Forks High School is as of the beginning of this school term: Forks Academy.
Yay! Note sarcasm.
Just as I start my senior year, they decide to make the school more public and more appealing to the outside world. As if anyone in their right mind would come to Forks. Not many people have even heard of it, but now it is widely known.
To be honest Forks isn't very interesting and can be described by one word: green. But there are different shades of green, just to make my life seem more interesting than it already is.
I have lived in the Olympic Peninsula all of my life, rarely taking a vacation with my mum and dad, but when we do go away we always visit my mum's family in Phoenix, Arizona.
My Dad, Charlie Swan, is the chief of police here in this criminal free town, to be honest, and I'm serious – we have no crime around here, what so ever. We haven't had anything other than a few speeding tickets in Forks for about five years. And the crime five years ago was a break in, to the school no less!
Why do we even have a police force?
Then you have my mum, Renee Swan nee Higgenbottom, an erratic, hair brained kindergarten teacher. She married my father at a young age, and they produced me. But let's not go into semantics. She is more of a child than I am, and I am only 18 years old, whereas she is 37 years old, yes, she had me young, straight out of high school in fact. She and my father were High School sweethearts and after about two months at the Peninsula College, Port Angeles, she told my father that she was pregnant. He continued to support her through the pregnancy and was even able to continue his studies.
My father was able to obtain his job quite easily and has worked his way through the ranks very well. My mother, after I was born, studied Childcare and not too soon after I started Elementary School, she became a Kindergarten teacher. She swore off ever having another child after I was born and said that I was always to be her 'little princess'. I don't think that my father minded this decision, but he used to always have this look in his eye, like he felt sorry for the fact that I had no siblings to play with.
But that's what most of my life has consisted of, as well as falling over and reading. I'm a klutzy nerd to be honest with you, but I have my friends and refuse to join chess club. That's where all the real geeks go – so I'm safe on that one.
But that's the past, but right now, I'm in school – it's a Friday, why am I here?
Oh, yeah! All of the students from previous years have to attend school on this random day of the week, to settle in before all the new students arrive. Why? None of us know. Some big opening ceremony? Maybe.
"Alice, why are you so happy?" I asked my energetic fairy-like friend as we walked down the hall to our last class of the day. Alice Brandon ha s been my best friend ever since kindergarten – she did share her cookies with me after all – and since then we've been inseparable.
"Jasper could finally ask me out!" she said slightly too loudly, earning us a few choice stares. She is mad about that boy; she has one class with him: History, each week for two hours. I personally don't understand why she is so smitten with him, other than the fact that he is devishly handsome.
Jasper has always been a very reserved person, he's also extremely intense to be around, however my little Alice was amazed by him the day he walked through the lunchroom doors. He transferred here from Texas on our junior year, but nobody knows why.
"And, pray tell, Alice, why do you think that is going to happen today? And how is Maria going to feel about that?" I didn't mean to burst her bubble but his girlfriend, Maria, is the jealous type, if Alice is even to be caught looking at him – Maria would be ripping her hair out.
"Fine B, you can be your depressed 'no one interests me' self – why don't you just go out with 'Disciple one' and put him out of his misery!"
There are three boys that Alice has taken to calling my 'disciples'. I personally don't understand their attraction to me, I am five foot four, have plain brown eyes that match my hair, I'm not skinny and I'm not fat but I'm not exactly a supermodel and I'm extremely clumsy. I have been to Forks ER more times than I can count.
Disciple one is called Michael Newton, but most people call him Mike or Newton. He is on the basketball team, but our team isn't that good to be honest. He's in almost all of my classes and at the beginning of the year tried to sit next to me in all of them, but to no avail, seeing as Alice is in all of my classes apart from Biology and Calculus. I sit by myself in Biology and in Calculus I sit next to Jessica, who just so happens to be #1 in the Mike Newton fan club, which really pissed him off. He follows me around quite a bit and is always there when we need partners. He isn't that bad, but I can't see us as being anything other than friends.
Disciple two is Eric Yorkie, editor of the schools newspaper. That boy is a whizz on the computer, and works part time in the local computer store. When my laptop broke down at home, he was the one to come and fix it for me, so now he thinks that because he has been in my house he has the right to sniff my hair when he walks past me. Alice once told me to fill out a harassment form of some description, but seeing as my father is Chief of police, he would probably shoot the boy.
Disciple three is Tyler Crowley, but now he has a girlfriend so he doesn't dote on me as much as he used to. He still winks at me though, which Alice seems to think is very sweet and giggles whenever he does, which normally draws more attention to us.
As we reached our next class, English, we were greeted with Miss Popular, Rosalie Hale, and her boyfriend, Royce King, Captain of our schools soccer team eating each other's faces off, which isn't a pretty site at all.
Rosalie is the true queen of the school and nobody; I mean nobody, not even teachers, had any kind of power over her. She was born in New York, which for some reason makes her absolutely amazing and no one can out-do her. She moved here when I was a sophomore and within the first week she had already gotten herself a boyfriend.
Royce King is a true Jock; he is dumb and mainly made of muscle. He has a very crude sense of humour and will make fun of anyone who is not in his little gang of friends. I have been subjected to his jokes before, mainly due to the fact that I am a major klutz, so I tend to stay away from him when I do fall. But obviously I can't always tell.
Today my Converse are tied tightly, so I probably won't fall. Well, knowing me I probably still could.
I sit by myself in English, next to the window. Alice was moved next to Jessica (lucky her) because she was caught staring out of the window too much. It just so happens that my English classroom looks onto our athletics track and Jasper has athletics this period. *hint hint*
Romeo and Juliet is written clearly across the board and my day gets a whole lot better. I've read Rom and Jules so many times, it's my favourite Shakespeare play, even though it may not be his best. You can't help but think at the beginning of a new text, what are we going to have to do? Will we just be reading it aloud, writing an essay on it, or acting it out. I shudder at the thought, acting, I'm most definitely no actress. I freeze up when the spotlight it on me. Yes, I understand it all, but ask me to read it and I will zip up straight away. Whereas Alice is a lot more confident than I am, you would have thought that it'd have rubbed off on me in some way, but I guess I'm too closed up for it.
The lesson drags on. Mr. Berty is a painfully boring teacher. He just sits there telling us what happens. I know what happens! I've known what happens since I was a freshman! They get married within three days of meeting and then they kill themselves! It's not that hard to understand! I do not want an ending like theirs, how depressing. I've never been in love – and never will be if I stay in Forks much longer! Maybe one of the new kids will catch my eye, probably not. They'll all be too far up their own arses to notice any of us little people.
"OK, class, that's the end of the lesson..." Mr Berty's voice drowns out slowly as I get up from my seat and walk over to Alice.
"Hey, Bella!" Jessica Stanley, no.1 in the Mike Newton fan club, shouts at me, even though I'm standing next to her. Jessica seems to think that by becoming friends with me, Mike will notice her. She is a very pretty girl, so I don't see why he doesn't like her.
I'm personally just happy that today is over at last! But, I'm not sure about what is going to happen next Monday.
"Bella?" Alice called to me. Damn! I must have spaced out again.
"Sorry, Alice!" I said back to her.
"So, Bella, I'll see you tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, okay Alice, I'll be at yours at 11, 'kay?"