Shayla’s New Moon
Author’s notes: This is the sequel to Shayla’s Twilight. If you haven’t read it already, you won’t fully understand this story. But here is a quick summary for you:
Shayla Cullen is the youngest of the Cullen family, with only being created in the early 70’s. Her gift are her animal senses, meaning her senses are stronger and she is almost at one with her animal side with her growls and the sprouting of claws, she’s wild and unpredictable in battle but she can control it.
Anyway, she comes back after a year-long absence to find that her brother Edward has now found Bella, a human whom he loves very much. Shayla battles her thirst and then, a tracker shows up while they are playing baseball and wants to kill Bella. Alice, Jasper and Shayla whisk Bella away to Phoenix buy James, the tracker, follows them and ends up with Bella in a ballet studio. But the Cullens show up and beat James, but Bella gets injured. Shayla goes home but the story ends with the prom night where Bella is nearly fully healed except for her broken leg.
So basically, it followed Twilight’s storyline. And as you can guess from the title, this is Shayla’s New Moon. I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 1: High School is still Hell…
Shayla’s POV
It was a pretty normal day in Forks. It was drizzling, no surprises there, and the local vampires were still battling their thirst. Well, some where. Okay, it was just me. But it was a special day today despite the normality of it. Today, Bella Swan turned eighteen.
My little human sister. Or sister-to-be. I liked Bella a lot. She made my brother… happy. Even though a few weeks back we had some trouble with a sadistic tracker by the name of James, we had finished him and his little fire-headed friend had run off as fast as her legs could carry her.
But none of that mattered now. They weren’t coming back. Bella was safe. But not safe from the birthday wishes and presents that she desperately didn’t want and had requested for none. But seeing as Edward and Alice had ignored her request, I had decided to ignore as well.
“Happy birthday Bella!” I cried as I skipped over to where she, Edward and Alice stood. She flushed red but seemed relived that I didn’t have a present.
“No present?” she asked, her relief flooding into her voice.
I didn’t answer straight away but snickered in response. “That’s what you think.”
Her face composed herself into worry and Edward wrapped an arm around her. “Now be nice Shayla,” he said warily to me. He knew I loved to tease people but there were occasions where I took in one step too far. Like now.
“Sorry,” I muttered before stepping back and darting away as quickly and humanly as I could. The wind had just blown over the school and Bella’s scent plus a thousand more had just hit me as hard as a speeding school bus would hit a human. It still made me thirst for her; despite the few days I spent trapped in a hotel with her while we hid from James.
I headed to my class, English, and was the first one there. I leant against the wall and closed my eyes, focusing only on my breathing.
“Hey,” a quiet voice suddenly said and I looked down to see Alice standing before me. “I saw what happened. And I am not talking about my visions. It’s okay, you can be strong.”
I glared at my sister in frustration. I needed to be strong. But I wasn’t. “I need to be –but I can’t. That’s the problem.
Alice put her fingers to my cheek and gazed intently into my eyes. “It’ll be okay. Are you still up for tonight?” She was referring to my ‘present’ that I had organized for Bella.
I grinned. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world! The guys are really excited. And so are the girls, especially Jessie and the newest guy, Corey.”
“Excellent,” she concluded just as the class began to file in, including Edward and Bella. We sat up in the back row, with me on the far end, Alice next to me, Edward beside her and Bella was beside him.
The class was boring, as usual. The teacher, an old woman with greying hair, glasses and a temper issue, Ms Ashore, was droning on and on about Romeo and Juliet, a pathetic love story which I had nor the time or patience to listen to. I had things to do, people to see. I had to figure out when they would show up… I was daydreaming and not really listening to the teacher when someone yelled at me.
“Shayla Cullen?! Are you still with us?!”
I looked up to see Ms Ashore looking very, very irritated as she stood in front of the blackboard which was half covered in notes.
I raised an eyebrow, the one with the small silver stud pierced in it. “Yeah Miss?”
“Don’t you ‘Yeah Miss’ me Miss Cullen. You seem to have no interest in anything I say now so why don’t you express YOUR opinion on Romeo and Juliet? Hm?”
