Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Realizing I was reincarnated in 1989 sucked way more than realizing I was living in the Twilight books. By the time I was in high school I'd learned to cope with both, but the whole no iPhone thing crushed me daily.

The Twilight books thing didn't bother me. I was two years younger than Bella (who I had meant several times — small town realness) and we were neither close nor enemies, so I had no reason to assume I would fall into the plot. Hell, I even tried to avoid La Push, since I knew what was starting to cook up there.

I forgot one key detail.

When the Cullens moved into town, I was in the eighth grade. Their arrival caused a flurry of excitement, and it seemed, for months, they were all my small town could talk about. Even my older sister got caught up in it.

"He's just so dreamy."

Abigail was referring to Jasper Hale. He was a Confederate soldier, so I had marked him down as 'maybe racist' in my head. I've been informed by her, who was a sophomore in high school, that every girl had picked their Cullen-Hale to be totally infatuated with.

"Not that it matters, they're all taken."

Not Edward, but I wasn't supposed to know that, so I didn't fill her in. She said he wasn't her type, so she would have cared little, if at all.

When the talk of the new family in town died down, I figured I was in the clear. Bella stopped visiting her dad, and instead Charlie went to see her — my mom was a fan of gossip, and heard this from our neighbor Shelby who heard it from her sister-in-law Maddie who heard it from another source. Normally, gossip like his was extremely over exaggerated, but I knew this one to be true.

I graduated middle school. Posed for photos with Abigail, my parents, the full family. My mom was sobbing. My Aunt and Uncle came down from Seattle with their three kids to witness it. All very strange behavior, and Abigail agreed, even if she was sucking up the attention only three years prior.

I entered freshman year. My best friend, a girl named Nicole, had this mom with a really annoying high pitched voice. She made us take six thousand photos for the first day of high school, and then my mom took a hundred more.

"Smile, Kate!" My mom cooed, snapping another photo.

Everything was normal. I was normal. Nothing to give me away to the group of vampires sitting desolate at the lunch table on the other side of the cafeteria.

I kept thinking that, as I made my way from class to class, walking with Nicole and her new boyfriend.

The one key detail came back to bite me in the ass.

Edward Cullen could read minds.

Chapter Text

I went three days in high school with no incidents. Three days.

"How do you know?"

Edward Cullen had cornered me in the women's bathroom. Weird. No respect for women's boundaries, obviously. You'd expect someone from the 1900s to not drag barely teenage girls into bathrooms to interrogate.

He was reading my mind, obviously. His facial features perfectly display his reactions to my buzzing thoughts. Oh, there. He just attempted to pull a blank fade.

He didn't seem vicious or blood thirsty or anything. Which I figured was a good thing. Maybe out of character for him, were my thoughts really that unthreatening?

"Know what?" I decided to play dumb.

Wait. It wouldn't work, he could read my mind.

"I know nothing."

…He knows that's not true. Idiot. Something else.

"How about the truth?"

Ugh. Not that, why would I tell the truth? How would that sound? Haha, yeah, I read about this in a book.

"In a book?"

No. "No." I didn't need to say that out-loud.

"What book?"

Stop reading my mind.

"No."

Creep. Why do you like reading young girls' minds, hm? You're like 120 at this point! I'm fourteen. Physically.

"Physically?"

"No. You didn't hear that." How do you turn off an internal monologue? I wish I had an iPhone. "I'm not answering any more questions. Or I'll… tell my sister you're… being weird?"

Edward obviously did not care. I wouldn't either. Abigail was five foot and like 110 pounds soaking wet. And she talked like a valley girl. He'd probably also heard her thoughts about Jasper at least once, since they were in the same grade and everything.

"I have."

Gross.

So, Edward doesn't care. Or he does, but he doesn't see me as a threat. Probably because he can hear my thoughts and knows that I was going to do nothing. The rest of his family can't hear my thoughts, and don't know this. So I'm assuming he's the first round before they let Rosalie or Jasper at me. I would have preferred Alice.

Or Emmett. At least he's funny.

Edward seemed to disagree. Probably because he had a stick up his ass. Get a sense of humor, Eddie.

"Don't call me that."

Get a sense of privacy, Eddie.

Edward looked ready to respond, but instead he straightened up, eyes darting to the door. He huffed — purely for dramatics, I knew he didn't breathe — and shuffled himself gracefully into a bathroom stall.

"Okay… what are you doing?"

He didn't answer my question. The bathroom door being pushed open did. A gaggle of girls the grade ahead of me were having a lovely conversation, leaving Edward Cullen trapped in the bathroom stall.

I made sure to laugh loudly in my head as I left.

Chapter Text

I had no encounters with any of the family that day. Abigail drove me home in her new Ford Focus, happily going at least 20 over the speed limit. I had the window opened and shoved my head out of it, enjoying the warm air hitting my face.

"Tiff told me Edward Cullen dragged you into a bathroom."

"Tiff needs to mind her ow business."

Abigail rolled her eyes. I didn't see it, but I knew she did. "I'm all happy you're finally taking an interest in boys, but not one so old!"

I scrunched my face up in disgust, "I'm going to dignify that with a response."

"Not even a cute one! He's so moopy, and sad, and he doesn't talk to people." She pulled into our driveway as she complained, and parked the car. I wasted no time in exiting the car, attempting to speed walk to the front door.

"Kate!" Abigail called, "Are you listening?"

"No! I don't like him!"

Chapter Text

Edward Cullen was now my stalker.

He frowned at me for that thought, across the cafeteria. I figured that he didn't bother to tell the rest of his family I knew, mainly because the rest of the Cullens hardly bothered to give me a second glance. So either Edward was really stupid, or he didn't want to worry them.

We were making direct eye contact, only interrupted by another high schooler walking in between us. We were sat on total opposites of the cafeteria, too, so that meant that Edward's mind reading went as far as his hearing.

