Students started filing in, as did the teacher. Aleesia made her way to the front of the class and introduced herself to the middle aged, balding man who told her his name was Mr. Ratfield and welcomed her to Lakeford.

Aleesia made her way back to her desk and pulled out her notebook so she could take notes. She smirked to herself because this was one class where she actually would pay attention. The last few people filed in and Aleesia glanced up from her desk just in time to feel like she had been sucker punched in the gut.

The boy from lunch entered the class with the girl following just behind him, their hands clasped tightly together. The girl, Alice looked positively radiant, her pale skin basically glowing as she smiled as Jasper, who looked like he was almost in pain. It made Aleesia sad to see that and she wanted to go over and ask what was wrong but how freaking weird would that be? Instead she watched them and they too made their way to the back of the class and took the two desks that happened to be directly behind her own.

Her heart fluttered in her chest, its abnormally fast pace picking up to beat even faster and she shifted in her seat, resisting the urge to turn around and stare at them. She didn't want to be weird or make them uncomfortable.

"Hi, you're the new girl, Aleesia, right?" A soft bell-like voice asked, causing her to turn in her seat to see Alice beaming at her with a huge smile. She glanced from Alice to Jasper who was gazing out the window and clutching Alice's hand for dear life, then back to Alice who was still waiting for her to reply.

"That's right," She answered, swallowing as her throat suddenly felt bone dry. She would have to hunt after school.

"I'm Alice, and this is Jasper." She said, indicating Jasper's stiff form with a tilt of her head.

It was then that Jasper chose to look away from the window and into her eyes. He nodded his head and mumbled, "Ma'am" he then looked away again, focusing on something outside she guessed.

The sound of his deep voice caused butterflies to erupt inside of her that soon turned into a flash burn at the back of her throat that already felt like sandpaper.

It was then that she felt like a heavy stone had settled into her stomach and she offered them a nervous smile before mumbling a light, "Nice to meet you." Then turned back around, clutching her pen in her hand while trying to get a grip on her sudden onslaught of thirst. It wasn't often that she needed to feed but when her emotions got the best of her, it became harder to resist.

Aleesia held her breath through class, not wanting to irritate her throat or cause herself unnecessary pain. She took shallow breath occasionally, feeding her depleted lungs as she used her air to answer occasional questions from the teacher.

"We'll be doing one big project that will count for thirty percent of your final grade. I'm going to put you in groups of two or three and you'll be responsible for completing an equal share of the project and you will each receive an equal grade."

Aleesia tensed up as the teacher began to call names, wondering what poor soul was going to be stuck with her for the foreseeable future or wondering if the teacher would let her just do a project on her own seeing as how she was pretty sure no one would want to work with her.

"Alice Cullen and Jasper Hale." The teacher called before glazing down at his list and frowning, then looked from them over to Aleesia who was absentmindedly scribbling a doodle of a wolf on her notes, "I guess I'll put our new student with our best. Aleesia you'll be in their group.Take the rest of class to discuss your topics and presentations."

Her heart jumped to her throat and she froze. Ahh Shit. The fucking universe at work.

She felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned to see Alice and Jasper watching her with a mixture of excitement on her part and nervousness on his part. She sighed and grabbed her notebook , spinning to straddle her chair and set her notebook down on Alice's desk.

"So, what should we do our project on?" Alice asked, glancing between her two partners, "World War 2?"

Aleesia thought about it and shook her head, "Nah, maybe something older? I mean I'm pretty sure I've heard three other groups mention that. Maybe the Civil War? It's one of my favorite history topics."

Jasper smirked and Alice brighted a little at the suggestion before adding, "I like that! What do you think Jas?"

"Sounds fine to me." He agreed with a strange knowing look in his eyes, his southern accent slightly more prominent. He looked at Aleesia and said, "It's a favorite topic of mine as well."

Aleesia smiled and nodded, adding the topic in her messy handwriting to the top of her page that had the wolf doodle on it.

Alice saw it and tilted her head, before asking, "You like wolves, Aleesia?"

She blushed, her natural reddish skin becoming even redder, "Uhh, yeah. They are my favorite animal." She answered nervously. It kinda helped that she was technically half wolf, but she definitely didn't tell Alice that.

Alice nodded and offered her a smile then asked, "Alright, your place or ours?"

"Huh?"

"The project. Do you want to work on it at your place or ours?" Alice clarified, making aleesia feel mortified.

Aleesia's blush deepened and her mind had instantly gone to the gutter but she stamped those thoughts down and answered, "uhh mine? Yeah mine. I just have to run a quick errand after school but then you guys can come over if you want." She added, remembering the burning thirst at the back of her throat. If she was going to be with them for any length of time she'd have to hunt right after school. She rubbed her throat absentmindedly then lowered her hand and quickly scribbled her address down for them.

"What time?" Jasper asked, watching her with a strange look in his eye.

"School gets out at three." Alice chimed in, answering her unasked question.

"Five sound good?" Aleesia asked and they all nodded in agreement.

The bell rang for the next class and she flipped in her seat again, gathering up her stuff before turning to them and saying, "See you then."

Jasper and Alice shared a look then a smile as the strange girl walked away to go to her next class.

Aleesia made it through the rest of the day in a blurr, barely paying attention to her teachers. Her mind kept wandering back to Alice and Jasper and what the heck she was going to do tonight when they showed up at her tiny house out in the woods. It made her a little uncomfortable to know they'd see it but she ignored it and made her way to her car. The faster she got home and hunted down a mountain lion or a moose, the faster she could relax for a bit