I looked at her and mumbled a greeting of my own, before my eyes could actually take in her appearance. She was utterly gorgeous. Her skin was pale, her eyes a tawny auburn, and her hair a shining, golden blonde. Her face was a perfect shape and she didn't have a single zit. Her eyebrows were sleek and perfectly sized, and she smiled. I was breathless at her perfectly straight, perfectly white, gleaming teeth. I gaped at her, one eyebrow raised, and I was jealous.

'How come I can't be that beautiful?' She laughed a sound of bells and my jaw fell open even more.

"Thank you." 'Oh no. I must have said that out loud!'

"U-Uh I d-didn't mean to say that out loud..."

"It's quite alright. I'm Jen, by the way."

"Maggie."

"It's very nice to meet you, Maggie."

"It's nice to meet you, too."

She smiled again. And, again, I was breathless. 'I hope she's not--'

"I'm going into grade eight this year. What about you?"

'Well would you look at that'. "Same." 'Man, is she ever easy to make smile.' I finally looked away from her, and for the first time since I laid my eyes on her, I blinked. It hurt a little bit. Then, I screamed.

"What's wrong?" she asked, panicked.

"Puh! Puh! Puh! Puh!"

"'Puh?'"

I pointed to my book and she froze. "Puh! Puh! Puh!"

"Oh! You lost your page! Here, let me help." She reached to take my book and then took my page marker. She randomly opened to a page and showed it to me. I was shocked.

"T-that's it! How...?"

"I saw your book before you let go of it." I closed my mouth.

"Oh." She laughed again. I smiled back. Then the bus stopped.

This time, we were at a school. I had lost track of time and I scrambled to stuff my book into my bag so I could get off. Jen helped me and we got off in time. She walked gracefully away from the bus, while I stood on the ground frozen.

"Coming, Maggie?" she asked me. I could only nod. Finally she walked back to me and took my arm, dragging me towards the office to get our schedules and locker information. She laughed the whole way there at 'my stubbornness' and I awkwardly laughed with her. My legs felt paralyzed. I couldn't feel myself moving them. But, she dragged me along without pausing much, as if I was rolling along the ground like one of those rolling suitcases. Finally, she let go of my arm and my blood could flow again. I rubbed my arm; it was going numb.

Jen took my locker code and read it. "Hmm," she mumbled.

"What?" I asked.

"Your locker is right beside mine. Fancy that."

I shook my head. 'Why me?'

"What? You don't like me?"

My mouth fell open. I was absolutely certain that I had not said that out loud. So how could she know what I was thinking? It just didn't make sense. "No! I-I just..."

"Oh, I see. You feel like a lump of dirt in my presence."

"More like a lump of cow poop."

She laughed again. "Don't worry, you aren't that low."

'Not that low.' She frowned and then hugged me.

"Come on, we need to get to class," she said, jumping and giggling again. I sighed. She took my hand and then swiftly turned around and headed for a classroom with an open door.

When we entered the classroom, Jen dragged me to a desk at the back of the room and she sat beside me, near the window, on my left side. The teacher looked up in surprise; we were the only students in the room. I mirrored her expression and then turned my head down awkwardly.

"Why don't you sit closer to the front? I can barely see you three."

'Oh, that's great, a nearly blind teacher.'

"Be nice," Jen whispered in my ear. I grumbled, but then I stood up and walked to the front. Jen was already in the seat by the window. Shyly, I sat down in the desk beside her.

"Oh, that is much better! And now I can see that there are...are...only two of you. Well, you get what you get. Ok class, take out your books. We will be continuing what we were learning yesterday."

I raised my hand. "Uh, today is the first day of school, Ms. Gregor."

"Is that so? Hm. I must have slept through the whole summer."

I had to stifle a laugh.

"You mean to say that you thought it was the next day?" asked Jen.

"I suppose so."

Three more students entered the room and sat at the back. Then the bell rang and we heard the sound of a stampede of sneakers. Screeching and squeaking, the feet passed the open door. Some kids passed, some entered, and some paused to check their schedules. Jen disappeared and when I looked behind me she was holding a pencil a few inches from the floor and a boy was thanking her shyly. I blinked and she was pulling on my arm, urging me to get out of my seat and to go back and sit in the seat I was in before the teacher told us to come to the front. I gladly changed seats, winning a glare from a blonde girl, the one from the bus, Casey/Samantha. I looked away, contemplating moving back to the front. Jen touched my arm with an encouraging look, so I stayed.

