Twilight Fan Fiction ❯ In The Shadow Of The Sun ❯ Remembrance ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“Luna, we have to go!”

“But... Leina isn’t up yet...”

“She can drive herself to school, but I have something that I have to do.”

Luna looked down at her sleeping and exhausted friend.

Leonna walked over to Luna, putting a hand on her shoulder. “She’s tired, Luna... She stayed up way too late doing her homework. Just let her sleep in a while longer.”

Leonna led Luna out the door as they snuck out of the house.

Leina blinked her eyes, trying to adjust them to the dim light emanating from the kitchen. She rubbed her eyes and slid out of her bed. Leina noticed that it wasn’t raining, yet cloudy. Walking over to the kitchen, she happened to look at the clock, her eyes widening in shock.

“Oh my gosh, I’m going to be late!” she screamed.

Leina ran into her room, digging through her backpack for clothes. She finally found a light blue, white, navy and black tank top-style jersey and a pair of jeans she hadn’t totally mutilated on the trip. She stripped down right there in the living room, changing as quick as she could. She shoved everything into a pile on the bed, threw all of her books into her book bag and grabbed her keys. She sprinted out of the house, slamming the door behind her, and jumped into her car.

Leina’s Camaro practically flew down the highway, pushing the speed limit as much as Leina would allow it to. She searched the whole parking lot.

“Did everyone decide to take their individual cars today?!“

Just as she pulled into a parking space (which was quite a distance from the buildings of the school), the final bell rang.

“Crap!” Leina shouted as she locked her “new” car. She sprinted across the parking lot and all the way to her Biology class.

By the time Leina burst through the doors of her Biology class, she was so out of breath that she was running with one hand skimming the wall, making sure she wouldn’t fall. The door slammed as it made contact with the opposing wall and flung itself back at Leina, who barely managed to catch it as she bent over from exhaustion.

Mr. Banner stared down at her, not sure whether to be mad at her disrupting his class or to be concerned. “Nice of you to join us, Miss Saxen. We were just discussing the acronym ‘PMAT’... would you be able to tell me what that stands for?”

Leina held up one finger as she attempted to regain her breath, and then straightened up. “Um... prophase, metaphase, anaphase and... telophase?”

“Good job, Miss Saxen... now go take your seat...”

Leina hurried over to her seat, her classmates snickering as she went by. A couple of them attempted to trip her, yet she jumped over every pair of legs.

“Miss Saxen, do you really have to play hopscotch in order to get to your seat, or do you just have an unnatural nervous twitch?!” Mr. Banner yelled, interrupted from his lesson again.

Leina blushed, turning to the teacher. “Yes, Mr. Banner... Sorry...”

Leina slumped down into her seat, miserable all ready.

“This class is NOT going to go well...” she thought to herself dejectedly.

Her presumption was correct. Leina proceeded to answer three questions wrong and when walking back to her seat from writing an answer on the board, one of her classmates finally succeeded in making her trip. She raised her red face, hearing everyone, even Mr. Banner, snicker. Leina sat quietly at her desk for the rest of class, a permanent blush covering her face.

Just as the warning bell for second block rang, Leonna sat her bag down at an empty desk in the back of the room. She was suddenly greeted by the energetic Alice, who slammed her hands on the desk and said, “Hey, Leonna.”

Leonna’s hair stood on end as a reaction from the bang on her desk. Alice’s grin grew until her smile took over her face. “That’s so cool!”

Leonna smirked and raised an eyebrow once her hair settled. “What’s so cool?”

Alice leaned in closely across the desk and whispered, “You’re one of the Zinan!”

Leonna’s eyes widened and immediately squinted with that same smirk. “I haven’t heard that name in a while. And I see you’re not so average as well.”

Alice kept her grin as she shook her head. She was about to speak again, but the final bell cut her off. She plopped her bag in the seat next to Leonna’s. “I want to hear all about you,” Alice said, folding her arms as she leaned on her desk, facing Leonna.

Leonna laughed. “Come lunchtime.”

Alice’s eyes sparkled in anticipation as she immediately focused on the teacher for the math lecture.

Leonna then realized that Edward was sitting on his own on the opposite side of the classroom. She suddenly felt sympathetic for him as he glanced at the empty seat next to him, and then to Alice who was trying to concentrate on the math problem given to them.

“Edward?” Leonna thought.

He suddenly lifted his head, searching for the person who thought his name, then realized it was Leonna’s voice who called him. He glanced at her and they held each other’s gaze for a moment before Leonna looked down and thought, “I’m sorry for stealing your friend.”

Edward had to concentrate on her voice and let the others slip away. He responded by a simple nod of apology-acceptance that Leonna caught out of the corner of her eye.

“You told her what I am, didn’t you?”

He nodded again and heard her sigh across the room.

“All right, I can’t stop you from telling people. And I trust you know the boundaries.”

Edward leaned back in his chair, finished with the math problem, as she was, and gave her a slow nod.

“I’d rather not be turned into a prize-winning science experiment.”

That made Edward laugh, though silently, as to not disturb the other students.

“You know, this is very aggravating, not knowing what you’re thinking.”

