After Dark

20.

Amber's Pov.

We run through the forest. Winter is slowly coming to an end. Everyone's a little stressed lately. With the hunt we try to distract ourselves a bit.

Then it goes to baseball.
"Baseball in winter?", I'd just asked. They looked at me as if that were the most normal thing ever.
I left it at that.

The game is going on well. Emmett throws the ball. It flies to Clarissa, who holds her hands protectively in front of her face.
Why doesn't she just catch it?

She doesn't seem to be that familiar with vampire skills yet.
To my surprise, it stays in the air right in front of her and flies in the other direction, as if it had crashed off a wall.
We all look at her in surprise.
"What was that?", she asks, as we all stand around her.
"She's also a shield, but she does defend physical attacks", explains Edward. I smile at her.
"Cool", she says brightly. So if someone's trying to attack her, she can build a kind of wall around herself or others.

After the game, Carissa, Gray and I drive to Port Angeles.
He wanted to see his friends again. He hadn't spoken to them for days, and that's my fault.

This also allows them to practice being normal in the presence of human.
We have also provided them with contact lenses, so that nobody notices something.

Gray holds my hand, which attracts many confused, but also angry gazes at us.
"Great, the new Cullen grabbed Gray!", the blonde girl says to one of her friends.
I stay next to Carissa.
"Don't listen to what Kelly says, she's just angry because she wanted something from Gray, but he didn't feel the same for her", she says softly to me.

She changes the subject,
"Do you actually have a nickname for me?", she asks, looking at me hopefully. Sometimes she is a bit too strange for me.
I think for a moment,
"How about Cass or Rissa?", I ask.
Somehow these nicknames sound silly, I'm not good at it.
"Hm, I like Cass", she smiles.
Probably not that bad.

We sit on a wall while Gray talks to his friends. Luckily, the sun is obscured by clouds.

After he says goodbye, we drive home.
This morning, their parents called and said they should come home tomorrow. I can't stand their parents. They hardly care about the two. This is really sad.

We have a few more days left until the Volturi arrive, at least that's what Alice said.