Hey, Leah here. This is my first ever fanfiction. I don't own twilight. Rayne's name is pronounced Rain just different spelling. It's something I came up with when I was sixteen. I always wanted to name my daughter that. Enjoy and please leave some feedback.
Three small kids, two boys and one girl, looked up at the three teenagers, one boy and two girls, standing next to them.
"You really think this will work?" One of the boys asked. He looked about six years old, but he was more mature mentally.
"I'm positive EJ. We have to do this. It will stop a lot of fighting and pain." The oldest, the boy teenager said. "Especially for your Dad."
EJ nodded with determination. "Then my brother and I stand behind you."
The other small boy stepped up beside his brother and gave a firm nod. "I stand behind you."
One of the girl teenagers rolled her eyes. "Come on guys, this is stupid. Lets just do this and be home soon before mom has a cow."
The other girl teenager elbowed the girl in the ribs. "Knock it off. We will be fine."
"Levi?" The smallest, the girl kid tugged on the oldest teenagers sleeve. "I stand behind you." She said as carefully as she can.
Levi scooped up the girl. "Come on Rayne, Lottie, it won't work unless you agree as well."
The eye roller stepped up. "I stand behind you."
The elbow nudger stepped up as well. "I stand behind you."
As the girl said the last word a bright light surrounded the six.
When the light cleared they were standing in the same exact spot as before, except the dawn was just beginning to break.
"Did we do it?" EJ asked.
"I think so. Let's go find everyone. Maybe Billy can help us." Levi walked out of the clearing they were in and started for the Black's house.
An hour later Billy Black sat in thought as he watched the six kids that had come into his house.
"And this will help everyone? There won't be any more pain from the pack?" He clarified.
"Yes Sir." Levi said firmly.
"I don't even know who you six are. How can I trust you?" Billy put forth.
Rayne leaned forward. "Because some of us are family."
Billy studied Rayne and his eyes widened in shock. She was right. He didn't know how, but she was right. "Okay. I'll get everyone together."
After a few calls were made the Quileute pack of shape shifters were gathered at the tribal hall.
Billy rolled up to the front of the room. "Listen up." The room went silent at Billy's voice. "These six kids were brought here by the spirits to help our pack. We will listen to them and respect them." Billy gestured for Levi to stand up front with him.
"Hi. I'm Levi Uley. Before you guys go all crazy, let me speak please. My parents are Sam Uley and Emily Young." As Levi spoke a gasp was heard at the back of the room. "Yup. Hi, Mom. Hi. Dad. Please don't kill us when we get home because we are trying to make everything better. Some of us will not tell you one or both of our parent's names because we don't want to spoil things. Here is Rayne Lahote. Her father is Paul Lahote." Another gasp broke out in the room. There were some sounds of mocking laughter.
"I imprint?" Paul stands up.
Rayne steps forward. "Yes, you do. To the most kick ass woman on the planet."
"That proves that she's your daughter." Jared laughed, his arms were wrapped around Kim.
Paul shrugs and sits down.
Levi clears his throat. "Thank you. Now this is Charlotte Mahan. We call her Lottie. Her parents are Jared Mahan and Kim Connweller."
The elbow nudger from the beginning steps up next to Levi. "Hi." Lottie waves.
Kim makes a choking noise. Jared rubs her back.
"Levi! Is it my turn yet?" The young girl runs up next to Levi and pulls on him.
"Sure sweetie." Levi scoops her up. "This is Emma Ateara. She's Quil's daughter."
Quil looked down at Claire in his lap and points.
"Yes, Daddy. That's Momma." Emma giggled.
Quil pales. Embry and Jacob laugh, slapping him on the back.
"And these two are twins. EJ and Jay Black. They are Jacob's sons." Levi spoke up.
Jacob stops laughing and stares at the obviously half-breed boys. EJ had tan skin, brown hair and green eyes. Jay had tan skin, black hair, and milk chocolate eyes. They looked like Bella, maybe there was some hope.
"Sorry, Dad, but our mom is not Bella." Jay spoke.
Jacob deflated. Embry consoled him by patting his back. Jacob shoved him off.
Levi looked around with steady eyes. "We asked all of you here because you need to understand something. We all need to get along. We do in fact. The Cullens and most of us are good in the future." There were loud growls in the room. "I know you don't believe it, but Listen!" Levi roared. "This pack goes through so much shit and heartbreak and we want to fix that. Leah, you are not defective. You body, simply put is more wolf like than human. You can research it if you like. Nor are you the only female wolf anymore. Rayne and Lottie are both wolves. I'm a wolf. EJ and Jay are different, but they will eventually phase. Emma here is human. Your imprint is out there. I won't tell you who or how but he is. In fact all of the wolves imprint. Embry, Seth, yours our out there as well. Now, can we please do what we came here for or are you all gonna growl at me like the pissed off mutts you are?" Levi glared at all of the wolves in the room.
Everyone settled down.
"Thank you. Aunt Sue? Can you go bring Charlie in?" Levi pleaded.
Sue Clearwater nodded and went to go let Chief Swan in the room.
Charlie came in and took a seat in the back.
"Chief?" Levi asked. "Can you come up here?"
Charlie made his way up to the front of the room.
"I just want to introduce you to us. We are here to change your life and make it better. I'm Levi. That's Rayne, Lottie, EJ, Jay, and Emma. You can sit down now." Levi said. "We are here to read some books about the Quileutes, the Cullens, and the Swans. They will be in Bella's point of view. There are in four books and the last book has Jacob's point of view in it. Mainly they are in Bella's. This is so you can get a good look at what runs through her head and how she see's things. Lottie, if you please?"
Lottie pulled off a messenger bag she was carrying. She pulled out four thick books. "I don't remember which one it was first." She handed them to Levi.
Levi scratched his head. "Is it New Moon?"
"No. It's Eclipse." Rayne argued.
"Breaking Dawn." Emma giggled.
EJ sighed. "Guys, you should've asked us. It's Twilight. New Moon. Eclipse. Then Breaking Dawn."
Jay nodded. "Yeah. Perfect memory here."
"Oh, right." Levi smiled sheepishly. Levi held up the first book. "Who wants to read first?"
Charlie raised his hand. "I would, if you don't mind."
"Sure." Levi took the book to Charlie. Before he handed it over he said, "Charlie, remember, Bella has lived her whole life with Renee, she doesn't really know you. Some things might be thought that she doesn't mean."
"I'll be fine." Charlie insisted.
"That goes for everyone here. She thinks some thoughts that might be hurtful to some people. If you need to go for a walk just walk out and we will wait for you." Levi looked over the room.
Everyone nodded.
"Good." Levi handed the book to Charlie.
Charlie looked cautious, but opened the book to the first page. "Preface.
