SCAR-FACED

CHAPTER 1

I snap the eye patch over the heavy scarring of my face and hide the disfigurement of my eye. I can't stand to see the bright red of my damaged eye gazing back at me. Don't get me wrong, I don't need the eye patch, I can actually see quite well out of my damaged eye. Extremely well in fact, on a frightening, superhuman level, not that I'd ever tell anyone that. It's the burst blood vessels in my eye ball that disconcert me. My eye was once a warm brown. The white of my eye is left in tact, as is my pupil, but is now the iris of satan. I shudder just thinking about its steely gaze.

I inspect the scars that rake down the left side of my face, satisfied none of them are getting any infections, and leave Dad's sole bathroom.

So far, with the exception of the cold weather, the bathroom is the only downside to moving in with my dad. But there is a lot of new aspects of my new life I haven't explored yet. But really, what could be worse than mothering a thirty-something juvenile?

I trek down the stairs where I am greeted by absolute silence. I smile at my new-found serenity, yet another thing to add to my list of positives. I walk outside to the third item on my positive list, the new-old truck dad bought me for a homecoming present. I kick it over without it missing a beat and I can't help the small smile that flits to my lips. My dad really does know me, the character, but reliability of the truck suit me well.

I back out of the driveway, then take off slowly into the thick fog that has blanketed the small town. I squint out my normal eye, refusing to give into the fog by using my eye of satan. The school is only seven blocks away, so it doesn't take me long to arrive, but probably longer than it should have.

I one-strap my bag, and don't bother to lock the car, there is nothing worth stealing in there anyway.

I approach and enter the office, not bothering to check if everyone is staring or not, I already know the answer. I'm wearing an eye patch and half of my face has deep gashes, of course everyone is staring.

I approach the woman manning the desk, "hi," I greet.

She does a double-take before collecting herself, then smiles. "Hello dear, you must be the chiefs daughter, welcome to Forks, I hope you are settling in okay."

"Yes, quite well thank you."

"Wonderful," she hands me three sheets of paper, "now one is your timetable, the other is a map of the school, and the last is a sheet you will need all of your teachers to sign each lesson. After school, just bring it back here."

"Sounds easy enough, thank you," I smile at her, then leave.

I turn as I exit the office and find myself walking along a path that leads to the main hub of the school. I check my timetable and then look for the corresponding room number on the map. It is easy enough to find so I wander about aimlessly looking around, familiarising myself with the school until the bell rings.

The English teacher is already manning his desk upon my arrival, so I approach him and place the slip I need signing on his desk. "Good mooring sir, can I please get you to sign this?" I ask.

"Of course," he replies without sparing a glance. "Just take a seat anywhere."

I sit in the back left corner so it isn't as easy for the kids to stare at me, which they do blatantly anyway. Second period, Spanish was spent in much the same way. Well, all classes were really, except Maths where one of the local girls managed to scrounge up enough courage to ask me if I'd like to sit with her and her group at lunch. I accepted her invite, and if they are all a bunch of weirdos, I can retract my acceptance easily enough.

From that point the day sails on much more smoothly. I seem to become the shiny new toy instead of the scary-looking new girl.

People are so fickle.

The lunch time buzzer sounds at the end of History to signal the beginning of lunch and the girl, Jessica wastes no time in collecting me and directing me to her lunch table.

"So where are you from?" She asks as she seats me beside her, the rest of her group listening eagerly.

"Phoenix, I was there with my mother and her boyfriend," I reply easily enough. I'm actually surprised they don't know that already, I was under the impression Dad had been talking about me to the whole town for a month straight.

"That must have been nice, I hate not seeing the sun here," Jessica says.

"At least you won't get skin cancer," I offer as some sort of condolence.

She scrunches her face up,"yeah, that would suck."

Silence falls on the group as they no doubt try and tactfully ask me how I ended up with deep gashes on my face. They won't find one and I squash a smile at the thought. I look about the cafeteria and note the students stealing glances in my direction, except one group. I peruse them with my blurry, brown eye and note their attractive appearance, even through my bad eye. They are putting out a very strange vibe that seems to say, 'look at me, but don't look at me.'

I turn my attention back to the group, waiting for the next question.

"So Bella, are you settling in well?" A girl with glasses asks, genuinely I might add. I re-run through the names that was thrown at me before hand and the only one that fits is Angela.

"As well as I can, Dad has been great."

