Wanting to be anywhere else but here - 01/27/05

[hopefullyedward]

Alice had improved slightly after she finally agreed to the transfusions. Her eyes were no longer black, though they had become a color that unsettled Edward, not to mention the rest of the household. As usual she smiled through her pain and discomfort, being stronger than Edward ever could be. The young vampire had not wished to leave her side, and was planning on being within speaking range of his sister until she was fully well. Carlisle, however, had other ideas. According to the good doctor, the Cullen children had stayed clear of school for far too long, and there were already enough rumors about their sudden disappearances as it was. The father assured his son the Jasper would be there, tending to Alice, not letting any harm come to her, and that the empath Cullen would alert both Carlisle and Edward if anything were to occur. Begrudgingly Edward agreed, though it only made him more cross with Carlisle.

After kissing Alice on the head and blatantly ignoring both Amanda and Angel, Edward left the house, climbed into his Volvo and sped to school. As it was when he arrived, he was the only Cullen on campus. His anger multiplied at the realization, and if several people's thoughts of surprise at his appearance hadn't already entered his mind, he would have turned around and left. Scowl firmly fixed on his face Edward marched into school, his vision fixed on the floor in front of him, his mind occupied by concern for his sister.

Eventually his feet let him through the crowded hallways and into his biology class. Out of habit caused by repetition, Edward took his lone seat by the window, three rows back, making himself as comfortable as he could before class began. Once his backpack was stowed and enough was brought out to make it appear as though he was paying attention in class, Edward turned his gaze out the window, trying to will time to speed on, so that he might be back at Alice's side soon.

[Damienne F. Renton]

Damienne's father had woken her up before disappearing off to work. She sighed as she heard the front door slam and, soon after, his truck started and he drove away. She rubbed her face in her hands before throwing off the covers and getting up, rather begrudgingly. She had started her new school yesterday and, so far, she'd barely spoken to anyone besides the teachers, then she'd missed English trying to find the school councilor, who didn't appear until English was nearly over as it was and, by that time, Damienne was beyond the point of trying to ask for help.

She crossed to her dresser, looking at herself in the mirror as she systematically untied the pigtail plaits from her hair, settling her curly hair around her bare, pale shoulders. She ran a brush through it, straightening out her fringe as she turned, looking around her room. Her bag was stashed under the end of her bed, ready for her to grab and get out of the house with. She sighed again, dropping her brush onto her dresser and crossing her room to her wardrobe. She dressed quickly before crossing her room to open the curtains.

She rested on the sill as she looked down into the driveway at her '69 Ford Mustang. It was in good shape, as it should be, considering her dad was a mechanic. She rolled her eyes, turning away from the window, remembering he wanted to do some work on it at some point. She picked up her bag, followed by her jacket, cell phone, and keys before leaving her room. She got to the front door, locking it as she left, moving to her car and throughing her stuff on the passenger seat as she buckled up and started the car.

She drove at a relatively steady pace for her, eventually pulling into the school parking lot. She got out of the car, grabbing her things and locking the car up, heading for her class as she pulled her bag onto her shoulders, grasping her jacket in one hand and her cell and keys in the other. She entered the classroom, giving the teacher a half hearted smile as he gestured to her seat like she'd forgotten already or something. That was when she saw him. She scowled. She was sure she had sat alone in this class yesterday.

She went to the seat she had been allocated anyway. "So, you're the reason I don't get the seat with a view, huh?" she questioned, trying to make a light conversation. She had wondered why she wasn't allowed to sit by the window and, now, sitting there, staring out of the window, was her answer. She brushed a hand through her hair as she pulled her things out of her bag, throwing her keys and her silent cell into it, stashing it under the desk and putting her jacket on top of it. "I'm Damienne, by the way," she introduced, a little nervously as she took her seat and started fiddling with her pen.

[hopefullyedward]

He smelled her before he saw her. During his time at the school, Edward had become accustomed to the scents of the other students. He could tell when they were getting sick, when they had been crying, who was smoking in the bathroom and who spiked their cola's before coming into class. This smell was different though, different than any human he had ever had the chance to be around. It was achingly feminine yet classically underplayed, like a woman who wore only one dab of Chanel No 5. The scent being enough to entice but not enough to overwhelm. So caught off guard by the scent was he, that he continued to stare out the window in order to school his features.

