AN: This is my take on what could have happened if no supernatural forces had been at work in Forks. This chapter has not been beta'd, so any and all mistakes are mine. If anyone's interested in helping me out with the rest of the story, please send me an e-mail. I don't live in the US, so it would be good if you did, since there is a good chance I will get cultural stuff messed up!
Disclaimer: Anything and everything relating to the Twilight universe belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I'm just borrowing a little.
I hope you like it! It is my first attempt at Twilight, so don't be too tough on me.
1 – The New Kid In Town
My first day at Forks High School could probably have gotten off to a better start.
When I arrived at the school, which hadn't been hard to find – mostly due to the fact that you couldn't get lost in a town with 3000 inhabitants even if you tried – I of course attracted all the attention that I desperately wanted to avoid.
I blamed the truck. Not that I didn't like the ancient, at-some-point-red Chevy that Charlie, my dad, had bought me as a kind of 'welcome home present', but it was about as discreet as a 747. I parked in the first available space I could find and quickly turned the engine off.
Keeping my eyes fixed on the pavement in front of me, to avoid curious glances as well as the rain that was falling silently against the hood of my newly purchased parka, I went in search of the office. The room was empty except for a woman sitting behind a desk, sorting through a stack of papers. She looked up as I came in and gave me a welcoming smile. Her name plate read Mrs. Cope.
"Hi." I said, hoping that my intense unwillingness to be there didn't shine through. "I'm new here, my name's…"
"Isabella Swan, of course." Her smile grew wider. "Welcome! We've been waiting for you, dear, ever since your dad found out you were coming home."
Home… well, might as well get used to it. This was my home now. At least for the next year and a half, then I had every intention of relocating to somewhere a lot sunnier than the rainiest place in the US. God, I already missed Phoenix like crazy.
"I have everything you need right here, dear." Mrs. Cope placed an open folder on the desk between us. "Here's your schedule, your first class is English with Mr. Mason in building three, that's the second one you get to if you take a left right outside the doors here. I put a map in here too, the campus isn't very large, but it can be a bit confusing at first. And this is an attendance slip that all your teachers need to sign, and that I would like you to return to me at the end of the day."
I took a quick look at my schedule. English, Spanish, history and math before lunch, then biology, computer science and P.E. I groaned on the inside. Apparently Forks High valued physical activity, making P.E. mandatory during all four years. Great… just great.
"Thank you." I plastered a fake smile on my lips and shoved the folder into my bag. "I'll get the attendance slip back here by the end of the day."
"Excellent, dear." She kept beaming at me. My jaw was starting to hurt just from looking at her. "If you have any questions during the day, just drop in, I'll be here. Have a good first day!"
I mumbled a 'thank you' and quickly left the room.
Just as I was about to open the door to building three, I managed to trip on my own feet and stumbled to the ground. Granted, this wasn't anything unusual if you were me, but I had desperately hoped to not have to show off my clumsiness on my first day. To add insult to injury, my tattered copy of Pride and Prejudice slid out of the bag and landed in the nearest puddle of water. Damn it! I knew that the book was practically falling to pieces, and I had another copy at home, but this was a paperback that I could carry with me – like my security blanket in a way. I angrily gathered the book and a few other things that had escaped my bag as I felt the heat rising in my cheeks.
"Here you go"
I looked up to see a gangly guy with greasy hair extending my wallet to me. I stood up and took it from him, trying to brush dirt from my knees.
"Thanks" I offered him a smile.
"No problem." He smiled back. "You're Isabella, right? I'm Eric."
I shook the hand he held out to me and automatically corrected him.
"Bella."
"Bella it is." He held the door open before walking behind me into the building. I followed his example and hung my jacket on a hook inside the door. "I guess we have English together then."
Thank you, Mr. States-the-obvious.
"What are we working on?" I wondered. Not that I enjoyed any part of moving to Forks so far, but starting a new school after the semester had already begun really sucked.
"Jane Eyre." Eric replied, sighing. "We're supposed to discuss the meaning of the insane wife."
I repressed a smile. Jane Eyre was one of my favorites, and I had written a paper on the character of Bertha for my English class the previous semester. Maybe starting a new school would have its benefits after all.
