Chapter 13 – Couldn't find the number '8'
"Did anyone get the number of the semi that hit me?"
I groaned feeling my pillow move. Why is my pillow moving?
"You drooled on me"
Mr. Snarky vamp scowled. I glared at him.
"You got me drunk. I don't like being drunk"
I pouted with a blinding headache.
"Go away"
I groaned
"It's my house!"
"Bite me"
I pulled the covers over my head.
"Okay"
Four fangs were inserted in my neck. I would scream but that actually felt good. Sooner than I might have liked they were extracted and the spell was over
"Hey!"
I threw him a low voltage energy ball at him.
"You told me to bite you"
He growled. He looked funny in his charred black clothes.
"It's a figure of speech"
The 170 year old vampire responded maturely. He stuck his tongue out at me. I threatened to hit him with another one.
"Come on Miss Swan. Time to go to school"
Grabbing my hand he lifted me up and after a quick stop at my house he drove me to the school.
"I'll see you later. Now go I wanna go back to sleep"
He growled and drove off the lot.
"Was he always such an asshole?"
"Yeah"
I turned around to the smiling jasper and a smirking Caroline.
"You're wearing the same clothes as yesterday"
She accused with a pointy finger. I slapped her hand away
"We got drunk. End of story"
She looked giddy at my neck. Oh yeah.
"I told him to bite me. Didn't think he'd take it literally"
I half shrugged and headed inside the school with minutes to spare. Inside the classroom a sandy haired man with hazel eyes and a big bulky ring writing something on the board
"Hello?"
I asked with my ever polite smile.
"You seem a bit old to be a junior"
He! Wait till you see the rest of the class
"I'm Bella Swan, your new TA"
I gave him the folder signed by Mr. Tanner, the principal and my college teachers. He read the transcripts before dropping the serious expression and actually smiling.
"Nice to meet you, miss Swan. Local?"
"Not even close and please call me Bella. How about you? All I know is that you were brought in from another school and town"
I prodded a bit. Normally I wouldn't but let's face it. Only a handful of people around here are normal, harmless humans that live their lives in peace. The teacher, that now I knew as Mr. Alaric Salzmann was a widow, a college teacher that prefers high schoolers (for some reason) and who was glad to leave the home he shared with his late wife who shares the same name as me, Isobel. Everything would be A-OK if I hadn't caught the sun filter on his bulky, ugly ring.
The same ring Dr. Gilbert is wearing and, according to the journals I have, is unique to the Gilbert family line. In his class he was far friendlier with a keen eye. I noticed his eyes lingering a lot on all the supernatural creatures in the classroom and on my vampire bites. I took my old habit of wearing all my hair to one side to cover my neck and kept my right wrist pressed firmly on the desk.
So much for peace and quiet!
After my classes were over I made a bee-line for Caroline who was nursing a yogurt talking with Rosalie.
"Hey guys"
"Hi"
Caroline squeaked. Rosalie chuckled under her breath and explained.
"Yogurt quenches the thirst"
"How do you know that?"
"You have no idea how much Carlisle reads"
Rosalie commented. Caroline nodded happily
"How are you?"
I asked them both taking a bite of Caroline's yogurt. She half shrugged saying she feels on edge but jasper said it was expected and that she was relatively okay. Rosalie agreed and just shared a few stories of her own newborn years. They were different in nature yet identical in essence.
"I'd apologize but I don't regret it"
She said and it was the water under the bridge needed to start a friendship between us.
For a month things were quiet and normal again.
After trying to kill animals and not succeeded "because they are too damn cute and that's how all serial killers begin" Caroline moved on with humans taking Jasper with her on the human's wagon.
Rosalie got off her high horse, which was apparently imaginary when we first met in Forks, she befriended Caroline and the two were thick as thieves.
Emmett had loads of fun being co-captain of the school's football team along with Tyler. Between a vampire and a not-yet werewolf Mystic Timberwolves won almost every game they were on.
I hung back and watched those friendships form with a judging eye. My visions kept becoming worse and worse leaving me wanting to get plastered daily to keep them in control. When drinking didn't help as I kept waking up in Damon's bed (always dressed though), I turned to meditations and vision quests. When that didn't work either as I kept dying in them, I tried distancing myself from the lives of all supernatural beings in Mystic Falls. But that didn't work either. I was too invested in their lives to pull back.
On a day that was seriously raining I received a gift. My car was completely fixed, almost brand new.
"How?"
I asked Mason who was grinning and had an arm casually thrown around Emmett's broad shoulders.
"Nothing a little bit of banging and paint couldn't fix. Did you know these guys are amazing in fixing cars? I always wanted to be a mechanic"
He grinned like a boy with a new toy. I laughed and surprised him with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Emmett laughed at us
"She missed my bear hugs"
He explained and proceeded on showing to his new werewolf friend how to give a proper bear hug until I begged them both to let me breathe.
"Who wants a ride to school?"
Caroline jumped in the passenger seat; she was quickly becoming a friend or a little sister to me. Emmett grinned cheekily.
"What?"
"Let's see who can get there faster"
He chimed and took off like a bullet.
"No fair!"
I pouted but put pedal to the metal and I shot like an arrow too. Caroline played with the radio as I drove us to school.
"You okay?"
"I deal with it. How did you do it?"
"Did what?"
"Be okay with your mom bang a guy younger than her"
"I bought ear plugs actually"
She looked horrified and I sighed taking a hand off the wheel to take her hand in mine
"Be happy for her. Sure he's not a normal guy but he loves her, who cares if he howls from time to time"
"How do you know that?"
I stared at her
"I live down the street"
She laughed.
"Thanks Bella"
"Anytime"
Nearing the school I pushed harder and headed straight for the parking spot Emmett's large jeep had been parked for days, Pulling a TG move I made a hand break turn and slid into the spot.
"You did it!"
Caroline cheered as we got out of the car.
"Where is he?"
I asked Rosalie who stood nearby laughing under a large red umbrella. I screamed as a head rolled from beneath my car. Emmett scowled
"I won"
I informed him opening my own blue and yellow polka dot umbrella
"You cheated"
My mature answer to poke my tongue out at him. Laughing we all entered the school. Mr. Salzmann had prepped a quiz for the class and watched them intently checking for any signs of cheating. One of my visions had informed me that he was a vampire hunter hell bent on killing the Vampire that killed his late wife. That was Damon. Naturally!
Breaking into Alaric's house I had swapped out his stash of vervain for valerian. A calming herb. Once Alaric had all vervain out of his system Damon let him try and kill him and then compelled the teacher afterwards that the vampire responsible for killing Isobel was dead. I switched valerian for vervain and all was well. During a PTA meeting Alaric had returned the Gilbert heirloom ring to Dr. Gilbert and was now one of Damon's drinking buddies.
Men are strange.
The test was interrupted by a tall, cute girl with straight dirty blond hair and a smirk. She was holding a cake with the numbers 162 on it.
"162?"
Alaric asked. The girl smiled mischievously and lied
"I couldn't find the number '8'"
I smirked as Alaric offered to light the candles. All test sheets had been returned to he allowed the girl to come inside the class. Stefan scowled seeing the cake but it brightened seeing the girl and he hugged her tightly.
Elena scowled deeply seeing Stefan discard her. Alice shared a look with bonnie and both glared on the girl. Edward shook his head reading their minds.
"Happy birthday babe"
The girl said kissing Stefan hard and plopping on his lap.
