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CHAPTER EIGHT - PROM? NOT MY KINDA THING

CHARLIE LED THE girls through the hospital after they were given permission to leave, although he had to make a stop by the reception on the way out, but neither of the twins minded.

"I gotta go sign some paperwork. Bella, you should uh...you should probably call your mom." Charlie said, holding both of the girls' backpacks over his shoulder casually. 

"Did you tell her?" Bella asked, to which their dad shrugged a yes. "She's probably just...freaking out."

"What else did you expect her to do, Bells? She probably thinks we almost died from the way dad most likely told her." Laura paused her rant, "No offence, dad."

"None taken, I tend to over exaggerate things."

Laura and Bella nodded, separating from Charlie, but stopped and hid when they spotted Rosalie, Edward, Nathan and Carlisle around the corner. They were in a heated discussion and the girls couldn't help but overhear what they were saying.

"What was I supposed to do, then? Let them die?" Nathan spoke harshly in a low voice.

"This isn't just about you. This is about all of us." Rosalie remarked.

"Aren't you going to say anything Edward?" Nathaniel glared at his adoptive brother.

"I'm thankful that you saved Laura's life and I'm sure Rosalie is too, but you went at it the wrong way." Edward said calmly, placing a hand on Nate's shoulder, but Nathan brushed it off.

"I think we should take this into my office." Carlisle voiced, glancing at where the girls were hidden and causing the others to turn in their direction.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Bella asked Nathan timidly, fiddling with her shirt's sleeves with an anxious expression daunting her features. Nathan nodded reluctantly and walked up to her.

Laura smiled at Rosalie, who returned the smallest one back, before smiling at Edward as well. He too gave her a smile and then she looked at Carlisle, who seemed to understand what she wanted.

"I'll be back, Edward, Rosalie." Carlisle told his children, walking off with Laura far enough away so that no one could hear what they would be talking about.

"I know you saw my file." Laura began quietly, avoiding eye contact with him as she bit at her nails nervously. "That I have a heart that beats ten times a minute and that my blood is coagulated." 

"How is it possible, Laura?" Carlisle asked. He'd had his suspicions about her. At first he thought she was like his family, but her eyes were normal, she had blood running through her veins and her scent was completely different- like death.

"You've heard about the Phoenix Boat Massacre, right?" Laura quizzed, suddenly wishing she hadn't said anything and just avoided him.

"It was on the news. Hundreds of people had died and no one knew how." Dr. Cullen replied, not sure of where she was going with this.

"I was on that boat. I died on that boat and now I have a never ending hunger for human brains." She explained, making Carlisle's eyes widen in surprise and intrigue. He hadn't expected that. "It's why I needed the morgue assistant position you offered me a few months ago. I'm a zombie, I need access to brains 24/7, otherwise I'll go completely savage and murder countless innocent people."

"I see." Carlisle nodded. "Why would you tell me this?"

"I need to make sure that you won't tell anyone, including Edward and my sister. You're the only one who can help me find a cure, Dr. Cullen." She plead, reaching forward and gripping onto his hand as she stared at him.

He nodded immediately, "I'll help you Laura, but there is no guarantee that Edward won't find out. He has a way of knowing what people are thinking."

Laura sighed in relief, disregarding the final thing that he had said. "Thank you, Dr. Cullen. I don't know what I'd do if I was dealing with this by myself."

"We'll figure this out together Laura, don't worry." He assured. "Just- don't come into work tomorrow, you hit your head your head today. Take it easy for a few days and we'll talk on Monday. I'll get to work on analysing a sample of your blood for that cure."

"That sounds great!" Laura exclaimed, smiling brightly. "Goodbye, Dr. Cullen. Thank you so much!"

"Goodbye, Laura. Have a safe trip home."

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Laura didn't know why, but she kept sensing a presence in her room every night when she went to sleep. Sometimes she would wake up and see Edward standing in the corner of her room, watching her. But by the time she had reached around for the light, he was gone. And for some reason it didn't freak her out. It just unnerved her a little.

She couldn't get his face out of her mind. His haunting golden eyes, his flawless pale skin - hell, his whole being plagued her thoughts, lurking there even when she tried to think of something else. But Laura was just glad that she wasn't dreaming of the boat massacre recently, her final night as a normal human teenage girl.

