A/N: The next chapter! Thanks to Bella1224 for adding CYH2 to her Favourite Stories List, and to smileyface209 for adding CHY2 to her Story Alert List!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Twilight Saga, I am just burrowing!

3

Alice and I didn't exchange a single word on the way home, a wise decision on her part since my mood hadn't improved one bit. If she didn't back off, well, then I wouldn't go back to school tomorrow. I wanted to because I'd enjoyed talking to Lily, had found it strangely … satisfying, maybe because I'd never talked about, well, normal stuff with someone. I'd let her do all the talking (I didn't have much of a backstory yet, aside from being Edward's older sister and having been to boarding school before his family had tracked me down), and she'd told me all about moving down from Seattle, her family and her hobbies. I'd been surprised when I realised that I'd actually miss her, but if staying away from other people was what it'd take to get Alice—and the rest of my family for that matter—off my back, then that's what I'd do.

I didn't think that any of them knew or could even guess how far I was willing to go in order to keep them from controlling my life, to keep them from trying to make me give up who I was. I'd leave them, because I'd never had a family before, because blood didn't make a family, because I didn't need them as much as the thought I did, because I didn't trust them. I'd learned to like them, even Rosalie, who never spoke to me more than was absolutely necessary even though she'd warmed up towards me a little, but I didn't trust them. Trust didn't come easy for me, never had, and so far they'd done nothing to earn it.

It was a good thing that Edward wasn't around to hear this. He would have told his family, because they didn't keep secrets, another thing they expected me to accept. It wasn't very hard to imagine how they'd react if they learned my innermost thoughts, the kind I always kept hidden when my father was around. He'd once told me that he hadn't been able to read my mother's thoughts, and I wished I'd inherited that trait. I never knew when he was listening in and when he was not, and always keeping my guard up was very tiresome, but there were things about me, secrets, I wasn't willing to share just yet.

I was beyond glad when Alice finally pulled up in front of the house, gravel crunching underneath the car's tyres as it skidded to a halt; Alice's driving took some getting used to. Thankfully, I didn't get sick easily. I got out of the car without a word, slamming the door shut behind me for good measure and having the satisfaction of Alice yelling, "Don't slam the damn door!", and stomped inside where, of course, Esme was waiting. I forced my lips into a smile. Esme had always been kind to me, and she didn't deserve me snapping at her just because Alice and Edward had gotten under my skin.

"How was school?" she asked, honest curiosity in her voice. In contrast to Alice, Edward and Carlisle, who'd rallied up in order to talk me into going to school, Esme had taken my side when I told them that I didn't really want to. I was grateful she had. Besides, I'd never had a grandmother, and while Esme was barely older than me, at least physically, I was getting used to the concept.

"Fine, actually," I replied as I slipped out of my shoes and dumped my bag beside the door. "I made a friend, I think."

Esme smiled. "That's nice. Will you be going back tomorrow, then?"

I shrugged. "Depends." I glanced up as Alice opened the door, glared at me and brushed past me to go upstairs to do whatever she usually did after school. I didn't care, and when Esme frowned at me I shrugged again. "Alice's gotten it into her head that I need supervision. Well, I understand why she might think that, but I don't."

Esme's frown deepened. "What happened?"

I sighed, frustrated. "Nothing happened, not today anyway. It's just a memory Edward picked out of my head, and he didn't even catch it all. It's just…" I sighed again, more of a growl, really. I needed to get out of here, preferably before my father and the rest of my family showed up. I wasn't in the mood for another lecture.

"Have you ever been to the cinema?" Esme asked suddenly, the apparent non-sequitur puzzling me.

"No," I replied. "The foster families I got sent to usually didn't have any money to spare for that kind of thing."

"Why don't we go out tonight, then?" Esme suggested, smiling in an almost conspiratorial way. "Just the two of us. No Edward, no Alice," she raised her voice just a little, a mother giving her daughter an order she expected to be followed and passed on to her siblings, "no Emmett."

"That's a great idea." I smiled back at her. It was, actually. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with Esme, because Edward and Alice were always around me, and if they weren't, then there was Carlisle, who came up with a new medical question almost every day and who kept insisting that maybe a certain degree of supervision where I was concerned wouldn't be a bad idea. That, of course, didn't exactly endear him to me even though I respected him.

"Then let's go." Esme grinned. "And maybe you can tell me what makes Alice think you need to be looked after on the way." I had expected her to say that, but I didn't mind as much as I would have if Carlisle had asked me the same thing.

"Alright." I grinned back at her as I quickly put my shoes back on while Esme went to retrieve her purse from her bedroom. Alice came sauntering down the stairs, having changed into a different outfit, and threw a leather jacket at me.

