A/N: I wrote this for myself and I wasn't planning on posting, but I thought what the hell, right?
This is literally nothing more than a re-reading of Twilight with minors changes to fit my version. Also this is set in our present time (too many pop references), more believable drama and much much more angst and slow burn because I like being extra™
It was a Sunday when Isabella Swan arrived in Forks to live with her father until the end of her high school years. Forks, a small town that exists under a near-constant cover of clouds in the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America, completely different from the hot and dry weather of Phoenix, Arizona, where Bella lived with her mother since she was 6.
But Bella was born in Forks and was in this gloomy, omnipresent shade that her mother escaped with her when she was only a few months old. It was in this town that she'd been compelled to spend a month every summer until she was fourteen. That was the year she finally couldn't have it anymore and for the past three summers she vacationed with her father, Charlie in California for two weeks instead.
It was Forks now where she exiled herself, an action that she took with great horror. She could barely stand Forks. Bella loved Phoenix instead, she loved the sun and the blistering heat, she loved the vigorous, sprawling city, a place where you actually had something to do, a place where interesting things happened.
Renée, Bella's mom, pleaded for her not to move away, but Bella felt it was the right thing to do. She wanted to travel with her new husband, Phil, and a teenager daughter tagging along wasn't exactly the best of scenarios. And Bella also had school to finish.
So she insisted that she wanted to move, to create some memories with her father, learn new things and breath a different air, but of course it was all a big fat lie. She'd always been a bad liar, but she'd been saying this lie so frequently lately that it sounded almost convincing now. Even to herself.
She exchanged goodbyes with her mother and Phil before being engulfed in a tight hug from her mother for at least 2 minutes and then it was time to hop on a plane, and just like that she was gone.
It was a four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle, another hour in a small plane up to Port Angeles, and then an hour drive back down to Forks. Flying didn't really bother Bella, especially because she got to spend most of the time editing her pictures on her computer. Now the hour in the car with Charlie, though, that she was a little worried about.
Charlie had really been fairly nice about the whole thing. He seemed genuinely pleased that Bella was coming to live with him for the first time with any degree of permanence. He'd already gotten her registered for high school and was going to help her get a car.
But it was sure to be awkward with Charlie. Neither of them was what anyone would call verbose, and she didn't know what there was to say regardless. She knew he was more than a little confused by her decision since she always made clear her distaste for Forks.
When she landed in Port Angeles, it was raining, something that didn't surprise her one bit. She didn't see it as an omen, just unavoidable. She'd already said her goodbyes to the sun.
Charlie was waiting for her with the cruiser. That she was expecting, too. Charlie was known as Police Chief Swan to the good people of Forks. He gave her an awkward, one-armed hug when she stumbled her way off the plane.
"It's good to see you, Bells," he said, smiling as he automatically caught and steadied his daughter "You haven't changed much. How's Renée?"
"Mom's fine. It's good to see you, too, Dad." She wasn't allowed to call him Charlie to his face.
Bella had only a few bags. Most of her Arizona clothes were too permeable for Washington. Renée had pooled their resources to supplement Bella's winter wardrobe, but it was still scanty. It all fit easily into the trunk of the cruiser.
"Your hair's longer." he commented once they were already in the car.
Bella's hands went automatically to her hair as if to see if everything was alright before she answered, "I cut it since last time I saw you."
He nodded in agreement but didn't offer any words and they remained in silence until the ride over his house. Their house, Bella corrected herself. As the cruiser drove through, she took in the logging town. Wood adorned all the buildings, a little too much for her personal taste.
The cruiser pulled up to the old two-story house that Bella knew too well. Charlie still lived in the small, two-bedroom house that he'd bought with Renée in the early days of their marriage. The house wasn't stylish, the only new thing was a flat screen tv, but Bella thought it felt comfortable; lived-in.
It took only one trip to get all of Bella's stuff upstairs. She got the west bedroom that faced out over the front yard. The room was familiar; it had belonged to her since she was born. The wooden floor, the light green walls, the peaked ceiling, the white lace curtains around the window, all part of Bella's childhood. The only changes Charlie had ever made were switching the crib for a bed and adding a desk as she grew. The desk was empty, ready to be filled with Bella's photography gear. She also noticed that the rocking chair from her baby days was still in the corner.
There was only one small bathroom at the top of the stairs, which she would have to share with Charlie. She was trying not to dwell too much on that fact.
"Once you get settled, come downstairs, will ya?" Charlie said and headed back, leaving Bella alone to unpack her belongings.
One of the best things about Charlie is that he didn't hover and Bella was very grateful for it, knowing that she'd have enough of that the next day.
She finished settling her things the way she wanted in her bedroom, grabbed her phone and camera before doing as Charlie said and heading downstairs.
She found the front door open and voices coming from the outside. She followed it until she saw her father standing next to three people. An older guy, that she recognized as Harry Clearwater, her father's friend that dated since before she was even born, and his two children, Leah and Seth.
Bella remembered that Leah was at least a year older than she was and Seth a good 4 or 5 years younger than them, but you could easily say that they were twins.
Leah was tall and skinny, just as much as Bella. Her skin was a perfect copper tone, brown eyes slightly pulled aside, giving over her Native American heritage. Her hair was long, going to the middle of her back and just as brown as her eyes. Her outfit was a tomboy-ish edgy style, all in black, with a leather jacket thrown over just for effect. She was strikingly beautiful, and Bella needed to remember herself that she was shamelessly staring before moving to examine the boy standing next to her.
He was just as beautiful. His skin was also copper, and just like his sister, his eyes gave away his true heritage. He was tall, but not as tall as Leah, more like Bella's height. His hair was long, perhaps even longer than his sister. His style remembered Bella of modern hipster lumberjacks, with a red flannel shirt and an old ripped jeans. His eyes were kind and a huge, happy grin adorned his features, making him surprisingly charming.
"Bella, you remember Harry Clearwater." Charlie said once he saw Bella leaning in the door frame, staring at them.
"Glad you're finally here. Charlie hasn't shut up about it since you told him you were coming." Harry admitted and Bella was touched by the fact that her arrival was something that Charlie seemed excited about.
"Alright, alright. Keep spreading lies and I'll have you arrested." Charlie joked and Harry punched him in the arm, laughing.
Leah shook her head at them and took the opportunity to approach Bella, who was also watching the two full grown men pushing each other in the middle of the road.
"I'm Leah. We used to make mud pies together when we were little." Leah introduced herself, crooking a side smile making Bella swoon just a little at the sight.
"Yeah, I think I remember." Bella said after trying conjure the memories of her childhood in Forks. There were so many.
Bella turned to look over her father, that was still pushing the older Quileute down the street as if they were small children.
"Are they always like this?" she asked, unimpressed.
"It's getting worse with the age." Seth jeered, coming to stand next to Leah. He extended a hand to Bella. "I'm Seth, by the way."
