1
Forks was impossibly dreary. How was it that a town could have gray skies for so many days? Was the sun playing some cruel trick on me? Phoenix was so sunny, so warm, so brown. All this place had was green mush and Piggly Wiggly pharmacies. The closest Wal-Mart was in Port Angeles.
My first few days in Forks were quite uneventful. School hadn't started back up yet. Christmas break was still for another 4 days, so I spent my time unpacking and acquainting myself with the town. I spent some time catching up with Charlie. Mostly small talk.
On Sunday morning I decided not to get out of bed until late as absolutely possible, which was a little after lunch time. I was thinking about my first day of school. Why was I worried? Probably because I wouldn't have any friends and I would be the new girl. Fantastic. And I was I going to get to school? Was Charlie going to take me in the cruiser? Nothing slows down traffic light a police car. I groaned and threw myself back down on my bed. I stayed in bed a while longer until I heard Charlie come up the stairs.
"You alive in there?" He said outside my still closed door.
"Yes." I replied. What could have happened to me, I thought.
"Can I come in?" Charlie asked.
It was weird to me he was so considerate. Then again, I was his teenage daughter he hadn't seen in years. For all intensive purposes we were complete strangers. Mom would just barge in, but we were close like that.
"Bella?" Charlie asked again.
"Oh right!" I said quickly, lost in thought. "Yeah I'm fine." I said as I pulled the covers up a little more, unnecessarily. Charlie poked his head in.
"Hey. Sorry if I woke you up. Just wanted to let you know we were having some company come over to watch the Seahawks game. Thought maybe you'd like to be, um, showered. Or whatever."
"Oh." I looked down at myself and glanced across to my mirror. Yes. A shower would probably have helped.
"Yeah. I will get in the bathroom in a bit. Who's coming over?" I asked. Did Charlie have a girlfriend? Why hadn't I thought of this before?
"Do you remember Billy Black and his son Jacob?" Charlie asked.
Racking my brain, I wasn't coming up with much. "Vaguely." I said.
"Well, Jacob's your age. You used to play together when you were little."
"Right." I replied.
"Right." Charlie stated.
"Uh…" I paused. Why was this so weird? So just blurted out the first thing that came to me.
"Dad, do you have a girlfriend?"
"No." He said. Slightly blushed.
"Right." I said. Ok. Well that answers that question.
"Right." Charlie said. And then he shut the door.
I took a deep breath and exhaled. "Less awkward Bella. He's your father." I whispered to myself. I thought about Jacob, trying to remember him. I recalled an instance of a river outing with a boy with black hair, but not much from the trip itself. I guess I'd find out if Jacob was the boy in this memory. Not trying to impress anyone, I dressed in sweats and a hooded sweatshirt and put my damp hair up in a ponytail.
I came downstairs and to my surprise, there was food on the table. Not a gourmet meal, but chicken wings, chips, beer, soda, and some other snakc. Charlie seemed to notice my surprise.
"I didn't cook. I bought it at the store. Football food."
"Yeah. It looks good."
Charlie looked at the table. "Yeah." He was still thinking about the question I asked him.
"Dad, sorry if I weird-ed you out with the girlfriend question. I just, I don't know. I thought that was who you meant and . . ." I paused.
"It's fine, kiddo. Don't worry about it. I don't have time for a girlfriend. I've got you to look after." He smiled.
Ok I thought. That clears the air. Sort of. Thankfully, we didn't have to make small talk soon after because there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get that." Charlie said. "There's plastic plates and cups in the cupboard if you want to put those out." He said as he walked out of the kitchen.
I went and set the rest of the table and came out to meet Jacob and Billy.
"Bells, this is Billy." He pointed to a man with long black hair and tanned skin. Suddenly I remembered who they were. Billy and Jacob Black. From the Quileute tribe outside of town. That's where the river outing was come from. We went to their reservation and had a campfire by the beach – not the river, and they told stories about their tribe.
Billy was in a wheel chair, wearing a cowboy hat, and lifting him in our house was Jacob.
"Nice to meet you, again." I said as I shook Billy's out reached hand.
"Welcome back to Forks. Charlie is very excited to have you home." Billy said.
I nodded my head in concurrence. As if to say, I was glad to be back home too, or that I was happy Charlie was happy. I wasn't exactly sure.
"This is my son, Jacob. You might remember him." Billy said.
