First Day Impressions

When the teacher announced we were going to have to stand in front of the class and talk about ourselves, I let out a very tiny whimper that I didn't think anyone could hear. I hated this part of being new at school. What the hell was I supposed to get up there and say? Hi, I'm Rayanne..I bounce from foster care to foster care because nobody wants me, so don't bother trying to get to know me? No thanks.

I slid down in my chair a little, trying to disappear or get the floor to swallow me or something. When the teacher called on me, I literally had to force myself out of my chair and walked to the front of the class. I stared at a spot on the wall over everyone's heads..a benefit of being rather tall..and began to talk.

"I'm Rayanne Bell. I just moved here from California."

That was all I said before I swiftly walked back to my chair and flopped down in it. I sunk low in my chair and put my head on my desk as the teacher called Sophia Moris to the front.

I smiled and whispered back to her as Sophia talked about where she'd been.

"That's pretty close by...are there other vampires there too or are you alone?"

I gave a tiny shrug that only she or Blake could have noticed "This is our second year here. And uh..as for Blake, don't worry about it. He's extremely picky and cautious"

I had kept my eyes on Bri the whole time she was up front, but noticed she made sure not to look at me. When Ray got up there and said the least amount she could get away with, I joined several other students in chuckling in amusement. I leaned back and watched as Sophia had to go up, curious about how she'd introduce herself.

I laughed a little at Ray when she walked up, blurted out her name and where she was from and then was gone in the blink of an eye. I couldn't really blame her, and now that I thought of it, I wished that I would have done the same. I might not have been looking at Brendan but I'd been able to feel his eyes on me. Just the thought of him looking at me in any way made me turn red, including the tips of my ears and the back of my neck.

I doodled on my notebook again and turned my full attention to that even though I was listening intently to hear what this Sophia said about herself. I was a naturally curious person, but that wasn't really the case here. Brendan was interested in her and I wanted to see what it took to be that kind of person that would get someone's attention like that. Besides her perfect, flawless face and her marble-like skin.

I was listening intently to the conversation that Sophia and Brendan were having together. So much that I did relax a little bit, though the irresistable smell of Ray was still there taunting me.

"I'm cautious." I said quietly so that only Brendan and Sophia could hear me. "We hardly ever come across any of our kind here except for the ones we live with. Why are you here? We're comfortable here and the last thing we need is for someone to mess that up." I sighed. "So Bren might have taken a fancy to you but it's going to take something a lot more than being pretty to make me friendly."

I wasn't intentionally being rude but the smell of Ray was affecting my senses and making me a little crabby. I had to grind my teeth together and force my eyes to look another way, any way to stop her scent drifting over to me. If I was anywhere else but in school where other people would notice, I would just stop breathing all together.

"I'm alone. I have yet to find another one to spend my time with."

Every vampire was familiar with pairings. Finding the one you felt you could actually spend the rest of eternity with. It always seems as though every vampire I ran into had already found their pair. Though it was rather apparent that Blake and Brendan hadn't found theirs either. It was lonely at times, but I had lived alone for so long, I had gotten use to it.

As Rayanne took her seat the teacher nodded her head suggesting it was now my turn to step in front of the class and speak. I stood slowly and gracefully made my way forward. I could feel the attraction the human male's had toward me and the occasional jealously from the females. It was such common feelings from the mortals, I could easily ignore them. As I stood in front of the class and placed my hands in the back pockets of my jeans. A soft smile formed on my face as I spoke gentle.

"Nothing makes a person feel more self conscious than standing in front of the class on her first day in a new school." I added a soft chuckle before continuing. "My name is Sophia Moris, I just moved here, and I suppose that's really all there is to say."

With a shrug I turned to the teacher as if asking if there was anything else I was required to add. When she gave me the nod of approval I slipped back into my seat. I didn't want to say all that much, just enough to pacify the teacher and make everyone think I was a sweet but quite girl. Those type of girls were typically the type most people ignored. That situation was fine with me.

