Chapter 1

-Ava-

Alice had been sent to wake me up that morning. I slept like the dead (ironic, considering vampires are considered un-dead but they don't sleep) and usually didn't wake up to an alarm. My adoptive siblings generally took turns waking me up for school. The methods of how I woke up were different depending on who did the waking. With Rosalie, she simply ripped away the covers and tossed a cute outfit at me. With Emmett, he pulled me out of my bed and into the hallway so that I had to be awake in order to stand and go back into my room. With Jasper, he simply manipulated my emotions. Most of the time he made me excited or giddy, except for the one time when I made him mad and he woke me up by scaring me. With Edward, he just shook me awake and read off whatever vulgar thoughts I was thinking until I was able to wake up fully.

Alice was different. She liked to throw open the curtains-rather cruel considering the sun rose right outside my window-and then pull me out of bed. She would tell me what to wear to school, do my hair and makeup, and then force me downstairs where Esme would have food waiting for me.

Esme loved the fact that I ate actual food. Everyone in our family enjoyed cooking, but her the most. It had been rare that she had a reason to cook before I came. Since I had joined them, I had been eating 5-star restaurant style meals. It made eating at the school cafeteria hard.

"Alice," I groaned, turning over to escape the light and the cool air as Alice glided around my room.

"Come on, up and at 'em," Alice said, her voice musical and light. I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. "I have a really cute outfit for you today. I think you'll really like it. Plus, you'll turn all the boys' eyes."

"I don't want all the boys' eyes, I want sleep," I mumbled, knowing full well that she could hear me.

"Oh well," she sighed, humming contently as she pulled back the covers and used her strength to pull me into a standing position, holding me steady as I tilted from the sudden movement.

"Alice," I protested, whining slightly. It was a Monday and they had all kept me up late with reminiscent tales.

"Hush, hush," Alice replied, putting a finger over my face. "You and I both know that you fall asleep whenever I do your hair, so the sooner we get to that part, the sooner you can sleep again." I sighed. She was right. Whenever she did my hair and makeup in the morning, I dozed off while she babbled on.

"Fine," I gave in, letting her strip off my outer clothes and quickly into a knee-length dress with tights. She had me step into ankle booties which she tied faster than I could follow and then I was shoved into a chair in my ensuite bathroom while Alice tugged a brush through my hair.

"I much prefer when Jasper wakes me up," I told her, wincing when she yanked through a knot.

"You look much better when I do, though," she answered. Alice continued talking about something I wasn't following and I slipped into a half-awake, half-asleep haze. By the time she was done, I was almost asleep. Fate was cruel, however, as she pulled me up off the chair before I could fully slip into that peaceful escape.

Despite hating being woken up earlier whenever Alice came for me, I did appreciate how good I looked...afterwards. I always despised it beforehand but when it came down to it, I was always grateful that Alice made me look good for school.

"Thanks, Alice," I mumbled, slinging my bag onto my shoulder and walking down the steps to the kitchen. I had the closest bedroom to the kitchen, something that had changed three months after we moved here and I had been getting up more and more for midnight snacks.

Due to my fae nature, I burned calories quickly. The energy inside of me burned any junk or excess off no matter what level of activity I was doing. The result was me being lean and muscular with almost below the healthy human range of 8% body fat. My siblings constantly had to carry around snacks for whenever I was hungry-I would get very grouchy-and it was rare that I would forget to eat.

"Morning," I greeted, sitting down at the stool in front of the bar-top island. Esme smiled from her place at the stove as Carlisle pushed a cup of coffee towards me. I mouthed a 'thank you' and quickly gulped half of it down. Edward was sitting at the barstool next to me reading the Seattle-based newspaper, most likely discussing whatever events were in it with Carlisle.

Esme soon had a plate piled high with food sitting in front of me and my mouth watered at the smells. There was a big helping of eggs mixed in with hash browns, ham, cheese, mushrooms, broccoli, and onions. Four slices of thick bacon sat on the edge of the plate next to three pieces of toast. I quickly dug in, ignoring whatever conversations were happening around me.

By the time I had finished, Esme had packed me a lunch-bless her undead soul-and exchanged it for my plate. A travel mug of coffee was handed to me and I asked myself yet again how I was so lucky to have adoptive parents who would do this for me.

Emmett and Rosalie took Emmett's jeep to school everyday as we all couldn't fit in Edward's volvo. Alice, Jasper, and I went with Edward everyday, though, and followed Emmett's speedy driving the whole way.

