Sorry for the long wait, first my muse and then my beta deserted me.

So here the next chapter.

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 21

The next day at school was boooooooooooooring. I had many classes with Alice and few with the others but only biology and Gym with everybody (read Edward ) and I would not have those classes till later in the week.

I continued acting like a sweet and friendly girl. I had remembered every bodies name and soon I was very popular.

I was nice and polite to everyone. And I made sure to treat Edward with the same formal polite nice demeanor. I was never mean or harsh. But basically telling him I did not really care for him one way or the other and he was just another person for me. Nothing more. I noticed that this behavior stung and stabbed at him, devastating him more than if I had been hateful or mean.

Everybody thinks the opposite of love is hate. In truth they are 2 sides of the same coin.

The true opposite of love is indifference.

And my strategy was working.

Throughout the day Alice kept asking me questions about my life which I could mostly deflect or answer only vaguely. Or spoke of another part of my life and making it a hilarious, interesting and thrilling tale.

At lunch there was an announcement, that there would be a special activity on the 31st October. A Halloween Ball coupled with a mandatory Talent-Show starting in the early evening. The motto had been declared 'celebrities of the early 2000s'

I already had an idea what I would do.

The Cullens and I were sitting together at lunch. I kept stealing stuff from their plates. Not like they ate it anyway.

"What are you planning Ella?" Alice asked with a smile.

I just shook my head. "Not telling."

"Come on please please please tell me. I won't tell I promise and I want to know. You just smirked, you never smirk. Please I need to know."

I laughed and petted her on the head. "No you don't need to know Alice, you just want to know. You are used to being almost omnipotent. Well from now on you won't be."

She pouted and looked at me like she was about to cry.

I laughed harder holding my stomach. "You have to do better than that." I giggled.

"Are you doing that?" Edward suddenly asked.

I looked at him confused.

"Are you blocking the others thoughts? The nearest thought I can hear is a half mile away."

All the Cullens looked at me now. "Uh yeah it is kind of automatic, and actually pretty easy. It is very non specific. I just pushed out my shield to cover the cafeteria. It is actually more difficult to just shield one or few specific persons. This is very easy to do for me. My unconscious mind is in charge of this."

They all looked at me in awe. I rolled my eyes. "I just figured you might like a bit peace and quiet." I shrugged.

"Oh I am enjoying this a great deal B- Ella, it is just so new for me." Edward said.

"How does your shield work?" Jasper asked, ever the strategist.

"It basically works against any and all mental attacks or powers and I can shield up to 3 kilometers around me if I concentrate. I have a secondary shield that I can also slam into place that blocks physical powers." I demonstrated by shielding myself and Jasper promptly gasped. I then released the shield again a little to its former configuration. I kept my love and longing shielded. "So you see you can also not manipulate my feelings or feel them if I don't let you."

"Man Ella you are so powerful you would have made a damn fine vampire." Emmett said in awe of me and grining his dimpled grin.

I raised an eyebrow. "That is no longer an option though. And I do well enough. True I do not particularly enjoy The Game. I do not find pleasure in killing. But I am fine. Even Aro says since I am such a remarkable human it doesn't matter much I am not a vampire" This statement actually shocked them into silence and I could finally continue eating.

"You know Aro?" Edward asked shocked.

"Yeah sure, he and Methos are old friends." I shrugged it off as if it was no big deal. In truth I enjoyed shocking them. I kept my amusement hidden as well.

They wanted to start asking me questions but I told them to ask Methos to tell the tale and he was even more elusive about answering questions than I.

Edward was particularly frustrated because either Methos was shielded by me or thought in a loooooooooong dead language.

Methos and Jasper soon regularly played chess against each other. And though I could tell Jasper was bit frustrated he enjoyed not winning.

Duncan and Carlisle talked about their lives, comparing notes. Since they were pretty much the same age they where around for exactly the same stuff. So every time they would meet it would be 'where were you XXXX'.

Lasko still lived with us. He was helping out at a church a couple towns over. He and Carlisle always tended to drift into deep philosophical discussions. Edward would more often than not join in.

