Leigh cut the engine, leaning back in her seat for a few moments as she assessed the parking lot.
She was early.
People were milling around, leaning against car hoods and chatting, or tossing a football around. She didn't like being early - it usually meant she had to mingle and socialise, which wasn't the easiest thing for her in the morning.
A tap on her window sent her heart flying up into her throat.
"Morning, new kid!"
She scowled at Emmett through the window, unbuckling her seatbelt and grabbing her bag before opening the door, whacking him in the leg.
"Ow!" he yelped, staring at her in disbelief as she got out the car.
"Morning to you, too," she grumbled. "Do you even know my name?"
He raised his eyebrows. "You're aggressive in the morning."
She shrugged, smirking. "Do you?"
He paused for a moment, brow crumpling in thought. "Lily?"
She sighed. "I figured as much."
"Wait! Lana?"
"You're right with the first letter," she said, unable to withhold her bewildered laugh.
"Is my brother bothering you?"
Leigh looked up at the unfamiliar voice. The small girl - the one that looked like a pixie - stood on the other side of the Jeep, an amused smile on her face.
"Yes," Leigh chuckled, making sure to show fondness in her expression so he'd know she wasn't serious.
"Emmett, will you stop harassing her please?" she said, staring pointedly at him.
He held his hands up in surrender. "Alright, damn."
Alice skipped around the back of the car, skidding to a halt in front of Leigh. The blonde watched her in slight fatigue; the sheer amount of energy she had was exhausting.
"I'm Alice, by the way," she said, extending her hand for Leigh to shake.
As soon as their skin touched, Leigh flinched.
Alice's skin was freezing. Just like Bella had said.
"Nice car," the dark-haired girl said, gesturing to the Honda.
"Ah," Leigh said, fondly patting the roof. "She's an old girl, but I love her."
"Old? It looks ancient."
Leigh swivelled back in Emmett's direction, eyes icy. "You don't talk shit about Tammy."
He laughed - a deep, booming sound that Leigh would have enjoyed if he hadn't just attacked her car. "It's just a car."
Leigh reared up, temper flaring, but Alice interrupted.
"My sister likes cars, too," she piped up, attempting to regain Leigh's attention. "Rosalie."
Leigh's eyes returned to Alice. "She does?"
"Oh, yeah," Alice said. "She likes to fix them, too. She keeps all our cars up and running, saves us the fees for a mechanic."
Leigh snorted. "You've got three cars between you."
"Which is exactly the reason we need to save money on mechanics," Alice countered, grinning.
The blonde smiled. Alice seemed to have far too much pep for half-eight in the morning, but she was nice. Much more approachable than Emmett or Rosalie.
She looked across the parking lot, catching site of Eric, Mike, Jess and Angela.
"Hey, I've, uh, got to go," she said, turning back to Alice and smiling. "It was nice to meet you."
"You too!" Alice called as Leigh walked away.
"Leigh!" Emmett shouted. "That's your name!"
She twirled round as she walked, giving him a round of applause. "Proud of you."
"Thank you!"
She rolled her eyes, heading toward the group gathered by Jess' car.
"Monte Carlo?" Jess said, sounding unimpressed as Eric handed her a flyer. "That's our prom theme?"
"Gambling, tuxedos," Eric said, flashing Leigh a friendly smile and stuffing a flyer into her hand as she fell in beside Angela. "And Bond. James Bond."
Leigh looked down at the flyer, eyebrow quirked. It could be a fun theme.
"Oh my God."
Everyone looked up, hearing the genuine shock in Angela's voice and following her eye line.
The familiar silver Volvo pulled into the parking lot. Leigh frowned at first, unsure as to why Angela was so surprised, but she saw the chocolate brown hair and pale cheeks of the passenger.
"No fucking way," Leigh mumbled.
Bella Swan and Edward Cullen got out of the car, walking around it and falling into step beside one another, Edward slinging his arm around Bella's shoulders. Edward wore a pair of sunglasses and an uncharacteristic smirk on his face, whilst Bella looked just as embarrassed as ever.