"Yeah, I remember you, too." She smiled at him while shaking his hand. "But you were much younger back then."
The boy shrugged but kept his grin on.
Charlie came back and patted the hood of the car parked in front of their house.
"So, what do you think of your homecoming gift?" Charlie said expectantly to Bella.
It was a golden old car, shining like it was brand new. To Bella's intense surprise, she loved it. It had the old vintage aesthetic she was into nowadays. And at least it wasn't a rusty old truck.
"No way, is it for me?"
It was a rhetorical question and even if Charlie said it wasn't, Bella was already planning on stealing it for at least a drive around town.
"Bought it off from ol' Harry, here," he said patting his friend's back. "It's a 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle."
"I rebuilt the engine, it works perfectly." Leah commented with a proud smile.
Bella opened the door and took a glance at the interior, noticing the brand new black leather seats, the modern dashboard and most importantly the modern music system. Surely Charlie had spent a small fortune on it. It was much more than Bella could've hoped for.
She turned to hug her father, taking him by surprise "Wow, Dad, I love it! Thanks!"
"I'm glad you like it, kiddo" Charlie said gruffly, embarrassed again, not quite returning the embrace.
She entered the car and placed her hands on the steering wheel, seeing how it felt underneath her grip. Just like it was made for her.
"Thank you dad, this is truly perfect." she said without taking her eyes from zooming over the features of her new car. "It's okay if I take it for a ride? Just so I know how it feels."
"Sure, go for it."
Bella closed the door and gestured for Leah and Seth to enter the car "It's okay if they come too? So I don't get lost." she asked Harry.
"If they want. I was hoping to see your father's new flat screen anyway."
"Then that's it. Leave the kids to help Bella around and we can see if the game's still on." Charlie said before going inside the house, Harry following him, not even paying attention to his kids hopping inside Bella's car.
Leah entered the passenger seat and Seth was left to stay in the backseat. Bella grabbed the aux cord already plugged into the music system and connected it with her phone. She scrolled through her Spotify profile before deciding on a Lo-Fi playlist, her newest obsession. A second later the calm, melancholic sound of Knox Fortune started to fill the car. It's a good music system.
She turned to face Leah, who was checking her appearance in the mirror "So, where can we go?"
"We can go to La Push and grab Jacob - I'm sure you remember him - then I don't know," Leah tilted her head, thinking about what they could do. "I'd say that we could go to Port Angeles, much more options, but it's around an hour drive just to get there, so I don't think it's something you wanna do in your first day here. Especially if you just came from there."
"Yeah, the whole trip from Phoenix to here was exhausting, to say the least, so I think we can save Port Angeles for another opportunity." Leah glanced at her with raised eyebrows, surprised with the assumption "What? You guys are my only friends here and I don't think I'm gonna meet many interesting people in school tomorrow, so..." she trailed off.
"Well, I'm flattered, but I'd hardly call us friends yet, Bells." Leah smirked.
"You're calling me Bells, and the only person that calls me that is Charlie, so I think we're at least more than acquaintances."
"Touché."
"So La Push first, and then I think we can figure it out on the way." Bella said as she started the engine.
"Sounds good," Leah agreed before starting to give directions to Bella and in less than 15 minutes they arrived at the Blacks house. "Stay here, I'll go get him," she told them before leaving the car to knock on the door.
In less than a minute a tall guy appeared to see who was knocking on his door. Bella remembered him, his father was also friends with Charlie. He used to play with Bella and the Clearwaters when they were younger, and Jacob himself was around 3 years younger than her. He was extremely handsome, competing with Leah for the post of the 'most beautiful Quileute'. His long raven-black hair was in a ponytail, his body a lanky build with a russet skin that Bella was secretly envying. His outfit of choice was a plain black shirt with khaki pants, nothing out of the ordinary. The same boy she knew a long time ago.
Bella watched as Leah said something to him and gestured to the car before he went back inside his house to grab something and close the door. He jogged his way to the car, Leah following suit. Jacob entered the backseat with Seth and greeted him before acknowledging Bella.
"Hi, Bella. I'm Jacob." he said with a bright smile, showing all his perfects white teeth.
"I remember you. You used to pick on me when we were kids."
Jacob winced "Sorry 'bout that. I don't really remember doing that."
"So, kids, where are we heading to?" Bella asked once she initiated the engine once again.
"First of all, I'm older than you, so 'kids' doesn't apply to me." Leah annoyingly pointed out and Bella rolled her eyes at the girl's antics.
"Are you always such an ass?" she couldn't help but say, the insult slipping out of her mouth before she could hold it back. To Bella's surprise, Leah laughed while both Jacob and Seth said "Yes!" in unison.
"That's settled then." Bella said smiling at the girl "Now, where to, old lady?"
"There's this thing at Sam's tonight. We can go there if you are in the mood for a party full of testosterone." Leah suggested, her eyes glued to her phone.
"Isn't Sam the guy that's been giving you a hard time? Like harassing you and shit?" Seth asked, sounding confused.
"Yeah, but he's not that bad, at least not Paul's level of bad, so it's bearable, at least if the goal of being in his presence is to get trashed."
"So you guys like to party hard, huh?" Bella was surprised.
"Once in a while. Problem?" Leah asked, side glancing at the girl next to her.
"Me? No, I was actually wondering what people at my age did in such a small town. I thought it was something like spending all the time on a parking lot or diner, definitely not house parties." Bella admitted.
"This isn't Forks, Bella, so I can't say exactly what people from Forks do in their free time, but if you're ever in the need of partying, there's always something going on here, like every other weekend. So just hit me up whenever you want and I'll give you all the details." Leah said, taking Bella's phone from the dashboard and adding her number to her phonebook.
"Aw, and you said we weren't friends, Leah. Why are you trying to deny the chemistry between us?" Bella joked with an annoyingly sweet voice.
"Oh, shut up."
"Anyway, I don't think we have the time for a party, unfortunately. I have class tomorrow." she exhaled, feeling tired just thinking how shittie tomorrow was going to be. Bella definitely wasn't the type to feel excited about the first day in a new school. "By the way, any of you go to school in Forks or all of ya stay in La Push?"
Three distinct voices said "La Push" at the same time, answering Bella's question.
"Well, that's just great. Now I officially have to be the 'fresh blood' without even knowing someone, just great."
"If you want to take the pressure off I can hook you up with some ganja." Jacob offered shaking a plastic transparent bag in his hand full of joints ready to be burned.
"Holy crow, you're a dealer?" Bella turned her head too fast, startling Seth that was playing a game on his phone.
"What? No, we grow it for ourselves, we never sell it." Jacob said defensively "It's something very common here in La Push, Bella."
"You have a problem with it? You never got stoned before?" Leah said accusingly, eyeing Bella as if she had grown a second head.