She saw Edward roll his eyes.

“I bet you get that same feeling with Leina, yeah?”

Edward frowned.

“Man, I can read you like a book! You always get that same tint in your eyes whenever you think about her. It’s a good thing those blood circuits of yours aren’t flowing like they should, or else your feelings would be even easier to read.”

He raised an eyebrow at her observation, which made her giggle silently.

“Everyone’s taking a really long time on this problem,” Leonna thought, looking around to see who was finished. Edward nodded in agreement.

Dragging her feet as she walked, Leina made her way over to Building 6 for fifth period. Her Art teacher had been questioning her on why she had fallen asleep on her sketch during class. She had tried to explain about her late night of homework, a brief summary of why she was so sleep-deprived (basically telling the teacher that she couldn’t fall asleep), and about her waking up late.

Leina reached into her pocket and handed her Government teacher a slip of pink paper.

“Um, Miss Saxen? What is this?”

“My pass...?”

The teacher handed the paper back to Leina. “This is a coupon for 50% off your next purchase at a ‘Smoothie Shoppe’... from three months ago.”

The class burst into unreserved laughter. Leina’s face turned scarlet as she looked around the room. Leonna was giving her a sympathetic look. Edward, for some strange reason, looked as if he was trying to hold himself back from something; as if he was in pain.

Leina reached into her other pocket, producing the real pass that she had been given by the Art teacher, then walked over and sat in her seat.

“Well, that was mortifying...” she mumbled.

Leina’s day had not gotten any better since first period. She couldn’t find anywhere to sit during English, because the seats were either “saved” or “taken.” She had sat down in one seat, only to have a girl come back from the bathroom and demand her right to the desk. Every seat by Jasper was taken --which Leina wondered if there was a purposeful reason for this-- so she ended up sitting in a desk off to the side. She soon found out why: there was a multitude of gum underneath the table-part of the desk. Cooking wasn’t as bad, except for almost lighting herself on fire with a malfunctioning burner. Then the Art incident, and now this.

Leina heard a bunch of people snickering. She looked up to see them all glancing back at her as the teacher wrote on the board. A confused look came over her face.

“You have something on your face,” a voice said next to her.

Leina glanced over at Edward, then swiped her cheek with her hand. Sure enough, she realized that she had a thin layer of graphite on her cheek and forehead, due to passing out on her sketch during Art. She rubbed at it until nothing came off on her hand; and her face was even more red from the friction. The kids finally stopped chuckling amongst themselves and actually started paying attention to the teacher’s lecture.

“Thanks...” Leina whispered.

Edward said nothing, seeming to be ignoring her.

Leina then noticed how far away her was sitting from her. Edward had turned his chair away from her and had it at the far end of his desk.

“What’s wrong with hi-”

“All right, class, please clear your desks and take out a number 2 pencil.”

Leina gaped, open-mouthed, at the teacher. “Oh, man! We have that test today!” she thought as she resigned to dejectedly clearing off her desk.

Trying to remember all of the notes that she had taken (and the ones that Edward had taken for her), she scratched her head. Once, she thought she saw Edward look over at her, his now dark eyes seemed to be attempting to communicate something crucial. When she finally met his gaze, he only looked back at his paper, a movement so quick one would have thought they had been mistaken.

Leina thought she had done averagely on the test. She best remembered Edward’s fine and elegant script, rather than her own quick writing with its blips of information. She ran out of time for the last four questions, so she answered them as quickly as she could. The class got up, stretched and went out the door to lunch.

Leina slammed her head on the desk, moaning. She knew she hadn’t done as well as she could have, if she had just remembered and studied for the test.

“Hey, Edward, how do you think you did?”

Leina looked up and saw that Edward had all ready left, the desk totally vacant. Leina sighed as Leonna came over to her desk.

“Wow, I didn’t think I was that unwanted,” Leonna joked.

Leina looked up at her friend, smiling half-heartedly at the joke. “No, I thought Cullen was still here, and I started talking to him... but he wasn’t even here,” she explained, hitting herself on the head as she got up from the desk, gathering her books.

“Well, don’t worry about it. I’m sure he was just trying to get out quick and get the food to get us more chairs for the table, right?” Leonna’s tone was one, desperate to make an excuse for something.

Leina nodded and followed her friend to lunch.

“Hey, Leina, you can go get your lunch. I’ll hold a spot for you.” Leonna offered, holding out her hand.

