Authors Note: Hey guys, I apologizefor the super, super long wait on this chapter but things have been super hectic lately and the fact that I had a bit of writers block with this story and that I really, really got into my GHI story (which you all should read asap!) and well, honestly I don't really have an excuse but I really hope that this chapter makes up for it! I'm sick with the flu so I haven't been doing much the last three days and so I decided to take a break from my GHI story and to finish editing this chapter :) It's 7,300 words long so you get ALOT of info in this chapter so you all better enjoy it :) Anyways, please review guys and I'll just let you get to reading :)

Happy Reading,

- RIP.


PLAYLIST:

New Kids In Town

- by -

Before Their Eyes


Chapter Seventeen – New Kids In Town

Amber POV

It only took about fifteen minutes to arrive at school, which plenty of time for me to have two mini panic attacks and then calm myself down. As we pulled into the parking lot I felt a wave of butterflies being unleashed in my stomach for the third time since we had left the Harper house. I noticed that everyone just stopped and stared as we pulled into the parking lot—it wasn't everyday that someone pulled into the parking lot with a car like a Bentley. Sure, everyone was well off where we lived but people didn't have big, fancy business cars like that. Plus, everyone was used to my friends and I being in the Lexus and the Saab. Sadly we probably wouldn't be taking either of those cars to school now. One, the Saab is completely destroyed and there is no one to drive it and two, we have the Bentley and the SUV to drive now.

We parked our two cars into two parking spaces that were right next to each other and together we got out of the cars, getting out in a graceful manner that only we could achieve. The first thing I noticed besides the stares as we got out from our cars was the smell of blood and the sound of thumping hearts. They were all around us. At first I was a little scared that it was going to be overwhelming but it didn't seem to bother me at all. It seemed completely normal. The smell and sounds just pounded away in my ears yet did nothing else. I quickly turned to look at my family and saw that they were having the same reactions. I couldn't help but let a small smile grace my face for that. But, as soon as my smile appeared, it dropped from my face in an instant. Because in that second I realized that no longer would my heart beat, or anyone else's in my family for that matter. These children were lucky, they still got to breathe in deeply, they got to eat real food and actually have it satisfy them, they could feel their hearts racing in their chests when their crush walked passed them and offered them a shy smile. I could never experience any of those things again.

Never.

'Damn you Vicente.' I thought.

To get rid of those jealous thoughts, I opened up my mind channel to see what the student body was thinking about us. Immediately I got a response. It was like a rush of thoughts attacked my brain. They were poking, prodding and invading my skull. I felt like they were surrounding them, bringing me down to my knees as hundreds of voices started screaming in my head. It was extremely overwhelming at first but after a while I was able to control it. If I looked at one child and focused really hard, the other thoughts swarming, wrapping and twisted around my body would just disappear and I could think happily again.

'Holy hell those kids are fucking gorgeous!'

'Hmm, I wonder who those two new kids are? No one said anything about new kids starting today.'

'Did they always look like that or did they just get hotter over the break?'

'Who are they? Are they new? Surely mom would have told me if we were getting new kids.'

'What are those two new kids doing with them? They never let anyone new into that group.'

'I wonder if those girls are good in bed.'

'I can't believe Brie was really in a car accident. But it doesn't look like they are grieving too much though—they already replaced her.'

'I wonder where the other girl in there group is. Smoking!'

'Damn, I'd tap that!'

'I wonder if either of those guys are taken by the girls. Damn, they are both fucking sexy Did they always look like that? There has to be something different. Their gazes are so…enthralling.'

I could have stood in that parking lot and went through the thoughts of every individual in the parking lot but it would be a waste of time to do so. Every thoughts were the same. They were all centered around one thing: my family. But even so, I was still curious so I kept one listening. The thoughts went on and on and on like the ones before them. Just as I had predicted, nearly everyone who was in the student parking lot was thinking something about us. Some of their thoughts completely aggravated me—especially when people thought we had replaced Brie with Grace and Jeremy.