When the scrape of the stool sounded beside him, he was forced to turn, and take in the girl that would be his new lab partner. Her beauty was much like her scent, nothing flashy, but enough to take his breath away, if he had any that was. Her eyes were amazing, more so than he had ever seen before. Those weren't the only things, however. Her face was so familiar, like something he had seen in a picture before. His eyes raked over her features openly as he poured through his memories while she spoke. Alice. That's where he had seen her. She had been in one of Alice's visions. An eyebrow rose at the realization. What could that mean? Who was she?

She spoke her name and his brow furrowed, he had never heard of her before, nor did the name jar anything that he felt he should know. Her thoughts were normal, frustration at being the new student, frustration at this unknown boy sitting at her bench, and base attraction formed from a glance at his features. The last thought made his face transform from confused shock to a wicked grin. She was different, but the same. A well needed change, and someone who obviously was meant to be there, if Alice's visions meant anything. He offered his hand to her, his golden eyes locking with hers. “A pleasure to meet you. I'm Edward.”

[Damienne F. Renton]

Damienne chewed on her lip idly as she observed him when he finally turned to her, a scowl on his face. She tilted her head slightly, noticing a glint of gold in his eyes, but then she thought nothing of it. It was when the guy said his name that things made a little more sense to her. She smiled, straightening her head and reaching out to shaking his hand. "Pleasure to meet you too, I'm sure," she said pleasantly with a smile, tensing when she press her remotely warm hand against his pretty cold one. She should have known.

'He's THAT Edward then? The vampire?' she thought to herself, chewing her lip as she struggled to remember something she'd heard about him. "Edward Cullen?" she questioned softly, locking her soft brown eyes with his. She had asked just to be sure. He was certainly cold enough to be a vampire and the glint in his eyes was sort of unusual for any human to have. She bit her lip as she slowly drew her hand back, oddly not wishing to let go of his hand. 'Why do vampires have to be so damn good looking?' she thought. 'Though, he seems like he would have been a good looking human too,' she went on in her head.

That was when she half remembered something about the Cullens. They had special abilities and one of them could read minds. It would be just her luck if he was in fact Edward Cullen and that he would be the one to read minds. She couldn't be sure, but the blush tinted her cheeks anyway as she faced the front of the class. "How come you weren't here yesterday?" she questioned, just trying to make conversation as she turned back to look at him, leaning forwards on her arms on the desk, running her pen through her fingers.

[hopefullyedward]

As the girl now known as Damienne chewed on her lip as he spoke, Edward's eyes were constantly drawn toward the action in some sort of fascination. As a young man, he had often imagined nibbling on beautifully full lips, nipping at them softly before kissing away the hint of pressure. Since he had been changed, he had not had much of a chance to do so either. Vampires didn't tend to date around, and instead took mates. Taking a mate was a rather serious thing, and Edward didn't do anything of that magnitude lightly. As such, he hadn't had much experience chewing on any lips other than his own. Damienne's lips were full and extraordinary, begging to have attention, and for some reason that Edward could not explain he wished to fulfill that want.

Her hand touching his brought him back from his delirium, the warmth of her skin absolute opposite to his ice cold flesh. His eyes went wide, but it wasn't due to the temperature difference. Instead, it had everything to do with what the young woman was thinking. Seconds before he had been daydreaming of touching her softly, and now all he wanted to do was throw her up against a wall, and question how she knew about his secret. The anger caused by fear, and frustration from his sister's illness faded swiftly, quelled by the rest of the thoughts swarming around in her head. Nothing was violent or deceptive. How she knew was still curious to him, but as she hadn't outed his family yet, and didn't run screaming at the realization. Eye's finding hers, he search for any malevolence before he answered.

Eyebrows rising he nodded, “Yes, I am Edward Cullen.” He wanted to ask how she knew of his last name, but because of the previous thought, he decided that it would be better to have that conversation some where alone. Perhaps he would speak to her at lunch. Until then, his curiosity would have to simmer. Damienne's thoughts traveled in a different path from his own, and as they sounded loud and clear in his head, her voice speaking within the constraints of his skull all Edward could do was beam. It would seem that she might know of his name and his secret, but she was unaware of his power. That, and she found him more than just basely attractive. Blood rose to the surface of her cheeks, the pale skin turning rose as her scent grew.