Leina nodded and handed her the book bag on her shoulder, heading for the growing lunch lie. While waiting, she thought about his clique of gorgeous outsiders she’s now become a part of. Each character carrying a unique mysterious aura, including her friends Luna and Leonna. She felt like such an outsider because she never thought of herself being the slightest bit mysterious and would barely classify as... well, knowing Luna and Leonna made her feel unique.
By this time, after daydreaming, she had gotten her lunch and was on the search for Leonna. Low and behold, she had chosen a spot at the Cullen/Hale circle table, across from Edward and next to an empty chair. So the order went, empty chair, Luna, Emmet, Rosalie, Edward, Alice, Jasper, Leonna, empty chair. Luna was happily eating her lunch and joking with Emmet while receiving glares from Rosalie, who was periodically receiving death glares from Leonna, who was talking to Alice about the cat-humanoid race and was offered a Tennis match by Jasper. Leina took her spot and received a smile and a “Hey!” from Leonna, also aware that Edward was watching every move she made. Jasper and Alice merely glanced at Leina and kept asking questions about Leonna’s transformations. She then noticed that Luna was the only other person at the table who was eating or even had food out in front of them.
“Leina, what’s wrong?” Leonna had a concerned look on her face. Leina swallowed her mouthful of pizza.
“You’re not eating,” she stated.
Leonna’s face relaxed. “Hah, so that’s all it is,” she chuckled and looked at the empty space in front of her. “Yea, not that hungry today,” she explained with a sigh.
“So you can eat regular food?” Alice asked, engaging her more into the non-human species talk.
Leina sighed, despising the title of ‘outlier’. She couldn’t join in the conversation at all. She wondered for a moment how Alice had even found out about Leonna --wondering whether they knew about Luna as well-- but then stopped. The Cullens and Hales were obviously something different; mutants, aliens, or whatever they were, they were different. She at least knew that.

“They probably have a radar or something to know when something else like them comes into the area...” she thought dryly as she started eating her lunch. As she ate, she realized how hungry she actually was. Yet the food didn’t taste as good as it usually did, more like a sawdust paste in her mouth. She resorted to nibbling the edges of some of the food.

“Wait, so you’re not a blood drinker?” Alice asked somewhat loudly.

Leina suddenly turned to her neighbors conversation and saw Leonna’s eyes widen.

Leonna smirked in Edward’s direction.

Edward bit his lip.
“So, you’re a vampire?” Leonna thought, knowing Edward would hear her.

His dark eyes sent her a look that confirmed it, yet pleaded that Leonna wouldn’t say anything aloud. Leonna complied to his appeal, making a small gesture of zipping her mouth shut. He gruffly nodded, looking as if he was in momentary pain again. Leonna noticed his eyes before he slightly shook his head; they had been pure black.

Leina noticed a slight bit of what Edward and Leonna were doing. She knew that they were communicating somehow, though she wasn’t sure of exactly how. Waves of depression hit her full force.

“Edward’s at least talking to Leonna... I didn’t do something wrong yesterday, did I?” she wondered over and over again.

Leina stood up with her tray, and bent over to Leonna. “I’ll see you in Study Hall...”

Leonna whirled around. “Wait, where are-”

But she was too late. Leina had all ready thrown her tray away and was virtually jogging out of the cafeteria.

Alice turned to Leonna. "What's wrong with Leina?"

Leonna glanced over at Edward, who was looking a little ashamed of himself for some reason.

"What did you do?" she accused.

Edward looked up at her through his dark eyelashes, sending her expression-messages.

Leonna turned to Alice. "Frankly, I'm not sure... I don't think she's having the greatest day."

Alice seemed to zone out for a moment. "I don't think it's going to get any better..." She shot a concerned glance at Edward, who was occupying himself by spinning a bottle cap on the table.

Leonna looked down. "Edward, what did you do?!"

Edward shook his head just enough for Leonna to notice it, saying that he did nothing. Leonna judged his guilty expression. "Oh well... I'll just find out next period."

The rest of lunch went uneventfully. Luna supplied the rest of the conversation for the table, which Emmett and Alice readily contributed to, with an occasional interjection from Jasper and Rosalie. Finally, the group rose from the table, dumping their trash, and split up to go to their respective classes.

Once they had waved to the Cullen and Hales, Luna and Leonna sprinted to their Study Hall class. The bell rang as they searched the room for their friend.

They ran over to the table that Leina sat at, alone with her head down on the cool table top.

Luna bounced over, looking worriedly at her friend. "Leina, are you all right? You left lunch early... you never leave lunch early! I was worried about you! We all were!"

Leina raised her head, looking weakly at Luna. She smiled and then laid her head back down on the table.

Leonna and Luna each sat down on one side from Leina. Luna started rubbing her back as Leonna leaned down impishly to whisper in her ear.

"I think Edward was worried, too..."

Leonna chuckled as Leina's ears turned noticeably pink from underneath her shielding curtain of light brown hair. “I doubt it...”

“And why is that?” Leonna was curious to find out whether Edward had done something to Leina.

Leina raised her head, resting her chin on her folded hands. “Well, he hasn’t really done anything... per say...”

“Go on,” Leonna urged.

“Well, it seems like he’s been ignoring me all day! I mean, he barely said anything to me during History, and that was to tell me why everyone was laughing at me.”

Leonna tried to suppress her amusement. “Yeah, I remember that.”

Luna’s pale blue eyes grew wide with interest. “What happened?”

“Leina had some pencil stuff on her face from Art.”

Luna snickered, imagining the scene.

Leina sighed, and continued. “He ignored me at lunch as well... actually, none of the Cullens or Hales really talked to me...” she said, thinking aloud.

“Really?” Luna said, looking utterly surprised. “They didn’t seem to be acting any different to me!”

