The Story Of Sarelle: The Immortal Years »

Chapter 23

I had survived my first week of life as a high school student. Possibly it was presumptuous to think that way, since it was my second to last lesson before school ended for the weekend. I had been looking forward to this part of the day from the moment I set foot in school. It was a free period and a chance to escape the wandering eyes of the curious students. Their stares had yet to cease, although I was almost certain I didn't help matters by sitting with the Cullens at lunch. It was bizarre how, despite my age and experience, I still felt a form of comfort by sticking close to those I knew. Emmett had found great amusement from watching my steep learning curve. To the Cullens it was so effortless, mundane in fact. They knew the rules, the routines, the ways in which high school life operated. I hadn't even stepped foot in a school in well over 160 years. In the past week I had marvelled at how permission had to be asked to leave the room, or answers were to be signalled by the raise of a hand. It was no secret that my oddities had given the other students cause to avoid me. I was perhaps the first, and only, vampire to attend high school and not be envied as one of the 'cool kids'.

As I made my way away from the cafeteria, towards the library, I wondered if this was why the other pupils found it odd that I sat with the Cullens. Or more to the point, that the Cullens allowed me to sit with them. The socially awkward new girl sitting with the envied group of the school must have seemed strange. At least it cemented the familial relation in their minds, as Rosalie had said 'no one except family would offer to have such an oddball as you sit with them'.

I rounded the final corner in the corridor as I shook my head in mild embarrassment. I may have survived my first week of high school but I certainly had not flourished. I sighed in relief as I entered the quiet library through the large wooden double doors. A rush of musty paper and fresh printer ink filled my sense of smell as I scanned the large white rectangular room for a discrete place to sit. A central aisle allowed access to the stacks on either side, some with work tables at the end, others without. I had learnt to avoid these work tables as they made it nearly impossible to escape if someone to tempting came too close. I'd had one close call on my second day that had been a lesson well learnt. I was almost certain my languid sniff had been noticed by the young lacrosse player, especially given the befuddled look he gave me as he swiftly left. Alice had promptly told me that sniffing a student usually gave them the creeps and to refrain from doing so in future.

I picked my seat at the far end of the library. Equidistant from the handful of students already situated in their own bubbles of concentration. My position gave me the perfect view of the door but also 4 avenues of escape if I needed to through the rear entrance and 2 side fire exits. I pulled my mathematics homework from my bag and placed it in casual disarray around me. Jasper had taught me that humans rarely approached someone who appeared to be busy so I had found ways to use books and homework as camouflage.

My eyes wandered over the page lazily as the numbers swam around in my mind. I was quickly coming to the conclusion that for all the years I have existed on this earth there was still so much I had yet to learn. I could speak more than half the worlds languages, yet algebra was foreign to me. I could play the greatest musical compositions in a range of instruments but I had no clue how to play volleyball like a human. I had been present for a great deal of the world's history but when asked about vector forces I had no answer. One thing I knew for certain was that my thirst for knowledge had never been as strong and as encompassing as it was now. I hung on every word the teacher said. I absorbed every social ritual that occurred. Only a week had gone by but my demeanour had shifted significantly.

"Your act is slipping." My head snapped up to see Edward poised at the table. The smile I hadn't realised was on my face widened infinitely.

"And why do you say that?" I whispered coyly at his teasing tone.