Th question brought him down from his happy cloud, reminding Edward of the frustrating and frightening day that yesterday had been. “Family issues.” He said, somberly, his good mood all but gone. He turned as well, as the class began in earnest, trying to look as if he were paying attention to his professor. “What about you?” He inquired. “Where have you come from?” He had never seen her before, other than in Alice's vision, and he was truly curious how she ended up in the little town of Forks.

[Damienne F. Renton]

Damienne continued to chew on her lip, even as she then noticed Edward's eyes being drawn to them. She didn't really think anything of it. She watched his expression for a moment, noting that he seemed to be very lost in thought about something. He was a guy. There could be all sorts of things going through his head, ranging from the obscenely complex or something particularly simple. Edward seemed like the complex sort. She released her lip to smile at him before she looked to the front of the class. She pursed her lips slightly, running her tongue over them quickly, them having dried out through pure nerves. She swallowed and she bit on the inside of her lip again, not looking back at Edward yet.

The sudden change of expression on Edward's face unsettled her slightly. He clearly seemed very shocked about something, but she hadn't really said anything yet. The expression change had come about before she had even posed her question. She just wanted to flat out apologize for whatever was bothering because it had to be her fault. He had been fine before. When he searched her eyes, she couldn't even read him properly. What was wrong with him? What was he looking for? She smiled when he offered an answer to her question. So, he was one of the Cullens then? She'd never met any of them, she'd just heard a few things about them, some things just being the malicious opinions of her siblings.

She laughed lightly. "I'm sorry. I guess that seemed a little strange," she replied, considering how she could explain it to him without it sounding really stupid or something. 'Well, I could just say "my brothers and sisters are shape shifters and they hate your guts"...yeah, because THAT doesn't sound stupid,' she thought to herself, pulling a slight face and shaking her head. "I've heard of you," she offered. She had to hope he wasn't the mind reader. She really should have paid more attention to the things that had been said about the Cullens. Though, with most of it being bad, she hadn't cared to listen as it came out of the mouths of her siblings. She wasn't going to judge what she hadn't encountered.

She scowled, dropping her head low as the pleasant aura surrounding Edward seemed to fade quickly when she asked why he had been away. She immediately felt bad from bringing this change about. She couldn't seem to say anything right right now. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," she returned to his 'family issues' comment, concerned about the tone of his voice, turning to him and tilting her head as she observed him. She just felt like apologizing for everything she had done so far in his presence. She didn't want to upset him. She just kept putting her foot in it. What if she had all her classes with him? She'd been seated by a whole set of different empty seats. What if they were his? This day would turn out to be very long if she carried on like that.

She laughed lightly as she watched the professor, but didn't make it obvious as Edward questioned her. "Well, I guess you'd've missed me yesterday if you came to English," she replied softly. Yesterday, it had been so easy to focus on the class. Today, she wasn't that sure what the professor was even talking about. "I went to see the councillor...ummm..." she continued. "I was having a pretty bad day," she added, thinking 'well, at least today's looking better, even if I have offended someone already...at least someone's talking to me.' She brushed a hand back through her hair, considering his secondary question. "I'm from La Push," she replied gently, figuring if he was a Cullen he may have an issue with that. "But I'm nothing like any of them," she added quickly, turning to him for a moment with a smile.

[hopefullyedward]

“Yeah, just a little.” He replied, smiling down at the paper before him, failing to listen to the monotone of the teacher while he fiddled with the pencil in his hand. So, the girl knew what he was, and didn't feel like sharing. Interesting. Not only that, but she still seemed willing to continue the conversation with him, like there was nothing strange about him at all. His eyes flicked to the clock, noting the time, and that it would still be hours before he could get home. Before he could talk to Alice about this. Maybe he could call her, during a break, or lunch. He didn't know if it would be good or bad to ask his sister about her gift at that point in time, but curiosity burned within the boy over what this girl had to do with his family's future.

The girl's following thought caught him up short. Her family was made up of shape shifters? How was that possible? She didn't smell repulsive to him at all. In fact, her smell was quite alluring. As was everything else he discovered about her to this point, her voice, her eyes, her lips. All he could do as she continued to speak was nod to his paper, his fingers wrapping around the small wooden stick as his grip tightened. What was with things happening to him right now? First Jack, the actual shape-shifter that he was fond of, and now this, creature, that he was drawn to being related to their kind. Well, at least she wasn't one of them. The revelation did make him even more impatient to talk to Alice, and impatience leads to innovation, or something of that sort. “Don't worry about it.” He responded, removing his cell phone from his back pocket, acting like he was looking at the time. When Damienne wasn't looking, he took a secret snap of her.