"Here," she said frostily, disappearing into the living-room before I had a chance to thank her. I rolled my eyes. Typical of her, being angry even though she had no right to, acting as if I'd disappointed her in some way. Unfortunately—for Alice—emotional blackmail didn't work on me.

Esme returned a second later, and we got into Alice's Audi, Esme being the only member of my family, aside from me, who didn't have her own car. "I don't really need one," she said when I asked her, "and when I do, then I usually take Carlisle's Mercedes. I like speed. I haven't met a vampire who doesn't, but I prefer running over driving."

"Yeah, me too." I smiled.

We didn't speak until we were up on the main road, but it was a comfortable silence, not the kind that was so charged with tension that it was only a matter of time until its participants started yelling at each other. We passed the Volvo on the way to town. Edward waved at Esme and me, smiling. I scowled back at him, but his smile didn't waver.

Esme shot me a sideway glance, smiling fondly. "He just wants to protect you," she said. "That's why he's acting the way he's acting. He's already lost your mother. He doesn't want to lose you, too."

"I get that," I said, frowning, "but I don't need to be protected. I can defend myself as well as any of you guys. I wish he'd accept that. I wish they'd all accept that."

"Well, this is new for us, having a family member that's actually alive. It'll take us a time to adjust, and vampires don't change their habits easily. Edward was always very protective of your mother."

"Yeah, I got that from what she told me," I sighed, leaning back into the seat. I saw Esme glance at me again (I rarely spoke or thought about my mother for the same reason my father never spoke about her), but she didn't ask. "But I'm not my mother," I'm continued. "I'm not human. I can take care of myself. Granted, I'd probably lose against a vampire, but there aren't that many around."

"Well," Esme said again, then fell silent. I had a pretty good idea what she'd been about to say before she'd cut herself off. They'd finally told me why Edward had wanted to go to Italy when he found out that my mother was dead. The Volturi, for all intents and purposes the rulers, the kings of our world. I knew that if they ever found out that someone like me insisted, they were likely to come to investigate and I was unlikely to survive that encounter if I didn't manage to convince them that I wasn't a danger to them, that I wouldn't expose them. I didn't worry about that too much; I'd cross that bridge when I came to it because that's what I did. But I knew my family was worried about that possibility, especially since Alice couldn't see my future and didn't know what it held, and that was part of the reason they were so intent on protecting me. I'd told them a thousand times that I knew that I mustn't draw attention to myself, had always known that, and yet they didn't seem to believe my assurances that I was fine, that I didn't need them to look our for me.

"Yes, I know. Still, I'd appreciate it if they gave me some space. I feel like I'm suffocating." I sighed. How would Esme react when I told her that I'd almost killed a girl once? Would she share Alice and Edward's opinion? Then again, it wasn't as if it could get any worse, so there was probably no harm in telling her. "Anyway, are you still interested in what Edward saw this morning?"

"Yes, of course."

"Alright." I drew a deep breath. "About five years ago I almost killed a girl. We were blood-typing, and when the girl next to me pricked her finger it was… I can't describe it. It wasn't just mouthwatering, it was intoxicating and I couldn't resist." That wasn't a very accurate description of what I'd felt that day, what the blood of her scent had done to me, but there was no need to torture me by dredging up that memory once more. "I went straight for her jugular. I drove her out of her seat and into the wall. I felt her bones crack and shatter under my grip. She was too stunned to even whimper, but when the rest of the class started screaming… I didn't know how I did it, how I managed to stop when I realised what I was doing, but I did it. I took off before they could stop me, not that they'd tried, and that was the last day I spent among humans."

"I can see why that would worry Edward," Esme said quietly.

"So do I, but that was five years ago, before I even knew what I was. My control's gotten a lot better since then. Unfortunately, I doubt that Edward will believe me. Nobody believes anything I say," I muttered, glaring down into my lap. "I'm not a child, Esme."

"I know you're not." She sighed. "That's what I keep telling Carlisle."

"Doesn't seem to be doing much good. Sorry," I added hastily when I realised that that had come out wrong, "I didn't mean for it to sound that way. I'm grateful that you're trying to help me."

Esme laughed. "Don't worry. I'll talk to Edward and Alice when we get home. We'll get it into their heads somehow."

"You don't think that I need supervision?" I didn't even bother to try and keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

"No, I don't." She sighed. "We've all fallen off the wagon at some point. Well, Carlisle hasn't," her lips curved into a fond smile, "but he's a saint. Anyway, I believe you when you say that you can control your thirst. You're a better judge of that than any of us. I'll talk to them, I promise."

"Thanks, Esme," I replied, briefly touching her arm, something I almost never did, and she, knowing that, smiled back as if she'd just won the lottery.