After Mr. Mason had forced me to introduce myself to the class, securing himself a spot right at the bottom of my 'favorite teacher' list, I sat down next to Eric. We didn't have Spanish together, so he reluctantly left me in the company of Jessica, a very talkative girl, before heading off to his next class.
Both Mrs. Goff, the Spanish teacher, and Mr. Abrams, who taught history, simply signed my slip and showed me a seat, for which I was grateful. I spent most of their classes trying to pay attention as Jessica babbled on about some dance that was happening a few weeks later. Luckily – I was growing tired of her constant chatter – we didn't have math together, so I wandered off to find the correct building on my own.
As I stood in the middle of the path, twisting the map in my hands to try to figure out which way I was supposed to go, I was approached by a shy looking girl.
"Hi, you're Isabella, right?" She blushed a little.
"Bella." I replied automatically. "Hi."
"I'm Angela." She smiled. "You looked a little lost, so I thought I'd see if you needed a hand."
"Actually, I do." I studied the map again, frowning. "I can't seem to find building five."
"Oh, it's right over there." She pointed to a building on the other side of the lawn. "I'm going there too."
Grateful, I walked with her. She asked me a few questions on the way, about where I used to live and my old school. She seemed very nice, not asking because she was simply curious of the new girl, but because she was actually interested.
Math was just as difficult and boring in Forks as it had been in Phoenix, and the fact that I had to stand in front of the class and introduce myself didn't exactly make it any better. But eventually, the class ended and I walked to the cafeteria with Angela. We both got our food and found a table in one of the corners of the room, immediately being joined by a group of people. I recognized most of them from my classes, but so far I only knew Jessica and Eric by name. A blonde guy sat down next to me, smiling from ear to ear.
"I'm Mike, you must be Isabella."
"Bella." I sighed quietly. Maybe I should make a sign and wear it around my neck…
"Sorry, Bella." He grinned even wider. "I think we have Biology together after lunch, can I walk you to class?"
I frowned.
"How do you know what classes I have?"
"It's all about connections." He smiled mischievously.
"Yeah right." Eric rolled his eyes at him. "I told him in math."
"So can I?" Mike looked at me hopefully, ignoring Eric completely.
"Sure." I didn't want to make enemies on my first day here.
"Great!" To my relief, he turned to Eric and started discussing basketball, and I happily ignored the conversation.
Jessica, Angela and another girl whose name I didn't remember started talking about the dance again. Apparently, it was going to be a Sadie Hawkins dance. As I chewed on my apple and tried to keep up with what they were saying, I got the feeling that I was being watched. I looked up, and suddenly stared into the greenest eyes I had ever seen. I felt a tingle down my spine as our eyes met, and for a split second my brain stopped working. When he saw that I noticed him watching me, the guy quickly looked away.
He was sitting at a table across the room from ours, along with four other people, two guys and two girls. I watched as he said something to the tiny girl with black hair sitting to his right, and quickly averted my eyes to my tray as she looked up at me. When I was sure she had stopped watching me, I looked up again. The three guys were now discussing something, and the girls were bent over a magazine of some kind on the table. Before I could look away, the green eyes met mine again, and he gave me a small, crooked smile. I blushed as I tried to smile back before forcing myself to focus on the girls at my table.
"…think that we should definitely go to Port Angeles to buy dresses" Jessica finished as I rejoined the conversation. "They're bound to have a lot more than that hole-in-the-wall they call a dress shop in town."
"Definitely." The girl whose name I didn't remember said, nodding. "And we should go pretty soon, or all the good dresses will be gone."
"Angela?" I said quietly. She looked over at me. "Who are they?" I nodded at the table where the guy with the green eyes was sitting. It was Jessica who answered.
"That's the Cullens and Hales." She half-whispered. "The blonde guy is Jasper Hale, and the girl with the swim suit calendar body is Rosalie, his sister. The big guy's Emmett Cullen, he's Rosalie's boyfriend. Alice Cullen, the tiny girl with black hair, is Jasper's girlfriend, and the guy with the bronze hair is Edward Cullen." She indicated the green-eyed guy with her chin. Luckily, his attention was still on his brother and friend, so he didn't notice.
"I think I remember the blonde girl from when I spent the summers here." I said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, Rose and Jasper have lived here their whole lives." Jessica confirmed. "The Cullens just moved here a year and a half ago, though. They used to live in LA." She shook her head, as if she couldn't imagine how anyone would prefer Forks to Los Angeles. Actually, neither could I.