"No, no, I have. I used to smoke from time to time back in Phoenix in some parties, but never bought it for myself." she admitted and took the stash from Jacob, opening it and smelling inside the bag, her eyes closing slightly. This is smells delicious. "Oh, this is the devil tempting me."
"You should do it." Leah said encouragingly "We all should."
"Yeah, we should totally smoke one. Your playlist is setting the mood just right, Bella." Jacob agreed, his head and shoulders moving along with the song's rhythm. "Come on, it'll be fun."
Bella considered her options and the only thing stopping her from diving right in was her father, a cop.
"Screw it, let's do it." she said after some debate, coming to the conclusion she could use the 'tired' card once she got home and Charlie would never know what they did.
"Great. I know just the place we can go, we can park your car there and leave the doors open so we can continue to listen to your trippy playlist." Jacob said enthusiastically.
Leah grabbed the stash from Bella's hand and Jacob gave her directions to the place and in less than 5 minutes they arrived at an empty area near the edge of the forest, no one around to interrupt them.
After parking the car, Bella stayed behind to switch to a trippier playlist, one with vaporwave mixed in among the lo-fi. Then, that settled, she left the phone plugged into the car and got out to join her friends.
Jacob was already lighting one joint and smoking with gusto before passing it to Leah. Bella was struck momentarily by how beautiful Leah looked while she smoked. Watching people smoke had always appealed to Bella, especially when those people were pretty girls. She was brought from her once again shamelessly stare with Leah holding the joint for her, a smirk in her face for catching Bella checking her out.
The first hit sent Bella into a severe coughing fit and everyone laughed at it - Seth even went to pat her back to see if it helped. She dismissed the boy before hitting again and handing it off to him, but he just shook his head, declining the offer.
"Don't want it?" Bella asked surprised.
"I don't smoke." Seth admitted sheepishly.
"Good for you, Seth." Bella said, a proud hint in her voice. It was good to see that not everyone was inclined to this kind of behavior, even if it happened constantly around them.
"So, Bella, enjoying Washington in this few hours you've been here?" Jacob asked, making small chat after Bella offered him the joint, already taking a deep hit waiting for her answer.
"Not a bit. I hate this place, I hate the weather, I hate the fact that I don't have more than probably three options to do something, that I'll have to cook everyday for the rest of my stay, that this place looks like a ghost town. I hate everything about Forks." Bella rumbled, already feeling the effects of the drug hitting her. She wasn't always this open and honest about her thoughts, but the weed and the fact that she somewhat felt safe around them made her want to be honest. "But at least Charlie's trying, I have all that I need here, thank god for technology, my now new car and I have you guys, so at least it's more than I've expected, really."
Everyone smiled at her and Bella smiled back, glad that she found people to hang when she wanted. She close her eyes to feel the breeze and started to sway when Teen Pregnancy by Blank Banshee came through her car speakers. She was in such a good state of mind that she started to dance, which in Bella's record consisted in swaying around and moving her hands to the rhythm, something she also never did in public. But now she couldn't care less, and as they saw her dancing, Jacob and Leah followed her, enjoying the song.
"Bella, your playlist is really good, you need to share it with us later." Jacob said, his eyes closed, lost in his own world.
"Of course I will. How come you guys never heard Vaporwave?" she said but didn't receive any answers back, everyone too busy entranced with the song to say anything and Bella didn't mind being ignored.
"The trees are beautiful." she mumbled as she took her surrounding as if she was seeing it all with new eyes, having hit the blunt two more times "All this green, is so much different from the desert that is Arizona." Bella continued after some time, On the Level by Mac Demarco playing, one of her favorite songs.
"I like the green, too." Leah agreed, she was leaned against Bella's car, next to the owner.
"I like the green just alright." Jacob said, his eyes barely open and anyone who saw it would see how high he was. He handed the roach to Bella, but she declined it with a simple "I'm cool", so he passed it to Leah that took the last hit before licking the tip of her finger and placing it on the top of the joint, putting out the fire.
"Didn't it burn you?" Bella asked impressed once she saw the girl doing it without flinching even once.
"Nah, I'm used." Leah said dismissing the girl's worries.
"Oh, I have the munchies." Jacob announced after a few minutes.
"Me too." Bella said with a dramatic exaggeration. "There's somewhere in Forks where we can eat? Like a fast-food or something?"
"There's Sully's.' Seth offered.
"Let's go, then Jacob can come back with you guys?"
"Sure. Let's go!" Leah shouted and they all hoped inside the car.
They were all inside the car for a few minutes, just waiting for Bella to drive them, but she couldn't even start the engine, and after a few more failed tries she started to laugh hard at her stupidity, being to high to do anything but laugh.
"Are you sure you can drive? I can do it if you want, I'm used to." Leah offered and Bella nodded still laughing. She barely managed to open her door and changed places with the Quileute girl.
Leah then started to drive them away from La Push and back to Forks, all the while alert to the rode ahead, so sober that no one would've ever guessed she just smoke a tone shit of weed. 35 minutes after, a little longer than Bella did to get to La Push, they arrived at Forks and at Sully's. They each placed their order and Bella insisted in paying for it, joking that she was trying to buy their friendship, and after some reluctance from Leah's part, Bella paid for their food and they all went to eat in the parking lot. Bella's playlist still on, having a 6-hour length.
While they ate they talked about everything and nothing at the same time. Bella told them about the parties she used to frequent in Phoenix, and Leah told her about the parties that went down on La Push. Seth started a conversation about the types of tv shows they liked and Bella happily found out that Jacob and Seth were both huge fans of Game of Thrones, just like she was, but was disappointed once they declared their love for the Stark house, herself being a huge fan of the Targaryens.
Leah in the other hand didn't spend her time watching television, but she liked cinema. She discussed the Academy Award nominees of the year with Bella, both coming to the conclusion that it was indeed a great year to the film industry, proclaiming their love for the Florida Project and while talking about the amazing photography of Blade Runner, 2046 that Bella remembered her camera, forgotten in the backseat, none of the guys appearing to notice all the while they were there.
"Guys, guys," she called their attention "Can I take a picture of you?"
"Of course you can, I'm photogenic," Jacob said with such a conviction that made Bella wonder if he was a Leo.
They exited the car and Bella placed them together in front of her Chevelle, they all hugging each other, Seth still with a burger in his hands, a huge grin in his face. They all smiled and Bella took her time taking several pictures of them in her film camera, eager to develop it so she could see the results. Once she was done, she went back to sit in the car, but Leah's hands were in her arms, making her stay in place.
"What about you? Aren't you going to join us in the picture?" she asked and Bella had a hard time debating if she should give into it and just take the damn photo.
The thing was, Bella loved photography, she loved to take pictures of beautiful things, of memories she knew she'd cherish for life, but she liked to be in the opposite side of her camera lens. She liked to be the master of it, controlling the exposures, the settings accordingly to the photo, but she wasn't particularly fond of being in the receiving end of an photography. She didn't think of herself as good enough for that sort of privilege; not beautiful enough to be in it.
