BLUE MOON
CHAPTER THREE – Fitting In
The next day dawned clouded. Just perfect. Bright, but with no sun. I smiled ruefully to myself as I changed. Today was gonna be amazing.
As I got to the end of my drive, I saw Chelle already there. She smiled at me
"Hey Mandy," she said waving
"Hi Chelle. How are you?"
"Just fine." She smiled at the sky
"Good. And how about Larry?"
Her face fell a bit
"He's getting better," she mumbled "but it's taking some time."
"He just needs to adjust. You really should put up an electric fence around your property, like I did, Chelle. This wouldn't have happened if you had."
"I know, I know," she moaned "but it just seems so… well, so pointless, Mandy…" she shrugged, bothered "it makes me feel as if I can't protect us…"
I smiled at her. Recently, a thief had tried to rob Chelle's house. The only slight problem was Chelle's boyfriend, Larry.
Larry was very committed to trying to keep his diet. His numbers were extremely low, and that made him proud of himself. However, the day the thief had entered Chelle's house, Larry was thirsty…
He had been waiting for Chelle to come back from school so they could choose a cow for themselves. When he saw the thief, Larry lost control.
When Chelle got home, she had found Larry in a corner, mourning. Ever since that day, Larry had had more need to hunt, and with more frequency. That bothered Chelle, for she was constantly having to accompany him to some exotic place so he could hunt.
"He now wants to go to Japan." She sighed
"When are you leaving?" I asked
"I'm not going," she rolled her eyes "I'm tired of being towed all over the world so he can hunt a different animal each time," she huffed
"He'll get over it, Chelle."
"I sure hope so, Mandy… or I'll go insane!"
I smiled ruefully. We were running as we talked. In less than fifteen minutes, we were in the school boundaries. I was gonna miss this school. Two more years and we'd have to move… again. I sighed. Maybe we could go with the Cullens this time…
"Hey, Mandy! Hey, Chelle!" I heard two voices shout over to us from the cafeteria. I turned and saw Bella and Alice waving enthusiastically at us. Edward and Jasper stood a few feet behind, with obviously ashamed expressions. I stiffled a giggle and waved back, making my way toward them.
"Hello there, Alice, Bella, Edward and Jasper," I said, as soon as shouting was no longer necessary.
The six of us walked to our classes together, talking.
As I took my usual place in English, I remembered that my partner here wasn't Chelle… My stomach twisted. Doing it during a lesson wasn't gonna be at all simple. I shot a desperate look at Chelle. She just smiled apologetically and took her seat next to Ginny. I sighed and turned to face Sarah.
Sarah was my second best friend, Chelle being the first, obviously. The only problem was Sarah was human. Of course, that didn't mean much to me. But now, with the Cullens around, I had a feeling that Sarah and I would be seeing less and less of each other. But that wasn't the worse. Not yet. The worse was… Sarah knew. She knew I wasn't human. She just didn't know what I was. But last week, I had promised I'd tell Sarah. She had been extremely annoying for over one year. Finally, I gave in. Just when the Cullens had arrived. I repressed a sigh.
Chelle knew of my decision and even agreed with it. But would I have the guts to say…?
A piece of paper was shoved at me from Sarah. I braced myself, took a deep breath and read it.
So… are you gonna tell me or what?
I sighed and replied in the following way:
Please, please, please don't freak out, okay? I swear I mean you no harm at all.
Will you just spit it out?
Right. So… erm… I'm a vampire.
I shoved it back at her and waited, holding my breath, for her horror-struck expression, for her to jump to her feet and leave the room screaming.
Her reaction, however, took me completely by surprise.
A wide smile started to spread across her face. She eagerly grabbed the paper and started scribbling furiously on it.
Cool! How come you haven't jumped on me yet?
Just kidding…
But, seriously… how do you do it? Manage to stay this close, I mean… it must be hard.
Is Chelle also a vampire?
And what about that new family that just arrived? Are they vampires too?
GOD, this is so COOL!
I stared at her, sure she was mad. Her eyes were shinning. Not one flicker of fear as she looked at me expectantly. I shook my head and started answering her questions
Ha, ha, ha. Very funny, miss.