“English was actually the only class I made it to yesterday.” He said, his voice low and remarkably friendly. He felt relieved that he'd be able to know more about her soon, and he turned his attention back to his phone, swiftly keying a message to his sister. Concern crossing his face as he pressed the send button, and he looked to the girl beside him, his eyes searching her features. A strange pain sprung up inside of him at the mention of her having a bad day. “What happened?” He inquired, relieved enough by her thought that this day was better to allow his face to relax. Why he was so concerned with her feelings, he had no idea. He was entirely confused by the whole situation. This would be something else to talk to his family about, Esme being the best bet for that conversation.

She admitted to what he already knew, and suddenly he felt guilty for using his powers. Guilty for knowing what her personal thoughts were. She knew that his power existed, but she didn't think he was the one with the ability. For the first time in his life, he found his gift unfair. “I'm glad to hear that.” He admitted, looking at her sidelong, peaking from below long lashes, a hint of a smile on his face. And he was, more than she could know. It would break him to meet this … being, that was so different to him, and to find that she was like 'them' in their biased hate against his kind. “I'm glad you're here.” He revealed, staring at his phone as he waited for Alice's reply.

[Damienne F. Renton]

Damienne tried to laugh it off lightly. "Well, I'm generally a little strange, so you may have to get used to that," she joked with a pleasant smile, chewing on her bottom lip briefly. 'God, that was lame,' she thought to herself as she turned her attention to the front of the class, eyes flicking to the clock briefly as she noticed Edward's had. She chewed on her lip more as she watched the second hand go round, eyes fooled into thinking it went back a fraction of a second. She scowled, tilting her head as she watched it for a moment, before refocusing on the teacher. She leant forward, resting her elbow on the desk and lifting her arm to rest her chin in her hand. She turned to Edward, waiting for some kind of response about her apology.

She smiled softly when he finally responded, feeling better, having felt nervous about him not responding. She turned back to look to the front of the class. It would hardly look good if every time the teacher turned around he noticed them talking. She was new. She had no idea what could happen. She slowly turned back to him as he commented about English. "Well, it's a shame I wasn't there," she commented, a little quicker than she'd thought she would, turning away again quickly, a light blush flooding her cheeks with color. 'Gah, stupid...' she thought, mentally kicking herself for her words. She looked down, her hair falling around her face as she feigned writing something, when all she did was scrawl he own name on her open notebook page, chewing her lip furiously.

She turned to him as he spoke, just as a look of concern relaxed from his face. "I just wasn't settling in," she began, sighing lightly, looking to the front for a moment before looking back to Edward. "In all honesty, you're the first person who's spoken to me," she admitted, dropping her eyes, a sad look clear on her face as she turned away and began scribbling on her notebook page. "Come to think of it, you're the first person who's been nice to me at all," she continued in a low turn, having turning to him, but still focusing on her innane scribbles. She couldn't help, but chuckle softly at his response to her comment about not being like those of where she was from, not looking at him still. "At least someone is. My family hate me for it," she admitted, not being entirely sure why she had.

She only turned to him when he said he was glad she was here. 'Did he really just say that?' she questioned herself. She wasn't sure what to make of it, her expression struggling between a confused scowl and a very flattered smile. She finally settled with the flattered smile, which fit well with the blush returning to her cheeks again. "Ditto," she replied cooly before biting her lip and looking towards the teacher again. "Do you have any idea what he's talking about?" she questioned as she half turned back to Edward, hope tainting her voice. She'd been too caught up talking to Edward that she'd stopped paying attention, maybe her sitting with him wasn't going to go well in terms of her grades, but hopefully, he was able to keep up.

[hopefullyedward]

At the mention of getting used to her strangeness, all Edward could think of was how easy it would be. All he wanted to do was to get to know more about her. Things and feelings like this had never occurred for the young vampire, and he was confused and excited by them. Was he finally finding interested in someone? The spark of hope was tainted with doubt. Perhaps in his fear for Alice, Edward was subconsciously looking for a replacement for his beloved sister. But no, the feelings the churned in the pit of his stomach were not at all similar to the feelings he had for Alice. Maybe instead he was feeling this way because he so wanted something like he had seen between Jasper and Alice yesterday in the kitchen.