But right in that moment, with those people, maybe she could make an exception. Make some new memories, new kinds of memories, one's where she could be in it too. And it was with this line of thought that Bella placed the camera in the hood of her car, positioning it right and calling her friends to join her in the picture. She settled the timer for 10 seconds and they all squeezed themselves together to the photo, Bella standing in the middle between Jacob and Leah, Seth right next to his sister. When the camera flash lightened two times straight announcing that the picture was just about to be taken, Bella smiled, an honest smile for once. The thought of maybe Forks not being such a bad decision taking over her.
"So, you're into photography?" Leah casually asked once they were back in the car and Bella back in the driver's seat clamming that she was good to drive them back to her house after eating, the food sobering her up just enough to drive.
"Yeah. It's kinda my thing." Bella admitted, the car still parked at the parking lot, herself finishing to eat her french-fries while the others finished their food "I took interest once I went to a gallery in Phoenix, so I took a summer job one year and saved enough to buy this film camera," she said gesturing to the camera still in her hand. It was a black Olympus OM-1, a good manual film camera for beginners, but Bella was already a little more advanced than that.
"Film? What, are you too cool for digital photography?" Jacob joked from the backseat, sipping from his strawberry milkshake.
"No, I'm into it, too. It's just much more expensive a good digital camera, so I thought about starting with a film camera where I can learn all the things about manual photography before spending all my saving in a digital one." Bella explained and she saw Jacob nodding his head in the rear view mirror "So, what is your thing?" she asked to Leah.
"Hooking up with random girls." Seth answered laughing before his sister could answer herself and Leah turned around to punch her brother in the arm, scolding him.
Bella arched her eyebrows, surprised and curious at the same time. Leah indeed looked like the womanizer type.
"Ignore him." Leah told her, ending the topic before answering Bella's original question "I'm into mechanics, actually. I like fixing cars, bikes and whatever."
"Oh, yeah. You mentioned that you worked in this car's engine. Good work." Bella said genuinely and Leah smiled, the compliment going straight for her ego "So, how about you, Jake? Besides being a pot-head, of course."
"Of course," Jacob agreed chuckling "Is it going to sound weird if I say that my hobby is to cook?"
"Not at all, by all means, come by my house everyday to cook for me." Bella half-joked, wishing Jacob would indeed come by her house to cook for her and Charlie. Just thinking about all the things she'd have to do for herself now tired her.
"I may take the invite." Jacob joked back.
"Please do!" Bella said dramatically "What about you, Seth?"
"I like reading, writing sometimes." Seth shrugged, not giving too much valor to what he was saying. "I'm not good, though."
"Oh, shut up, Seth. You're great! You should see his poems, they are beautiful." Leah said proudly of her baby brother and Seth smiled sheepishly at the compliment.
"Oh, a sweet beautiful guy that doesn't do drugs and writes poems? I may or may not be falling for you right now, young Seth." Bella joked and started to laugh once she saw Seth puzzled face in the rear mirror "I'm just kidding, Seth. You're too young for me. But anyone would be lucky to be with you."
"Thanks, Bella." Seth thanked with a small smile. Bella was mesmerized with how much that boy smiled, never once letting it drop from his face.
Bella's phone rang once and she went to retrieve it to see a message from Charlie asking if everything was alright and if she lost herself because she was taking too long. Bella took that as her cue to drive them back to her house, Leah not even needing to give her anymore directions, Bella founding her away through Forks small streets quickly.
"Want some more for tomorrow? So you can take the pressure off the first day." Jacob said once they were approaching the house, the plastic bag appearing again in his hand.
"Nah, I'm good. I think I should be sober for my first day, so people won't notice that I'm even weirder than I appear." Bella said without even sparing a minute to think about it "There's Charlie, too. I don't think he'd be happy to know his daughter is a stoner."
"I'd hardly call you a stoner, Bells." Leah said with her disinterested voice "There's a long way to go before you can alto claim yourself a stoner."
Bella rolled her eyes at what the girl was saying. She was beautiful, somewhat nice but also somewhat a complete asshole.
"Okay, but if you ever need it, it's just a call away." Jacob continued, hiding the little recipient back in his pocket.
Bella parked outside her house, the day already setting, just a few minutes away from going completely dark. Charlie opened the door once he heard the car pulling over, Harry not long behind.
"Thanks guys." Bella said after hugging each one of them, once again glad with the thought that she had people to rely on if she ever needed.
Not long after, Harry excused himself and said his goodbyes to the Swans before hoping inside his own car and driving his children and Jacob back to La Push. Inside the house Charlie asked if Bella had a good time, she answered him that she did, and that was all Charlie wanted to hear before going back to the living room and Bella shouting a '"good-night" before heading upstairs to her bedroom.
She finished putting her clothes in the old pine dresser and took her bag of bathroom necessities and went to the communal bathroom to clean herself up after the day she had. She looked at her face in the mirror as she brushed through her tangled, damp hair. Maybe it was the light, but she already looked sallower; unhealthy. Her skin could be pretty, it was very clear, almost translucent-looking, but it all depended on color. It was pretty in the sun, but there was no color or sun in Forks.
When Bella was in bed she started to think about the fact that she didn't relate well to people of her age. Maybe the truth was that she didn't relate well to people, period. Even her mother, whom she was closer to than anyone else on the planet, was never in harmony with her, never on exactly the same page. Sometimes Bella wondered if what she was seeing through her eyes the same things the rest of the world was seeing through theirs. Maybe there was a glitch in her brain after all the weed.
But thanks to the sacred pot, Bella was able to sleep not long after her internal monologue. The tiresome of her day helping it.
The next day the thick fog was all Bella could see out of her window in the morning, and suddenly she could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on her. You could never see the sky in Forks, it was like a cage.
Breakfast with Charlie was a quiet event. He wished Bella good luck at school. She thanked him, knowing his hope was wasted - good luck tended to avoid Bella. Charlie left first, off to the police station that was his true wife and family. Bella didn't blame him, for years that police station was probably all he knew and lived.
After he left, Bella sat at the old square oak table in one of the three unmatching chairs and examined his small kitchen, with its dark paneled walls, bright wood cabinets, and white linoleum floor. Nothing was changed. Over the small fireplace in the adjoining handkerchief-sized family room was a row of pictures. First a wedding picture of Charlie and Renée in Las Vegas, then one of the three of them in the hospital after Bella was born, taken by a helpful nurse, followed by the procession of Bella's school pictures up to last year's. Those were embarrassing to look at and Bella would have to see what she could do to get Charlie to put them somewhere else, at least while she was living there.
Bella didn't want to be too early to school, but she couldn't stay in the house anymore. She donned her over-sized military jacket and headed out into the rain.
