The morning started like most others. I was meticulous while fixing my hair for school, making sure the tortoise shell clip was positioned exactly in the middle of my head with a few perfectly-imperfect strands of blonde hair slipping out, framing my symmetric face. I scrutinized my makeup and outfit for the millionth time, even though I was sure both were exactly right from the front view. However, I turned to my side again, glancing down to admire how I looked from the back as well. Gorgeous, I thought. If I was going to endure high school for the eleventh time, then at the very least I would be the prettiest girl in my class.
"Rose, would you hurry up!" Edward shouted at me from below. I looked up and sneered at myself in the mirror, satisfied that even with anger contorting my features, I was still stunning beautiful. He was always so impatient, and I could never figure out why he even cared if we were late. Edward found high school even more tedious then the rest of us.
I allowed myself one last long look in the mirror. I smiled back at the reflection, giving myself another once-over, and then walked at a human pace downstairs. I would not give him the satisfaction of hurrying.
Alice and Jasper stood at the bottom of the stairs with Edward. Alice tapped her toe lightly on the floor, her only sign of impatience. Jasper looked bored as usual. Edward was of course looking up and scowling at me. His annoyed expression made me try even harder to make my movements as sensuous as possible. I vowed to make him admire me if it took another hundred years. My stilettos tapped quietly on each step as I carefully watched his expression for any sudden sign of appreciation.
As I slowly reached the bottom of the stairs, Edward jerked opened the front door, holding it as Alice and Jasper exited quickly outside. I continued my leisurely pace across the foyer to the door, keeping my eyes on him as I walked through the door he continued to hold. Just before I looked away, I saw him roll his eyes. Damn - he must have just read my mind. I really didn't care if he could see how I felt about him or not, though I did wish frequently that I could read his; to see if some small hidden piece of himself found me as appealing as all other men.
Emmett was already in the Volvo with Alice and Jasper. I climbed in the back next to him, while Edward slid into the driver's seat and slammed his door before quickly throwing the car in gear and racing down the long driveway. Strip the gears much? I thought angrily. Hopefully he'd be listening in again. I waited patiently until I saw him glaring back at me through the rearview mirror in reaction to the myriad of automotive insults I threw his way. Then I impulsively turned to Emmett and began kissing him passionately. I had surprised him with my unusual forcefulness, but he didn't waste any time contemplating my actions. He quickly reciprocated, pulling me closer, his hands racing down my arm to grip my thigh.
"Could you save the necking for when I don't have to see and hear it," Edward complained loudly.
Alice giggled from the front seat, probably seeing a possible future of us continuing the entire way to school. If I couldn't have Edward's utter approval and admiration, then I would find other ways to keep his attention on me.
As Emmett's hands reached into my hair, I reluctantly pulled back from his embrace. As much as I wanted to sicken Edward with a close-quarter PDA, a larger piece of me did not want my perfect hair style wrecked, even slightly. And Emmett was incapable of running his fingers anywhere near my hair without ruining the final product. Fortunately, he knew me and my passion for perfect hair well enough to understand why I had pulled away, and was not offended in the least. He laughed as he turned away from me, reaching over the seat and punching Edward in the shoulder.
"Come on bro, we're just kidding around. I promise not to ravish her in front of you. Unless you want to watch." Emmett laughed even harder at his own joke.
Edward growled and shot both of us a disparaging look in the mirror as he screeched into the school parking lot. I flinched at the unwarranted misery he unleashed on his car, and vowed not to do any repair work without proper payment of favors. He was out of the car as quickly as he dared, and rushed off to class to escape the rest of us. Poor baby - you would think with his mind reading capabilities that he'd just give me what I wanted. Then I'd leave him alone, satisfied in the knowledge that there truly was no man that could resist me.
I spent the next four hours going through my monotonous High School routine. French, Calculus, Chemistry, English Literature. I had taken these courses so many times that I was almost able to recite the textbooks and lessons by heart. I did not find knowledge and the whole learning process to be nearly as fulfilling as Carlisle and Edward did, but I had learned enough to easily pass the classes and blend in as much as possible. It was essential that we all play the role of the perfect Cullen and Hale children. As much as I disliked school, I disliked moving every few years even more. The best way for us to stay was for the five of us to go through high school, posing as teenagers. As boring as these first few years were, I knew it'd be worth it for the "college" years that would soon follow. That small window of time would give Emmett and I the freedom to wander at will and not be subjected to seven hours a day of tedious acting. And with a little luck and tugging on heart strings, I might be able to convince Esme and Carlisle to let Emmett and I get married again. Playing the part of a new bride and planning a wedding never got old for me - I had married Emmett six times now.
After English Lit, Emmett and I strolled into the cafeteria and walked to our usual table, far away from the annoying humans. Alice, Jasper and Edward were already there, food props in front of them. Edward appeared to have cooled down from our minor tift earlier. I smiled at him when he glanced in my direction, but he looked away instead of returning the gesture. How utterly rude, yet predictable. I'd have to try harder next time; attempt to find a different way to get to him. My thoughts quickly shifted back to myself as I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a student's glasses across the room from us. Hmm...maybe Emmett did mess up my hair a little. I sighed and rolled my eyes - that meant I'd have to make a trip into the horrid girl's bathroom and fix it after lunch. Or maybe I could sneak off to Edward's car where I could more easily primp myself quickly when no human was watching. I wondered if it was worth asking Edward if I could borrow his keys.....
"Sorry," Jasper muttered.