A small voice in his head, a voice that was his own and not the thought of anyone else whispered that perhaps this is just what it was supposed to be like. Maybe this is what Carlisle had hoped would happen between Edward and Rosalie. “We can be strange together.” Edward said, vision brushing over her face, and taking in it's soft and appealing features. His vision remained fixed on her, her hair falling around her face in lush waves, only accentuating the beauty that he had just been observing. The phone in his hand vibrated once, letting Edward know that he had received a text message. Alice had responded, though she didn't know much.

Using the super powers (or so he joked to himself) being changed had given him, Edward both paid attention to Damienne and sent back a quick message to his sister. One-hundred and sixty characters was simply not enough, and Edward hoped that Alice would understand his meaning. She knew him better than any soul ever had, or likely ever would, so he was certain that she would get it.

Edward was surprised by the fact that he was the only person nice to Damienne a Forks High. The people had always seemed friendly enough to him, even though he did nothing to garner their attention. Then again, he was made to obtain the affection of humans. Doubt tugged at him again, maybe the only reason she was so interested in him was that. Brow furrowing, golden eyes searching hers, why would they hate her? For speaking to him? Dare he hope that made her different than the rest of them? That she would not base their friendship on their differences? He wanted to ask as much. To tell her everything he knew and to see what she thought about all of it, how she would react. He wouldn't though, not yet, not until he heard back from Alice.

Her concern about the class material made him smile. Edward was sitting there, phone held in a tight grasp (he could feel the plastic start to buckle between fingers and palm)worried about so many other things, but nothing so human as that. “Osmosis.” He answered, not only able to read the instructor's mind, but also knowing more about the topic than the instructor likely did. He'd only been in this same class several dozen times. “If you want you can borrow my notes, or I can help you catch up or something.” He offered, hoping that a private study session would occur. Maybe by then he'd know enough about her and he'd be able to decide what to do.

[Damienne F. Renton]

Damienne smiled softly at Edward, even though she felt a little unsettled by his silence, but that had to meant he was listening, right? He looked to be listening, despite doing a few things at once. She was sure he was capable of multitasking. He was a vampire after all. Her eyes flicked down from his face to his hand that was holding his phone for a moment, not really thinking anything of it before looking towards the teacher again, feigning interest as she heard him click the buttons on his phone. Chin rested in her hand, she tried to remain focused on what the teacher was saying, but it was so difficult when she had someone such as Edward sat next to her. 'God, if I can't focus in this class, what's going to happen if he's in all my other ones?' she thought, not even slightly panicked, more excited by the prospect of having more time in class with him.

She looked down at her 'notes' again, smirking at the way she had just written her name across the page in some fancy scrawl and then started drawn random shapes around it. Even though they were no help to her, it at least made her look like she was taking note as the teacher continued to speak and she continued to be unable to tell what was going on. She turned back to Edward just in time to see him smile and then actually know what was going on. "God, how can you do that?" she questioned softly, looking at the teacher out of a precaution. She was pretty impressed with him, despite knowing he could probably deal with all sorts of things going on at once. His responses and senses were a hell of a lot better than hers she wagered.

'Oh, my God,' she half thought to herself, trying to not let a slight shock spread to her expression as she considered Edward's offer. 'Borrow his notes or have him help me with a catch up?' she considered in her head. 'Borrowing notes is an easy thing. I borrow them, then I bring them back. If I have him help me, I see him outside of class and I'd probably understand better...' she continued to think, chewing on her lip. She was probably taking too long to think about this, but she was wondering what would benefit her the most both academically and socially really. He was the first person to be nice and/or talk to her here. She didn't want him thinking she was obssessed already as, rumor had it, most people were.

"A catch up session would be great, if you wouldn't mind that is," she finally replied. She half shrugged. She'd have to give a reason surely. "I guess that'd be better anyways. Notes are notes. Doesn't mean I'd understand," she went on, laughing lightly at herself before turning back to the teacher again. She felt something move against her foot. She scowled, looking under her desk to find her bag leaning against her foot. It must have been her phone. She ducked under the desk, making the action seem innocent enough by pulling out another pen as well as her phone under the desk. She opened the message to read it, without having to open up the phone. 'Do what now?' she thought to herself as she scowled at the illuminated screen.

