chapter three

The days that follow me telling Elle Fitzherbert about the red eyed stranger outside the school go by in a steady, but fast speed. Anything that Elle has gotten on her hands when it comes to vampires, she's given for me to borrow so that I can research more about them. Anything that could help protect me from them she's given to me, since she's always kept a few copies of the items in case anyone else would believe in vampires and need protection.

I don't think much when she decides to go downtown during the weekend after dinner, as long as she's back by curfew then everything will be fine. I'm more interested in making sure that I'm not just imagining the whole red eyed stranger. It was probably just nerves, or my brain made me think I saw red eyes when it was just a normal color eyed person. I don't need these trinkets that Elle gave me so easily and enthusiastically, it's just something that happened once, and it won't happen again.

Or at least that's what I think until Elle doesn't come back in time for curfew. I'm sent to the office to be questioned and hand over my phone to them without them asking. There's nothing on my phone for them to think I did something with her disappearance, there's also the fact that Principal Dwyer has my back and stops the questions when it's obvious I have nothing to do with her. I might have an odd relationship with Elle, but I've never shown any type of hostility or said anything hostile about her, so I'm set free, and I go back to where my dorm room is.

Yet, when I reach the third floor of the dorm building almost everyone is standing in the doorways of their dorms, dressed down in their pajamas. Some girls have their hair wet from when they left the shower, while some boys seem to have slipped on the cleanest pajamas they could find. They all stare at me with interest, knowing that Elle has latched on me even more since I had decided to feed her paranoia by claiming to have seen that stranger.

Things get even worse when they find Elle's body two days later, outside of Seattle.

There is no blood in her body, all the signs of her death point towards what she was telling me was happening in the city. She's been killed by a vampire, and as much as I want to say that I can't help but wonder if it were a vampire fanatic that had killed her because they went onto her blogs and social media channels, finding the same news reports and decided to be a copycat.

The school goes on lockdown, no one can get out and no one can come in. Parents and other family members call the school, demanding for their children to be brought home or for them to send some more security onto the campus. Some even wonder if one of the other students was the one who had murdered Elle, having decided to pull a horrible prank on her only for things to go wrong in the end.

I've barely gotten accustomed to the school and already my roommate has been murdered. She read too much; she saw too much. If I had just kept quiet about the red eyed stranger and never said anything then maybe Elle would still be alive. Or she was meant to die the way she did, because she didn't know when to walk away or leave something alone.

I scroll through the blogs and social media channels that Elle had owned, noting how there are condolences that are written on the pages to pay respects for her. I'm surprised by how many people are mourning her loss, some claiming that this has to be a joke. Others claim that this is what happens when you get too into these things, and some are just plain hateful.

Eventually the lockdown is stopped, and I leave the school behind me after dinner. I don't even turn to look at the people that are traveling throughout the campus. Most of them have already shown their respects towards the Fitzherbert's but now there is nothing more that can be done. Elle is dead and they've done what they were supposed to do.

It's too cold for me, yet I shove my hands into the pockets of my coat. I think of the coffee shop that Elle talked about on her blog, a place she would go to in order to sit down and write and learn some more things when she didn't want to do it at the boarding school. It's not too far from the school but it's not as close as I thought it would be.

As I enter the coffee shop, I sigh in relief from the warmth that floods throughout the room, making sure to take away the freezing temperature that surrounded me outside.

I'm not someone who enjoys coffee but as I'm standing there, peering at the chalk styled menu to see all the different types of drinks the shop offers, a few goosebumps spread across the back of my neck. I know that feeling and taking a deep breath, my eyes turn, and I notice him sitting at a circular table in the corner of the coffee shop, and it's by the large window that looks out at the mass of people traveling throughout the city.

"Ma'am?"

He's not that much older than me, two years at most, but he has this old school etiquette about him. He's dressed in many layers. A black masculine peacoat, with a gray sweater underneath and a white turtleneck sweater underneath that. Black gloves cover his hands, he has on designer jeans and some top-of-the-line waterproof boots.

His chocolate hair falls down against the nape of his neck and is slightly messy, since his hair is feathered. His eyebrows are thick and arched, his nose long and simple, lips plump and enticing. Black eyelashes that flutter against his cheekbones, and eyes the color of red algae. They flicker away from the book he's reading, in Italian, and land on mine.

"Ma'am?"

The boy chuckles at me, before pointing at something behind me.