I glanced over at him as he distracted me, wondering what he was possibly sorry for. Edward was staring at him, undoubtedly reading his mind. I was suddenly aware of some private conversation taking place between Edward, Jasper, and Alice. How typical - Emmett and I were always left out when the "special" vampires exercised their abilities. It was so commonplace to have Edward and Alice knowing my every thought and future that I was usually bored by these subtle exchanges between them. That or annoyed that I couldn't be part of the club.
"You weren't going to do anything," Alice murmured. "I could see that."
I tuned the rest of her words out and glanced at Emmett from under my long lashes. He was as disinterested as I was in Jasper's apparent problem. He raised one eyebrow at me, giving me a look I knew well. Shall we stick around for this or sneak off before our next class? It was a constant struggle to find new ways to entertain ourselves at times like these. I answered him back with my best smoldering look that I knew he'd understand. Come find me after next period - I'll be waiting by the library. A devilish smile appeared on his beautiful face.
"Jessica Stanley is giving the new Swan girl all the dirty laundry on the Cullen clan," Edward muttered to Emmett.
I had almost forgotten that I too had heard the buzz through the school that morning of some new girl joining the junior class. I had caught a brief glimpse of her between my morning classes, and was not surprised to find that she was utterly forgettable and plain in everyway. Long tangled hair, boring brown eyes, petite, yet unremarkable body. The only feature that I found even remotely interesting was her skin - almost translucent in color and a perfect complexion. Almost as beautiful as my own.
Edward continued to fill Emmett in on the thoughts of Jessica, and although Emmett didn't answer Edward's comments out loud, I knew he was sharing his thoughts. He had better be answering you silently for a reason OTHER then keeping something from me, I thought, hoping Edward would react. Instead, I watched silently as Edward's eyes unfocused. He was probably eavesdropping on the new girl's thoughts. Then his expression abruptly changed, and he turned to look across the cafeteria at her, staring for quite some time. Instead of following his gaze, I watched his facial expressions, trying desperately to read him as well as he could read me. He suddenly smiled - a look that lit up his face on the rare occasion that he allowed any sort of happy emotion to show around me. What could he possibly be smiling at? Whatever it was, I had a sneaking suspicion that it had nothing to do with me. I decided quickly to refocus his attention back to where it belonged.
"Shall we?" I asked, breaking his focus from the plain, new student. His eyes darted back to mine, and I tried to rapidly clear my thoughts before he could read them. Although it was most likely pointless, I really didn't want him knowing that I was hoping he'd see how much prettier I was then her. I could picture our two faces in his mind - my glowing blonde curls framing a perfectly shaped white face with warm golden eyes next to her bland looks. Surely there was no comparison. I waited to see if he'd slip up and show even the slightest bit of preference for me.
But instead, he seemed to forget I was there. His eyes unfocused again, lost in the thoughts of whoever's head he had moved into.
"So, is the new one afraid of us yet?" Emmett asked. Edward shrugged and stood up to leave. His interest in this new girl seemed to dissipate quickly. I smirked in approval as the others stood up to leave, all of us going our separate ways to our afternoon classes. But Emmett grabbed my arm, pulling me tightly up to his side and bit my ear playfully before I could escape.
"Since Jasper won't give me a rematch tonight, will you?" he asked quietly enough that only I heard him. Emmett was always looking for a competition, usually with his brothers. But when they wouldn't appease him with wrestling matches and feats of strength, he came to me looking for a playmate as I had no way of cheating like Alice. However, I honestly just really wasn't into the whole fighting thing - it ruined my hair and clothes more times then I could count, and I dealt with those misfortunes enough when Emmett and I were alone together.
"We'll see," I teased back as we walked into our next class. I had a better idea then some God-awful challenge. Near the end of our Foreign Relations class, I slipped Emmett a note fast enough that no one noticed. He winked at me after reading it quickly, an impromptu rendezvous planned for the next period when I knew both of us could easily skip out of our classes. If the faculty of the Forks High School knew about all of the times Alice & Jasper or Emmett and myself had been sneaking off and taking advantage of unoccupied rooms on the school grounds, the scandal would have tore the town apart. Especially since we were all supposed to be innocent teenagers.
After our thirty-minute tryst in one of the dark, unoccupied study rooms within the school library, the next few hours passed without incident. I kept busy thinking of inventive ways to make Emmett happy without destroying my new outfit later that evening, or devising new tricks to annoy Edward on the way home. That always made me smile.
After my last class, Emmett met me outside and we walked smugly towards the car, meeting up with Alice and Jasper on the way. Edward was nowhere in sight as we all piled into the Volvo. Alice sat up front quietly at first, but then turned to face us in the backseat, staring intently at Jasper and no doubt sharing something wordlessly with him. Emmett ignored their exchange, elbowing Jasper roughly.
"So, rematch tonight or what? And this time no cheating - I'll make Rose drag Alice out to hunt so she can't help you," Emmett taunted, a huge grin on his face.
Jasper broke his gaze with Alice, turned towards Emmett and forced a grin. "You honestly think you can......."
Suddenly the driver's door opened, and Edward flew inside the car, slamming the door shut behind him. He started gasping for air, though we all knew he didn't need to breathe. The expression on his face was a mixture of alarm, fear, and a kind of hunger I'd never seen before. His eyes blazed through the rearview mirror back at us.
"Edward?" Alice asked quietly. Edward just shook his head quickly, refusing to look at her.
