Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.
BPOV
I walked down the long, winding hallway as fast as my thin legs could manage, dodging anyone I nearly collided with. My binders seemed heavier than they had been the day before, what with a few extra textbooks added to the mass of knowledge commonly called English. I shuffled my feet against the green carpet which I had made contact with many times before with my clumsiness. I rolled my grey sweater sleeve over my hand to open the silver handle on the door, refusing to let a single cell of a germ make contact with the pale skin of my hand. Pushing down gently, the quiet click! of the door opening welcomed me to a labyrinth of learning. Classrooms always made me feel a bit more comfortable than being in the hallways, where my peers could make fun of me, or trip me, or say nasty things about me. Not that they couldn't do that in a classroom, but teachers present made the task itself harder.
"Good morning, Bella." Mrs. Johansen greeted me without looking up from her laptop.
"Hello Mrs. Johansen." I set my books onto my vandalized desk in the second row.
She knew it was me, of course, because I was the only one that bothered to come in twenty minutes before school. It was something I did so often, everyday in fact, that I barely spared a single thought about it. Most people would think it weird to come to school earlier than necessary, but I was different from most people. Quiet, keeping mostly to myself and my small group of close friends, attentive in class, and tried as hard as I could to keep my grades as high as possible. Not that other students didn't do the same, I just made a habit of keeping mine higher and caring more about that one assignment or test that could affect my grade.
See, I tried to keep my options as open as possible for college, which was a ways away; the year after next. Maintaining good grades could help me immensely in my selection for a college. But being so heavily involved in my schoolwork also had its I studied so often, my group of friends and I were labeled as "nerds." Our grade was very cliquey, the whole social setup was based off of "popular" or "unpopular" or "cool" or whatever. It never seemed to bug me too much, only the rude comments and judgements of my peers made my blood boil. Status seemed to be what run the school.
Another thing that made me such an easy target was my clumsiness. No matter if it were a flat surface or a hill, I would most likely find a way to trip over it. Although tripping in school was a rarity, each time my feet would slip or collide, I was made fun of or laughed at. But after a while, my skin got tougher and I managed to not let anyone see how much it upset me, even if they were joking.
"Did you find the homework nearly as difficult as some of the other students did last night?" Mrs. Johansen shook me out of my thoughts. I responded nearly before she finished her sentence.
"No, though I don't mean to brag, I thought it was quite simple." I barely thought the answer through, for I was checking the answers to my science homework that I wasn't so sure I did it correctly.
"Bella, I know I'm just a meddling adult, but you are one of the smartest students I've had, and I think you should do other things besides focus on your schoolwork." I wasn't sure what she was getting at.
"What-what do you mean?"
She sighed heavily. "You're only young once, you may as well live it up to your full potential."
"Thanks for the, uh, advice, Mrs. Johansen." I stuttered a bit and smiled, hoping she would think that I actually considered taking her advice. At that moment, Edward Cullen walked into the room, his bronze hair shining in the bright lights and his green eyes shot right into my own dull brown ones. I immediately turned around in my chair before he could see me blush.
I had had the biggest crush on Edward Cullen that only my friends knew about. Ever since I had moved to Forks in ninth grade, I fell in love with him. It was impossible for him to like me back, of course, since he was considered the most popular guy in the grade. All the guys constantly talked about him, as did the girls as they would stare at him longingly, flirt like nobody's business, and have him politely reject them. That was what I didn't want to get into. He had never gone out with anyone, or even showed a slight interest in anyone. Girls threw themselves at him (literally) and he, a gentleman in the flesh, would politely send them the message he wanted nothing more than friendship at best. Which was only a mere detail about him that added to the living, breathing god that was Edward Cullen,
I watched as he walked past my desk and plopped in the seat in front of mine, his assigned seat. He opened his binder quickly, pulling out his homework from last night; the assignment that I thought was as simple as an easy-bake oven. I looked over his toned shoulder to see that a few of his blanks were unfilled, implying he didn't know what the answer was. I looked at my own sheet and compared mine with his. All correct except for the few he had unmarked.
"Direct Object," I muttered, not realizing I was thinking out loud. Edward turned around, his melon green eyes enveloping me into my own little world.
"What did you say?" His voice was velvety and smooth. I tried to sound as calm, cool, and collected as I could to impress him, though I know it would do nothing.