It was just drizzling still, not enough to soak Bella through immediately. She reached for the house key that was always hidden under the eaves by the door, and locked up. The sloshing of her new waterproof boots was unnerving. She missed the normal crunch of gravel as she walked. She couldn't pause and admire her Chevelle again as she wanted since she was in a hurry to get out of the misty wet that swirled around her head and clung to her hair.
It was nice and dry inside her car and she promptly turned on the heat. She plugged her phone on the aux cable and soon Another Sky by Scenic started to play. A happy tune to start the day, the nerves of anxiety starting to show. Maybe I should've accepted the ganja after all, Bella thought.
Finding the school wasn't difficult, though Bella'd never been there before. The school was, like most other things, just off the highway. It was not obvious that it was a school; only the sign, which declared it to be the Forks High School, made Bella stop. It looked like a collection of matching houses, built with maroon-colored bricks. There were so many trees and shrubs she couldn't see its size at first. Where was the feel of the institution? She wondered already nostalgically. Where were the chain-link fences, the metal detectors?
Forks High School had a frightening total of only three hundred and fifty-seven, now fifty-eight students; there were more than seven hundred people in Bella's junior class alone back in Phoenix. All of the kids in Forks had grown up together, probably even their grandparents had been toddlers together. Bella would be the new girl from the big city, a curiosity, a freak.
Bella parked in front of the first building, which had a small sign over the door reading FRONT OFFICE. No one else was parked there, so Bella was sure it was off limits, but she decided to get directions inside instead of circling around in the rain like an idiot. She stepped unwillingly out of the Chevelle and walked down a little stone path lined with dark hedges. She took a deep breath before opening the door.
Inside, it was brightly lit, and warmer than Bella'd hoped. The office was small; a little waiting area with padded folding chairs, orange-flecked commercial carpet, notices and awards cluttering the walls, a big clock ticking loudly. Plants grew everywhere in large plastic pots, as if there wasn't enough greenery outside. The room was cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored flyers taped to its front. There were three desks behind the counter, one of which was manned by a large, red-haired woman wearing glasses.
The red-haired woman looked up "Can I help you?"
"I'm Isabella Swan," Bella informed her, and saw the immediate awareness light her eyes. Daughter of the Chief's flighty ex-wife, come home at last.
"Of course," she said. She dug through a precariously stacked pile of documents on her desk till she found the ones she was looking for. "I have your schedule right here, and a map of the school." She brought several sheets to the counter to show Bella.
She went through the classes for Bella, highlighting the best route to each on the map, and gave her a slip to have each teacher sign, which she was to bring back at the end of the day. She smiled at Bella and hoped, like Charlie, that she'd like it here in Forks. Bella smiled back as convincingly as she could.
When Bella went back out to her car, other students were starting to arrive. She drove around the school, following the line of traffic.
She looked at the map in the car, trying to memorize it now, hopefully she wouldn't have to walk around with it stuck in front of her nose all day. She stuffed everything in her bag, unplugged her phone out of the aux cord and plugged her earphone, not wanting to stop listening to her music, one of the only things that relaxed her. She slung the strap over her shoulder, and sucked in a huge breath. I can do this, she lied to herself feebly. No one is going to bite me. She finally exhaled and stepped out of the Chevelle.
Bella kept her face down as she walked to the sidewalk, crowded with teenagers. Once she got around the cafeteria, building three was easy to spot. A large black "3" was painted on a white square on the east corner. She felt her breathing gradually creeping toward hyperventilation as she approached the door. She tried holding her breath as she followed two unisex raincoats through the door.
The classroom was small. The people in front of Bella stopped just inside the door to hang up their coats on a long row of hooks. She copied them. They were two girls, one a porcelain-colored blonde, the other also pale, with light brown hair. At least her skin wouldn't be a standout here like it was in Phoenix.
Bella took the slip up to the teacher, a tall, balding man whose desk had a nameplate identifying him as Mr. Mason. He gawked at her when he saw her name. He sent Bella to an empty desk at the back without introducing her to the class, which Bella was very grateful for. It was harder for the people on the classroom to stare at her in the back, but somehow, they managed.
When the bell rang 45 minutes later a gangly asian boy with hair black as an oil slick leaned across the aisle to talk to Bella.
"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" he looked like the overly helpful, chess club type.
"Bella," she corrected. Everyone within a three-seat radius turned to look at her.
"Where's your next class?" he asked.
She had to check in my bag. "Um, World History, with Jefferson, in building six."
Bella was getting nervous by the second, there was nowhere to look without meeting curious eyes.
"I'm headed toward building four, I could show you the way." Definitely over-helpful, Bella thought "I'm Eric," he added.
Bella smiled tentatively. "Thanks."
They got their jackets and headed out into the rain, which had picked up. She could've sworn several people behind they were walking close enough to eavesdrop. She just hoped she wasn't getting paranoid.
"So, this is a lot different than Phoenix, huh?" he asked.
"Very."
"It doesn't rain much there, does it?"
"Three or four times a year."
"Wow, what must that be like?" he wondered.
"Sunny," she told him.
"You don't look very tan."
"My mother is part albino." Bella joked.
He studied her face apprehensively, and she sighed. It looks like clouds and a sense of humor don't mix around here. A few months of this and she'd forget how to use sarcasm. Or she'd just have to stick with Leah. She wondered if she could transfer schools to the reservation even if she wasn't part of the tribe, like some sort of exchange student.
They walked back around the cafeteria, to the south buildings by the gym. Eric walked her right to the door, though it was clearly marked.
"Well, good luck," he said as she touched the handle. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together." He sounded hopeful.
She smiled at him vaguely and went inside.
The rest of the morning passed in about the same fashion. Her Trigonometry teacher, Mr. Varner, who she would've hated anyway just because of the subject he taught, made her stand in front of the class and introduce herself. She stammered, blushed, and tripped over her own boots on the way to her seat.
After two classes, Bella started to recognize several of the faces in each class. There was always someone braver than the others who would introduce themselves and ask her questions about how she was liking Forks. Bella tried to be diplomatic, but mostly she just lied a lot. At least she never needed the map.
One girl, Jessica, sat next to her in both Trig and Spanish, and she walked with Bella to the cafeteria for lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than Bella's five feet four inches, but her wildly curly brown hair made up a lot of the difference between their heights.
They sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced to Bella. She forgot all their names as soon as they spoke them. They seemed impressed by Jessica's bravery in speaking to the new girl. The boy from English, Eric, waved at her from across the room.
It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that Bella first saw them.
They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where the other students sat as possible in the long room. There were six of them. They weren't talking and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. All of them too focused on their phone, each one seemly to do something different with it. They weren't gawking at her, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an excessively interested pair of eyes. But it was none of these things that caught, and held Bella's attention.