He'd follow me through the hallways, as if creeping after me to make sure I didn't snitch, and would stand beside his expensive Volvo and watch as I got into Abigail's car. I made sure not to think anymore about how I knew.

I thought about anything but how I knew, or the future. Anything. I recited bad poetry, attempted to fine tune my mock accents, and had a heated debate with myself over the existence of aliens.

Edward Cullen did not let up. He never directly talked to me, but he stared. So, I started to stare back.

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Nicole was a fun girl to be friends with. She had always been pretty, full of life, and popular, ever since they first met in the second grade. She had taken me under her wing, which was hard, since when I was in the second grade I was too awkward and too grown to make friends on my own.

She was dating a boy in our grade, Parker, who was equally as popular in his own right. Parker had his friend group, and Nicole had hers, so it meant that we had to mingle and all attempt to get along. It also helped that Charlotte, who was another friend of our's, was dating Parker's best friend, Matthew.

That was a lot of names already, and there was about four more of us in the group. Those just happened to be the ones I liked.

"We're going to La Push," Nicole informed me Friday, walking up to Abigail's car. Her older brother drove her home, too, but he was a senior. "And no excuses this time, you need some sun on your skin."

I was very pale compared to Nicole. That was just genetics, since there was hardly enough sun to sunbathe in, but she wouldn't listen to reason.

Several cars down, a car blared its horn. Nicole rolled her eyes, "That's Jack. Bye Kate, see you tomorrow!"

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I hadn't been to La Push since I was three, before I could decide if I wanted to visit or not. It was a nice beach, well, nice enough for Washington, but I always made an attempt to distance myself from the plot.

Edward Cullen ruined that, so I went to La Push with Nicole and the rest of our friends. Nicole's mom drove us, and promised to pick us up in a few hours.

Parker and one of his friends were goofing off. Matt was holding up a stick with a mysterious stain at the end, chasing Parker around with it, who was yelling for mercy. Charlotte and Nicole were discussing their favorite shade of lipstick, which came about because last week was Charlotte's birthday, and her mom bought her several new lipsticks, in new colors.

It was the very beginning of September, and the air had already lost some of its summer warmth. I wasn't dressed for the beach, none of us were, and I wished I would have chosen a long sleeved t-shirt instead of my tank top.

"Oh," Nicole said, breaking off the conversation, "are those boys from the Rez?"

Charlotte and I followed her line of vision. There was a group of tanned boys, all around our ages, making their way towards them.

One raised his arm and waved in a greeting, I waved back. "Hey!" He called, now within speaking distance, "I'm Jacob."

I smiled, "Kate."

Chapter Text

Jacob Black was a sweet boy. I called him Jake. We hung out after school, sometimes just us, sometimes with his friends (Embry and Quill), sometimes my friends (Nicole and Parker, mainly), and sometimes all together.

He called me Carrot Top, and told me that boys didn't find gingers cute. I would roll my eyes, and remind him that he had hair longer than mine.

My parents liked him. They thought he was so mature for his age (I was two months older), that he was so nice, and so proper, and so polite. "He's such a good influence on you!" My mom gushed, like two hours before he wasn't trying to convince me to shave my head, or that I was really meant to be goth, or any crazy thing his mind cooked up.

I was sat across from Nicole and Parker, Jake on my side. We were eating at The Lodge one Thursday afternoon when none of us had school (teacher Inservice day), because Mr. Black went with Chief Swan, and offered to take the four of us with them. They were a booth away.

"Edward Cullen tried talking to Kate again today." Nicole gossiped, popping a french fry into her mouth. "He's like… obsessed with her.

"I just ignored him." And I did. He walked up to me, once again trying to get me to spill on how I knew his family's secret, and I just covered my ears and went 'BLAH BLAH BLAH I CAN'T HEAR YOU' until he got the hint and left me alone.

Jake made a face, reaching over to steal one of my fries, and I swatted it away. I told him he should have gotten fries with his burger instead of a salad. He doesn't even eat salad. But he said he was trying to be healthy. "The Cullens are all freaks."

"I wouldn't talk to the Cullens," I turned her head, looking towards Billy Black. "They've got an unpleasant reputation."

I blinked. I knew what the man meant, but what an odd way to phrase it. Chief Swan grunted. He was eating a steak. "The Cullens are some of the best behaved kids I've ever encountered —" And the two of them were lost in their own conversation.

"Weird," Parker noted, though he didn't seem too bothered. It seemed that I was the only one who really felt uncomfortable by Mr. Black's interruption. Even Jake returned to his food with little hesitation.

Chapter Text

"Hello, Edward."

Edward Cullen was at my locker. I slammed it shut, giving him my best attempt at a bitch stare.

"Hello, Kate."

He did not react to my bitch stare. I tried harder. He cracked a smile.

"Still not telling you."

I pulled my backpack further up my shoulder, tapping him on the chest in an attempt to get him to move. He didn't get the hint. Well, he did, he literally could read my mind, but he didn't move.

"Why not?"

He was trying to be charming. I rolled my eyes.

"Nothing to tell."

Chapter Text

November 8th. My birthday, both in my past life and this new one.

I acted like I wasn't aware of the surprise party, and I think I did a good job, too, even when Nicole and Jacob would chat about it under their breath, like I wasn't sitting right beside them.

I put on my best acting and shrieked in joy and placed my hands to my chest, in a dramatic fashion. It was in my living room, with seemingly everyone in it — even my Aunt and Uncle and three cousins from Seattle.

I sat beside Riley, the eldest of my three cousins, and swung my legs. "Did you graduate yet?"

'Senior year," Riley answered. I nodded.

Something about his name tickled my brain, but that happened a lot. I assumed he was just a throw away character mentioned once or so in the books, shuttered at the idea of being related to a fictional character and ate some birthday cake.

