Lunchtime. I dreaded lunch every single time it came during the day. It was the hardest for us, thirst wise, to be around beating hearts sweetening their blood in a warm, close cafeteria. It was also difficult for me, personally, because people had more time to talk to each other during lunch, and therefore more drama and such could occur. I saw a range of colors, each one catching my eye as they would change for the better or worse.

I sat with my siblings as always and tried to avoid looking at the humans. Our last hunt had been two weeks ago and though I was good, I tried to lessen the tempt. I kept my eyes downcast on the table for the most part, though my siblings' colors still pulsed and caught my attention. Rose was being vain again, watching people in an attempt to get them to watch her. Her color was green mixed with a little almost iridescent version of the green; envy and vanity. Emmett's color was brick red at the moment, probably still mad at the match he had lost against me last night.

My color added a little of a dark purple; pride. I was still the best fighter of the family.

Edward's color was his usual deep blue. He was wallowing, weighing too much on other things...and I knew he was watching me. I could sense his sadness add as I began to let my imagination get control of me, imaging how delightful it would be to sink my teeth into human.

Alice's color became a little brown at the edges, a little muddled. I sighed deeply. I knew she was probably worrying about me and Michael. Michael was younger than me, of course, but I had the harder time. He just had to monitor that he wouldn't give us away.

I saw Edward frown out of the corner of my eye, but he didn't pay attention to my thoughts. Probably listening to Alice. Her colors changed again, infusing a maroon on the edges. She was alarmed, worried. Her eyes glanced towards me, then Michael, then me again.

After a few seconds she relaxed, her colors mellowing out into a calm sky blue with specks of white here and there. Edward's color got every so slightly darker, as it seemed to do most days.

And I'd admit, it was dangerous for me to be sitting there. A small girl paused at the end of the table nearest to ours and the fan blew her scent in my direction. It was easy to let my imagination get away when I was so thirsty. I could imagine it now, going to stand next to her, leaning down as if to whisper in her ear, the way my lips just touch her throat; oh, the feeling the hot blood would be...

Edward kicked my chair to snap me out of it. I looked at him for a moment as I realized how close I was getting myself. My mouth had pooled with venom and I swallowed, looking down. My aura changed from the dark red and brown it was to almost black; shame, self-hate. "Sorry." I muttered.

He just shrugged, while Alice replied. "You weren't going to do anything," she said. "I could see that." So she had been watching me, she had been seeing if anything could happen. Maybe I did need to hunt more often, go back on a once a week or a ten day. She continued, "It helps a little if you think of them as people."

Her voice was too high for people other than us to understand. Her aura changed to a tinge of yellow on the outside while mine became more black. She'd tried this too many times before. "Her name is Whitney," Alice explained. "She has a baby sister she adores. Her mother invited Esme to that garden party, do you remember?"

Oh, I remembered. But that wasn't what bothered me. I had let myself go, I had allowed myself to think of the possibilities of what I could do...I could've killed her and took her far away from her family. "I know who she is." I said curtly, my tone ending the conversation. Sometimes I just wished they could leave me alone. I turned to look out the window a moment, before changing my eyes to the ceiling. Alice got up and left the table after that, not wanting to stay around with the increasingly toxic atmosphere.

Edward's mood suddenly shifted to boredom, switching to a dull brown color.

"Who are they?" two voices suddenly asked at the same time. My eyes flickered up, they were new voices. Twins sat all the way across the canteen, but that was no problem for my eyes. They were both identical, but beautiful in their own way. Both carried large, doe like eyes and brown hair, beautiful brown hair that had reddish highlights that caught in the light. But this wasn't why I was drawn to them. It was because, despite being twins, their emotions were so obviously differing.

One was on the more nervous, neutral side with colors of an off-white tinged with blue, before it flooded with a bright iridescent pink; Ah, she had gotten embarrassed by Edward catching her eye. Yet the other twin, she carried a yellow, pulsing aura that captured and held my attention because it was so bright, and so happy. It was pure.

Jessica Stanley, her colors of green and dark red, pulsed as she explained to the twins about us. "That's Edward, Emmett, and Michael Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The now who left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." she muttered quietly.

"Jessica Stanley is giving the new Swan girls all the dirty laundry on the Cullen clan," Edward muttered to Emmett, who chuckled quietly. He must've thought something in his head, because Edward continued, "Rather unimaginative, actually. Just the barest hint of scandal. Not an ounce of horror. I'm a little disappointed."

Ah, so these were the new humans Alice had seen in her vision. Interesting. How could they pertain to us? Curiosity swirled in me.

"They are ...very nice looking." commented one, her color changing from embarrassment to a light pink color; attraction. It was nothing new. The 'charm' of our vampirism always caused attraction.

"Yes!" Jessica giggled, her color changing to a dark pink. She'd always had a crush on Edward -- who's emotions tinged deep brown. He was annoyed over something. "They're all together though -- Emmett and Rosalie, and Michael and Alice, I mean. And they live together!" Jessica was giving off the gossip of the town, her specialty. It was interesting to see how people would react.

Clearly, from what I could see, they weren't quite comfortable around Jessica. They seemed to be curious about us, but also reluctant for gossip. It was refreshing.

"Which ones are the Cullen's? They don't look related..." trailed off the happier twin, her eyes glancing over Emmett and Rosalie. Her curiosity was spiking as well.

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, twins -- the blondes -- and they're foster children." The twins' emotions became more accepting and open; they bought our cover story with ease, as did everyone else.

The more unhappy twin -- I didn't know their names -- continued to talk to Jessica. The other one finally glanced at me, and I made eye contact for a a decent amount of time. All of a sudden, the world went on hold, it stopped spinning as I locked in with this girl. I felt her emotions, from across the room, swirl around me and tinge my own colors with her bright yellow, and I felt the happiness immediately. It was as if I had been waiting for her, waiting for her to see me and find me.

Edward's emotions turned curious as he read my thoughts.

"I'm not sure," I muttered to him. Emmett, Rosalie and Michael caught the curiosity as well. "I mean, I've never had someone's emotions affect me this way...it's very comforting. It feels right."

"What's going on?" whispered Emmett, wrapping an arm around Rose. He leaned forward but I pursed my lips, standing with Edward as we all made to leave.

All five of us followed Alice's previous steps out and dropped our trays -- props, incidentally -- and we made our way towards the exit. People's attraction and interest spiked as we went, and it was interesting to see that our mere present brought about a tinge of pink on everyone, as if we were painting a picture.

I looked back at the girl one more time as I left, curious as to if that was a one time thing, or if it was continuous. She looked up at me too, and the emotion swirled heavily around me again. Instead of staying, as I suddenly found myself desiring to, I caught the door before it closed and followed after my family.

A/N: 1527 words