The roar of the acutely named monster truck somehow causes even more of a scene then my performance in the cafeteria yesterday. Pulling into the school car park I swear I find at least every second hooded student stop their escape from the rain just to find out what is causing the unholy sound. Not really for much longer than a moment, based on how little I could see in front of the rusted red hood, the rain was really coming down.
Ignoring the stares, I keep driving down the lot until the cars begin to thin out. Through the heavy rain, a bright pink and a purple rain jacket huddled close together stand out towards the back of the car park. As soon as they see, well hear, the truck, the hoods turn to reveal Jess and Angela. Angela waves me over into an empty spot next to where they are standing.
Hard pellets of rain echoing off the roof of the cab take the place of the roaring engine less than a second after the key is out of the ignition. Oh joy. No that's not fair, aside from potentially dangerous vampires, I really shouldn't be complaining about, well anything really. Weather aside, I seem to have a car, a job and maybe friends? Ok, hard to tell if so far most of my friendships have been developed around pity, but you know what I am just going to take it for what it is! Pulling on my black jacket with as positive of an attitude as I can muster, I jump out of the truck, landing straight onto a patch of ice, slipping, and hitting my butt on the rain-soaked black tar. Well, this is a great a start.
"Oh my god are you ok!?", I hear Jess cry. The two of them rush around the truck just as a bright red sports car followed by a smaller silver car speed past, skilfully spraying the water gathered on the ground directly towards me. The drivers don't even seem to register my sorry state. Armed with only a death glare, I follow their route, straight into the two empty spots at the very front of the school. Bastards.
"I'm ok, thanks", I say taking Angela's hand, pulling myself up. I can feel the growing wet patch on the back of my jeans threaten to match the splash marks on the front of my jacket.
"And thanks for waiting for me in the rain, minus the ice patches it seems like a safe spot", I say.
"No problem! I am just happy you found us ok", she says.
"Honestly I still cannot believe that you got towed yesterday! I have never heard of anyone getting towed from the carpark before", says Jess. Turning back to the truck, I try to hide the guilty flush that burns my frozen cheeks. I managing to mumble an unconvincing agreement that is hopefully drowned out by the slam of the truck door.
"Did you have any issues getting your car back?" Angela asks as I fall in between the two, making our way to the safety of the school. Oh you know I just risked life and death trekking through a random forest with a girl who is about as sane as I am, then dealing with her ex with clear anger issues, but no issues otherwise. Come on, this is not what was agreed! Positive attitude remember?
"It actually turned out way better than I thought. When I went to pick up the truck I got talking to the mechanic that owned the yard and he ended up offering me a job", I say. See! I can be positive. I just need to leave out any details about, well about most of it.
"No freaking way! Are you serious right now?", says Jess, grabbing hold of my arm way too tightly.
"Umm yeah, but it's not big deal right?", I regretfully say.
"No big deal! Isabella this is huge! Do you know what this means?!", she says, her grip some how manages to dig deeper through my resistant jacket.
"I am pretty sure they were just being nice", I say, trying to subtly pull my arm away. Either Jess doesn't feel it, or she is just ignoring my awkward escape attempt.
"No Jess is right. You must be really good, I don't think anyone at the school has ever gotten an actual job on the Reservation before!", says Angela.
Before I can ask why, the sound of a car door slamming cracks like thunder through the wall of rain covering the carpark. I look up to find the Cullen's standing around the extremely expensive, and rude, cars that drove by me in my moment of need. The blonde-haired beauty is standing by the driver's side of the red convertible, staring at me with such a powerfully raw fury that I need to catch myself from stumbling back once I meet her eyes. I can feel the heat of her midnight black eyes burning me from the inside out. It's like looking directly into a raging fire, you know it means danger yet it feels like there is an invisible rope pulling you closer.
"Woah", says Jess, "uh, did something happen with you and the Cullen's yesterday?" A part of me can hear her voice but the question seems to float above my head just out of reach. Not that I can even answer her anyway, I am caught in the blonde's stare like a deer in head lights, refusing to look away. Who am I kidding I don't think I could look away if I tried.
I feel myself taking a step towards her but am quickly broken from the trance as Jess pulls my arm back. I turn to look at her, but all my mind sees is a stranger keeping me away. Suddenly cold I turn back searching for her heat only to find her blonde hair gently blowing in the wind as she walks towards the school. The bigger one catches up to her and puts his arm around her shoulders whispering something in her ear. They follow the rest of their coven through the entrance while I keep watch, waiting for her to turn around, just one more time. Yet without even a single glance back she was through the doors and out of sight, and only then could I let out the breath I didn't realise I was holding.