"Yeah." I lied. "Nice to see you again." I waved.
"Hey." Jacob smiled and waved back at me.
Jacob looked like his father – only younger. He wasn't gangly, he was just, slim. He was about five-foot-seven, average weight, with dark brown eyes and long black hair. He had a very nice warming smile and I was relieved I might actually make one friend in this town.
"By the way," Billy said, "That truck out there is for you." He smiled.
"What?" I asked. I looked around both of them and saw an old 1950s something red Chevy truck.
"I fixed it up for you, all ready to go. It doesn't look like much, but it runs pretty great." Jacob said.
I wanted to run out and look at it but I didn't have a coat or shoes on. I looked at Charlie.
"I can't, believe, uhm…" I stopped. Completely shock and completely grateful.
"You're welcome Bells. Think of it as a homecoming present." Charlie smiled. I stared back at the truck. I was worried how I was going to make it to school. This was so great.
Charlie interrupted the silence and my thoughts.
"Let's get ready for some football!" Charlie said as him and Billy made their way to the kitchen. "I've got some chicken wings and beer…" I could here him telling Billy as they walked away, leaving Jacob and I standing there.
"So, you a Seahawks fan?" Jacob asked.
I laughed. "I know nothing about football."
"Yeah, I'm not a big fan. My dad and Charlie watch football together almost every week. Kind of tradition. I hang out with them occasionally. Thought I 'd come meet you today again though." Jacob added.
"Right, well do you want some chicken wings or something?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure." Jacob said. Clearly aware that I didn't know any other small talk to make. I was fairly shy.
We walked to the kitchen and Charlie and Billy had already loaded up their plates and were heading to the living room to watch the game.
Jacob and I both made small plates and instead of going in the living room to watch the game, sat in the kitchen and talked for a little bit.
"So how old are you?" I asked him.
"Fifteen, he said. But I'll be turning sixteen soon and getting my license. I can already drive out on the res, just not legally around in Forks." He added, as if he wanted me to think he was more mature and rebellious. I smiled.
"Well, I'm sixteen and I have a car now." I laughed. "Maybe we can ride to school together or something."
"Oh. No, I go to school on the reservation." He said.
"Oh, right." I forgot. Slightly saddened that I would still not know anyone at school.
Even though Jacob and I didn't like football, we joined Charlie and Billy out in the living room. Jacob and I sat on the couch and made small talk. Jacob liked to work on cars, and hung out with his friends when he could. He said that he didn't have a lot of friends on the reservation because they were suddenly interested in being friends with this guy Sam, who I could tell from Jacob's tone, he was not a fan of.
Jacob also asked me if I had a boyfriend to which I immediately laughed at and told him I did not have a long distance love in Arizona. He seemed pleased with my answer, but I did not return the question to him, and we continued on to another subject.
After the game, which the Seahawks won, Jacob and Billy headed back home and left the truck for me. I helped Charlie clean up the kitchen and went back upstairs and read a little before I called it a night.
I didn't wake up early to go to my first day of school. Mostly because it was just that, a new school. But also because it was a Monday, and Mondays are just not good days.
"Morning Dad." I said as I entered the kitchen in jeans and one of the few long sleeve shirts I had.
"Good morning." He said as he kissed me on the forehead. "I'm late. I'll see you tonight." He said as he put on a coat. "Have a good first day of school."
I looked at him frowning.
"You know what I mean." Charlie added.
I sat down to my bowl of cereal as he headed out the door, but found it hard to eat. I wasn't really in the mood for breakfast, but I didn't know how the school lunch would be. Probably like the rest of the school lunches in the entire world—bad. Bad, canned, processed food. Yum.
I left for school in my new, old Chevy. In Phoenix, I would have probably been made fun of for my car, but here, it seemed like no one had enough money to buy expensive cars. As long as it got you from A to B, it was deemed good. Luckily, as I pulled into the parking lot, all the cars were just that. Not flashy, not decrepit, just average. Except for one. A shiny silver Volvo was parked in the middle of the lot. Definitely not going to park there I thought. Even if I had wanted to, there was no parking. I found a spot in the back and pulled in. Other students were still arriving and perplexed by the novelty of a new student at the school. I got many confused stairs as I tried to navigate my way to the office of Forks High School.