"How old are they?" I asked.
"Jasper, Rose and Emmet are seniors and Edward and Alice are juniors like us." Jessica replied. "I think Edward and Alice are twins, but I'm not sure. But all three of them are adopted." She said the last part as if it was some kind of scandal.
"Well, duh!" Lauren rolled her eyes. "Doctor and Mrs. Cullen aren't old enough to have kids in high school. What are they, like thirty?"
"Something like that." Jessica nodded. "I heard that Doctor Cullen is really their uncle, and that he and his wife adopted them when their parents died."
I understood that not much happened in Forks, if the kids could still find it interesting to discuss whether or not the newcomers were adopted after a year and a half. I desperately hoped that I would slip out of their conversations a lot faster.
"And they all live together!" Jessica added. "A couple of months ago, Mrs. Hale just up and left, and doctor Cullen took in Jasper and Rosalie as foster kids. It's just… freaky!"
I shot a glance over at the guy, Edward. A bit of an odd name, very old fashioned. But somehow it suited him. As I looked over, he and the others left their table and walked out of the cafeteria.
"Don't even bother." Jessica huffed, apparently having noticed me looking at him. "He doesn't date."
"He had a girlfriend in LA who broke his heart." Lauren added.
"You just think that because he wouldn't go out with you!" Jessica smiled evilly, and Lauren blushed.
"Something must have happened, why else would he not have shown an interest in anyone since he moved here?" She replied haughtily.
"Whatever!" Jessica took her tray and threw her trash in the bin before leaving the cafeteria. I looked at my watch and realized it was almost time for class, so when Angela also stood up, I followed her. We had made it halfway to the science building when Mike caught up with us. I had completely forgotten that I had promised him he could walk me to class.
"So, how are you liking Forks so far?" He asked, trying to put his arm around my shoulders. I quickly shrugged it off.
"It's wet and cold." I replied dryly. "Not much to like."
"Right, you're from Arizona, I forgot. Not a lot of rain there."
"Nothing compared to this place." I looked up at the grey sky. "Does the sun ever shine in January?"
"Not a lot." Angela admitted. "But the summers can still be pretty nice."
"Plus, you get snow!" Mike practically glowed as he mentioned it. "Snowball fights!"
"I think I prefer the rain, thank you." We had gotten to the classroom by then, and took our jackets off.
As Mike and Angela went to their respective seats, I walked up to the teacher's desk and handed him my attendance slip.
"Welcome." He signed the paper and gave it back to me. "I'm Mr. Banner, the biology teacher. Here's your book, and if there's anything you're having trouble keeping up with just let me know." He quickly scanned the classroom. "The seat next to Edward is free, so why don't you sit there?"
I turned around and followed Mr. Banner's eyes to where Edward Cullen was sitting alone at a desk at the back of the classroom. He was rummaging through his bag, putting the biology book down on the table in front of him. He didn't notice me staring.
I started walking down the aisle, moving my eyes to look at the table in front of him to avoid staring at him in an obvious way. Of course, since I didn't pay attention to where I was putting my feet, I tripped on someone's bag and fell forward. Luckily, I was close enough to our table so that I didn't tumble to the ground, but instead ended up sprawled half-way across the wooden surface. A blush quickly spread on my face. Twice in one day. Not a personal record, but embarrassing enough.
"Are you OK?" I looked up and found those amazing green eyes looking at me with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I got to my feet. "And the klutz of the year award goes to…" He laughed quietly, and I managed to pull off a small smile.
"I guess we're lab partners then." He acknowledged as I rounded the table and took my seat.
"Looks like." I nodded, putting the book Mr. Banner had given me down on the table before retrieving my notebook and a pen from my bag.
"I'm Edward."
"Bella." I said, returning the smile. The first one who hadn't called me Isabella… progress.
"I remember too well what it's like to be the new kid in school, so I won't bother you with the standard questions." He continued, and I felt a wave of gratitude.
"Thanks. All day, it's been 'oh, what's Phoenix like?' 'Do you like Forks?' 'What was your old school like?'. It gets old pretty fast."
"Tell me about it." He nodded.
"So, I guess I'm not the only one missing the sun?" I said, before realizing that I probably shouldn't know where he used to live. I blushed instantly.
