A/N: First, I would strongly suggest reading my other fic, Stomp Dance, before attempting to read this one. Although Garfish Dance is not exactly a sequel to Stomp Dance, it does contain many references and allusions that only make sense if you've read the first story.

This fic came about due to my own unwillingness to wait until I finish Stomp Dance to write these two as a vampire couple. Basically, Stomp Dance is the journey, and Garfish Dance is the destination (with a little more journey added in). Enjoy!

Best read in Full.

Chapter I – Meeting the Locals

October 1st, 2005 – Forks High School, Forks, Washington

(Bella's first day at school)

Bella Swan sighs, barely listening to the inane chatter of Jessica, Angela and Mike at her side as she lets her eyes drift aimlessly around the room. The lunchroom of Forks High School is quite possibly the most depressing place she has ever set foot in. The eggshell colored walls are surprisingly pristine considering their constant proximity to the large, grease filled fryers responsible for the current slop on her plate, but their cleanliness only serves to bring home just how false and sterile the whole room feels.

The earthy brown chairs, which are just as uncomfortable as they look, encircle equally brown round tables in a half-hazard geometric pattern long ruined by the ebb and flow of high school popularity contests and clique shifts. The shadows caused by the foreign flags hung over the already blind-darkened windows—Portugal, Denmark, Luxembourg she counts lazily— and Forks' dreary weather have combined to cast an almost unnatural haze around the room.

She shifts in her hard seat and lifts another fork full of overly-salted food to her mouth, her eyes tracing the off-white bars of weak light as they make their way into the room through the windows that frame the outside entrance to the cafeteria. Although her lunch period is more than halfway through, there are still students slowly slinking their way into the lunchroom—although she doubts all of the latecomers are as beautiful as the ones currently making their way through the glass door.

"Who are they?" Bella whispers in awe, nodding towards the entrance to the cafeteria.

Jessica follows her gaze before turning back to her with a smirk. "Noticed them, have you?" She asks teasingly. "They're Dr. Carlisle and Esme Cullen's foster children. They moved here from Alaska a few years ago." She pauses, looking down at her tray and twirling her fork with a smile. "The big one with all the muscles is Emmet," she continues. "He's with Rosalie, the blond girl who looks like she just walked out of a fashion magazine."

Bella nods distractedly, her eyes on the two aforementioned Cullens. Although she had seen a good number of good looking and physically fit people while living in Phoenix—Arizona is a prime location for the ever trendy 'fit-cation' after all—Emmet and Rosalie are on a whole other level of attractiveness. Heck, if she didn't know any better, she'd say that the word 'attractive' was invented for the sole purpose of describing the two Cullens in front of her.

Bella momentarily forgets her fascination with the walking Aphrodite and Adonis named Rosalie and Emmet in favor of the, for lack of a better term, exotic girl following a few paces behind them.

"You see the girl with the long brown hair—the one with the braids?" Jessica asks, indiscreetly following said girl with her eyes. "That's Ash or Nash or something. Nobody really knows her real name, but all the teachers usually call her Ash."

She's tall, probably around 5'7" or 5'8", with distinctively Native American features. She has long, dark brown hair that has been pulled into two matching braids and left to hang a few inches above the waist of her jeans. Her olive skin, which, Bella notices, is a few shades darker than the rest of the other Cullens', makes her eerie golden eyes appear almost luminescent under the harsh florescent lights of the cafeteria. Bella has the sudden urge to see them up close.

She looks like Tiger Lily, Bella thinks idly, and then immediately becomes embarrassed by her own crassness. Oh god, was that racist?

"And who's that?" Bella asks, gesturing as subtly as she can with her fork towards the handsome blond boy holding the lunchroom door for the mysterious girl. Said girl smiles at him and runs her hand gently across his chest as she makes her way through the cafeteria door. The boy's answering half-smile is almost as breathtaking as the girl's eyes.

Jessica glances over her shoulder briefly before turning back to her with a gossipy grin. "Him? That's her boyfriend, Jasper Hale. He was adopted by the Cullens too."

"They're not actually biologically related," Angela informs the two girls.

