CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
SOMEONE PISSED IN HER CEREAL

BEFORE Thea McCarty met her wife and mate, Alice Cullen, she'd wished for death. Thea was suffering from trauma at the time but she always claims that wasn't the reason for her depressing statement.

Well, okay—that's a half-lie.

Sure, Thea had a sucky human life, anyone would rather die than live the life Thea did but vampire life was no better.

See, as a human, you can die. You're finally able to rest. As a vampire, there was no resting and no stopping. You lived with it forever, unless you were to die.

Thea isn't proud of it but the mindset made sense at the time. Death was the solution. It was the best option of Human, Vampire, or Death.

But things had changed, Thea no longer possessed this mindset. Particularly because of a certain pixie she was currently eyeing in the library.

"You're staring." Alice slightly sang the words.

Thea smiles at her mate through the bookshelf that stood between them. "I'm not staring..."

The two vampires were in a library on a casual rainy day in Forks, Washington. Thunder rumbled quietly and the heavy raindrops could be heard on the roof of the building.

Alice turns to her wife. She recovers a book from the shelf, opens it, and uses it to cover her face. Her eyes soon peeked from the top of the book.

When Alice sees Thea's eyes still observing her softly, she giggles. "Yup. You're definitely staring."

Alice made it bearable. Thea would still be the same unhealed bitchy version of herself if it wasn't for her.

Now don't get her wrong. Thea never fully healed, she has scars from her trauma. But after years of therapy with Carmilla, Thea has learned to live.

But Thea remembers everything. Her scars make sure that she never forgets.

Thea clicks her tongue as she makes her way around the shelf to her mate, taping on the wood as she goes. "I could stay here forever."

Alice watches the way Thea's eyes travel across the lines of books, it is the same way she used to look at their lake.

Thea and Alice had made a deal that whenever they moved, they would find their peace. Their peace just so happened to always be in the form of a place.

So the peaceful and quiet library was now their new lake.

Alice checks her phone, "we have to go. We promised to arrive at the school at the same time as everyone else." She softly informed Thea, who immediately rolled her eyes.

"No." Thea simply pouted and continued looking through books.

Alice chuckles but takes Thea's hand and softly maneuvers her towards the exit. Thea was about to reply with a snarky comment but Alice pecked her on the lips, making a smile return to her face as quickly as it left. "We'll come back after school."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

✸

"Thought you guys wouldn't show." Emmett grins as Alice and Thea exit the car. Thea steps onto the wet school parking lot, the rain had stopped. Her eyes squinted at the high school. She hated this place with a burning passion, but being a junior along with Alice made it tolerable.

Alice wraps her arm in Thea's, "We promised we wouldn't do that...again." She rocked back and forth on her heels.

Thea faintly grins.

Alice turns her eyes to her siblings. "The new girls here." She smiled ear to ear.

Bella Swan. Alice had foreseen the human girl's arrival and she'd guessed it would have some sort of significant impact.

Thea wasn't sure how to feel about the situation. Unpredictable things worried her. And when Thea was worried, frustration usually followed.

But Thea kept to herself and tried her best to stay positive.

"Let's hope it's nothing we have to worry about," Rosalie mutters under her breath as she and Emmett stroll towards the cafeteria.

Thea and Alice follow and soon Jasper and Edward.

The voices in the cafeteria pick up and so does the smell of the humans. Thea, however, wasn't affected by this.

"Who are they?" Thea manages to catch an unfamiliar voice in the cafeteria.

Angela Webber replied. "The Cullens."

"Must be the new girl." Thea finds herself saying.

But soon, a very recognizable voice was heard replying, "They're Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids. They moved down here from Alaska, like, a few years ago."

Jessica Stanley, the most talkative and shallow girl in the entire school, was gossiping with Bella Swan.

"They kind of keep to themselves."

"Yeah, because they're together. Like...together together." Jessica turns her head to the entrance, seeing Rosalie and Emmett, "The blonde girl, that's Rosalie, and the big dark-haired guy, Emmett. They're like a thing. I'm not even sure that's legal."

Angela comments, "Jess, they're not actually related."

"Yeah, but they live together. It's weird!" Jessica retorts before her eyes move towards Alice and Thea.

"Here we go." Thea rolls her eyes and Alice interlocks their fingers for both of their comforts.

"Okay, the little dark-haired girl's Alice. She's really weird and she's with Thea, the girl who always looks like someone pissed in her cereal. You'll never catch her smiling unless she's around Alice."

Thea couldn't help but scoff.

"Dr. Cullen's like this foster dad/matchmaker."

"Maybe he'll adopt me." Angela jokes.

Bella could be heard asking more questions, "What about those two?" She was looking at Edward and Jasper.

Jessica grins, "Okay, that's Jasper and Edward Cullen. Jasper always looks like he's in pain and everyone thinks he's a little weird but Edward is totally gorgeous, obviously. But apparently, nobody here's good enough for him. Like is care, you know?" She wore an insecure smile.

Angela sips her drink. "They're also two pairs of siblings. Jasper Hale and Rosalie Hale, they're twins. And Emmett McCarty and Thea McCarty, Emmett being the eldest."

Thea turns back to Alice, sending her a look only she'd understand. Alice places her chin on Thea's shoulder as well as wraps her arms around Thea's waist.

Thea and Alice both knew that they were the weird couple that everyone found to be too clingy with each other, but neither of the vampires cared. They didn't have to hide their love anymore and they'd be damned if they were to stop just because of other people's opinions.

Thea catches the way Edward's eyes linger on the human who can't help but stare back.

Thea did not have a good feeling about her.

✸

Mike Newton was a wanna-be cool kid. He'd joke, laugh, and flirt with anyone he could. Even his biology partner, who is married to a woman and has no interest in anyone else, Thea McCarty.

The boy would talk her ear off and Thea fought the urge to tell him to shut up only because Alice told her she needed to be nicer to students.

And Thea was too whipped to ever disagree with Alice.

Thea would find ways to drown him out. She would focus on the click of her pin or the ticks of the clock.

But today, she was focusing on her racing thoughts about Bella Swan. Thea didn't know why, maybe it was because of her deadly trust issues but she felt like this girl was bad news.

As if the devil was listening, in walked Bella Swan. She faced a fan that was cooling the classroom and a gust of her scent hit not only Thea but Edward's nose too.

Thea tilted her head, the scent was pleasing but nothing could overpower her current overthinking mind. 

Edward almost falls out of his seat, clutching onto the table and covering his nose.

Thea almost ran to him but Bella's approaching footsteps made her stop. Edward tenses, his hand cupping his nose even tighter. 

Not good. Not good at all! Thea exclaims in her head.

Forty-five minutes went by. The teacher yapped and Thea watched as Edward barely contained himself in front of the new girl, Bella Swan.

Edward jumps up seconds before the bell rings. And just as it rang, the pin in Thea's hand snapped, exploding ink covering all of her clothes and even Mike's.

"What the hell?" Mike stands up, huffing.

Bella locked eyes with Thea and suddenly Jessica's words from lunch came rushing back

"...she's with Thea, the girl who always looks like someone pissed in her cereal. You'll never catch her smiling unless she's around Alice."

Jessica wasn't lying. Thea had the meanest glare in her eyes as she stared down Bella.

Something was telling the human girl that it wasn't just a resting bitch face that has her looking so upset.

ragerwrites, Clingy Alice and Thea>> over you !

Yes, I'm gonna go ahead and give y'all the first chapter, help y'all get the feel of the vibe to Act II. Hope you enjoyed!

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