"Bells, are you sure you're going to be okay?" My brother Nathan said. I could tell he was looking at me carefully, trying to sum up my emotions.
I turned to face him.
"Nath, I'll be fine. Don't worry. I always am." I said reassuringly, or I thought it was reassuring. Nathan tensed beside me.
"Yeah, it's just me being a paranoid big brother eh." I could hear him chucking to himself. "It's just…" Oh no, he was going back to his serious and concerned mode. "…I can't help but worry. I know you have motion memory, but still. It's a new school. People might not accept it."
"That's why I'm not going to tell them!" I declared.
"WHAT!" he yelled. "You're NOT GOING TO TELL THEM!"
"No," I said as calmly as I could. He just couldn't stop getting into the 'paranoid big brother mode'. "I'm going to try and get around like a normal person. I'll tell people if I feel its right. Don't worry, the teachers know, Charlie's already talked to them. It's all been settled so chill. Jeez!" He sighed heavily.
"Okay. Okay!" I heard him raise his arms in defeat. "Let's do it your way." I grinned at him and stepped out of the car. "But Bells," I turned around expectantly, "We'll get you the operation by Christmas. Okay?" I sighed.
"Nath, how many times do I have to tell you. I'll pay for my own operation. Blindness isn't life threatening. You just look after your wife, my sister mind you, and my three favourite nieces. Okay?" I copied him on the last word.
"No deal, but I'm not arguing with you now." He got out of the car and removed my suitcases from the boot. Now, be careful when fencing, I don't want to have to come here to find you in an even worse state."
I grimaced. He never understood how I could be good at fencing whilst still being blind. Honestly, it's so obvious where the other person is, I can here their ragged breathing and their stops around the ring from a mile away. When I explained this to my other brother, Jack, he said that it was common to have excellent other senses because of the absence of another.
"Come on. Let's get you signed in" Nathan said pulling me out from my reverie. I picked up my shoulder bag and followed closely after him, paying careful attention to the direction we were moving in.
When we reached some sort of desk, Nathan put down the suitcases and addressed the woman at the desk. Or at least it sounded like a woman, but who am I to judge, I couldn't see her.
"Hello, I'm Nathan Swan. I'm here to bring my sister, Isabella Swan." He began.
"Hello. Oh" she said. I assumed she was looking at my file. "Oh, well, I'd better get you a helper." She grabbed hold of some kind of microphone speaker. Seconds later I heard her call out over the tannoy, "Can Alice Cullen please report to the main reception. Thank you." She put the microphone thing down.
Minutes later a boulder collided into me, almost knocking me flat.
"Hi," said a high musical voice, when the boulder stepped away from me. "I'm Alice Cullen, your new guide."
I heard Nathan swear behind me. I giggled. Alice seemed the perfect guide, the king who wouldn't notice my blindness, or hold it against me if she did.
"I'm Bella, Bella Swan. Behind me is my brother Nathan." Alice said a polite hello to Nathan and grabbed my hand.
"Come on. You're my dorm buddy for the year. It's going to be SO fun, I can just feel it. "I raised my eyebrows at Nathan and I heard him shrug. "Oh, so sorry, let me get your bags," and with that she turned and started walking in the opposite direction. I gave Nathan a last hug and turned to follow Alice. I walked a few paces forward.
She was nowhere. I couldn't hear her, or smell her, or sense her. I spun round, confused. I felt truly lost. I had no idea where exactly I was. I walked towards a girl's voice, but found myself crashing into something hard.
I had no idea what it was. Suddenly I heard a voice. it seemed to be coming from the thing I had just collided with.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!"