They didn't look anything alike. Of the three boys, one was big, muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, french crop hair. He was dressed like he just came out of a Kanye West runaway show. Another was taller, leaner, but still muscular with honey blond long curly hair, his preppy style made him look like he was older than he should, older than a college student. The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-colored hair. He was more boyish than the others, wearing normal clothes someone of their age should use.
The girls were opposites. The short girl was pixielike, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction. She wore a colorful dress, something that made her look like a art student. The other with the brown hat was medium sized, her hair bronze-colored just like the last boy, with a bright smile on her face, she laughed at something the big guy said. Her style could be described as something out of the 70s, the 'bohemian chic' fashion nowadays, very pretty in comparison with the other girls of their school, she exhaled a 'hippie' vibe and Bella couldn't help but think that she'd be someone fun to have around.
Bella then changed her interest to the last one in the table, and nothing could've prepared her for it. Standing in the right side of the table, far from the others was the most gorgeous person Bella had ever seen. She had a tall statuesque figure, the kind you saw on the cover of Vogue, that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was a blonde ombre, with the tip of her hair a bright color of blonde, almost platinum blonde, gently waving to the middle of her back, her clothes nothing but the most glamorous things Bella was sure she bought on a brand shop on 5th Avenue or Champs-Élysées, definitely not something she luckily found in a second hand store in Forks.
And yet, they were all exactly alike. Every one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the students living in this sunless town. Paler than Bella, the 'albino chick'. They all had very dark eyes despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under those eyes, purplish; bruiselike shadows, like they weren't familiar with the concept of sleeping at night or as if they almost done recovering from a broken nose. Though their noses like all their features, were straight, perfect.
Bella couldn't look away. They were so inhumanly beautiful, like some sort of energy was making her pay them attention to appreciate their beauty. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a Teen Vogue, with the exception of the blonde girl, she was definitely Vogue material, but never in a place like Forks. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful after the blonde, maybe the bronze-haired boy. Or the hippie girl, but Bella couldn't quite decide for sure.
They were all inserted in their own little bubble, like they were the only ones there. Bella kept watching until the small girl rose with her tray and walked away with a quick, graceful lope that belonged on a runway, amazed at the girl's lithe dancer's step, till she dumped her tray and glided through the back door, faster than Bella would have thought possible. Her eyes darted back to the others, who sat unchanging.
"Who are they?" Bella asked the girl from her Spanish class, Jessica.
As Jessica looked up to see who Bella was talking about, the drop-dead gorgeous blonde looked at their table. She looked at Jessica for just a fraction of a second and then her dark eyes flickered to Bella's.
She looked away quickly, more quickly than Bella could've done first, though in a flush of embarrassment she dropped her eyes at once. In that brief flash of a glance, her face held nothing of interest, just as if Bella had called her name, and she'd looked up in involuntary response, already having decided not to answer.
Jessica giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table just like Bella.
"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, Ophelia Sinclair and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen, she's really weird; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She said this under her breath.
Bella glanced sideways at the beautiful girl, who was looking at her tray now, picking a bagel to pieces with long, pale fingers. Her mouth was moving very quickly, her perfect lips barely opening. The other four looked away, and yet felt like she was speaking quietly to them.
Strange, unpopular names, Bella thought. The kinds of names grandparents had. But maybe that was in vogue here.
"They are... very nice-looking." Bella struggled with the conspicuous understatement.
"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all together though. Emmett and Ophelia, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together." Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town.
"They kind keep to themselves." Angela, the brown-haired girl from her World History said.
"Yeah, 'cause they're all together. Like together, together. I'm not even sure that's legal."
"Jess, they're not actually related." Angela insisted.
"Yeah, but they live together. It's weird."
"Which ones are the Cullens?" Bella asked, intrigued.
"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, twins, the blondes. And they're foster children."
"They look a little old for foster children." Bella pointed out.
"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that." Jessica continued.
"That's really kind of nice, for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything."
"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly, and Bella got the impression that she didn't like the doctor and his wife for some reason. With the glances she was throwing at their adopted children, she would presume the reason was jealousy. Who wouldn't be jealous of their beauty?
"I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," she added, as if that lessened their kindness.
Throughout all this conversation, Bella's eyes flickered again and again to the table where the strange family sat. They continued to look at their phones and not eat.
"Have they always lived in Forks?" Bella asked. Surely she would have noticed them on one of her summers here. It was indeed a small town after all.
"No," Jessica said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like Bella. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Iceland."
"Iceland?" Bella asked impressed. "They must be loaded."
"Oh, they are. Or at least is what their clothes and cars gives away, no one's ever seen their house." Jessica admitted, a conspiracy tone to her voice.
Bella felt a surge of pity, and relief. Pity because, as beautiful as they were, they were outsiders, clearly not accepted. And relief that she wasn't the only newcomer here, and certainly not the most interesting by any standard.
As she examined them, one of the boys, looked up and met her gaze, this time with evident curiosity in his expression. As she looked swiftly away, it seemed that his glance held some kind of unmet expectation.
"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" she asked as she peeked at him from the corner of her eyes, and he was still staring at her, but not gawking like the other students had today.
"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." Jessica sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. Bella wondered when he'd turned her down.
Bella bit her lip to hide her smile. When she glanced at his table again his face was turned away, but she could've sworn his cheek appeared lifted, as if he were smiling, too.
"He's the one single, right?" Jessica nodded "Doesn't he have some kind of thing with the other girl that's also single? You said they're all together."
"Rosalie? Oh no, she's picky like him, but like one hundred times worse. She doesn't even acknowledge other people when they talk to her, as if she can't see them or something." Jessica glanced at a blonde guy across the cafeteria and came close to Bella so she could spill the tea "There's this one time when Mike asked her out, she didn't even looked at him even once. It was cringe to watch. And that because Mike's one of the popular guys around here. She must probably only date college dudes, or whatever."
After a few more minutes, the five of them left the table together. They all were noticeably graceful, even the big, brawny one. The girl named Rosalie didn't look at Bella again, nor did Edward.
Bella sat at the table with Jessica and her friends longer than she would have if she'd been sitting alone, but she put on her earphones, eager to shut down the conversation with some good music but keeping an eye on the clock so she wouldn't be late for class on her first day.
One of the girls she met that day, and actually liked, Angela, had Biology II with her the next hour. They walked to class together in silence. She was shy, too. When they entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped lab table. She looked at Bella with an apologetic face once she realized that Bella would stay without a neighbor.
In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, Bella recognized Ophelia Sinclair by her hat, something that Bella wasn't sure was allowed in school grounds, sitting next to that single open seat.
As Bella walked down the aisle to introduce herself to the teacher, she watched the girl surreptitiously. Just as she went to sit next to her, Bella stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch herself on the edge of a table, a dark shade of pink creeping on her face. A warmer laugh came from the girl and Bella looked away quickly, shocked, but returned the smile. The students around them giggled.
The first thing Bella noticed was that the girl's eyes were golden, like pure melted gold. It gave her a more unique feature.