Class passed quickly, mostly because we were only learning how to use our calculators and which buttons did what. I hadn't known that we would be doing that in class and I had already memorized all the buttons' jobs. So I just sat in my seat and randomly pressed them, careful not to wreck anything. Other kids were pretending to use their calculator, when really they were Snap-chatting each other, or checking their Instagram. Other kids were sound asleep, little puddles of drool forming on their desks. Still others were making faces and mimicking the teacher in hushed voices, with the half-blind teacher totally oblivious.

'They are so immature.' When the bell rang Jen grabbed my arm. I was going to lose circulation if she kept holding my arm in that strangle-hold, and possibly my whole arm.

"Oh! Sorry!" Jen loosened her hold on my arm and it immediately started to tingle. Absently, I rubbed it a little.

"Uh, it's ok. Hey, how did you know to let go a little?"

"Oh, um you were looking at it with a funny expression, like you were saying goodbye to it, and it started to turn white."

"Oh," was all I could think of to reply. Abruptly Jen changed our direction. We crossed through a library and, after exiting, we entered through a door across the hall.

This teacher was male, and he had a stern 'no-messing-around-or-you-will-get-detention' look. He scared me a little bit and I cringed towards Jen. She reassuringly patted my back and we took a seat at the back of the class. The teacher's mouth was turned down into a frown and he looked at us with a 'why me?' look. He was a teacher that was most likely disappointed at everything. 'Oh joy.' Jen had her usual bubbly look on her gorgeous face. How she can be so happy, I have no idea. She looked at me with huge eyes, and I figured that this was her favourite subject.

The rest of the class filed in just before the bell. They obviously didn't know that there was a faster way. Or they just didn't want to be early....

"Welcome to History. The first people through the door shall be our helpers. Every day we have different helpers, depending on who enters first. Miss Days and Miss Farrel will be today's helpers."

'What? Me and who? Oh. Jen Days. How nice. But what do helpers do?'

"Today our helpers will be passing out the textbooks, the assignments, and whatever else I tell them to do." I heard some sniggers from around me. "Miss Days, Miss Farrel, please bring your desks to the front, beside my desk. During the day I will assign you tasks, and you are to do them without argument. Now, let us start class."

History dragged on, but Jen kept her grin on through the whole fifty minutes. We had to arrange the students into their assigned seats. It was a major difficulty because they all wanted to stay in the seats they were already in. I got so mad at one guy I pushed his chair and desk over. Too bad the teacher was engrossed so much in his book that he didn't notice. He was reading the Mexican encyclopedia or something. I can't quite remember because it was really thick and was written in some weird language. But I had looked over his shoulder and saw the word 'Mexico' so I'm pretty sure that was what he was reading.

When the bell rang I snatched my books from the desk and sort of hissed at it. I hated being a helper. You basically have to teach the entire class, which Jen didn't seem to have a problem with.... Now that I think about it, she wasn't helping me move the kids at all. She was just background noise to me, teaching by the blackboard. I remember her using a ruler to point at a picture of Alberta. And only one guy was really listening. He wasn't much of a trouble to move, and I'm grateful for that.

I was thinking so much that I don't even remember what the next class was about. I only remember Jen's disappointed face. Huh. It must have been her least favourite class. Oh well, now we can eat. Jen grabbed my arm, with less force this time, and pulled me towards the cafeteria. She pulled me to the food-line and I followed behind her willingly. Food is my life. I love food! I took an apple, and I unwillingly took the grilled cheese that the lunch lady gave me. I have heard of this...stuff. Apparently it's not very good.

"Maggie?"

"Yes?" I looked up from the mess of bread and cheese on my tray.

"Well...."

"What? Is there something on my face? Or in my teeth? Or in my hair?"

"No, I was just wondering...well...if you would like to--"

"Um, actually I--"

"Let me finish, please." I closed my mouth and waited for her to continue. "Well I was wondering if you would like to become my friend. You know, because we get along so well already...."

"We already are."

She grinned and then got up out of her chair, running around the table and embracing me in a huge hug that squashed me so much I couldn't breathe.

"Can't--breathe!"

She dropped me then, and I landed on my butt. "Sorry! So we should go out sometime. You know, to a movie or the spa or something. Girls' night out. It'll be fun!"

I smiled. "Sure, but where to? I have no idea where anything is in this town."

"Oh right! You're new to Panda City! I forgot about that! We could go see 'Pandas Rule' or 'Night of the Living Pandas'! It'll be great!"