Leina shot her a sideways glance. “That’s because you were talking to them the whole time...”

Luna straightened up, a protective edge in her voice. “That’s ‘cause they’re my friends!”

Leina turned to Leonna, a smirk on her face. “Speaking of which, Leonna, what do you think of the Cullen family?”

“An intriguing bunch, I’ll give them that much. But I like them, their ‘abnormalities’ give them a different aura.”

Leina looked up, an impish grin on her face. “And what about Jacob Black?” she asked as innocently as she could.

Leonna opened her mouth but closed it again, a smile forming on her face as she shook her head. “I’ve only seen him once, not much of a conclusion I could put together but in those few hours of seeing I can deduct that he is polite, fun, and not a very good cook.” She laughed, remembering their incident in the kitchen.

Leonna then turned the conversation on Leina. “And what about you, Leina? What do you think of the Cullens?”

Leina paused, trying to collect her thoughts. “Individually, or as a whole?”

Leonna put her pointer finger to her lip, as if thinking. “How about both?”

Leina sighed, but complied with the demand. “Well, I don’t think the Hales like me very much. Both of them are always shooting me these weird looks.”

Luna tilted her head. “Whadya mean?”

“I don’t know... Rosalie always looks at me like my presence offends her or something. Like me being around you all is a hindrance... and I really don’t know what to say about Jasper. He looks like he’s in horrid pain whenever he’s forced to be around me; and he leaves without a word as soon as he can!”

Leina sighed, slamming her head back down to its previous position on the table. Leonna and Luna could barely make out her muffled mumbling.

“Alice and Emmett are nice, though. I feel like I can talk to them... they seem like they’d be good friends for people if allowed the chance. But it feels like they’re not telling me something... like they’re holding something back...” Leina’s head shot up to see Leonna’s reaction.

It looked far too calm, as if it was written in a script for an actor to follow. Something in her eyes told Leina that she was right.

“But, all in all, a very interesting family.”

Leonna smirked. “You forgot one more.”

Leina’s expression contorted in confusion as she looked from Leonna to Luna. “Who?”

“Edward,” Luna said, grinning.

Leina stared down at the table, unsure of how to explain her reaction to him. The motions conflicted and contradicted each other. “It’s... hard to explain... He acts oddly sometimes, as if he has a multiple personality disorder or something... one day, he’s polite and talks to me... then the next he’s ignoring me!” Leina huffed, catching her breath from the rant. “But... sometimes... he gives me this look... It’s hard to describe; you kind of have to see it. It’s a mix or pain, confusion... and something else... I don’t know... he probably doesn’t like me that much, anyway...”

Leonna smiled down at her friend, hurting to see her so upset. “I don’t think he doesn’t like you...” Leonna started tentatively. “He just... isn’t sure what to make of you. Your reactions to things confuse him; I know that much. He thinks you’re much more unique than the other boring girls in Forks; which is true,” she said kindly.

Luna laughed. “You are traveling with a pixie and a cat humanoid, after all!”

The three girls laughed as Leina tried to improve her mood for the sake of her friends.


“Have you dissected the squid yet in Biology II?” Luna asked, chewing on some gummy worms. Leonna thought a moment and shook her head.
“Nah, we’re probably doing that today though... which means I’m going to need a lab partner.” She scratched the back of her head.
“Well, anyway, Jasper, Alice and I were-”
Suddenly, Leonna heard her name called from far away and stopped, putting her finger to her mouth to tell Luna to stop talking. She listened again, watching for anyone who was trying to catch her attention. In a flash, Alice was right in front of the two, huffing from out-of-breath-ness and a scared and worried look on her face.
“Oh, Alice! I was just talking about you!” Luna said happily, her mood conflicting with that of Alice's.
“Leonna, I just had a vision about you.”
Leonna squinted. “What? A vision?!? So... you see things that have yet to come...”

Alice nodded, catching her breath. “You were in the forest-”
“Well, no surprise there,” Leonna said, sarcastically, glancing at the intimidating trees above them and the forest surrounding them. Her remark gave Alice some time to calm down.
“And you were in one of your cat forms.” She closed her eyes, trying to remember. “I couldn’t tell which one but you were in pain.” She huffed more and stared at Leonna’s left ear. She began to reach for it, slowly.
“May I?”
Leonna backed up, cupping her hand over her ear and what was behind it. “You saw it in your vision,” Leonna concluded.
Alice nodded. “You clawed it off with your paw.”