I'd never given much thought to how I would die - though I'd had reason enough in the last few months
Charlie's voice quivered a bit when he read that part. There also was quiet snarls and growls until Levi glared at everyone again. Levi nodded at Charlie to read.
- but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.
I stared without breathing across the long room, into the dark eyes of the hunter, and he looked pleasantly back at me.
"Wait. Does this have something to do with Edwin and the rest of the Cullens?" Charlie asked. Charlie had noticed a few things about the Cullens but had brushed it off. Maybe he shouldn't have done that.
Levi nodded. "This has everything to do with the Cullens and the Quileutes."
Charlie nodded and continued to read.
Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something.
I knew that if I'd never gone to Forks, I wouldn't be facing death now. But, terrified as I was, I couldn't bring myself to regret the decision. When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it's not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.
The hunter smiled in a friendly way as he sauntered forward to kill me.
Jacob growled and walked out of the room.
Levi sighed. "Your Dad is a real piece of work, you know that right?" He said to EJ and Jay so softly only the wolves could hear.
Some wolves snorted. "You got that right." Jared muttered.
Kim gently slapped his arm. "Knock it off."
After a few minutes Jacob walked back in the room. He nodded at Charlie to continue.
Charlie looked at Levi. "Do I continue?"
Rayne sighed. "Yes. I just want this over with. I want to go home."
"Rayne!" Levi barked. "Be careful what you say. You say something at the wrong time and they will send us back. They said we have to finish this once we started." Levi softened. "I know you want to go back to help your mom but she will be fine. Your Dad is with her. They got through having you, they will be fine."
"Your mom is going to have another baby?" Lottie asked excitedly.
Rayne nodded. "Yup. This makes baby number three."
The pack hooted and wolf whistled at Paul.
"Shut up." He bellowed.
Levi looked out at the crowd. "I wouldn't talk if I were some of you. Some of you are also on baby three. One of you is on baby four." He spoke quietly. "Charlie? Please can you read this?" Levi spoke louder so everyone could hear him.
Charlie cleared his throat and opened the book again. "Chapter One First Sight.
My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt - sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka.
In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America. It was from this town and its gloomy, omnipresent shade that my mother escaped with me when I was only a few months old. It was in this town that I'd been compelled to spend a month every summer until I was fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these past three summers, my dad, Charlie, vacationed with me in California for two weeks instead.
"This is what you were talking about, right?" Charlie asked. "How she calls me by my name instead of dad?"
Lottie nodded. "Among other things."
"There's more?" Charlie asked.
All future kids nodded.
"We've skimmed through it." Jay said.
Rayne snorted. "Skimming through for you is like slowly reading for us."
Jacob looked at his kids. There was something about them . . . Jacob tuned back in as Charlie began to read.
It was to Forks that I now exiled myself- an action that I took with great horror. I detested Forks. I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the blistering heat. I loved the vigorous, sprawling city.
"Bella," my mom said to me - the last of a thousand times - before I got on the plane. "You don't have to do this."
My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, harebrained mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Phil now, so the bills would probably get paid, there would be food in the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she got lost, but still…
"I want to go," I lied. I'd always been a bad liar, but I'd been saying this lie so frequently lately that it sounded almost convincing now.
"Tell Charlie I said hi."
Charlie closed the book and put his head in his hands. "I knew I should've fought harder for her."
EJ and Jay walked up to him. "It's not your fault Gr-" Jay elbowed EJ in the ribs. "I mean Charlie. Don't blame," a pause then he said, "Bella or you for this. It is Renee's fault. She is a good mom, just a scatterbrained one. Bella will be fine."
Jay nodded. "Yeah, don't blame yourself or Bella."
"EJ is the talker out of you both, isn't he?" Charlie asked.
Rayne snorted. "Not even. He's just a little shy like his grandma."
"I'm not shy!" Jay growled. "I just don't have much to say."
"Whatever you say, squirt." Rayne teased.
Jay moved to attack Rayne when Levi stood up. "Enough! Rayne, stop antagonizing him. Jay, calm down. She's just teasing."
EJ put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Come on, Jay. Let's go sit down." EJ led his twin over to Seth Clearwater. "Can we sit by you?"
"Sure."
EJ and Jay clasped hands. Jay sighed and cuddled in between Seth and EJ.
"Thanks." EJ said to Seth.
Emma skipped over to Quil. "I wanna sit by you." She plopped down on the floor next to Quil's knees.
Claire peeped her head over Quil's arms to look at Emma. "Hi."
"Hi." Emma laughed.
"Wanna play?" Claire asked.
Emma nodded. "I brought my dolly. Hold on. Lottie?"
"I've got it." Lottie got up and brought Emma's doll over to her.
Claire clambered down from Quil's lap and sank to the floor next to Emma, holding her own doll. The two girls began to play.
"That is so weird." Embry whispered.
Levi cleared his throat. "If we can continue?"
Charlie nodded and opened the book.
"I will."
"I'll see you soon," she insisted. "You can come home whenever you want -I'll come right back as soon as you need me."
But I could see the sacrifice in her eyes behind the promise.
"Don't worry about me," I urged. "It'll be great. I love you, Mom."
She hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I got on the plane, and she was gone.
It's 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 doesn't bother me; the hour in the car with Charlie, though, I was a little worried about.
Charlie had really been fairly nice about the whole thing. He seemed genuinely pleased that I was coming to live with him for the first time with any degree of permanence. He'd already gotten me registered for high school and was going to help me get a car.
But it was sure to be awkward with Charlie. Neither of us was what anyone would call verbose, and I didn't know what there was to say regardless. I knew he was more than a little confused by my decision - like my mother before me, I hadn't made a secret of my distaste for Forks.
When I landed in Port Angeles, it was raining. I didn't see it as an omen- just unavoidable. I'd already said my goodbyes to the sun.
"That's kinda sad." Kim said. At the looks she was getting she elaborated. "All of her life she has been in the sun. She took care of her mother by the sound of it, and all she knows is sun, warmth, and having to take care of her mother. I don't think she ever got to be a kid. She then moves up here to a man she barely knows, no offense Chief Swan, and she probably thinks she has to take care of him as well. All while she lives in the cold and the wet."
There were some understanding nods from Sue and Emily.
"See, it's kinda sad when you think about it." Kim pointed out.
"She gets over it." Rayne snorted. "After she meets Edward."
Jacob gave a soft growl at that. Rayne snapped back. "You want some, Baby Alpha. I've been itching for a fight for a while. Dad trained me. Come at me Jacob. Come. At. Me."
"Rayne!" Levi yelled.
"Jacob!" Sam shouted.
"Enough!" They both bellowed. Father and son looked at each other with the same bewildered expression.
The whole pack cracked up laughing. Emily's eyes teared up. She got up and walked over to Levi. "You really are ours." She whispered.
"Yeah, Mom." Levi grinned at her.
