First Sight

As I was sitting in the airport waiting for my flight I couldn't help but wonder why I was doing this to myself. Why was I leaving sunny Arizona to go live out the rest of my high school experience in Forks? Who would willingly do that to themselves? Oh, right. Me. That's who. I must be a martyr, sentencing myself to the smallest, rainiest town in North America just because I felt bad. My mother remarried and I felt bad.

I knew she wanted to be with Phil, to travel with him as he attempted to get signed on a minor league team. She would never tell me to leave so I called up Charlie and asked him if I could go live with him. He happily agreed and now here I am—on my way to my own personal hell on Earth. Mom tried to convince me that Forks wouldn't be so bad, but I knew she hated Forks. Why else would she pick up and leave with me, shouting "I HATE Forks!" as the front door slammed in Charlie's face. Sure that was a good sixteen years ago, but things can't have changed much since then. I just sighed and put on a happy face, attempting to convince my mom that I wanted to go.

My flight was boarding and with a hug and one more attempt to convince my mom that everything was alright, I walked onto the plane that would take me away from home. I put my ear phones in and turned on my iPod, trying to drown out my sadness with music. The song began and I started to sing,

"I can't sleep tonight
Everybody saying everything's alright
Still I can't close my eyes
I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights

Sunny days
Where have you gone?
I get the strangest feeling you belong.
Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
Why does it always rain on me?

Even when the sun is shining
I can't avoid the lightning
I can't stand myself
I'm being held up by invisible men
Still life on a shelf when
I got my mind on something else

Sunny days
Where have you gone?
I get the strangest feeling you belong.
Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
Why does it always rain on me?

Even when the sun is shining
I can't avoid the lightning
Oh, where did the blue skies go?
And why is it raining so?
It's so cold
I can't sleep tonight
Everybody saying everything's alright
Still I can't close my eyes
I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights

Sunny days
Where have you gone?
I get the strangest feeling you belong.
Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
Why does it always rain on me?

Even when the sun is shining
I can't avoid the lightning
Oh, where did the blue skies go?
And why is it raining so?
It's so cold

Why does it always rain on me?
Why does it always rain..."

("Why does it Always Rain on Me?"—Travis)

I sighed and fell asleep for the remainder of the flight.

Nothing much happened the rest of the day. I got off the plane and Charlie greeted me with a shy smile and an awkward one-armed hug. We drove home in silence; the only sounds were the rain constantly plinking on the frame of Charlie's cruiser. After unpacking all of my stuff and realizing that there was nothing left to do, I went to sleep—well, I tried anyways. At around two in the morning I finally drifted off after I put on ear muffs and strategically placed two pillows over my head.

In the morning I got ready for my first day at Forks High and joined my Dad for breakfast. Once the cereal was gone and the bowls in the sink, Charlie cleared his throat with a grunt.

"I, uh, got you a sort of 'welcome home' present. It's out front." He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb, pointing in the general direction of the front of the house. Curious, I went to see what it was. There was a giant faded red truck parked in the driveway next to Charlie's cruiser. It looked…old. I wasn't positive that it would run, but I sort of liked it. It looked like it had character.

"Thanks Dad. Really. It's great. You really didn't have to do that you know." I could have bought my own car. Or walked, considering the amount of money I had. Practically none.

"You're welcome Bells. It was nothing, really. I got it real cheap from Billy Black. You remember him, right?" He wasn't really looking at me, having trouble expressing his feelings.

"Sort of. He lives down in La Push, right?" I vaguely remembered visiting the reservation when I used to visit Charlie as a child, but I couldn't really picture Billy. I knew he was Charlie's best friend, I just didn't remember him.

"Yeah, that's him. Well, I gotta get to work. See ya later Bells." With that he shrugged into his jacket and left for the station. I checked the clock and decided it was about time to head out to school so I grabbed my backpack and climbed into my bulbous new truck and as the engine wheezed and sputtered to life all I could think was that today was gonna be a great day.

As expected, Forks High was as boring as the rest of the town. I met a few kids during my first couple of classes who only wanted to hang out with me because I was new meat. I put on a fake smile and sat with them at lunch. One girl was blabbering on and on about God knows what and I was just completely ignoring her, staring around the lunchroom to see if I could find a better place to sit for tomorrow.

I was seriously considering getting up and going to sit by myself at an empty table I spotted across the cafeteria when they walked in. They were beautiful, all five of them beautiful beyond belief. They all sat down at my empty table and I was a little annoyed that I now had to listen to blabby for the rest of the lunch period. I continued to ignore her as I studied the table stealers. There were two girls. One was tall and absolutely gorgeous with blond hair and legs that went on forever while the other was short and pixie-like; her short black hair was spiky and accentuated her small frame.

The three boys were beautiful as well. It felt weird thinking of the guys as beautiful, but there was really no other way to describe them. One had short and curly, dark hair and was really muscular; he looked like he was a body builder. Across from him was a tall and lanky guy with shoulder-length blond hair. Although he was much slighter than the body builder, he still had muscles. The third guy was probably the best-looking of all five of them. He had unruly bronze hair that stuck in all directions as if hands were constantly running through it. He was lanky like the blond, but you could tell that he was muscular as well.

"What are you looking at?" Blabby brought me out of my entranced staring as she followed my gaze towards my once-empty table. "Oh. Them."

"Who's them?" I asked, for the first time actually wanting to listen to what she had to say.

"The Cullens."