Chapter 2
First Meeting
Morning came sooner than I hoped. My night stroll around the forest area allowed me to familiarize myself with our new territory. It appeared that werewolves were still present on the Olympic Peninsula. At least one of them was, as I failed to distinguish the smells coming from the invisible borderline. It appeared that Efraim Black passed on the stories of our kind and the treaty that we made over 80 years ago. I'd have to let the rest know, especially Jasper and Alice who weren't with us when it happened.
I put on the first shirt that I found in the closet with a pair of black pants. My brothers were already waiting downstairs for me.
"Okay, let's get this over with." Rosalie huffed, walking downstairs to greet us.
"Morning, sunshine." Jasper chuckled.
Don't you dare call for me! Alice's thoughts attacked me right before I was about to say her name. I'll be down in 17 seconds.
Alice came downstairs like a little hurricane of color. Usually, we opted out for neutral tones of clothing, especially on the first day of school, but that never really applied to my little sister. Her love for new fashion trends and mixing colors was something none of us could fight. Her deep green trousers and orange turtle neck suited her styled-up pixie cut. She pulled on one of her fall cardigans that matched her pants and was already leading the way outside. I took my jacket from the hook and all of us piled into my Volvo, Emmett calling the shotgun.
The new school was a little run down, you could see that the small town wasn't exactly pulling the money into the facility. Here and there the outer walls were scabbed, the paint falling off of them in some places, leaving the original bricks exposed. The parking lot was fairly empty, the school wasn't supposed to start for another half-hour, just enough time for us to register and get our schedules.
When we left the administration building, there were still five minutes before the bell would ring. I observed the parking lot again, seeing that it was nearly full now. Safe to say, the Volvo still stood out. Old pickups, scrapped sedans and mom vans were everywhere. The only car that I paid attention to was a vintage Datsun 240Z in metallic green color.
"Do you see this beauty?" Rosalie tugged my elbow, pointing at the car that I was already admiring.
"I bet you want to dig into that." I nodded.
"I haven't seen one of those in a while." She breathed out excitedly. "I wished I had my Fairlady in this color, it looks so much better than the mustard one you guys made me choose."
"Made you. Sure." Emmett chimed in, making air quotes.
"Shut up." Rose chuckled. "We could've easily taken your Vanquish, that car is easily worth twice as much now."
She pointed to the Datsun again.
"Maybe it was passed down." I guessed.
"Unless they have a mechanic in the family waiting on standby, I would say maintaining this baby would cost a pretty penny," Rosalie argued knowingly.
"Unless you guys want to discuss a piece of metal more, we should go before we miss the first period," Alice spoke irritated.
I tore my eyes away from the car and followed Alice into Building C, where we separated in the hallway. I made my way to Spanish without looking at my schedule. The teacher was thinking in Spanish, even some of the students tried going over their syllabus for the semester. Even though my schedule insisted it was supposed to be an AP class, I was once again disappointed in the American school system. Mrs. Goff was okay, but the rest of the class was clearly struggling.
The same disappointment awaited me in Government. And I wasn't feeling very hopeful for History to be any different. However, fate seemed to smile at me.
I took a seat in the third row, since the last one was already occupied, and waited for the bell to ring. When it did, the teacher was about to close the door, when a young man with light brown hair and green eyes nearly knocked him off.
"Sorry about that." The guy spoke with an apologetic smile.
"No worries, son. Come in, take a seat."
The guy rushed inside and after quickly scanning the room, took the last seat next to me. I stiffened, awaiting the smell of blood to hit me. I relaxed immediately, feeling a little bemused. He didn't smell appetizing, still like human blood, but not to the point that I wanted to taste him. I tried prying his thoughts and was bemused once again. His mind was clear, and no matter how much I concentrated, I could hear nothing but white noise.
"I'm Stefan." The guy spoke, reaching out with his hand and a pleasant smile.
"That's a unique name." I blurted out and went for a quick handshake, hoping he wouldn't think about the temperature difference between us. His hand wasn't exactly warm either, but definitely different from my own ice-cold one.
"Family thing." He shrugged.
"Edward." I introduced myself.
"You're one to talk about a unique name," Stefan smirked.
"I guess you're right." I found myself smiling at that thought.
Amused and more than a little surprised I turned my head to the teacher. A human with no thoughts and absolutely no instinctive for self-preservation…that was the first. If I couldn't hear his heartbeat or smell the blood running through his veins, I would think there was definitely something wrong with him. Could he not feel threatened just by being in such close proximity to me?