Rosalie and Alice lived in my closet a lot. Since Amanda did a lot of my shopping there where many outfits that gained Alice and Rosalie's approval. Often trying to get me to wear something I would not want to be caught dead in.

I talked a lot with them and Esme about my life. I always kept to the light, boring and amusing stuff.

Jake and Tyler would come by now and again. Jake and Emmet loved beating each other at vid-games.

Tyler and I got to know each other. He loved fishing apparently but also liked modern music and dancing. After a few weeks I found out he had a secret love for classic literature.

I fell into a routine. Go to school, chat and be nice, talk vaguely about my life, deflect Alice questions, go to lunch, go to class, go home, do homework and the train with Lasko , Duncan and Methos.

Sometimes entertain visitors. Or on the weekends go down to La Push and visit with the pack. I had actually started training them some in martial arts so they would have technique as well as strength and agility.

About once a week I took cat form and visited the Cullen house most of all to spend time with Carlisle and Edward. They were the most talkative when petting me and thereby kept me informed of my progress. Esme was ok but she was very quiet. And Jasper did not like cat-me for some reason. And Emmet just wanted to play with me like was a little kitten. Which was fun sometimes I admit. But Rosalie and Alice wanted to dress me up and play with me as if I was a baby. Scary! Which is why, I hissed at them and refused to let them get near me.

I found out several things. Apparently Edward had not given up on me yet. Good. He thinks that if he is just patient enough, waits long enough, that I will see the unassailable truth. We belonged together.

Oh so true. But I did not see his overall overprotective control freak attitude change. So kept on.

And Carlisle confided in me. I learned more about him than I ever had known about him previously. He was apparently concerned for me because I knew and liked Aro.

When there was an announcement after 6 weeks of this routine, that the drama club was going to do a play, Little Women to be exact. And they encouraged parents to come as well. I argued with the Cullens trying to convince them to take part. And after a while of wheedling, cajoling and persuading I finally convinced the entire Cullen family (including Carlisle and Esme ) to come to the auditions. Adam and Duncan agreed a lot more quickly.

This however lead to a very amusing anecdote from Duncan. He had mumbled 'as long as I don't have to wear a dress this time'. Which Edward had heard and soon everybody was laughing and giggling as Duncan told everyone of the time when he was the lead in 'The taming of the shrew'.

The whole week before the week of the audition Alice kept badgering me about going shopping and on Friday I finally conceded with a theatrical sigh. "If I must."

This made Alice smile brightly and jump up and down like a energizer bunny on crack.

The next day Alice, Rose and I went shopping in Seattle and I simply went along and let them do what they would. I had enough experience by now to know this was the most painless way of getting it all over and done with.

At lunch I was hungry and sat down at a diner. While I waited for my order I felt it. Felt it run through me with a shudder.

I looked up and searched for the immortal I felt, the unfamiliar presence in my head.

And I found him. Our eyes met.

"Excuse me for a moment girls." The girls had looked at me strangely when I stopped in the middle of a sentence. I got up without an explanation and walked toward the unknown immortal. He would of course not know they could hear every word.

"My Name currently is Francois Soif although I have been called many names." He started.

And as Immortal Etiquette demanded I answered in kind.

"My Name currently is Ellanore Mary McLeod. I too have gone by other names before. I am merely shopping here I have no interest in the game." I said hoping this was one of the live and let live types.

"Nonetheless I challenge you. Meet me tonight at 9 at the Parking garage on Frobisher Lane." He remained polite and gave a short sharp bow, but I could see the greed in his eyes and the anticipation of the kill.

"I will be there." I answered and bowed shallow with my right hand on my heart. He looked uncertain for a moment and then walked away still in thought. The gesture was an old one, a very old one. Methos said it would make me seem older to seemingly 'betray' my age by such small things. It would make some immortals think twice. And if an immortal recognized such a gestured it dated him in turn. Francois was older than me. That much I was certain of. And the way he walked was perfectly balanced. So he must be at least a decent fighter.

I walked back towards the girls, they looked at me shocked.

"The rest of the shopping trip will have to be canceled. I need to call my Father. I might not survive this night." I said solemnly.

They stared at me. Wide eyed and open mouthed.

Please let me know what you think. Without reviews my muse deserts me for longer. ;-)