Once I had taken my seat I was able to fall back into the seemingly nonexistent conversation with Blake and Brendan. As Blake spoke I felt his frustration toward Rayanne and distrust toward me. It was starting to bug me and for the briefest of moments I started to alter the room's emotions. It wasn't until I heard nearly silent sighs of relaxation from across the room did I rethink my action. While I wanted everyone to be feeling calm and relaxed, changing everyone in the room wasn't the best way to rectify the situation. Releasing my control on the room, I let out my own sigh as I spoke to Blake.

"I understand cautious. I moved to Raventree Hollow for a change of location. I had outgrown my old home and I needed a new place. You have nothing to worry about, I actually enjoy the life I can have around these people and I won't be messing anything up for myself here, or for you and your family."

At the mention of Bren taking a fancy in me a smirk grew on my face. I knew that was a lie. I glanced at Bren for a moment before turning my head over my should to look at Blake.

"Your brother hasn't taken a fancy toward me no need to worry. You don't have to be friendly I'd completely understand. But I have one request, try and control that crappy emotion of yours. I'd greatly appericeate it."

With a knowing smile I turned my head back to face the front of the class.

I was fidgeting in my chair back here. Blake was radiating 'don't talk to me' vibes and Bri was all the way at the front of the class. I had felt relaxed for a moment, but then it went away again and left me back to feeling edgy.

I opened my notebook and began doodling some of the people in the room. I liked to draw and I was pretty good at it. I found it therapeutic when I was feeling stressed. I started with Blake since he was right beside me, and then Brendan and Sophia since the three of them were the best looking in the class. I saw Blake glance at my notebook out of the corner of his eye and I went a bit pink and quickly turned the page. I scribbled a little note this time.

Bri,
Please kill me.
Miss you back here,
Ray

As soon as the teacher had her back turned, I folded up the small bit of paper and tossed it to the front of the class in such a way that it went over Bri's head and landed on the desk right in front of her. I was a pro at note tossing. In my other schools, since I'd had no one to pass notes to, some of the other kids used to get me to toss their notes for them.

"We have a small family of like-minded ones with us" I told Sophia when she said she was alone

I listened when she went to the front of the class and I smiled when she returned to her seat. I felt the strange wave of relaxation, which was a momentary relief from the desire to go gnaw on Bri, but it was soon gone. I looked at Sophia, having a feeling she'd been responsible for it. We all had our little gifts apparently.

"I haven't fancied anyone in ages" I said simply "but I'm friendly enough with our own kind..as long as they don't feed on people" I shrugged a tiny bit.

I blinked as I saw a piece of paper fly across the room and land with precision on Bri's desk. I turned my head to look at Ray, assuming it came from her, but she had a completely innocent look on her face and was writing or something in her notebook. She was good...

I purposely avoided any eye contact with Sophia when she went up to the front of the class. She may have seemed sweet to everyone else but I knew that smug look when I saw it. I was use to it, a lot of girls acted that way towards me. I'd never been the in the 'in' crowd which put me in the nerd one and I was either forgotten or used as a joke by those kinds of girls. It was just a fact of life and I had learned to avoid people like her. I still got caught in traps by them sure but not as often as I use to.

I closed my notebook as the teacher started to talk about what we were going to be learning this year and I'd been about to put it back into my bag when a piece of paper landed on the table in front of me. I turned to look back to see who it had come from but Blake looked like he was about to break the table, Ray was doodling in her own notebook, Sophia looked like she was mumbling to herself and Brendan was looking back at Ray. So I faced the front of the class again and picked up the paper.

I was afraid because people usually sent me mean things. I'd gotten a note once in class last year from a boy that I'd gone to school with for most of my life and it had simply said 'loser' in it. I thought for a second that it could also have been intended for my head, people like to throw things at me. I was tempted to push it away from me and ignore it all together but my curiosity got the better of me and I opened it. I was surprised that it was from Ray, and it actually made me smile. I quickly grabbed my pen and wrote back to her:

Ray,

At least you don't have to sit up here like a freak by yourself! I don't even have anything to look at, you have nice eye-candy beside you at least. Made eye contact with him yet?