The teacher talked for most lecture, going over the syllabus first and then announcing that we were going to start this year with the First World War events and why and how it began in the first place. I would lie if I said I was paying close attention to the teacher, my desk partner, however, was, since he was the first student to correct Mr. Thames.
"28 of June, sir." He spoke with a raised hand.
"I'm sorry?" Mr. Thames asked.
"The archduke was killed on the 28 of June 1914, not July, sir."
"Thank you, Mr. Salvatore." the teacher spoke again, a little embarrassed. "You're definitely right. Would you tell us why he was killed that day?"
"The extremists believed it would increase Serbian power in the Balkans if they were to break up the Austro-Hungarian empire," Stefan spoke without a second thought.
"And what did that murder result in?" The teacher asked again, hoping in his thoughts to catch Stefan on a mistake, that would surely make him look more intelligent once again. I was kind of hoping for my human partner to know the topic precisely well enough to show the teacher. This was getting interesting.
"The Empire attacked Serbia in return. Both of them found strong allies in other countries." Stefan spoke stiffly, figuring out what Mr. Thames was doing.
"Are you aware of what countries were in those alliances? I'll give you an A right now if you can tell me the three countries on each side." The teacher was smug, he was sure Stefan wouldn't be able to do that.
"Austro-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire were the Central Powers. Their main enemies, the so-called Triple Entente were Russia, France, and Great Britain." Stefan added an innocent smile at the end.
"You got yourself an A." The teacher was disappointed and a little scared he made a fool of himself. The rest of the class was cut short by a bell. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Read through the first chapter."
"That was awesome dude!" A blond boy rushed to our desk and his thoughts hit me like a wrecking ball.
"Um…thanks," Stefan spoke awkwardly.
"I'm Mike, you should totally sit with me and my friends at lunch!" Mike threw a hand over Stefan's shoulder, babbling about 'the Great War between Thornes and Salvatore' or 'The Stef's and Thorns battle of History' as he led him away.
I picked up my things and left the classroom, eager to meet with my siblings in the cafeteria and tell them about the thoughtless human I had met.
"You couldn't hear him at all?" Jasper asked surprised.
"Not a thing." I shook my head.
"But that's impossible, isn't it?" Emmett questioned.
"I've never encountered anything like that before," I spoke, although that wasn't necessarily true.
Back in my killer days, there was this one woman who might have had the same power of mind over me. I wasn't sure, however, since I only realized I didn't remember her thoughts flooding through my mind once I already drunk her dry. It could've been a hungry haze or she was actually immune to my gift, so I decided to not bring up that incident now.
"Which one is he?" Jasper asked, eyeing the crowd.
"The one sitting next to the blond kid at a busy table in the middle," I spoke swiftly, tearing away parts of my sandwich.
I looked up once again to the table and saw a girl with chocolate brown eyes and brown hair join Stefan, taking a seat next to him. She was breathtakingly beautiful and her soft touch on Stefan's shoulder and the happy smile that she greeted him with made me hiss silently.
I tried prying her thoughts and once again was at a loss for words. Her mind was just as quiet as his. What kind of magic was that? I switched to my abnormal hearing for a change. I didn't like not knowing what these two had that made their minds impenetrable. However, I doubted that whatever it was, they were going to mention it in the crowded cafeteria.
"How were your classes, Bells?" Stefan asked the new girl. Bells…What a strange nickname.
"Pretty boring." She shrugged and took a bite of her salad. "You?"
"My boy had a pretty heated Q&A with Thorns during History," Mike answered with a chuckle.
"How many times do I have to ask you to stop showing off, Steffy?" This Bells girl's tone was scolding and yet loving. Steffy…What an atrocious nickname. Apparently, Stefan disliked it just as much.
"Just as many times as I have asked you to drop that name?"
"Never going to happen." She laughed.
"Figures."
If you keep staring at them, Bella will start glaring at you in seven seconds. Alice warned and I rushed to put my eyes back on my plate.
"Her mind is as silent as his," I announced to the family.
Jasper's alert thoughts went into strategy design. He was figuring out a way for all of us to escape school.
"I doubt they are anything else but strange humans." Rose poked at Jasper's ribs.
"Two strange humans who are immune to Edward's gifts? Yeah, I doubt that."
"Just his though," Alice spoke out loud. "I can see them and you can definitely inflict emotions on them, love."
"You saw me do that?"
"As soon as I said Edward was the only one immune." Alice glanced annoyingly at him again. "If you're still going to do it, might as well do it now."
As soon as Alice's words left her mouth, I could hear Bella giggle across the room. Stefan's face drooped into a grimace though.
"That was stronger than I wanted it to be," Jasper said bemused, the giggles eliminated instantly. "Their feelings are also a lot easier to identify."
