

Tatiana took her seat next to Renesmee, who greeted her enthusiastically. I smiled – the two were really getting along. Suddenly, Edward had a look of concern on his face as he looked at Tatiana – or maybe it was Nessie – I couldn't tell who it was and why.

And then I blanked out as I had another vision, but this one was much, much, much more serious. I saw Tatiana, walking hand in hand with another vampire – but this one was unknown, and Tatiana had an –

Oh my God. She had a ring on her finger!

As I snapped out of it, Edward looked at me. It was quick enough that no one else knew, but as his gaze alternated between Tatiana and I, I could see that his mind put the pieces together pretty quickly. Jasper noticed, too. His eyes were questioning, but I put a finger on his lips, shushing him. The others were still chatting, oblivious to our exchange.

"So I'm thinking, maybe I should quit Gym," Emmett was saying.

"Why?" Isabelle asked.

"Well, we were playing dodgeball!" Emmett huffed. "And I threw a ball too hard!"

Edward looked pained. "Yeah…maybe too hard."

"And it hit Josh Greendale!" Emmett continued.

"Wait," Timothy cut in. "The kid whose Mercedes I disassembled yesterday?"

"Yeah, he looked like he was having a pretty bad day. And it hit him so hard that he started crying!"

"Em, quit gloating. That was way too dangerous," Rosalie muttered. "I mean, seriously, it's a good thing that no one was paying attention to you at that moment, otherwise we would have to think of a very good excuse."

"Whatever."

"And I'm thinking that it's time for a shopping trip!" I chirped.

"No, please, Alice!" Bella and Renesmee exclaimed at the same time. The guys just groaned, but Isabelle and Tatiana perked up.

"No, guys, seriously, you've never seen her shop," Bella assured them.

"I like shopping!" Tatiana exclaimed.

"Should we go to Port Angeles, Seattle, Olympia, Tacoma, or somewhere farther?" I asked.

"I am not going, Alice, and neither is Renesmee." Bella put her foot down, literally.

I laughed. "Say 'bye' to Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet!" I sang.

"What? NO! I'm coming! Seriously! Don't lay a finger on my books!"

"And you boys can stay home," I added. They let out sighs of relief and started being mock-sympathetic to the girls.

The bell rang just then, and I skipped out to Social Studies, though I was a little down because Jasper was in the next room, in Pre-Cal. However, we agreed to pick a seat in the far corner away from the wall, in the very back, so we could whisper softer than any human can hear but still understand each other perfectly.

I wasn't expecting Tatiana to come join me. She sat down hesitantly in the seat next to me. "Hi." Apparently, she was also in my sophomore classes, for the afternoon.

Grinning back, I said, "Hey, Tatiana, I'm so glad that you like shopping. Bella and Renesmee are party poopers." I fake-pouted. She laughed, and then I came straight to the point.

"Tatiana, why do I see you being engaged to a newborn vampire in the near future?"

Her face was pure shock and disbelief. "Oh, dear God, I never knew – " she cut off, and then started again. "How can that happen?"

"Who is it?" I asked gently, not wanting to pry too much.

"It's…." Her voice broke, and she continued again. "His name is Ethan."

"Ethan?" My voice was just as confused as I felt.

"Ethan…Adinton," she confessed with a dry sob. Our whole exchange was so quiet that we didn't even turn heads. Jasper, coming in, remained silent for a moment, respecting our need for some, um, 'girl time'.

"I've never heard of him before," I mused.

"He has caramel hair, and he's about the same height as Emmett," she said quietly. "His skin is sort of tan, but just slightly. He's the one person that people pick on a lot, even though I don't see why! His parents are abusive to him, but he hasn't said anything."

I patted her on the back. "I'm sorry. Have you talked to him before?"

"Once," she admitted. "Just once. Today. I don't know why, but it's more than just a crush, I swear! It's like…his life is my own. His pain is my pain, his joy is mine."

