It had been more than a month since the incident. The family pretended nothing had happened; it was easier for some than others. Alice was the one having the most trouble aside from Edward. She wanted to interfere while Edward did everything he could to keep a distance.
Serafina rolled her eyes as she looked at that sullen expression on his face, "Stop it," she finally said.
"Stop what?" he asked back while not even sparing her a glance. He was trying to focus on the humans surrounding the girl. Like always. He would sit and glare at his food tray so they wouldn't know. But his family knew. And they were annoyed.
"Pining," Rosalie answered while massaging her temples, "Stop pining. I swear to God, all this angst is giving me a migraine. And that's impossible. Well done, Edward, you've even ruined my illness-free death," She muttered lowly.
The others chuckled at her answer.
"You guys haven't even told me if you're willing to go with me," Emmett mumbled unhappily after a moment.
"Go where?" Serafina asked.
"You weren't even listening to me?" he asked in amazement. He threw his arms up exaggeratedly and settled by pushing his tray to the middle of the table while dejectedly laying his head on his folded arms. His eyebrows furrowed as he pouted.
"Now, who's the whiny baby?" Edward asked with a grin. He was still focusing on the girl. He knew what his family thought of his behavior. He disagreed. But all of his siblings still believed it.
"It's still you!" Alice glared, "Just let me-"
"No!" Edward cut her off before she could finish, "Don't Alice! This is how it should be."
Serafina shook her head in disapproval as she turned to Emmett, "I'm sorry. ¿Qué querías osito?"
Emmett's pout instantly disappeared as it turned into an instant frown, "Well, first, I want you to stop calling me little bear. I know you're making fun of me. You always do it if someone mentions how I died."
Serafina bit back her laugh, "What? No, I wouldn't do that."
"That's exactly what she's doing," Edward noted.
"Cállate idiota. Go back to ignoring your supposed mate while stalking her through her friend's minds," Serafina scolded. She turned to Emmett, "Now, what else were you talking about? Before?"
Emmett looked up at her, trying to see if she was actually interested. He then looked to the others, except Edward. He saw he had his audience and perked up, "I was saying we should go skydiving." He began.
Serafina looked to Rosalie, who shrugged. Serafina mimicked her actions. There was agreement from everyone, as they noted they hadn't done that before.
When Emmett saw them agreeing, he became more enthusiastic, "I think we should do it with no parachutes!" he smiled.
They all sighed simultaneously. Jasper shook his head at Emmett, "Why do you always take it too far?"
"What? Have you never considered jumping from a plane and landing a perfect superhero drop? It can be just like the comics! I'll bet we'd make it look better!" Emmett said excitedly.
The three women looked at Jasper, expecting him to answer with a no immediately. But they were all surprised to see a hesitation. Alice giggled, "You'd look very heroic that way, Jazz. Very handsome."
"See! We should do it!" Emmett said excitedly.
"You're forgetting. There would more than likely be a human flying us. How are we going to explain it? Group suicide?" Rosalie reminded.
"Kate can fly a plane!" Emmett answered quickly. This confused the group except for Alice, who looked at Emmett with a trace of fear, "Yeah, she said so." Emmett nodded.
"She did not! She said she was sure she could do it because 'it didn't look too hard'. But that was not an admission that she could actually fly a plane," Alice frowned. Her eyes glazed over, "You can't ask her! She would steal a plane at the nearest airport to try, and she would crash. She won't be hurt. But that's just unnecessary attention!" Alice said sternly.
"Fine!" Emmett thought momentarily, "Maybe instead of college, I'll go to school to be a pilot!" he said excitedly.
"You don't even properly go to college," Edward pointed out, "You just dabble in whatever piques your interest at the moment. Even then, you don't finish."
Emmett frowned. It was true, but he never really thought about it.
Rosalie held his shoulder, "Don't listen to him. Flying would be so much more interesting than school. You could do it." She soothed.
"But you shouldn't," Serafina pointed out. Emmett gave her a questioning look, "If you were the pilot, you couldn't jump out of the plane." She reminded.