"Huh?" Emmett chimed in.
"It's sometimes hard to distinguish strong emotions from one another. Love feels as strong as hatred, jealousy, and disgust feel almost identical at times. Of course, I can identify exactly what they are with a little extra time, but for those two…I don't need any time. I feel a strong pull toward one emotion at a time."
"It would be much easier if all humans just felt the same way those two do," Jasper added. I could hear in his thoughts that Stefan felt nostalgic and guilty for something, whilst Bella was fascinated and a little upset at Stefan. They both however felt love toward one another, but Jasper made a clear distinction that it wasn't the same love that he shared with Alice.
The thought of Bella and Stefan not sharing the same mating love as Jasper and Alice soothed me, although I couldn't understand why that mattered to me. I decided it was because they both shared an immunity to my gift.
"I'll see you in Calculus," Alice told me as she stood up and went outside. Jasper followed her instantly.
"I guess we have to go too." Emmett stood up and offered his hand to Rose. She accepted and I unwillingly followed the happy couple outside. We split up eventually, them making their way to Spanish and me going to AP Biology by myself.
I sat at a desk closest to the window that the teacher, Mr. Banner, instructed me to take and waited for my second-to-last class to start. I rolled my eyes when Mike Newton, the blond kid from before came into the classroom. How is it that the most irritating human was in advanced classes at the same time as I was? I even considered switching them both but when I saw who followed the boy into the room I dropped that idea. Bella. Fate simply was laughing at me today. Two unreadable minds in two classes already. If Fate was the reason for it happening, it must have been outright taunting me now. Bella was seated right next to me, the only seat left, just as it was with Stefan.
Her scent was just like Stefan's, with little more feminine notes of freesia, strawberries, and apple but still unappetizing. How could they be so similar?
"Howdy, partner." She spoke with a smile. "I'm Bella."
"Edward Cullen." I nodded.
"Are you a new student as well?" Bella asked, taking her notebook out of the bag.
"As well?" I asked surprised. Her interactions with other students, especially Stefan were as though she knew these people awhile.
"Yeah, it's my first week here. My family moved in only a few days ago."
"So did mine. Where did you come from?"
"A little town in Georgia." Bella took a pen out of her pencil case and then added. "The state, not country."
"That's a long way from home."
"It's worth it. There is so much green in these parts." She marvelled and her eyes darted to look outside for a second. "Where did you move from?"
"Pittsburgh."
"A pretty long way from home as well. Why Washington?"
"Many reasons, but I too enjoy the vast forest area the state offers." I chuckled, knowing full well my reason to love forests was beyond her understanding.
"Why is she talking to him?" Mike's thoughts buzzed in the background. "She didn't say a word to me during the entire lunch and now she's chatting away?"
Maybe it was my eagerness to prove to Mike that he wasn't the center of every girl's dreams or maybe it was just because I enjoyed talking to someone who wasn't my family member, but I decided to try getting Bella to talk to me more.
"Do you have a big family?" I asked.
"Just two brothers and an uncle. We live with him now." She replied simply.
"Sorry if I'm intruding, but what about your parents?"
"They died a while ago. My older brother took care of us while Uncle Charlie was preparing to get three of us under his roof."
"I'm sorry about your loss," I spoke sincerely. I knew, even if I didn't fully remember the feeling, how it hurt to lose my parents.
"Don't worry about it." Bella dismissed me with a hand gesture. Her heart didn't skip a bit, it was almost like she didn't even care. "What about you? You have a big family?"
My answer was lost in the sound of the bell ringing. Mr. Banner started the lecture immediately. Bella gave me a look that I hoped said this conversation would continue.
I couldn't help but stare at the girl sitting next to me. Her shiny brown hair, which now I could see more clearly, had red undertones to it. Her pale skin made a soft blush on her cheeks more prominent. Bella's eyes, which I could sometimes see when she glanced out the window, or when I was very lucky, at me, were like soft chocolate bars, relaying all her thoughts. Bella's mind might have been closed off, but her expressions were fairly simple to read. I was mesmerized by her beauty. Never in my life had I seen a creature as beautiful as the woman sitting beside me.
"Mr. Cullen?"
I missed his question, but his thoughts were concentrated on the answer.
"Kreb's cycle."
"Very well." Mr. Banner smiled.
When the bell rang, I couldn't help but wish it didn't. I wanted to stay in the classroom with Bella and keep admiring her, like a museum coordinator would one of the sculptures.
"Walk me to my next class?" Bella asked with a smile.
"Of course," I replied without a second thought in my head.
"Bella, you need any help finding the gym?" Mike Newton interfered as we were walking outside.
