It's incredible how naïve someone can be; I'm no exception. I wasn't a particularly sheltered child. I was introduced to life's trials and pains at a young age, starting when my parents got a divorce. That was difficult for me to comprehend, but I wouldn't say I was an unhappy child. While my father moved to Forks, I lived down south with my mom until I was sixteen years old. She recently remarried to this wonderful man whom took to me like a daughter. Still, as I got older, I longed for my own father more and more. Despite my love for my mom and her new husband, I convinced them that I wanted to live with my dad up in Forks; at least for a few years. Mom cried but relented when I promised to come visit her during Christmas break and the summer. Hand-in-hand, she and her husband drove me to the airport where I was to catch a one o'clock flight to Forks. I was so ignorant of everything that I believed this trip- that moving to a brand-new city and attending a new school- wouldn't be life changing. And I'm pleased to say that I was wrong.
So wrong.
Daddy picked me up from the airport. My father, Charlie Swan, was the chief of police in the small city. He lived alone, never remarrying after he separated from my mother. Though he's not the touchy-feely type, I knew he was happy I had come; even if he didn't express it like me. "What a lovely town," I exclaimed as we drove down the main road, unware of Daddy peering at me through the corner of his eye. "It's nice." "I've never lived this close to the ocean before. I love being not so land-locked." "Coming from back home, it's understandable you feel that way."
Daddy lived in a nice white house near the edge of town. I liked it because there was a forest on one side of the road and a green pasture on the other. Daddy got my luggage out of the trunk and led me inside. "Awe, it's nice!" I said immediately upon entering. "Cleaned it up a little before you came. I also cleared some shelves off for you in the bathroom." "Thank you." My room was at the end of the hall. The smell of fresh paint was still in the air; the walls were all a beautiful shade of pink. "Your mom said you like pink," he explained without prompting. "And the sale's lady picked out the bed sheets; also pink, you know, to match." "You painted for me?! Oh, I love it! Thank you so much."
My father looked at me like he wasn't sure what to make of me. I don't think he was used to hearing "thank you" a lot. But I smiled over at him as warmly as possible. "Ok," his head finally gave a nod. "I'll leave you to it." "Thanks, Daddy." This made him pause that the doorway, peering back in at me again and then leaving without another word. Ahhhhhh, I sighed and set my backpack down; this could work!
I was in the middle of unpacking when a car horn blew outside. Curious, I gazed out my bedroom window at the sound of Daddy talking to someone. He was in the front yard with two very pale men; one older and one younger. I came out when they caught sight of me observing from above; Daddy motioned for me to come down. Being outside gave me a better view of the men. The older one had blonde hair while the younger had brown. I failed to notice him staring right at me from the moment I crossed the front door's threshold.
"Athénaïs, you remember Carlisle Cullen?" "Uh…?" No, I didn't but he looked like was expecting an answer, so I simply smiled. "Hello, sir." "Sir? Well, isn't she the lady?" Carlisle gave Daddy an impressed look. "Well, I am glad that you're finally here. Your father here hasn't stopped talking about it since we heard you were coming." "Alright," Daddy rolled his eyes. "My," Carlisle's head gave a little shake. "She's beautiful, Charlie; and such a lovely name." "Thank you," my smile grew. I did notice Daddy peering at me through the corner of his eye that time. And then, I don't know why it took me so long, but I finally gazed up to who I assumed to be his son for the first time. It was his eyes which I found so striking- those deep, confused eyes.
"Ah, and this my son, Edward." "How do you do, Miss Swan?" "F-fine!" I had to admit, I was a little surprised that he didn't offer his hand out to me. Ladies don't shake hands but they do what my grandmother called "hand grabs", where a gentleman of fine breeding would take a woman's hand in his for a second or so- that's what she said anyways. She was this staunchly, old-fashioned, wonderful woman. She's also incidentally the one who said I needed an elegant name if "I was to marry well"; the great irony being that my name was also the name of two of king Louis the XIV's mistresses.
But despite his cool, collective exterior and very handsome face, Edward refused to offer me his hand. He did look pleased to meet me though, flashing me a brilliant smile. "They brought you a house-warming present," Daddy explained. I watched as Edward then pulled forward a bike. A bike! A lovely, perfect, marvellous bicycle! I had this thing about driving, namely that I never wanted to drive; ever. I refused to get my licence. That being said, I did want to own a motorcycle one day. Mom made me the promise that she would buy me one once I graduated university; I eagerly accepted the offer. Until then however, my favorite mode of transportation was by bicycle. Daddy must have known this, considering he didn't buy me a truck or something.