It was one of her sister's, asking her to ask their dad about some of their mother's things. She chewed on her lip. Her siblings may have had a great disliking for her, but their dislike for their father seemed to be a lot worse when he had decided to move with Damienne to Forks. He was the reason she was human. He moved them to a small town infested, as they called it, by vampires. He moved them to a small town where they couldn't venture, not that they'd want to anyway. She slid the phone open, typing back a quick response of: fine, whatever, do it yourself next time.! It irritated her when they couldn't just cut out the middle man, or girl in her case. 'Why do I have to be the damn messenger?' she thought angrily to herself before turning to Edward with a slight smile. "Family," she whispered simply, putting the phone in her pocket.

[hopefullyedward]

If Edward had a heart that still beat, it would have skipped a few when the girl beside him smiled in his direction. She might not be able to notice that he was paying attention to her, but he was. Her thought rang loud and clear, drowning out the sounds of the other minds in the room. He wasn't sure if having other classes with her would be a blessing or a curse, but he did know that they would find out soon. The vampire wanted to question Damienne about her schedule, but after the thoughts she had been thinking, she might be hinted toward his gift. While he wanted her to know about it (if he was sure that he could trust her) he would rather tell her himself, than her guessing on her own. Either way, she was sure to be upset and/or embarrassed that he was listening to her thoughts all along.

When Damienne questioned him about his ability to multi task, a feral grin spread across his features, amusement flickering in his eyes. “Practice.” He drawled, golden eyes locking with hers for a breath-taking moment before his vision slid back to the paper in front of him. It was difficult for Edward not to laugh at the response Damienne thought after he asked her if she wished to study. It wasn't at all what he would have expected, in fact, he was worried that she would be weirded out that he had asked her, in a sense, for a private meeting so early. This strange feeling of uncertain worry made him nauseous, he needed his sisters advice more now than ever. Maybe he should even talk to Rosalie, ask her what it was like when she found Emmet.

So lost was he in his own thought, that Edward almost missed Damienne's last thought. She wished to understand him better as well. Hmm. It seemed they had the same goal for this meeting. “I don't mind.” At all, he thought, glad that no one could hear his mind as it worked itself out. Asking her to the house would not only be too forward, but it was also improbable. She might be from a family of shape-shifters, but she was one-hundred percent human. “Want to get together at the Coffee Shop later this afternoon?Maybe around five?” After all, he did need to go home and check up on things there. Getting to see Alice briefly as well as Rose and Esme would help him a lot.

Edward watched as Damienne got some sort of a message on his phone. He read along with her as the girl's voice sounded in his mind as her eyes picked up the words from the screen. His brow furrowed, but then relaxed again. It was bad enough that he was being nosy, purposefully this time, but also that it was something so personal. He was dieing to ask her about the message, and what had happened to her mother, but he knew better than to do so. Instead Edward sat silent and staring ahead as the delicious human pecked out a response to her sister.

At the same time, Edward received his own response. One that was not all together unexpected, but he was excited by the news. New best friend. He read the words over several times, making sure that they did not change before his eyes. When they didn't when he was satisfied that he was reading what he thought he was, Edward smiled, and breathed in, for the first time fully enjoying the scent of the girl beside him. “I understand.” He said lightly, eyebrow raised as he wiggled his own phone. “Mine too … Sister.” He explained. Quickly, but only by human standards Edward began to write Alice back, before sending the message.

[Damienne F. Renton]

Damienne oddly hoped she had other classes with him. He seemed bright and could probably help her catch up, considering how far behind she felt with everything. The classes she had managed yesterday didn't seem to make any sense to her. Maybe Edward would help. Even if he couldn't, he could only make it worse and give her the chance to just give up and leave before making more of an idiot of herself. She continued to smile at the amused look on Edward's face, locking eyes with his for a moment, before rolling them at his response. "Let's hope I can get some practice," she said, looking away and closing her eyes for a moment. 'That was more moronic than the not being there thing,' she thought to herself.

She straightened her expression and turned back to Edward. "So, what other classes do you have?" she asked, offhandedly, not completely changing the subject, more just working on the thought she had had before. She just wanted to keep on talking, even though she should have been listening. It was strange. Back in La Push, she was move focused on her work. Then again, back in La Push, she was still like an outsider constantly. The catching up with Edward would probably make more sense anyway. Well, so she hoped. She chewed on her lip as she waited for his response to her to her request of a catch up session as to the note borrowing thing. 'Maybe that was the wrong answer,' she thought to herself, released her grip on her lip as she watched Edward.