Riley was later replaced with Jake, who was going ham on his third piece of birthday cake (I kept count). He had icing on his chin. I didn't tell him, finding the sight too funny.

"Hope you don't die from old age, Carrot Top."

I made a face at him, "Eat me."

"Gross." He took another bite of birthday cake.

Chapter Text

By the time it was Thanksgiving, I had mastered the art of dodging Edward Cullen and his questions. 

I had mentally recited the lyrics to American Idiot by Green Day so many times that I was sure Edward now had the song memorized, too. Not to mention my bad recitations of Shakespeare’s poems or my very dramatic, very bad retelling of the plotline of Hamlet — I was pretty sure I mixed in some Macbeth in there, too.

Edward was a big Shakespeare fan, since he liked anything boring and old, so I thought that those would physically pain him. When I (mentally) said that Hamlet's wife encouraged him to kill Opehlia, Edward hissed out a breath and moved away from my general area.

“Man, Edward Cullen really is obsessed with you,” Nicole said in the back of Jack’s car. Abigail stayed home sick, so her brother offered me a ride home. Probably because I threatened to hitchhike, and he didn’t want a dead fifteen-year-old on his consciousness. 

I slumped in my seat, “Don’t remind me. I hope he gets a hobby, and soon.”

“Maybe stalking you is a hobby?” Jack spoke up from behind the steering wheel. “Crazy weird, though. If he was doing that to Nic, I’d beat his ass.”

“That’s for not doing the same for me, Jack.”

Jack rolled his eyes, “I can’t go around starting fights for every fourteen-year-old at Forks, can I?”

I furrowed my eyebrows, “I’m fifteen!”

That didn’t help my argument. 

Chapter Text

It started snowing after Thanksgiving. The kind that iced roads and humbled all those teenagers who are just learning to drive.

Including Abigail, who almost hit several mailboxes when she agreed to drop me off at Jake’s. 

I was there now, sitting on his living room floor, watching The Batman , which was a kids TV show. We enjoyed it enough, even if the rest of our friends called us geeks for watching it. 

In about twelve years, they’d be eating their words.

Assuming the MCU and future DC movies still existed. It would suck if they didn’t, actually, I never got to see the third Spider-Man movie. 

“Being Bruce Wayne would be so cool,” Jake said. His sister, Rachel, was home from college for the holidays. She made us hot chocolate and wiggled her eyebrows at him when Abigail dropped me off. Jake had shoved her away, though I made sure to shout my thanks for the drink. 

Rebecca was married and living in Hawaii. She sent a postcard with a little note scribbled on the back, which Billy read and looked disheartened. The whole Black household was mad at her for not coming to visit for the holidays.

Jake had told me he knew why she didn’t — both of his older sisters avoided Forks since their mom died. Rachel at least came home to visit, not wanting them to be alone. 

“Would it?” I responded, blowing on my hot chocolate before taking a sip. I had already burnt my tongue, which sucked, “He gets beaten up every episode.”

“Yeah, but he’s rich. And Batman’s saving Gotham. And he’s rich .” 

I snorted at him, “Money isn’t everything. Try focusing on more important things, like school.” 

We both sat silently, staring at each other in mock seriousness, until Jake let a laugh out.

Soon, we were both laughing hard enough to make my sides hurt. 

“Oh! Oh, crap,” I groaned, when my laughing got so crazy I spilled hot chocolate all over myself. “Man, that’s hot.” 

“Hey!” Jake complained, “Not on my carpet! Rachel’s going to have to clean it up, now!”

And, from the kitchen, Rachel yelled a, “I’m going to what ?”

I liked the Black household. 

Chapter Text

In the brief few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break where I was still forced to attend school, I was trying to skip the rest of my English class in the bathroom, sitting on the ground (ew) and reading a battered copy of Little Women when someone opened the door.

I looked up. There stood Alice Cullen, who smiled at me. She looked like a fairy, or a pixie, or something like that. Pretty, but in an unnatural way, which wasn’t uncommon with the vampires. 

“Hello!” She said, voice light and bell-like. I blinked owlishly at her. 

“Hi,” I answered.

“We are going to become such good friends!”

Oh, Jesus Christ.

Chapter Text

Christmas is spent with my family, as it should be. My older brother even came home from New York City (where he’s trying to make it big in acting) and got me a nice set of earrings as a gift. Spencer was twenty-four, my half-brother from my dad’s first marriage, and he moved out when I was nine and Abigail was eleven. He didn’t visit a lot, but when he did, it was always nice.

Plus he got himself like a sugar daddy in New York, so his gifts were always really expensive. He offered his penthouse up when Abigail mentioned wanting to see a Broadway musical for her seventeenth birthday. 

“A penthouse,” I wiggled my eyebrows at him, tearing into a very horribly wrapped gift from my sister. “Ming treats you that good?”

Spencer awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah… well.”

Sometimes I forgot it was currently 2005 and not the very progressive future of 2022. Our parents weren’t homophobic or anything, and I didn’t think his mom was either, but the world in general was kinda sucky to gay men. And biracial relationships. So I couldn’t imagine how bad it’d be as a gay biracial relationship.

“You should visit more,” Abigail told him, opening a box to show a new pair of boots, which she squealed and lifted up to show off. Mom had that smile parents always got when they got something they told their kids they were no way getting. 

Mine was a mug with a character from South Park on it, from Abigail. I had never really watched South Park before, so I was lost on why she got me it, but I still smiled and squealed the same and hugged her, chanting, “I love it!” over and over again.

That night I did attempt to find South Park episodes airing on TV, when everyone else was asleep. It wasn’t bad.

Chapter Text

TO: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 

FROM: [email protected]

SUBJECT: hanging out

[email protected]:

are we still good for sunday?

