One of A Kind

Pre-Twilight: Chapter Eight

"This is the last time I will ask this, Janetta Hope. Why were you with the Cullens?" Anna asked me. Damn, she must be pissed. She never uses my middle name unless it's serious.

"It's no big deal. I am project partners with two of them." I reply, pushing past her to get to the stairs.

"It is a big deal, Janetta! We don't know them, which means we don't know if they're dangerous or not."

"Well, for the four hours I spent with them, they didn't seem dangerous." I roll my eyes at her.

"Look, Janetta, I have a bad feeling about them, okay? Whenever I cross paths with Dr. Cullen, the feeling pops up. I can't really explain it. The best I can do to explain is what I would think death would feel like. Cold and dark." She seems scared.

"Anna, I am still cautious around them. I will not let my guard down around them. I promise." I say, walking up to her and hugging her.

"I know." I can tell she is about to cry.

"And if they try anything, they won't get close enough to me to hurt me. Don't forget. I'm not a little kid. I can defend myself." I reassure her.

"I know. I still see you as this little girl, and you're not. I'm still going to do everything I can to protect you."

"Thank you, Anna." I hug her again.

"I love you, Janetta."

"I love you, too." We pull apart and smile at each other. "I'm gonna go upstairs and take a shower."

I go upstairs and take a nice long shower. When I get out, I put my pajamas on and go downstairs to see Anna has made my favorite meal. Glad to know I technically ended up not lying to Jasper and Alice. As I sit down, dad gets home and joins us. After dinner, I do the dishes and join them on the couch. We decided to watch a movie. We ended up watching Legally Blonde against my dad's wishes. Anna and I took turns reciting Elle's lines.

When the movie ended, I went to my room and climbed into bed. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I got into bed. As I drift off to sleep, I think about Jasper and his book collection.

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As I get out of the car, the sun hits my face, blinding me. Ugh. I hate the sun so much. Walking to the entrance, I notice the Cullens' car is not there. Maybe they're ditching.

I reach my locker and grab my essentials. I close the locker and meet Lyvia's smiling face.

"Thank you so much!!" She grabs me and hugs me hard.

"For?"

"Giving Alice my number. We've been texting since last night." She is smiling from ear to ear.

"Aw. No problem. She is the one who asked for your number out of the blue. Those feelings you have may be mutual." I smirk at her as she blushes.

"I hope so." She is practically bouncing off the walls. I'm so happy that she's happy.

"Did she happen to mention why they aren't here?"

"Yeah. Apparently, Dr. Cullen convinced the school to let them be excused on sunny days. AND they get P.E. credit for it. They are going hiking and camping and stuff like that. Maybe I should try that on my parents."

"You already have P.E. credits." I laugh.

"Oh. Yeah... Well, shit." She frowns at her little plan crumbling before her. "Guess I will have to suffer within the walls of this prison." We giggle at that and walk to first period.

First period went by extremely slow. Since Alice and Jasper weren't here, I had to work alone on the project. Since we got a good bit done yesterday, I didn't see a need to work on it alone during class. I pulled out the book and decided to re-read it. I didn't realize the time until the bell rang for second period.

My classes seemed to pass very slowly. Spanish didn't interest me at all. I usually love my Spanish class, but I couldn't seem to concentrate. My calculus class kept my mind busy, so that was good. Thank the heavens that I love math so much that it takes over my entire mind. After calculus, I went to anatomy. We were doing dissections. Worst day to wear a white sweater.

Finally, it's lunchtime. Thank god. I am so hungry.

"Hey, guys," I say, sitting in my seat. They collectively say their hellos.

"Your little boyfriend is missing," Jessica says.

"Haha. Not my boyfriend." I smile fakely.

"Sure." She says with a blank face. "We all know you want him to be." She lets a smirk peek through.

"Jess. Leave it alone." Angela says.

"Why? I'm just playing around." Jess says. She is really starting to bug me. "Admit it, Netta. You like him."

I move as close to her as possible and stare at her straight in the eyes. "Jess. Drop it." She sits there momentarily, then snaps out of it and sulks back into her seat. I hate using my compulsion, but she just wouldn't stop. The rest of them seem to drop it as well.

The rest of lunch is pretty quiet. Small conversations here and there. Jess doesn't speak at all the entire time. It serves her right. The rest of the school day continues to be a complete bore.

Once I get home, I go upstairs anddo my homework. I feel as though I am just going through the motions of myafter-school routine. Maybe I'm coming down with a cold. After dinner, I takesome cold medicine and crawl into bed. I wait for the pills to take effect andthen fall into a deep sleep