The dynamics I had with each of them varied, but there were some aspects that stayed the same. While I was older than most of them, a couple decades older than Carlisle actually, I hadn't stopped fully aging yet, and wouldn't until my body hit the maturity level of an 18-year old human. I aged really fast until I hit 14, and then the rate slowed exponentially. When I met them I had been about the physical age of 17 but had matured in the first few years of being a family. This meant that for the longest time since then, I had been stuck at 18 and physically younger than everyone but Edward and Alice. So despite now being the same physical age as Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper, everyone thought of me as the baby. The fact that I could be hurt easier than any of them didn't help. They all took it upon themselves to be the protective older siblings that I had lost hundreds of years before any of them were even born. It was rather confusing, if one stopped to think too hard about it.

Arriving at Forks High School was always interesting. Everybody would turn and stare at Edward and Emmett's expensive cars that looked out of place amongst the weathered trucks and beat up sedans. Then they would whisper as we got out of the car, mostly about how reclusive we were. It's not my fault my siblings never wanted to risk becoming friends with a human…I just had to suffer the consequences.

It was my fourth time through high school, and I'd already done two rounds of college, once of each before I met my family. Generally, the classes were a breeze due to it being my fifth time around. Very rarely was anything challenging.

I walked into English/Lit and set my coat on a hook before taking my seat at the back of the classroom. Due to Emmett and Edward's inescapable need to drive fast, I was generally one of the first people in class and got to watch all of the pairs of students filter in slowly.

I doodled aimlessly on a piece of notebook paper as the classroom filled. It was only when I noticed everybody was in their seats and Mr. Mason was still not talking that I looked up and saw the new girl.

She was pretty, prettier than a lot of the girls at the school, but in a subtle way and dressed in a basic outfit. She looked rather nervous standing up there as Mr. Mason said a few words to her and handed her a piece of paper before sending her to sit in the one open desk which happened to be right next to me. Her toe caught on her desk briefly as she sat down and glanced at the reading list.

"Hey," I whispered, leaning over so that she could hear me. "I'm Ava." I stuck out my hand for her to shake and I was rather relieved when she took it.

"Bella," she whispered back, smiling slightly with her eyes meeting mine for a moment before looking back down at her reading list in concentration. My smile wavered as I realized she didn't want to talk to me anymore and I sat back in my desk, staring out the window and drawing circled on my notebook as Mr. Mason droned on and on.

-Bella-

After the stunningly gorgeous girl across the aisle introduced herself to me-her name was Ava-I kept my eyes down on the reading list the teacher had given me. It was fairly basic including authors such as Bronte, Shakespeare, Faulkner, and Chaucer. I had already read everything. That was comforting...and boring. I wondered briefly if my mom would send me my folder of old essays, or if she would think that was cheating. I went through different arguments with her in my head while the teacher droned on.

When the bell rang, a nasal buzzing sound, a gangly boy with skin problems and hair black as an oil slick leaned across the aisle to talk to me.

"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" He looked like the overly helpful, chess club type.

"Bella," I corrected. Everyone within a three-seat radius turned to look at me, including Ava.

"Where's your next class?" he asked.

I had to check it in my bag. "Um, Government, with Jefferson, in building six."

There was nowhere to look without meeting curious eyes, except Ava who was swiftly stuffing her notebooks into her bag.

"I'm headed toward building four, I could show you the way…" Definitely over-helpful. "I'm Eric," he added.

I smiled tentatively. "Thanks."

We got our jackets and headed out into the rain, which had picked up. I could have sworn several people behind us were walking close enough to eavesdrop. I hoped I wasn't getting paranoid.

"So, this is a lot different than Phoenix, huh?" he asked. I noticed Ava was walking a bit ahead of us, alone.

"Very."

"It doesn't rain much there, does it?"

"Three or four times a year."

"Wow, what must that be like?" he wondered. I was wondering why people avoided walking close to Ava. She'd seemed nice enough in class.

"Sunny," I responded.

"You don't look very tan."

"My mother is part albino."

He studied my face apprehensively, and I sighed. It looked like clouds and a sense of humor didn't mix. A few months of this and I'd forget how to use sarcasm.

We walked back around the cafeteria, to the south buildings by the gym. Eric walked me right to the door, though it was clearly marked.

"Well, good luck," he said as I touched the handle. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together." He sounded hopeful.

I smiled at him vaguely and went inside.