Emily laid a hand on his cheek. She looked into his eyes and saw her own reflected back at her. "Oh my son." She cried. "We've been trying so hard."
Levi folded her into his embrace. "You always called me your miracle baby."
Sam wrapped his arms around them both.
"What is going on here?" Charlie Swan stood up. He had heard and witnessed everything between the three of them. "I want answers and I want them now."
Lottie stepped up. "Do you remember the legends of the Quileute tribe that you used to listen to when you were young?"
Charlie nodded. "You can't possibly be telling me that they are real are they? If they are, that doesn't explain the six of you."
Lottie nodded. "I'm getting to that. They are true. Human, werewolves, well, technically they are shape shifters that unfortunately turn into a wolf, and vampires all exist. In the future we all get along, but the road to get there is dark and scary and full of pain. Us kids got together and decided to do something about it after we heard our parents stories. We consulted with our ancestors and found there was something we could do. If three wolves, two vampires and one imprint were in harmony about what we desired we could do basically whatever we wanted within reason. Well, you have us three teenagers as the wolves. EJ and Jay as the vampires and Emma as the imprint." Lottie was speaking so softly that not one of the wolves could hear her. "EJ and Jay are Jacob's kids. Emma is Quil's kid. I'm Jared and Kim's daughter. Rayne is Paul's daughter. And as you can see, Levi is Sam and Emily's daughter. Everything else will be explained in the books, okay?"
Charlie nodded and sat down.
"Everybody ready?" Lottie took charge. Everyone nodded. "Good. Charlie?" Lottie prompted.
Charlie opened the book.
Charlie was waiting for me with the cruiser. This I was expecting, too. Charlie is Police Chief Swan to the good people of Forks. My primary motivation behind buying a car, despite the scarcity of my funds, was that I refused to be driven around town in a car with red and blue lights on top. Nothing slows down traffic like a cop.
"Amen to that." Paul whispered.
Charlie gave me an awkward, one-armed hug when I stumbled my way off the plane.
"It's good to see you, Bells," he said, smiling as he automatically caught and steadied me.
"You haven't changed much. How's Renee?"
"Mom's fine. It's good to see you, too, Dad." I wasn't allowed to callhim Charlie to his face.
I had only a few bags. Most of my Arizona clothes were too permeable for Washington. My mom and I had pooled our resources to supplement my winter wardrobe, but it was still scanty. It all fit easily into the trunk of the cruiser.
"I found a good car for you, really cheap," he announced when we were strapped in.
"What kind of car?" I was suspicious of the way he said "good car for you" as opposed to just "good car."
"She's perceptive." Billy muttered.
"Well, it's a truck actually, a Chevy."
"Where did you find it?"
"Do you remember Billy Black down at La Push?" La Push is the tiny Indian reservation on the coast.
"No."
"He used to go fishing with us during the summer," Charlie prompted.
That would explain why I didn't remember him. I do a good job of blocking painful, unnecessary things from my memory.
Billy looked down. "I see what you mean."
Jay walked up to Billy and climbed up on his chair into his lap. "It's okay, Pawpaw. She changes." Jay smiled up at him.
Billy smiled back at the little boy. "Pawpaw? I like the sound of that."
Jay grinned with Jacob's smile. "What do you call everyone else?" He asked fishing for more information.
"Well, Daddy is Daddy. Mama is Mama. Grandma is Grandma. Grandfather is Grandfather. Gramps is Gramps. Nana is Nana. Grandpa is Grandpa. And you're Pawpaw."
Billy counted in his head, "So you have two grandmas and four grandpas?" Billy clarified.
"Uh huh." Jay grinned mischievously at him.
"You won't get anything else out of him." Rayne scolded Jay lightly.
"Sorry Rayne." Jay looked down.
EJ looked like he was going to speak up from his place next to Seth when Rayne leveled him with a look. "You know I'm right." EJ hung his head.
"Now that, that is cleared up, can we read?" Levi questioned from his place next to his parents.
Everybody looked at Charlie. Charlie looked back down at the book and opened his mouth to read.
"He's in a wheelchair now," Charlie continued when I didn't respond, "so he can't drive anymore, and he offered to sell me his truck cheap."
"What year is it?" I could see from his change of expression that this was the question he was hoping I wouldn't ask.
"Well, Billy's done a lot of work on the engine - it's only a few years old, really."
"Correction, Jacob's done a lot of work on the engine." Jacob mumbled.
I hoped he didn't think so little of me as to believe I would give up that easily. "When did he buy it?"
"He bought it in 1984, I think."
"Did he buy it new?"
"Well, no. I think it was new in the early sixties - or late fifties at the earliest," he admitted sheepishly.
"Ch - Dad, I don't really know anything about cars. I wouldn't be able to fix it if anything went wrong, and I couldn't afford a mechanic..."
"Really, Bella, the thing runs great. They don't build them like that anymore."
The thing, I thought to myself... it had possibilities - as a nickname, at the very least.
"How cheap is cheap?" After all, that was the part I couldn't compromise on.
"Well, honey, I kind of already bought it for you. As a homecoming gift." Charlie peeked sideways at me with a hopeful expression.
Wow. Free. "You didn't need to do that, Dad. I was going to buy myself a car."
"I don't mind. I want you to be happy here." He was looking ahead at the road when he said this. Charlie wasn't comfortable with expressing his emotions out loud. I inherited that from him. So I was looking straight ahead as I responded.
"That's really nice, Dad. Thanks. I really appreciate it." No need to add that my being happy in Forks is an impossibility. He didn't need to suffer along with me. And I never looked a free truck in the mouth - or engine.
There were some snorts at that last sentence.
"Well, now, you're welcome," he mumbled,embarrassed by my thanks.
We exchanged a few more comments on the weather, which was wet, and that was pretty much it for Conversation. We stared out the windows in silence.
It was beautiful, of course; I couldn't deny that. Everything was green:the trees, their trunks covered with moss, their branches hanging with a canopy of it, the ground covered with ferns. Even the air filtered down greenly through the leaves.
It was too green - an alien planet.
There were a few raised eyebrows.
Quil snorted. "I didn't know Bella was into SciFi."
Charlie looked confused. "SciFi?"
"Science Fiction." Lottie explained. "It all has to do with aliens and other planets and space. Stuff like that."
"Ah." Charlie nodded and went back to the book.
Eventually we made it to Charlie's. He still lived in the small, two-bedroom house that he'd bought with my mother in the early days of their marriage. Those were the only kind of days their marriage had - the early ones. There, parked on the street in front of the house that never changed, was my new - well, new to me - truck. It was a faded red color,with big, rounded fenders and a bulbous cab. To my intense surprise, I loved it. I didn't know if it would run, but I could see myself in , it was one of those solid iron affairs that never gets damaged -the kind you see at the scene of an accident, paint unscratched, surrounded by the pieces of the foreign car it had destroyed.