"What?" Jess whispered. "When did that happen?"
Leigh shook her head, blinking.
She had no idea.
~~~
Leigh pressed the butts of her palms against her closed eyes, waiting for the coloured sparks to dissipate into total blackness.
She was having a bad day.
The joint pain had come back with a vengeance. Walking out of class and to the bathrooms had felt like a million little needles were being shoved into her knees with each step, to the point where her head started to spin.
A part of her had thought that Dr Cullen had made a mistake with her blood tests, before. She had thought her leukaemia couldn't possibly be back, as she didn't have any symptoms. But, then there was the nosebleed on the night her parents told her. And the night sweats two days after that. Now, the joint pain.
She felt the sudden urge to cry.
She wanted to speak to Bella. She was the only one who knew. But, she couldn't just pull her out of class. Mostly, because she didn't know if she could walk to the building she would be in that period. Getting to one of the toilet cubicles had been hard enough, let alone trekking across campus. Plus, it seemed Bella was preoccupied with Edward.
Her eyes started to sting. She pulled her hands away, staring up at the ceiling as if tilting her head would stop her from crying.
She couldn't do it again.
She couldn't go to the hospital everyday. She could barely force herself to go to the hospital once a month for the checkups, before that blood test.
Bella and Edward had sat together at lunch. Alone.
Leigh wasn't sure why it irritated her so much to see them together.
It was probably because, despite knowing that it was complete insanity, she was starting to believe Bella. She had been right - in a nonsensical way, it made sense. The entire thing was a huge contradiction, especially since just as Leigh was beginning to come around to the idea, Bella switched lanes completely.
She hadn't really, though. She'd started dating the suspected vampire.
Leigh let her eyes flutter shut for a moment, tears skidding down her cheeks.
Her entire body hurt, which didn't make any sense, as she'd been fine that morning. She'd been a bit stiff over lunch, but the next period, she'd been in searing pain. Her body was sabotaging her.
"-can't believe this, Alice."
Leigh froze, eyes snapping open. She recognised that voice.
"I mean, what is he thinking? He could ruin everything."
Footsteps. Two sets. The door swung closed behind them.
"Calm down, Rose."
"You know that is the quickest way to piss me off."
"Well, you're already pissed off, so I figured what's the harm?"
"Alice, I'm serious-
"So am I."
There was a pause.
"She knows, now. There's nothing we can do."
"Aren't you angry that he told her?"
"He didn't. She figured it out."
Leigh hadn't breathed since they'd walked in, frozen in place.
"And what happens when she tells someone? We'll have to leave again."
"If, she tells someone. We'll figure it out."
Leigh was momentarily baffled at her own luck, unsure as to whether it was good or bad. She had recently become very good at overhearing conversations she shouldn't.
"I don't understand how he could be this irresponsible."
"He's not irresponsible, Rose. He's in love."
"He's known her, like, two weeks!"
"Sometimes that's how it is!"
There was another pause.
"That's how it was when I met Jasper. And that's how it will be when you meet your person."
"You know I hate stuff like that."
"Or perhaps you've already met them?"
"Shut up."
"All I'm saying is-
"I know what you're saying, Alice, and I know what you've seen - but she's human. I can't do that."
Leigh's heart stopped.
"Why not?"
"Because it's a stupid thing to do! Put everybody involved at risk."
"Would you rather be unhappy?"
"Yes."
"I don't believe you."
"Well, that's your problem, isn't it?"
Leigh didn't dare move.
'But she's human'.
Then, what did that make them?
She suddenly felt like she was going to be sick.
She slid off of the toilet and onto the floor, whirling round and grasping the bowl just as the contents of her stomach came up her throat.
There was no avoiding it.
She'd given herself away, but the only other option had been throw up all over her legs.
There was complete silence outside the cubicle, nothing but the sound of Leigh's retching and coughing bouncing off the walls.
"Hello?"
It was Alice.
"Are you okay in there?"
