Disclaimer: Same as chapter 1.

Chapter 3: The Decision

Emmett walked down the hallway after the lunch bell rang, his mind consumed with the redheaded girl across the cafeteria. Alice was going on and on about a shopping trip she was trying to convince Bella and Nessie to take with her. Alice, Jasper, and Emmett were the only siblings that enrolled in the High School when they moved. Nessie was still to young to start enrolling, she was physically about 9 or 10. So Esme and Edward were homeschooling her, hoping to have her caught up by the time she and her parents were mentally ready to share their little girl with the world.

Rian, they had called her Rian at lunch. She looked so familiar but he couldn't place her. He knew he hadn't met or seen her back when they were living at Washington, not to mention: she would have been about 12 then. Maybe he had seen her around town sometime in the past few weeks, but he couldn't remember where or when he saw her. He and his family don't get out much, unless they were going to school, although he had frequented the arcade a few towns over whenever his family wasn't noticing him running off. Maybe they had passed each other in the crowd of shoppers and gamers in the mall.

Emmett was so lost in his thoughts, that he hadn't even notice that for the first time in three months that he wasn't plagued with sadness and despair.

Rian and Winter sat in their Art class, their assignment was to draw a self-portrait. Two mirrors, pencils and sheets of 18 by 14 inch paper sat on their desks. Both girl's half-heartedly drawing their 'portrait'.

When Rian first walked in and realized that Winter did not have any other friends, she sighed in relief. Rian would have her friend to herself and they could properly catch up, which meant to Rian: she could ask all about Winter's new girlfriend status.

"So…" Rian drew out, smiling.

Winter looked at her friend with a suspisuous look, knowing what Rian wanted to talk about. Boys, whether it was about Emmett or Aiden, Winter wasn't sure.

"Who was that guy hanging on you at lunch?" Rian asked excitedly.

Well, that answered that question. Winter gave a smile laugh as a small, unintentional smile formed on her lips. "Aiden." Her voice gave away the affection she felt for the boy, drawing out his name with a sigh.

"When did that happen?" Rian was happy for her friend's relationship. At least from what she could tell, Aiden was making Winter happy.

"It's relatively new."

Silence fell on the two girls for a second, Rian's hand sketched on the paper almost automatically as she stared at her friend. For a few moments, Rian waited for Winter to continue. When the other girl didn't, Rian became slightly impatient, "Details." She said simply in a cliché teenager phrase.

The rest of the class was spent retelling everything Winter had experienced over the last year. Aiden had apparently pursued her from the moment he transferred to this school. Winter, of course, sucked up the attention while playing hard to get. They had had their first date about 2 months after he moved there. And now they had been dating for almost 5 months.

Rian smiled and offered 'aww's or questions or comments whenever appropriate, all the while her mind was on the golden eyed man from lunch.

Well, she was right. This was a long first day back. The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the last class of the day. Rian was practically dropping from exhaustion as she slowly made her way to her P.E. class. She would have had taken this class last year, though because of her absence, she was forced to take it this year. She was not looking forward to this class at all. Physical activity was never one of her favorite things, she'd prefer to sit down and draw or read a book. She suddenly made a completely uncharacteristic decision; she quickly turned down the opposite hallway that she needed to take to get to the gym. She had decided to skip her last class. Maybe because she thought she could get away with it, blaming her illness; she was just not ready. Yes, she could use that as her excuse.

Once the tiny girl was outside the school, and the coast was clear, Rian darted towards the side of the school no one usually goes. She was confident she wouldn't be found there for the rest of the day. She leaned against the wall, feeling a light Rianze rushing through her hair. Her backpack was barely opened when her brain had finally registered the pair of black sneakers in her line of vision suddenly. Her breath was caught in her throat, this CANNOT be happening again. She closed her eyes and took a breath, willing away the hallucination. It wasn't real. No one can move that quickly and silently. Visions of blood and pain spread through her increasingly chaotic mind. The nightmares were beginning to seep through to her reality once again.

A weight was pushing her against the wall harder, almost inhumanly hard. Rian willed the pained scream to stay put, she was not going to give into the hallucinations again. Opening her eyes, she repeated in her mind over and over 'This is not real Rian. Vampires are not real. You are not in any danger.'

Then lips brushing her neck snapped her mind, and she saw the black clothes he was wearing, surrounding her body. All sanity she had been working so hard the last year vanished from her. She involuntarily whispered, "Please, don't kill me." The hallucination completely taking over her mind.

"Please don't kill me." It was simple, and terrifying. It made Emmett pause in his attack. But not because he didn't desperately want her blood. No, it was because it reminded him of the last time he had wanted someone's blood this badly. And then he remembered how incredible that girl's blood had tasted. Then finally, the incredible sorrow he felt after her body had slumped to the floor.

He could feel his self-control slowly returning the longer he thought of his deep regret. He had promised himself he would never lose his self-control again as he had stood over the girl's corpse.

Then he wondered who this girl was that he had trapped against the side of the school, he wondered why he was doing on that side of the school anyway. (He vaguely remembered the girl was the same girl he saw at lunch earlier, and that he was skipping school again to drone out the boredom and emptiness he felt at school every day.) When he smelled the blood, all thoughts had vanished. It seemed that everything that made him Emmett had vanished.

He knew he had to convert his murderous energy into something else and quickly. And just as quickly as he decided to take this young girl's life, he decided he wanted something else.