-Ava-

New girl was from Phoenix? I was surprised to hear that from her and Eric's conversation, considering she looked like she hadn't seen the sun in months. Then again, I couldn't tan for the life of me. She was only joking about being part-albino, but there was always that possibility. I also picked up on her full name being Isabella Swan. Chief Swan's daughter. I didn't really know much about Charlie except that he was supposedly a nice guy.

I suffered my way through Trig and blew off Study Hall before Bio. Honestly it was so easy for me that I didn't actually need to be there.

I decided to go to Spanish, mostly because my fluency was waning and I wanted to brush up a little bit. When I got there, Bella was sitting in the seat next to mine-which happened to be by the window in the back row.

"Hey, Bella," I greeted as I sat down and hooked my bag over the back of my chair.

"Hi...Ava? Right?"

"Yuppers, I'm glad you remembered. I'm sure a lot of people have been introducing themselves today." She gave a half-smile.

"Yeah, it's been a bit overwhelming," she replied.

"I'm sure," I agreed. "I hate to break it to you sweetheart, but you're the newest thing this school has seen in years. You'll be the center of attention for a while."

"Ugh, great," Bella answered, rolling her eyes. "Right where I love being."

I chuckled for a moment before looking over at her again. "If you need anything, though, I'll be here. Whether it's a pencil for class, a lunch buddy, or someone to help you when you get lost, just hit me up."

I half-expected her to laugh in my face, but instead she just smiled softly at me. "Thanks, I...I will."

"Hola," Mrs. Rulette greeted, standing at the front of the classroom after writing an exercise on the blackboard.

"Hola," the class replied, monotonous in tone. Bella had focused on the teacher before I could continue our conversation and I sighed, looking out the window again.

Class passed by quickly and before I knew it, I was turning to see if Bella wanted to walk to lunch with me. I would be perfectly happy ditching my siblings, too, if Bella needed someone to sit with. It would be nice to have a friend.

Before I could even ask, Bella was walking out the door with Jessica who was prattling on about teachers and classes. I bit the inside of my cheek and said goodbye to Mrs. Rulette before walking to lunch by myself. Again.

I walked in and Bella was sitting with a group of friends who seemed to have pulled her into their squad. Jessica, Mike, Eric, Angela. They were all nice people, but too intimidated by my family's looks and wealth to ever talk to me. She was looking over her shoulder occasionally, and I followed her gaze to my siblings' table. Of course, she was curious about the loners.

I walked over and plopped down next to Edward, pulling my lunch out of my bag as Alice turned from Jasper to look at me.

"You weren't in Trig," she commented. Alice and I shared half of our classes, while I had one with Jasper and Emmett. I didn't share any other classes with my siblings, which made it easier to skip.

I shrugged around the amazing salad that I was shoveling into my mouth. "It's boring." Rosalie scrunched up her nose when I talked with my mouth full.

"I know, I wasn't there either," Alice chuckled, using one hand to idly playing with the apple on her tray in an effort to appear more human. Emmett and Rosalie were talking quietly to each other, low enough that I couldn't hear. Jasper's eyes were a shade darker than when we left this morning and I noticed he was holding Alice's hand under the table.

Edward was looking behind me and I followed his gaze to see Bella looking at us. I shot her a warm smile and waved, but she quickly looked away. I frowned slightly.

"You know, you all look so menacing that nobody wants to be friends with me," I sighed, shoveling another bite of salad into my mouth.

"Maybe it's just you're too annoying?" Emmett theorized, smirking slightly. I shot him a fake smile and took another big bite of salad.

-Bella-

Jessica and I sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced to me. I forgot all their names as soon as she spoke them. They seemed impressed by her bravery in speaking to me. The boy from English, Eric, waved at me from across the room.

It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them.

They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were five of them. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't gawking at me, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an excessively interested pair of eyes. But it was none of these things that caught, and held, my attention.

They didn't look anything alike. The three boys were all contrasts of each other and the girls were complete opposites. One boy was big and muscled with dark curly hair, while another was taller, leaner, but still muscular with honey blond hair. The third was more boyish and was less bulky with untidy, bronze-colored hair. The first girl was blonde and statuesque while the other was short and pixie like.

And yet, they were all exactly alike. Every one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the students living in this sunless town. Paler than me, the albino. They all had very dark eyes, despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under those eyes-purplish, bruise-like shadows. As if they were all suffering from a sleepless night, or almost done recovering from a broken nose. Though their noses, all their features, were straight, perfect, angular.