TO: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 

FROM: [email protected]

SUBJECT: hanging out

[email protected]:

Why r we emailing 

TO: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]  

FROM: [email protected]

SUBJECT: hanging out

[email protected]:

parker lost his phone and is supposed to be on his dads computer 

TO: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]  

FROM: [email protected]

SUBJECT: hanging out

[email protected]:

Ugh!!! Just text us sep and email him the deets !!!! 

TO: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

FROM: [email protected] 

SUBJECT: hanging out

[email protected]:

Hey guys i didnt know i had ur emails LOL

Chapter Text

Mom came prancing into the living room, where Abigail and I were in the midst of an epic battle over who got the TV remote. 

“You’re spry,” Abigail said. 

My mom grinned mischievously at her, “You will never guess what Donna just told me!”

“What?” I asked. 

“Charlie Swan’s daughter is coming back to forks!”

Abigail and I shared a look. She turned back to our mom, and gave a slow nod, “Okay?”

Mom visibly deflated, “You two are no fun, I’m going to call Stephanie.” That’s Nicole’s mother. She’d kick a kick out of it, too.

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“Hi,” I said. I’m awkwardly stood beside Edward’s Volvo, and he was staring at me like I’m insane. I probably am. 

“Hello,” He said back.

“So, soon, there’s gonna be this new girl, right?”

“Right.” He probably already knew, since he can read minds and everything. “I did.”

Cool. Good to know.

“Well,” I continued, “She’s gonna be your… what is it called?”

I stared at him. He stared back. I was faintly aware that someone else was staring me down — Rosalie, probably. 

“Blood singer!” I finally remembered, though too loudly. I slapped a hand over my mouth in embarrassment. “Blood singer. Bella Swan is your blood singer and you like, want to eat her during your science class, or something.”

Edward stared at me like I’ve grown sixteen heads. I smiled pleasantly, waved goodbye, and made my way back to Abigail’s car.

Chapter Text

The first time I actually met Bella Swan, since she moved back to Forks, she was standing in my living room.

She was as awkward as I’d gathered from reading the books. Hands in her jacket pockets, a pair of plain blue jeans, hair down around her shoulders. She shrunk in on herself like she didn’t want to be noticed.

“Hi,” I said, feeling awkward standing in my pajamas. It was my fault for sleeping in until noon, but I had a late night. A late night reading, but still, a late night. 

Bella waved, “Hi. You’re Abi’s sister, right?” 

(Okay, to tell you the truth, my sister spelt it Abbie . I don’t understand where the extra b and e came from, so I stubbornly ignored this.)

“Yeah, I’m Kate.” Then we stood in awkward silence, “You’re Bella, right?”

“Yeah.”

More awkward silence. 

“Are you waiting for Abs?”

Bella nodded. 

“Okay,” I walked past her and into the kitchen, where I started making myself a hearty breakfast of cereal. “Are you hungry?”

“No.”

“Okay.” 

Yet, somehow, out of all my meets with major canon characters, this ranked number two on my list. Being beaten by Jake, of course.

Chapter Text

“How did you know?”

Okay, so, Rosalie Hale stood in front of me in all her scary-hot-vampire glory. 

I tried my best to act all nonchalant and chill. I forced my book bag strap further up my shoulder, and raised a brow, “Knew what?”

“Don’t play stupid,” Rosalie’s eyes are narrowed. I wondered what was the point in having this conversation in the middle of the school hallway. 

“How about after school? We don’t want anyone else to hear.” I was just saying this to get the girl who could literally rip me in half away from me. 

Rosalie’s eyes are so narrowed that I wondered if she could even see through them. Still, she nodded, turned dramatically on her heel, and made it to whatever class she had next.

Chapter Text

Against my better judgment, I meet with Rosalie after school. I was right in my assumption that she was the one staring me down while I had my little moment with Edward, but I had foolishly not remembered that she could hear me .

“How did you know?” She practically hissed. Her eyes were their normal golden yellow, but they kept flickering behind me. I turned my head and saw Emmett standing by their car. I was standing beside Abigail’s, who was on the phone in the driver’s seat. She’d start honking the horn if I took too long.

“Know about what?” We had just literally had this conversation.

“I am telling you, Katherine, do not play stupid.” Youch, full name. My mom didn’t even call me by my full name. It was more amusing than anything.

“Well, if I’m going to spill all my secrets, I want to talk to Edward.”

She wasn’t expecting that. I think I almost caught her off guard, “What?”

“Well you look like you want to eat me, and Edward’s my buddy. He’s been reading my mind for a while now, probably knows all my secrets.”

“You are not speaking to Edward.”

Chapter Text

I never realized just how insane Bella’s acceptance that Edward watched her sleep was until I was awoken by my very pleasant dream to Edward Cullen standing in my bedroom. 

“Jesus Christ!” I screeched, then automatically winced, when I recognized the figure as the friendly(?) neighborhood vampire. My eyes moved to the door, but when there seemed to be no response to my scream, they moved back to Edward.

“I did not mean to startle you.”

My heart had yet to get back to its normal pace. I narrowed my eyes on him. “You ever heard of knocking?”

“I tried,” he answered, “You did not wake up.”

“Ugh,” I shoved the covers off of myself and slid out of bed. He was lucky I didn’t sleep naked, or something.

He frowned at me. “I wouldn’t have come in, if that was the case.”

“Right,” It was true, probably, since being from like 1910 would make someone a prude. I huffed out a breath, “What’s up?”

“Rosalie informed me of her… doings today, at school.”

“Oh, what? Realizing I knew you guys were vampires and cornering me twice?”

“...Yes.”

I nodded, “So I assume you and her had a chat about what I said?”

“Yes.” Edward was eyeing me. “You will only tell me.”

“Yup.”