"It has to be tough, being away from one of your parents at all times, I couldn't even imagine it," Angela says, again she shows how genuine she is.

"It not actually as hard as you might think," I chuckle.

Some boys then come up and mucked around with the group before settling in, but avoid looking at me. I'm either making them uncomfortable, or they are afraid of making me uncomfortable. I ignore them and turn back to Angela. "So is there actually anything to do in this town besides hiking through the forest."

She smiles at my question, "afraid not. There is the beach at La Push that is really nice, but it's usually far too cold to swim anyway. There is sometimes whales there to watch too. But besides that, it's hiking I'm afraid."

"Wonderful, I just love to walk," I retort sarcastically.

Having basic introductions made, I get up and walk to where the food is located, willing to get some now that the line has diminished somewhat. I grab a few random things that I can pick at, not really ready to shovel large amounts of food in my mouth just yet, they can wait a few weeks to see that side of me.

I rejoin the group and pick at my food while they discuss levitating pyramids and whatnot until the bell rings. I have already memorised where my biology class is located, so I walk straight there, a few from the group I was sitting with joining me.

I hand my letter to the teacher and ask him to sign it, he does so with a smile, then directs me to the only available seat in the class, next to one of the strange people I seen at lunch.

I approach my seat, and upon noticing my approach, the boy that I will be sitting next to stills, then gets noticeably angry. I don't bother reacting, he isn't the only person to be upset with my close proximity.

I slouch on my stool, shuffling it as far away from him as possible, and focus on the lesson. I hear, rather than see him shuffle away from me too, but again, I don't react. He is entitled to his personal opinions and beliefs, his life and views have absolutely nothing to do with me.

Not soon enough, the bell rings, finally signalling the end of the school day. The boy makes haste with his exit and is out the door before anyone has even stood from their seats. I internally roll my eyes and pack up my belongings.

"Hi Bella, can I walk you to your car?" the boy I recognise as Mike asks me.

"I suppose you can do whatever you like, but I'm not going to my car just yet."

"Oh, maybe tomorrow then."

I shrug noncommittally and make my way to the office. Upon my arrival, I find none other than my lab partner, begging the office lady to transfer him out of the biology class and into another subject… any subject. I can't help but feel sorry for him. What kind of life does one have to have in order for a total stranger to upset them so much? He snaps his head to glare at me, then spits through gritted teeth, "I guess I'll just have to endure it." He storms past me, the scent of burnt sugar wafting up my nose as he passes.

I approach the office lady and hand her the slip with the teachers signatures all in a row.

"Why thank you dear, how did your first day go?"

"Yeah, it was okay," I reply.

"And everyone behaved themselves?"

"Yes, they did, thank you for asking."

I leave then and find my truck in the mostly barren parking lot. I kick the beast over and it starts first go. My gaze, for reasons unknown, finds the group of beautiful people who seem to be discussing something rather intently. Then, the boy from lab snaps his gaze to me, his eyes, black pools burning his hatred into my soul. I shake off his ire, put my car in first, and go home.

Whatever.

My Dad's police car sits out front, so that can only mean he has purposely finished work early to see how my day went. I pull up in the driveway, again leaving the car unlocked, I go inside my new home.

"Hey Dad, how was your day?" I yell through the house trying to pinpoint his location.

"In here Bells," he hollers from the kitchen, so I make my way through the house. "My day was okay, some deaths out of town by animal attacks, that's about it. How was your day? No one giving you hell?"

I absently stroke the smooth skin of my scar tissue, "a lot of stares, one boy had a big problem with me, but most of them are okay. Still too chicken-shit too ask about them though," I chuckle.

"I bet, if that kid gets nasty, be sure to tell me."

I shrug, "I don't really care Dad, he means nothing to me."

He gets up from his seat at the small table, and hugs me without provocation. "I am so glad you're back Bells, I was worried about you left in the hands of your mother."

"Being around her taught me a lot Dad, besides, it hasn't been too bad since she has been seeing Phil, he takes care of the bills and stuff now."

"It still angers me that it was you who had to make sure bills were paid and food was on the table though, it wasn't fair on you."

"Like I said, it taught me a lot about life, if I cared too much, I would've put my foot down and come back sooner."

He squeezes me one last time and lets go, "well I need to finish off some paperwork at the office, I'll be back later. I'll bring some dinner back with me."

"Okay Dad, have fun."

He shoots me a disparaging look, then leaves.