Yes. It's hard. But bearable. We say we're "vegetarian", our personal little joke. It helps if we want to talk about it with people around us. We only feed on animals. That's why I have so many cows at home…
Yes, Chelle and the Cullens are also vampires.
Listen… I would really appreciate if you could keep this to yourself, Sarah. You're not supposed to know this, remember.
Of course, silly. I'm not stupid. If I told anyone, they'd think I was loony… don't worry, your secret is safe with me.
So THAT'S what the cows are for, huh? Sweet!
Tell me something… are all the vampires so good-looking?
Thanks, Sarah. You rock.
I guess so. Not for us, though. I mean… there are some exceptions, of course, like for you humans… we each have our own tastes. But I imagine that for humans, all the vampires are good-looking, yes.
Why?
Cool!
Oh… Just curious…
Okay. So, before you ask, Edward is married. So are Jasper and Emmett.
Damn it!
Lucky vampires!
I laughed at that. Chelle looked over at me, curious. I saw her eyes flash towards Sarah, then back to me. I nodded lightly at her. Her face broke into a relaxed grin.
I grinned back.
Say, Mandy…
Yeah?
Could you present me to the Cullens today? Please?
Sarah… they're all married.
I know, I know… but still…
No, no, no… just for the sake of it. I can see you'll be spending a lot of time with them now, so I just wanna know them. (Because y'know… you're my confident… if you're hanging out with them, and I don't know them, how will we still be able to be friends still…? And don't start with the nonsense of 'I'm too dangerous for your own good. Keep away.' The life is mine. If I wanna risk it, let me risk it. And, anyway, we've been studying together for over a year now and you've NEVER tried anything on me, so really, I have absolutely NO REASON to be afraid of you. This, of course, explains why I really am not. Afraid of you, I mean.)
I swear.
Oh. Sure, I guess.
Doesn't the idea of being presented to six vampires frighten you in the least?
THANKS!
And… Nope. Not at all.
I'm guessing they're also "vegetarian", right? Just to make sure…
Yeah, yeah. You've got nothing to fear. Especially from Bella. That girl is amazing! She's so young, but yet so much more in control of herself!
Our little conversation probably would've gone on, if it hadn't been the teacher coming to check what was making Sarah so flustered. I snatched the paper back securely and showed the teacher my notes. I could see he was puzzled. I smirked.
It was helpful, studying the same thing over and over again. I never had to take notes. I just had to know what we were studying that day. Sarah looked at me with envious eyes.
When the bell for lunch rang, I got up slowly and waited for Chelle to disentangle herself from Ginny. It took too long. Sarah was ready and standing next to me, a half smile on her lips. I pursued my lips and waited. As soon as Chelle was free, we shot out of the class, with Sarah following behind us. I was starting to get annoyed. I was scared of the Cullens' reaction when they knew what I had done. I hoped they wouldn't tell the Volturi. I shuddered at the thought.
Edward looked at me, curious. No wonder, I thought. Come to the table thinking on the Volturi… I shook my head and sat down. Sarah sat between me and Chelle.
"Edward, Bella, Alice, Jasper… where are Rose and Emmett?" Chelle asked as she took her seat facing Alice
"They are… hiking," Bella answered, looking sideways to Sarah
Chelle and I nodded. Hunting.
"Well… erm… I hope you guys don't get too pissed with me…"
"Is that why you're thinking about the Volturi?" Edward asked "Because you think we'll hand you into them?"
I nodded, sheepish.
"What did you do?" Bella asked, curious.
I looked quickly at Sarah, sitting next to me. Edward's face lightened with understanding.
"We won't turn you in," he smiled
"Really? And you're not angry?"
"No," he shrugged "the choice was hers, after all," he smiled for a moment. "Her thoughts remind me of how Bella used to be… so… sure… not at all afraid…"
"Afraid?" Bella scoffed "Oh, c'mon, Edward! How could I even try being scared of you? I can't fear the person I love!"
His eyes narrowed at that.
"And don't you start that, Edward Cullen! You know perfectly well what I meant!"
He laughed.
"Okay, okay…"
She rolled her eyes and then turned to Sarah, who was gawking at the two.