"Hey." said a quiet, musical voice.
"Hi." Bella said with an awkward small wave of hand.
"I'm Ophelia Sinclair," she continued, introducing herself "You must be Bella Swan, right?"
"You know about me?" Bella was surprised with the fact, if the way they ignored her in the cafeteria was anything to go by.
"Of course. I think everyone knows your name. The whole town's been waiting for you the Chief's daughter to arrive."
Bella grimaced. She knew that was one of the consequences of being the chiefs' daughter in a small town, but still.
Before Bella could come up with something to say the teacher started class. She exchange another small smile with the girl sitting next to her before dragging her eyes to stay focused in the front row, where her teacher was currently explaining the lab they'd be doing.
The slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, they had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. They weren't supposed to use their books. In twenty minutes, he would be coming around to see who had it right.
"Get started," Mr. Molina commanded.
"You wanna go first, partner?" Ophelia asked and Bella looked up to see her smiling a crooked smile so beautiful that she could only stare at her like an idiot. Was it possible she was crushing on this girl right off the bat? "Or I could start, if you wish." The smile slightly faded.
"No," Bella said, flushing. "I'll go ahead."
She was showing off, just a little. She'd already done this lab, and she knew what she was looking for. Back in Phoenix she'd take AP classes whenever possible, so this should be easy.
She snapped the first slide into place under the microscope and adjusted it quickly to the 40X objective. She studied the slide briefly.
Her assessment was confident. "Prophase."
"Do you mind if I look?" Ophelia asked as Bella began to remove the slide. Her hand caught Bella's, to stop her, as she asked. Her fingers were ice-cold, like she'd been holding them in a snowdrift before class. Bella eyed the girl, a stunned expression adorning her face.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, pulling her hand back immediately. However, she continued to reach for the microscope. "Prophase," she agreed, writing it neatly in the first space on their worksheet.
She swiftly switched out the first slide for the second, and then glanced at it cursorily.
"Anaphase," she murmured, writing it down as she spoke.
"May I?" Bella said trying to keep her voice indifferent.
Ophelia smirked and pushed the microscope to her. Bella looked through the eyepiece eagerly, only to be disappointed. Dang it, she's right.
"Slide three?" Bella held out her hand without looking at the girl. She handed it to Bella as it seemed like she was being careful not to touch her skin again.
"Interphase." Bella passed her the microscope before she could ask for it. She took a swift peek, and then wrote it down.
They finished before anyone else and as Bella glanced at the watch in her wrist she noticed that there was still some time to kill before class was finished.
"So," Ophelia took the opportunity to make small talk "How are you liking town, so far?"
"It's..." Bella squinted her eyes trying to come up with a word to best describe it "Something, I suppose. Different and at the same time the same as I remembered." Bella let a little chuckle "I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is a boring place to live."
"Oh, so you used to live here?"
"No, not really. I was born here, though, but mom and dad got divorced when I was 3 and I went to live with her but I spent every summer with my dad." Bella looked out of the window to see that it was raining "I never got used to the weather here."
"You don't like cold, rainy days?"
Bella shook her head with such intensity that it startled Ophelia "I grew up in California before moving to Arizona, so I can say that I'm pretty much used to sunny, hot days."
Ophelia leaned over as if conspiratorially "I don't like the weather, either. I love sunny days, but unfortunately there are so many here in Forks. Gotta make the best of them when it happens."
Before Bella could ask what Ophelia meant by 'making the best of the sunny days', Mr. Molina came to their table then, to see why they weren't working. He looked over their shoulders to glance at the completed lab, and then stared more intently to check the answers.
"So, Miss Sinclair, didn't you think Isabella should get a chance with the microscope?" Mr. Molina asked.
"Actually, she identified three of the five." Ophelia said matter-of-factly and Mr. Molina looked at Bella with a skeptical expression.
"Have you done this lab before?" he asked her.
Bella smiled sheepishly before nodding "Not with onion root."
"Whitefish blastula?"
"Yeah."
Mr. Molina nodded. "Were you in an advanced placement program in Phoenix?"
"Yes."
"Well," he said after a moment, "I guess it's good you two are lab partners." he glanced at the watch on the wall above the blackboard before turning to talk to the pair "Since you two finished in record time, I guess I can make an exception and let you guys leave class earlier." He mumbled something else as he walked away.
Bella started to gather her things inside her backpack before she noticed that Ophelia wasn't next to her but instead waiting for her on the outside of the door's class. Bella passed her teacher and said her goodbye before following her partner.
"Did he ever let you leave early?" Bella asked once they were walking the scarce hallways, everyone still in class.
"Yes, most of the time, actually. I have this tendency to finish early and them he gives me an assignment that I can either choose to make in class in my free time or take home as homework, and I always choose the later." she opened her arms "I like being 'alone' in the hallways, even if just for a minute. It's a nice contrast to all the chaos that comes with the bell ringing."
And just as she said it the bell rang announcing the end of the class and the beginning of the other, making Bella anxious about the fact that she totally forgot about her next class and that she has no idea where that class is.
She turned to look at Ophelia that continued to walk aimlessly, or at least it was what seemed to Bella, as if she didn't hear the bell ringing or didn't notice all the chaos she just spoke about forming right before their eyes and all around them.
"Uh, can you take me to my next class?" Bella asked sheepishly as it was hard for her to ask for anything from the girl standing next to her "It's just that I'm still trying to figure out my way around here and I'm pretty sure this class is in the other sid—" she continue to rumble until Ophelia interrupted her, her hands going to touch Bella's arms before stopping mid-action and dropping them to hold her bag.
"Of course, Bella." Ophelia smiled, making Bella swoon a little bit "Which one is it?"
"English AP."
Ophelia glanced at the end of the hall, smiling once she caught eyes of something or someone, Bella wasn't sure, before turning and making Bella turn with her.
"It is in the building next door." she explained once she saw the furrow in Bella's face.
"And your class is over there, too?"
"No, it's on the end of this hall, but I don't mind accompanying you." her smile was enough to make Bella drop the subject.
They managed to make to the class just 2 minutes late, but was enough to draw more attention once Ophelia opened the door to Bella and everyone stared at them, including the drop-dead gorgeous blonde from the cafeteria, the one and only infamous Ice Queen Rosalie Hale.
Her features hardened and her posture changed from where she was sat in the back of the class, away from everyone. Bella was immediately bewildered by the antagonistic stare she'd given her, a stare that somehow managed to get worse once she saw who was behind Bella. She exchanged what seemed like a fast and silent conversation with Ophelia, that reciprocated before she excused herself from Bella to go to her own class.
The teacher, Mrs. Lynch welcomed Bella into class, introducing her to the students before requesting that she find a place to sit so she could continue explaining what she'd been doing when Bella'd arrived.
