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Chapter Three: Birth

Birth

Clarence found Nes and I sitting behind the bush when class was let out, he took a meaningful look at her, then turned to me, "have you seen Adeline? We're sitting together... right?" He glanced at Nes again, then back at me, "I can't sit alone with her during lunch for an hour."

I laugh quietly, "yes, Clarence, I will spare you from that experience." I don't know if Nes wants me to introduce her, or to just leave quietly... I don't know if she has to talk to her family first, or not. I turn toward her slightly, she nods and flickers her eyes toward my brother. "Nes this is Clarence, Clarence this is--"

"Renesmee," she cuts me off, "my family calls me Nessie... in school my name is Vanessa or Nes." She smiles, "I figure you all might as well know the truth at this point," she shrugs, smiling at me. She lowers her voice, "I hate the name Vanessa... and Nessie is babyish... don't tell my mom." All three of us laugh.

I leave with Clarence to go find Adeline, and Nes skips off to the cafeteria to meet her family. Adeline was walking alone, her nose in a book we've never seen her with before, which isn't all that unusual so we ignored it. "Addie?" Clarence says, "yoo hoo, Miss Adeline?" He laughs, waving his hands. Adeline is always reading, she loves young-adult, mystery, and thrill. We roam through bookstores often and have an extensive library in each of our homes.

"Hm?" Her eyes peel away from the page slowly, "oh, sorry!" She laughs, "lunch? Cafeteria?" She glances between the two of us, "where are we sitting?" She looks more at me now, since I was the only one here yesterday.

"Um..." I bite my lip, "the table I sat at yesterday ended up being the table that Nes's family sits at... since, you know, they weren't here either..." I take a deep breath, "we'll figure it out!" I quickly promise. "We can sit outside if we have to." Adeline sighs and begins walking toward the Cafeteria with Clarence and I behind her. I'm kind of surprised neither of them have classes with the older Cullen's.

"Meredith." Suddenly a perky, dark haired girl was standing in front of me. She looked friendly, was smiling and her eyes look sincere. "I've seen you." She nods, then stretches her hand out, "Alice." It clicked, and I smiled back and shook her hand. "It's taken you long enough," she says with a huff, "been waiting years for our paths to cross." I tilt my head, opening my mouth to answer but Adeline chooses now to jump in.

"Hi, I'm Adeline." She says, her mouth pressed in a tight smile. "This is my brother Clarence, and our sister Meredith," she places a hand on my shoulder pulling me back. "It's nice to meet you but we must be going... Meredith needs her lunch." She steers me to the food line, instructing me to hurry then leads us outside to eat. "Amelia and Harper haven't decided on what we're doing and there has to be a reason for that."

"Adeline, not everyone is out to get you," Clarence laughs, taking my apple and tossing it like a ball. "You're not that relevant in everyone's eyes."

She glares at him, sharing something I don't know. Something I want to know. Clarence opens his mouth to tell me exactly what's going on, but then closes it glancing at Adeline. She shifted her shield onto him. I groan, letting my head hit the table.

After several moments of silence, Clarence bangs his hands on the table, "she deserves to know," he says, "we steer clear of other families because Amelia is afraid they'll take you away from us, because you're so different, and also powerful... afraid they'll report us to the volturi and they'll want you for themselves."

My jaw drops, "but... they have Renesmee, I doubt they'll even bat an eye at me. Their family is so powerful themselves." I sigh, frowning, "Nes even offered to help me learn to control mine! They're not a threat, Adeline."