When I had gotten my fill of prodding into my peers minds, I looked over to Shay. Immediately I took in her expression and didn't even bother to read her mind. I wanted to give my family and friends at least some privacy. I would extend that gesture to my friends at school as well. But in that moment, I knew something was wrong. The look on Shay's faces spoke thousands of words.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

Shay looked at me in surprise, her violet eyes were open with surprise but there was a certain amount of disgust lying in their swirly depts. "I can—I can see everything that they are feeling. Their auras are—it's like a freaking rainbow out there except most of them have dark red, silver and green swirling around them. I think—I think that they're all mad, confused and jealous." Shay explained but even she sounded unsure of herself. She wasn't making much sense but I knew that she was trying her hardest to at least make me understand. "Oh and god, some of the lust coming off on them is just plain awful—not to mention disgusting." I noticed how she couldn't help but shudder slightly as she spoke the last sentence.

"I know what you mean. Don't even get me started on their thoughts." I told her, trying my hardest to help her understand that I knew her predicament. "Trust me. You really don't want to know what they are thinking about us."

Jeremy laughed, "Sucks to be you guys."

I turned around and gave my new brother a vicious look. In his eyes, I could see the reflection of my firm stature and inhuman ferocity. When I spoke, my voice was low. "No actually it sucks to be you, because a lot of what they are thinking is focused on you and Grace." I retorted.

'If they think they are going to touch Jeremy they have another thing coming!' I heard Shay shout in her mind.

Immediately I lost my irritated stance and giggled as I shot Shay a knowing look. I hadn't actually meant to read her mind but the thought was so strong that he literally broke through the barrier that I had mentally created. She turned to look at the ground sheepishly while Jeremy just looked plain confused.

"What is it?" Jeremy asked looking between me and Shay.

"Looks like someone is a little jealous," I sang. "I don't even need to see auras to know that."

Shay scowled but Jeremy's eyes widened in surprise, "Wait, what? People are having sick fantasies about me?" he asked, a hint of awe in his voice. I raised an eyebrow but nodded yes to his question.

Shay looked slightly put out and turned away, crossing her arms and letting an annoyed look cross her features, "Why do you sound so happy about that?" she whispered angrily.

"I'm not happy—just surprised." Jeremy said as he grabbed Shay by the shoulders and turned her to face him. He offered her a crooked smiled, "Don't worry, they don't matter."

Shay managed to give him a small smile in return, but her thoughts were still raging crossly about the disgusting minds and feelings coming from our own peers. I could understand why she was reacting the way that she was.

To many, they would find it fascinating to get inside your friends, your peers and your teachers heads but it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Human's thoughts were vulgar, disgusting and sometimes just plain wrong. Their feelings were uncontrollable and unpredictable. They couldn't help it—it's just how they were made. That's why it wasn't programmed into the human nature to reach each other's thoughts and emotions because if it was, the world would be in total chaos. I knew that after today I would never be able to look at the people in my school the same way again. Their thoughts were—well, let's just say it I would have to be a lot more forgiving from now on when dealing with my peers.

While Shay, Jeremy and I had been talking amongst ourselves Matt, Olivia, Roxie and Grace had been discussing their classes and teachers. They had moved slightly away from the cars and were standing near the school's entrance. Several students who walked by us and mingled around that area turned to stare at us in school as Jeremy, Shay and I walked over to our family to include ourselves in their conversation.

"We need to get our schedules." Grace said as she pointed to herself and then at Jeremy.

I thought for a moment, considering everyone's schedules into consideration before speaking. "Well Shay, Roxie and I can show you the office. We all go by there to get to our first class." I suggested.

"You guys would do that?" Grace asked kindly.

"It's no problem." Roxie told her with a shrug.

Shay interrupted with an apologetic look on her features, "Well as much as I'd love you, I can't this morning." She said sadly. "I have a paper I have to turn into Mr. King before class starts."

Jeremy nodded, "Oh, okay well that's alright. I guess Amber and Roxie can take me and Grace there." Roxie and I nodded in agreement. "Let's go." He said, gesturing with his hand towards the front doors.

"So, we will see you at lunch?" Shay asked him as he got ready to walk away.

I watched as Jeremy nodded at her in agreement, offering a small smile before he reached over and gave her a quick hug goodbye. Grace, Roxie, Jeremy and I then left the little group to get to the office. Olivia, Matt and Shay called out their goodbyes as we left.

