A/N: Here's the second chapter. I hope you have enjoyed the first one. If so, please let me know! I quite like Gemma/Renesmee because she is so different than all the other Cullens and doesn't seem to fit into their family at first glance. It makes writing from her POV a lot of fun! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I am only borrowing.

2

I didn't fully regain consciousness until we were in Alice's little Audi and on our way to school. I stifled a sigh as the trees gave way to the city, hoping the day would be over soon. At least, I thought, smiling a little, there's a bright side. I'll get out from under Edward and Alice's thumb for at least six hours. There was just no way I could pass for sixteen or seventeen. Physically—and mentally, too, though my family seemed to find it difficult to believe that—I was in my early twenties (which, incidentally, was the reason I had a bit of a problem thinking of Edward as my father), so I'd be in a grade with Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper, who, aside from Emmett, usually left me alone. I was to pretend to be Edward's older sister (ha ha) because of the resemblance between us. People wouldn't ask too many questions that way.

At school, a large brick-red building four storeys high, Alice and Edward accompanied me to the administration office, which was located right beside the main entrance. I got a timetable (great, physics and biology…) and a slip for each teacher to sign. Alice made a face and Edward didn't look too happy, either, when I let them take a look at my timetable.

I didn't have a single class with Rosalie, Emmett or Jasper, which was just fine with me.

I shrugged and stuffed it into my new bag. "It's no big deal," I said once we were outside in the crowded hallway. "I've been to school before, and I'm sure it's going to be just as boring and uneventful as I remember it. Nothing I can't handle." That last part wasn't entirely true, but they didn't need to know that, and Edward didn't seem to pick up on it.

You had to thank God for small favours.

"I'm late for class and, by the way, so are you," I told them and stalked off before they could stop me. I did look over my shoulder, though, just before I entered the physics lab only a few doors down. My father didn't look happy at all.

I grinned as I slipped into the only free seat after the teacher had signed my slip, and put the battered copy of the text book he'd given me on the table. It wasn't very difficult to ignore the curious glances of the students seated directly beside and in front of me. I was good at that kind of thing, and they'd learn to keep their distance soon enough.

Well, only if I actually returned tomorrow, that is, which I wouldn't.

I enjoyed class about as much as I had the last time I was at school. It wasn't that I didn't understand physics—I did, my mind's capacity being as vast as it was. I just didn't find it particularly entertaining.

I managed to avoid talking to any of the other students until it was time for lunch. Entering the cafeteria, a bright room with posters on the walls and green linoleum floor, I found my family sitting at one of the round tables, waiting for me. I walked over and dropped my bag beside the chair they'd saved for me, then went to fetch a tray before they had a chance to ask me how my morning had been. The food they sold smelled just about as appetising as it looked—which was not at all—but I got under Emmett's skin when I ate actual food, and if that's what it took to pay him back for getting on my nerves when I was hunting, then that's what I'd do.

Back at the table, I began to tuck in, trying not to taste it (yak!) as it slid down my throat. I felt it descend into my stomach, where it turned into stone. At least that's what it felt like. My digestive tract didn't seem to be equipped to be dealing with solid food, so I got constipated every time I ate some. Still, grossing Emmett out was so worth it.

"How has your day been so far?" Edward asked, smiling just a little. He knew, of course, why I was eating, but I was surprised he seemed to find it amusing.

"OK, I guess," I answered, and his smile grew.

"You really don't want to be here, do you?"

"No." I swallowed another forkful of lasagne. Emmett grimaced in disgust, and Rosalie rolled her eyes first at him, then at me. Yes, it was childish, but then so was he.

Alice just sighed, though I wasn't sure if it was in response to Emmett's grimace or to what I'd said.

"Look," I put the fork aside and gulped down half a glass of water to wash the disgusting taste and the sticky feeling in my throat away, "I went to school before, a lot of schools in fact, and I didn't exactly enjoy it." I sighed, involuntarily remembering my very last day at school, which had also been my very last day among humans. I didn't dislike biology because I thought it was boring, I didn't like it because the last time I was in a biology class I'd almost killed someone.