"I see the gossip queens got to you." He half chuckled.
"Sorry." I apologized.
"It's OK." He frowned for a moment. "I guess I do miss the sun at times. But Forks grows on you." I raised an eyebrow at that, and he chuckled again. "It does."
"I'll take your word for it." At that moment, Mr. Banner decided to start the class.
Since I had taken an advanced biology course in Phoenix, I was already familiar with the subject we were covering. I decided that it was probably best if I took notes, anyway. Every now and then, I felt Edward's eyes on me, but every time I looked up, he was watching the teacher intently.
As the class ended, Edward waited for me to gather my things in my bag before accompanying me out of the classroom. Luckily, Mike was discussing something with his lab partner and didn't notice us pass him.
"So how come you're in Forks?" He asked as we walked out of the room. "If you hate the rain so much."
"I thought it was time to live with my dad for a while." I replied evasively.
"But your mom still lives in Phoenix?"
"She's actually on the road with Phil, her new husband at the moment." I answered.
"Is he a rock star or something?" He wondered in an amused tone.
"Baseball player."
"Aha." He was quiet for a moment. "So that's why you moved here? So she could go with him."
I stopped and looked up at him. How could he read me so easily?
"I guess." We started walking again. "She was staying home with me, but I knew it was making her unhappy to be away from him, so I thought I'd make her decision a little easier."
"That's extremely unselfish of you." He noted.
"I figured I could survive a year and a half in Forks."
"Unless you drown." He joked, and I laughed.
"Well, there is that." We had left the science building now and he paused on the pathway.
"What do you have next?"
"Computer science and then P.E." I replied, having memorized my schedule.
"I've got Spanish, but my sister Alice is in your computer class." He pointed at a building next to the cafeteria. "It's in that building over there."
"Thanks." I smiled at him gratefully.
"And I'll see you in P.E." He winked at me before turning and heading in the opposite direction.
I stood frozen for a moment, then sighed and headed in the direction he had pointed out. Great. Not only would I be making a complete fool of myself in P.E., but he would be there to see me do it. Mike had already told me we would be playing volleyball. Wonderful. Just what my day needed – me released among my fellow class mates with a deadly volleyball.
As I walked into the computer classroom, I desperately tried to figure out a way to get out of P.E. I didn't have a habit of cutting class, and I was definitely not about to start on the first day at a new school – but maybe I could make an exception just this once... The good-girl part of me quickly disregarded that idea. I would just have to try to stay out of the way of the ball, my team mates and the net… and try to avoid tripping over my own feet. Or at least try not to drag anyone down with me when I fell.
"Hi, I'm Alice!" A cheery voice interrupted my negative musings, and I looked up at the tiny, black haired girl from the cafeteria.
"Bella." I greeted her with a half-smile.
"I know." She laughed. "You're all everyone's been talking about ever since school started up again. It's nice not to be the center of attention for a change."
"Right, you just moved here a year and a half ago or something?"
"Yeah." She leaned closer to me and looked around as if to check that nobody was within hearing distance. When she spoke again, it was almost a whisper. "But to these people you're practically an outcast until the third generation or something."
"I can imagine." I shivered a little. I would probably never be accepted in this place.
"But don't worry." Alice continued. "You're practically a local anyway, your dad being from Forks and everything."
"Right." I wasn't so sure that a triviality like that mattered to the good people of Forks.
"Anyway, I thought you might appreciate a little help with settling in here. You know, where to get the best take-out, where to shop – not anywhere in town – and stuff like that."
"Thanks." I felt a wave of gratitude towards her. "Everyone's been really nice to me so far, but it feels like they're just doing it to be able to brag to their friends about hanging out with the new girl."
"I know, we got the same treatment when we moved here too." She assured me. "Don't worry, it passes. Not for a while, but eventually they get tired and move on to something else."
"Good to know." I sighed. There was nothing that I hated more than to be at the center of attention.
We took our seats as the teacher entered the room. The class wasn't very challenging; we had already covered this in Phoenix.
As the bell rang and we left the classroom, Alice grabbed my schedule.
"Great, we have P.E. next together. My brother's in that class too." She directed our steps towards the gym.
"I know, he told me."
She gave me a peculiar look.
"He did, did he?"
"We had Bio together earlier." I explained.
