𝔡𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔢𝔫𝔡𝔞𝔫𝔱- 𝑽𝔬𝔩𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔞 [𝔱𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱]

•𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐝•

While we were at the store, we came across another classmate of ours- Whitney. She was a quiet girl, as quiet as Evelyn, and was the president of the school chess club. Inviting her to join our sleepover was really a no-brainer, and after buying everything our hearts desired we drove over to her house so she could grab the necessities.

Not even an hour later, we were sitting on the couch in my living room, pajamas on, some random American show playing on my TV as we chatted.

"Don't tell me you've never watched how I met your mother!" Exclaimed Evelyn, leaning back against the cushions. Whitney looked at me curiously, munching on her popcorn in the meantime.

"I've never really heard of it before." I shrugged, grabbing a few kernels and putting them in my mouth to avoid answering further. How do I explain to my new friends that I didn't have a TV back home? Thankfully, we did have internet, although I didn't have much use for it. I communicated with my friends at school, and it was mostly Aro who used it to scout social media platforms for any reports of 'vampire sightings'. Even when we lived in America I never watched TV much, not that my parents would let me.

"Have you been living under a rock?" Whispered Whitney, her eyes wide in disbelief.

More or less.

"I haven't watched American movies since I moved to Italy at twelve. I watched Friends though."

"What did you do in your childhood then?"

"I traveled a lot, learned to play the piano... I spent a lot of time with my younger cousins. We live with them and our family is a bit... old fashioned when it comes to modern technology." I grimaced. Oh, if only they knew how old fashioned my family really was.

Whitney just hummed, going back to her bowl of popcorn. Seems like she didn't have any more questions, or maybe she was afraid to ask about anything else- worried she would make me feel even more like an outcast.

Just then I really understood how different I was from my peers. I didn't fit in. Not really. My lack of knowledge of Italian ensured I did not fit in back at my school in Italy, and now, that I came back to America, due to my lack of knowledge of pop culture, I did not fit in either.

The only place where I truly fit in was the castle, as sad as it was. The human world wasn't for me anymore- that much I knew. Although, it made me wonder if I would ever truly fit in with the guard. We loved each other, but I knew some pitied me- my life was forfeit before it even truly began. Not all of them had a choice in the matter of being changed, and not all of them enjoyed their time in the guard. Some strayed from the everyday life in the castle, standing on the sidelines, only showing their faces in the throne room when they were needed or it was time to feed.

I remembered several conversations in which even Jane admitted to not being perfectly happy with her new life.

"Sometimes... I wish" she once said "that I had burned at that stake. I enjoy the power my gift gives me but.. I just want to be a child again."

And I understood- we had both joined the Volturi at a young age, with me being even younger than Jane at the time. I couldn't imagine being stuck in that body forever, with the childhood mindset and unfulfilled dreams.

Maybe that's why our bond was so strong- we just understood each other. Our loyalties laid with each other. Jane took me under her wing when I came to the castle as a scared, merely twelve year old girl, and now I was returning the favor.

I tried my best to give Jane at least a part of her childhood back- ever since I found out her true feelings about being forever stuck at thirteen, I did everything I could to bring her at least a bit of entertainment- we had watched movies online, held sleepovers (during which we put clay masks on each other's faces and painted each other's nails) and ate junk food- well, only me. Jane would usually accompany me with a blood bag of her own and we would sit in complete darkness, some ridiculous Italian movie playing in the background, talking about whatever was on our minds.