We all walked elegantly into the office. It was like one of those cheesy movies where the popular, good looking students walk into the place in slow motion with fans blowing their hair around and shit. Maybe it was like that, maybe that was just the imagination of one of the teachers. I couldn't be for sure because several of the personnel that were in the office turned their heads to look at us with wide eyes and I lost track of which teacher was thinking what. But one incident stood out from all the rest—a male teacher standing closest to the office door lost his grip on his coffee cup and ended up spilling all the steaming hot coffee down the front of his white button up shirt. The funniest part was that he didn't even feel a damn thing—he was so entranced by our entrance. I tried hard to contain my laughter by biting my lip.

I walked up to the secretary in the office, my heeled boots clicking against the floor as I walked. When I reached her, I smiled politely. The gray haired secretary looked at me once, seeming uninterested but quickly did a double take before looking back at me with wide eyes. 'Is that Amber Mason? She looks so much different. So much more—c-composed and confident. Oh, lookie here, who are these two new students? Hmm, that boy is extremely cute.'

"Good morning Mrs. Grandly." I said in my musical voice, trying my hardest to ignore her thoughts.

"G-good morning Amber," The poor secretary stuttered.

Grace stepped forward at this point and held out her hand slightly, "Hello my name is Grace Harper and this is my cousin, Jeremy Harper. We're new here and we need to pick up our schedules for class." She told the secretary while gesturing to her own self and then Jeremy.

"Oh yes I have your schedule's right here." Mrs. Grandly said in a squeaky voice.

Looking down at her desk, she ripped open a drawer before she quickly but clumsily, began sorting through a pile of schedules that were placed inside. She mumbled to herself as she sorted, 'Harper, Harper, Harper? Where are you? I just saw you earlier. Harper. Oh! Here we go!'

She pulled out two schedules and then handed the papers to Grace's out reached hand. Grace and Jeremy thanked her and we were about to turn and leave the office when I noticed that three older male teachers were staring at Grace with lustful their eyes. I reached my hand out and stopped Grace from walking as I was hit with their thoughts before I could even close off my mind channel.

'That new girl has a very nice chest. I hope she will be in one of my classes. She has got to be at least ten times sexier than my wife!' one teacher thought breathlessly.

I looked over to Grace and smirked. Fortunately, she had absolutely no idea what was going on. I watched as Grace courteously said goodbye to the now extremely flustered secretary before we all left the office, leaving several dropped jaws in our wake. As soon as I shut the office door behind me, Grace turned to me and glared. "What were you laughing about in there?" She demanded. "You were looking at me and laughing so I know it had something to do with me."

I grasped her arm and continued walking before I started to talk. At the moment, we were passing the junior's lockers so I lowered my voice so only we—vampires with special hearing—could hear, "One of the teachers has a crush on you. He thought you had a very nice chest and that he wants you in his class. Oh yeah and you are about ten times sexier than his wife." I told her.

Grace's face turned from a of horror to disgust to fear in less than ten seconds flat while Roxie and Jeremy bit their cheeks to keep from laughing. Nearby I heard Matt's booming laughter. I wasn't surprised that he had heard, we were walking by the Junior's lockers after all.

Sure enough as I looked up ahead of us I saw that Matt was standing by his locker, holding his sides to try and trying to catch his breath while Olivia was watching him with an amused expression on her face. His loud laughter had caused many people to stop and stare in confusion and annoyance.

'Great. More thoughts that I don't want to hear.' I thought unpleasantly while I put up a mind block.

When Olivia saw us walking towards them she turned to us and spoke, "A teacher was seriously thinking that? Isn't that a bit unprofessional?" she asked.

I nodded, "Yep, sure was." I said.

I'm pretty sure that if Matt could really cry, he would have tears coming out of his eyes from how hard he was laughing by this point in time. I giggled as he coughed a few times and smoothed his hands over his face to get some better control over himself.

"Having problems breathing?" Jeremy teased.

Matt nodded and smirked knowingly at Jeremy before apologizing for laughing at Grace, "Sorry Grace, but that was pretty hilarious. The teachers here all seem so uptight so it's just weird knowing that one of them was thinking something like that."

Grace shrugged, accepting his apology with a small smile. "I'm just glad I'm not like Amber and have to actually hear and see all of those thoughts." She admitted.

