SKIN DEEP
thirteen | the cat is out of the bag

"Get in here, Imogen!" called Alice the moment she noticed her standing at the bottom of the steps leading to the front door awkwardly. So, she had skipped to the door and threw it open to call down to her future best friend.

Imogen smiled awkwardly and made her way to the front door, "Sorry."

Alice shook her head at the girl and smiled meekly, "What are you apologizing for?"

Imogen just shook off the question and took in the surroundings as she entered the open house. It still took her breath away at how beautiful it was. She could never imagine living in a house so bright. She liked her dark bedroom with the wolves and glow in the dark stars.

Alice wrapped her arm around Imogens, obviously wanting to skip but holding it in due to the fact that she was now attached to Imogen. "Your appointment will be in the front room and then we will start our sleepover and talk and do all the girly things girls do nowadays."

Imogen rose her eyebrows at Alice, but smiled at her nonetheless.

Alice walked her to an open room with a few modern leather sofas situated about, Carlisle looking up and smiling in a greet. "Here we are," Alice said through a bright smile, widening her arms and twirling in the middle of the room once she let go of Imogen.

Imogen chuckled at her, shaking her head slightly at her overzealous announcement. 

Carlisle walked over to stand by Alice, "Thank you for showing our guest to the room."

Alice took an exaggerating bow, "My services are appreciated."

Imogen once again chuckled at the pixie-like girl and walked farther into the room, while Alice exited with a promise, "See you in a few."

Carlisle walked up to Imogen and placed his hand lightly on her elbow, guiding her to the sofa that was situated in front of a glass table containing medical equipment in which Imogen had never bothered to learn the name of. Although she did know the names of the simple equipment in which every doctor, nurse or medical practitioner had.

"Today," Carlisle started, "I would like to check the simple things like your blood pressure, but I would like you to take off your breathing apparatus for a while so I can monitor your breathing without it." Imogen nodded, realizing that that is the one thing he had yet to examine. It was normally done within the first ten minutes of meeting a new doctor, but Carlisle hadn't requested this of her yet. It was just so that the doctor knew what it was like first-hand instead of having to base it off notes that were made months ago by the other doctors.

"Are you okay with that?" Carlisle asked, his eyes wandering over her face, gauging her reaction. Imogen only nodded before taking off the backpack she had decided would be more ideal than the roller-back, placing it on the sofa. She then took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she pulled out the nasal prongs and pulled it over her head, before placing it carefully on top of her backpack. 

However, before Carlisle could make a move to use the manual blood pressure model, Emmett seemed to come out of nowhere, picking up Imogen and twirling her around, knocking the breath right out of her. He placed her back on the floor only moments after picking her up and she stumbled back slightly, breathing as deeply as she could and finding her balance again.

Emmett's eyes shone with slight sorrow for seeming to cause her slight harm before he brushed it off and smiled brightly, "Immy, you joining us for the meal we're cooking for Bella tomorrow?"

Imogen let out a slightly chuckle that turned into a cough, before she smiled mischievously. She blurted out, purposefully, "But I thought that vampires don't eat food." She received shocked looks from the two males, continuing with her inquiry, "I thought vampires lived off blood. Sorry if I'm misinformed."

Emmett seemed to have come out of the shock of her blurting out the secret of their family and whistled lowly, "I guess the cat is out of the bag."

Imogen wheezed a laugh, "It's been out of the bag for a while now." 

She lent down to place the nasal prongs back in so that she could take a few deep breaths, to which Carlisle stated, placing his hands on his thighs, "Keep them on, we'll continue tomorrow with the appointment. I feel that this is more important."

Emmett watched Imogen place them in properly before taking a seat and sighing. He crossed one arm across his chest and another on his chin, smiling slightly. "How long have you known? And why didn't you say anything before?"

Carlisle watched, gauging Imogen's facial expressions. Imogen looked between the two, sighing, "I didn't say anything because it wasn't exactly practical to burst out, 'Oh, I know you're bood-sucking vampires.'"

Emmett let out a laugh, while Carlisle smiled weakly, "We only drink animal blood, if that helps you feel more at ease."

She nodded and smiled, "Yeah, it does. Thank god I know I won't be eaten." The two males chuckled just as Alice entered an looked between them all curiously, her hands on her hips.

She smiled at Imogen and questioned when she saw their expressions, "Okay, what did I miss?"

Emmett turned to smile at the little pixie, "Just that Imogen basically blurted out that she knows about us."

Alice scrunched up her eyebrows, causing her nose to twitch slightly, before a wide smile graced her face and she appeared suddenly besides Imogen, "It's about goddamn time. I've been waiting for this."

Carlisle glanced at her, "What did you see?"

She smiled and danced around on the spot, "Just that Imogen would join us for a family baseball game. And you know how those are." Carlisle just nodded and smiled, a weight seemingly lifted off of his shoulders knowing that the secret is out but also safe with Imogen.

Alice clasped her hands together before reaching down to pull up Imogen, "Let's start with our sleepover." Imogen just chuckled and reached down for her backpack, pulling it onto her shoulders and following the vampire out of the room, hand in hand, turning to smile meekly at the two males before disappearing up the stairs.

Imogen smiled at Alice as they continued up the many stairs, huffing slightly before reaching the top, for them to enter what Alice proudly stated was her room. Imogen looked at her with slight shock before smiling, "Tell me you didn't make this room for me."

She smiled at seemed to flutter into the room, which now had a tv in front of the glass wall, "Of course it's actually yours, silly. We don't sleep."

She smiled at her and questioned, "You knew I'd need a place to sleep?" Then she frowned, "Wait a second, that means you saw me coming? But how?"