Leonna’s eyes widened and her hair stood on end. “No...” she whimpered, backing away from Alice and turning into a sprint to head for English.
“Wait, what did you see?” Luna had an extremely confused look on her face.
Alice sighed. “Never mind. We should get to class. You’re in my English class, right?”
“Yea, and so is Leonna,” Luna replied, glancing at Leonna’s figure as it skidded to turn into the building entrance.
All through English, Leonna sat leaning forward at her desk away from Edward, Alice, and Luna, fidgeting with the hair behind her left ear. She paid just enough attention so that she fooled the teacher into a full English class concentration but was really in deep thought about Alice’s vision. Edward tried to see what she was thinking but somehow her thoughts were so chaotic that it almost seemed to block his mind reading. He managed to read her once but then she stopped thinking and shot him a glare that made a shiver fall down his spine. Once the bell rang, Leonna had calmed down a bit and took her time getting her stuff together. She met Alice outside the classroom
“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you about my vision AFTER school but I thought you should know right away; you looked like you were in so much pain.”
Leonna chuckled and shook her head. “It’s okay, I wanted to thank you for telling me, no matter how I acted... it just... disturbed me.” She scratched the back of her head.
“I’m hoping it’s encouraged you to be more careful, yea?”
“Definitely. I only hope I can concentrate enough to get through the lab next block.”
“Oh, it’s easy, you’ll get through it. I’ll see you this weekend!” Alice ran off, waving behind her. Leonna waved back and walked in a daze to her science class.
“Go ahead and grab a partner for the lab, I’ll hand out the directions once I find you all in pairs,” the teacher instructed, snapping Leonna out of her trance. She furtively looked around, trying to find someone without a partner. She kept herself busy with clearing her desk.
“Leonna?” she looked up to see a boy with blonde tipped hair leaning on her desk.
“You’re Mike Newton.” She squinted, recognizing him from her first day at the school.
He nodded. “Wanna be partners?”
“Yea, pull up a chair!” Leonna moved her stuff to make room.
“No one’s sitting here?”

Leonna shook her head.
"You don't get lonely?"
"Nah." Leonna stretched, leaning back in her chair and stretching her spine.
Just then, they were handed the lab directions.
"Awesome," Leonna sighed, closing her eyes after she skimmed the lab.
"What?" Mike leaned in and read. "We're dissecting a squid?!?" Leonna laughed at his reaction.
After retrieving the materials and putting newspaper over the desk, they both sat at their table, latex gloves and tweezers in hand, staring at the squid.
"So, who wants to poke at it first?" Mike asked
"Of the stories that I've heard from previous classes, I highly doubt this is going to end well." She glanced at Mike and shook her hair. "Tsk tsk tsk. I'll bite, tweezers please." Mike did as he was told and sat back in his chair, watching Leonna hesitantly poke the squid.
Several pokes had been successful, observations had been written down, and the lab was soon to be complete.
"You're really good at this science stuff," Mike complimented, still in his reclined position.
"One could call it a compulsion," she replied, removing her gloves. "The squid has been officially lab-ed."
Mike chuckled as he began to clear the desk; the least he could do for having Leonna fuss with the marine animal.
"Class, the lab will be continued next block. In the meantime, leave your materials. The bell's about to ring," the teacher said quickly, watching the clock.
"I think we're the only ones done," Mike observed. Leonna looked around nodded. "You're very quiet."

Leonna turned, seeing Mike standing up, hands in his pockets with a smirk on his face.
"Just had a lot on my mind," she said violently, gathering her things and heading out the door, leaving Mike with a confused look on his face.


Thick clouds started covering the sky as Leina sulked her way to gym.

“Finally... this horrible day is almost over... just another hour, Leina, and you’re free!”

“Hey, Leina!”

Leina looked up to see Luna sprinting toward her, a grin on her face. She tried to smile for Luna. “Yo, Luna, what’s up?”

“Leonna just wanted me to remind you that we’re getting our new house today, so we have to go back to Mr. Emerson’s today to get it, ‘kay? Just meet over there after school, all right? See ya then!” Then the super-hyperactive child hopped happily away.

Leina made her way into the gym. She went to the locker room and quickly changed into her uniform. She walked into the main gym. There were several groups of kids all ready in the room, talking excitedly about after-school and weekend plans. She looked around, trying to find a familiar face. The girl that Leina had met on her first day, Marissa was nowhere to be seen. Leina went off to the side to sit down.

She didn’t see him walk in, but all of a sudden she saw Edward Cullen standing at the other end of the gym. For a moment, she wanted to go over and confront him about his odd behavior; to yell at him and demand an explanation. But she knew that it wouldn’t help anything at all, so she just stayed put until the final bell rang.

“All right, everyone!” Coach Clapp yelled. “We’re going outside and running two laps. Then I want you all to come back inside to play basketball. Now let’s go!” he screamed, blowing his whistle as if it was the extra exclamation mark at the end of his statement.

Leina trudged her way outside to the track, trying to catch up with Edward. Yet she kept loosing sight of him. He seemed to weave in and out of the crowd. Leina kept seeing flashes of him until they were finally to the track, where Leina had totally lost him.

Coach Clapp went to the front of the gathering of students. “Start running, everyone!”

Leina started running, wanting to get her two laps done with. She noticed that a mist had formed and the clouds looked like they could release the inevitable raindrops in any second.

All of a sudden, Leina felt a quick pain in her ankle, if bending oddly underneath her. Then she felt absolutely nothing underneath her at all.

She opened her eyes to find herself sprawled, stomach down, on the pavement. People were running past her, only a few looking curiously at her before sprinting past. Leina shook her head and tried standing up. She managed to sit, legs sprawled out in front of her. Her knees had just slight abrasions on them, but her left arm was a different story. On the outer part was a giant abrasion, starting from her wrist up to her elbow. The majority of it wasn’t bleeding except for one deep scratch in the middle, closest to her elbow.