Chapter Text

It took a lot of brain power to not let my thoughts slip through, since I was straight up just lying to this mind-reader’s face. I just convinced myself this is what actually happened. It seemed to work. 

“I have these dreams,” I started off. It made sense to me, at least. Even though she didn’t know, Alice had her superpower as a human, becoming a vampire just helped fine-tune it. I could just convince them that if I ever (never) became a vampire, I would have prophetic visions. Maybe I could even see the past. 

Yeah, that’d be cool. 

“Dreams?” Edward asked. 

“Yeah…” I shifted from foot to foot, “They started when you guys moved here. I saw Carlisle first, when Abigail broke her ankle,” That was two months after they moved, she had fallen down the stairs. “And that night I dreamt of him with blue eyes wearing like, historical clothes.”

So, I hoped my assumption of looking at Carlisle and thinking he would have blue eyes was correct, because I didn’t mean to say that part. It’s a good thing I watched a lot of Twilight lore videos on YouTube while doing homework, since I knew enough about all the vampire’s pasts to be believable. 

Edward raised a stupidly perfect brow at this, though he didn’t look like he was calling bullshit. 

“What about the rest of us?” Edward sounded almost believing. 

“Well,” I pressed my lips together, “When I first saw you, which wasn’t on the first day of school, I dreamed about a woman asking Carlisle to save her son. She and him were both dying. But her son was you, and then Carlisle bit you.”

That was enough to get him to believe me. There was no movement in her completely still body, but I could see it in his eyes. 

“The same continued to happen to all of you, the more and more I saw you around town. And then it wasn’t you, it was others, like the little vampire government, and then I started seeing things that haven't happened yet. Like you and Bella in science class, or Tyler crashing his van. Which is going to happen soon, so maybe I should warn him.”

Edward was staring at me very intensely. I blinked tiredly at him, once again being reminded that he rudely woke me up from the best sleep of my life. I opened my mouth to demand him to speak, but before I could make a noise, he was back out my window.

Vampires did move really fast. Good to know. 

Chapter Text

So, the entire Cullen family were off on their little vacation, not just Edward. Even Dr. Carlisle decided he needed a break from the hospital. 

I kinda wondered (hoped?) that they had just packed up their bags and left. Maybe some random teenage girl dreaming of their past and future was too much, and they needed to get far, far away before some other vampire caught wind and chomped me.

Or Rosalie. Whichever came first.

My life continued as normal. I hung out with Jake, Nicole, Parker, and the rest of the group. Sometimes I would run around with Jake’s little group of buddies. 

“So gross,” I rolled my eyes, watching Jake and Embry chase each other around with a literal toad they ripped off the ground. 

In response, Jake shoved the toad in my face.

“Kiss it!” He yelled.

“So gross .” I repeated, shoving his arm away. 

“Gross,” That was Embry this time, “Go flirt somewhere else.”

A beat of silence. Jake and I both whipped our heads towards Embry.

“ Flirt?! ”

Chapter Text

The Cullens returning caused the air to shift in Fork’s High School.

I was blissfully unaware of the resident vampire’s until I was practically manhandled by Nicole on my way into the building. 

“Did you hear!?” She shrieked.  

“Hear what?”

“The Cullens,” She was doing her best attempt at a stage-whisper now, close up to my ear. “They’re back.”

“They’re back?” My eyes instantly went to where they typically parked, and there it sat, Edward’s Volvo. No Edward, though, or his vampire pals. 

Nicole nodded her head, “Another family hiking trip, probably.”

Yeah. Probably.

Chapter Text

“Hello… Kate.” Edward stood awkwardly beside Abigail’s car. My sister was giving him a look that plainly stated she thought he was a creep.

“Edward,” I grinned. 

“Would you like to… come over.” He doesn’t say it like a question. 

Abigail’s jaw dropped, “What!” She whipped her head towards me, “I’m sorry what ? You said he wasn’t into you —”

“He’s not.”

“I’m not!” Edward sounded scandalized. It was a little funny. I’ve also realized my mistake, as, for as I could tell, Bella seemed to not give Edward the time of day, and Edward did the same for her. I wondered what went down in that science class. 

“Yeah, sure,” I told Edward, “For dinner tonight or tomorrow?”

“Tonight,” He was still eyeing Abigail like he expected her to jump over and strangle him, “I will pick you up.”

Chapter Text

“Are you sure about this?” It was times like these that I missed the high-quality tech of iPhones, Jake’s voice was cracking and only barely sounded like him. That could also be because I was pretty sure my house phone was older than me (well, not older than me, but still old.)

“Yeah,” I lied, since I really wasn’t sure about going over to a house filled with vampires after being exposed for knowing they’re vampires. 

“Isn’t he, like… old?”

I scrunched my nose up, “What does that mean?”

Jake hesitated on the other line, “Isn’t he too old to go on a date with?”

I gagged dramatically, and could hear as Jake laughed to himself underneath it, “Jacob! It is not a date, why does everyone keep assuming that?”

“It sounds like a date.”

“You sound like a date,” I mocked back.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t until I was already outside of the Cullen house that I realized I was taking Bella’s place. But, like, not romantically. 

“Bella?” Edward asked. 

I nodded. “Uh, from what I’ve seen, you two fall in love and she meets your family and Rosalie breaks a bowl of salad.”

Edward nodded like this was common information. I got an idea and, after getting out of the car and following him up the steps, asked, “Did your family make Italian food?”

The door is pulled open before Edward could reach for it. Alice Cullen, in her fairy-like glory, smiled at me. “Of course not, I know you like French better.” 

“Right…” I blinked, “Did you get a vision of me saying I really love French food, or something?”

“Oh, exactly that.”

Chapter Text

Esme Cullen was a very pretty woman with a heart shaped face. She was the only member of the family I haven’t met, so I gave her my best I’m so sweet and innocent smile which seemed to work. I’m pretty sure she literally cooed at me.