But all this is not why I couldn't look away.

I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine. Or painted by an old master as the face of angel.

It surprised me to see Ava glide over to their table and plop down, completely and 100% at ease with the beautiful group. While Ava was devastatingly gorgeous on her own, compared to them, she seemed almost plain. She had a different kind of beauty.

The moment she sat down and started talking, the others looked more normal, like she brought balance to their little group. It made me realize that I had no idea who Ava was outside of the two classes I'd had with her, or who the others were.

"Who are they?" I asked the girl from my Spanish class, whose name I'd forgotten.

As she looked up to see who I meant-though already knowing, probably, from my tone-suddenly he looked at her, the thinner one, the boyish one, the youngest, perhaps. He looked at my neighbor for just a fraction of a second, and then his dark eyes flickered to mine.

He looked away quickly, more quickly than I could, and I briefly glanced at Ava, who was sitting next to him but smiling over at me, before I dropped my eyes in a flush of embarrassment.

My neighbor giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table like I did.

"That's Edward, Emmett, Alice, and Aviana Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She said this under her breath. I already knew who Ava was, but the others were a mystery to me.

I glanced sideways at the beautiful boy, who was looking at his tray now, picking a bagel to pieces with long, pale fingers. His mouth was moving very quickly, his perfect lips barely opening. The other five weren't looking at him, and yet I felt he was speaking quietly to them. Ava nodded her head once in awhile, the only one at the table who was actually eating.

Strange, unpopular names, I thought. The kinds of names grandparents had. But maybe that was in vogue here-small town names? I finally remembered that my neighbor was called Jessica, a perfectly common name. There were two girls named Jessica in my History class back home.

"They are...very nice-looking." I struggled with the conspicuous understatement.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all together though-Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together." Her voice held all the shock of the small town, I thought critically. But, if I was being honest, I had to admit that even in Phoenix, it would cause gossip.

"Which ones are the Cullens?" I asked. "They don't look related…"

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, twins-the blondes-and they're foster children."

"They look a little old for foster children."

"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that."

"That's really kind of nice-for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything." I looked back over to them. "Have they always lived in Forks?" I asked. Surely I would have noticed them on one of my summers here.

"No," she said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."

I felt a surge of pity, and relief. Pity because, as beautiful as they were, they were outsiders, clearly not accepted. Relief that I wasn't the only newcomer here, and certainly not the most interesting by any standard.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I asked. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye, and he was still staring at me, but not gawking like the other students had today-he had a slightly frustrated expression as Ava was talking to him and his siblings. I looked down again.

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." She sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. I wondered when he'd turned her down.

I bit my lip to hide my smile. Then I glanced at him again. His face was turned away, but I thought his cheek appeared lifted, as if he were smiling, too.

After a few more minutes, the six of them left the table together. They were all noticeably graceful-even the big, brawny one. It was unsettling to watch. The one named Edward didn't look at me again, but Ava did smile and wave as they walked by.

One of my new acquaintances, who considerately reminded me that her name was Angela, had Biology II with me the next hour. We walked to class together in silence. She was shy, too.

When we entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped lab table exactly like the ones I was used to. She already had a neighbor. In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, I recognized Edward Cullen by his unusual hair, sitting next to that single open seat.

As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, I was watching him surreptitiously. Just as I passed, he suddenly went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face-it was hostile, furious. I looked away quickly, shocked, going red again. I stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch myself on the edge of a table. The girl sitting there giggled.

I'd noticed that his eyes were black-coal black.

Mr. Banner signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. Of course, he had no choice but to send me to the one open seat in the middle of the room. I kept my eyes down as I went to sit by him, bewildered by the antagonistic stare he'd given me. He couldn't be that bad, if he were related to Ava, could he? Then again, Jessica had said they were adoptive siblings.

I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took my seat, but I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. He was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad. Inconspicuously, I sniffed my hair. It smelled like strawberries, the scent of my favorite shampoo. It seemed an innocent enough odor. I let my hair fall over my right shoulder, making a dark curtain between us, and tried to pay attention to the teacher.

Unfortunately the lecture was on cellular anatomy, something I'd already studied. I took notes carefully anyways, always looking down.