Bri

I turned around and made to throw it back to her but I was taken off guard by Brendan looking at me at the same time. I froze and stared, unable to do anything but watch him as he watched me. It made my cheeks turn pink and it wasn't until a caught a brief movement from Sophia did I finally snap out of it. I quickly looked away from him again and when I was sure the teacher wasn't looking, I threw the note back at Ray. I wasn't a pro at this, so it hit her square in the middle of her forehead which made me snort and laugh before quickly turning around again.

My ears perked up at the mention of Sophia finding someone to spend her time with. It wasn't that I was interested but in our family it wasn't a much sought after thing. Brendan and I had been alone for so long that not having a 'soul mate' was perfectly okay for us because we functioned just fine without one. To be honest I'd spent so much time not being or functioning as a human outside of the schools that I attended, that I wasn't sure if I was even capable of that sort of thing.

"You'd really want to spend your time with someone special?" I snorted under my breath. "You'll have a hard time finding someone here. Among hormone driven teenagers and angry teachers."

Our little family did have its couples, that was something that was bound to happen. I might not have wanted it but a part of me did long for that sort of bond with someone.. it just wasn't neccessary. Bren, me and Gavin had all stuck up for each other with our nagging family members against the idea of pairing up.

"How do you know he hasn't?" I chuckled quietly under my breath. "He doesn't have to want you to see that you're quite beautiful."

I rose an eyebrow when Sophia said that she had one request and that was to control my 'crappy emotion'. I thought that might have been because I was having mixed emotions about Ray, my beautiful human girl who sat beside me. It angered me a little that she thought she could talk that way to me and like Brendan, I suspected she could feel emotions. So I smirked and played dirty.

I still had to keep a tight hold on the table but I turned my head to look at Ray. My eyes flashed a different color for the briefest moment and then I glanced down at what she was doodling in. I very clearly saw who she was drawing and was instantly flattered and intrigued - especially since I was an artist myself. But she quickly turned the page and threw a note over to Bri. When she looked back I gave her a warm bright smile as I stared straight into her eyes.

The emotion quickly filled me. A bright, happy emotion. I let my curiousity overwhelm my senses and my attraction and lust for this new girl take me over for a minute. If Sophia really was indeed able to sense emotions than I was sure this would bug her. I dug into Ray's mind and saw that she was attracted to me but wary - and she was incredibly intimidated by Sophia. Partly because, I thought, she was jealous that I wanted Sophia. I became amused and flattered and.. I purposely intensified every pleasing emotion that came across.

"I assumed as much. Given the fact you two are acting as brothers, it's only practical to have a family dynamic to go along with that."

Part of me was always intrigued how groups of vampires could stay together. I knew from my own experiences that feeding on animals' blood rather than human blood made the things easier. But I had yet to find anyone I would want to spend more time with than was required. Usually I only spoke to other vampires in passing. I preferred keeping to myself. I didn't bother to glace back at Blake as I responded to him.

"I didn't say I wanted to, just that I hadn't. Regardless however, I have no intent of "finding" anyone here."

I wasn't looking, not truly. It was more of thing I had decided to leave to fate. My eyes rolled at Blake's next comment regarding his brother. There wasn't much I could say to that, without having to explain my ability. The fact vampires had abilities was common knowledge of our kind. That didn't mean I wanted to go around telling anyone what I could do. There was part of my personality that wouldn't allow me to say nothing at all.

"We're all beautiful. It's part of the package."

Brendan's voice caught my attention again. The mention of eating humans. I tried my best not to do something like that. Mainly because I enjoyed the life that could be lead near humans. I didn't want to risk everything I had just because I got hungry. I'd slipped before, but in my current location with the werewolves and family of animal eating vampires, I couldn't slip here. I turned my head to face Brendan, my golden eyes glistened in the light.

"Nothing to worry about as for as that's concerned."

Letting out a sign I turned to face the teacher again. I wasn't listening, at least not intentionally. I heard everything the teacher had said, I just merely placed in the back of my mind until I might need to know it. My lips parted for a moment to speak to the brothers again when everything Blake was feeling washed over me. My eyes widened and a snarl rumbled through my throat. I clenched the top of my desk tightly, fully aware of the sound of it crumbling beneath my grip. My muscles tightened and I continued to stare forward. Anger ripped through my voice as I whispered. As it would seem, Blake had figured out my emotion.