Forks High School was not like my previous one. It wasn't just one building. Finding the office was bad enough. I was forced to talk to people I didn't know. Furthermore, it was much colder than I expected, and my coat was doing a poor job of keeping me warm. Note to self, I thought. Buy a parka.
After talking to quite a few people, I made my way into a heated room. It was lit with fluorescent lighting and had a nice beige couch. Cream paint touched the walls and pictures of educational type material were on the walls. "Do Your Best" and "Attitudes are Contagious" read some of the pictures in the room. I was distracted by a lady behind the counter, probably thirty, looking at me with excitement.
"Isabella Swan!" She pronounced as if she had known me forever. "Charlie called this morning and said you'd be here. I bet you want your schedule."
"Yes." I replied quietly.
"Well here it is. Charlie told me you had taken quite a few advance classes at your old school, and from you're transcript I'd say you're suited to be a senior. Of course, I don't have that power, but I did enroll you in Trigonometry and Biology- Two. Most students your age are in that course."
"Thanks." I replied as if I had received a Christmas present that I did not want, like a sweater. Although, now that I was here, perhaps that wouldn't have been so bad.
Apparently the lady thought I was zoning out because she began talking to me again.
"I'm Mrs. Cope, by the way." She held out her hand. I shook it.
"If you need anything, just let me know. I'm here to help you, as well as the rest of the students."
I smiled weakly.
"Now let's see." She said. "You're first class is English. So you want to go to the far west building. When you leave here, just make a right and keep walking. It will be your last building on the left. I'm sure you can have another student help you to the rest of your classes."
"Thanks." I replied and walked out into the cold.
It was impossible to not be depressed here. It was cold, dreary, and the fact that I was going to have to trudge through this weather at least 5 times a day was not inviting. After a quick walk, I found myself in the English building.
My class was the second room in the building. I had walked into the class after it had started, and I felt all the eyes on me as I entered. I walked directly to the teacher and handed him my schedule. His name was Mr. Mason and he looked as though he had just graduated college. He smiled and told me to take a seat. I looked around and the only seat was next to a blonde boy. He looked pleasant, and was looking at me curiously. I took my seat next to him and tried to pay attention to what was being taught.
"Now, back to the Montagues and the Capulets." He began.
"I'm Mike Newton." The boy next to me whispered.
I glanced over at him. He seemed friendly enough. He was blonde, blue eyed. Much taller than me, probably six feet. His was built like an athlete, but not too much. He had had braces, I could tell. His teeth were straight. This reminded me of my years with braces. Although my teeth had moved slightly since then, I still was proud of them.
"Bella Swan." I whispered as my train of thought returned. I turned and face the front of the class. Nothing else was said for the next 50 minutes.
When the bell rang, I got up and began making my way to the door. My next task was finding Trigonometry.
"I'll show you to your next class." Mike said, before I got to far away. I looked at him questioningly.
"If you want, that is." He added.
I thought for a moment and decided that this wasn't a bad idea.
"Sure." I replied. He smiled as though he had just accomplished something and walked next to me out the door.
"Where are you from?" He asked, trying to make some conversation. I guessed the walk to the Math hall was going to be long. I was right.
"Phoenix." I said shortly.
"Oh. Quite the change in weather, huh?"
"Yeah." I really needed to start coming up with more than one word answers. People would start assuming I was a mute. "I'm came to live with my dad." I added, pleased by the fact that I had made a complete sentence. It seemed to please Mike too and he continued our conversation with ease.
Small talk was made mostly. He tried to touch upon all the finer points of Forks High School. Where what was, who his friends were, things to do. Just the regular stuff.
As we approached Trigonometry, he ran into one of his friends I guessed.
"Hi. I'm Jessica Stanley." She said proudly as she introduced herself. She had big curly hair, full of secrets I supposed. She had freckles, but they were endearing. She introduced the two girls standing next to her.
"This is Lauren." She motioned her hand to a very pretty girl to her right. She had stick straight brown hair and was very pretty. Her eyes were dark brown, and her complexion was flawless. She had a slight tint to her skin, which made me assume she had been going to a tanning bed, because there just wasn't enough sun here to receive that much color.
"Hi." Lauren replied shortly. She turned around on heel and walked into the classroom.
"This is Angela." She added to the girl on her left. Angela was pretty as well. A natural pretty. She had irregularly blonde hair and skin so pale, it rivaled my own. Her eyes were an unnatural blue and she seemed quite hesitant to meet me.