I couldn't stop myself from peeking occasionally through the screen of my hair at the strange boy next to me. During the whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair, sitting as far form me as possible. I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin. This, too, he never relaxed. He had the long sleeves of his white shirt pushed up to his elbows, and his forearm was surprisingly hard and muscular beneath his light skin. He wasn't nearly as slight as he'd looked next to his burly brother.

The class seemed to drag on longer than the others. Was it because the day was finally coming to a close, or because I was waiting for his tight fist to loosen? It never did; he continued to sit so still it looked like he wasn't breathing. What was wrong with him? Was this his normal behavior? I questioned my judgement on Jessica's bitterness at lunch today. Maybe she was not as resentful as I'd thought.

It couldn't have anything to do with me. He didn't even know me. Unless...Ava might have told him about me... maybe she didn't like me very much…

-Ava-

I rolled my eyes as Mr. Jefferson droned on and on about the duties of Congress in the 1930s. I had lived through it… I probably knew more than Mr. Jefferson. I was only taking the stupid class because it was required to graduate. Jasper and Emmett were talking in hushed tones over my head. Emmett was sitting closest to the window while I was slouched in my seat with Jasper on the other side of me. I didn't listen to whatever they were saying, instead drawing little Congressmen stick figures in my notebook. Even though we'd just come from lunch, I was still hungry. Usually I had more time to eat, but Edward was having an existential crisis about not being able to hear Bella's thoughts and wanted to know more about her.

"You okay with that, Ava?" Jasper asked, looking down at me. I glanced up at him.

"To be honest, I wasn't listening to a word either of you were saying," I answered, narrowing my eyes when a stick figure's proportions turned out all wrong.

"We were talking about going hiking this weekend, you up for it?" he repeated, taking a glance at my paper. I shrugged, moving on to draw a plate of mashed potatoes.

Emmett reached into his bag and wordlessly handed me a baggie of homemade Chex Mix-my favorite snack that Esme always seemed to have a batch ready. I grinned happily and pulled open the baggie, popping a seasoned pretzel in my mouth. My siblings always knew when I was hungry both from my attitude as well as something else that came with having vampiric senses.

"I think I'll stay home this weekend," I told Jasper, chewing on an almond. "There's a few books I've been meaning to read." Jasper shrugged and looked back over to Emmett, starting a new conversation.

When the bell rang, I was faster out the door than even Jasper and Emmett. I could not stand Government class. I had lived through it all, I knew all the history of it and I knew all the inner workings of it. I hated having to listen to Jefferson drone on and on.

Jasper and Emmett split away from me to go to Chemistry II, which they shared with Rosalie. I had Gym next. Despite the smelly gym uniforms and the way all the high school boys tried to outshine everyone else, I liked the opportunity to do physical activity and let lose some of the energy that had built up by the end of the day. Jasper being in my 6th period was a good accidental move on the school's part, seeing as he could calm my jittery nerves from sitting still all day.

I walked into the locker room by myself and then out to the gym, also by myself. It was our second week of volleyball and I was more than looking forward to getting rid of some of this energy. I knew that despite this hour of activity I would still have to go kick some trees when I got home to get rid of the jitters.

Coach Clapp came out, a few minutes later than usual, followed by Bella. The new girl was holding a gym uniform but it didn't look like the coach was going to make her dress that day. Instead, she sat on the sidelines and watched us play volleyball, looking slightly nauseated at the prospect of having to join us the next day. Bella didn't seem like a gym-loving person to me…

I was waiting by Edward's car with Jasper and Alice. For some reason, Edward was being a complete dick and trying to get his Biology class switched simply because Bella's blood called to him. All he did was make her feel uncomfortable and like something was wrong with her.

"Sometimes you annoy me," I told him as we got in the car. He grunted in response and I didn't even have to say anything else as he read my thoughts.

"You don't understand," he replied as we got closer to the house. "You don't have thirst like we do."

"You're right, I don't...but I'm pretty sure all you did today was make her feel like crap," I retorted, yanking my bag out of the car and stalking towards the house.

"I think her energy levels are too much right now. I'm sure they're messing with her emotions," Alice whispered. I heard the three of them walking in behind me and I started feeling calm, soothing emotions wash over me, which only made me more frustrated.

"Cut it out, Jasper!" I yelled, slamming open the door to the back and running into the woods. My skin felt hot...and itchy. I hadn't released enough energy over the weekend. Gym class had been enough to hold my abilities at bay, but I could feel them pushing to be freed. I broke into a dead sprint when I hit the trees, needing to get far away from the house and any other civilization when I let everything out. As a fae, I could run faster than any human. I was still slower than vampires, but I could almost keep up with my siblings when they were running full sprint.