All at once reality resumes around me, and I very quickly register the cold rain seeping through my clothes. I turn to pull the two girls towards the school but find them rooted in place.
"What the hell was that?", demands Jess.
"Yeah seemed a little full on, is everything ok Isabella?", asks Angela. Well I am so glad you both asked, for some reason the local vampires seem to hate me. Oh that's right you didn't know they were vampires or that vampires existed in the first place. Yeah, I don't think that is the conversation they want to have. Not that I have any one to blame but myself. I know better than most the primal fear humans feel when faced with the threat of a pissed off vampire. I really should have known something like this was bound to happen. Actually that's a good point, they seem genuinely shocked. Does this mean that the Cullen's haven't acted like this before? Nope don't have time for that, think! How do I not blow the vampires secret? Maybe I just need to humanise them, humans have always tried to find logic to reason out the super natural after all. Or was it the other way around? Never mind I just need to say something!
"Uhh, I'm pretty sure that in Biology yesterday the little one, was trying to get Edward to leave early about some family problem?", I quickly clear my throat to try and remove the high pitched tones my voice was leading towards, "They said that their sister had gone earlier, so maybe it is worse than they thought?". I hold my breath and watch their faces, waiting for any sign of disbelief.
"Oh. Oh!", says Angela, her compassion shooting through her like a lifeline to reason with what she had just witnessed, "it must be bad if they are this upset. I hope they are ok!". I didn't but no point telling them that.
"That doesn't give them the excuse to stare you down in the middle of the car park, like what a bitch", says Jess.
"Jess!", says Angela, "you don't know what they could be going through".
"Oh whatever you know I'm right. Isabella has nothing to do with their weird family problems. Now come on let's go, I am literally 60 seconds from the rain seeping through my jacket and I don't love either of you enough to ruin my hair for a whole day", says Jess, rushing ahead. I look towards Angela who just shrugs before we quickly follow suit.
As we hurry past the red convertible, I can't help but look at where she had been standing. A chill runs down my spine as I catch a glimpse of small cracks rising up the driver side window. Holy shit! How hard had she slammed the door? More importantly why? Nope! Again, I am not doing this, the Cullen's want to destroy a priceless car that is their own concern.
I shake my head, hoping to forcibly evict the curiosity gnawing its way up my neck, instead deciding to focus instead on the grey gate way of knowledge in front of us. Eric and Mike are at the top of the stairs looking like they are showing each other some stupid stuff on their phones and when Jess reaches them she pushes right through the middle of them in a rush to escape the weather. The two just laugh as she too is engulfed by the double doors. The boys look up to see us following her path up the steps and wave us over. I hang back as Angela walks on ahead just to take in the scene and honestly, it just feels normal. No vampires, no lies, and just people being people. At the top of the stairs I am quickly pulled into their conversation about some show that they both watched last night, and about how they can make a refence in the title of an article in the school paper. None of it is a plan or a strategy, just an easy light conversation. It's just nice, and by that point, it is just what I need to distract me from the burning imprint of those flaming dark eyes.
The rest of the morning passes in a completely blissful peace. Well as peaceful as high school can go. The teachers warm and friendly attitude from the day before seems to have disappeared as rumours of my skipping out from class on my very first day went around. Not that I was complaining, I was able to slink into the back without the horrible "introduce yourself to class" torture as they clearly didn't think I was worth the effort. After two classes of vampire free education I had even managed to work myself up to being in a reasonably good mood. That is until I looked down at the schedule and my stomach sank. Biology. Again. Yay. Seriously who needed two days in a row of biology. There were other sciences weren't there!
Despite my hanging head only watching my literal dragging feet, I manage to find my way to the science lab on time for class. I prep myself, ready to assess the vampire's mood and find the shared desk empty. Wait empty! Could it be possible! Has Edward disappeared? Been impaled? Burnt to ash? Am I free?! I have to hold myself back from jumping for joy, opting instead for a sigh of relief. Not as gratifying but still something! I take my time relishing the empty space at the desk, slowly sliding into the hard plastic stool. Closing my eyes, I settle myself in, taking a deep breath of bleach and linoleum, ready to enjoy the class, that is until I hear the sound of the stool scraping next to me.