Emmett immediately began to nod in understanding. He looked at his siblings suddenly, "Well then, none of us should learn to fly." He said with realization, brows furrowed with thought. He looked at his siblings, "Then we couldn't jump together. Maybe Carlisle could learn? Then we could jump as a family! We can invite Mom!"
They chuckled at the thought. But they knew she would likely learn to fly with Carlisle to be co-pilot. They discussed it more and decided to do it after graduation. But with parachutes first. They'd wait a few years before talking Carlisle into getting a pilot's license. Even Edward agreed to the skydiving idea, although half-heartedly.
With only about fifteen minutes left for lunch, Serafina looked at Rosalie, "I forgot, I need to speak with Angela."
Rosalie gave Serafina a questioning look, "About?"
"You know that photography class I ditch all the time?" Serafina asked.
"The one I told you you shouldn't take because you'd find it boring? Yes, we know that class. What about it?" Alice asked with mock concern.
Rosalie smirked at Alice's response. Serafina should have trusted Alice when it came to that class. She did warn her. According to her visions, Serafina was often ditching. Rosalie had told her the same, but Serafina insisted she would do well and stay interested. But it couldn't hold her interest like Jewelry or Stained Glass. Rosalie tried to steer her toward Ceramics or Sculpture to try next. But Serafina could be stubborn. Now, she was hardly ever in class.
Serafina gave her a nonplussed look, "Anyways, the teacher assigned a project that would be about twenty-five percent of our final grade. It requires partners. Angela was running an errand for the teacher and missed the part where they chose partners. She got stuck with me."
"So?" Edward asked, concerned about Serafina speaking about a friend of his human's.
"So, Serafina only screws over people she doesn't like. She wouldn't screw over Angela. Angela doesn't speak ill of anyone. Not even the Cullen freaks," Emmett answered as though it were obvious.
"You can't go over there," Edward said, realizing what Serafina would do.
"You can't stop her," Rosalie answered with a glare.
Serafina couldn't help the slight glow in her eyes as she looked at him, "You really can't." She said as she stood and turned to give Rosalie a quick kiss on her cheek before she got up and made her way to the table where Angela was sitting.
Angela was sitting toward the end of the table. She sat next to Eric, who was next to Jessica. Bella was seated in the center with Mike next to her and in front of Jessica. Some other people sat more toward Mike and Jessica as though the seating was a popularity ranking. She would disagree with their rankings, but luckily, it left a space in front of Angela. Sadly, it was next to Bella.
Serafina sat down, and silence enveloped the table. She ignored their stares and looked straight at Angela, "Hello, partner." She smiled.
Angela didn't miss a beat and instantly smiled back. After hearing the 'partner,' she figured Serafina was trying to pawn the project off to herself like most others did, "Hey Serafina, you don't have to worry about that project. I can do it by myself." She shyly said.
Serafina frowned, "That wouldn't be fair. We can do that project together. What did you have in mind?"
Angela was stunned but smiled more brightly, "Well, there wasn't anything specific we had to do. Just make a portfolio with five photos by the end of next week using the techniques we've learned so far."
Serafina nodded slowly, "And what techniques were those?"
Angela remembered Serafina was hardly ever in class, "Well, how about this? I know the techniques, and I'm pretty good with the camera. I would love for you to be my assistant and maybe even a model? We can split the work that way if you're okay with that," Angela innocently suggested.
"I'm pretty sure we know how she's going to respond to that," Emmett whispered from their table. Serafina still heard.
"My baby was right. At least one of their group has a brain. Easy A right there," Rosalie proudly muttered.
"Is it wise to have that type of photo going around?" Jasper asked.
"You know she'll destroy it if need be," Alice answered. She then froze for a brief moment.
Serafina grinned widely after Angela's suggestion, "I can be your assistant and model. No nude photos, and you have yourself a deal." She laughed.
Angela turned bright red at the joke, "No! That's not what I meant!"
Serafina chuckled some more, "I know. I'm kidding. Well, you have your assistant. I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow." She sighed sadly, "We should try to work a bit after school, too, because the sooner we finish, the sooner I can start ditching again."
Angela chuckled at Serafina's antics. Her tablemates still sat there shocked but never moving their eyes from what was happening. It was as though the whole cafeteria were eavesdropping.