"Hi." She said quietly. "Welcome to Forks. I hope your day is going well." She smiled warmly. She was genuine, and I was relieved.
"Well," Mike interrupted. "I better get to class. Jessica, will you help Bella get to her next class?"
"Of course." Jessica said beaming. "See you later." She smiled at Mike and grabbed my arm.
"You can sit next to me." She said as she walked into the room.
Trigonometry was not complicating. The teacher, Mr. Varner, was very good at what he did. He was smart. Perhaps too smart, but he was a good teacher. It was fortunate for me that I already knew what he was attempting to teach us, because Jessica talked in my ear to whole hour. She was filling me in on everything about Forks and all the people in it. Between her ranting, I caught that she had my next class with me, so she would take me to it, and then I could sit next to her at lunch. That relieved me slightly, I wouldn't have to sit by myself. It was bad enough that everyone was already gawking at me as if I had three eyes and a peg leg.
The walk to Government was not pleasant. The wind had picked up and it seemed to be getting colder. The Social Studies hall was not that far from my math class, and that was a relief. Jessica was still talking, and I just kept nodding and saying "Yes. I see." whenever she made a point of interest.
Government, like the rest of my classes, was easy. School came very naturally to me. This was probably due to the fact that socializing didn't. I guess I couldn't be good at everything. I was also impressed by the fact that I had not tripped over myself yet today. It was probably because I was being very cautious and alert, but I assumed once I had settled into a routine, I would be finding myself frequently face down on the concrete.
When the bell rang for lunch, Jessica grabbed my arm and we made our way to the cafeteria. We met up with Lauren and Angela when we got there and took our place in line. The girls chatted, and I pretended to care and listened to what they were saying. They were talking about Mike Newton. Apparently he was the school catch, and Jessica couldn't wait to get alone with him. I was not interested. I was hungry, and wondering if the day could go by any slower.
In the line, I filled my tray with mostly fruit, and a bottle of water. The chicken fried steak looked more like a neatly compressed pile of dirt. I didn't feel like spending my afternoon in the nurse's office so I passed. I followed Jessica, Angela, and Lauren to a table filled with boys. Mike Newton was there and he introduced me to the rest of the boys at the table.
"This is Tyler." He pointed to a brown haired boy, who looked about the same height as Mike. He had a slight tint to him, but this I guessed was because he looked part Indian. He had broad shoulders and was very muscular. He must have been an athlete. I smiled cautiously and sat down.
"This is Eric." Mike added as he looked across the table to a boy sitting next to Angela. Eric had dark hair, and his complexion was spotted. He wore glasses, but he seemed to be built just like Mike and Tyler. He waved at me encouragingly and I waved back.
Everyone started chatting and my eyes wandered around the room. It seemed as though most everyone was talking about me. I guess Forks didn't get new students frequently. Every time I met eyes with someone, they would turn away. I had only been here for a couple of hours, was I already that intriguing?
As I made my way around the room, five students caught my eye. They were all sitting together, very quietly and no one seemed to be around them. They were the absolute epitome of perfection and I thought that I was dreaming. They all had pale white skin. Almost translucent, but it seemed to glow. They had dark circles under their eyes, as if they hadn't slept in an eternity, yet it just made them more appealing. The two girls looked as though they were directly out of a magazine.
The blonde one was the prettiest of all of them. Her eyes were blue, almost purple and her blonde hair shown like the sun. Her face was perfect, her eyes, her ears, her everything, perfectly symmetrical as if she were drawn by the most precise of painters.
The other girl, looked like a fairy. She had short, messy, black hair, and her eyes were dark. She was tiny, much shorter than the supermodel blonde, but yet, still gorgeous. She looked my way, but I couldn't look away. She new I was staring, and yet, she just turned nonchalantly as if this was a regular occurrence.
Of the boys, there were three. The biggest was bigger than any footballer player I had ever seen. He had huge muscles, and was easily six foot-four. He had nice, brown hair, brown eyes, and was appealing. He too, looked like an angel, even though he was so burly.
The one next to him was not as big. He looked average, still muscular, but had slightly longer black hair. He too had dark, eyes, and a perfect face. He was in deep conversation with the other boy.