I giggled, "Trust me. You don't ever want to have this power. At least I can close off my mind channel to thoughts I don't want to hear. I would hate to see someone who can't turn their power off."

Roxie was about to speak when the warning bell rang signaling we only had five minutes before our first period classes started. Jeremy and Grace looked up in surprise at the bell so we quickly explained the concept behind them. They seemed a little confused but eventually went with it.

"So, what classes do you two have first?" Roxie asked intriguingly, trying to peak at their schedules.

Jeremy looked down at his schedule, "Uh I have English first." He announced.

"With Mr. King?" I asked him with a smirk.

He nodded.

"That's cool, you have first hour with me and Shay." I explained.

I then stood up on my tip-toes to look over his shoulder so I could get a better look at the schedule that he was holding in his pale hands. After reading over it I looked up at him and spoke, "Looks like yours and Shay's schedule is almost exactly the same. It's fate I guess." I told him with a shrug of indifference.

He shot a surly scowl in my direction which caused me to laugh harder.

"Well, Grace what class do you have first?" Olivia asked.

"Study Hall with Mrs. Tomas—that means I just have a free period, right?" she asked nervously, obviously confused about the way that the school ran.

Matt nodded, "Yeah that is exactly what it is."

I looked up at the clock, "Oh crap—we better get to class. We have less than two minutes." I announced. The hallways were nearly empty at this point and we didn't even notice.

"Can you show me where the English room is?" Jeremy asked me.

"Yeah, I'm going there now, remember?" I told him.

After saying goodbyes once again to Matt, Olivia, Grace and Roxie—Jeremy and I turned to make our way to the English room. As we walked at a fast pace towards the classroom together, I told him a little about the school and about my friends. I was in the middle of speaking when I almost stopped dead in my tracks. We were right in front of the Spanish room which was right next to the English classroom when I shivered violently. It wasn't because I was cold, I didn't get cold anymore. No it was because I just felt this thing that told me that there was something else there with us, something that could possibly be dangerous. It didn't smell right either. It didn't smell human to me but it didn't smell vampire. I had gotten used to the smell of humans quickly, it didn't bother me. But this, it smelled different. Like a tangy scent. I didn't like it at all.

I decided that the best thing to do would be to ignore the feeling and not even mention it to Jeremy.

We entered the English classroom and everyone's heads snapped up to look at us, they all looked uneasily at Jeremy and I. Ignoring the other kids in the class, I looked around and saw Shay in her usual seat looking extremely excited. At first I thought that maybe we were doing something exciting in class today but after reading her thoughts I realized that her excitement was actually because Jeremy was in this class with us.

"Follow me." I told Jeremy.

I led him up to the teacher's desk. Mr. King was looking at his computer when we walked up. As soon as he saw us he looked up and gave me a creepy smile before he turned his attention to Jeremy. Mr. King had always given me the creeps. He was a good teacher and everything but he just, he was just a little odd. "Good morning, are you Jeremy Harper?" he asked in a booming yet cheerful voice.

'No one—and I repeat—no one should be this happy during the morning.' I thought.

Jeremy nodded, "Yeah, that's me."

"Well please go pick a seat in one of the rows out there. Right now everyone is just reviewing the reading material." Mr. King told him.

Mr. King rummaged around on his desk before finding the book that he was looking for. He handed Jeremy a copy of the book that we were reading—'Romeo & Juliet.' Personally, I liked the book. When I first skimmed through it, I found out that it was extremely hard to understand to old language but over time, I had found that if you actually sat down and really read the text that it was actually pretty simple to understand. Of course, I did keep a dictionary at my side the entire time, but that was beside the point.

Jeremy nodded at Mr. King and thanked him as I turned to sit in my usual seat right behind Shay. When I looked around there were no other seats around me and Shay. Jeremy looked disappointed and was about to go sit somewhere else but Shay had other ideas.

There was a nerdy boy sitting on the other side of Shay. He was one of those kids who was on the chess team, the debate club, science club and tutored students for free and because of that, he got picked on by the jocks. I had seen him being shoved into some lockers a few times and felt bad for him. Sadly, I didn't even know his name.

"Hi." Shay giggled, looking at him.