Rosalie didn’t break a bowl this time, because I didn’t eat before coming. She didn’t look pleased to see me, though. 

“So,” Carlisle started. I was the only one eating dinner, which was… awkward. They were all just watching me eat like it was the most interesting thing ever. “Edward tells us that you know.”

“I know?”

“About us.”

Oh, duh. The whole reason I was here. I nodded and took a long sip of water, trying to get my thoughts together. Once again, I was perfecting my mental thoughts so Edward wouldn’t get anything. “Right. Did he tell you everything?”

“He said you have dreams.” That was Rosalie. She sounded like she still wanted to rip my throat out. She also sounded like she didn’t believe me (ouch, but fair). 

“Yes.” I agreed. 

“About us .”

“Not just you ,” I disagreed, pointing my fork at her, there was a piece of shrimp at the end. Esme made a very good bouillabaisse. “About a lot of things. The vampire government, like those twins? The freaky ones? Oh and you guys are causing the boys at the reservation to shift. Right now it’s just Sam, but more are going to follow.” I let out a deep sigh, “Including my best friend, which is going to suck . He’s going to lose his lovely hair.”

Carlisle looked particularly disturbed. I wasn’t sure if it was because I knew all of that or the shifters. 

“We have to do something.” Rosalie was speaking to Carlisle now. “She’s putting all of us in danger, Carlisle.”

Ouch. Also fair, but still, ouch. 

“I won’t tell anyone,” I promised. “To be fair, I don’t really want anything to do with this whole… vampire business. Just lucky I met the ones who don’t like killing people.” 

Alice seemed to have no problem believing me. She bounced right across the room and threw her arms over my shoulders. She was lucky I didn’t have boundary issues, Nicole would’ve bitten her head off. “Of course you won’t tell! You’re too sweet.”

“And this is a really good bouillabaisse. I really like this bouillabaisse.” I ate another shrimp. “Would suck to make the chef leave town.”

Chapter Text

“What do you mean he’s sick?” I asked Billy Black, trying not to make it sound like I was pouting. I was pouting, but he didn’t need to know that. Jake and I had plans to see a movie and make fun of it the whole time. 

“The doctor thinks he has mono.”

“Mono?!” My jaw practically dropped, “How do you just get mono? Does anyone else have it?”

“On the reservation, yes.”

“Oh, well, okay…” I trailed off, “Tell him I hope he feels better. And that we can see a movie when he feels better. Bye, Mr. Black.”

“Goodbye, Kate.” The man hung up. I put my landline back against the wall. 

Wait. Mono. There was something about Mono in the books. 

I scrunched my eyebrows together in thought. 

Mono, mono, mono. 

Oh, fuck. 

So, welcome to Kate Bier’s guide on having a wolf shapeshifter for a best friend who you definitely accidentally turned by being all chummy chummy with a vampire family. 

No suicidal Bella Swan needed. I hoped. 

Chapter Text

The wait for Jake to go through his not-really-werewolf transformation was so goddamn long. By day three I was over it. 

“Where’s Jacob again?” Parker asked. With the lack of my second favorite best friend (Nicole was always first) I was stuck hanging out with Nicole and her group of friends. Charlotte wasn’t even here, and she was the only other one I liked. 

“He has mono.” Even my voice sounded sad. I hadn’t gone longer than two days without seeing Jake since we first met.

Nicole made a face, “Oh God, Kate, you should see a doctor.”

There was a long pause. I made a face at her. “What?”

”You know what they say, mono’s the kissing disease.” 

“…What?”

Another long pause. This one was awkward. 

“Are you two… not…”

“Oh, man.” Parker said. He looked like he was trying not to laugh. “I told Nicole you two weren’t secretly dating.”

“What?!” I’m assuming my face looked horrified, because both Parker and Nicole (and Matthew, who wasn’t even a part of this conversation) looked sheepish. 

Nicole tilted her head from one side to the other, “Well, y’know, you two are always alone together. And he’s crazy about you!”

“He is not!”

Parker nodded along, “He so is. When you’re not there he’s always talking about you. Jake’s got is bad.”

Another pause. My head felt like mush in my skull. “Are you serious?”

“Uh, duh, Kate.” Nicole laughed a little, “God, normally you’re so good at this. You knew I liked Parker off of the way I said his name once.”

“Huh.” I leaned forward, so my forehead was pressed against the slightly sticky (ew) table at The Lodge, “Do I like Jake?”

Chapter Text

Bella Swan was in my house again. Abigail and her were like besties now, my sister stealing her from the crutches of Jessica and that whole friend group. For the best, as this version of Bella my sisters has adopted didn’t look miserable 24/7.

Abigail and Bella were sitting in our living room, having claimed the TV for themselves. America’s Next Top Model was playing, though Abigail was obviously the only one watching. Bella was doing her homework. 

“Katie!” Abi squealed when she saw me enter the house, “Kate, c’mere. I have a question.”

I resisted the urge to groan, “What is it?” 

“Bella thinks the Cullens are vampires.”

Pause. What? How the hell did she figure that out? She hasn’t even spoken to any of them!

“Uhhh…” 

“I didn’t say that,” Bella said, though she never looked up from whatever homework her pencil was scribbling across, “I just said they’re different. And how their family always leaves when the sun is out.”

“Yeah, so vampires.”

Take it to my sister to jokingly figure out the Cullens’ deepest secret. “Uh.”

Was I going to have to tell them about this? I really didn’t want Rosalie to rip Abigail’s head off. I quite liked her, as far as sisters go. 

“We’re just fucking around.” Abigail sounded appalled that I actually believed her, “Obviously they’re just in a cult. Sacrificing little woodland creatures when it’s nice outside.”

Bella scrunched her nose up, “Gross.”