She smiled soflt as he said he didn't mind. That was a good start. That was when the vicious butterflies started in her stomach. The moment he said 'I don't mind'. She swallowed as she saw him go to speak again, listening to his words carefully, wondering if she'd fallen asleep or something. 'Seriously, this never happens to me...' she thought frantically to herself. "Ummm, sure," she replied before scowling slightly. "Where is that again?" she questioned, still scowling a little. She didn't really know where a lot of things were around here. She's practically been banned from going into Forks growing up and she'd not really been here long enough or knew anyone to start finding things around the place.

She smirked at Edward's response. "Wow, what a coincidence," she replied as she pulled her phone out of her pocket as it buzzed again. She opened open the message, making a slight noise of disdain and tilting her head briefly. "Sister," she said, a slightly irritated tone to her voice, as she read through the text. "Well, one of many," she went on in a low, minorly resenting mumble, tapping a response back. 'God, yes, I'll get to it later.!' she began to type, wondering why the response before hadn't been enough for her pushy sibling. 'I'm kind of in class. Leave me alone.!' she continued, sending it quickly and sliding her phone shut a little more violently than she had intended and shoving it back in her pocket.

[hopefullyedward]

“Uh,” Edward replied, surprised that she asked what he had been thinking. “Computer Science is next, then English before lunch. After that I have Calculus, Us History and Theater. What about you?” His phone vibrated once more, but before he could check it, Edward heard his teacher wondering about the buzzing noise. Luckily the older man thought it was his own phone in his desk, and was even thinking of a way to check it without the class knowing. Glad that the instructor was properly distracted, Edward silenced his phone before reading Alice's answer. The response made him frown and he texted her back instantly, worried about her state of health.

Damienne's thoughts brought Edward's attention back to her, and all his mind could come up with was the fact that it was the opposite of the wrong answer. Although, if his feelings were genuine and what his sister had seen was real, it might not be the right decision for Damienne's best interest. Pointedly and selfishly, Edward ignored that possibility, and tried to keep his attention on the plans for later that afternoon. The phone screen lit alerting the young man to his sister's new message. So, it wasn't that bad, he sighed with relief at the discovery, distraught at the idea that he would yet again cause her harm.

So it looked as if his sister would be coming along while Edward caught Damienne up on school work. That would prove to be interesting he thought to himself. “It's on South Forks.” He responded, her voice bringing him back from the flurry of text messages he was sending to his sister. While inputting another text he continued, his vision fixed on the small screen. “Want me to pick you up?” He offered without thinking. As the words fell from his lips, Edward regretted them, worried that it might somehow upset her, and he would be the one scaring her off. If that was the case, at least he wouldn't have to wait for Alice to do it for him.

“How many?” He asked in reference to the number of sisters. “I have two.” Or was it four? “And two brothers.” He added, feeling a slight amount of jealousy rising in his chest at the thought of Alice's mate. The irritation in her thoughts as she responded made his eyebrows raise. At least her actions matched what was going on in her head so he was able to ask about it. “Everything all right?” He questioned, eyes locking with hers, eyebrows still higher than normal as he completely ignored the world around him.

[Damienne F. Renton]

Damienne nodded slowly as Edward responded with his schedule. She scowled when she sense some slight familiarity. She opened her notebook to the back, pulling out the piece of paper she had hidden there. She bit her lip as she scanned it, raising an eyebrow briefly. "Small world," she mumbled, pulling the paper out and showing it to Edward. "Seems we'll be seeing a lot more of each other," she went on. She began chewing her lip again, eyes dropping from Edward's face to the scedule again, noting how her full name was on the paper. She grimaced as she read the three words together before distracting herself with the original point. 'There'll be no complaints from me,' she thought to herself before smirking slightly.

She reached up with both hands, brushing her fingers back through her brown curls as she refocused on the teacher. She pulled all of her hair into one hand, draping it all over her right shoulder and then tilted her head, still trying her best to feign interest. She rested one arm on the desk, having dropped her pen onto it when she had reached up into her hair, then rested the elbow of her right arm on her hand on the desk, then lifting her right arm to rest her chin in her hand, head tilting into her palm slightly. She half turned to Edward again as he continued to type on his phone. She just watched him for a moment before slowly pulling back her schedule and returning it into the back of her note book. She resettled, leaning her chin back into her hand again.