I collapsed on my hands and knees a few miles from home. I rarely built up so much energy that I had to do this, but I had been sloppy over the weekend, preferring to stay at home and read.

My breaths came in pants and I groaned as my abilities pressed against my mind. Certain fae had certain abilities, just like certain vampires could read minds or see the future. I was one of the more powerful fae that had been around in my youth, but it came with consequences now that I was separated from my own kind.

Sweat beaded against my forehead and my fingernails dug into the soil beneath me. With a whimper, I slowly pulled down the mental barrier keeping my abilities back, only letting a little bit of energy go at each moment. I had learned a couple years ago what would happen if I let it all go at once...and Forks did not need that kind of disaster.

I groaned as wave after wave left me, flattening bushes and sending animals scampering for safety. I felt thick, hot liquid start to drip down my face and I knew that I had reached the bloody nose portion of the release.

Next came the headache with letting so much energy and power filter through me in such a short amount of time. Then the nausea as it was almost all gone. Whatever I ate that day ended up in the bushes next to me as the last of the jittery energy left me. The moment I was at a good level, I shoved my mental barrier back up and collapsed on my back on the forest floor, tilting my head to the side to let the blood trickle down to the dirt. My muscles ached.

Everything was silent. All the small critters had run for safety and the birds had flown away. Even the wind seemed to have stopped for the power that had just been released.

I was exhausted now. Whenever I released I was exhausted. Sleep and healthy food were the only two things that would help me. Coffee didn't have any effect, sadly, and the last time I ate junk to try and get my energy up, I spent the night puking. But I would also spend the time in pain, no matter how much I slept or how much I ate. My muscles simply couldn't handle the release and I would have great, seizing spasms at random intervals through the night as my body and mind tried to recover.

I heard footsteps and then Carlisle and Esme were there, sympathetic concerned looks on their faces. This didn't happen often, but when it did, I always seemed to rely even heavier on my family.

Carlisle helped me sit up as Esme wiped my face of the blood that had smeared its way all over. I could tell Carlisle was listening in on my heartbeat and breathing from the way he was helping me sit.

Esme picked up my jacket that had gotten slung off towards a tree in my haze as Carlisle stood, taking me in his arms. I saw Esme pick up one of my boots, the other still on its foot. If I had the energy I would have laughed. My eyes were so heavy...maybe just a little sleep…

I woke up in my bed, clean and changed into comfier clothes, with Rosalie sitting there with a bowl of soup. She coaxed me into eating a few bites before my stomach was rolling and I pushed her hand away before slipping back into a deep sleep.

Throughout the night I had a few visitors as I dipped in and out of sleep. Esme or someone would wake me up every so often to eat something small before nausea would take over again. Carlisle continuously checked up on my vitals and sleeping, just to make sure it was normal like all the other times. Sometimes Jasper would be in to control my emotions to help me feel more relaxed when the pain was too much.

This continued well into morning. Carlisle was called into work, despite it being his day off and Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett all headed off to school but Edward stayed home, partly to help Esme take care of me and partly because of Bella Swan.

When I awoke for good, feeling only slightly sore and tired, Edward was sitting on the couch in my room, eyes scanning a book.

"I'm sorry," I started, causing him to look up at me in surprise, even though he must have known what I was thinking. "I didn't mean what I said yesterday, I just had a lot of pent-up energy." The corner of his mouth quirked up at my joke.

"It's fine," he replied, looking away before saying something that looked like it physically pained him to say. "You were right anyway. I was making her feel like crap, even if it wasn't my intention. I intend to apologize when I got back to school and maybe even talk to her."

I smiled weakly as he stood up to help me drink from a glass of water. "Good, she's really nice. And I think her and I could be friends. So don't go messing this up for me, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, putting the glass of water back on my nightstand. I was feeling tired again, even though I had just slept for the better part of a day. "Go to sleep. You need to get your energy up if you're going to be making friends."

"Oh, ha, ha, ha," I retorted, turning onto my side and pulling the blankets up to my chin. "Will you read to me?"

Edward raised an eyebrow like he didn't believe I was serious, but nodded nevertheless and started reading aloud from the book in his hands, Wuthering Heights.

"'Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you-haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe-I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always-take any form-drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!'"

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I thought this quote from WH was quite appropriate given Edward's lack of soul...

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-Lauren