"Now I see what you mean. It is a good car for her." Sue commented.
"Wow, Dad, I love it! Thanks!" Now my horrific day tomorrow would be just that much less dreadful. I wouldn't be faced with the choice of either walking two miles in the rain to school or accepting a ride in the Chief's cruiser.
"I'm glad you like it," Charlie said gruffly,embarrassed again.
It took only one trip to get all my stuff upstairs. I got the west bedroom that faced out over the front yard. The room was familiar; it had been belonged to me since I was born. The wooden floor, the light blue walls, the peaked ceiling, the yellowed lace curtains around the window -these were all a part of my childhood. The only changes Charlie had ever made were switching the crib for a bed and adding a desk as I grew. Thedesk now held a second hand computer, with the phone line for the modem stapled along the floor to the nearest phone jack. This was a stipulation from my mother, so that we could stay in touch easily. The rocking chair from my baby days was still in the corner.
There was only one small bathroom at the top of the stairs, which I would have to share with Charlie. I was trying not to dwell too much on that fact.
Charlie blushed as he read that bit, then hurried on to reading.
One of the best things about Charlie is he doesn't hover. He left me alone to unpack and get settled, a feat that would have been altogether impossible for my mother. It was nice to be alone, not to have to smile and look pleased; a relief to stare dejectedly out the window at the sheeting rain and let just a few tears escape. I wasn't in the mood to go on a real crying jag. I would save that for bedtime, when I would have to think about the coming morning.
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 my junior class alone back home. All of the kids here had grown up together - their grandparents had been toddlers together.
"Whoa. That's a lot of people." Seth said.
Leah huffed. She had no clue why they were being punished by reading the leech lover's thoughts. The only reason she stuck around was because of the other female wolves there. She wanted answers. As soon as a break happened she was going to grill them good. Maybe not Rayne, because, for obvious reasons, her Dad was Paul and if her mother was really kick ass like she said, there would be no way to crack that girl. Maybe the other one, Lottie. Kim was pretty shy and Jared was calm. Maybe she could get Lottie to crack.
Leah tuned back in as Charlie began to read again.
I would be the new girl from the big city, a curiosity, a freak. Maybe, if I looked like a girl from Phoenix should, I could work this to my advantage. But physically, I'd never fit in anywhere. I should be tan, sporty, blond - a volleyball player, or a cheerleader, perhaps - all the things that go with living in the valley of the sun.
Instead, I was ivory-skinned, without even the excuse of blue eyes or red hair, despite the constant sunshine. I had always been slender, but soft somehow, obviously not an athlete; I didn't have the necessary hand-eye coordination to play sports without humiliating myself - and harming both myself and anyone else who stood too close.
Jacob snorted. That was an understatement.
When I finished putting my clothes in the old pine dresser, I took my bag of bathroom necessities and went to the communal bathroom to clean myself up after the day of travel. I looked at my face in the mirror as I brushed through my tangled, damp hair. Maybe it was the light, but already I looked sallower, unhealthy. My skin could be pretty - it was very clear, almost translucent-looking- but it all depended on color. I had no color here.
Facing my pallid reflection in the mirror, I was forced to admit that I was lying to myself. It wasn't just physically that I'd never fit in. And if I couldn't find a niche in a school with three thousand people, what were my chances here?
I didn't relate well to people my age. Maybe the truth was that I didn't relate well to people, period. Even my mother, who I was closer to than anyone else on the planet, was never in harmony with me, never on exactly the same page. Sometimes I wondered if I was seeing the same things through my eyes that the rest of the world was seeing through theirs. Maybe there was a glitch in my brain. But the cause didn't matter. All that mattered was the effect. And tomorrow would be just the beginning.
I didn't sleep well that night, even after I was done crying. The constant whooshing of the rain and wind across the roof wouldn't fade into the background. I pulled the faded old quilt over my head, and later added the pillow, too. But I couldn't fall asleep until after midnight, when the rain finally settled into a quieter drizzle.
Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning, and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You could never see the sky here; it was like a cage.
Breakfast with Charlie was a quiet event. He wished me good luck at school. I thanked him, knowing his hope was wasted. Good luck tended to avoid me.
"Damn. She's so pessimistic." Jared complained.
Kim slapped his arm. "There are kids here." She reminded.
Levi snorted. "Trust me, they hear worse when Rayne gets in one of her moods."
Rayne gasped. "They do not."
Lottie laughed. "Yes you do. Remember that time you and I were taking Emma up to Port Angeles for shopping and that driver cut you off? You swore for the rest of the drive down. I eventually had to put earphones on her and let her watch a movie on my phone."
"No. I. Don't." Rayne growled. Rayne started shaking.
"Yes you do." Lottie teased.
"Lottie." Levi warned. "Knock it off."
Rayne gave a yell and phased into her wolf. Lottie just sat back laughing.
Rayne's wolf was silver with red streaks through its fur. Rayne bared her teeth at Lottie.
Levi stood up. His eyes showed he was livid. "That is enough!" He roared. "I've had it with you two. Rayne go change back maybe Leah has some clothes you can borrow. Lottie, get up. You are sitting with me."
"She can sit with us Levi." Kim leveled a glare at Lottie.
Lottie looked down.
"Fine." Levi said after looked between the three for a moment. "Go sit down." He said to Lottie.
Rayne came back in the room. "Aw, look who's grounded now." She sneered.
"Rayne!" Levi yelled. "Sit. Down."
Rayne saw the look on Levi's face and sat back down, avoiding eye contact with everyone.
"Good." Levi said.
"You have to show me how to do that." Sam said.
"Levi never gets angry. He has the soft spirit of both of his parents mostly. When he is pissed he really gets pissed. It's like they say, the quietest of people have the worst of tempers when they get going. Rayne and I just know how to push his buttons. Levi is acting Alpha for our pack of the younger kids. Like his Dad, Levi was the first to phase out of us. It was only because he is the oldest. The next to phase was Rayne, obviously. Shocked the hell out of everyone. I think they should have expected it after Leah you know. I was third." Lottie explained.
"You know to listen to Levi and not mess around when he gets scary calm." Rayne said.
"You would know." EJ muttered.
"That's enough talk." Levi said after a few moments. "We have four books to read and we only have ten days to spend here. Let's get going."
Charlie opened up the book.
Charlie left first, off to the police station that was his wife and family. After he left, I 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 yellow cabinets, and white linoleum floor. Nothing was changed. My mother had painted the cabinets eighteen years ago in an attempt to bring some sunshine into the house. Over the small fireplace in the adjoining handkerchief-sized family room was a row of pictures. First a wedding picture of Charlie and my mom in Las Vegas, then one of the three of us in the hospital after I was born, taken by a helpful nurse, followed by the procession of my school pictures up to last year's. Those were embarrassing to look at - I would have to see what I could do to get Charlie to put them somewhere else, at least while I was living here.