“So gross.” I agreed. 

Chapter Text

Week two and no contact from Jake. I was starting to understand why Bella pulled up at his house. 

But I was normal. Very normal. I was going to let Jake come clean about his furry problem himself. 

Anyways, I had other things to worry about. 

“I think I’m forgetting something,” I told Nicole. 

Nicole shrugged a shoulder, “Probably Mr. Mason’s homework, don’t stress.”

I was just about to agree with her, when the sounds of tires screeching and shouts of alarm broke the air. Both of us turned our heads, watching Tyler’s van slide across the ice and almost smush Bella Swan into a pancake. 

“Oh,” I said, a little sheepish, “I remember what I forgot.”

Chapter Text

“We’re going to the hospital,” Abigail said as soon as I got into the car.

“Oh,” I said, “Why?”

Abigail gave me a look that plainly stated she thought I was stupid as she turned on the car, “An ambulance just came and took Bella! I have to make sure she’s okay.”

Oh, right. “I think she’s okay.”

“She almost got hit by a car!”

“Good thing Edward was there?”

Abigail didn’t answer right away as she pulled out of the parking lot. Our dad put those tire chains for the ice, so she wasn’t slipping around and almost crushing poor pale girls either. 

Finally, after turning out of the parking lot and making her way down the road, she said, “How did he get there so fast?”

Oh, God. I turned my eyes up towards the ceiling. Great, not only was Bella going to be going on about this, but Abigail too. 

“I don’t know. Steroids, maybe?”

Abigail didn’t laugh. Oh, man, she must be taking this Bella-almost-dying thing seriously. I wanted to tell her that Bella-almost-dying really isn’t anything new, like, in a year she’d be used to it. 

“You’re close with Edward.”

I couldn’t contain a snort, “We are not close ! We are not remotely close.”

“You went to his house.”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re always having weird conversations with him.”

“Yeah.”

“But you’re not close?”

“No.”

“Okay,” Abigail obviously still didn’t believe me, “How did he get there so fast? And how did he stop the car?”

“Steroids.”

“Okay, so when Edward Cullen goes into a roid rage and rips a locker door off its hinges I guess I know why.”

“Exactly,” I nodded, “He’s trying to get more into gym stuff. Gym bro, and everything.”

Chapter Text

“Hi, Sheriff Swan,” I said awkwardly, hands shoved into my coat pockets. Abigail had dragged me down to the room the very nice woman at the front desk told her Bella was in. Abigail must’ve been spending as much time at the Swan residence as Bella spent at our house, because Charlie Swan didn’t even blink at seeing her.

Didn’t blink either when Abigail told Bella to move over and made herself comfortable beside Bella on the hospital bed. 

“Hey, Kate,” The gruff man responded. We were both watching Abigail worry over Bella like she was on her deathbed.

When Carlisle Cullen entered the room, his eyes went to me before they went to Bella. I smiled at him, raising my brows like aren’t you surprised to see me here? He wasn’t Edward though so it probably just looked like I was raising my brows at him for no reason. 

He did his whole doctor dialogue. I wasn’t really paying attention, until Bella said, “It was actually your son that saved me. I don’t know how he got across the parking lot so fast.”

I resisted the urge to suck in a breath. Abigail’s eyes moved straight to me. I understood that look. The look that said she knew I was hiding something. I shrugged. 

Actually, searching my mind for what remained of my memories of Twilight, I was pretty sure Edward (and maybe Rosalie?) were in the hallway right now. 

I should start beatboxing under my breath. 

I decided not to, as that would just make me look fucking insane. And they were all stuffy walking history books, they wouldn’t think it was funny. 

Does Edward even know what beatboxing is? Probably not. 

I need to teach him. I could imagine forcing him to listen to some random teenage boy beatboxing on YouTube. But YouTube wasn’t a thing yet, sadly. 

It was coming out soon, actually, now that I thought about it. Just give it a few years and my plan could go into function. 

Chapter Text

Edward was brooding in the hallway, as always. I eyed him. “What’s up?”

“What do they know?”

A long period of silence. I stared at him. He stared back. “Who?”

”Your sister and Bella.”

I blinked. “Can’t you just…” I wiggled my fingers, “Read their mind?”

Edward clenched his jaw and shook his head.

Pause. I knew he couldn’t read Bella’s mind (his eyebrows furrowed at that — I dreamt it, idiot — he made a face at me) but why couldn’t he read Abigail’s? My sister was normal, thank you very much. 

“It’s not that I can’t read it,” Edward answered, “It is very jumbled. Like she thinks in code.”

“Whaaaat the fuck.” Kinda rude Abigail got the mind-protection ability. Where was mine? Bullshit, she’s literally my sister. 

“What do they know?”

”Nothing,” I said, “Abi thinks you and your family are freaky little cultists who sacrifice animals when it gets warm outside, but I think she’s joking.” He looked quite appalled at that. It made me smile. “Bella knows you were on the other side of the parking lot. My advice? Just rip the bandaid off, she’s going to be like a dog to a bone, Eddie Boy. In my dreams she's obsessed with figuring it out.”

”So not ’nothing’.”

”What?”

”They do know something.”

It was my turn to make a face, “Don’t be so fucking whiny. And don’t like Rosalie or any of your particularly blood-thirsting siblings chomp down on my sister. Or Bella, I guess, but especially not my sister.”

”I think we would rather just leave than kill,” Edward admitted, “Though we hadn’t planned to leave so soon.”

“Okay,” I said, “Before you go can you guys like piss on your property? Like a dog?”

”That is disgusting.” 

“Yeah,” I agreed, “Sorry. Anyways, there’s like these three vampires who're going to be coming here soon. Or are already here?” I titled my head, “I dunno, ask your sister. But they’re going to go around drinking from people and I don’t know how long they’ll keep doing that if you and James don’t have that grudge match.” 