“Saxen! What do you think you’re doing?”

Leina looked up to see Coach Clapp staring down at her, a quizzical look in his eye. It changed quickly to one of surprise as he saw her injuries.

“Are you all right, Saxen?”

Leina nodded, getting up. “Yeah, I think so, Coach.” She scratched her head. “I’m more rattled than anything. I can keep running.”

The Coach nodded, but then saw the blood running down her arm. “Wait, what is that?” he asked, pointing. “There’s something black on your arm...”

Leina looked at the cut. Sure enough, there was something small and black in the cut. It wasn’t very deep so she dug the thing out, causing the coach to flinch. Leina looked at the small black object in her hand. It was a small rock, which Leina proceeded to throw as far as she could away from the track.

She smirked at Coach Clapp. “There, all gone.”

The coach glared at her as he took out a gauze pad and a rolled-up ace bandage, handing her the supplies. “Bandage up, quickly.” He walked away, back to his post at the entrance to the track.

Leina nodded and rapidly wrapped her arm up. Her knees weren’t bleeding, so she started running again.

She noticed that, across the track, Edward Cullen had stopped jogging, and was staring at her. She couldn’t see his exact expression, except for the fact that his eyebrows were furrowed. He then noticed that she had seen him, and turned and ran, finishing his last lap.

Leina sighed. “What is wrong with him?! I didn’t do anything...”

Edward ignored her for the rest of the running portion. Leina stayed away, but watched him, waiting to see if he’d notice her or come and talk to her. However, her efforts were in vain. He never glanced at her, nor talked to her. Finally, everyone had finished their running.

Coach Clapp looked up at the sky. “Well, since it’s nice out... let’s stay outside and play basketball!”

Leina looked up at the still darkening sky. “Not exactly nice weather to me... but I guess this is nice, for Forks...”

The teacher split everyone up into teams. Leina sighed as she saw the people on her team; none of them were competitive at all. Then she saw the team they were competing against.

All of them were some kind of football/basketball/soccer players. Leina then noticed Coach Clapp yelling at someone.

“NO, Cullen, you can’t be on a different team! Just go play... now! Move it!”

Leina gaped as Edward moved to the opposing team, a cold and almost frightening look on his face.

The game started off all right... until the boys on the other team learned that Leina was the only one who attempted at playing, and wasn’t that bad at it. They swarmed her, trying to block her. Leina was exhausted from running and jumping in front of tall, stinking male athletes.

Then, they passed the ball to Edward. He hadn’t had the ball all game and had stayed on the outer edge of the game. Leina, not realizing who it was ran right up to the boy, trying to block him from throwing it to another person. Leina looked up, arms raised, at her current rival, quickly sucking in air when she realized who it was.

Edward's face looked surprised at having someone that close to himself. There was also a look of confused anger, restraint and torture. She had never seen that look of pain on his face before. Then Edward's expression froze in one of immense concentration and an attempt at self-control.

“Leina, step back, please.”

“Why?” she asked defiantly. “I’m supposed to be guarding you.”

He glared down even more urgently. “Just move.”

Leina then noticed his eyes. No longer were they the warm, golden butterscotch that she recognized far too well to have known him for under a week. They were dark, almost to the point of looking like the black had taken over. A shiver was sent down Leina’s spine, a flicker of fear in her eyes before she controlled it.

Edward threw the ball to someone else and the rest of the people ran down to the other end of the court. Edward and Leina stayed standing where they were.

Edward glared down at her. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Leina copied his look. “I want to know why you’ve been acting so weird today... did I do something wrong?”

A gust of wind came from behind Leina. Edward’s eyes widened, as if hit with a wave of pain. “It’s nothing...”

Leina noticed his distorted look. “Edward... are you all right?” she asked tentatively. “You don’t look well... maybe we should get you to the nur-”

“I’m fine!” he yelled. “You don’t have to be here and wait like this. I am perfectly fine. Just... go away.”

Leina’s eyes opened wide. She tried to move, but she wasn’t able to at all. She barely noticed Edward walking away to the other end of the court. She couldn’t feel her legs, and sank to her knees from the lack of feeling.

Coach Clapp ran over to Leina, helping her up by her uninjured arm. He looked down at her, uncharacteristically sympathetic. “Leina, I don’t think you should keep playing... I can write you a pass; you go home and rest, all right?”

Leina nodded, barely hearing the man. She took the paper and walked into the gym as the rest of the class stared at her.

Leina changed in a daze, and grabbed her stuff. She practically flew out of the gym and ran to her car. Tossing her backpack into the trunk, she pushed the key in and started driving, not knowing where she was going. At this point, she didn’t care. Leina attempted to make her mind as blank as possible, putting in a CD and blasted it as loud as she could as she drove.


Luna and Leonna stood by Leonna’s forest green car outside of Emerson Realty. They had been waiting for Leina for about twenty minutes now.

Luna turned to the taller blonde. “Where’s Leina? Did she get lost?”