I turn around and look to see the barista standing on the other side of the counter with annoyance clear on her face. She's tapping her manicured fingers against the countertop while two of her fellow baristas are working on the machines behind her, filling up the cups with their specific ingredients. Her eyes flicker over to the boy before they land on me, she arches one of her eyebrows up and studies me before deciding that she's not even going to make an attempt of saying or doing anything about the obvious fact the boy is out of my league.

I've never been flustered like this before, but luckily, I notice that there is hot chocolate on the menu and order fast enough that I know I probably was hard to hear.

She still doesn't make a comment on anything, probably deciding that it's not her business and that she doesn't get paid enough to deal with this shit of working at a coffee shop. She calls out the order to one of her co-workers, before she turns to me and waits for me to give her the right amount of money to pay for the said drink.

"Um…do you take student discounts…for Northwest School?"

I can't believe I'm going to be one of those people, but then again, I can get my hot chocolate practically free if they accept the discount. I just never thought that I would end up using a school discount until I would be in college, not now at seventeen. Attending one of the best boarding schools on the West Coast.

The girl folds her arms against her chest and cranes her head to the side, as though she's heard something very amusing. "You are a student at Northwest School? I very much doubt that. You don't look like a boarding school student."

I reach into my purse to pull out my school identification to prove I go to the school only for the card to fall out of my hands due to my nerves. The boy behind me is giving me anxiety, and the girl in front of me is not helping the anxiety at all. She scoffs at me as it drops onto the wooden flooring, but both of us are surprised when a gloved hand reaches down and picks up my identification card for me.

I notice the boy isn't showing that docile, lovely vibe I had thought he had earlier.

Instead, there's this look in his eyes that causes the coffee shop employee to almost seem to become paler. Her eyes become almost misted over and she blinks a few times before he sits my card down onto the counter. He turns and glances at me, giving me a small and charming smile, and then goes back to where he was sitting. I watch him, barely paying attention to the girl as she puts in the discount before giving me back my card.

"Um…with your student discount there's no need for you to pay anything. Apologies for my behavior earlier, that wasn't very polite of me," the girl mumbles as I put my card back into the wallet of my purse. I grab my hot chocolate and am tempted to head to another table but decide in the end to gather bravery and instead go to sit down across from the boy.

As I sit down, he glances up from looking at the book, his eyes swirl with so many different shades of red. I don't think that there could be even one single shade of red in there. I don't even think you could ask me to verbally explain how the red looks, especially under the coffee shop hanging ceiling lights and the streetlamps that were outside. They just take your breath away, enough that you don't realize it's gone until the pressure and pain builds up.

"Thanks for the help, I'd like to say I'm usually not like that…" I joke as I put my cup of hot chocolate down onto the table. My eyes flicker towards the book that he has sat down by now, and I crane my head, noting that he really is reading Italian.

"So you go to Northwest, huh? I have private tutors back home," he remarks back to me, and I almost want to roll my eyes at that comment. Of course I end up sitting across from someone who has enough money in his life to have private tutors.

"Yes, I am attending Northwest, but it wasn't my idea. Trust me. My mom and stepdad had the opportunity and when the school board saw how good my grades happened to be they decided to take me in," I sigh, my mind momentarily going back to Renee and Phil just randomly handing me the acceptance letter as though they were expecting for me to be waiting for it all along.

"I know how that feels, having your parents dictate everything. I mean, I have a good relationship with my parents but sometimes I'd like to be able to do things that I want to do and not what they ask of me to do. That's part of the reason why I'm here, to get away from them," he adds, all the while I'm listening to him with too much rapt attention.

His accent is addicting, it's a combination of different countries.

Italian, obviously, and a little bit of British. It all depends on how he pronounces his words. I think I could listen to his voice for the rest of my life and not get tired of it.

Suddenly, as though we remember we never truly introduced ourselves to each other, the boy reaches his hand out and I place my hand in his gloved one. The black leather gloves are cold to the touch, and I wonder if his hands are as delicate and ethereal looking like the rest of him.

"Apologies, my parents taught me better. I'm Alec, Alec Volturi. If you're wondering about my accent, I'm Italian but I was born in England," Alec informs me, earning a blush from me as I nod my head. We let our hands go a moment later, though a part of me wants to keep my hand in his to still feel this odd connection with him.

"Bella, Bella Swan. American, though you probably already knew that."

Before Alec can say anything else to me or I can add to what I just said his phone goes off.

Alec leaves me a moment later, to answer his phone outside, only for the coffee shop door to open.

