Biting and Scratching

Class is in Session

The next day was different from the first, and I could feel it, Alice called last night to remind me to ask Dad for permission to sleep over, which he granted it easily. I immediately told Alice, which resulted in a high pitch, happy squeal that almost deafened me through the phone.
So I packed my pajamas for tonight and clothes for tomorrow along with all of the other essentials, such as my toothbrush, hairbrush, unfortunately the retainer that I was forced to wear while sleeping for another few months, and a few other essentials. I decided to keep it all in the truck until after school tomorrow.

I watched with not so hidden amusement as one of Bella's friends, Eric, pouted a little off to the side as another of Bella's friends, Mike, ran up to the truck as soon as it was parked and offered to walk my sister to class.
My own escort appeared fairly quickly as Alice's grin appeared in my vision and we walked away to hang out before class. I could practically feel their confusion radiating off our classmates as we walked away.
From what Bella told me last night, Alice was a Cullen, and both Cullen's and Hale's weren't very sociable with anyone else.
I sighed, realising people were staring at me just as much as yesterday, but not as much at Bella, I put it down to the confusion of a 'newbie' like me hanging out with Alice Cullen or something like that, but when I questioned it Alice's response was to just giggle at me, so I let it go.

I still sat with the group of people I sat with yesterday, much to Alice's protests. Apparently she wanted me to be her new best friend or something, but I promised that as soon as school was over, I was all hers, but for now, I needed to sit with my sister, who was seeming kind of out of it.
I could tell that Bells wasn't having the best of days, Mike told me that Mr. Varner made her answer a question in Trig, that she got wrong. After that Coach made her play volleyball... She hit someone on the back of the head and spent the rest of the class apologising.
Before we could go to the table from yesterday, Mike intercepted us and took us to his table, and while Bella seemed indifferent and Jessica (another of Bella's friends) looked as if she were about to burst from happiness. Jessica's friends joined us too, and their mindless chatter was beginning to give me a headache. It wasn't even like it was about anything in particular, they flip-flopped between topics so fast I couldn't keep up, and honestly, it felt like they were doing it on purpose to keep Bella and me out of the loop! I could see that Bella wasn't enjoying it much either, but at least she was trying, and I guess I could too, but not today, I was still confused about what was going to happen tonight.

Once class was done, and school was over, I walked calmly with Bells towards her car, with Alice firmly by our side.

Getting my small travel bag out of the truck, Alice gasped.
"Is everything ok?" I worried, holding the bag a little tighter to my chest.
"No, no, it's just, that bag is gorgeous! You have to tell me where you got it!"
And with that, I could tell that we really were going to be fantastic friends.


Walking away from Bella's roaring engine, I could feel eyes follow us, and, despite my best efforts to limit use on this newfound ability, I could feel the voices seep into my mind;
"What is she doing?"
"How could the Cullen's have accepted her so quickly?"
"Why not me?"
That last one seemed to be the main theme of the thoughts, and the multiple voices seemed to increase my headache exponentially, making me falter in stride next to Alice, resulting in her sending me a concerned look before a gaze of understanding.
Alice quickly looped her arms through mine and continued walking towards her shiny Volvo that her siblings were waiting beside.
"What is Alice doing?" A new voice almost hissed, but I could tell that it was thoughts again.

Smiling lightly as I approached them, Alice didn't seem to realise the looks we were both getting and continued to skip along, pulling me with her.
"Hey," the big one said with a toothy grin, pulling me into a sudden hug.
I smiled back, twitching nervously at the giant's friendliness, "Hi, um, I'm Juliet..."
"Emmett" the big guy replied.
"Hey, hey, now, no stealing my friend!" Alice whined, pulling me back in her direction, "now Juliet, this is Rosalie" the blonde girl gave me a slight nod with no real expression on her face, "Jasper" the blonde male, who looked like he was in pain gave me a tight smile and a quick nod, "and you just met Emmett." The friendly giant pulled me back into another hug.
"Now, come on, we're going in my car," Alice then proceeded to pull me away from Emmett and towards her red Porche, which I heavily ogled once we got close enough.


The drive to Alice's house was mostly quiet, with only some small talk that she imposed, while I only gave small answers; too busy admiring the car and the road to her house, which was surrounded by trees, grass, and moss.


When we entered her driveway, the conversation turned towards something that interested me; "so, I guess you want some answers then, huh?" Alice smiled slightly, turning to face me after she parked.
"Kinda, yeah," I laughed softly in return.
"Once we get inside, I'll introduce you to Esme and Carlisle, explain what I saw to them, then explain what I saw to you, then I'll explain everything together, ok?"
I could only nod in response before Alice jogged around the car and dragging me up the stairs to the front door.
"Come on," she laughed, dragging me in a random direction in the house, which I soon discovered to be the kitchen, "meet my family," she gestured to the room where everyone was gathered, looking at me with confused expressions.
Due to their gaze, I shifted uncomfortably where I stood. Don't get me wrong, usually I don't care when people were staring at me, it was just that they were so obvious about it, and they were all so attractive... I could feel myself blush at that thought.