Leigh wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, grimacing at the sour, acrid taste on her tongue. She didn't know whether to respond or not. Was there any point protecting her anonymity if they really were vampires? Surely they could recognise her smell or something.
"Fine, thanks," she said quietly, collapsing against the cubicle wall. "Had some bad chicken at lunch."
"You want me to get someone?"
"No, it's alright," Leigh panted, staring at a drawing of one of the teachers on the wall.
There was another bout of quiet, though Leigh got the impression that the two sisters were silently arguing. She'd never wanted a day to be over so much in her life. Her joints were screaming at her, she'd just lost her barely-filling lunch to the toilet, and she may have just overheard two vampires arguing over her friend's relationship, also with a vampire.
"Okay," Alice said, sounding a little unsure.
Leigh heard them move toward the door and went to get up, but a slicing pain through her legs prevented her from doing so, a yelp escaping her lips before she could stop it.
"Uh, hello?" That was Rosalie.
"Sorry, uh," Leigh spluttered, entire body seizing up as the pain rocketed through her again. "I can't get up."
"What?"
"I can't get up," Leigh said louder, starting to panic. "My legs, they-
She cut herself off with a quiet cry of pain.
"Can you reach the lock?"
"No."
"Okay. How close are you to the door?"
"Not that close."
She spat out her breaths, lips parting in shock. She hadn't felt pain like that in a long time.
A loud bang distracted her for a moment.
The lock rattled at the impact, and it only took one more kick for the door to swing open, smacking into the cubicle wall.
Leigh looked up in shock, vision a little hazy, to see Rosalie moving toward her with the grace of a leaping cat. She knelt down beside her, concentrated concern on her face as she looked Leigh over.
"What happened?"
"Uh," Leigh stuttered, the pain in her legs removing any hesitation she may have had about telling anyone. "I have a kind of leukaemia, sometimes I get joint pains. It's..." She winced, leg jolting. "It's quite bad today."
Rosalie barely reacted, expression empty of feeling, but slipped one arm around Leigh's back, the other under her legs. Her touch was gentle, but she lifted Leigh from the ground without so much as batting an eyelid, carefully manoeuvring her out of the cubicle.
Alice was standing a little to the side, wringing her hands in worry.
"Should we go to the nurse?" Rosalie asked, already moving toward the door.
"No, that's not - not necessary," Leigh murmured, her own whimper of pain contradicting her statement.
"Do the school know about it?" Alice asked, jogging forward to open the door.
"Yeah," Leigh said, face scrunching up. "It should die down soon, don't worry."
Rosalie was already gliding down the corridor, acting as if Leigh weighed nothing.
Everyone was in classes, which was most likely why Rosalie was so comfortable with carrying Leigh around like a baby without raising suspicions as to why she was freakishly strong. Leigh was dipping in and out of consciousness by the time they reached the nurse's office, the plump, middle-aged woman almost pouring coffee all over herself at the sight.
"Oh dear," she said. "Oh dear. Set her down on the bed, would you, dear?"
Rosalie did as instructed, softly laying Leigh down on the hospital-style gurney in the corner of the office. Leigh's eyes snapped open as she came to.
"What happened?" she mumbled, words a little slurred.
"I was about to ask the same question, sweetheart," the nurse said, a calming smile on her face.
"Uh, we were in the toilets," Rosalie said, pressing a hand to her forehead. "She was in the stall, I think she threw up. Then, she said she, like, couldn't get up - she has some kind of leukaemia, I think, so like, gets really bad joint pain? Um..." Rosalie trailed off, shaking out her hands. "I don't know."
The nurse moved quickly over to the computer at her desk. "Full name?"
"Leigh McEwan," Alice said.
The sound of nails tapping on the keyboard followed, before the nurse sucked in a sharp breath. "Okay, I'm going to call an ambulance for her, alright? Is one of you willing to stay with her until we can get in touch with her mother?"
"I will," Rosalie said, before Alice could even open her mouth.
If it weren't for the horrific pain she was in, Leigh would have smiled.