The Peace Keeper

Tuesday was supposed to be like any other day for two Cullens plus one Swan, as they rode to school in Edward’s Volvo. The younger of the Cullens bounced in the back seat urging her older brother to drive faster. Edward ignored her knowing the one Swan was quite apprehensive when it came to his speedy driving, and he wished to remain “ostentatious”, as always.

But Alice persisted, all the way to school. By the time she stopped, they were already there, and quite disappointed. The person they’d been expecting and ever so eager for had not yet arrived. Crestfallen, the two Cullens plus one Swan walked into the building of their first class, Alice wearing a pout on her transcendent features.

Their first period class went on, uneventful for the two Cullens plus one Swan. No sign of the Emma-Kate Dawson, whom of which had become quite the antagonist for Alice.

The bell signaling the end of first period sounded none too soon. The two Cullens plus one Swan were all eager to get out of their tedious English class and search for the Dawson girl. Unsure if they were going to see her during second period, the two Cullens plus one Swan awaited lunch.

Providentially, the one Swan did have second period with Emma-Kate Dawson.

Bella noticed the new girl being pulled into their Spanish class via Jessica. Jessica then abandoned the girl to go tell the whole class about her. All the while, Emma-Kate was speaking with the teacher. Once their conversation was finished, Emma-Kate was told to take the empty seat next to Bella herself.

Emma-Kate plopped down into her seat dramatically.

Bella then spoke up, wanting to befriend the new girl. “Hi,” She greeted quietly. “I’m Bella Swan. I was the new girl before you showed up.”

Much to Bella’s comfort, the Dawson girl laughed lightly. “Then you know my pain,” Emma-Kate stuck out a hand for Bella to take. “Emma-Kate Dawson, from Philadelphia.”

Even though Bella was well aware, she nodded nonetheless. Then, she made the move to say more, but only got cut off by the teacher beginning class.

All throughout the class, Bella started up conversations, hoping to discover anything about this girl to fuel her theories of why Alice was having trouble “seeing” her.

The only thing Bella could come up with is that Emma-Kate Dawson has no reason to be special.

The bell rang. Bella Swan was eager to go find the two Cullens. “I guess I’ll see you later.” She grinned.

Emma-Kate returned it. “Yeah, see you.”

Just then, Jessica swooped by, grabbing Emma-Kate and hauled her to the cafeteria.

Bella rushed in the opposite direction, searching for her two companions. It wasn’t difficult finding the two, seeing as their stunning beauty stood out greatly among the ordinary students. She hadn’t even taken two steps in their direction when they turned to greet her, but since the Cullens were a dozen or so feet away, Bella had to jog a few steps to greet them back.

“I finally met Emma-Kate,” Bella stated as the trio trekked towards the cafeteria within the flock of other students. “She’s in my Spanish class.”

Alice was anxiously giddy by this point in the day, and upon hearing the notice, she had to restrain herself from jumping for joy. If she hadn’t, there wouldn’t be any doubt that she would jump about twenty feet in the air, possibly causing a bit of a ruckus.

“Introduce us!” Alice commanded as the three slipped in the doorway to the cafeteria building.

Recoiling ever so slightly at the smaller girl’s outburst, Bella nodded in agreement, “She’s over there, in the lunch line.” Bella gestured to the exhausted looking new girl filing herself into the line of twenty other students or so. “Will we need to do anything more than say hi and introduce you two?”

“Probably not,” Edward spoke up for the first time. His amber gaze carefully scrutinized Emma-Kate from a distance. “Befriending her is a plus, but we don’t need to get too close to figure out what’s wrong with her.”

The elder vampire kept his eyes on the Dawson girl, his façade becoming more and more concentrated as the clock on the wall beside them ticked by. After a few ticks and a couple tocks, Edward’s face gracefully moved into an expression of frustration.

Sensing his discomfort, Alice asked, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s her mind.” He frowned with his response. “I can hear it, but I can’t listen to it.”

“Huh?” Bella inquired, confused at her lover’s wording.

Edward sighed, and pulled the two down to their usually table. Once all of them were comfortably seated, Edward continued his explanation. “I was trying to focus into her mind, and I couldn’t do it!”

With a questioning stare, Bella pointed to herself, “Like with my mind? You can’t hear it at all?”

“No, that’s not it,” Edward shook his head. “I can gather little bits, but not enough to make anything coherent. It’s almost as if I’m trying to listen to someone speak through a wall or underwater. Her thoughts sound blurred and nebulous.”

The two females gave him astonished glances before turning their heads to look at Emma-Kate Dawson again. The girl seemed normal enough. A five foot something, dark haired little thing, normal skin, and an semi-athletic build. No horns, no wings, no tails, either.

“Do you think it’s just a fluke?” Alice questioned. “Like she’s immune to your powers just because? Sort of like how some people are resistant to certain diseases.” She reasoned.

“Or maybe she ingested some sort of radioactive chemical as a child and now has a super-enhanced immune system.” Bella blurted out. “We’ll never know until we ask.”

The two vampires gave the Swan an incredulous look. The brunette but her hands up in defense, “I’m just saying.”

With another disbelieving moment, the two Cullens plus one Swan made their way to the lunch line, falling in behind Emma-Kate herself.

“Oh, hey, Emma.” Bella attempted to act nonchalant, it seemed to work.

The city girl whipped around, apparently frazzled about something or other, but Emma relaxed once she noticed it was only Bella standing there.

“Hey Bella, long time no see.” Emma smiled.

Bella giggled a bit, ready to start up a conversation with her new friend, but a light kick to the back of her calf told her that she had something she needed to do. “Oh, this is Edward and Alice Cullen.” Bella motioned to the two behind her, “They’ve been meaning to meet you.”

Emma leaned over the tray counter to accost the two, but froze stiff as soon as she got a good look at them.

For the first time that day Edward was able to make out a lucid thought from Emma-Kate’s mind.

Vampires.