Edward didn’t answer me right away, he seemed to be scrutinizing me, “Who is James?”

”Ah!” I said, realizing I’d said too much, “No, no, ignore that. Forget that. Go make sure no vampires drink the blood of Chief Swan’s friend.”

”…Okay.”

Chapter Text

Three days after the whole car crash fiasco, I finally decided I had enough of werewolf brooding, or whatever, and was going to demand Jake talk to me. 

I brought Nicole as backup, obviously, because I remembered Bella punching someone (Paul? Is there a shifter named Paul?) in the face and absolutely obliterating her hand… or something along those lines. 

Anyways, I brought Nicole as backup. We rode our bikes into the reservation, which sucked, but was effective as neither of us could legally drive. 

We stopped our bikes outside of Jake’s house. I dropped the kickstand and Nicole just let her’s plop down, digging the handle into the grass. 

“So why is he ignoring you?” Nicole asked. She was going to stand by the bikes until she heard my signal, which was me screaming in pain. 

I shrugged, “His dad said he got mono and then suddenly it was quiet. Maybe I pissed him off.”

“Maybe he thinks you have him mono,” Nicole wiggled her eyebrows. 

“Definitely not that.” 

I moved away from Nicole and toward the Black residence. I knocked on the door, very politely, since I didn’t want to bother Mr. Black. 

It wasn’t Mr. Black who opened the door. It was Jake. 

“Motherfucker!” I yelled, “Where the hell have you been!”

“Uh...” Jake started, only for us to make eye contact, and then he got that ‘just-punched-in-the-gut-and-now-I’m-winded’ look on his face. His mouth parted and everything. 

He slammed the door in my face. 

“What the fuck!” 

Chapter Text

I’m not ashamed to say I banged on the Black’s door until someone answered. 

It was Jake again. He looked considerably horrified, which just annoyed me more. What did he have to be horrified about! 

“You slammed the door in my face,” I crossed my arms.

“Uhm,” Jake said eloquently. 

“Why would you slam a door in my face?!”

“Kate —”

“After disappearing!”

“Kate, listen to me —”

“No! What the hell! You slammed a door in my face!”

Jake frowned at me. I frowned back. He sighed. I sighed. Now it was awkward. 

Finally, Jake said, “I need to talk to you.”

“Oh,” I glared at him, “You need to talk to me? Then why did you slam the door in my face!”

“Enough about the door!”

“No!” I was probably pouting. Oh well. “That was so rude!”

Jake sighed, “Fine! I’m sorry for slamming the door.”

I dropped my arms, “Apology accepted. Now, what do you need to talk about?”

“You should come in,” Jake said. His voice was grave, more serious than I’ve ever heard him. I frowned, but followed him into the house. 

“You sound like something bad has happened,” I say, cautiously. I wondered if he was that upset about becoming a shifter? Or maybe his dad finally told him vampires were real and he wouldn’t talk to me anymore?

Ugh. If that was the case I’m going to fuck Edward Cullen up. Impenetrable skin got nothing on me. 

I followed Jake into the living room, where Billy Black was sitting in his wheelchair, also looking very serious. 

“Oh, wow,” I said, “Some low moods today, huh? What’s happening?”

No way Billy Black looked this miserable over Jake being a shifter. Well. Miserable wasn’t the right word. Grave, maybe? Like he was about to release government secrets. 

“Kate,” Mr. Black said. I turned my head to face him. “Have a seat.” 

Chapter Text

Acting shocked that Jake was secretly a shapeshifter was hard. 

What was not hard was my horror at being informed he had IMPRINTED ON ME. 

He didn’t even have to go into the whole history behind it before I was jumping off of the couch, shrieking as I ran up the stairs and into his bedroom. 

This time it was me who slammed the door on his face. Take that, Jacob! Which I probably would have said, if I wasn’t too busy shrieking. 

“Kate!” Jacob complained from the other side of the door. 

“No!!” I yelled back. “I like you, Jake, but you can’t just imprint on a girl!”

By the time he got the door opened, I had climbed onto his bed, dirty shoes on his bedsheets and everything. 

For a long moment, we stared at each other. The mattress was slightly bouncing beneath me, causing me to wobble and have to steady against his walk for support. 

He looked smitened with me. It was horrible! He was supposed to look at me like I was crazy, for shrieking and running onto his bed! 

I frowned at him. “Did you like me before?”

“Hmmm?” He asked. I frowned harder. He seemed to realize he had upset me, and backpedaled, “I—I mean I did. Yeah. I did.”

“You really did?”

“Yeah, I really did.” 

I got off his bed. I eyed him. “Give me 24-hours to digest this. I have a secret to tell you, too.”

“Deal!” He said. 

Chapter Text

“What the fuck took you so long?” Nicole asked, as we peddled our bikes down the street leading out of the reservation. 

“He confessed his undying love for me.”

Nicole’s bike stopped with a skid of her shoes against the pavement. I stopped my bike, too. She stared at me. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, basically.”

We started peddling again. 

“So, are you two dating?”

“Oh,” I said, “No, I forgot to ask.”

Chapter Text

Edward and Bella were dating now. 

Yeah, I don’t have a clue how that happened. I was a little distracted with the Jake drama, and then finding out we were mated by fate or whatever. 

Abi told me he saved her from a mountain lion. I half don’t believe her half do believe her, because it was very like Bella to be attacked by one. 

Whatever. The two were dating now, but it wasn’t as strange as before because my sister had a very anti-weirdo standpoint, and was not afraid to beat it (no, actually, I walked into our living room one day to see Abi hitting Bella over the head with the newspaper going, “That’s not normal!!”) into Bella. 

It wasn’t until a week into their relationship that, in the middle of the night, I sat up in bed and said, “The mountain lion was a fucking vampire!”