Edward's eyes narrowed, and I quickly wiped the memory of me going straight for my lab partner's jugular from my mind.

"Sorry," I muttered, draining the glass. I felt Alice's eyes on me, but I didn't look at her as I picked up my bag and grabbed the tray. "I'll see you later, guys."

"Gemma."

I turned, forcing my face to relax. "Yes?"

"How…" Edward began, unsure how to phrase the question he wanted to ask. "How'd it turn out?"

"Fine," I said, smiling even though I didn't feel like smiling at all. I had a feeling that it would have been better if I hadn't dredged up that particular memory, if I'd just let it stay buried. "Just fine."

—

I was early. Leaning against the wall and waiting for the teacher to show up, I tried to tune out the noises and the smells (and there were a lot of them, which was another reason I tended to avoid public places) by remembering the quiet of the forest and the scent of pine and dry earth.

Just a few more hours.

"Hi," someone said.

I opened my eyes. The girl who'd addressed me was standing right in front of me, eyeing me curiously. She was pretty, soft brown hairs, dark skin (Native American, I thought) and glossy black hair that just touched her shoulders.

"Hi," I replied, hoping she'd just go away.

She didn't. "You're new, right?" she asked, smiling. It was a friendly smile, the kind of smile I didn't get very often. "You sat with the Cullens at lunch." It was a statement, not a question, and I thought her voice was slightly awed.

Yeah, well, I'd gotten the impression that my family hadn't made too many friends around here. So much for socialising.

"Yes, I'm Gemma Cullen." I found myself smiling back at her. "Edward's older sister."

"I'm Lily," the girl replied. "Well, actually my name's Liluye, which means something along the lines of 'singing chicken hawk that soars'."

I grinned. "You're kidding, right?"

"Afraid not." A grin spread over Lily's face as well. "Embarrassing, isn't it? I have no idea what my parents were thinking. Anyway, we moved down here from Washington—State, not D.C.—only last year, so I know how it feels to be new."

Lily was easy to talk to. I was given the seat next to her, and she shared her book with me. We talked quietly through the entire lesson, and I surprised her by answering the teacher's question correctly even though I wasn't paying very close attention, but hey, my mind worked in mysterious ways.

"Will I see you in French tomorrow?" Lily asked as we left. "I have Physics now."

"I think so," I said, smiling. Lily left, and I went to find the classroom I had English in next. For someone who wasn't used to dealing with humans I was doing pretty well. Maybe I'd go to school again tomorrow after all.

Alice and Edward were waiting for me in front of the classroom, and the look on their faces, almost identical masks of worry, wiped the smile off my face. What now?

"I was thinking," Alice said, grabbing my arm to pull me closer, "that maybe we should try to have your timetable rearranged, make sure one of us is always with us in case…" She glanced at Edward, and I knew he'd told her what I had accidentally let slip at lunch.

Wonderful.

"In case what, Alice?" I asked frostily. "In case I jump someone again? FYI, it only happened once and that was before I knew what I was. Besides, that's exactly why I decided to live in the forest in the forest in the first place. You wanted me to go to school, Alice." I shot a glare at Edward. "I'm so sick of you telling me what's best for me," I hissed, yanking my arm out of Alice's grip, and rushed into the classroom.

Who did they think they are? I thought furiously as I slumped into one of the two free seats, both right up front. Mr Morgan—I thought that was his name, anyway—frowned at me, but when I plastered a smile on my face and opened the textbook he'd given me on the page he'd written on the blackboard, he lost interest in me.

I wasn't a child, hadn't been a child in a very long time. I was an adult, and I wanted to be treated accordingly. You got this? I asked, knowing Edward was listening in on my thoughts because he always was (control issues, remember?), another reason I didn't spend too much time at the house. My family had gotten used to it, that lack or privacy, but I hadn't, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to. I was afraid I'd lose too much of myself in the process.

—

Did you like it? Edward is quite the overprotective mother—and Alice even more so—but I suppose that is only to be expected, considering he has already lost Bella and doesn't want to lose his daughter, too, the only part of Bella he still has. Do you think that is selfish of him? Or would you do exactly the same if you were him?