CHAPTER 2
„Edward will bring Bella to eat lunch with us today" says Allice as we sit down in he caffeteria.
„To not eat with us you mean?" giggles Jasper, still looking adoringly at his mate. Oh, I wish Chris could go to school with us.
„Whatever. Here they come." And indeed I see Edward with the brown haired girl aproaching our table. Edward has one hand around her waist, in the other he holds tray with food. He looks so taken by her, obviously enjoying his touch as much as she does.
„Hey guys." Edward says, holding chair for Bella the gentleman he is.
„Hello" says the girl sitting down, looking down probably too shy to look at us.
„Hey!" the three of us reply collectively. As they sit down, I start to feel the burn in my throat, smelling her sweet scent. I can tell that Jasper is affected as well, sensing both his and mine thirst. I double check and make sure that my gift is „turned off" now. We don´t want any slip us or bloodbaths now, do we? As I mentally check if everything is all right I can see Edward´s worried look on me.
„Are you okay?" he whispers just for me to hear. Absolutely I say in my mind. Don´t worry and shoot him a reassuring smile. I can see in his eyes that he is scared, today especially, of my gift. That I could, unintentionally make him kill this fragile girl he grew to love, whose blood sings to him more than anyones.
„What are you two talking about?" asks Jasper, probably sensing Edward´s worries and my determination.
„Just the usual."
„Elizabeth´s slip up pushes." We say at the same time, me explaining the situation honestly, Edward being honest and open with Bella.
„Pushes?" Bella asks, staring at me.
„My gift." I say with a smile, trying to push her a little but with no obvious effect. Perhaps she has a strong self control.
„The sincerity thing?" she asks.
„Well yes, you see, I can make people act on their desires." I say, searching for a good victim for a demonstration. This is going to be fun.
„Not the teacher!" says Alice, already seeing my plans and probably the result as well.
„Okay, how about that kid!" I point to the blonde girl, Lauren I guess.
„Yeah, go on, it should be fine."
„Enjoy the show." I tell Bella, turning her, with Edward´s help of course, to Lauren. „How would you like to see wether she really wants to sit next to that boy holding his hand." As I say it I concentrate on the mentioned girl, allowing my gift to do it´s magic, but not fully, because with these hormonal teenagers the only thing it could result in would be an orgy or a riot. At that Lauren stands up, slaps the boy who now no longer hold ser hand and walks to this other girl, Jessica I believe, and kisses her, full mouth, earning some whistles and awwws from her fellow classmates.
„Did you do that?" Bella turns around and asks me, half giggling half amazed.
„Technically Lauren did it."
„But you made her!" she says, still giggling.
„She wanted to do it. I can´t change your desires you see,nor manipulate them like Jasper with emotions. I bet Edward told you about our gifts already." At that I get a small nod from him „My gift only helps you being who you truly are, pushes you to do what you really want. It´s as simple as that." I explain in a sweet tone.
„Yeah Liz, sure. Now the truth, Bella, is that over time she learned to control the intensity of her gift. For example, she can just make you tell the truth about who you like but, on the other hand, can make you go on and kiss them or do even more." Says Edward, giving Bella aways the full capacity of my gift. He knows how angry I would get for spilling the beans to a stranger, but today I won´t buy his „your gift made me tell the truth" trick because I am pretty sure it is well under control. If it wasn´t, I bet he would be draining this girl dry right now.
„Manipulator." he adds under his breath, only for the 3 of us with enhanced hearing: At this Jasper and Alice start to laugh. Edward probably still remembering last couple times he lost his „cool facade" because of me. After I joined the family, I became Emmett´s buddy in pranks, my gift making it almost too easy to get someone and Alice´s competition in manipulating. Though I only do it for the fun of it and will never be as good as she is.
„Right, Eddie," I reply in revenge using his most hated nickname „like when I made you destroy Alice´s whole wardrobe and she had literally nothing to wear and chased you all the way to Mexico in Jasper´s sweats, or when you kept playing that song for three days so Esme had to ban you from playing the piano for the next week, or when me and Emmett..."
„That´s enough Liz!" my Jasper, Alice and Edward collectively shout at me, Bella laughing in the backround.
„What was the song?" she asks after a while, still giggling. Huh, she is more interested in a stupid song than the clothes? I am starting to like this girl.
„Pokémon opening, I personally didn´t mind" I reply, Edward´s pleading eyes on me begging not to tell her. I had to give her an example for you started talking about my powers. I add just for him telepathically.
„But that´s because Liz and Emmett watched it over and over for the whole night. And the song is kind of catchy, I was just thinking the melody, humming quietly when Emmett heared me. Of course the first thing was running to his partner in crime." He glares at me, but I can see corners of his mouth twitching already.
„But then he told on us to Esme, and we got grounded for a week." I add just for Bella.
„Well of course, the month of cleaning duties AND grounding for Alice´s wardrobe was worse."
„Really?!" the little pixie asks „And what about the weeks I spent looking for clothes he destroyed? Some were rare, one of a kind!" she shouts. „And I still have to go shopping almost every weekend to replace my things."
„Alice, my beloved sister, don´t act like you hate it." Edward says. „As a matter of fact I know that Liz here once used her gift at full power on you just when you were leaving, feeling sorry for you and trying to make you do what you wanted instead of boring shopping and guess what? You did´t hesitate for a second and continued rushing to your car with a credit card in your hand like nothing happened. I bet you didn´t even notice she was pushing you." Edward was right. Over the time I spent with my family, I learned who is more and less affected by my little pushes. Alice and Emmett are the hardest, for they always do what their hearts want, and I usually need to „push" really hard to get a reaction. Edward, on the other hand is my usual target, trying to keep his cool all the time. However, all of them have strong self control, which they practiced even harder because of me, so small pushes go usually unnoticed anyway.
„Okay okay, but I am still angry about the limited editions." Alice says smiling, planning another shopping spree already. I just hope I won´t have to be a part of it. „And yes Liz, you are joining me this weekend." She adds. Guess I won´t have a chioce, unless Jasper will be somewhere nearby, I start to plot my getaway.
„I´ll make sure he won´t." I hear Edward say too quietly for Bella to hear.
„But wait, I thought you can´t say what people want before they act on it?" She asks, looking at me questionably.
„To tell the truth I can´t. But sometimes it is not hard to guess. Like most men and women usually desire sex or make out, or eating sweets, or fightig... And sometimes, people or vampires just literally give themselves away. Like Edward humming the song or complaining about a sweater. But more often than I would like to admit i get startled. I honestly didn´t expect him to destroy Alice´s wardrobe, sometimes you would be surprised what some people dream of."
„I see. So if you, let´s say, push someone, you never know the result beforehand?" she asks, fascinated by my gift.
„Not the full, but I know what to expect by the intensity of my push."
„She is still hard to work with though." Adds Alice. „You see Bella, my gift is based on peoples decisions. But if Liz decides to push someone, neither she nor the person really knows what will happen. It is hard to see what does her decision lead to then. For her sincerity makes people act impulsively, without deciding and planning." She explains gloomy faced. But I still know she enjoys my pranks just like the next person does, for as long as she is not the victim.