Leonna shook her head. “I don’t know... maybe she had some issue at school or something... let’s just go on in and get the papers.”

In a few minutes, the girls had signed everything and had all of the papers they needed. Leonna looked down at the map Mr. Emerson had given them, the highlighted route to their house almost on the other side of Forks. “Well, we have a quite a bit of driving to do... come on, Luna, let’s go.”

They got into the car. Leonna looked out at the entrance.

“Leina... where are you?”


“What did I do? Nothing... nothing... he hates me now...”

Leina drove down the highway, not paying attention to how fast she was going, or the route, for that matter. All she could think about was Edward’s face as it contorted in horrible pain... and then fury. His words had stung, cold, like tiny needles of ice shards.

She then noticed where she was. “This is where we first came out of the forest...” The trees had thinned out a bit, and she could see a bunch of buildings down the road.

Leina heard the honk of a car horn in front of her. Her eyes went back to the front, her vision cleared from its fog. A car was slowing down; she was driving on the wrong side of the road! She swerved her car over to the right and pulled over. She got out of the car, breathing extremely hard, and leaned against the cold metal.

“Holy crow, buddy, what do you think you’re doing?”

Leina turned, realizing that the driver of the other car was walking around her car.

Jacob Black’s tan face appeared. His expression was one of uncertainty and concern. It soon brightened a bit as he realized who it was.

“Leina! Good to see you!” he said, smiling. “But, what exactly were you doing driving on the wrong side of the road, let alone in La Push?”

Leina sighed, unsure of how to explain herself. “Well... I had a... for a lack of a more accurate term, horrible day... so I went for a drive. I guess I kind of spaced out!” she said, scratching her head. She tried to smile, for Jacob’s sake.

Jacob grinned back. “Well, make sure you pay attention when you drive! I know what you mean about driving on a bad day, though... I usually do that, too, when I’ve had a cruddy day.”

Leina chuckled. “His days probably weren’t this bad... but then again, who knows? So, how’s your dad doing, Jacob?”

Jacob leaned up against the car as well, arms folded. “He’s doing well. He and Charlie are going fishing this weekend, so he’s pretty excited about that.”

“That’ll be good for him.”

“Yeah.” Jacob smiled, looking down. “He doesn’t get to go out too much, ‘cause of his legs and all... but he seems pretty psyched to go. At least, for my dad, he seemed excited!”

The two laughed together, then fell silent. After a few moments, Jacob spoke again.

“How’s Luna doing?”

Leina laughed. “Well, she’s as hyper as ever... But she’s gotten some new friends, so she’s happy.” Pain shot through Leina as she spoke those words. Jacob didn’t notice, which she was happy about.

“What about Leonna?”

She looked over to Jacob. His eyes were downcast, but no sadness was contained by them. He was blushing, embarrassed to a degree that almost made Leina laugh out loud.

“She’s doing fine. She’s really good at adjusting to new places. I’m not as good at it... But she’s seems to be settling in fine.”

Leina saw Jacob attempt at suppressing a smile.

“Maybe we can come down sometime this weekend!”

Jacob’s face shot up, eyes wide in excitement. “Really? That’d be awesome!”

Leina grinned back. “Yeah, we’re supposed to be getting our house soon, so we could probably come up for a while!”

Her own words made Leina remember. “I have to get home!!! Those two might be lost without me making their dinner... Leonna will end up making something like steak for Luna...”

She whipped out her cell phone out of her pocket. It was almost six!

“You need to get home?”

Leina smiled sheepishly. “Yeah... I didn’t realize how late it was...”

“Driving for a while can do that to you!” Jacob said with a cheerful laugh.

Leina chuckled in response. “All right... well, I’ll see you late, ‘kay?”

Leina gave Jacob a quick hug, which he returned after a moment of complete shock. Then she let him go. She grinned, watching him go back to his truck.

“I’ll tell Leonna that you say ‘hi’, ‘kay?”

He turned, seeing her in the car, his face turning beet red. She smirked and waved as she drove off.


“Where the hell am I?”

Leina was driving down a winding road, trees whipping by, as if it were them moving so fast and not the speeding Camaro. It was pitch black outside.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket. The glowing green numbers told her it was eight forty-two... exactly two minutes since she had last checked it.

“Damn... why can’t I just be home all ready?! I’ve been driving for almost 3 hours!”

Leina was tired of driving through these snaking roads. They were starting to make her sick from having to turn so much. “This is getting ridiculous...” she mumbled.

Something dripped down her face. Leina brought one hand up to her face, brushing her cheek. Tears had filled her eyes and were overflowing, running down her cheeks.

Why? Why was she the one that had to break down like this? Why did these memories, resurfacing after being sunk in the deep caverns of the sea that was her mind, have to come up so easily at a few words? Why did they have to go, and she was the one left alone?

"But I'm not alone..." she mumbled. "I have Leonna... and Luna-"

"You are alone," said a voice inside her head. "You know that... deep down... you are alone. They're different from you. They're magical; what are you? You're a scrawny human... how could you compete with them?"

"Shut up..." she murmured.

