Renewal [Emmett Cullen] (1)

Bonus chapter 2: Emmett's pov 2

When the lunch bell rang, I sped to the cafeteria and bought my lunch; like my books, my props. Ed, Alice, and Jazz were at our normal table, staring at me intently, Alice must have told them.

"You're calm," Jasper commented, bemused. I shrugged and attempted to discretely listen for Eleanor's voice.

Finally, I heard 4 wheels roll across the linoleum floor. It was her. I watched intently as she picked up lunch and sat in an empty table in the corner.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I join you?" Someone asked, I think her name was Jasmine, though I never paid any attention to them.

"Who are they?" I heard her ask. We all chuckled, it was normal for students to gossip about us; we were beautiful to them, our intended prey. I stared into her mesmerising eyes for a fraction of a second, before realising she was looking at me and quickly turned away.

"What's she thinking?" I asked Edward in a low voice, my lips barely moving. I gave up on hiding my fascination with her, my family already seemed to know.

Edward concentrated for a few seconds and looked at me in defeat, "I can't really tell. Her thoughts are ... muffled."

"I thought your gift didn't have any exceptions," I muttered.

"Me too. It's like she has some mental defence. Her thoughts are hard to read, I can only pick up a few words. But I feel the emotional direction behind her thoughts rather than the words. Right now, she's curious, uncomfortable and ... sad."

I looked back at her, I didn't need to be a mind reader to tell what she was feeling, it was written all over her face. I could clearly see the sadness in her eyes, though I had no idea why. I felt a strange impulse, one I did not clearly understand. I felt the strangest urge to go over to her and comfort her. What an odd thing to feel.

Their conversation was fairly generic so I didn't feel guilty for listening in. I heard her excitedly mention the football game on the weekend. Yes! She was a football fan! Finally someone who understands my love for the sport!

"Shall we?" Jasper murmured, probably eager to get away from the high density of people.

We got up from the table and walked out of the cafeteria. Alice and Edward were pretending to be juniors; they left for their classes. Jasper and I were playing older roles than they were. I headed off for my senior level chemistry class, preparing my mind for the boredom.

Just like in the cafeteria, I heard Eleanor come in the classroom, our eyes locking on one another's. Mrs Waters assigned her to the front seat next to mine. Perfect!

Suddenly it all clicked. In the middle of the year, Alice forced me to switch from physics to chemistry, even though I hadn't taken this class in a couple of decades. She's known about Eleanor for a while. I should have figured that out.

Today's lesson was an experiment, testing the combustion of fuels.

"Wow second class today. Where are you from?" I asked as we started the experiment.

"San Francisco. We just moved."

"Why?" Oakridge wasn't a place people generally lined up to move to.

She sighed, "I got in a soccer accident and now I'm stuck in this chair. My parents moved us out here to start over again." I wanted to ask her more about sports but noticed her wince so I changed the subject.

"What do your parents do?"

"My dad's a surgeon and my mom has a publishing company."

"Oh really, my dad works at the hospital too. I think he mentioned something about someone starting." Carlisle did briefly mention something about a new doctor, Dr. Parks. I should have connected the dots sooner.

"Do you have a favorite color?" I asked. I wanted to know everything about her, no matter how unimportant they seemed.

"Pale yellow. Not goldenrod or orangey yellows. Not sunshine or dark yellows either. Pale bright yellows make me happy." I raised my eyebrows, a grin itching at my lips. Her answers were never what I expected. They made me want to ask more questions.

"I know it's super specific but it's my favorite," she reiterated, also smiling.

I smirked, "Most people would just say yellow."

She chuckled, "I'm not exactly like most." Wow, I couldn't agree more. She was unlike anyone I had ever met before.

I continued my line of questions, determined to know every insignificant thing about her life. Some of her answers surprised me which said a lot since I had been around humans since 1915. I wanted to know the inner workings of her mind. I wanted to understand the pain behind her smile and eyes. I wanted to change that. But how? She seemed broken. Maybe I could help.

The bell rang for the end of day.

"I'll see you tomorrow Emmett," she beamed as I got up. I loved the way my name rolled off her tongue.

"You too Eleanor." I don't know what happened to me but the person I was at the beginning of the today was utterly changed by her. As soon as I left, I knew she was the one I would spend my days thinking about.

I briskly walked to the Volvo, and as expected, everyone was eagerly waiting.

Jasper smiled, feeling the aura of happiness around me.

"So it went well?" He commented. I could only smile in response.

"You better not screw this up!" Alice reprimanded. "She's my friend. At least, she's going to be." I heard Eleanor and her mom conversing in her car. Alice's eyes lit up when Eleanor glanced at her; of course she was happy, she was getting a friend.

"I want to meet her now!" Alice trilled. Jasper chuckled.

I took another glance at her before her mom drove off, memorising her face.
For so long I have been happy but around Eleanor, even though I had only known her for several hours, I felt ecstatic. Finally I met someone who truely needed me. She made me question everything about myself. She made me feel alive in a way I had never known. I felt drawn to her in an indescribable way. Never in my life have I genuinely wanted to listen to what someone has to say.

I couldn't wait for tomorrow.