I goggled the angelic item with wide eyes. "For me….? Is that for me?" "Who else would it be for?" I didn't care about the tone, my arms were wrapped around his neck in a matter of seconds. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" "Heh," Carlisle and Edward chuckled lightly. "You were right; she does like to ride." "Thank you, Daddy. I love it so much!" "Well, thank Carlisle and Edward too. Carlisle drove it here and Edward made sure all the gears are working properly." "Really?" I turned to him in surprise. He merely smiled back at me; a kind, doting smile. "Had to make sure it's safe for you," was all the explanation he gave. Fine by me! He didn't have to do that but I confess, I was a little touched that he would. "T-thank you, Edward!" "Yeah, thanks Edward. I appreciate it," Daddy added. "It's no trouble," he said, though his eyes were still locked onto me. Edward… We stared at each other for a moment. He seemed kind enough; who knows? Maybe we'll become friends; it'd be nice to know someone from here, especially someone so good-looking. And judging by the way he was looking at me, he likely would be onboard.
Excitedly, I rode my bike to my first day of school. "Bicycle! Bicycle! I want to ride my bicycle! I want to ride my bike!" I sang coming down the stairs. Daddy was at the kitchen table having his morning coffee and reading the paper. "Good morning, lovely!" "Lovely?" His eyebrow rose suspiciously. "Men aren't called "lovely", Athénaïs." "They are in England." "You've been spending too much time with your grandmother," though I did see a grin crack at the side of his mouth.
"Do you know the way there?" "I think so. We walked there together just yesterday." "Oh yeah. Well, have a good day at school." "I will! You have fun at work." His eyes gave another exasperated roll. "Work isn't fun, kid." "Then have a not fun but still pleasurable day at work." This made a full grin blossom across his lips. Shaking his head, he returned to his reading. "Call me if you need anything." "Ok!" His eyes widened in shock when I came over to kiss his cheek. "See you later, Daddy." He was so stunned that he didn't reply; I think that was the first time he'd been kissed in years, since I last saw him. But he didn't appear to dislike it; more so he didn't know what to think or feel…. Almost like he forgot what it was like to be loved. But that wouldn't be the case with me there!
Still humming to myself, I grabbed my backpack and ran to my beloved bike outside. School was a ten minute ride away, and I was used to riding on the road; must have been the Dutch in me. I won't lie, my new school looked like a penitentiary. It was made of red brick with few windows. But it was in the same town that my father lived in, so it was perfect to me. Although I realized pretty quickly that biking wasn't as common as I thought it would be; my bike was one of maybe three. But who cares?! I love my bike and I'm gonna ride it every day, whether its popular or not.
People largely ignored me as I walked down the halls, just like at my last school. And why shouldn't they? I was pretty, but so were many other girls. That's why it was so surprising to me when this boy approached me all of a sudden while I was trying to navigate my way around. "Hey! Hey, you're the new kid!" I glanced up to see his finger pointing at me. "The one with the really cool, yet hard to pronounce name. Uh, Ah….. Ah-ta…." "Athénaïs," I gently corrected; he was cute, failing to say my name, which was totally understandable. "Right!" His fingers snapped. "Athénaïs! That's…. really pretty, actually. I think that's the most exotic name in the school." "Heh, and one of the most common at Versailles." "Where?" "Uh, n-never mind," I tried to grin.
"Hi, I'm Eric; the eyes and ears of this place." Eyes and ears? What does that mean? Is he like the class rep or something? It would explain how he knew about me and my arrival. "Um, anything you need- tour guide, lunch date, shoulder to cry on…." Wait, did I look depressed or something? I just moved to my father's house and got a brand-new bike. I was totally not sad. In that way, his offer made zero sense, but I didn't address it. Just kept walking with him. "That's very kind of you." "Hey, I got a question. What's with the three Xs pin on your backpack?" "Huh? Oh! They're for Amsterdam." "Amsterdam? You mean like the Netherlands?" "Yes, I believe so." "Wow! Have you really been there?" "Heh, well I got my love of bikes somewhere." "Whoa! You're like a seasoned traveler." This made me smile; he obviously wasn't but it was still cute. He was easily impressed.
Eric was a pretty nice guy; at least it was nice to know someone at school. More friends were to come. Unfortunately I couldn't negotiate my way out of gym class, which was third period. It confused me to all hell that we didn't have a school uniform but we had a gym uniform, for some reason. Today we played volley ball, which I suck at; I didn't even make an effort. I bike; that's the extent of my physical activity. I stood near the back, trying to avoid the ball whenever possible; some girls were really getting into it. I must have stuck out more than I realized though because on the guys from our team came over to me.
"Hey, you ok?" "Huh?" I blinked to him surprised. He was tall, pale with short messy blonde hair. "You've been standing back here the whole game." "Oh! Oh, I don't play volleyball." This made him smile… for some reason. I was just being honest; nothing more. "You're the new girl, aren't you? The one with the impossible to pronounce name." "Guilty," I grinned. "I'm Mike Newton," he stuck out his hand. I think he was surprised by the way I took it, holding my hand in the position like it was going to be kissed rather than shaken. "Nice to meet you. I'm Athénaïs." "Whoa! That's a cool name! I've never heard it before." "It's French," I gave a little shrug. "It derives from the ancient Greek goddess, Athena." "Interesting," a grin grew across his face.
