- They were servants of the darkness and for the longest time, Harlow Alden was reasonably content with being peculiar... Though that was until the day she met the boy who made her feel less peculiar...
The Alden family was atypical, gifted with po...
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Harlow Alden dreaded walking into her classroom-- especially after what she had learned the previous day about her pale deskmate. Maverick had briefed them all at their family meeting-- the Cullens were vampires.
Harlow did not know much about vampires, least of all about vegetarian ones but she knew that Jasper must know that she was a witch by now. For some reason, that disappointed her. Somewhere in her heart, she had wished they could go on peacefully ignoring the obvious fact-- that they could act human a little while longer. The revelation, at least, answered most of her questions. It still left the obvious issue of his enhancement of her powers-- she had felt that it was too oddly intimate to reveal to her family just yet. Hector was the only one who knew and that was because she told him everything.
Hector was, fortunately, very good at keeping secrets.
For the second time, Harlow arrived earlier to class than Jasper and she took her seat carefully, laying out her pens and paper with the intention of actually paying attention that day. Harriet didn't help, however, as she ran up and down the central aisle in the shadow world. Harlow was perpetually worried about losing her grip again and revealing a child's ghost to a classroom of teenagers. That was why her attention was focused so intently on her sister that she missed Jasper's arrival. He moved silently and sat quietly and the first time she noticed his presence was when he dropped his notebook with quite a loud clatter-- it must have been intentional. Harlow was not afraid of him, despite knowing that he was a vampire-- her body was already dead, and he would gain no satisfaction from drinking her blood. That was if he got the chance to-- witches overpowered vampires always, witches were the ones that created them.
"Good morning," Jasper breathed calmly, surprising her. She hadn't expected him to speak to her now that he knew what she was but it just seemed to have made him more eager.
Harriet ran into a desk, sending a student's books flying and Harlow swallowed deeply, refocusing her efforts-- Jasper was too much of a distraction. Seeing what she had done, the child hopped back up onto her place on the windowsill, offering her sister a moment of peace in the chaotic world.
"Good morning," Harlow returned too late and embarrassingly. He looked up and smiled, seemingly pleased that she had replied to him at all. Harlow deeply hoped that the class would be full of teacher's lecture and little peer work but she had never been a lucky person and the teacher, predictably, assigned them to work with the person next to them. Harlow was convinced she was cursed.
For the first ten minutes, Jasper focused both their attentions on the work but as he was an immortal vampire who had been to school countless times and she was an isolated witch who did nothing but read and study-- they finished far too quickly. It left nothing to do but talk.
"How was your first day of school?" he steered the conversation in a different direction than what she expected. Though, she doubted he'd confront her about her witch status in a room full of nosey teenagers.