"What's with all the panda themed movies?"

"Oh yeah, you don't know anything about Panda City! Well, here pandas are sacred. We sort of worship them. They are the ones that saved our ancestors from the Chinese armies that tried to steal them. They did capture a couple of our pandas, which is why they have pandas. Today, our pandas are endangered. And so we keep our pandas safe. There are no poachers in Panda City."

"Wow. And here I thought pandas originated in China."

She laughed again and I took a bite of the sandwich. It was actually pretty good. They must not be good for you then. Meh. I'll live. "So? Did any of the movies sound good to you?"

"Nah. But maybe we could get together and study on the weekend. You seem to know everything already, and I obviously need help."

"Ha ha yeah when Mrs. White asked you what the answer was you just stared off into space. It was as if you weren't there! Mrs. White got pretty mad at you. You kept staring at her. What was with that anyway?"

"Oh. Was that math class?"

"No...."

"I wasn't paying attention. Was it science then?"

She laughed again. "Yeah it was. Well, sure, I'll tutor you. I do know a lot." This time I laughed with her. After finishing my sandwich we got up and Jen threw our trays out.

"Hey, how come you didn't eat? Aren't you hungry?"

"No."

I let the subject drop. I don't even remember what classes we had after lunch. All I remember is the bell ringing, Jen mumbling something about a 'stupor,' and her closing my locker for me.

"Hello? Are you in there Maggie?"

I shook my head to clear it and blinked. "Yes, of course. Why?"

"You weren't paying attention at all were you?"

Blushing, I shook my head. "No...I was...thinking."

"What about?"

"Uuuuhhh...I don't remember," I said, shocked.

Jen laughed and then took my arm. "C'mon we're going to miss our bus."

She dragged me out the doors and to the bus lines where we watched the yellow limos come onto the school grounds, stop, open their doors, let children on, close their doors, and leave again. Our bus arrived and our bus line got on. I sat in the seat first and then Jen did. I looked at the driver and said, "Home, James!" Again he laughed and then he closed the doors.

The bus rolled onto the highway and Jen looked towards me.

"Please don't read right now. You need to keep watch for my house."

"Right! Ok I will." Surprisingly there were a lot of stops in Panda City. There was one stop that five people got off at, and another where three got off and we picked two more up. I can't believe I hadn't noticed all the stopping.

"My stop is coming soon. Pay attention."

I laughed. "Don't worry, I am."

"Good." The bus left town and I raised an eyebrow. "I don't live in town. Remember, you shouldn't be so surprised, you weren't paying attention on the way to school."

'Right, forgot about that.' The highway was suddenly surrounded by forest. The leaves were so thick that I couldn't see the sun. The highway wound around and meandered like an asphalt river. I can't believe I didn't notice this. Forget all the stops. How could I even read in this? It's almost pitch-black, as if we were driving through a tunnel. Then the bus stopped and I heard the whoosh of the doors opening.

"You are paying attention, right? This is my stop. My house is farther into the trees, but you might be able to see it when you pass around the next corner. Bye! See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, bye. See you tomorrow." I waved back at her as she smiled -- no, grinned -- at me. 'Oh, that's why I didn't notice. I was only paying attention to her. That makes so much more sense.'

The bus started moving again and my eyebrow was raised. I was going to open my mouth, but then I realized that it was already open, in an 'O' shape. I snapped it shut and lowered my eyebrow in hopes of it going unnoticed. I looked around me. Nobody was looking at me with a 'What's wrong with her?' look. 'Good.'

I unzipped my bag and took Twilight out, opening it to where my page marker was. I still couldn't believe that she had seen my book before I let go of it.... 'And how did she get from her desk, to that boy to catch his pencil so fast? Or how she got from the front to the back of the class so fast.... And how is she so gorgeous? That's just not possible in this world!' Frustrated, I dropped my book, and, sighing, I bent down to pick it back up. I gasped. 'No. that's not possible. She can't be...a...one of them. There's no such thing.... Or...is there? What if they had been hiding from us for the longest time and we had no idea, not because they didn't want us to be carrying crosses and garlic with us 24/7, but because they were supposed to be a secret. They weren't supposed to be known about. Because if we knew, we would be able to fight...and if we knew, we would all want to be one...and if we knew, we would all have to be either killed or made one of them.'

On the floor of the bus, Twilight lay open to a page, the page where Bella and Edward are in his Volvo, and Bella finds out what he is. A vampire.