It was impossible, being in this house, not to realize that Charlie had never gotten over my mom. It made me uncomfortable.
I didn't want to be too early to school, but I couldn't stay in the house anymore. I donned my jacket - which had the feel of a biohazard suit -and headed out into the rain.
It was just drizzling still, not enough to soak me through immediately as I reached for the house key that was always hidden under the eaves by the door, and locked up. The sloshing of my new waterproof boots was unnerving. I missed the normal crunch of gravel as I walked. I couldn't pause and admire my truck again as I wanted; I was in a hurry to get out of the misty wet that swirled around my head and clung to my hair under my hood.
Inside the truck, it was nice and dry. Either Billy or Charlie had obviously cleaned it up, but the tan upholstered seats still smelled faintly of tobacco, gasoline, and peppermint. The engine started quickly,to my relief, but loudly, roaring to life and then idling at top volume. Well, a truck this old was bound to have a flaw. The antique radio worked, a plus that I hadn't expected.
Finding the school wasn't difficult, though I'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 me stop. It looked like a collection of matching houses, built with maroon-colored bricks. There were so many trees and shrubs I couldn't see its size at first. Where was the feel of the institution? I wondered nostalgically. Where were the chain-link fences, the metal detectors?
Everyone looked shocked.
"Did you read that right? Chain link fences? Metal detectors? At a school?" Sue asked, concerned.
"Phoenix is a big city. There has to be at least some bad stuff going on it it." Lottie spoke from her seat next to her parents.
"I like school." Emma piped up. "It's fun. And Aunt-"
"Emma." Rayne warned. Rayne got down on her knees next to the small girl. "Remember what we talked about?"
Emma nodded. "Yup. No talking about any of my Aunts or Uncles until the books are over. Oh, I'm sorry." Emma's eyes filled with tears.
"No, don't cry." Rayne looked uncomfortable.
Emma sniffled and looked up at Quil. She held her arms out to him. Her eyes were teary and her lower lip trembled.
"You might want to pick her up. When she cries she generally wants her father." Lottie advised.
Quil just looked at her. He shifted a little bit.
Lottie sighed and got up. Lottie scooped up Emma. "It's okay, Flutterwing. How about we go to Levi."
"I want Nathan." Emma whimpered.
"Hold up a minute. Who's Nathan?" Quil demanded.
Lottie glared at him. "You will find out later. Now are you going to take her or will I bring her to Levi?"
"I'll take her." Quil swallowed. "Come here Princess."
Emma leaned out of Lottie's arms and into Quil's. She snuggled into Quil and put her thumb in her mouth.
Claire looked on with jealousy. "He's mine." She growled and climbed into Quil's lap trying to shove Emma off.
Embry snorted at the weirdness of it all. Emma's mom was fighting with her daughter for Quil.
"Come here Emma." Levi rescued her. "We can sit with Aunt Emily and Sam."
"Sam!" Emma giggled and reached for him.
Rayne cleared her throat. "Now that we have that settled, can we continue reading?"
Charlie picked up the book.
I 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 I was sure it was off limits, but I decided I would get directions inside instead of circling around in the rain like an idiot. I stepped unwillingly out of the toasty truck cab and walked down a little stone path lined with dark hedges. I took a deep breath before opening the door. Inside, it was brightly lit, and warmer than I'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. She was wearing a purple t-shirt, which immediately made me feel overdressed.
The red-haired woman looked up. "Can I help you?"
"I'm Isabella Swan," I informed her, and saw the immediate awareness light her eyes. I was expected, a topic of gossip no doubt. Daughter of the Chief's flighty ex-wife, come home at last.
Charlie blushed.
"Pawpaw and Charlie always gossip like old women." Jay recited.
Everyone looked at him. He shrugged. "I was just repeating something Dad says."
Everyone looked at Jacob now. "I haven't said it yet." He protested.
"Yes you have." Rayne commented looking at her nails. "This is right after Edward gets back from leaving Bella right?" At several nods, Rayne continues. "Well, I overheard Dad and Mom talking about it. They said you always said it whenever Billy and Charlie got together when you were a kid."
"Wait, how would Paul know that?" Jacob asked.
Rayne finally looked up with a deer caught in the headlights expression. "Well, let's keep reading." She clapped her hands together. "Charlie?"
"Hold up, I would like to know as well. Why would Paul know that?" Billy spoke. He had his suspicions. Rayne looked like his daughters and her father was Paul, clearly they could see that. What he wanted to know was whether it was Rachel or Rebecca. God he hoped it wasn't Rebecca. He didn't need a ruined marriage on his conscience.
Rayne exchanged pleading looks with everyone she came with. Lottie took pity on her. "Look, we only have ten days to be here. After that we get returned home and your minds will be tampered with if we are not done. Everything will be explained in the books if we continue them." She looked pointedly at everyone. She then looked at Charlie.
Charlie picked up the book and continued to read.
"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 roe.
She went through my classes for me, highlighting the best route to each on the map, and gave me a slip to have each teacher sign, which I was to bring back at the end of the day. She smiled at me and hoped, like Charlie, that I would like it here in Forks. I smiled back as convincingly as I could.
When I went back out to my truck, other students were starting to arrive. I drove around the school, following the line of traffic. I was glad to see that most of the cars were older like mine, nothing flashy. At home I'd lived in one of the few lower-income neighborhoods that were included in the Paradise Valley District. It was a common thing to see a new Mercedes or Porsche in the student lot. The nicest car here was a shiny Volvo, and it stood out. Still, I cut the engine as soon as I was in a spot, so that the thunderous volume wouldn't draw attention to me.
I looked at the map in the truck, trying to memorize it now; hopefully I wouldn't have to walk around with it stuck in front of my nose all day. I stuffed everything in my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder, and sucked in a huge breath. I can do this, I lied to myself feebly. No one was going to bite me.
Emily gasped. "First Sight. Guys, I think this is when she meets the Cullens for the first time."
There were several growls in the room.
"They better not bite her." Jacob growled.
After everyone calmed down, Charlie picked up the book.
I finally exhaled and stepped out of the truck.
I kept my face pulled back into my hood as I walked to the sidewalk, crowded with teenagers. My plain black jacket didn't stand out, I noticed with relief.
Once I got around the cafeteria, building three was easy to spot. A large black "3" was painted on a white square on the east corner. I felt my breathing gradually creeping toward hyperventilation as I approached the door. I tried holding my breath as I followed two unisex raincoats through the door.
The classroom was small. The people in front of me stopped just inside the door to hang up their coats on a long row of hooks. I copied them. They were two girls, one a porcelain-colored blonde, the other also pale, with light brown hair. At least my skin wouldn't be a standout here.