"No thanks." She said simply and walked by him as though he wasn't there.
I couldn't help but send Newton a smug smirk.
"Jerk." Mike's thoughts followed me.
"You never answered my question." Bella started.
"I have two sisters and two brothers."
"Are they the ones you were sitting with during lunch?" She guessed.
"They are." I could tell what she was going to ask next, so before she could, I answered it myself. "We're all adopted."
"So your biological parents…" Her voice trailed off.
"Died when I was younger." I finished for her.
"I'm sorry."
"I don't really remember them. Carlisle and Esme took me in a long time ago and they are my parents for all intents and purposes." I shrugged. Why was I talking so much? Never before did I allow myself to get close to a human. It was even worse now since I couldn't tell what she was thinking.
"Hmm…" She trailed.
"What is it?"
"I'm just thinking about how similar our situations are," Bella replied. "Oh, I didn't realize the gym was so close."
I stopped next to her then. We were already at the doors. A man in shorts and a sports jacket, with a whistle thrown around his neck, was waiting at the entrance, greeting everyone who had their next class inside the smelly room.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Edward." Bella smiled. "Thanks for walking me."
"I'll see you tomorrow." I smiled back and started moving in the direction of my final class.
"Ah, you must be Miss Salvatore, my new student." The teacher greeted her.
I stopped for a second a quickly glanced back to see Bella taking her paper slip back from Coach Clapp. I continued moving, a smile rose on my lips. The love connection between Stefan and Bella was that of a sibling, nothing more. I couldn't understand why I was feeling so happy about that. It's not like I…no, I wouldn't even think about that. Bella was human, too dangerous. Way too dangerous.
Alice saved me a seat for Calculus and when I reached her I shook my head.
"You knew?" I asked, her mischievous smile told me the answer. "Of course you did."
"You like her!" She whispered enthusiastically. "I knew you would!"
"Alice…" I started, but I didn't know where I was going with that sentence.
"Shush, don't ruin this for me." My devil of a sister spoke again, threatening me with her tiny pointy finger. "You have no idea how long it took me to organize all of this."
"Organise all of this?!" I asked shocked. How could I miss her thoughts that much?
And just like she knew what I was going to do, Alice stopped thinking about anything even closely related to Forks or Bella.
"You can't know anything, not now, Edward. It would ruin the perfect future I'm seeing." She insisted and I released a quiet growl. "You won't scare me into releasing the hold of information."
"Can I bribe it out of you?"
Something yellow flashed in her mind at my request, but she quickly reorganized her thoughts.
"I'll get even more if I don't say anything," Alice said knowingly.
"You'll be the death of me." I groaned.
"I can't see that far into the future." She showed her tongue and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her silly gesture.
After an hour of silent and too quiet for humans to hear begging, Alice still didn't give in. I strolled outside behind her, still upset with my sister. Our gifts were similar in the sense that we got used to knowing what was happening in the world around us. Since mine miraculously stopped working on two humans, I was left in the dark now. Something I absolutely despised.
My mind reading might have been a curse, given to me for becoming the predator I was now, but it was also my salvation. The reason I kept up with Carlisle's diet, the reason I wanted to protect pure humans' lives.
I leaned against my Volvo, awaiting my other siblings.
"That's so cute. Look to your left." Alice addressed me.
I turned my head slowly as though I was just checking my surroundings and watched Bella meet Stefan next to Building D. They laughed at something and headed to the parking lot. Now that I knew their relationship, I could see some resemblance. The way they walked was similar, their strides were confident, and their postures as straight as they came. The way they smiled was similar, although Bella's lips were plumper.
I chuckled to myself when I noticed her going for the metallic green Datsun that I had admired just earlier this morning. As though she heard me speak her name, she glanced in my direction and waved goodbye. I felt my hand reach up in a similar gesture before I could stop myself.
Bella smiled brightly and took a seat at the driver's side. Her car started with a satisfying roar and they were out of the parking lot in the next minute.
"Damn, did I miss it?" Rose's thoughts made me turn my head back from watching the road.
"Missed what?"
"The car. I wanted to see who is the owner." Rosalie huffed.
"Maybe I could work my magic and make them agree to let me look inside."
"We just saw Bella and Stefan leaving in it," Alice informed.
"That might not be too bad."
I saw Alice's vision when it came. Datsun was in our garage, and Rose and Bella discussing her engine. They seemed to get along.
"She'll agree."
"Great." Rose smiled victoriously.
"Who will agree to what?"
"Your wife gets to play with a new toy." I laughed.
Hey hey hey! Chapter 2 is here! Please review.