She gave him a slightly exaggerated blank look when he tried to explain where it was. "Still..." she began to reply, shaking her head slightly and laughing softly at herself once more. She pulled a slight face when he seemed focused on the phone, but continued to speak, asking if he should pick her up. "Ummm, well, sure," she replied, trying not to reply to fast, enthusiasm coloring her tone. "I think my dad wants to do some work on my car anyways," she went on. "Some new modification he wants to try," she explained, rolling her eyes. Why did her dad chose her car as his little project? "It all depends if you can find the house," she continued, thinking how strange this conversation was becoming as it was.

She sighed as she considered the number of sisters she had. "Three, five if you include in laws," she replied, chewing on her lip when she mentally counted the number of brothers she had too. "Five brothers, but seven with the in laws," she continued. 'God, it really does sound like a pack of it's own,' she thought to herself. Her father had said the Renton kids were like a pack all of their own and it didn't matter if the main La Push lot didn't take to them. She looked away, casting her sad eyes down when Edward asked if everything was alright. She just wanted to tell him everything. Something inside of her just wanted to let it all go. "Ten years on and some people just can't stop talking about my mom," she admitted, trying to stop her voice from breaking.

[hopefullyedward]

Damienne's mumble brought Edward's attention to her, and he stopped his texting, turning toward the girl sitting beside him, golden eyes searching her face. As the paper was proffered, the vampire looked it over, one eyebrow raising in surprise at what he saw before him. “So it seems.” He replied, offering a slight smile before turning back once more to his sister. “You have a nice name.” He commented distractedly, not realizing at all that he was responding to a thought that she had not spoken. He continued on responding to Alice, his smile transforming into a grin as he heard her thought about having 'no complaints'. Edward knew that school in Forks had just been guaranteed to be much less boring than it had before.

As her fingers made their way slowly in and out of her silken strands, the scents of the young woman wafted to Edwards sensitive nose. The sensation of her so close to him, toying with her hair as such was a heady sensation, at it began to make the young man uncomfortable. Perhaps having so many classes together wasn't a good thing at all. How was he going to survive?

Did she just sound a little happy in response to his offer? Edward didn't want to get his hopes up until he talked to Alice, but it was so difficult not too. This girl, this creature that appeared in his life was somehow special and he knew it. Carlisle knew about Esme right away, as did Rosalie about Emmett. Alice knew of Jasper as well, but that wasn't really a fair comparison. Could this be the same? Or was he just being foolish and trying to find the love that everyone but him in his family had? “Where do you live?” He questioned, turning to look at her, fingers splayed across his cheek as his chin rested on his palm. If she knew what he was then she knew he wouldn't need to write down any directions. He knew forks better than most, seeing as he spent a lot of time (while others were sleeping) exploring the stagnant little town and it's surrounding areas. Not to mention that he could probably find her by smell.

“That's a really big family.” He commented, thinking of his own family, and how sometimes all of them living in the same house felt suffocating. “Do you all live together?” He inquired, finally realizing that he was staring at her and turning to his phone once more, glancing up at the teacher briefly before doing so. At her next thought Edward froze, but only for a second, shocked at the reminder. Somehow in this past half and hour or so he had forgotten her origins. He shook his head and brought himself back to the present, telling himself to wait until he could get Alice to explain.

The beautiful brunette's visage changed when he asked what was wrong. The thoughts in her head came to a screeching halt as one thing come to the forefront, a woman, looking much like Damienne, a little taller and somewhat older. The younger version's voice broke through the pain and anger filled image, causing Edward to turn, making to reach out to her, but pulling short and awkwardly resting his hand on his thigh. Death was such a foreign concept to him that it was difficult for him to deal with. As such, he was at a loss for words, “Oh.” Was all he could manage to say, not wishing to make her feel any worse. His curiosity was burning withing him, however, and he wanted to know so much more. It was one of those things, though, that didn't come out at once. Perhaps when he chose to share more of himself with her, she would do the same.

At the front of the class, the instructor was assigning homework and the bell was getting ready to ring. Quickly Edward jotted down the assignment, nudging Damienne so that she would do the same. “We can work on this tonight,” he offered, “if you want.” With a practiced motion Edward packed his books into his knapsack, sliding his phone into a pocket as he stood. “May I walk you to your next class?” He asked, cheeky grin cocked crookedly on his face.