"Cool name, huh?" A third party, one of the more active girls, joined us. "I'm Jessica, by the way." "Pleasure." "Hey, you're European, right?" "Yes." "Aren't people from Europe supposed to have an accent?" That's…. a little racist. "English is my first language," I tried to be as civil as possible. She seemed to sense the awkwardness in the air while Mike was utterly clueless to the situation. "Really? I thought it would be French?" Oh my god. But I took the opportunity to make a joke. "Trust me, my French is horrible; no one in Paris liked me." "I find that hard to believe." Whoa, that didn't go how I thought it would. In that moment, I noticed Jessica looking at Mike with a sort of contorted expression. Huh, I wonder…..
Mike was particularly nice and attentive to me for the rest of the day. He held the cafeteria door open for me and pulled out my chair. I think he thought that since I was European, I had a little different expectations of men; and he would be right. Still, I couldn't help but notice that this didn't seem to sit well this Jessica, who tried her best to act normally. We joined Eric and some other kids at a table near the center of the cafeteria. I sat in between Eric and Mike, which wasn't "uncomfortable" at all.
"Hey, you met my home-girl…. I mean my lady-friend, Athénaïs," Eric said to Mike the moment we sat down at the table. "Your lady-friend?" He raised an eyebrow. "My girl," we were suddenly interrupted by this other kid, who came over to peck my cheek. The nerve! I spun around in my chair while Mike began to playfully chase him. Jessica took the opportunity to slide closer to me. "Oh my god, it's like first grade all over again; you're the shiny new toy." What's that supposed to mean? I shot her a look. I'm not an object for men to objective; I'm a lady and more than that, I'm a person. But she's young and I guess the culture over here was different than back home. Once again, I did the tactful thing and didn't address it.
And just as if things couldn't get any weirder, this girl with glasses suddenly took my picture with this big camera- without my permission! "Smile!" I blinked a couple of times, unsure what was happening right away. "Sorry, I needed a candid for the future," she explained upon seeing my confused face. "The future's dead, Angela!" Eric beside me exclaimed. "Don't bring it up again," he then got up to come kneel beside me for a second. "I got your back, baby," he patted my arm before leaving. What did he just call me!? The audacity of these guys! I couldn't believe it! They were almost as bad as some Parisians I'd met.
"Guess I'll run another editorial on teen drinking," the new disheartened Angela sulked. Awe, poor Angela, I frowned slightly. "You could write a travel article or feminist piece," I tried to break the suddenly sad atmosphere. "You're into that kind of stuff, aren't you?" "Heh, well yeah. I'm a big fan of both." And Angela's lovely smile returned to her lips. While she and Jessica got to talking, I gazed over at the cafeteria door which was opened by a group of incoming bodies. They were all tanned with jet black hair; if I had to guess, which I would never, I'd say they were first nation.
The girls must have noticed me watching them because Jessica grinned over at me. "They're all from the Quileute tribe outside of Forks. They came here when their residential school closed a few years ago." "They kinda keep to themselves," Angela added. "That's Quil, and he's Embry. Paul- he's got a temper- and Jared with his girlfriend, Kim. They've been together since they started here. Seth, he's the youngest." "Well, at least they got a lot of friends here," I turned down to my food. I was about to eat until the door reopened and I heard Angela and Jessica give a little gasp. Glancing over my shoulder, my eyes grew wide as I felt my heart skip a beat; several beats.
In walked the most beautiful, most perfect man I had ever seen. He was tall and swoll; his hair was short and spiky. And his face…. Oh, his face. To my utter shock and disbelief, he was looking- or rather staring- at me with equally wide eyes. It was like time came to a screeching halt as we just soaked each other in. What felt like an hour turned out to be a few seconds for both of us, with Jessica addressing me and his friends calling for him. We both turned to the respective parties. "Hey, earth to Athénaïs; you ok?" "Uh… y-yeah! I'm fine. Uh, who's he?" I didn't even have to point; they knew who I was talking about.
Jessica peaked over at him, smiling to herself before answering. I knew what that meant, and I absolutely understood why. "That's Jacob Black. He's totally gorgeous, obviously. But apparently no one here is good enough for him. L-like I care, you know…. So yeah, seriously like, don't waste your time." But I wasn't listening; I was looking over my shoulder to where Jacob was sitting. He was also looking at me; an intense, also elated stare. And we stared for I don't know how long. But I remember smiling; a genuine smile. His expression mirrored mine, as we smiled at each other from across the cafeteria.