I sat up straighter in my chair. “Well, personally, I find Romeo and Juliet to be… the most pathetic and sad love story ever written. And when I say sad, I’m not talking about the emotion, I mean as in its downright lame.”
I heard some of the girls gasp at this and some of the boys sniggered at my daringness to challenge Ms Ashore on Romeo and Juliet. We all knew that she practically worshipped Shakespeare for writing the tragic play and that those who dissed it, well, they were toast. Not me though. She had asked for my honest opinion and I had given it, freedom of speech wasn’t it?
Ms Ashore’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she managed to hiss at me, “How so Shayla? Would you care to elaborate?”
“Certainty,” I answered boldly. Alice, Edward and Bella shot me dark and worried looks. Ms Ashore was notorious for her debating skills and would often shoot down both students and teachers alike who dared to challenge her. But I had a back-up on my side.
“Well first of all, the ending is slack. It seems that he, Romeo, had a religious view of the whole situation, with believing that he and Juliet shall be together in the Afterlife. Wrong,” I said this all with confidence and I made the last word sound blunt and final.
“How so?” the teacher dared to ask.
“’Thoult shall not murder?’” I quoted, looking up at her. “The sixth commandment? Although we don’t know for certain, we can assume that Shakespeare was Christian and that this faith was passed along to his characters. And if that being said, Romeo murdered Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, and Count Paris as well, and so he broke that certain commandment –twice. Off to Hell he goes while perfectly innocent Juliet waits up in Heaven for her lover that is never going to come for her. Quite pitiable really.”
Ms Ashore looked quite red in the face. “But that is wrong,” she eventually snarled at me.
“You asked for my opinion,” I argued back. “And I gave it. And I must admit, it sounds a lot better then the crap you are going on about it being the best damn love story ever written.” I couldn’t help it; I had to tell her how stupid she sounded, going on and on about the ‘star-crossed lovers’ who weren’t to be.
“Shayla Cullen!” she then shouted at me, angry. “How dare you speak that way to me! Where are your manners?!”
I rolled my eyes at her rage and crossed my arms. “At home… right next to my ability to care about this stupid topic.”
The class couldn’t help themselves. The majority of the boys, Mike, Tyler and Eric leading them, made ‘oooooo’ noises at my words to the teacher. Ms Ashore face went from red to purple with rage as my smart-ass comment.
“Out,” she hissed. “Shayla Cullen, I’ve had it up to here with your lazy attitude and your smart-mouth comments! March yourself down to the Deputy’s and give her this note!” She quickly scribbled a note as I packed up my books.
“You’ve done it now Shayla,” Alice whispered quietly to me that no human could pick up. “They’ll probably call Esme –again.” Edward sighed with frustration as he picked up my ‘I don’t really give a damn’ thoughts.
I grunted and walked past them. Ms Ashore, with her face full of fury, held out the note for me at the door. I snatched it and stalked out. She slammed the door behind me and I heard her turn back to the class. “Now then, now that our resident Romeo and Juliet hater has left the building, we can now resume our board notes on why Romeo and Juliet was indeed a legitimate and true love story. Now write!” The class groaned in protest.
The deputy principle wasn’t pleased. After reading the note which had concluded that I had been mocking Ms Ashore’s teaching style and opinion, that I never paid attention in class, and that I was continuously being rude and brash to the teacher, she called home.
Esme was coming to get me. When she arrived, I had been sent out into the office hallway while they had ‘a chat’ which I had tried not to listen to while I focused my energy on updating my status on Facebook via my phone. Carlisle had only let me keep it after I promised that I wouldn’t add humans (Bella was the exception to this rule but she rarely hopped on it) and that I would only use it to keep up-to-date with my Australian friends, Maddy and Matthew Carter, Theo and Tiffany Woodley, and Corey and Jessie Green. The first two pairs were mates and married but Corey and Jessie were twins –literally. An unknown vampire had changed them both together and when they woke up, they had no one. They had lived like savages until Maddy found them and, being the kind and caring person that she is, she adopted them and shown her the ‘vegetarian’ way. They were young, only fifteen years old physically but a good ten years older then me in the vampire way, but they quickly adapted to the lifestyle.
