I stared at him. "Are you trying to be funny?" I snarled.

Finally, he winced (good, he's scared after all!), and took a step back. "Relax, chick," he purred. "You want answers, I'm your man, but you've gotta treat me good."

"Treat you well," I corrected, exasperated.

"Yeah, whatever. Okay, look. This is very possibly the worst place to have a top-secret conversation, so come with me. We are ditching school and taking a ride in my car." He flashed a crooked smile and fished out some car-keys from his pocket.

I glanced at the keys, then at Elijah. "I'm not even enrolled in this school. Hell, I'm not even born yet!"

"You're rather fond of that word, aren't you?"

"What? Hell?"

"Yeah, that one."

I shrugged and glared at him. "Stop changing the topic! Let's go, get in your car. And... let's talk. I have to understand what's going on."

Elijah rose his index finger, gray eyes bright. "First of all, Renesmee, I can't promise all the answers. I am not the one who got you in this mess; I am simply... how do I put it?... an agent of the guy who is the top dog behind all this. Got it? So if I can't answer some questions, don't go biting me and making me a vamp."

I stared at him, motionless. How much did he know? "You know about..."

He nodded quickly. "I know a lot of stuff right now, as you'll find."

I sighed, not even trying to swallow this chunk of information. Way too much was going on, and for my elderly teenage mind, it was too much. "Well, my bite isn't even poisonous, so there."

Elijah smiled, looking a little nervous, actually. "Right. Now come with me; and if anyone says something to you, stay quiet. You're not supposed to be here, remember that."

I nodded, and followed him absently as we left through the doors of Forks High School. I wondered if anyone would see us leaving. Would they fabricate stories about us? Would somebody make a rumor that we skipped school to hang out?

Ew.

I froze when a cold hand clamped about my shoulder. Nails like that of a cat dug into my shoulder blade, and a high voice spoke from behind me. "And where do you two think you're going?"

I inwardly groaned. A teacher. Beautiful.

Elijah spun around, and I saw the dismay in his eyes as he recognized this teacher. "Oh- Mrs. Hartley. Hello." He offered a little hand-wave as he walked towards us, his eyes flashing just briefly into mine, warning to me stay silent.

"I repeat," Mrs. Hartley growled as she spun me around to face me. "Where do you-" She stopped when she looked at me, and suddenly, she glanced at her hands, then at my face.

She thinks I look an awful lot like the Cullen kids.

"Who is this, Elijah? A new student?" she chirped. She had that crazy hairdo that stank of the '80s and small, wormlike lips.

Elijah quipped an answer smoothly as he stood by me. His shaggy blond hair fell into his speckled gray eyes, and he looked charming as possible as he replied. "This is Abigail Bird, Mrs. Hartley. She's actually my cousin, and just visiting for the week. Right, Abigail?" He smirked.

It took all my strength to not throw him into the wall by his precious mop and bucket. "Yes, that's right," I purred, sweet as a little bird.

Elijah's boyish charms, which seemed to mildly work on the old teacher, had an epic-fail when it came to my charms, and she scowled at me, unbelieving. "I was not told of any student visiting Forks for a week!"

A week. A month. A year. I don't know, lady, and trust me, I really don't want to be here in the first place.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I muttered when Elijah purposefully knocked his hand into my thigh.

He coughed.

"I've heard a lot about you from my cousin here," I went on, smiling sweetly. "He says you're the smartest, prettiest teacher in the school."

That managed to swoon her over, and finally her cold expression broke as she beamed at us. "Oh! Well... right then. Ah, come along, Abigail... even if you're visiting you have to enroll in our classes. I'll inform the principal and the teachers..." Her voice trailed off as she led us through the cafeteria. A wild, shrill bell rattled through the populated hallways, and I knew lunch was over. Time for the next class.

As I passed Edward's table, I felt his eyes on me the whole time, and I grimaced. Elijah caught the look and grinned. "Looks like your catching the eye of the wrong man, hunny."

"Shut up!" I snapped.

He just laughed and said something about just kidding, and finally we left the noisy cafeteria and passed through a tangle of hallways before Mrs. Hartley came to a stop in front of a large door labeled BIOLOGY in peeling, green letters.

"I believe this is Elijah's next class, Abigail, so you can start with him."

I just nodded absently at the teacher. "Alright. Thanks."

She swept past us, and I could almost hear her pleasant side fading as she snapped nosily to some unfortunate students behind us to stop holding hands or she'd lock their hands together for a whole 24 hours.

"Nice lady," I remarked sardonically as I pushed into the classroom. A heavy guy was sitting behind the desk, and already students had trickled in.

"I know, right?" Elijah grinned as we walked in. I noticed immediately that Dad was in here (Edward, not Dad. Edward), and sitting patiently at his desk. A wave of students suddenly crashed in behind us, and I blinked. Of course! This was the infamous Biology room. Where Dad and Mom sat next to each other and Dad smelled her and wanted to eat her and-

"Who's this, Elijah? Another girlfriend?" came the voice of the teacher.

"Mr. Banner," Elijah coughed. "Please. This is my cousin... Abigail Bird."

The older guy grasped my hand amiably and said, "Pleasure, Abigail. Are you a new student?"