Alice plonked herself on the bed, stating sadly, "I miss sleep." She turned on her front, placing her head on her hands and kicking her feet behind her. "I have visions. We all have a gift, a gift that we had when we were human but didn't really know it until we became vampires. They become more potent when we become 'creatures of the night.'" 

Imogen glanced around, still amazed by the room, before she walked over to the wardrobe and slid the door open, looking at all the new and old clothes that were inside. Her prom dress was there. She glanced back at Alice who was watching her before looking back inside at the clothes, "That's how you knew my size? And that's how you knew the dress would fit?" She hadn't tried it on, but she was sure it would fit, along with all the out-of-time clothes that were inside. They were for her.

Alice didn't say anything, but Imogen was sure she would've seen her nod had she looked back at her. She heard movement before Alice was beside her a second later, smiling at her, placing a hand on her arm. "I'm going to go get some snacks for you while we watch a few movies." She turned to the door and before walking out of the room, smiled and said, "Oh and get Rosalie and tell everyone the good news."

Imogen frowned, "Good news?" 

Alice's smiled widened, "That you know. They won't have to sneak around then."

Imogen just nodded before quickly rushing out a question before she wondered off, "What about Esme?" Alice tilted her head at her, not knowing what the girl meant. Imogen just shook her head and smiled, "Invite Esme as well. May as well make it a full on girl night."

Alice smirked and nodded, stating, "No boys allowed." Imogen chuckled watching Alice flutter away. She turned back to the room, walking over to the wall of glass, looking at the forest that stretched for miles. She smiled at the view, wondering if werewolves were real too. They had to be, surely, if vampire existed, maybe werewolves did too.

"Beautiful," she heard from behind her, making her jump and place her hand over her heart. She looked at the reflection in the glass, noticing that Jasper was stood by the door, the light illuminating from behind him.

She smiled, shifting her gaze back out of the window, "Yeah, it is." He wanted to state that he wasn't talking about the view, but just shook his head and walked into the room, shifting slightly when he came to a halt besides her.

"You know," he stated.

She smiled looking at his reflection in the glass, noticing that he was watching her. "So, the words gotten out."

He chuckled slightly, a smile gracing his features, making him look a little less awkward. "Everyone's relieved. It's written across their faces."

She smiled and glanced up at him to see that his eyes had shifted to looking at the scenery outside. "Your secrets safe," she said, hoping it was what he needed to hear.

He let a tight-lipped smile out, "I know."

They stood in silence, looking at the woods below, their arms touching one another. Imogen smiled when she noticed this, but the serene atmosphere disappeared when three vampires entered the room, smiles on their faces as they noticed the two standing there.

Rosalie let out a groan, but a smile let her true feelings shine through. She nudged Alice's shoulder while the two had turned to watch the exchange, "No boys allowed, huh?"

Jasper chuckled and held his hands up in defense, "I was just leaving."

Alice smiled and walked up, knocking her shoulder against his. "Yeah, of course you were."

Jasper turned to smile at Imogen and said in a quite flirty tone, "Another time, my lady." Imogen blushed as he backed out of the room, while the three females smiled at his attempt at flirting. 

They continued to grin which Imogen noticed and blushed harder before walking over to the bed and pulling all the covers off, dumping them on the floor at the end of the bed. They watched her curiously, seeming to have no clue what she was doing, while anyone else would know. She looked over at them, "A comfy seat...on the floor...where we can all sit?"

They smiled and nodded, before walking into the room and taking places on the covers around her. Esme was sitting on the floor besides Imogen, her legs crossed and smiled, "You really didn't have to invite me. Don't want to intrude on a teenager and he visibly teenage friends night."

Imogen just shook her head and smiled, "It's a girls night and that's what you are. Plus, you're not much older, appearance wise, than us." She smiled at her, shaking her head before watching Rosalie plonk down not so gracefully and watched as Alice walked to the wall which graced books, vinyls, cds and dvds.

"What movie are we watching?" questioned Imogen. She was picky with her movies, only watching horror and sometimes comedies. 

Alice held up the dvd so that all could see and Rosalie let out a groan. "Seriously?"

Alice nodded enthusiastically, placing the dvd in the player and turning on the tv. Imogen looked to her right at Rosalie, "You don't like the movie?"

Rosalie let a grimace cover her face, "More like the main creature in the movie."

Imogen let a grin slip onto her lips, "They exist?"

Esme smiled lightly, "Yes. Not like the one in the movie, but they exist. There's a pack of them in La Push."

Imogen completely forgot about the movie at hand, more interested in finding out about the not so mythical creatures. "Could you tell me about them?"

Esme smiled, nodding, glancing at the menu displaying on the screen. Alice took a seat on the floor, the remote in hand, but knew not to play it yet. "We have a treaty with them. We don't injure humans by killing or by turning them into one of us, hunting only animals in the woods and we can stay here. Also, we can't cross into their lands." Imogen nodded, her attention fully on Esme. "Have you heard of their legend?"

Imogen scrunched up her eyebrows before remembering the day she went to the beach, hearing some of the story from Jacob and nodded. "Jacob told Isabella and I."

They looked slightly grim before Esme asked, "Jacob Black?" Imogen nodded. She smiled, "You should probably ask him more about them when he shifts and discovers the truth." Imogen nodded again, having many more questions but knew Jacob would be the right person to ask...but she probably had a while to wait until that could happen.

Alice clapped her hands together, breaking the silence. "Movie time," she smiled brightly and everyone relaxed, turning the attention to An American Werewolf in London.