Bella took a look around the class and found two sits available. One in the front row, close to the teacher's table and one in front of the blonde's table. Usually, Bella wouldn't mind sitting in the front of the class, especially in a class that she loved like English, but something inside her made her make her way to the table in the end of the class, and without even noticing she was standing next to it, looking at the blonde that up until that moment was engrossed in her own notebook, but once she noticed Bella standing in front of her she lifted her head and glared at her. The stiff position she assumed once Bella entered the class still on.
Bella stared back and the first thing she noticed aside how beautiful the girl was up-close was how dark her eyes were, a coal black, nothing like Ophelia's golden honey. And Bella couldn't help but wonder how the girl would look with them adorning her flawless face.
Rosalie continued to glare with a slight furrowed brow, daring Bella to say or do something, but didn't offer nothing to say. After what felt like forever Bella notice she had been staring and acting creepy before taking her sit and opening her material. She didn't take her eyes from her book but she could sense someone looking at her; she could feel it in her neck and the way her hair shivered with it.
Throughout the class Bella couldn't pay attention. At the beginning she kept reading the reading list the teacher gave her. It was fairly basic: Brontë, Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, Chaucer, Faulkner. She had already read everything. That was comforting and for a minute Bella let her mind wander away from the class, to her mother, if she'd send Bella's folder of old essays or if she'd think that was cheating. But for the rest of the class Bella kept nervously scribbling in her notebook and gladly her teacher never asked her a thing, but the class seemed to drag longer than the others. Sometimes Bella would twitch her head left to the side just enough to peek at the girl behind her, and all the time she'd seen the girl glaring back, her black eyes full of revulsion. Bella was sure that if a look could kill, she'd be 6 feet deep under already.
Just a second before the bell rang Rosalie was out of her seat and out the door before anyone else was out of their seat. Bella sat frozen in her seat, staring blankly after her. The fuck is wrong with her? Bella thought. She began gathering up her things slowly, trying to block the anger that filled her, for fear her eyes would tear up and she'd drawn more attention. For some weird reason, her temper was hardwired to her tear ducts, usually crying when she was angry or in a extremely stressful situation, a honest humiliating tendency.
"Aren't you Isabella Swan?" a male voice asked, startling Bella.
She looked up to see a cute, baby-faced boy, his pale blond hair carefully gelled into orderly spikes, smiling at her in a friendly way. He obviously didn't hate her.
"Bella," she corrected him, with a smile.
"I'm Mike."
"Hi, Mike."
"Do you need any help finding your next class?"
"I have a free period, actually. I'm heading to the administration office, I think I can find it."
"I have free period, too. I can totally accompany you." he seemed thrilled, though it wasn't that big of a coincidence in a school this small.
They walked to the administration class together. All the while he talked, supplying most of the conversation, which made it easy for Bella. She found that he'd lived in California till he was ten, so he knew how she felt about the sun. It turned out he was in her gym class also. He was one of the nicest person she'd met today.
Bella entered the room, Mike following close by, but as soon as she entered she nearly left once she saw Rosalie talking to the woman on the other side of the balcony. She didn't appear to notice the sound of their entrance.
"There must be something open. Another AP class, perhaps? Art History? Latin?" Rosalie said with a sweet smile on her face, as if she was trying to seduce the woman into giving into her will.
Her voice was like velvet to Bella's ears, the most beautiful thing she's ever heard. She was so entranced in it that she didn't notice the nature of the conversation. The girl was trying to change classes because of her, Bella couldn't believe what was happening.
"No," the woman behind said after glancing once more to the computer in front of her "Every class is full. I'm afraid you'll have to stay in English AP, I'm sorry." And she really looked sorry for not being able to help the blonde.
Once she saw Bella and Mike standing at the door looking at them the woman gestured for them to wait a moment and that was when Rosalie noticed her standing there staring at her. She immediately straightened, glaring back with her piercing, hate-filled eyes.
The intensity was such that Bella stumbled back with fear and Mike had to grab her by the arms so she wouldn't hit her back on the wall.
"I'll just have to endure it, then." Rosalie said and in a swift movement she strided out of the door. Bella followed suit a moment later, distressed, completely forgetting the reason why she went to the administration office in the first place.
Bella didn't notice that Mike was still following her until he spoke again.
"So, did you stab Rosalie Hale with an eyeliner in the girl's room or what? I've never seen her act like that."
"You noticed that, huh?" Bella cringed "I don't know what I ever did to this girl, seriously. This is my first day and I feel like she already planned my death." Bella joked but she would never know how right she was.
"Yeah," he said. "She looked like she was ready to jump on you or something."
"I never even spoke to her."
"She's just a mean girl," Mike said with some sort of dislike in his voice and Bella remember Jessica saying that Mike once tried to ask Rosalie out and didn't even heard a response "You shouldn't take it personally. Her entire family is weird."
"I talked to Ophelia today, she's in my Bio class. She seemed nice." Bella felt an urgent need to defend the family, or at the least the only member she got to meet.
They reached the parking lot, most of the students using the free time to go home early. Bella's eyes automatically scanned to see if she could find the family in question.
"Ophelia's... okay, I talked to her, too. She's the 'normal' of the bunch, her boyfriend, too, Emmett, the big guy. We have social studies together, he's pretty funny." Mike mumbled but Bella wasn't paying any attention.
Bella got to her car and Mike said goodbye before going to his own car, parked just across from hers. Bella looked around once more and found all six of them standing next to expensive-looking sport cars - the one's Jessica mentioned earlier - looking at her.
They stopped once the bronze-haired guy, Edward, said something, catching their attention. Bella continued to watch, seeing how they all seemed to forget that they were staring at her not even 2 minutes ago, before Ophelia turned to look once more and smiled at her before Rosalie started saying something with a angry expression. A minute after she opened the driver's door of a too expensive red car and speed off the parking lot. Bella waited for the end of Gangsta's Paradise start to play and a explosion take place at the background, feeling like she was inside an action teen movie, but of course none of it happened.
Rosalie left her family to divide themselves in two groups and leave in two other cars, much less expensive than the one she drove, but still probably each one costing more than Charlie, Renée and Phil's annual salary combined together.
Bella took that as an excuse to hop inside her own old Chevelle and once she was inside she lost it, not being able to hold back the angry tears. She sat inside for a while wishing to lose the sense of reality around her with the weed Jacob had offered the day prior and for the end of the day as soon as possible.
She turned the key and started the engine, before taking off she also pressed the heater button and hooked her cellphone in the aux cable, she pressed play on her Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify, letting the soothing melody of a random song calm her troubled soul and headed back to Charlie's house, tears rolling down her face the whole way there. I hate Forks.
A/N: Yep, I shamelessly used whole passages from the books and I don't care because my idea is better than smeyer's ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Tell me if you guys liked it and want me to keep posting, but tbh I don't plan on updating it before 2019 because I'm travelling next month and I'll only be back in feb/19 so y'all have to wait.