fate unfolding in the palm of your hand °sam uley°

Chapter 1

"What's he going on about now?" Itoro asked, looking at Jasper. The two of them were sitting at the dining table, away from the others in the living room. "I remember he almost massacred the school the other day but I kinda tuned out,"

Jasper smiled a little. "You're ridiculous," he said, then turned his head a little. "The new girl in town, she's his singer." Itoro frowned at that. "Her blood is like a banquet for a starving man. It's a miracle he didn't kill her or the entire school. We're deciding whether she lives or dies."

Itoro nodded and felt an uncomfortable tug in her stomach. "So he's being emo about his impossible choices," she said, and heard the way Edward swivelled to glare in their general direction, and she looked up in his direction – the partial wall separating the two rooms blocking each other from view. "Bro, either eat her or leave the town to make sure you don't kill the town." Jasper nudged their leg, but she ignored him.

"I'm afraid Toto's right," Esme said, and Itoro would've blushed at the nickname if they could've. It was a nickname her mum used when they were little, and the first time Esme used it, it left Itoro sobbing, missing their past life. "We can't endanger the poor girl. You did the smart thing to go away like you did, but we can't ..."

"Get your shit in order or stay away," Itoro said. "Want a dollar for the swear jar?" she asked and tore the dollar note out of their wallet in half. Why they even had a wallet was beyond them – a human thing, probably. "Fuck off, are you kidding me? Fuck another dollar – oh for the – gah!"

Jasper smiled, amused at the sight. "You owe me," he said, slipping a twenty-dollar bill out of his wallet with ease. Smug prick. "Includes tax," he added, knowing how to annoy Itoro to no end.

"That is not fair, and you know it,"

"Toro, your mind," Esme called knowingly. Edward was probably pulling a face at the various swear words flooding their mind in a stream of, fucking fuckity fuck cunting asshole bitch.

"Sorry Edmunch – ha, geddit? Ed, munch on the girl,"

Carlisle sighed in that disappointed dad way he perfected over his aeons of being alive. Itoro shut up and tried to think about Calculus. Back home, Calculus wasn't a thing unless Itoro decided to take a Maths A-Level at college. As it was, Itoro was better at English Lit and Lang, amongst a few other things, and mathematics was not one of them. Itoro missed home, missed their mum and dad, younger brother, and the grandparents who'd long since passed away. The life stolen from them that she could never get back.

Jasper shifted and sat beside Itoro, silently offering help with the work, since he was better at mathematics than Itoro. Carlisle and Esme thought it was a good idea to have Itoro do some homeschooling – despite the fact they'd been at university before they were turned – and since Esme went out of her way to get a teaching degree, they used that to their advantage. Calculus sucked, and it wasn't something that Itoro would ever truly understand. Learning it and getting most of it right meant that the next time they had to take it on, Itoro would get the answers right faster thanks to their nearly perfect memory.

"That's wrong," Jasper said, half listening to the argument as he pointed to some answer they put down to a difficult question.

"Shove off," Itoro said, and was finding it difficult to concentrate. Concentrating without the help of their ADHD meds was a lot harder as an immortal vampire.

Edward was apologising to the general coven for putting any of them at risk. Rosalie demanded to know if he was going to fix his error – which Jasper told Itoro was saving the girl from being crushed to death by a van. Edward offered to leave, which Esme begged him not to do again. Emmett told him that they needed his mind-reading skills, but he claimed Alice would catch anything major. It was conflicting for Edward, despite the way he tried to fix things.