His pale blue eyes widened in surprise behind his thick rimmed glasses. He was shocked that Shay was actually speaking to him. He looked around and saw that she wasn't speaking to anyone else for a moment before it finally hit him that she was indeed speaking to him. "H-hi." He stuttered out in amazement.

"Could you do me a tiny favor?" Shay asked in a sickly sweet voice.

"Y-yes. Anyt-thing." The boy replied in a squeaky voice that was surprisingly his actual voice. No wonder jocks picked on him.

Shay giggled again and dazzled the poor boy completely. His little heart started pounding uncontrollably in his chest and I noticed that his hands were starting to sweat. I didn't need my power or Shay's power to know exactly how he was feeling or what he was thinking at that moment. Everyone was spelled right across his face. Jeremy and the students surrounding us all looked at Shay in confusion while I just smirked. I knew exactly what she was up to.

"Would you please move to another seat so Jeremy can sit next to me? You see I'm his girlfriend and as you can see he is new here and wants to sit by people that he knows." Shay said.

After she had finished speaking, many of the girls in the room started to think livid and jealous thoughts about Shay when she told the nerd she was dating Jeremy. I knew that she could feel their jealousy pouring off of them because when she said this, her Cheshire smile grew more and more pronounced. The boy looked a little dejected by her but granted her wishes none the less.

I learned forward in my desk and began whispering in a quick tone, "You crushed that poor boy's dream, Jeremy! He was hoping that Shay was going to ask him out on a date." I teased as he took his seat where the boy had previously been sitting.

Jeremy laughed, "That's not going to happen." He said before he looked at Shay who nodded in agreement.

"He was so flustered it wasn't even funny!" Shay giggled.

"You were completely dazzling Shay. He couldn't even hardly manage to think complete thoughts." I told her.

She laughed, "Being a vamp has its advantages." She said in a low voice that only we could hear.

I giggled along with her and to be honest, I couldn't agree more.


Classes went by extremely fast and by the time I knew it I was in third period again with only five minutes until the bell rang. Nothing strange had happened since first period and I hadn't got the chance to talk to Shay, Jeremy, Grace, Olivia or Matt since I had said goodbye to Shay and Jeremy after English. Second period I had World History with Roxie. While in that class though I felt the strange feeling again, the one that literally sent shivers down my spine. And this time it was even stronger but it was hard for me to pick up on for some reason. Roxie felt it too because she was the one that had pointed it out to me.

Suddenly I felt someone tap my shoulder; I turned around to see Carly and Audrey sitting beside me with fake smiles on their faces. I decided to dig into their minds to see what was up.

'I bet she had plastic surgery done or something. I mean there is no way that she got that pretty that fast. And her hair looks totally fake, not that her hair was even pretty to begin with. And her eyes! Purple totally isn't her color but she is totally getting all the guys attention now! I just don't get it. I'm like fifty times prettier than her! She isn't even special." Carly thought.

'Wow I never thought Amber could pull off looking like a slut but she does right now. Damn I should go and flirt with Bentley just to piss her off. Yah, I think I'm going to do that. Take that stupid bitch.' Audrey thought with an evil smile on her face.

I had to literally fight the low growl that was trying to escape my chest. I tried to stay calm but it seemed like they could tell that I was already angry. It just seemed to make them more encouraged to push me over the line. Little did they know just how dangerous that was. If I really wanted to could snap their necks like toothpicks before they even knew what was happening to them. Of course, I'd never do that but the thought was very tempting right at that moment. Carly's thoughts were bad but Audrey's thoughts were even worse. How dare she think that she could steal Bentley away from me? He was mine. Even if it wasn't official or anything.

"So where did you get your plasti—I mean makeover done at?" Carly asked, almost slipping out with the word 'plastic surgery.'

I snorted, "Despite what you think I didn't have plastic surgery. I've always looked like this. I can't believe you have never noticed before." I told her with what most would consider an innocent face but the animalistic glint in my eyes was there. I could tell that she could see it by the way she shrank back at my words.

Her hazel eyes grew the size of saucers, "I never said that you—" I cut her off.

"It slipped. I'm not stupid you know." I said.

'Yes you are.' Carly thought.

I rolled my eyes at her thoughts.

