Crescent Night

Chapter 10

 The next day at school was surreal, something about following my daily routine after last night's revelations makes everything feel like a dream. Like I'm switching from scene to scene and I'll wake up at any moment with no recollection. But as the day went on, I made peace with my strange new reality.

"What are you gonna eat?" Alice's voice broke through my thought bubble.

I looked at the selections, their underwhelmingness a comforting constant all things considered among all the craziness. That didn't make them any more palpable though. "Uh- I think i'll just have a sandwich"

She nodded and set a prepackaged sandwich on her tray, along with a coke for Jasper. As we slowly made our way to the front of the line I found myself lost in thought again. Little details about how they acted were recontextualized. They ate a lot less than other people, they hardly interacted with others, and they seemed to know things they shouldn't.

I allowed Alice to pay for my lunch, to mentally exhausted to fight her on it. We made our way to their table, joining the rest of their siblings, and Bella. That was new, usually we sat alone, but no need to be discrete anymore i supposed. The table felt a bit full, but they tried to make space for the two newcomers.

I sat next to Bella, Alice taking my other side. She seemed fairly comfortable with Edward.

"Hey" She broke the silence.

"Hi"

"So I was right"

"You sure were"

We laughed, most of the Cullens following suit. Save for Rosalie, who seemed entirely unamused by the entire situation. Her face held the same seriousness I'd seen at the hospital after the accident. I tried not to pay too much attention to it, these were strange times for everyone.

Conversation continued around me, PG versions of experiences any of them had had as vampires. Accidents, embarrassing moments, it was all so mundane. I just stared around the table, when a thought hit me.

Were any of them actually related?

"No, we're not" Edwards suddenly addressed me from next to Bella.

"What?"

"You were wondering if we were really related" He continued as if it was obvious "We're not, it's a cover we use"

"I didn't say anything-"

"You didn't have to, I can read your mind" His face held a smug expression, and i couldn't even come up with anything to say.

"¿Cómo?"

The table once again erupted in laughter. I just stared at him. Alice put a hand on mine to get my attention.

"Some of us have gifts" she clarified slowly, i nodded "Edward can read minds"

"Everyone's but Bella's." He added.

A horrifying thought hit me.

Could Alice read my mind?

Could Jasper?

"No, I'm the only one that can read minds," Edward answered.

"¡Deja eso!" I turned to face him. He just laughed, and Bella smacked his arm in a scolding manner. The bastard didn't even have the decency to pretend it hurt.

"We do have other gifts, but we can talk about that later" Alice continued, shooting Edward a look.

"So-uh- you guys weren't actually adopted by Dr. Cullen, were you?" I technically knew the answer, but I wanted them to elaborate.