I crossed the room in one step and bent down to her eye level. Her head was down, so I stuck my pale, thin hand out, hoping she would see it and look up to find its owner.

“How do you do?” I asked, putting on an air of pleasantry to accompany my smile. She took my hand before looking up and gasped at the uncomfortable temperature – to her body – that my hand was, which caused her to look up more suddenly than she’d wished. I kept on smiling and she stared straight into my eyes. I knew they were the lovely butterscotch color so favored by my sisters, Tanya and my many admirers, as I had just went hunting the night previous.

Isabella appeared entranced by them, and I found myself staring into her own eyes with just the same intensity, albeit for a different reason. She fascinated me, this ordinary human girl with oddly vivid and alive brown eyes, not because she was pretty – which I do admit she was, what with her eyes and petite features – but because I couldn’t hear her mind. No, no matter how hard I tried to reach her thoughts, I could not. This utterly perplexed me, and I kept staring straight into those brown eyes of hers, as if they would somehow show me the way to her mind.

I had been downwind of her until a sudden burst of hot air blasted into my face. It came from behind her chair, from a little heating unit on the wall, and brought bunches of her hair along with it, which gently lapped against my cheek. I made the silly mistake of inhaling before pulling away. This error caused me to smell the most ridiculously desirable scent I’d ever smelled. I wanted it instantaneously, and it took literally every ounce of control I had built up over the years to be able to resist the temptation.

I straightened my posture quicker than I ought in a human’s presence, but it was either that or her life. And most likely Jacob’s too, since I knew he would attack if given the chance.

With my last breath I exclaimed hastily, “I’m very sorry Mr. Black; I must return to class now,” before running out the door. I flew past Sue so fast she hardly saw me.