"Are you okay…?" Bella asked her. She looked at Edward, unsure on how to continue
"Sarah," Edward whispered to her
"Are you okay, Sarah?" She asked, gently
"Huh? Oh! I'm… fine, thanks!"
Bella frowned.
"You seem a bit… strange…"
"I was wondering… how can one become a vampire?" Sarah asked
Everyone at the table seemed to flinch at that. Everyone but Alice, who continued as impassive as before. Sarah seemed to notice it wasn't something exactly nice. Edward and Alice exchanged a worried look.
"Why do you want to know, Sarah?" Alice asked lightly
"Just… curious," she shrugged
"A vampire has to bite you," Bella explained, holding her right palm up, to show Sarah a mark on it "Bite, but not kill." She said firmly, looking at Edward as she said it.
Sarah gasped, looking at Bella's hand.
"Was that how…?" She whispered in awe
"No." She smiled "this was an accident. The one that changed me is elsewhere," her smile grew wider. Beside her, Edward smiled too
I decided I didn't want to know where that bite was. Sarah seemed to agree with me there.
"Accident?"
"Yes. When I was human, I had a very bad luck." Alice laughed at that. Surely remembering things "Edward used to say that, if there was anything slightly dangerous in a distance of one thousand meters, it'd somehow, end up coming to me," she sighed "in one of these dangerous things, there was a vampire, called James. He was a tracker. He particularly liked my scent. Not as much as Edward did, but still… enough. He set off after me and, after some time, managed to trick me into going to him. To cut a long story short, his idea was to kill me, but he only managed to bite me, when Edward arrived. Edward then, had to suck the venom out of me."
Sarah's eyes were wide. I looked at her, wondering what her reaction would be. This story was new to me, too. Interesting story, I thought. So, they too had met James… and, probably Victoria and Laurent, too. I shuddered
The three had come by where me and Chelle were living in the country side once, a few years ago. We had been extremely happy when they had gone. I wondered now, what had happened to them…
"What happened to James? And Laurent and Victoria?" Chelle asked, vocalizing my thoughts.
As soon as she said Victoria's name, I saw Bella stiffen. Edward's jaw tensed.
"All killed," Alice answered. "James and Victoria by Edward. Laurent by Jacob's pack."
"The pack from last night?" I asked, shocked. They hadn't seemed all that friendly towards the Cullens.
"Yes," Bella replied coolly.
I recoiled.
"Did you know them? Laurent, James and Victoria, I mean," Alice asked
"Yes," I whispered "they passed by where me and Chelle were living, a few years ago. We were in the country side at that time," I explained.
Alice nodded her understanding
"Would you mind telling us the story of the pack?" Chelle inquired politely.
Alice looked at Bella. The lattest nodded and turned to us
"Okay. This is a very long story," she sighed heavily.
"Then I think it'll have to be left for later," Edward commented "unless we want to ditch Biology again today."
At that, we all moaned and got up, exceedingly slow for a bunch of eight vampires and just one human. All the way to class, Sarah would ask us some questions. I saw Bella looking at her curiously at her when Sarah wasn't looking. I wondered what Bella was thinking. Once, when Sarah asked a question about the sun, and how we could go out during the day, I could have sworn I saw her lips spread into a full-faced grin. In a second it was gone, though.
Edward, however, didn't manage to hide his amusement so well.
When Sarah had asked that same question that had Bella smiling widely, I saw the obvious humor pass in his eyes. He wasn't hiding it. When the next question was about sleeping in coffins, he couldn't hold himself and laughed all the way to class.
Sarah went bright red at his reaction and only recovered when Bella – with a smile on her own lips – explained that she had asked him exactly the same questions, and in exactly the same order before.
That made us all laugh. We entered our separate classes still smiling broadly.
A.N.: Riiiight! Thanks to all the reviewers! You make my day with your kind words ;)
BriaBeth: Thanks! =D. Here's your update… hope you like it ;D
Wishaway2014: Thanks so much! :$
Chocoholic4eva: Yeah… just a bit… I kind of imagined Bella would be in control ;). And sorry about the speech stuff… it's the brazilian way, but I'm changing it in all the chapters, okay? I hope it helps .
Next chapter next weekend, I hope! xD
Peace,
Mandy