Beauty and the Geek chap1
"I'll meet you at the lunch table, Alice. Just let me run to the bathroom first." After grabbing the items that she would need for her fifth period class after lunch, Bella closes her locker, and begins the short walk down the deserted hallway. Just as she reaches the girls' and boys' bathroom doors, she stops, suddenly, in her tracks, before slowly inching closer and closer to the boys' bathroom door until, finally, her right ear is pressed up against it. She swears her heart will break from hearing the muffled whimpers and sobs coming from inside. "Hello? Why are you sad? Is there any way I can help?" she calls out, in hopes of being able to comfort the obviously pained owner of the heart wrenching cries she'd just heard. She receives no answer. Instead she hears, first, the dreadfully crude sound of a stuffy nose being blown, and, second, the sound of the faucet simultaneously being turned on and back off again. Then, finally, she hears the sound of feet stomping quickly toward the direction of the door. Not knowing what- or rather, whom- to expect, Bella removes her ear from the door before shuffling nervously from foot to foot, while adjusting and readjusting the textbooks she holds in her left arm. Just as she begins to fiddle with her black jacket for what seems to be the tenth time that minute, she hears the loud creaking sound of rusty hinges being ground against each other. The door opens to reveal a lean, slightly muscular male that looms over Bella by about a foot and a half. The boy has dark auburn, shaggy, shoulder-length hair, and black, thick-framed glasses. Bella is slightly angered by the terribly small amount of light given off by the dim, artificial light fixtures above their heads, but tries her hardest to scrutinize the boy's face anyways. She can't make out many details of his face besides his dark hair and thick glasses, but identifies the blotchy, raised areas on his face to be a bad case of pubescent acne. He appears to be poorly dressed, with loose khaki-colored, cargo pants and a dirty, red, long-sleeve t-shirt. The boy harshly removes his glasses, and raises his right arm to wipe the clear, salty liquid from his eyes with the sleeve of his red t-shirt, drawing Bella's attention upward. He removes his arm to reveal the most beautiful pair of eyes that Bella has ever seen. Ever. Her brain becomes fuzzy, and her heart, hyperactive, as she stares into what seem to be endless emerald pools of pain and anger, frustration and despair. The intensity of the boy's stare makes Bella feel naked and...helpless. Like he can see right through her people-pleasing charade, and straight into her heart - her soul.
"Please...excuse me," mutters the boy, before rushing past Bella and out the nearest exit. Bella stands there staring after the boy, slightly dazzled by the sound of his voice. 'How,' she wonders, 'Could such intensely beautiful eyes, and such a deep, velvety, melodic voice belong to such a...'
"Bellaaaaa! Bella! Wake up, sleepyhead!"
"Ugh. Go away Alice." Bella rolls over in the bed, and readjusts her soft, fluffy pillow, only to have it suddenly snatched away from her, along with her sheets and quilted comforter.
"Bellaaa!" Alice whines. "Come on! I have to get you dressed and ready for school today! You promised that I could!" Bella can imagine the puppy-dog pout that is firmly planted on Alice's over-energetic, spiky-haired face. After receiving no answer, Alice, who is growing more impatient every second, pulls out 'the big guns.' " Isabella Marie Swan! If you don't get out of this bed right this second, I will pull you out myself! Have your previous experiences taught you nothing, Bells? I'm small, yes, but mighty! Mwah-hah-hah-hah!" Alice then bursts into giggles at her own pitiful attempt to sound like an evil genius.
"Just so we're clear," Bella begins, "I hate you sometimes, Alice. A lot of times, actually." Alice, still giggling, responds by laughing even harder before chucking Bella's pillow at the back of her head. Hard. Bella, knowing better than to challenge the four foot, eight inch, 'all-mighty' Alice, sprouts straight up out of bed, but not before muttering a few 'choice' words directed toward the tiny, giggling figure on her bedroom floor. Something about "high, crazy, over-energetic pixies..."
"Okay sunshine," Alice begins, still attempting to regain her composure, "Let's get cracking! You know what today is! That's right- the first day of senior year! Ahhhh! I can hardly keep still! Why are you looking at me like that? You act like I'm on drugs or something! Do you like my outfit! I picked it out on our last shopping trip especially for today. See? Knee-length, grey, embroidered tunic with a black, hand-stitched, tight-fitting sweater, and the perfect, tie-around ballet flats to match! Can you say 'muy perfecto'? Oh! Wait 'til you see your outfit! I got it when I got mine. It's a dark blue corset top with lace stitching, black skinny-jeans, a black, short-sleeved jean jacket, and the most beautiful pair of dark blue heels I've ever-"
"Alice," Bella warns. Alice knows Bella is clumsy and trips enough already on just her own two feet, so Bella can't understand why she continues trying to force her into those deathtraps she calls heels. Whatever happened to plain, old tennis shoes?
"Okay, fine, Burst my bubble then. Don't wear the heels. Oh! Wear the pretty, lace ballerina flats that I made you buy a couple months ago! Anyways, I'm going to go back downstairs and keep your dad company. You have fifteen minutes to shower and get dressed so that I can do your hair and makeup. If you're not done when I come back up here, I swear, I'll come into the shower and drag you out. I'll be back!" Alice grabs her grey Gucci purse off of Bella's corner desk, and skips out, leaving Bella alone in her small room.
"Ah!'" Bella sighs. "Alone at last! Maybe I can sneak in a couple more minutes of sleep before-"
"Bella! Don't even try it!" Alice yells from downstairs, before continuing her conversation with Charlie about imported patent-leather shoes.
"Hmm," Bella says while she gathers her toiletries and walks to the bathroom. "At least I'm not the only one who has to suffer. Poor Charlie."
"I heard that!" Alice yells from downstairs. Bella just laughs as she closes the bathroom door.
One hour, and a lot of physical abuse, later, Alice, in her canary yellow Porsche, and Bella, in her rusty, red 1962 Chevy pick-up truck, are both well on their way to Forks High. On the way there, Alice thinks about the year to come. How exciting it is to be a senior! She remembers the long, refreshing girl talk that her and Bella had at their sleepover last weekend. She told Bella how she knows this year will be different. She can't really explain how, just that some way, somehow, she knows this year is going to change Bella's life for the better. She hopes Bella believed her. The last time she had a feeling that something this big was going to happen, she met Jasper, her sweet, loving, wonderful boyfriend of almost three years. He moved here with his mom, who is a foster parent, and his foster brothers and sisters three and a half years ago. He's kind, gentle, and really in tune with people's emotions and needs. Alice remembers how a couple of years ago, a boy about her age found out during school that his mother had lost her fight against cancer, and had died while he was in class. Jasper, knowing the boy had no other family, and nowhere to live, convinced his mom to take the boy in, where he's been homeschooled ever since. Only someone as caring and sweet as her Jasper would do that. He is the best thing to ever happen in her life. "Hmmm," Alice says aloud. "He is the ying to my yang!" Alice giggles at her corny remark. He's the man she's going to marry someday. She can feel it. Just like she can feel that something big is about to happen for Bella; something wonderful.
Bella ponders her dream, as she drives to school. It's been two years since that fateful event actually occurred, and Bella has yet to see the crying stranger again. She feels as if... as if she has fallen in love at first sight! She knows that's terribly cliché, but...that's the only way she can explain it. It is this event, Bella believes, that keeps her from ever being interested in another guy. She feels like those eyes and that voice were handmade by God, just for her. She doesn't know when... IF she'll ever see that boy again in her lifetime, but she's vowed that if she ever does finally get a hold of him, she'll never let go...