"Stop that before I make you. Would you like to explain to the rest of the class why everyone has begun to feel depressed and suicidal?"

I had to put my hand over my mouth to try and muffle my giggle when Bri's note bounced off my forehead and landed on my desk. My body shook a little as I tried to hold back the laugh. When I was finally sure it was safe to remove my hand from my mouth, I opened the note and read it. I let out a very tiny snort of amusement and wrote back to her.

Bri,

Might as well be by myself back here. Wish I was up there with you instead. Only made eye contact once, when I first sat down and he said 'hello'. Such a soft deep voice too and pretty eyes...

I saw Blake move a tiny bit out of the corner of my eye and quickly put my hands over the paper so he couldn't read it if he glanced over here. I realized he wasn't looking at me, but Sophia and relaxed and went back to writing.

Think he might have a thing for Sophia though. He keeps looking at her. Meanwhile, the other piece of eye candy keeps watching YOU! That's gotta make you feel special.

Ray

I waited patiently for the teacher's back to be turned again and tossed the note onto Bri's desk. I looked up and blinked in surprise when Blake suddenly looked at me. He was staring straight into my eyes and I felt like he was reading my soul or something. Uncomfortable as it made me, I just couldn't tear my eyes away from those heavenly brown ones. They made me curious too and I ended up tilted my head to one side as I held his gaze because I was pretty sure they'd flashed from topaz to onyx for a brief moment. I felt like I was melting beneath his gaze and when I tried to return that dazzling smile he gave me, I ended up just giving him a sort of lopsided smile.

My cheeks were turning pinker by the second, but I just couldn't force my eyes to break his gaze. I could see his smile had gone from that bright warm one into an amused one that was almost becoming a smirk. It made me blush even darker because I thought he was being amused at my reaction. So I tore my eyes away from his and looked down at my desk. As I drew in a shakey breath, I realized I'd been holding my breath that entire time. I felt strange...dazed..and like somehow Blake knew everything about me now.

I didn't like that thought..him seeing how big a mess I was inside. So, I avoided eye contact with him for the rest of the class. When it was over, I grabbed my stuff and practically ran for Bri. We wandered off to find our next class together and stuck together for the rest of the day. I only had one class without her and that was Math. I ended up having to sit beside Brendan, who seemed to be the complete opposite of Blake...he chatted my ear off while somehow managing to still do both our class work until the bell rang for school to be over. I headed out to my car, feeling like I needed to get the hell out of there and waved bye to Bri when I saw her getting into her car too.

lps for the humans ^.^'

I nodded in relief when Sophia said she didn't feed on humans. I had been watching Bri in amusement because of the way she seemed frozen looking at me for a few moments there before she finally snapped out of it. I gave her a smile, snickering inside, and then blinked as Sophia went rigid beside me.

I glanced at her and then over at Blake when she growled at him.

"What are you..oh.." I let out a small snort of amusement under my breath when I saw he was staring at Ray.

I snickered and shook my head. He was playing dirty and I was amused by it as always. Of course, I was also a bit curious about what sort of emotions he was bombarding Sophia with; but I knew he wouldn't tell me even if I asked.

"Behave, brother" I chuckled under my breath "You're making the human squirm"

I could see the way Ray was transfixed on his eyes and looked like she was attempting to stop looking but failing. Her face was going redder and redder by the second and I had to try hard not to laugh openly at her. She finally managed to tear her eyes away and I shook my head again.

When class was over, I walked with Blake to our next one. Turned out Sophia was in there with us, so we spent the class having another discussion that no one else could hear. Mine and Blake's last class was Math and I was assigned to sit by Ray to Blake's relief. I pretended to be friendly and chatted away to her about her new friend, just trying to see if I could learn anything about Bri that would explain my strange thirst for her. I didn't find out much and definitely not anything that would explain it.

After school was over, we said goodbye to Sophia as the three of us went out to our cars. It was a strange day to say the least.

lps for the rest of us