"She's going to test you," Alice whispered from their table, "Don't move, Sera. It'll be too quick for a normal human to avoid. We don't want that attention in front of her friends."
Serafina forced herself to stay still briefly as Bella "accidentally" knocked over her bottle of water on Serafina.
"I'm so sorry!" she stuttered. She had thought Serafina was fast like Edward and would avoid it. She immediately grabbed some napkins and put them on Serafina's arm to wipe off some water. She felt warmth, totally different from what she felt with Edward. But as she thought about Edward, she continuously patted Serafina with napkins. She wasn't paying attention and began patting Serafina's arms, chest, and lap. Serafina began to glare, but the human didn't notice. Rosalie finally stood up and marched over to slap her hand away.
"I've got it, back off," she growled out. She startled the girl, who only then realized where she was touching the brunette. She apologized as Rosalie offered her hand to Serafina to pull her up.
Serafina was fuming, but she wasn't mad at the human. That was not true. She was furious at the human. But all she could think about was how she tested her because of Edward. This made it his fault. Rosalie walked Serafina to the restroom so she wouldn't steam in front of the humans. She glared in Edward's direction.
All the two women could hear was Eric's high-pitched whisper as he asked Bella if she was crazy. He remembered how she had first met Serafina and figured Bella must now be on Serafina's blacklist. The others also scolded her lightly because they thought she scared her away from their table. They liked the attention they had while she sat there. They were willing to deal with the fear if it resulted in the same envy they saw from their peers.
After school, they were stopped by Emmett, who told them that Edward's mood seemed to have changed. He wasn't being as bitchy. He appeared to be in a good mood for some reason. They reached the parking lot and saw him blocking the human's truck with his Volvo. There were now several cars being blocked by his car. They hurried over but noticed Edward's eyes on Tyler Crowley's retreating back while laughing hysterically.
They glanced in the same direction and noticed he seemed to have left Bella's truck after speaking to her. They glanced at each other quizzically.
"What's so funny?" Emmett asked.
"Nothing, nothing," Edward laughed as he drove them home. He would randomly chuckle to himself along the way.
"Can I talk to her now?" Alice asked.
Edward's good mood seemed to have disappeared, "No."
"Why not?" she asked.
"Why do you want to talk to her so badly if I'm just going to kill her?" he asked sullenly.
"Well, that's true, but it doesn't have to be a true death. Fine, I won't," Alice pouted after noticing Edward's annoyed look.
"Enjoy your run, loser," Rosalie jokingly told Edward. He scowled but ultimately ignored her comment as he ran into the forest. The teens joked he would run out into the woods to relieve those teenage urges. They would tease him and say puberty finally hit.
Emmett had pulled out a game of Monopoly to play with Esme as the banker. Serafina wasn't allowed to be the banker anymore. The game lasted several hours before they realized Edward wasn't home yet.
"You know, it doesn't take me this long to spank my monkey," Emmett commented as he rolled the dice.
Jasper chuckled while the women scrunched their noses in disgust.
"Emmett dear, don't speak that way," Esme scolded, "I'm sure Edward's fine and not doing anything of the sort." She finally mumbled.
"He is a hundred-year-old virgin who just discovered women's attraction," Jasper mumbled. Emmett pointed at him as he nodded in agreement.
"Gross," Rosalie muttered.
Alice remained quiet but had a slightly concerned look on her face. But while they waited for her to spill, she remained strangely silent. She quickly changed the subject and brought them back into the game.
They got ready and went to school the next day, with Edward still missing. But Alice wasn't worried, so they didn't say anything. Edward slowly crept out of the forest when they arrived but stilled as the human's loud truck approached. They rolled their eyes as they ignored his strange behavior and entered the school. So he was still pining over the human, it seemed. They began to make their way to class.
They didn't notice anything unusual with Alice waiting for Edward. They were in some of the same classes being juniors after all. Jasper was annoyed with Edward's erratic emotions, so he only kissed Alice's hand as he joined his fellow senior siblings to leave him behind. Even he didn't notice that Alice had a particular smile as she turned back to watch Edward stop to actually speak to the human today. Once her siblings and mate were away, she allowed her happiness to flow as she happily jumped a few times as she watched the interaction.