Close to Nothing

School next day was much better. At least I had people that I wanted to talk to, not people that I wanted to eat. I found out about Jasper’s ‘talent’ which was his ability to change people’s moods at will. It was a bit strange when instead of being disgusted by my teacher’s nose hairs, I felt oddly attracted to them. Jasper had quite a good laugh about that.

I was outshining everyone in my chemistry class when the bell for lunchtime rang. Everyone rushed like crazy to get out of the cafeteria.
I took my tray with wasted food on it and was about to sit down at the table with Kevin when Alice appeared out of nowhere. She tugged at me hand lightly.
“Come sit with us, Edward’s with Bella anyway,” she said and I followed her. The table greeted me warmly enough. I looked over at Edward and that girl Bella as I sat down.
“Isn’t she..?” I asked and Rosalie nodded.
“Yeah, she’s human,” she said curtly and Emmett nudged her with an elbow ’be nice’.
“What? Why should I be nice? Oh yeah, let’s pretend like this isn’t dangerous for all of us!” she grumbled. I looked over at the couple again. Edward was touching Bella’s hand absentmindedly.
“They must be happy,” I said more to myself.
“Edward’s crazy about her, he hasn’t left her side for the past three days,” Alice piped up. I smiled to myself and absently stabbed the pizza on my plate with a fork.
“Tell us something about yourself,” Emmett spoke up all of a sudden. I looked up a little startled. I didn’t really like to talk about myself.
“Oh um…I’m from Staten Island, I used to live there with my brother,” I said.
“Where did you live before you moved here?” Rosalie asked.
“I was in Russia, my brother works there as a lawyer,” I said and Jasper looked up with surprise. We chit-chatted for a while and then the bell rang. I grabbed my book bag and made to the exit. Emmett followed me. AP bio was next. I groaned out loud.
“What’s up?” Emmett asked.
“I hate biology!” I exclaimed and several people stared at me. Emmett laughed.
“It’s not so bad,” he said and I looked at him as though he was crazy. We walked into the classroom and took our seats.
“What are the components of human blood? Anybody? Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to learn about today,” the teacher said excitedly. I groaned and buried my face in my hands. Emmett snickered next to me.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“So how’s the search going?” Christopher asked me through the phone. I was laying on my stomach in my living room, doing my English essay. I hesitated before answering.
“I haven’t really done anything.”
“Oh really? What’s been distracting you then?” he asked curiously. I laughed.
“I made some friends,” I said casually.
“What? No way!” he gasped with delight.

It’s true. The past three weeks I’ve been spending with the Cullens. We sat at lunch together. We’ve been getting along great. At first, I was envious of their closeness, of the family that they had but now I feel as though I am a part of household.

“Um yeah, they’re like us, they’re great,” I said, smiling to myself. It felt nice to be able to share your thoughts with someone besides your brother.
“Well I’m happy for you, girl, that’s fantastic, you’ll finally get the whole vengeance thing out of your head,” he replied. I frowned.
“You know it’s been much harder to keep track of him, the scent just disappeared,” I explained. I heard Christopher mumble a ‘mhm’ but I knew that inside he was overjoyed that I was giving so little thought to my attacker.
“So tell me more about these friends of yours,” he said and I rushed into a long story, describing each member of the Cullen family. After I finished, I heard Christopher snicker.
“So this Emmett guy is the big buffoon in bio, right?” he said.
“Oh, well um, he’s nice actually,” I said with a laugh.
“Eleanora, I’ve seen the news from Forks, the killings, you have to be careful,” Christopher said seriously.
“I know, I am careful,” I said.
“Are you sure these Cullen people are safe?” he asked.
“Yeah, they’re good people,” I assured him.
“Well keep on your toes, you don’t want to be disappointed,” he said skeptically.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I rushed outside. I’ve gotten so absorbed in reading that I didn’t realize what time it was. I had only 20 minutes to get to school. I got inside my car and slammed the door shut. My car was one thing that I greatly adored. It was a electric blue Peugeot 207 CC, it was the one thing that I didn’t mind Christopher buying me, I actually begged him for it and today it wasn’t starting.
“C’mon,” I muttered angrily as I tried to start it but all I would hear were protesting revving noises and then it just stopped. I spent another 5 minutes trying to start it but when it didn’t, I gave up. I guess I’ll have to go through the forest. I just made it to calculus when the bell rang.

I was in a bad mood the whole day and when lunch came, it wasn’t better. I took my seat with the Cullens and buried my face in my arms.
“What’s up, Eleanora?” Rosalie asked.
“My stupid car wouldn’t start, I had to run to school and the teachers are piling on the homework,” I mumbled into my arms. Alice laughed.
“That must be why you have twigs and leaves in your hair,” she said. I groaned. “And I have leaves in my hair.”
“I’ll have to get it fixed,” I sighed.
“Not easy to get a car fixed in Forks, all the mechanics either overcharge or mess it up worse,” Emmett said.
“Fantastic, I guess I’ll be running to school the next few weeks,” I murmured. The bell rang and we hurried on to bio.
“I could drive you home today if you want,” Emmett said as we took our seats.
“What about Rosalie?” I asked him and he shrugged.
“She’ll go with Edward and the rest,” he said.
“That’s not what I meant,” I pointed out. Realization dawned on his face.
“She’s alright, she likes you,” he replied. I thought his words over.
Yes, Rosalie was certainly nice to me. Alice confirmed that I was one of the first females that she actually took a liking to. But she was still a woman, a woman that wouldn’t want her man driving some other girl home. I didn’t know how she’d react but I agreed to the ride anyways.

* * * * * * * *

Emmett’s jeep moved quickly but not sloppily. Emmett was definitely a good driver although he did like to go over the speed limit.
“You know, ‘Ella’ does suit you,” Emmett said all of a sudden after a long silence. I cringed at the name a little.
“It’s associated with bad things,” I replied, glancing at his face for a moment. Emmett frowned.
“But maybe the guy who attacked you knew you better than you thought,” he said simply.
“What do you mean?” I asked, a little bit alarmed.
“You don’t look like an Eleanora, it’s too stern for you,” he replied. This time I frowned.
“I don’t get it,” I said.
“Eleanora’ makes you too serious, if you were an Ella, you’d be more carefree, a bit more fun,” he explained and I laughed bitterly.
“It seems like you’ve been talking to my brother, he always wants me to ‘be more fun’”, I said and leaned my head against the window. The woods passed by in a blur.
“You should, I mean when you have so much free time on your hands, why not make the best of it?” he proclaimed and I smiled. He was right. We stopped in front of my house.
“Want to come in?” I asked and Emmett nodded.

We walked into the house and Emmett immediately bounded into my living room.
“Wow,” he breathed out, staring at the bookshelves. “You have so much music, .” I loved listening to music, it made me seem normal. And however nerdy it sounds, my favorite things to do were reading and listening to music. Two walls of my living room were completely covered by CD cases.
“I like music,” I replied, shrugging lightly. Emmett gave me a grin.
“I could tell.” He started running his fingers over the cases, reading the names soundlessly. All of a sudden, his cell phone rang. I left him alone to have his conversation. I walked into the kitchen to have a glass of water. At least that still tasted the same. I leaned against the counter and looked out the window. Emmett walked into the kitchen.
“I’ve got to go but I’ll definitely be back to check that collection of yours out,” he grinned at me and I smiled back.
“Anytime.”
“Hey,” he said all of a sudden. “Why don’t I drive you to school tomorrow?” I smiled.
“If that’s alright with everyone then sure,” I answered.