CHAPTER 1 – FORKS
IT was a normal day, here in this god-forsakenly small town of Forks. I had no idea how anyone could call this normal. The sun was hidden behind a mass of grey cotton, layered over more grey cotton, and, though it wasn't raining, there was enough moisture in the air that you could get pneumonia with each breath. Besides – where were the forks? All the roads had distinct left or right turns.
Though the cloud cover was what I hoped for, I damned it to the fiery pits of hell. This was the environment I needed, the one I searched for, as well as the environment I longed to run from.
I sighed as I took one last baleful glance at the greenery behind the pane of the window. Sucking it up, I turned to prepare myself. This was big. This was much more than an adventure, a journey - those words had the wrong connotation. This was more of an obstacle course, a test. Could I survive? As I took deep breaths, I fueled myself with adrenaline. I could do it.
I stepped lithely out of the door and began my walk down the street. Each step I took became bouncier as I was filled with an 'I can do anything,' feeling. I crossed the street then and, stepping into the woods, looked around. I could see nothing for miles, or at least I wished it were miles, rather than just as far as the trees and great monstrosities of suburbia allowed me to see.
I was completely alone. I took one last, deep breath, then ran. Last night, I measured the distance from my house to be two point three miles from the school. I laughed as I ran. That was nothing.
About three or four minutes later – I didn't bother to keep count – I made it to school. Ugh, school. A member of the undead, soulless, carnivorous miscreants and I still have to learn. As if I haven't experienced years of history. As if I haven't witnessed some great scientific discoveries. As if I haven't read every great novel ever written. As if I were born yesterday.
But I wasn't. I was born in 1933. Since that day, not a hair on my head has grown. Not a nail on my finger, nor a single lash on my lids. My height has not changed and nor has the size of my feet. An exact - not replica, per se, since there is only one of me, but – me. Frozen in time. Forever seventeen. A blessing, the foolish humans would say. But they are wrong, terribly wrong …
Before I exited the forest to cross the main road that ran along the campus, I took a deep breath. Not in anticipation, to begin the day, but to test myself. Could I handle the smell? In such a concentrated mass? The heavy scent filled my nose and ran down into my lungs. I could taste it on the back of my tongue. In a second, the muted fire that burned gently in the back of my throat, momentarily forgotten, blazed. I coughed lightly once, biting back the feeling.
Enduring the smell was just the half of it, though. The other half would be enduring the people. Teenagers. Hormone-driven teenagers. I practically shuddered at the thought.
Leaving the woods, I crossed the street and entered the parking lot. I tried ignoring the students arriving. I knew the town was small, but, seriously, people: stop staring!
On my way to the administration building, I passed one girl, probably sixteen, who smelled tantalizingly good, more than all the others. I discreetly inhaled the air, fighting to keep my eyes from rolling back into my head with temptation. Luckily, the building was only a couple yards away, and I resisted.
Inside, it was warm and cozy. Though the warmth hardly effected me, I could tell from a faint humming that the heat was on. I could hear it travelling through the walls. Also, the gales of wind that blew outside and the students swathed in fleece were a dead giveaway. Winter in Forks was like any day in Antarctica.
I approached a middle-aged woman who was sitting behind a counter that was the main focus of the room. Before I was too close for her to look up from her work, however, I double checked my cloak. My overwhelming aesthetics were downplayed to what I hoped humans would consider average, my gem bright eyes faded into a deep chestnut brown, and my voice would now sound less angelic and more young adult.
"Can I help you?" the lady asked in a motherly voice as she looked up at me, love practically gushing out of her eyes.
"Yes, I'm new here," I said quietly. Though I doubted my power every time I tried it, it worked, just like every other time.
"I thought so, I didn't recognize you." How small was this place? "You must be Isabella." I nodded. "Well if you just take this map, here, and your schedule, you'll be set for the day, dear."
"Thank you," I said, with a small smile. I grabbed up the papers and turned to exit the small building. As I turned, I dared to take a breath, and my nose filled with the scent of blood. Though I was trying to avoid breathing in such a confined space, I survived. It was tempting, none the less, but bearable. Extremely bearable. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. I shivered, pushing the thought of bearing a typical, adolescent human life at high school to the way back of my mind.
I looked down at my schedule. First period – Mr. Clifford, History. I groaned. I knew history. I weighed my options. Go to history, bore myself to death (no pun intended), and then mope on to my next class. Or, skip history. I liked the second choice, and took it.
Though I knew I'd get in trouble with the administration, I didn't care. Instead, I found a bench and spent five minutes studying the map of the school until I had it down pat. There were ten little buildings, each having two to four classrooms in it, save the gym and the cafeteria which each had their own building.
To consume the rest of the sixty minutes I had left, I wandered to the library. After fabricating a story to the librarian, saying I got lost and think it would be rude to walk into the class when it was half-way done, I perused the shelves. It was a typical collection of underused and yellowed books – most of which I'd read.
About half way into rereading Jane Eyre, I heard a bell ring. I immediately took out my schedule to see my next class, French. I exited one of the aisles of books and began to head towards the door. The librarian looked up at the clock.
"You have excellent timing. It's passing time exactly," she said. If possible, I'd have blushed. Apparently, the bell wasn't audible in here – to humans, at least.
Because of that, I decided to throw in some practice of acting human, so I asked the librarian to help me find my next class.
As she was helping me, the door opened and someone entered. I froze. My nostrils flared and the hairs on the back of my neck practically stood on end as my cloak subconsciously worked full-force.
Trying to be discreet, I looked up through my eyelashes to see the teenager who entered the library and walked ever so gracefully over to an armchair near the door.
He sat down, tossing his coat lightly over the arm of the chair, and opened a large novel to read. It took him a second before he turned his glorious face up and stared directly at me. I suddenly felt uncomfortable, but not just because of his intense stare. Something just didn't feel right. I gazed back, my mind suddenly blank.
The librarian chuckled lightly and whispered, "Fallen already, have you, dear? That one's popular in the school. I see all the girls hiding behind bookracks, waiting for the right moment to ask him out."
I looked at her questioningly. "You think I like him?" I demanded. I fought to keep it a whisper and it turned out lower than I meant it to be. I could tell the woman heard me, though, for she gave me one of those knowing looks.
I grabbed my paper from her and stalked out of the room, trying hard to walk slow and more clumsily. I sneaked a glance at the boy who was watching me now, from under his eyelashes. He now looked confused. Once again, his stare distracted me and – I fell.
I tripped over my own feet and dropped to the floor. I used my hands to catch myself as my books scattered and my papers flew everywhere. I froze for a second. I just fell. I cursed under my breath and was glad my embarrassment couldn't show as I fumbled to collect all my belongings. I reached out for the last few papers, but they were already extended to me by an alabaster white hand.
My eyes slowly followed the hand up the arm it was connected to and into the flat black eyes of the boy from the chair. I stared at him with disbelief and he stared back. Now, mixed with the frustration, there was concern in his eyes.
"Here," he breathed. I simply nodded and took my papers, stacking them on my books. He then held his hand out to me to help me up. I made sure my cloak made my skin feel warm like a human's, and took his hand. He pulled me up into a standing position, not showing any trace of thinking me a fraud.
"Be careful," he whispered. I could hear a laugh behind his words. He thought it was funny I fell. My eyes turned to stone as I glared at him for a second before storming out of the library.
Leave it to my luck to go to a school with another vampire. Because of him, I now had to be on my guard, at all times.
I hadn't even gone to my first class and I already made my first enemy. He just didn't know it yet.