The last boy, the one sitting closest to the end of the table, was the most handsome. Easily the best looking out of all the guys. He was thin, but not scraggly. He too had muscles, but they were not like the other's. His eyes seemed to have the worst circles under their eyes, but that made him all the more intriguing. His brown-auburn hair was shaggy, and his skin was so smooth, so perfect. I was completely amazed by how perfect he was. He was more beautiful than any person I had ever seen in my entire life.
"Bella." I heard my thoughts being interrupted.
"Huh?" I replied confused.
Jessica smiled curiously and new what I had been thinking.
"That's Edward Cullen." She said as a matter-of-factly. No sooner had the words left her mouth, and Edward Cullen was staring in my direction. It was as if he had heard his name called from across the room. But that was completely absurd. There was no way he could have heard her from that far away.
I felt myself blush and I turned away.
Jessica looked at me and smiled. "Edward Cullen is gorgeous." She said. "But I wouldn't waste my time." She said with slight distaste. "He doesn't date anyone from here. Apparently none of the girls here are good enough."
I figured he had turned her down before. I could understand why. He was absolutely appealing, perfect, and without a doubt, much better looking than any girl here, or perhaps on the planet. It was wrong for him to look so much better than the rest of us.
I looked at Edward again. I couldn't help myself. He was not looking though. He was in conversation with the other beautiful people sitting at his table.
"Are they all related?" I asked curiously.
"Sort of. They are all adopted by Dr. Carlisle Cullen. He's a doctor here in town. They've been here for about two years now. The big one and the blonde girl are twins. And the other three are all related."
"Are they always so secluded?" I asked.
"Yeah. They just don't seem that friendly." Jessica added.
I assumed she had never talked to them, because how could anyone look that perfect and be possibly dreadful? My question was about to be answered.
Mike walked me to my biology class. The teacher, Mr. Banner, made me introduce me to the class. I felt like an idiot. Not only because I was extremely shy, but Edward Cullen was staring directly at me.
"I'm Bella Swan and I'm from Phoenix, Arizona." The students looked at me, as if they had been expecting something more. I said nothing else. After what seemed like an eternity he told me to take a seat. The only one available was strategically placed next to Edward. For a moment, I contemplated running out of the room. Why was I acting this way? I didn't even know Edward. He was just a boy. There were plenty of boys in school, what was so special about him?
I took my seated and unwillingly admitted that it was because he was indisputably the most alluring person I had ever seen. Just being next to him made me feel like I was special. This obsessing had to stop. I didn't even know him.
And there we sat. Was I expecting him to look at me? Or even talk to me? I mean, everyone else had been mildly inviting to me. Why shouldn't he do the same? I waited patiently for him to acknowledge my existence, but after a couple of minutes, he still had not said anything. My curiosity got the best of me and I looked at him. He looked back expressionless, and I saw that his eyes were black. Black like looking into a well that had no bottom. He stared at me, and I blushed. I looked away as quickly as possible, hoping he didn't see. Peeking through the curtain of hair I had placed as a barrier between us, I saw that he was gripping his seat painfully tight, as if he was trying to break it. His knuckles were white from the pressure, and his face too, almost looked flush. It was as though he was trying to overcome some difficult obstacle sitting there in his seat.
I wanted to ask him why he was so uncomfortable, but I couldn't, it was too awkward. Much too awkward. I didn't look at him for the rest of class of class. When the bell rang he got up and was gone before I even had a chance to get up out of my seat. Mike approached me with a smile, and noted the extreme tension between Edward Cullen and myself.
"Sorry you had to sit next to Cullen today. He usually isn't that weird." Mike said mockingly.
"Oh." I replied lost in thought.
"I couldn't help but notice you had gym next." I said nothing. "With me." Mike added enthusiastically.
"Oh. Well then perhaps you can show me where to go." I said, forcing out a smile.
Gym was the one class I did not want to take. It required coordination, something I did not have. In Phoenix, we were only required to take two years of gym, but not here. Oh no. I couldn't be cut a break.
Fortunately, I didn't have to dress out and participate. Coach Clapp just told me what to expect and that I could sit out for the day and observe. It was probably the safest for me, and everyone else involved, I thought.
After class, I made a beeline for my truck. I wanted to get home as soon as possible and get away from everything that was Forks High School. Unfortunately, I still had one obstacle in between jail and freedom. Edward Cullen was leaning against my truck.