"OK." There was something in the tone of her voice that I couldn't quite place. "Right, here we are."
We walked into the gym and I spotted a few guys warming up with a volleyball. I winced.
"What's wrong?"
"I just… my hand-eye coordination isn't what it should be."
"Don't worry." She encouraged as we walked into the girls' locker room to change. "You'll be fine."
"It's not me I'm worried about." I mumbled quietly.
When we had finished changing, Alice dragged me out of the locker room and across the gym to where Edward was standing, talking to a couple of guys. He looked up and smiled at us.
"I hope you've taken good care of our newest addition, Alice?"
"Of course I have, we're taking the grand tour this weekend." She said, beaming.
"Uh, guys?" I interrupted. "I have been here before, I don't actually need the grand tour. Plus, the town's only that big. I don't think there's even room for a grand tour."
"Oh, I'm not talking about Forks." Alice giggled. "We're going to Port Angeles. I need to get a dress for the dance, anyway, and I'm betting you'll want to get out of town by then."
She wasn't wrong about that.
Before Alice had a chance to elaborate on our plans for the coming weekend, coach Clapp blew his whistle and motioned for us to gather around him. He let us form our own teams, and Alice, Edward and I were joined by Eric, Jessica and Mike, who was glaring at Edward. I frowned at that. I hoped I hadn't gotten an admirer. Or, more accurately, I hoped I hadn't gotten an admirer in Mike.
The hour actually passed without too much humiliation. I kept away from the ball as much as I could, and, when I couldn't, only focused on not hitting anyone in the head with it. I, of course, managed to trip over my own feet a few times, but amazingly enough, Edward always managed to catch me before I hit the ground. Every time his hands closed around my arms to steady me, I felt the tingle from the cafeteria, only multiplied about a hundred times or so. I wasn't sure if he felt it too, but he had an intense expression in his eyes every time he looked at me.
When the bell rang for the last time that day, Edward and Alice walked with me to the parking lot. When we got there, I spotted their older brother and the Hales standing a few spaces away from my truck, by a silver Volvo.
"So that was you then." Edward noted, as he saw me approaching the truck. I glared at him.
"Not a bad word about my truck." He chuckled at my defensive attitude.
"Just pointing out that you know how to make an entrance." He smiled that crooked smile I had already gotten used to. "Not what I would choose if I wanted to blend in."
"Well, not everyone can afford shiny, new Volvos." I muttered. He only laughed at that.
"See you tomorrow." He walked off towards the Volvo with Alice in tow.
"Bye." Alice called over her shoulder. "Don't forget about this weekend!"
"I won't. Bye." I called back before getting into the truck and starting the engine. I winced at the sound. It really was loud. To try to drown out the noise of the engine, I turned the stereo as loud as I could and let David Gray's Be mine guide me home.
xxxxx
I was just putting dinner on the table as Charlie came home. We both sat down at the table and ate in silence for a moment.
"So, how was your first day?" He wondered after a while.
"All in all, OK actually." I replied. I had, after all, survived without any major injuries. Being me, that was an accomplishment.
"Did you make any friends?"
"A few." I didn't count all the attention seeking people who had just wanted to share my fifteen minutes of fame.
"Anyone in particular?" He inquired, and I sighed.
"I had math with Angela Weber, and then I sat with her and her friends at lunch. She seems really nice." I hesitated for a moment. "And I talked some with Alice Cullen and her brother Edward."
"Doctor Cullen's kids." Charlie nodded. "I haven't had anything to do with them in person, they're well-behaved kids, but their dad has sure been an asset to this community."
"Alice actually asked if I wanted to go to Port Angeles with her on Saturday." I took his positive attitude towards Dr. Cullen as confirmation that his kids were suitable company.
"That should be fun for you." Charlie encouraged. "It's supposed to be quite nice on Saturday too, and I was thinking about going fishing with Billy."
"Great." I smiled. "We both have plans then."
"I'm glad you're settling in, Bella." He said as I started clearing the table. "I know you're not the biggest fan of Forks, but if you just give it a chance I think you'll learn to like it here."
I nodded as he left the room, and realized that it wasn't just to avoid hurting his feelings. I was actually beginning to enjoy it here. As I pondered that, a flash of green swept through my mind, and I sighed. This could not end well.
AN: So, what did you think? Don't hesitate to let me know.