A Chat on A School Trip

I was currently walking to school as Bella refused to give me a lift after our 'argument' after the incident with the van. I didn't mind it and knew she'd be angry at me, so I just got on with it.

Plus, I have superhuman stamina; running to school wasn't a problem and probably quicker than a car seeing as I could take short-cuts. Anyway, I was just about to get to school when I saw Bella's truck pull into the car park and I just stood there with a smirk as I walked over to her, not even an iota of sweat on my body.

She had an absentminded face with a gloomy frown on her face and she just leaned against her truck with a book in hand while she listened to her favorite bands. She, distracted by her thoughts, books, and music, didn't feel me coming up behind her.

"Boo!" I slapped my hands on her shoulders, with enough force to thoroughly shake her and make her drop her book, which I caught before it fell onto the wet ground. She turned around with annoyed eyes, knowing full well who it was that did that.

She snatched her book away from my hands before going back to reading it.

Huh. I was pretty sure she was gonna question me on how I got here so fast but oh well.

Thinking this, I hopped into the back of the truck and sat down while listening to some of my music. It turns out that it wasn't just the Juniors like Edward and Bella who'd be going on that trip that they went on in the movies, but also Sophomores like me and Edythe. We'd be going to this plant house which was like Forks' own Botanical Garden.

I kept listening to music and looking through notes I'd collected last night while I learned about the multiple subjects I wanted to know about. I ignored Mike awkwardly trying to ask my sister out - I had to turn away and stifle my laughter he was that awkward - and before long we were on the buses.

Feeling a pair of eyes focused on me, I turned around and smiled at Edythe who was near the back of the bus. She simply huffed before ignoring me and I just shook my head at her blatant hypocrisy with a smile still on my face.

The person sat next to me kept droning on about stuff and I had to pretend to listen and care. I have to say this has to be the most annoying thing about my phasing seeming to improve my looks; I've started garnering the attention of girls around me just like the Cullen boys. If they look like the elegant prince charming type, then I look more like the wild bad-boy type. Maybe something to do with my wild heritage as a Shapeshifter?--Whatever, the point is that dealing with teen girls is not a very effortless thing.

Finally, the bus ride was over and after turning down the girl who asked if I wanted to walk around with her, I got off the bus before trying to find a quiet place for me to continue reading my notes. I was currently reading about tips on how to throw a baseball faster and better, and after school today I was planning on practicing.*

(*A/N - Anyone who's seen the movies should know why he's practicing~)

Walking toward a corner of the botanical greenhouse, I sat down on a bench and took out my notes and got to work learning it and committing it to memory. My new learning capabilities opened so many doors for me. I just absorbed information like a sponge and it made sense to me. I could apply it almost instantly as well unless it was a physical skill, which needed physical practice for me to use properly.

Last night I'd even looked up some fighting stuff on YouTube and planned to see if it had any efficacy in real life later today. Though when the time comes, I'll probably just get Jasper to teach me how to fight. I'll probably be able to rely on my rapidly growing brute strength until then.

When I just finished some notes on French, I felt a hand come and take the paper away from me. Recognizing the pale, slender hand, I looked up to see Edythe staring at the paper with pleasant surprise on her face. Once she'd given a quite once over, she turned it back to me, "You're learning French? Maybe I can help," there was a tiny bit of hope in her eyes and I smiled at her.

"Yeah, I'm trying to learn French. Alongside German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian," I showed her the pages upon pages of notes I had on the other languages and her eyes widened slightly in wonder as I carried on, "This is all my understanding of the languages so far, and I'm just going over it to cement my foundations in the languages."

Edythe leaned in closer and looked through the notes before nodding her head in slight awe, "You must have been learning for a long time, Alexander. You've got a solid grasp on Spanish and French, while German, Italian, and Russian are quite good as well," she handed me back the notes on French and I added them back to the pile and thought about what she said.

I knew why my understanding of French and Spanish were better than the other languages: It was because in my past life I had taken lessons of those languages and in this life, I could recall those memories with perfect clarity and understand and learn whatever was in them.

I guess this means I have perfect recall, right? Well, that's pretty awesome.

Anyway, I added my understanding from my past life to my new genius-level learning ability, and blam, I'm firing ahead in those two languages.

And here's the thing; Most European Languages have common connections that make sense once you think about it. Spanish is helping my Italian improve quicker than you'd expect, and English is helping with German, just like it is with French. Russian is the only one I'm only learning from scratch because of the Russian Alphabet.

"How long have you been learning?" Edythe asked me curiously as she sat down next to me on the bench. She tucked her hair behind her ears giving me a better look at her flawless face.

Shaking myself from such thoughts, I smugly smiled before answering, "Since last week," I heard her scoff, thinking I was joking but when she heard I wasn't laughing, she froze.

"What?"

Looking over at her, I shrugged my shoulders, "Guess I must be a genius, huh?" as I looked at her, I saw that she was looking at me with a mixture of disbelief and suspicion.

"You're lying to try to impress me, right?" she smirked at me, trying to joke me into admitting I was lying or something. I can't blame her, I'd be the same if someone said they'd gained a decent grasp on 5 languages in a week.

Laughing I just shook my head, "I admit, I am trying to impress you, Edy. But I'm not lying. I genuinely did just start learning a week ago when my sister moved here," I looked seriously into her eyes, trying to convey my sincerity.

She squinted her eyes at me before speaking with clear suspicion, "You lied about the van incident - which I saw - so why should I trust you now?"