"Anyway," Jessica rolls her eyes, "they're totally obsessed with each other—like, totally obsessed. They always take all the same classes and never work with anyone else when it comes to class projects. Plus, they even made up their own language so they can speak to each other without anyone understanding them. Like, how freaky can you get?"

Someone's deep, boisterous laugh sounds from the other side of the cafeteria.

Bella frowns at the catty girl's obvious jealousy and peeps over at the couple before quickly returning her eyes to her lunch tray. In order to reach the end of the—now dwindling—lunch line, they have to pass between her table and another occupied by what she assumes is the whole of the Fork's football team.

Geez, they're right there! Could you say that last part any louder, Jessica? I don't think they heard you over in gym class.

She glances back the couple—Jasper and Ash Bella corrects herself. Just as she'd feared, they're making their way towards the girl's table. Bella hurriedly tries to look as friendly and uninteresting as possible.

"Kata impa chibanna?" She hears the brown-haired girl asks her companion, watching as she wraps her slim arm around the blond man's waist; there is a gleam of mischievousness in her golden eyes as she glances at the group and Bella gets the distinct impression that everyone at her table is currently being made fun of. Jessica seems to think the same, quickly sinking into her earth-brown chair with the appearance of someone who'd like to disappear.

The handsome blond man smirks and glares playfully at his girlfriend. "Chinokchinta'shki," he says, placing his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders and pulling her closer to his side. Bella is thankful when he fails to spare the table a glance. "Toksalikat ikchokmo."

"Ii," the girl seems to sigh in disappointment, "chipotatiik nchokma ki'yo." The man kisses her temple, placing a broad hand on the base of her spine to steer her in the direction of the—now very short—lunch line at the back of the cafeteria.

Bella's table lets out a collective sigh of relief.

"Good going, Jessica," Mike mutters sarcastically, giving said girl a look. "Great job introducing the new girl to the locals."

"Whatever," says Jessica, straitening from her slouched position. "I bet they're just talking gibberish anyway. It probably doesn't even mean anything."

"It's a Native American language," Angela informs them all cheerfully. "I'm not sure which one—a lot of them are only spoken by like, less than a 100 people—but it's definitely Native American."

Jessica does not look impressed. "Really, Ange?"

"What?" Angela asks defensively, pushing her pale pink glasses further up her nose. "I like to read—so what?"

Bella clears her throat awkwardly. "Are they usually so," she pauses, searching for the right descriptor "…intimidating?"

Mike hums, chewing on his deep-fried lunch. "Not really. The Cullens don't really talk to a lot of people," he says around a mouth full of food. "Although one time Danny Newman kinda said some not-so-nice things about their sister, Alice—" here he points toward a petite, pixie-like girl currently skipping her way across the lunchroom "—and Ash just kinda stared at the guy for like, five minutes. I don't think I've ever seen someone look so freaked out in my life!"

He laughs and Bella swallows, looking down at the now tasteless food on her tray. Learning about the Cullens had been a welcomed distraction from her short, dreary re-introduction to life in Forks, but now that it's over she can't help but feel slightly disappointed. What use is there in learning about them when she has no chance of actually getting to know them? Bella might be a lot of things—clumsy, scatterbrained, blunt—but she is not stupid. The Cullens are, in regards to the Forks High School Social Ladder, so far above her she can't even see the rungs they're standing on.

"Ohhh," Jessica suddenly coos, breaking Bella out of her thoughts, "and here comes the last of the clan, Mr. I'm-Better-Than-Everyone-Else Cullen."

Jessica's eyes are focused across the cafeteria and Bella turns her head to look at the object of the other girl's ire.

He is the most beautiful man Bella has ever seen.

Notes on all Chickasaw translations:

All translations are derived from the work of the Chickasaw Nation's language office which happens to be, rather conveniently, headquartered in my home town. I use both Humes' and Munro-Willmond's spellings interchangeably.

"Kata impa chibanna?" Who do you want to eat?

"Chinokchinta'shki" Be nice.

"Toksalikat ikchokmo." Besides, the service would be terrible. (Approximately)

"Ii, chipotatiik nchokma ki'yo." Yes, I'm a bad girl. (Approximately)

A/N:

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