I took the slip up to the teacher, a tall, balding man whose desk had a nameplate identifying him as Mr. Mason. He gawked at me when he saw my name - not an encouraging response - and of course I flushed tomato red. But at least he sent me to an empty desk at the back without introducing me to the class. It was harder for my new classmates to stare at me in the back, but somehow, they managed. I kept my eyes down on the reading list the teacher had given me. It was fairly basic: Bronte, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner. I'd already read everything. That was comforting... and boring. I wondered if my mom would send me my folder of old essays, or if she would think that was cheating.
"Bells is smart?" Charlie muttered wishing, not for the first time, that he had fought harder for her.
"Definitely cheating." Rayne muttered. Her Mom would kill her for even thinking to do something like that.
I went through different arguments with her in my head while the teacher droned on.
When the bell rang, a nasal buzzing sound, a gangly boy with skin problems and hair black as an oil slick leaned across the aisle to talk to me.
"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" He looked like the overly helpful, chess club type.
"And so it begins." EJ intoned.
"What begins?" Charlie asked.
"Well, Bella is one beautiful girl. She has more than just Edward and Jacob after her. Edward and Jacob just occupy the top spots." Rayne said.
"Damn girl, you swing that way?" Lottie teased.
Rayne growled. "You know damn well I don't." Rayne gave Lottie a pointed look.
"He would go for it too you know." Lottie said. "Not with Bella but someone." Lottie said.
Levi growled at the both of them and they shut up. Levi looked up at Sam. "I don't know how you do it."
"Lots of patience, son. Lots of patience." Sam chuckled.
"Hey!" Jared and Paul protested. "We are not that bad."
"Yeah you are." The whole pack called.
Jared and Paul looked at each other then to the wall.
EJ chuckled. "They are just like Rayne and Lottie. Best friends one minute the next, they are at each other's throat."
Rayne and Lottie glared at EJ. EJ yelped and ran to Jacob hiding behind him.
"Yeah, great Alpha skills there EJ. Running to hide behind your Daddy. Great leadership skills there. You must get that from your mother." Rayne said sarcastically.
EJ came out from behind Jacob and snarled at her. "What did you say about our mom?"
Jay crawled off Billy's lap and stood next to his brother. Jay snarled as well. "Yeah what did you say?"
"Your mom is-" Rayne started.
EJ and Jay snarled and made to leap at her. Half way up they were yanked out of their jump and into Levi's arms. EJ and Jay struggled to get out of it.
"Lottie!" Levi barked. "A little help."
"I'll take Jay. Last time I took EJ the little monster bit me. That shit hurts." Lottie walked up cautiously.
Levi sighed. "Fine take Jay but hurry up."
Lottie scooped Jay out of Levi's arms and started humming a song under her breath. She hummed louder when she heard EJ still struggling. Both boys sagged in Levi and Lottie's arms. When they were asleep, Levi full on glared at Rayne. "I've had it with you Rayne Mia Lahote." He said super calm. The whole room shivered. "You get your ass up and outside for ten minutes. You can go for a run to cool off. I don't want to see you for at least ten minutes. Now go!" Levi was calm until that last part. He roared that last bit.
Rayne kept her head down and next exposed to Levi as she scampered out the door.
Lottie got up and tentatively approached Levi. "Hey, you okay?"
"No." Levi said softly. "She went too far. She knows the twins' mother is off limits."
Lottie laid her hand on his arm. "It's okay Levi. She's just itching for a fight. It's in her blood. Until she imprints she will always be a hot head."
Levi's body completely drained of tension at Lottie's touch. "Come on." Lottie led him over to an empty chair. She started rubbing his neck and shoulders. "Charlie?" Lottie called.
Charlie looked up.
"Read please." Lottie said in a tone that meant to back the hell off and no questions.
Charlie looked down and opened the book.
"Bella," I corrected. Everyone within a three-seat radius turned to look at me.
"Where's your next class?" he asked.
I had to check in my bag. "Um, Government, with Jefferson, in building six."
There was nowhere to look without meeting curious eyes.
"I'm headed toward building four, I could show you the way..." Definitely over-helpful. "I'm Eric," he added.
I smiled tentatively. "Thanks."
We got our jackets and headed out into the rain, which had picked up. I could have sworn several people behind us were walking close enough to eavesdrop. I hoped I 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," I told him.
"You don't look very tan."
"My mother is part albino."
Charlie looked confused for a moment, read further and chuckled.
At the questioning glances he continued to read.
He studied my face apprehensively, and I sighed. It looked like clouds and a sense of humor didn't mix. A few months of this and I'd forget how to use sarcasm.
"No. Not the sarcasm." Quil joked.
Embry laughed.
Lottie cleared her throat. She gave the boys a pointed look. "Are you done?"
They nodded.
"Good. Charlie?" Lottie said.
Charlie kept reading.
We walked back around the cafeteria, to the south buildings by the gym. Eric walked me right to the door, though it was clearly marked.
"Well, good luck," he said as I touched the handle. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together." He sounded hopeful.
I smiled at him vaguely and went inside.
The rest of the morning passed in about the same fashion. My Trigonometry teacher, Mr. Varner, who I would have hated anyway just because of the subject he taught, was the only one who made me stand in front of the class and introduce myself. I stammered, blushed, and tripped over my own boots on the way to my seat.
Jacob chuckled to himself. That would have been adorable to see.
After two classes, I started to recognize several of the faces in each class. There was always someone braver than the others who would introduce themselves and ask me questions about how I was liking Forks. I tried to be diplomatic, but mostly I just lied a lot. At least I never needed the map.
One girl sat next to me in both Trig and Spanish, and she walked with me to the cafeteria for lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than my five feet four inches, but her wildly curly dark hair made up a lot of the difference between our heights. I couldn't remember her name, so I smiled and nodded as she prattled about teachers and classes. I didn't try to keep up.
We sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced to me. I forgot all their names as soon as she spoke them. They seemed impressed by her bravery in speaking to me. The boy from English, Eric, waved at me from across the room.
"I see what you mean about her followers." Charlie sighed.
"Don't worry Charlie. She doesn't give most of them the time of day." Lottie said, still rubbing Levi shoulders.
Levi reached up and grabbed her hand. He kissed the back of it in thanks and pulled her into his lap. "Charlie, please read."
Lottie laid her head on his shoulder as Charlie continued.
It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them.
There were growls in the room.
They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were five of them. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't gawking at me, 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, my attention.
They didn't look anything alike. Of the three boys, one was big - muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, curly hair.
"Uncle Emmett!" Emma cheered.
Another was taller, leaner, but still muscular, and honey blond.
"Uncle Jasper!" Jay cheered.
The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-colored hair. He was more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college, or even teachers here rather than students.