"I hope I am not disturbing you", a soft bell like voice cuts straight through my inner peace. Shit. I open my eyes to see Edward freaking Cullen looking at me with a small irritating smirk. Honestly I think I prefer the ominous stare from yesterday, at least then I knew where I stood with him. Rather than acknowledging his presence any further than I already had, I instead turn away to absorb myself in the notes on the black board in front of me. Well trying to at least. It was hard to ignore the obvious fact that they were from a very graphical phys ed class that must have been rescheduled from the gym earlier today. I had prepared for this. Well not the phys ed, but the vampire!
When I finally got back to the room last night, I went through the basic drills I had been taught since, well since before I could walk. Yes they needed to be adjusted because none of the exercises mentioned a science lab in a high school but most of them involved vampires, so I could make it work. I think.
Ok first, assess your surroundings. This room had one door which served as the main entrance and exit to the room. A well mixed chemical spill could potentially distract the vampire from a blood lust if potent enough, making enough time to get through the door. I just need to actually locate the chemical ingredients needed. Ignoring the fact that there was no way that ethanol would be readily available in a high school, even if I actually got out into the halls there were still four other vampires I had to get passed. Ok fine back up plan. Behind the vampire was a wall of windows looking out to the rain soaked car park. The windows didn't look that sturdy so I could probably break a through using the stool I was sitting on and make an escape toward my truck. However I was risking cutting myself on the way out, increasing the probability of the vampire being able to track me. Plus based on this mornings drive in, there was no way that the truck could out run a vampire. Dammit! Not that any of this even matters anyway because if he decided that now was his moment to attack I wouldn't even be able to get out my chair before he snapped my neck.
I let out an exhausted sigh, trying to ignore the fact that the vampire was very obviously staring at me. Great start. Well then, what was the answer! Short of it being a day we are working with Bunsen burners I have absolutely nothing to use against him if something went wrong! God, I could almost hear Uncle's tired old lecture, the same one that I heard more times than I can count. "You should not have allowed yourself to be put in this situation in the first place".
Arghh!Nope that kind of thinking isn't going to help at all. If I can't beat the vampire physically then I need a new approach. On to step two, know your enemy. You cannot successfully fight your enemy unless you know what you're up against. Which means I would have to either have to spy on the extremely sound sensitive vampire or, ugh, talk to him. Actually now that I think about it, neck snapping doesn't sound that bad.
"I don't believe I was able to introduce myself yesterday, my name is Edward", he says. I turn my gaze down to my notebook, trying to think of something to start drawing in the margins, the only problem being that I all I could think about was the very graphical diagrams on the board and the vampire sitting next to me. Maybe if I just stay really still he might get the hint and go away.
"And you name is?", he asks. Maybe not.
"Isabella", I say.
"Isabella", he says as if he is testing it out. If it fails does that mean he will never talk to me again? One can only hope. "Italian for beautiful, it suits you".
"No it isn't", I say refusing to pull my focus from my blank notebook.
"I assure you I am very well aware of the definition of beauty when I see it", he says. The wave of disgust I have been holding back finally rushes through my system so intensely that I have to force myself not to shudder. Fine, vampire wants to talk then let's talk. I might as well figure out what I am actually dealing with. I pull my focus up from my book just to come face to face with that same smug smirk.
"No the name Isabella, it actually mean's devoted to God in Italian, but please continue telling me I don't know the meaning of my own name in some failed attempt to try and show off your linguistic skills". I hold his gaze, watching for him for any sign of irritation. While I am very well aware that pissing off a vampire is never a smart option, this was for intel so it was for a good cause. Plus, I really just wanted to wipe that smug look from his face.
His brows furrow as he looks off towards the windowed wall, a confused look covers his stupidly perfect vampire features. I wait for any sign that I overstepped my hand, but there is nothing, no anger, no hunger, nothing but confusion. He turns back to face me, and those golden eyes are only full of regret.
"I can understand why that would be frustrating", he finally says bowing his head, "I meant no offence, I apologise".
"Whatever", I shrug, turning back to my drawing. Ok so not easily baited. I guess that is a good start considering he is in an enclosed room with this many humans. Either that or he has good control which could indicate a more advanced age. I need another tactic. Think Isabella! The easy option is trigger the vampires lust and lure him into a trap, but if I draw on that then there is a chance he may go into a frenzy and kill the entire school. Ok so not a plan. It would be so much easier to actually focus on a plan if I didn't have him burning a hole in the side of my head. What was it with these vampires and staring!
"I hope everything was ok yesterday?", he asks, "you left the lesson in quite a sudden manner". Tends to be what happens when you are in an enclosed space with two unknown vampires.