"The first blank you have on your assignment; It's a direct object. The next is a predicate nominative, as is the next blank." My voice was raspy; I cleared it quickly in case I were to speak again. I fidgeted with my black Tina Fey glasses, which were making their way down my nose.
"Thank you so much, you just saved me a migraine of mentally debating over the answer." He laughed and I joined him.
"Those were the hardest of the questions, it took my a while to figure them out." I stated, hoping Mrs. Johansen wouldn't call me out on a little white lie. Though out of the corner of my eye, I swear I saw her lips turned slightly upright.
"Yes, those were the ones that I thought about over and over again. I'm Edward, by the way." He smiled sincerely and held out his hand. I shook his hand, an electric feel shocking me while I did. I flinched.
"Bella, Bella Swan." I muttered quickly. He turned around and filled in the correct answers. I took the time to look around the room, although it was only the two of us and Mrs. Johansen. I wondered why someone of his popular status would be in the classroom ten minutes before classes began. Surely he had people to talk to, girls to reject (gentlemanly, of course), and plenty of other things better to do than sit in a classroom. Though I shouldn't be one to speak. Even unpopular people such as myself have people to talk to, I just choose to keep to myself.
"Hey Bella!" My best friend Alice was suddenly inches from my face. Alice was short, not five feet tall even, and beautiful. Her perfect features matched her short black hair that stuck out in every direction. She was gorgeous, and not to mention the sister of Edward.
"Hi Alice." I smiled, not even a fraction close to the enthusiasm she withheld. Standing even moderately close to Alice dropped my confidence lower than it already was. With my dull brown hair and brown eyes, I was merely an average human being compared to the goddess that was Alice and her perfect genes. Figures, she was Edward's sister, though they looked nothing alike, but still inhumanly perfect. I sighed.
"Try to save some energy, it's only first hour, Alice." I reminded her while she smirked at me. I even think I heard Edward laugh at that one.
"Try to wake up a little, Bella, it's only first hour!" She mimicked my voice, which was actually similar to my tone. We both laughed as students started pouring into the classroom. Suddenly, Rosalie Hale, another best friend of mine and Alice's, walked into the room with her hair a complete mess.
"Hi guys." She was breathing heavily. Her hair was in a sloppy ponytail, with bobbypins stuck all over her beautiful blond hair, keeping flyaway hairs constricted. She was wearing a light blue long sleeved shirt that matched the color of her eyes, sky blue, but more brilliant. Rosalie, too, was blessed with perfect genes, only her beauty was entirely different from that of Alice. Rosalie's features were also perfect, but her skin tan compared to Alice's pale skin, and Alice was more of a couture model beauty while Rosalie was more "beauty shot." Rosalie has stick straight blond hair that was utterly gorgeous and fell a little past her shoulders. Being with both of them made me feel like more than hideous.
"Let me fix your hair. Something told me that you were going to be in a rush this morning..." Alice had her hands tangled in Rosalie's hair before she got a chance to respond.
"I was running late. Really late. In fact, I just woke up about twenty minutes ago," she paused to take a breath. "leaving me just enough time to put some makeup on and change into some sweats." She smiled, proud of her "difficult" feat. I rolled my eyes and motioned for her to sit on my other side.
"So you had JUST enough time to get some makeup on?" I teased, referring to the fact that Rosalie looked gorgeous, although her hair and clothes were a disaster. Not that I could be one to speak, the only ounce of makeup that ever touched my face was Alice on a fashion high.
"Precisely. At least I don't spend as much time as SOMEONE I KNOW to style my hair!" She practically spat in Edward's ear jokingly. Rosalie and Alice had been best friends since they could remember, which meant Rosalie was very comfortable with Alice's family members, including Edward.
"Take it back, Hale, I'm warning you..." Edward teased. I laughed. I was surprised that Edward had even given us the time of day since we were so below him. Not that Edward was so concerned with his status, but everyone else was, so it would be easy to mistake him for that type. Although Alice was his sister, Edward tended to stay closer to his friends than his family.
"Alright, let's get to it!" Mrs. Johansen screeched from the front of the class. "I want your homework graded and in my folder in ten minutes."
I smiled and began correcting my paper with no red pen, knowing I had gotten 100 percent.