"Uncle Edward." Levi said.
The girls were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back.
"Aunt Rosalie." Lottie sang.
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.
"And Aunt Alice." EJ yawned, just waking up.
Charlie sighed. It looked like this chapter will never be done. Charlie continued to read.
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 me, the albino. They all had very dark eyes despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under those eyes - purplish, bruiselike shadows. As if they were all suffering from a sleepless night, or almost done recovering from a broken nose. Though their noses, all their features, were straight, perfect, angular.
But all this is not why I couldn't look away.
I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful - maybe the perfect blond girl, or the bronze-haired boy.
Jacob growled softly at that.
They were all looking away - away from each other, away from the other students, away from anything in particular as far as I could tell. As I watched, the small girl rose with her tray -unopened soda, unbitten apple - and walked away with a quick, graceful lope that belonged on a runway. I watched, amazed at her lithe dancer's step, till she dumped her tray and glided through the back door, faster than I would have thought possible. My eyes darted back to the others, who sat unchanging.
"They are going to give themselves away." Jacob muttered under his breath.
"Who are they?" I asked the girl from my Spanish class, whose name I'd forgotten.
As she looked up to see who I meant - though already knowing, probably, from my tone - suddenly he looked at her, the thinner one, the boyish one, the youngest, perhaps. He looked at my neighbor for just a fraction of a second, and then his dark eyes flickered to mine.
He looked away quickly, more quickly than I could, though in a flush of embarrassment I dropped my eyes at once. In that brief flash of a glance, his face held nothing of interest - it was as if she had called his name, and he'd looked up in involuntary response, already having decided not to answer.
"Why did he do that?" Charlie interrupted his reading.
"The Cullens have gifts. When a person is changed into a vampire their strongest traits are brought over into their vampire life. Edward can read everyone's minds but Bella's and to certain point Charlie. Alice can see the future but she can't see the wolves because she has never been one. She can see humans and vampires easily but the wolves she cannot see. Jasper is an empath. He can sense and manipulate other's emotions. The rest are just normal vampires." EJ explained.
The wolves nodded.
Charlie cleared his throat. He would process this all later.
My neighbor giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table like I did.
"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She said this under her breath.
I glanced sideways at the beautiful boy, who was looking at his tray now,picking a bagel to pieces with long, pale fingers. His mouth was moving very quickly, his perfect lips barely opening. The other three still looked away, and yet I felt he was speaking quietly to them.
Strange, unpopular names, I thought. The kinds of names grandparents had. But maybe that was in vogue here - small town names? I finally remembered that my neighbor was called Jessica, a perfectly common name. There were two girls named Jessica in my History class back home.
"They are... very nice-looking." I struggled with the conspicuous understatement.
"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all together though - Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together." Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town, I thought critically. But, if I was being honest, I had to admit that even in Phoenix, it would cause gossip.
The wolves looked confused before Jay spoke up. "They are mates. Like you guys have imprinting, vampires have mates. Carlisle and Esme are mates, Jasper and Alice are mates, and Rosalie and Emmett are mates. When you live forever, you create a strong bond. Carlisle and Esme have it easy. They look old enough to be married. Put yourselves in their position. If you were frozen forever at 16 maybe 17, and your imprint was the same, would you pretend to not be in a relationship with them? They would be up for grabs from anyone and you could do nothing to protect them unless you prove they are in a relationship with you."
Jared, Sam, and Quil growled.
"Now you get it." EJ muttered. Jay elbowed him. The twins were now sitting next to Seth. Emma was with Sam. Lottie was still sitting in Levi's lap, her eyes closed though she was still listening. Levi was holding Lottie and playing with her hair. Rayne was still outside.
Charlie opened the book when everyone was quiet.
"Which ones are the Cullens?" I asked. "They don't look related..."
"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."
"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."
"Nice cover story." Emily commented. "It makes sense."
"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 I 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, I would presume the reason was jealousy. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," she added, as if that lessened their kindness.
"Why that little bitch." Lottie seethed.
"Lottie." Levi soothed. He ran his hand through her hair again. "She isn't in our lives. You never have to speak to her."
Lottie sagged against Levi. "Charlie, you can read."
Charlie nodded.
Throughout all this conversation, my eyes flickered again and again to the table where the strange family sat. They continued to look at the walls and not eat.
"Have they always lived in Forks?" I asked. Surely I would have noticed them on one of my summers here.
"No," she said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."
I felt a surge of pity, and relief. Pity because, as beautiful as they were, they were outsiders, clearly not accepted. Relief that I wasn't the only newcomer here, and certainly not the most interesting by any standard.
As I examined them, the youngest, one of the Cullens, looked up and met my gaze, this time with evident curiosity in his expression. As I looked swiftly away, it seemed to me that his glance held some kind of unmet expectation.
The wolves looked confused. EJ sighed. "Jay told you that Edward can't read Bella's mind."
Charlie took all of this in stride and continued to read.
"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I asked. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye, and he was still staring at me, but not gawking like the other students had today - he had a slightly frustrated expression. I looked down again.
"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." She sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. I wondered when he'd turned her down.
I bit my lip to hide my smile. Then I glanced at him again. His face was turned away, but I thought his cheek appeared lifted, as if he were smiling, too.
After a few more minutes, the four of them left the table together. They all were noticeably graceful - even the big, brawny one. It was unsettling to watch. The one named Edward didn't look at me again.
"Way too perceptive." Billy muttered.
I sat at the table with Jessica and her friends longer than I would have if I'd been sitting alone. I was anxious not to be late for class on my first day. One of my new acquaintances, who considerately reminded me that her name was Angela, had Biology II with me the next hour. We walked to class together in silence. She was shy, too.
When we entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped lab table exactly like the ones I was used to. She already had a neighbor. In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, I recognized Edward Cullen by his unusual hair, sitting next to that single open seat.
As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, I was watching him surreptitiously. Just as I passed, he suddenly went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face - it was hostile, furious.
Jacob looked confused. If Edward hated her, why and how did they get together?
EJ and Jay looked up. "Everything will be explained."
Everyone nodded.
Charlie found his place again.
I looked away quickly, shocked, going red again. I stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch myself on the edge of a table. The girl sitting there giggled.
Everyone that knew Bella laughed.
I'd noticed that his eyes were black - coal black. Mr. Banner signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. Of course, he had no choice but to send me to the one open seat in the middle of the room. I kept my eyes down as I went to sit by him, bewildered by the antagonistic stare he'd given me.
I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took my seat, but I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. He was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad. Inconspicuously, I sniffed my hair. It smelled like strawberries, the scent of my favorite shampoo. It seemed an innocent enough odor. I let my hair fall over my right shoulder, making a dark curtain between us, and tried to pay attention to the teacher.