A little too hard but when I turn to see who it is that has entered the coffee shop I almost want to groan. Rich Newton is scanning the shop until his eyes land on me, aggravation upon his features, before he comes over to me. I almost want to shoot him a dirty look but decide at the last minute that the last thing he needs to see is how he gets to me.

"There you are, Swan. It's past curfew, Principal Dwyer requested for me to find you. Come on, you can finish your drink on the way back," Rich commands, enough for me to almost ask him to repeat himself to see if he really is going to talk to me that way. Yet I know, with the look he gives me there's no room for me to do that, I have to leave.

Sighing, I got up and threw my hot chocolate away since it's cold now, and I hadn't even realized it. Rich is nervous, it's apparent he doesn't like this anymore than Principal Dwyer. Perhaps it's because he thinks that whoever killed Elle is going to target me because I was her roommate but that's not possible. Unless this Alec…

Without even realizing it, I trip a little bit as we walk out of the coffee shop, the rain is pouring down, and I can't catch myself. Arms wrap around me, and the freezing cold embrace lets me know that it's Alec that has his arms wrapped around me. I both want to relax in them but also tear myself away from him and demand answers, if he knows Elle. I can't do that because of two things, I'm in public and Rich is next to me.

Gently pulling away from Alec, I reach my hand up and push pieces of my hair behind my ear. My face is flushed red, and I note how his eyes darken a little bit due to the hot blush on my face. It's a sign that Alec might be a vampire, but I can't know if he is the one that killed Elle or if it were another vampire that had killed her.

"Um…it was nice to meet you, Alec. I'm sorry but I have to head back to campus. It's past curfew, I hadn't realized it because I was having a good time with you," I remark, while behind me Rich seems to be shooting daggers at the other boy for having the ability to make me enjoy his presence instead of Rich's.

"Don't mention it…hey, if you don't mind, can I get your phone number? Not romantically, but just as friends. Or romantic," Alec stumbles as he says this, enough that I can't help but giggle. Inwardly I want to punch myself in the face for even having the audacity of giggling like a little schoolgirl since that's something that I have never done in my life.

I pull out my phone only for Rich to reach out and take it from me while saying, "sorry, but you can't get her phone–"

"You don't speak for me, Newton. Last time I checked you aren't my boyfriend, besides, Alec said it didn't have to be romantically linked."

"I might not speak for you, but your stepdad is Principal Dwyer's great-nephew, and I don't think that either of them would be glad if you were handing out your phone number to a guy that compliments you."

Without even thinking, I bring my hand up in a proper fist and punch him in the face once I manage to grab my phone from him.

He stumbles backwards a little bit before he falls, and his ass hits the wet concrete sidewalk. He hisses as he reaches his hands up and covers his nose, I might have broken it. There is blood that is leaking from his nose, and I turn around to see Alec only for him to be gone. I growl in irritation, because there was finally someone, I felt natural towards since I had moved here.

"You bitch! You broke my nose!"

"I'll break it again if you ever think you can hold any kind of power over me again. It's one thing to come and tell me that curfew is over but it's another thing to hold my connection towards the principal over me or telling me that I can't even get a phone number from a cute boy after he asks for it politely. Now get your ass up and walk me back to the school."

For once Rich looks terrified, before he gets up from the ground, the back of his jeans are soaking wet from the water on the ground. He heads back to the school with me next to him, in a sour mood because that cute boy was gone. I don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that he left…there's a large possibility that he is a vampire, but he had an opportunity to take me away from the coffee shop and kill me then.

When we arrive back on campus, I'm surprised when Principal Dwyer is standing at the front entrance. He has his arms folded against his chest and he's trying to look serious. There's worry in his blue eyes, as he scans everything around him. He's looking at any female that walks past him that might have the same color hair as me or wear clothes that are similar to mine. He does relax some when he turns and sees me coming towards him.

Before I can react, he's in front of me and he's hugging me, before he pulls away from me.

I almost expect him to start chewing into me for not coming during curfew but his eyes flicker over to where Rich is standing with his hands still covering his nose. His stylish, top of the line shirt is stained a little bit with his blood and I can't help but smirk. I expect that he's going to end up having his parents get upset with him ruining one of his expensive shirts.

"What did you do, Bella?"

I opened my mouth to tell him only for Rich to say, "she punched me! That's what happened!"