"I could ask you the same, your sister Alice?", I ask and he gently nods confirming her name, "seemed to think something really bad was happening in your…family?". He quickly clears his throat and looks ahead but not before I see his eyes start to slightly darken. Hmmm interesting. Is there an actual threat or is there tension in the coven?
"Ah yes, it seemed that my sister Rosalie had been feeling unwell" he said. What, like a vampire can come down with a case of the common cold? Bullshit. Hang on Rosalie? She was the blonde one who seemed to be the embodiment of fury earlier this morning. I wonder what was wrong? If it was drastic enough for the entire coven to be called back yesterday it must have been bad. I quickly shake my head, who cares? This isn't me caring. I am simply scoping out the threat. She was the one who held the fury of a thousand suns, and that kind of intensity is almost always dangerous.
"Is she ok?", I ask. So much for not caring. Edward cocks his head to give me an undecipherable look. Before he can answer, Mr Molina seems to decide at this moment that the book in his lap was of little interest and stands to begin the lesson.
"Good afternoon class. I hope we are all ready to learn!", an unenthusiastic mumble rises from the class, "Great! So to start off, today you are going to partner up for your next assignment with the person sitting next you. You will be working closely together to study mutations in genetics". The class erupts in a collision of excitement and acceptance. All except the table I share with the vampire. Despite his earlier intrigue, he seems to draw back as stiffly as I do, but only for a moment. With at least the smallest consideration for chivalry he clears his throat and leans towards me with a deep sigh.
"Well Isabella it seems we will be-", starts Edward.
"Its fine, I can just do all the work on my own", I say, trying to shut down any chance of this hell actually occurring. Edward irritatingly just seems amused again.
"Not that I doubt your intelligence", he says, "but I do like to make sure that I can at least ensure that any work submitted holding my name is correct".
"Look Edwin you tried its ok I have taken note, I won't think less of you", not that it would be possible, "I will put your name on the assignment. No one will ever know."
"Its Edward", he says before shaking his head slightly, "Isabella I am sorry to be forceful, but I must insist that we work together. Otherwise I may have no choice but to let Mr Molina know about your unwillingness to work on this together". He was threatening to snitch on me! This was not the kind threat I expected, definitely more favourable than having my neck snapped or throat ripped out, but still!
"Are you seriously going to tell on me like we are two years old?", I hiss under my breath.
"Not that I wish to lower myself to such childish antics, but yes I am", he says, holding my glare. I try my best to destroy him with my glare, but unfortunately a call from Mr Molina, forces me to resign my defence.
"Miss Swan, Mr Cullen. If you are not able to come to an agreement I am sure an after school detention will be the perfect time to get to know each other better so you can sort out what ever issues you are placing above your education".
"But sir I have work after school!", I say.
"Well then Miss Swan, I believe you have a choice to make", the stupid teacher says. If what Angela and Jess said was anything to go by, then the fact that I got this job in the first place is a miracle. I will not risk my chance at a new life over this smug bastard.
"Ugh fine!", I say, throwing my hands up in defeat. Mr Molina irritatingly only nods before making his way around the class to answer any questions about the assignment.
"What do you do for work?", asks Edward as if I hadn't public tried to ostracize him.
"I work for a mechanic that deals with lost cars", I say.
"Lost cars?", he asks. The confused brow is back again.
"Not all of us have shiny red convertibles that mummy and daddy bought us", I say. God that convertible was a nice car though. Even with my limited knowledge of cars it was obvious to see that it was a work of art. I still can't believe she cracked the window.
"Actually the convertible is Rosalie's', of course it is, "mine is the Volvo". Of course it is.
"She has good taste", I say. He looks on expectantly but is met with only silence, not that he takes the hint.Thankfully the lesson takes a turn into a silent lecture. Something about cells and growth, or whatever. Nothing was getting past the fact that for some absolutely insane reason the vampire who usually stays disengaged with humans is trying to….., damn, I don't even know what his end game is! Yesterday he stares me down as through I was the next big threat and now he wants to be best friends? Unless. No, he couldn't. Is it possible they found out about me? The piercing ring of the bell snaps me from my thoughts as the rest of the class starts shuffling form their desks. I stay sitting at my desk, trying to shake the cold dread that is washing through me.
"As you are unavailable this afternoon, would you care to join me to the library over lunch so we can work on our project?", he asks, holding his hand out and it takes all my will power to not flinch. Before I am able to decline in a spectacular fashion, something including his man hood, well vampire hood, and a microscope, I feel a light taping on my shoulder. I turn to find the small pixie vampire Alice staring expectantly at me with her bright golden eyes.