"You know that you can never be fully close to them. How could they understand? You can't understand... And your family. They're all gone. They left you here. Your mom, your dad... your brothers... what would they think if they knew you were traveling with-"

"Stop it!"

Rain started pouring down, pounding on the car in sheets. Leina tried to carry on with her control of the vehicle.

Tears kept filling up her eyes, making her driving even more unstable. She swiped them away, trying to clear her head so she could drive. Yet those unbearable tears continued to come back.

"What do you think you're doing?... You don't have to be here... Just... go away..."

His perfect voice, filled with ice crystals, shot through her mind, causing the tears to discharge at a more rapid rate. Her breath started getting more and more ragged until she thought she was going to pass out, or continue this horrid hyperventilation.

All of a sudden, her car made an odd, sputtering noise. The noise continued as the needle of the speedometer started to decline speedily.

"You have GOT to me kidding me..." Leina thought to herself as her car died in the middle of the turn.

The car, from lack of power, started to drift downwards. Leina frantically tried the brakes, yet nothing could stop the Camano. It rolled down the hill, and Leina could do nothing to stop it. She finally made the steering wheel work as she turned to the side to make the car's back wheels turn.

A sickening crunch of metal against some heavy object caused a giant BAM that shattered the silence of the night. Leina blindly got out of the car and went to the back of the car. The rear bumper was smashed in a good seven inches.

She sank to her knees, the shock getting to her.

"Why... why me...?"

Leina used the car frame as support to get up. She walked over and took out the keys of the car and shut the door, not bothering or remembering to lock the door. She slipped the keys into her pocket and started walking, following the road in a mindless state of shock.

"I'm really all alone now... no one's here... I did what you asked... I went away..." she thought, unable to control her thoughts rationally. "Would you feel better if I did? What would Leonna think? What about Luna? I'm sure they'd be fine... They don't really need me... I went away... I'm alone now... are you happy now?"

A mechanical roaring sound started coming closer and closer. She looked up, eyes practically blinded by tears and the fog of depression, to see headlights speeding before her.

"Just like before... Just like in my dream... But it isn't real; I must be dreaming again-"

The thumping of the oncoming music and the scream made Leina snap to her senses. This was not a dream; that was a real driver screaming and that was a real car speeding toward her! She wouldn't be able to just look at the pieces of the wreckage after.

Leina jumped to her left, her body becoming almost flat in midair. She winced as she felt her face and arms getting scratched by the twigs and other forest objects. She slid through the mud, covering herself.

She whipped her head around as she saw the driver zooming away. She moved into a sitting position. Her whole body was shaking from the shock.

“Just like that night...” she thought.

She got up, wincing again at the pain that shot through her leg. Barely noticing the torn pants and the intense abrasion running from her knee cap to her ankle, she started walking into the forest, recollections of the past ricocheting around in her head.

Leina remembered back to the collision so many years ago. She was in the debris of their car, a fire starting in the front seats. She hurriedly got out of her seatbelt, reached across her older brother and threw open the car door.

“Come on, we have to get out!”

The had then noticed that none of her family was moving. She shook them as much as she could, but none of them moved. They merely looked asleep. Little Leina had made the attempt at getting them out of the car. She managed to get her brothers out, but had more difficulty with her parents. She finally got her father out of the car as it burst into flames, shooting rubble at her face.

Now, the scratched and battered Leina, just sat on the side, staring at her family... still and unmoving, shaking uncontrollably.

Just as she was now. She was running through the trees. Their limbs whipped and smacked her in the face, bringing new cuts to her legs and arms. She didn’t notice how tattered and soaked her clothes were, or how far into the forest she was going. The raged breathing came back now, even more full-force than before. She ran as if his harsh words were chasing her through the woods, like a pack of wolves. She tripped on the knotted roots and rocks, made wet by the rain, as she sprinted.

Nothing except for those few sentences ran through her mind.

“Just... go away...”

“No... please, don’t ask me that-”

“You don’t have to be here...”

“I know that... I know now...”

Suddenly, a violent growl rippled through the air, breaking Leina from her run. She froze immediately, looking around. She didn’t see anything. Then she heard it again, whirling her head around in an attempt to find the source.

A light could be seen through the downpour, which persisted even through the heavy trees. Leina’s steps stuttered, yet she started to walk towards the light, as if drawn to it. The possible danger presented by the animal's sound didn't quite register with her as she walked towards that light.

She burst through the thicket of trees, more light shining down. It was a wonderfully beautiful clearing, the large trees' branches creating a partial shelter. There was a small hole in the top that she could see the sky. Rain poured down through the trees, the full force of it being shown near the break of the leaves. A flash of lightning lit up the area, showing Leina the horror contained in the clearing.

A figure stood near the center. It was breathing almost as raggedly as Leina herself. She soon realized that the figure was hunched over something. It was a stag, lifelessly sprawled out on the grass. Leina heard a slurping sound, as if the figure was drinking something noisily.

Leina gasped, horrified. The sudden noise made the figure stop for a moment, then turn to face her. Leina’s whole body shook as she felt true terror shoot itself through her body.