"Mr. Newton, when I ask for your side of the story then you can tell me. I believe I was talking to Miss Swan first, not you. In fact, head off to Nurse Claymore. She'll help you get your injury under control," Principal Dwyer commands, and for a moment it looks as though Rich is going to say something else but decides in the end it's wiser for him to listen to the principal of the school.

The moment he's far enough from us, Principal Dwyer motions for me to walk with him.

He's silent for a moment, not seeming as though he's too concerned with the state of Rich. He sighs eventually and turns to look at me, putting his hand onto my shoulder for a few seconds to gain my proper attention before his hand falls back to his side. I make sure to give him the proper attention due to this, knowing that he's probably one of the nicest men that I've met.

"Alright, tell me what happened. I know that you don't lie, so at least I know that you'll tell the truth. That and you're a terrible liar I've heard," he informs me, enough for me to give him a look as though to tell him I can tell a proper lie only for the both of us to laugh some because we know that it's true. He probably got told that by Phil.

So slowly but surely, I told him what went on.

He doesn't show any true emotion towards the entire explanation, nodding his head to let me know that he's listening. In the distance we can hear the crashing of thunder, allowing us to know that it's about to start storming pretty bad soon. Thankfully it's not too close to us or else we would have to rush indoors to the closest building so that I can continue to tell him what happened there.

When I finish, he shakes his head, finding the whole thing a mess.

"You're not in trouble partly because this didn't happen on school grounds. Another being, he did take your phone from you without permission. I don't want to hear about you punching anyone again, or else I'm going to have to suspend you from leaving the campus for a week," he finally decides, earning a look of acceptance from me.

"Fine. Thanks for just the warning. I'm going to head back to my dorm."

After saying goodbye to Principal Dwyer, I head back to my dorm building.

Mostly everyone is already in their lounge clothes by now, others are still in their day clothes.

I want to follow the ones that are in their pajamas because I want to curl up on my bed and watch some random shows online or movies, to try and get rid of all those thoughts that were running through my head back at the coffee shop. I don't want to think about Alec Volturi, or those red eyes of his, his inhuman beauty, along with his almost inhumanly perfect sounding voice.

Grabbing my pajamas, I head down to the girls' bathroom and go over to where the showers are. I'm barely stripped and taking in the warmth of the water that is pouring from the showerhead when some of the girls come into the bathroom. They're getting ready for bed, conversing with each other easily over anything and everything that comes to their mind.

"Oh my god, guys! Did you hear about what that Swan girl did?"

My hand, that had reached out to take the shampoo bottle stops and I can't help but listen in closer to what they are going to say about me. I mean, I already know what they are going to say, since I did punch our R.A. in the face for taking away my phone. I don't care what they are going to say because I still think that it was valid of me to do that.

"No, what?"

"She punched Rich Newton in the face! Apparently, she just snapped and hit him. He says that he was being a caring guy and stuff but obviously we know that's not the truth. You would think that the guy would realize that there are boundaries. He probably tried to kiss her or something, so good for her. I had been wondering if the girl had a backbone."

Rolling my eyes, I finish washing both myself and my hair before turning off the showerhead and placing the towel around my body. Leaving the shower behind me, my eyes land on the girls that are gathered around the sinks. They are already dressed in their pajamas. One of them is wearing her V.S. pajamas she might have ordered online or bought at the mall, it doesn't matter. The other one is wearing pajamas that are more like me, since we prefer comfort over style.

"So, what did he do, Swan?"

It's the girl with the more expensive pajamas than the other one, but I still decided to inform them what had happened. They listen with rapt attention, making sure to show their approval at the right times. They especially want to learn more about this mysterious Alec guy that I was talking about, shaking their heads in disappointment when I didn't get the chance to get his phone number.

"It's a crime, really. A cute foreign rich guy goes out of his way and helps you and is a gentleman! It's like those steamy novels that my dad reads but he says belong to my mom," the girl with the comfortable pajamas says, we look at each other for a moment before all three of us burst out laughing at the thought of the man reading one of those novels.

Even though I try to focus my attention on finally being able to bond with some girls, the image of Alec still lingers in the back of my mind. Could he really be a vampire?


AUTHOR'S NOTE: I really like how this chapter turned out. Also, it was about time that Rich gets punched in the face. Bella is spicier in this fanfiction. She doesn't put up with anyone's shit. I like how this fanfiction is turning out.

as always: Twilight doesn't belong to me.

next chapter: Bella dreams about Alec being a vampire, before finding him in the coffee shop again and confronting him about being a vampire. The chapter after that, Bella goes to Forks.

-it'semmynotemma