Unfortunately the lecture was on cellular anatomy, something I'd already studied. I took notes carefully anyway, always looking down.
I couldn't stop myself from peeking occasionally through the screen of my hair at the strange boy next to me. During the whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair, sitting as far from me as possible. I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin. This, too, he never relaxed. He had the long sleeves of his white shirt pushed up to his elbows, and his forearm was surprisingly hard and muscular beneath his light skin. He wasn't nearly as slight as he'd looked next to his burly brother.
"Why is he doing this?" Seth asked, curious. "I thought they were dating."
"As Jay said, 'everything will be explained'." EJ reminded.
Charlie looked down.
The class seemed to drag on longer than the others. Was it because the day was finally coming to a close, or because I was waiting for his tight fist to loosen? It never did; he continued to sit so still it looked like he wasn't breathing. What was wrong with him? Was this his normal behavior? I questioned my judgment on Jessica's bitterness at lunch today. Maybe she was not as resentful as I'd thought.
It couldn't have anything to do with me. He didn't know me from Eve.
I peeked up at him one more time, and regretted it. He was glaring down at me again, his black eyes full of revulsion. As I flinched away from him, shrinking against my chair, the phrase if looks could kill suddenly ran through my mind.
At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump, and Edward Cullen was out of his seat. Fluidly he rose - he was much taller than I'd thought - his back to me, and he was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat.
I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after him. He was so mean. It wasn't fair. I began gathering up my things slowly, trying to block the anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason, my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. I usually cried when I was angry, a humiliating tendency.
"Aren't you Isabella Swan?" a male voice asked.
"Another one bites the dust." EJ sang.
"How do you know that song? You can't be more than six." Charlie asked, incredulously.
"He has an eclectic taste in music. Makes sense, seeing as who he is related to." Lottie commented, still completely relaxed in Levi's lap.
"Don't forget who he hangs out with the most." A voice called out from the doorway. Rayne stepped into the room. She walked over to EJ and Jay. She got down on her knees to their level. "I am sorry for what I said. It was out of line. Forgive me?"
EJ and Jay clasped hands and shared a look. "We forgive you. But next time, you won't get it so easy." EJ spoke for the both of them.
Rayne nodded and stood up. She walked over to Paul and plopped down next to him. "Where are we at?"
"Mike Newton just met Bella." Lottie said.
Rayne looked over at Lottie and Levi. She sighed, and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Couldn't help yourselves, huh? You imprinting couples are disgusting."
Lottie lazily opened an eye and glared half heartedly at her. "Remember Rayne, payback is a bitch."
Rayne scoffed. "I will never imprint."
Jared laughed. "That's what Paul says."
"My mom is the exception. She is the most badass woman on the planet." Rayne said with conviction in her voice. "Now can we read?"
Charlie found his place and cleared his throat.
I looked up to see a cute, baby-faced boy, his pale blond hair carefully gelled into orderly spikes, smiling at me in a friendly way. He obviously didn't think I smelled bad.
"Bella," I corrected him, with a smile.
"I'm Mike."
"Hi, Mike."
"Do you need any help finding your next class?"
"I'm headed to the gym, actually. I think I can find it."
"That's my next class, too." He seemed thrilled, though it wasn't that big of a coincidence in a school this small.
We walked to class together; he was a chatterer - he supplied most of the conversation, which made it easy for me. He'd lived in California till he was ten, so he knew how I felt about the sun. It turned out he was in my English class also. He was the nicest person I'd met today.
But as we were entering the gym, he asked, "So, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil or what? I've never seen him act like that."
I cringed. So I wasn't the only one who had noticed. And, apparently, that wasn't Edward Cullen's usual behavior. I decided to play dumb.
Leah snorted. "Not hard to do." She muttered. No wolf heard her.
"Was that the boy I sat next to in Biology?" I asked artlessly.
"Yes," he said. "He looked like he was in pain or something."
"I don't know," I responded. "I never spoke to him."
"He's a weird guy." Mike lingered by me instead of heading to the dressing room. "If I were lucky enough to sit by you, I would have talked to you."
I smiled at him before walking through the girls' locker room door. He was friendly and clearly admiring. But it wasn't enough to ease my irritation.
The Gym teacher, Coach Clapp, found me a uniform but didn't make me dress down for today's class. At home, only two years of RE. were required. Here, P.E. was mandatory all four years. Forks was literally my personal hell on Earth.
I watched four volleyball games running simultaneously. Remembering how many injuries I had sustained - and inflicted - playing volleyball, I felt faintly nauseated.
Jacob looked nauseated himself.
The final bell rang at last. I walked slowly to the office to return my paperwork. The rain had drifted away, but the wind was strong, and colder. I wrapped my arms around myself.
When I walked into the warm office, I almost turned around and walked back out.
Edward Cullen stood at the desk in front of me. I recognized again that tousled bronze hair. He didn't appear to notice the sound of my entrance. I stood pressed against the back wall, waiting for the receptionist to be free.
He was arguing with her in a low, attractive voice. I quickly picked up the gist of the argument. He was trying to trade from sixth-hour Biology to another time - any other time.
I just couldn't believe that this was about me. It had to be something else, something that happened before I entered the Biology room. The look on his face must have been about another aggravation entirely. It was impossible that this stranger could take such a sudden, intense dislike to me.
Jacob hoped he could use these books to his advantage. Maybe Bella will be in so much trouble that Edward won't be able to see her and he could make his move.
The door opened again, and the cold wind suddenly gusted through the room, rustling the papers on the desk, swirling my hair around my face. The girl who came in merely stepped to the desk, placed a note in the wire basket, and walked out again. But Edward Cullen's back stiffened, and he turned slowly to glare at me - his face was absurdly handsome - with piercing, hate-filled eyes. For an instant, I felt a thrill of genuine fear, raising the hair on my arms. The look only lasted a second, but it chilled me more than the freezing wind.
The wolves growled.
He turned back to the receptionist.
"Never mind, then," he said hastily in a voice like velvet. "I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help." And he turned on his heel without another look at me, and disappeared out the door.
I went meekly to the desk, my face white for once instead of red, and handed her the signed slip.
"How did your first day go, dear?" the receptionist asked maternally.
"Fine," I lied, my voice weak. She didn't look convinced.
When I got to the truck, it was almost the last car in the lot. It seemed like a haven, already the closest thing to home I had in this damp green hole. I sat inside for a while, just staring out the windshield blankly. But soon I was cold enough to need the heater, so I turned the key and the engine roared to life. I headed back to Charlie's house, fighting tears the whole way there.
"Done." Charlie said. He held his place in the book with his finger and looked around. "Who's next?"
"I want to." Rayne said. "Keep me out of trouble for a bit."
Charlie looked doubtful at that but after a glance at Levi, handed over the book.
Rayne opened the book. "Chapter Two Open Book."
Leah -