She smiled briefly, but it didn't reach her eyes. "That sounds really, really cheesy."

"No, it's okay," I murmured, thinking back. "History repeats itself."

Her head snapped up and her eyes stared into mine. "What?" she demanded. "History repeats itself? How, in this case?"

"When Edward was in high school, here, nearly eighty years ago," I began, and then I heard her gasp. "Yeah, we went to high school hear once. So anyways, Bella – yes, that Bella – came here from Phoenix, Arizona, and Edward was extremely attracted to Bella's scent – her blood.

"He went away for a few days to the Denali clan in Alaska, but he chose to come back. He found an extreme attraction to Bella that lay underneath the thirst for her blood. That is one of the reasons he kept from hurting her. Eventually, well, he saved her from a bunch of guys who were going to rape her, in Port Angeles, and that sort of kick-started their relationship."

"Wow," she murmured. "But I don't see any way Ethan and I can be together."

I nudged her. "Don't think that! I saw you and Ethan engaged, remember?"

"Yes, but you also saw that when he was a vampire," she argued, spitting out the word like a profanity. "That will never happen – I won't allow it."

I stared in awe. "History does repeat itself."

"So what do I do?" she nearly begged.

"Well…I think you should take the action that Edward did, at first, with Bella. Start with some friendly small talk or something, just to show him that you're friendly."

"And…supposing I did?"

She must have meant it, because I found another vision. "And he'll ask you out."

"What? To a restaurant? I'm not Bella – I don't eat food!" I giggled at the memory of lunch yesterday.

"Well, not ask you out, in the common understanding. You're going to go for a walk in a park. And that will be the perfect time to tell him everything."

Her voice was strangled. "I can't. The Volturi – "

"He's going to be one of us anyways. It won't do any harm, I promise."

"Okay…and how are Isabelle and Timothy going to react?"

My eyes darkened. "Not too well," I sighed. They were going to be furious.

Tatiana dropped her head into her hands. "Oh, dear Lord."

I tried to comfort her – it made me sad, to see her in such a dilemma. "It happened to Edward, too, you know," I told her. "It was one of the worst family fights we've had up to that point. Half of us wanted Edward to open himself up to Bella, become friendly with her – and perhaps more, and the other half wanted him to just hurry up and kill her already."

"I don't – I don't see – do you see another outcome?" she asked me suddenly.

I racked my brain for another vision. Suddenly, it hit me. I had no idea where we were, or what had happened, but Ethan was sprawled on the ground, and the rest of us were crowded around him, and the blood in his body was being drained away into the ground. His heartbeats were numbered, and his time was slowly ticking away….

"Either that, or Ethan will die."

Tatiana froze. "What?" she finally whispered. "He's going to die? Oh God, no!"

"I'm sorry, Tatiana, I only see those two. But I think you should concentrate on first befriending Ethan, and then taking steps from there. I understand that you have Pre-Cal after this, with Ethan? And you also have General Music with him in the morning?" I saw their conversations, and they seemed quite at ease. Chatting like old friends.

"Yes. What do you see?"

I smiled, glad to have good news for her. "You're conversations with him seem to be

going in the right direction. And although you do want to go step by step in your relationship, don't put your feelings on hold forever. Don't jump right into some, uh, romantic activity, either, okay?"

"Sure," she answered, with a shuddering breath. "When do you see him asking me out?"

I looked back in my head yet again. I smiled in satisfaction. "Two days from now –

Thursday," I replied, with a grin. "And your 'date', the walk in the park, will be on Saturday. Plenty of time to figure out what to say."

The teacher strode in, and then we faced front. In a soft vampire-ears-only whisper, I asked Jasper, "Did you hear all that?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Edward probably knows already. He won't be too happy."

"I know – but you didn't have another decision. I'm proud of you, love."

I wished that I could just go over and kiss him. It was so hard to sit through a class and not be able to reach over and trace the long scars on his face that only made his features

better.

"Everything will work out, Alice, love," he assured me. "I know it."