"No, just visiting for the week," I quipped, going with Elijah's story. It still frustrated me that Mrs. Hartley had found us; now, I had to go to school for the next week, and I still had no time alone with Elijah to find out what the heck was going on here.

"Oh. Well, have a seat. Hmm." He turned to observe the class, hunting for empty seats. I saw his eyes linger on the empty chair by Edward Cullen, and Elijah saw it too.

"Oh, sir, there's an empty seat right behind me, so-"

"Why don't you take the seat by Edward?" Mr. Banner inquired finally, completely ignoring Elijah and pointing to the vampire.

I stared at him, mind suddenly chu-chunking and winding like clockwork. This was not good. That was supposed to be Mom's seat, Bella Swan's seat. Not mine. If she didn't sit there, she'd never grow suspicious of his rude ways, and he'd never smell her shockingly sweet scent. And they'd never hit it off, which meant-

"Um, Abigail?" Elijah wove a hand in front of my face. "You okay? Checking if Mars is still hanging in there?"

I blinked rapidly and shot him a reproachful look. "I'm fine. But, Mr. Banner, please, can't Bella Sw-"

"Hello," came a quiet voice. We all turned around, and there, (speak of the devil!) was my plain, pale, pre-vamp mom. She looked a little worried as she glanced at her class list again. "Mr... Banner? Biology?"

"The one and only. You must be Bella Swan, the other new student," he smiled. "Welcome. Ah, how about you sit in that empty chair behind Elijah here?"

"Sir, please, can't Bella sit with Edward?" I growled, jaw clenched. I was not about to let this old guy sabotage my plans.

Mr. Banner just laughed. "Oh, please, Abigail, you'll be fine. He doesn't bite," he added with a playful wink as he directed Bella to her seat.

I glared after him. Oh, very funny.

Elijah chuckled and shook his head as he scuffed his black DC shoes on the tile floor.

"What?" I bared my teeth, feeling delightfully vampire-ish.

Elijah just laughed and shook his head, walking back to his seat. I was left alone at the front of the dreary room, and I blinked, realizing everyone was sorta staring at me. I walked tersely past the rows of desks, and finally slid into mine, sitting as far away from Edward as possible.

He hadn't even passed Bella a single look.

"Hello," he said in a formal voice. I glanced at him, and didn't like the way his dark eyes sparkled, like black diamonds. Silent understanding passed between us, I'll give him that. But beyond the knowledge that we were both vampires, I wanted nothing to do with Dad. I was here to find a way to get back home, where I belonged. I hated High School already.

"Hi," I finally responded, deciding politeness was a virtue I should keep in this time and setting.

The class around us was talkative and laughing as Mr. Banner tried to settle them down. We all dutifully ignored him, however; even me, as my dad spoke again.

"So you're Abigail Bird," he said.

"That's the name," I replied warily.

He pursed his lips, amused, as he glanced at his hands. "Tell me... I know you don't want to talk about it, but this is... fascinating. I've never met somebody whose thoughts I can't read; except for one person... but never mind that." His eyes did travel briefly towards Bella, and I inwardly grinned. So he'd noticed her after all! "I feel so weak. I can't read your mind. It's..." He shook his head, then hesitated. "For someone whose lab partner just admitted
he can read minds, you're acting pretty calm." He smiled crookedly.

I blinked at him, sighing. Another lie, coming right up. "Oh, I've heard of special ones in... our kind... who can do stuff like that. It's no surprise." I paused, then chose to go ahead and tell him. "I can't read minds, but I can send thoughts by touching someone."

Edward looked enthralled. He was really getting a kick out of this whole discovering-a-new-vampire-chick thing. "Really?"

"Really. Let me show you." I reached over, and touched his skin; I know that, in reality, it's ice-cold, but to me it felt fine. Silently, I said Your hair-do looks really funny.

He laughed, more out of surprise than amusement, as I pulled my hand away. "That's amazing."

"Oh, I know," I chuckled.

He gazed at me. "How long do you plan to stay in Forks?"

I gazed back, and knew something like worry flashed in my eyes, because I felt the tiny squirm in my belly. Truth was, I had no flipping idea how I even got here, let alone getting back. As far as I knew, I was stranded in the past for the rest of my life.

"I don't know," I finally admitted.

He nodded. "So before I don't know ends, would you like to meet the Cullens?"

I looked away. I knew each and every one of them by heart. They were my family; and it was hard enough to have to lie to everyone else. To be in a world without your mom and dad, without any allies or friends. I suppose Elijah was something like an ally, but he didn't really count.

"Sure," I murmured.

He smiled at me. "It's a date."

I stared at him, horror making me feel sick. This was not what I needed right now.

For the rest of the bell, I forced our conversation to stay utterly vampire-less as we took notes from Mr. Banner's hideous white scrawl on the blackboard, and said nothing more about the Cullen family.

As soon as the bell was over, I was up and out in a heartbeat. Bella brushed past me as I walked out, and I noticed with dismay that Edward didn't pay the human a glance as he left Biology.

This is getting interesting. Thanks for reading and reviewing, guys, it inspires us to update (:

I might update once more before Friday, since I'm leaving for a week of vacation (yes...!) but if I don't, know I have the future chapters in mind. The ocean and the sun might drive those thoughts to the back of my head though... :P