Of their family, Maddy, Theo and Tiff were the only gifted ones – Maddy could see a person’s memories by simply being in their presence but could see them better by touch. Theo had telekinesis and could move objects and beings around him simply by focusing on them and moving his hands which almost seemed to ‘glow’ with power. And Tiff could create a ‘bubble’ around her and others that protected them from physical harm. It wasn’t as strong as Renta’s of the Volturi, but it was strong enough to withstand multiple blows. Depending on how hard and fast you came as her, and how prepared she was, it could take as little as one hit or up to, maybe twenty or so, to break through. It was useful when solving our petty fights as well.
I had met Maddy while in Australia for a brief holiday and she had introduced me to her mate, Matt, and her ‘sister’ Tiff who was Theo’s mate. Corey and Jessie were new though, I had met them after the prom last year where they, and the rest of my friends, were a part of the band that Theo managed, funnily enough called Midnight Blood. I was a part-time member, occasionally jamming with them when they came into town.
When I had finished updating, (I had written: “Dang it, at the Deputy’s again :( Damn English teacher lol), Esme had came out and I had earned a clip on the ear from the Deputy for having my phone out. She would’ve taken it but Esme promised that she would deal with me later.
Esme would not speak to me until we safely made it to the car, which was Carlisle’s Mercedes. Unlike the rest of us, Esme didn’t have her own car (or bike in my case) and required on us to get her around. We didn’t mind, after all, we owed Esme for a lot of things.
She didn’t scold me right away. Esme wasn’t the yelling type. Instead, as we hit the highway near home, she muttered to me, “Shayla this has to stop.”
I had been staring out the window when she had spoken this and I glanced back towards her. “It wasn’t my fault. That was unfair,” I argued.
“Shayla did you, or did you not mock the teacher’s style of teaching?” she asked.
I paused to answer. “Well… I did state that I thought what she was teaching us was wrong.”
“Is that exactly what you said?” she questioned further in a stern voice.
I grinned sheepishly. “Um, not really. I said that I thought her opinion of it being the best damn love story ever written was crap.”
Esme didn’t say anything for a moment. But then she sighed at me. “Shayla, sweetie, you have to stop this impulsive back-chatting that you do.”
“So you’re siding with them?” I snarled. “That’s so unfair; Ms Ashore has hated me from day one. It’s not my fault that I was the only brave one to stand up for myself with my own opinion.”
“I’m not siding with them,” Esme stated sadly. “I am just worried about you. I know you are physically sixteen and are forever stuck in that adolescent stage but, I think you just need to tone it down a bit.”
We pulled up at the house then. I threw myself out and stormed into the house. I heard Esme call out, “I’m going to pick Carlisle up after I go shopping. Stay out of trouble!”
“Shayla, stay out of trouble? That’s rather unlikely…” a voice behind me chuckled. I spun around to see my brother and sister who were meant to be in Africa, Emmett and Rosalie, standing behind me. I was surprised that I hadn’t picked up their scent.
“Em, Rose!” I squeaked out and threw myself at them, hugging Emmett around the middle and embracing Rosalie in a tight squeeze. Even though he could be an annoying jack-ass and she could be a bitch, I had missed them both heaps.
“Yeah, I missed you too Shay,” Rosalie laughed, kissing my cheek.
“Same here,” Emmett agreed. He then raised an eyebrow. “So, you got busted again at school?”
I made a sour face at him. “Yeah, I had a go at a teacher over my opinion of Romeo and Juliet. And I called her belief that it was the greatest love story ever written crap.”
They both snickered in response. I frowned at them. “It’s NOT funny. Esme is really disappointed in me.” I sighed. “Now, I’m going to go ring Mads and see when she’s coming around. See yas later.”
And with those words I darted upstairs to ring my best non-sibling friend.