This time Audrey spoke, "Well whatever you did to yourself, it makes you like about ten times more sluttish than normal."

I snorted once again, "Why don't you take a look at yourself," I said while gesturing to her outfit. Audrey looked down innocently and looked back up at me. Her almond shaped blue eyes held a severe iciness as I began to insult her but I didn't care. "I'm not the one who is wearing a 3 inch mini skirt that barely covers your butt and a shirt that is so low cut that my boobs are practically falling out of it." I told her.

Audrey's eyes turned even more livid and I knew she was about to yell at me but the bell rang. It put a whole new meaning to the phrase, 'saved by the bell.' I quickly rushed out of the classroom before they could even get a word out. "Bye bitches." I called out as I left. I didn't even care if the teacher heard me or not. It's not like they could technically stop me if they wanted to.

I ran down the hallway, laughing the entire way. By the time I had reached the cafeteria I had gotten control of my laughter and noticed that Roxie was waiting for me by the cafeteria doors, "Hey where are Shay and Jeremy?" I asked her.

"They are already in the cafeteria, guarding our usual table." She told me. "So how was class?"

We were already in the cafeteria and nearing out table. "Don't even ask." I said as I rubbed my temples in distress. I saw Shay waving us over to the table. Roxie and I skipped going through the lunch line since it wasn't like we could actually eat the food here now anyways. So, we walked straight over to sit down at the nearly vacant table. Shay and Jeremy were sitting on one side so Roxie and I decided to sit across from them to even it out.

"Why, what happened last period?" Shay asked as I sat down. With her vampire hearing she had heard me from across the cafeteria.

"Carly and Audrey thought I got plastic surgery. Then Audrey told me I managed to look ten times sluttier than usual so then I went off on her. Oh yeah, and she even had to nerve to think she could steal Bentley from me." I told them.

"Who are Carly and Audrey?" Jeremy asked, wrinkling his eyebrows together in perplexity.

"Only the two most annoying girls at our school," Roxie replied with a groan. "I'm sure you'll be graced with their presence at some point today." She added sarcastically.

"Really?" Jeremy asked.

Suddenly someone's thoughts reached my head, 'Wow, Amber looks even more beautiful today than she normally does. I wonder why her eyes are different today, I could have sworn on my life that they were green but now they are purple. Maybe she got color contacts—maybe I should ask her.' The person thought.

Bentley Rivera.

Three things then seemed to happen simultaneously. One, my breath caught at the fact that Bentley called me beautiful. Two, I became nervous of the fact that he noticed my eyes were different. How was I supposed to explain that? Three, Shay and Roxie got worried looks on their faces as Jeremy let out a small snarl. It was loud enough for a couple of boys at the table behind us to turn around and look at us with prying eyes.

"Jeremy!" I hissed out.

When he finally lifted his head to me, I noticed that his eyes were darker. The bright violet color was now a dark plum and his lips were pulled back slightly in warning. When I took a chance to look at Roxie and Shay—they were in similar positions.

"What's going on?" I asked them in a demanding voice.

Roxie turned to me with distress written in her eyes. "That feeling, you know, that weird one that we had in our History class this morning?" she questioned in a speedy voice. I nodded. "Well, it's back and for some reason, it's stronger." She told me anxiously.

She was right. I had noticed it earlier because I had been lost in my thoughts but when I let myself think about it, I felt it. It was a lot stronger than before. Before I was just a little bit creep out by the feeling but now it was shivering all the way down my spine. My internal instincts were screaming for me to run or attack. I wasn't sure which part to act upon. It look ever ounce of my self control to stay glued to my spot.

"Do you feel it now?" Jeremy asked with a jeer.

I nodded, "Unfortunately."

"I feel like I wanna throw up…or run away—or maybe attack something." Shay said in a conflicted voice.

Jeremy chuckled a tense laugh, "Well, if you run, you will probably cause a scene and we don't need that. You can't throw up either. It is physically impossible for a vam—" he started in his normal voice but I cut him off with a loud growl before I could stop myself.

"Shut up, not here!" I snarled at him.

Ethan, Bentley and Xander were walking towards are table with confused looks on their faces. By their thoughts I knew that they had heard my snarl. I put on an innocent face but I knew that my eyes were blazing.