EPOV
As I pulled open the door to Fork's High, the warm air of the hallway warmed my face as I thawed out at my locker. With a few quick spins of my combination lock, it shot open. I pulled out my books and admired the lonely hallway. On a regular day, about twenty minutes from this time, the hallways would be packed with students eager to mingle with each other or to find their friends in the moshpit commonly called the hallways. Stepping in said moshpit would most likely result in injury or unwanted guests speaking to me, so I usually came in earlier than most of my peers. But that was not the only reason why.
Bella Swan. She was my younger sister Alice's best friend since last year, and I had secretly loved her the second she arrived in our home one day back in the ninth grade. I almost never spoke to her, being too shy and taken by her beauty that I could barely speak around her. A simple blush and a couple stammers and she had stolen my heart. I would never tell any of my friends, though, because they would never understand the attraction. She was labeled as a nerd, uncool, and not popular, but that was no issue to me. She was so polite, so beautiful, and so caring, any man would be a fool not to love her. She was in my homeroom, in fact she sat right behind me. She was the smartest girl in our entire grade, but she was oblivious to it all. School was like cruise control; it seemed as though she never spared a thought about any of it, just another thing about her I had learned to love.
I stepped into the classroom, taking a deep breath before I entered. I quickly scanned the second row to make sure she was there, and indeed she was, her brown orbs looking directly into mine. Before I could wave, or say hi, she turned back around, scanning her homework, probably making sure all of them were correct. I proceeded to my seat, right in front of her, and held up my own sheet to correct it. There were three problems I was unsure of. I was about to turn around to ask Bella when I heard her sweet, musical voice behind me.
"Direct Object." She whispered so quietly I thought it wasn't meant for me. It was as if she had read my mind and said the answer before I could ask.
"What did you say?" I asked. Her hand shook a little and her eyes stared deeply into my own green ones.
"The first blank you have on your assignment; It's a direct object. The next is a predicate nominative, as is the next blank." She spoke with such wisdom and knowledge. I felt insignificant compared to her.
"Thank you so much, you just saved me a migraine of mentally debating over the answer." This was true. I had not fully been paying attention yesterday in our class, so I was very unsure of how to do the homework properly.
"Those were the hardest of the questions, it took me a while to figure them out." She smiled. I found that hard to believe, but I didn't mention anything.
"Yes, those were the ones that I thought about over and over again. I'm Edward, by the way." I stuck out my hand idioticly, unsure as to why I said what I did. Of course she knew who I was! She was at my house nearly every other day! Figures, one of the few times I talk to her, I sound like a complete idiot. She shook my hand as an electric current washed upon my hand. It felt like every nerve ending in my body was a live wire.
"Hey Bella!" Suddenly, my sister Alice was to the right of Bella, leaning on her desk enthusiastically. Bella had been friends with Alice since the first day of ninth grade, and had grown quite close to her and Rosalie, Alice's other best friend.
"Hi Alice." Bella mumbled. I turned back around and tried to pay attention to class for the next sixty minutes.
BPOV
Lunch came around the corner very quickly. Most days, third hour science dragged on with the speed of a snail, but today was different. Edward Cullen had talked to me, touched me, and even smiled at me. I knew I was being the slightest bit pathetic, making a big deal over close to nothing, but I allowed myself to think about him for just one class period. Science was simple, anyways. Nothing I didn't learn back in Phoenix. Which made Forks a snap compared to the difficulty of each class in Phoenix. I was considered average, not even close to the intelligence of a small group of kids enrolled in Phoenix.
I walked quickly and briskly down the hall towards the cafeteria, hoping to see Alice at our usual table in the corner. We usually sat a small distance from our peers, not only because they would only taunt or throw things at us, but because it gave us a nice sense of privacy and isolation.
"Bella! Hey Bella!" Mike Newton called after me. He had been an admirer of since last year, and I have yet to know why.
"Hi...Mike." I smiled politely, but soon regretted acknowledging him.
"Hi, so, would you like to go the beach with me this weekend? Well, not just me, with Angela, and Lauren, and Jessica, and Conner, and Ben, and..." The list went on and I seized to listen. I had been not-so-subtly asked out by Mike Newton on several occassions, all of which I rejected politely and excused myself with the exception of a previous plan with friends I had made.
"Sorry, I'm busy this weekend..." I walked away before he had a chance to respond and entered the lunchroom.
Sooooooooooooo how do ya like it????? Hopefully you do, cuz i'm sorta likin it so far...you won't see many updates very often from me, sorry, but i have a life, too, and i wish i could update as much as some people do, but its simply imposible with all of the things going on in my life.