"Because I'm telling the truth, Edy. I don't take pleasure in lying to you. You're like my only friend at school," I grinned a little before getting back into my notes.

I could feel her staring at me, the cogs in her brain spinning around and around, trying to figure out if I was lying or not. I knew that at least some part of her felt my sincerity and knew I was telling the truth but it seems that me lying about how I stopped the van has made her a little too suspicious of me.

Finally, she spoke but it nearly made me groan in frustration, "So you're admitting to lying about the van incident?"

Rolling my eyes, I just packed up my notes before looking at her, "Does it matter? Freaky stuff happens every day - Can't you just chalk it up to that and let it go?"

She went silent before sighing and looking at me with hopelessness apparent in her eyes, "You're hard to read, Alexander. You know that, don't you? It seems to be why you can control the conversation so well. You never run out of things to say or get stuck on how to reply," she let out a slightly self-deprecating laugh before carrying on, "I can usually read anyone I talk to and I guess that made me complacent...because with you I just can't stop being curious. It makes me so pushy on things like this where I can't fully tell if you're being serious, I just--!" she stopped herself with a frustrated groan before looking away from me.

Thinking about what she said, I just looked at her, or rather the back of her head as she was faced away from me.

"I kind of understand what you're talking about, Edy. I can't read you either, I don't know what to think about you...which is the reason I want to be friends with you, to get to know you and spend time with you. You interest me. So, instead of pushing each other to reveal things, why don't we just walk the natural path until we find out what the other's hiding?" leaning back I laughed, "Plus, it sounds like you're used to reading people's minds or something," throwing in a bit of teasing I continued to look at Edythe who was now looking at me from the corner of her eye.

She seemed to take in what I said but she scoffed before replying, "And what if I can read people's minds? Would you be scared?" she spoke in a fake-threatening tone, obviously joking.

Chuckling a little, I shook my head, "No, not really. I'd just say you have a pretty good superpower."

She seemed appreciative of my answer and just giggled a little bit. The conversation went quiet at that point as Edythe started to think about something and I just closed my eyes and relaxed in the natural atmosphere surrounding us.

Before long, Edythe spoke up again and I opened my eyes to show I was listening.

"I...I'm fine with what you said, Alexander. We can just hang out, as friends, obviously...and learn about each other naturally, I guess..." she sounded a bit flustered and embarrassed but deep down I could hear her happiness at this outcome. It seemed to show her that I sincerely wanted to get to know her. Good, because that's exactly what I wanted to convey.

"So, Edy, what are your hobbies?"

Seemingly taken aback by my question, Edythe stuttered a bit as she answered, "Uhhh, I, I guess I l-like listening to music and playing the Piano," she composed herself for a few seconds before returning the question, "What about you, Alexander? What are your hobbies?" she shuffled a little closer to me and her eyes kept darting to my throat but I kept myself calm and just answered her.

"I guess I like to work out and learn about new things. I like messing with cars and bikes as well - fixing up bikes is something me and my best friend do on the regular," smiling while talking about my hobbies I felt myself getting swept into talking more, like a chatterbox of some kind, "I like riding the bikes we fix up as well. It's got a weird satisfaction to it."

Thinking about the up-coming ride me and Jacob were going to do on La Push beach tomorrow, I couldn't help but feel my body burn with excitement.

You'd think I wouldn't find it fun anymore, seeing as I could run incredibly fast myself, but it was different. Just like how running is different than cycling, running with supernatural speed was different when compared with going as fast as possible on a rally bike.

I wonder how running as a wolf will feel?

Bringing me out of my thoughts, I heard Edythe laughing and when I looked at her I saw her covering her mouth and her delightful smile, as she tried to muffle her already quiet and gentle laughter. Wondering why she was laughing I tilted my head in confusion.

Seeing my questioning look, Edythe calmed herself and stopped laughing before answering, "We couldn't be any more different, no? You like fixing bikes and riding them, while I like listening to music and playing the piano - they're quite different, no? I was just laughing at the fact that despite our different hobbies we seem to get on quite well," she finished with a happy smile which caused my heart to skip a few beats and my breath to be taken from me.

But ever the quick recovery, I soon replied to her with an equally happy smile, "You think so? I think 'The Mechanic and the Musician' has a nice ring to it," playfully smiling, Edythe started laughing again and I just basked in the sound of her laughter.

Shapeshifters going through their phasing should be quite temperamental but listening to this girl's soft and gentle laughter...I just couldn't find a reason to not just stay happy.

Oblivious to my thoughts, Edythe's laughter slowly came to an end before she spoke with a cheerful tone to her voice, "I must agree, Alexander; it does indeed have quite a nice ring to it," her eyes squinted in her happiness and I felt a stirring in my chest which I instantly suppressed.

And with that, a few hours went by and the trip was over. Edythe and I sat next to each other on the way back and spoke about a multitude of things, from what music the other likes, to what was the other's favorite historical figure - though I'm sure Edythe probably did meet hers.

Before I knew it, I was back home, in my shower washing myself and thinking back on my talks with Edythe.

I couldn't believe I was so happy over such simple things but I was. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Edythe and I have to wonder why...

As I continued to suppress the obvious, I got out of the shower before long before I prepared to go out and workout and practice.

All so I could avoid the obvious...

Ignoring my thoughts, for the time being, I put on a tank-top, some shorts, and some basic trainers before rushing out the house with a bag full of baseballs.