"I wonder why we are all getting this feeling?" Roxie asked, changing the subject.

"I'm not sure. I would just ignore it for now. It's probably the only option we have at the moment." Jeremy suggested in a whisper while scratching the back of his neck slightly.

Shay, Roxie and I just nodded and we all lapsed into silence as Bentley, Ethan and Xander sat down at the table—their confused looks still firmly in tact. Bentley sat down next to me while Ethan and Xander sat down across from Bentley.

As soon as Bentley sat down I felt my involuntary instincts settle in, he was too close. I hadn't had this problem with any other of the humans so far. I tensed and I felt immediately repulsed by him. Roxie suddenly looked at me in alarm.

'Oh my god Amber your eyes are turning darker—what's wrong?' she thought.

Before I could reply to her Ethan spoke, "Hey guys, how was the trip?" he asked.

Shay, Roxie and I all tensed while Jeremy looked immediately uncomfortable.

"Interesting." Shay said simply.

"Care to elaborate interesting?" Bentley smirked and looked at me.

Something inside me snapped and I felt my expression turn dangerous and my lips pulled back into a ferocious snarl. It wasn't loud but everyone at the table heard it, "None of your business, Rivera." I snapped.

Bentley looked hurt but he didn't look scared at all about my reaction, unlike Ethan and Xander were at the moment. In fact, Bentley looked completely relaxed.

"Are—are you alright?" he asked me.

I gave him a menacing smile but didn't relax my defensive stance, "Fabulous." I mocked.

Shay, Roxie and Jeremy were looking at me with surprised and worried expressions. Ethan and Xander looked scared while Bentley just looked hurt and surprised.

"So are you guys okay?" Xander asked.

"About what?" Roxie asked in a guarded voice.

"Didn't Brie get into a—" Xander started but he was cut off by Shay. This time her lips were pulled back but it was for a different reason than the reason why I was mad. Roxie kicked Shay under the table to relax her tense posture and Shay immediately relaxed but her eyes were still fierce.

Bentley was still looking at me with a hurt expression. He reached on and placed his hand on my arm. It was a gesture I normally would have not minded but now for some reason, something was different. It was as if his hand burned my arm, and not in a pleasant way. I shrugged his arm off with a quick yank and then I settled into a distrustful position with my hands brought into fists on my sides.

Suddenly Jeremy's thought's reached me, 'Amber your eyes are turning pitch black—you need to calm down. Why are you acting like this?' he thought.

I turned my dark eyes to take in his apprehensive expression, "I'm not sure." I said truthfully. I didn't know why I was acting the way I was.

"I'm getting Grace, Matt and Olivia—now. This—this isn't normal." Jeremy said.

Before I could even begin to protest, he swung his legs over the bench and started making his way to the other side of the cafeteria. I frowned because I really didn't want to make a scene but at the same time, I knew that getting the others was a necessity. I kept my eyes low to the table, there was no use alerting Bentley or his friends.

"What's going on? Why is he getting Grace?" Roxie asked in bewilderment.

I then shifted my eyes to look at her. The second that she noticed my eyes, she gasped, "We need Matt." She whispered.

I nodded, "Matt and Olivia." I added.

It was at that moment that the other boys at the table decided that they didn't like being left out of the conversation. Ethan spoke, changing the subject. I wasn't sure if this relieved me or annoyed me. "So how do you guys know that guy?" He asked, jabbing his thumb in the direction that Jeremy had taken off to.

"He's my boyfriend." Shay answered swiftly before any of the rest of us got the chance to answer.

"But he didn't come to our school before." Xander pointed out suspiciously.

Shay, Roxie and I exchanged a nervous glance before Roxie decided to answer for us, "He transferred here to be closer to Shay." she lied straight through her teeth.

"And his cousin came with him." I added.

"Oh, well that's understanding, so is that who the new senior is?" Bentley asked.

I gave a short and curt nod in Bentley's direction. I couldn't manage to do much more at the moment. My hands tightly clutched the bench that we were sitting on with a great force. I momentarily hoped that I didn't accidently bend the wood when my force but I couldn't bring myself to care. Suddenly, I looked up to see Grace, Olivia, Matt and Jeremy walking towards us with worried looks on their faces.

