The one

He looked at my neighbor for just a fraction of seconds, and then his dark eyes flashed on me.

He looked away instantly, more instantly than I could. Though in a flush of embarrassment, I lowered my eyes at once.

In that brief flash of a peek, his face held nothing of interest. It was as if my neighbor had called his name, and he looked up in an involuntary response, already having made up his mind not to answer.

My neighbor chuckled in humiliation, looking at the table like I did.

"That is Alessandro and Grayson Cullen, and Annalise and Willie Hale. The one who left was Emma Cullen, they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She said this under her breath.

I peeked sideways at the beautiful boy, who was now looking at his tray, he was picking a bagel to pieces with his long and pale fingers.

His mouth was moving very rapidly, his perfect lips was hardly opening. And The other three with him still looked away, and yet I felt he was talking quietly to them.

Strange and unpopular names, I thought. That's The kind of names grandparents had. But perhaps that was in vogue here, small town names?

I finally recalled that my neighbor was called Annar, a perfectly common name. There were two girls called Annar in my History class back home.

"They are… very good looking." I struggled with the noticeable understatement as I spoke to my neighbor.

"Yes! They are" Annar agreed with another chuckle.

"They are always together, I mean Grayson and Annalise, and Willie and Emma. And they also live together."

Her voice held all the awe and censure of the small town, I thought critically. But, if I was being ethical, I had to admit that even in Scottsdale, it would cause a gossip.

"Which ones are the Cullens?" I asked.

"Because they do not look related…"

"Oh yeah! they are not. Annar responded. Dr Cullen is really young, he is in his twenties or early thirties. They are all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, then the twins and the blondes and they are all foster children."

"They look a slight old for foster children."

"But they are now. Annar said. Willie and Annalise are both eighteen, but they have been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She is their aunt or something like that."

"That is really kind of good for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they are so young and everything."

"I guess so," Annar reluctantly acknowledged, and from her facial expression, I got the impression that she did not like the doctor and his wife for some reason best known to her I guess.

With the looks she was throwing at their adopted children, I would assume the reason was jealousy.

"I think that Mrs. Cullen can not have any kids, though," she added, as if that reduced their kindness.

Throughout all this conversation I had with Annar, my eyes glinted again and again to the table where the weird family sat. They continued looking at the walls and did not eat.

"Have they always lived in Barboursville?" I asked.

Certainly I would have noticed them on one of my summers here.

"No," Annar said in a voice that suggested it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me.

"They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."

I felt a spurt of pity, and relief. Pity because, as lovely as they were, they were outsiders, which is clearly not accepted.

Relief that I was not the only newcomer here, and certainly not the most fascinating by any standard.

As I assessed them, the youngest among one of the Cullens looked up and met my stare, this time with evident of interest in his expression.

As I peeked swiftly away, it seemed to me that his peek held some kind of unmet objectives.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I asked.

I looked at him from the corner of my eye, and he was still gazing at me, but not gaping like the other students had done today, he had a slight frustration in his expression. I was forced to look down again.

"That's Alessandro, he is gorgeous of course, but you do not have to waste your time thinking about him. He does not date. Seemingly, none of the girls here are good looking enough for him."

She sniffed, a clear case of stale grapes. I wondered when and how he had turned her down.

I bit my lips to conceal my smile. Then I stared at him again. This time, his face was turned away, but I felt his cheek seemed lifted, as if he were smiling too.

After some more minutes, the four of them jointly left the table. They all were visibily graceful, even the big brawny one.

It was disconcert to keep looking at them. The one called Alessandro did not look at me again.

I sat at the table with Annar and her friends, more lengthy than I would have if I had been sitting alone.

I was so eager not to be late for class on my first day. One of my recent acquaintances, who considerably had me remember that her name was Cassandra, had Biology II with me the next hour.

We strolled to class together in silence. I could also notice that she was shy too.

When we got to classroom, Cassandra went to sit at a black topped lab table, just like the ones I was used to.

She already had a neighbor. In fact, all the tables were filled up except one, which was next to the center aisle.

I recognized Alessandro Demetrio with his extraordinary hair, he was sitting next to that single open seat.

As I stepped down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, I was staring at him surreptitiously.

Just as I passed, he abruptly went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the weirdest expression on his face, it was adverse and furious.