By the time the lunch bell had rung at school the next day, Aleesia was exhausted and her temper was hair trigger. She hadn't slept very much and even though she had hunted the previous day, her throat felt dry and irritated. She honestly wasn't sure how she was going to make it through the end of the day.

She pushed her way through the lunch room doors and headed to the line to grab her favorite chocolate milk and a cheeseburger. She wasn't very hungry but she was going to eat anyway because she didn't need to hit fifth period and be hungry and Thirsty on top of pissed off.

She was making her way over to an empty table when she felt a cold arm link with hers as someone stepped up beside her.

"Good afternoon, Aleesia!" Alice cheered before looking down at what the girl was wearing and looking like she was going to have a stroke.

Oh right, Alice had mentioned yesterday that she had a thing for fashion. Shit. Aleesia looked down at herself and inwardly cringed. She was wearing worn in black sneakers, a pair of VERY well loved gray sweatpants and a blue and black flannel shirt that was not correctly cuttoned. In her defense she had gotten like three hours of sleep and had woken up late.

Aleesia blushed and mumbled a quiet, "Hey."

Alice quickly recovered and smiled brightly while tugging Aleesia in the opposite direction. Toward the table full of vampires. Honestly at this point Aleesia was too tired to care. Alice pushed her down into one of three empty seats and took the one on her left. A moment later Jasper sat on her right side.

"You look tired, Darlin" He said, looking over at her rumpled appearance.

"Bite me." She growled, the irony of that remark not escaping her, before shoving her burger into her mouth and chewing.

"Someone's cranky." Emmet snickered, earning a slap to the head from Rose who didn't look pleased to have the stranger at their table, but also felt sympathy for the girl who looked dead on her feet.

"You alright, Aleesia?" Alice asked, her voice dripping with concern for the girl who had plagued her thoughts all night.

Yup. Just fucking peachy. Like I said, Bite me you undead tinkerbell. Aleesia thought, but did not voice it and just shrugged.

Edward, who had previously been quietly talking to his wife and daughter, made a choking sound that sounded oddly like a laugh he was trying to cover up. Aleesia glanced over at him and saw him watching her with an amused expression. Then a thought occurred to her.

Blink once if you can hear me.

Edward blinked.

FUCK. panic flashed through her as she quickly glanced at Jasper and Alice from the corner of her eyes. Edward sat up a little straighter, confused at first then his eyes widened in understanding.

Don't you dare tell them, Ginger snap! That's my business!

"Wouldn't dream of it." He quietly laughed, making the others turn their attention to him with questioning eyes.

Aleesia groaned and slammed her head down on the table, rather roughly. Her eyes and throat felt like sandpaper and her head was heavy, like it was full of lead rather than her amazingly gifted brain. She was exhausted and about to reach her wits end.

Then the smell of cinnamon and peony's drifted to her nose as one cold hand pressed to her forehead while another pressed to the back of her neck, relieving some of the tension.she relaxed a little more as the hand that was on her neck moved to rub soothing circles on her back.

She sighed and sat back up, smiling a little.

"Feeling better?" Jasper asked, pulling his hand away from her back.

"Yeah, thanks. I just didn't sleep well. My brain was kind of going haywire all night." she explained before taking a sip of her chocolate milk.

She looked around, her gaze drifting over the others at the table and she realized something. The only one at the table who had food in front of them was the tiny brunette who was seated between Edward and Bella.

For people who want to blend in you guys kind of suck at it. She laughed inside her head and she heard Edward chuckle.

"So, Aleesia, tell us about yourself." Bella suggested, trying to make small talk to fill the silence at the table.

She looked up, meeting the golden eyes of the brunette who sat on the other side of the table, and cautiously asked, "What do you want to know?"

Bella shrugged, looking a little awkward and said, "Well how old are you? What are your hobbies? What's your family like?"

"Seventeen, reading, mostly non fiction, and I don't have any family." She responded easily, shrugging. At least none that she counted. Her MIA rapist, vampire father didn't really count and her mother was dead.

She saw Edward flinch slightly at her thoughts but chose to ignore it. He's a mind reader so it's not like her secret is gonna be a secret anyhow. They were all vampires too, she was just a little something extra.

"What are you?" Edward asked, his brows furrowed as he followed her train of thought.

"I'm like you, but also not like you I guess. Technically I'm half." She answered honestly as she had decided to do last night if or when they asked.

"Maybe we should save this discussion for after school." Alice suggested, glaring pointedly at her brother while placing a cool hand again Aleesia's arm.

"Agreed." Aleesia nodded, not really wanting to air her dirty laundry while there were so many humans around. Especially not while she felt like she was walking a tightrope with her temper. Alice's touch helped immensely, she felt her temper cooling from a white hot flame to a slow burning coal. It did however cause a low burn somewhere else as well which could prove to be a problem for her later.

She heard Edward snicker again and she huffed, his ability to read her mind was going to get really old really fast. Then she had a quick evil thought and slammed an imaginary picture of what she imagined a naked Alice would look like to the forefront of her mind.

"Oh that's just disgusting!" Edward cried, screwing his face up in disgust.

"You asked for it. Could have been worse." Could have been Jasper. She added silently.

"For the love of God, please don't" He pleaded, rubbing his temple as Bella laughed next to him and patted his back.

"I feel both mildly amused and incredibly intrigued. What were you thinking?" Jasper asked, leaning in close to her so his breath brushed her ear.

Her face turned bright red and she shook her head, "Nothing!"

"I think you're my new favorite person!" Emmet pipes up, chuckling at his brother's misery.

"I texted Esme and Carlisle. We'll meet at the main house after school to discuss....things." Rosalie added, tucking her phone away somewhere, into a pocket I'm assuming.

"I'll let Jake know. He was busy today but I'm sure he wants to be there too." Renesmee Added, pulling up a small device with a popsocket that had an image of a brown wolf on it.

The bell rang and they all stood, going their separate ways. Aleesia tossed her half eaten burger and empty milk carton in the trash before following behind Alice and Jasper who were waiting for her by the door so they could all go to class together. Alis looped one of her arms with the shorter half vampire and happily dragged her along with Jasper following close beside them sporting an amused grin.