'What the hell?' Matt thought as he took in my appearance.

'Oh my god! Merce, what happened?!' Olivia thought.

Grace's thoughts were the ones that surprised me to no end, 'It can't be! How on earth…?' she thought.

I raised an eyebrow but ignored her eyes and focused on our current problem, "My eyes turned black and we can't figure out why. I can't relax either. Bentley touched me and I just started freaking out. What is wrong with me?" I asked in a low swift voice that the humans could only make out as a buzzing sound.

'How can her lips be moving so fast? Is she freaking buzzing or something cause god that is what it sounds like!' Bentley thought. 'Her eyes were just purple—how did they turn black?!' As this ran through his head I let off a soft growl.

"What happened to you Merce?" Matt asked verbally.

I frowned, "We aren't sure. I mean, I don't understand what happened."

"She just went completely crazy when that boy sat down next to her." Jeremy added.

Then, once again, Grace's words shocked me. She ignored all of us and instead said, "Do you all feel that?" she asked, ignoring our other comments.

"You mean the weird feeling of uneasiness?" Matt asked.

Grace nodded, "Yes." She said shortly.

I interrupted. I was angry and confused all at once. I felt like all my emotions were beginning to run haywire on me. I needed answers and I needed them now! "What's going on? Why am I reacting this way to Bentley?" I asked Grace.

"Who?" she asked, obviously confused and not knowing who Bentley even was.

I nodded my head quickly in Bentley's direction, so fast that he didn't even notice that I did it. "The guy sitting next to me," I explained.

"Oh, well, there is something different about him." Grace said cautiously. "I don't know how to tell you guys…" she said nervously.

"What do you mean?" Roxie asked.

'What are they talking about?' Bentley thoughts crawled into my brain. I shook my head and tried my hardest to ignore him.

Instead, my focused my eyes on a shifty looking Grace. "Uh—let's just say that he isn't that much different than what you are." She finally said.

"What are you talking about Grace, Bentley is human." Shay replied.

Grace looked edgy again, "Not exactly."

I heard the answer in her head before she even spoke it. My eyes widened in surprise, anger and disbelief. Distantly, I heard Shay mutter something about me being bipolar. This was probably because she had been reading my emotions and they were changing dramatically.

"What?!" I roared loudly before I could even begin to stop myself. Towards the end it turned into a vicious snarl that I had to work very hard to control to where only my family could hear.

Bentley, Ethan and Xander all jumped at my loud outburst. They had been trying to listen to our conversation but I hadn't been worried—there was no way they could ever actually hear it. Several kids turned to stare at me but quickly looked away when I sent them a furious glare.

"What's wrong Amber? What is it? What did she think?" Olivia asked swiftly. With the speed that she was speaking at, all of her questions seemed to blend together and even I had a hard time understand her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bentley hesitantly start to scoot closer to me, "Merce, are you alright?" He asked softly.

My head snapped to look at him. I couldn't stop the confusion and pain that entered my expression, "I'm fine."

"No you're not Merce. What's the matter? Why are you acting like this?" he demanded.

I forced my expression to go blank and I shook my head with a sigh, "Whatever Bentley, I'm fine. Leave me the hell alone. You have no idea what you are dealing with!" He tried to put his hand on my shoulder again but with a sudden force, I shrugged him away from me.

"What—what did I do?" he stuttered slightly. "Did I say something wrong?" Bentley asked—clearly hurt by my words.

I wasn't trying to hurt him but…

"What's the matter Merce? Why are you treating him like that? What did Grace say?" Matt asked.

I looked up and took in all the faces that were awaiting my answer. Grace looked conflicted and was shooting worried glances in Bentley's direction. My best friends in the history of the universe all were looking at me expectedly, they all wanted answers as well. Jeremy looked like he was partly in the know and partly perplexed at the same time. Ethan and Xander were so lost it wasn't even funny but it was Bentley's face that struck me the most. His face looked so heartbroken it made me want to cry. I knew I couldn't let him affect me though. Things had changed at a moment's notice and my family had the right to know. I took a deep breath and glanced in the eyes of each of my family members before I finally gathered the courage to speak. I muttered the word quietly but they all still heard.

"Shifter..."


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