It was Thursday and Mr. Molino had organised a school trip for all Biology classes, including Bella's. Which meant that the busses would be packed and everywhere would also be cramped on the way to their destination.

Laura and Bella were stood next to their truck, waiting for the rest of the classes to arrive - it still had a dent in it from the accident - seeing as they had already handed in their permission slips for the trip.

The twins looked up, locking eyes with Nathaniel and Edward who were walking with Jasper and Alice, but their gazes were soon interrupted by Mike who stood in the way, blocking their sights of the Cullen boys.

"Look at the two of you, huh? You're alive!" Mike exclaimed.

"I know, yeah. False alarm, I guess." Bella shrugged awkwardly.

"Too bad." Laura mumbled, "Could've avoided this conversation that's about to happen."

"Laura, hey, I wanted to ask you, you know if- if uh- you know, it's like a month away but..." Mike trailed off, causing Laura to look away and lock eyes with Edward again. He was staring at her in a brooding, moody manner, but he still seemed slightly amused from something. "Do you wanna go to prom with me? So, what do you think?"

"Sorry, what did you say? I dozed off for a second." Laura smiled sarcastically, still sneaking glances at Edward who was now smiling.

"Do you want to go? To prom? With me?"

"Prom?" Laura raised a brow questioningly. "Not my kinda thing. I'll be in Jacksonville with Bella that weekend, ignoring everyone else's existence."

"You can't go another weekend?" Mike asked.

"Non-refundable tickets." Bella piped in, when she realised that her sister was making up an excuse. "You should ask Jessica. We know for certain that she wants to go with you."

Mike nodded, looking over to where Jessica was waving at him. Mr. Molino called everyone over to the busses. "Hey, hey, hey people come on. We gotta go. We gotta go. Green is what? Good. Let's go. Guys, come on."

The students separated into the two busses. Bella went with Mike and the others, leaving Laura to go on the other bus with the Cullens. She ended up having a pleasant conversation with Alice and Jasper, Edward and Nathan soon joining in to voice their opinions seeing as they got on well with the zombie and didn't want to eat her.

When they arrived at the destination, Edward and Laura walked together through the walkway of the large greenhouse with Alice and Jasper in front of them. Nathaniel was behind, soon accompanying Laura's sister.

"I never got to ask..." Edward spoke up, striking a conversation with the pale blonde. "What's in Jacksonville?"

"You heard that?" Laura scoffed a laugh. 

"Yeah. You're louder than you think." 

"Maybe I just want attention." She mused. "It wouldn't hurt to say hi to me when you see me around. A little goes a long way. I swear, Rosalie talks to me more than you do."

"Hi."

"See? That wasn't so hard was it?" Laura laughed, but her face soon became serious. "You know, one of these days I'm gonna get you to tell me how your brother stopped the van from killing me and my sister."

"I'll tell you right now. He had an adrenaline rush. It's very common. You can Google it."

"It was an excuse." Laura told him, replying to his earlier question. She chose to ignore his obvious lie because in the end, he was entitled to his own secrets and she wasn't going to push him on it. He looked at her confused and she clarified, "Jacksonville. It was an excuse to get Mike off my back about prom."

"Laura, guess who just asked me to prom."Jess came running up to the pale blonde, slightly out of breath. Edward took this as his chance to leave.

"Mike?"

"Yeah, how'd you know? Never mind, I'm gonna go tell Bella." Jessica smiled and went to bother Laura's sister instead.

The tour was at an end and the students were just loitering around ready to leave. Laura began walking in the direction of the busses when Edward caught up with her.

"Laura, we shouldn't be friends."

"For what reason?" She retorted with her arms crossed. "You should've thought this through before storming up to me. If you haven't realised, I'm friends with most of your siblings. What problem do you have with me that they don't?" Laura glanced behind them, seeing her sister having a heated disagreement with Nathan before getting into the other bus.

"I just-"

"Hi, Laura." Alice greeted happily, coming out of nowhere with Jasper behind her. Nathan soon joined them. "Are you gonna be riding with us again?"

Laura glanced at Edward, who was grimacing slightly. His sudden mood swings were giving her whiplash. She smirked, wanting to get under his skin. "Yes, I will be."

"Great! Sit next to me this time, I wanna get to know you better." Alice insisted, grabbing Laura's hand and pulling her into the bus with the boys lagging behind.

❝I AM ALREADY DEAD.❞