Disclaimer- I own nothing, it all belongs to Stephanie Meyer.
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"Hi." I mutter, blushing. I never liked being the center of attention. Thankfully, Mr. Mason decides to start class just now. I look over the reading list he handed me, and I find out that I have read all of these in Phoenix. Comfort and disappointment fill me. At least this class won't be hard. But now I have nothing to do.
"Bella, what is your next class?" The tiny Alice asks, looking at me, grinning. She seems nice, but more talkative than I expected. Her golden brown eyes mesmerize me for a second. I have never seen such pretty brown eyes. They make my own eyes look like mud.
"Umm, Government in building six with Jefferson," I say, after quickly checking my new schedule.
"Oh, I have American History next door, let me take you!" She says, looping her designer coat-covered arm through mine, once I put my puffy winter coat back on. I can tell she is just trying to be friendly, so I smile back to her.
"Thanks, Alice." And we are whisked to class. Strong and graceful, I envy this small girl.
The rest of the day continued in a similar way, there was always someone who asked to take me from class to class. Never once did I need the map. I am currently sitting at lunch with the curly haired girl in both my 3rd hour Trig and 4th hour Spanish classes. She is chattering about classes and teachers. I can hardly keep up, so I decide to not even bother. We are sitting with her friends, several of whom I met already. The boy with the bad skin who took me from Government to Trig kept staring at me. I start looking around the cafeteria, checking out the rest of the juniors and seniors. I see the bubbly Alice with four others, all of them looking the same, gorgeous and bored.
"Do you know Alice?" I ask, jumping back into the conversation. I indicate to the small girl, just in case.
"Yeah. She's odd. She's a Cullen, and they don't socialize with the rest of us." The curly haired girl explains I must look confused because she continues, "They are all adopted by Dr. Cullen and his wife. Alice, the one you mentioned, is the short one. Emmett and Edward are also adopted, and I think they were best friends before, or something. They are Cullens. The other two are Jasper and Rosalie Hale, they are twins. The weirdest thing is, they are all together together. Alice is with Jasper, that's the tall, skinny blond one in pain. Emmett, the big scary one, is with Rosalie, the blond girl."
"Oh," is the only thing I can say. I look over the group, and I notice they are all extremely attractive. Everyone in the school was pale, but they, the Cullens and Hales, took it to the extreme, and looked gorgeous. The most attractive one, Edward, had perfectly tousled bronze hair and chiseled features. After a moment, I recover, "What about the other one, Edward?"
"Don't waste your time, he doesn't date," The girl snaps, and I wonder when she was turned down.
"Did they always live here? Also, aren't they old to be adopted?" I ask, for sure I would have noticed the 5 gorgeous people on my visits.
"Now they moved here in 9th grade. Well, Alice, and Edward were in 9th grade, like us, and the other 3 were in 10th. They came from Alaska. They were adopted a long time ago, like when they were 5 or something. I don't think the wife can have kids." The girl says, as if being barren made the whole adoption scheme less honorable.
"Alice is in my English class and she seemed friendly enough to me," I say, changing the topic slightly.
"That's odd; I never saw any of them go out of their way to socialize." A boy with a goofy grin says, joining the conversation.
"She was really helpful," I say softly, mostly to myself, letting the conversation die.
"What do you have after lunch?" The curly haired girl asks again.
"Biology with Mr. Banner," I say, looking to my schedule again.
"I can take you Bella!" The grinning guy says.
"Okay."
"I'm Mike. I'm in your English too."
"Hi, Mike." I say as we get up to leave. A tall, dark haired girl leaves with us.
"I'm Angela," she quietly introduces herself, "we have Government and Trig, too, along with Bio."
"Hey, Angela, I thought I recognized you." I say. She seems shy, but I think we could get along.
The three of us entered the Biology classroom and they took their seats, Mike with a huge grin on his face. As I hand Mr. Banner the slip, I scan the classroom. The only open seat was by Alice's gorgeous brother, Edward. With signed slip in hand, Mr. Banner points me to the open half of lab table beside Edward. Mr. Banner hands me a textbook before beginning class.
I finally really look at Edward, since I was concentrating on not falling before. I see that he is glaring at me. What did I do? Did Alice tell them about me, and he is mad? Are they not allowed to socialize, and Edward blames me?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Maybe Edward's glare has NOTHING to do with me, personally. I glance over to him, the most gorgeous boy ever, and notice he is no longer giving me the death stare, but is directing the glare to the blackboard or Mr. Banner. He could have eaten something bad at lunch. As a matter of fact, I didn't notice him eating much, so that's probably it, food poisoning, or something. He doesn't look sick, per se, but maybe he's trying to "man-up" or be tough and ignore the pain.
I contemplate telling him the jig is up, I can tell he's in pain and should just go to the nurse already, but he drops his glare to me and his nearly black eyes widen.
I go back to my note taking, even though I already learned cell structures in Phoenix.
Just now, Edward gets up and leaves the room, right with the ringing bell. I hope, for Alice's sake, that he's alright. The bubbly girl really had an effect on me. I hope we can be friends, no matter 'who' she is!
My first day of school was okay. Charlie beat me home, for once, and I smelled his cooking as I entered the house.
"Dad! What are you doing?" I shout, throwing my bag down as I slam the front door, already running to the kitchen.
"I thought I'd skip out of work a little early, to make my Bells a good dinner today."
"You do know you're supposed to mix the mashed potatoes, right?" I say, looking at the rock-hard lump of food in the pot, "and butter definitely helps."
"Oh," is all Charlie can say, looking thoroughly embarrassed. I wonder how he survived so long.
The second day at Forks High could definitely have been better, but I can't complain, too much. Let me explain.
Alice was as cheery and chatty as yesterday, she asked how I liked Forks, and if it could ever compare to Phoenix, she even referred to it as "home," like I do in my mind. We chatted while we waited for the rest of the class to show up, and I am starting too really like Alice Cullen, even if she is way too excited for 8 in the morning. I really don't know what the curly haired girl and Mike were going on about, all through English class, Alice and I whispered back and forth. I can totally see friendship developing here.
Angela was friendly all morning, but she was still quiet, shy like me. I found out that she absolutely adores her little brother, even though he's a pain in the butt, like most toddlers.
Mike became like a faithful puppy dog, following behind me everywhere, holding my tray and sitting by me at lunch. I finally figured out the curly haired girl's name, Jessica. The four of us, Mike, Angela, Jessica and I, along with a few other people, were talking and I mentioned again how open and friendly Alice was, and Jessica said "It takes a freak to like THEM!"
This made Mike get all defensive, "JESSICA!" He shouted, totally shocked and offended, along with the rest of us, "How could you say that? Maybe she's just sympathetic because Bella is new and she understands the situation." I couldn't tell if Mike was sticking up for me or Alice, or both of us.
All of that was fine. I was still being stared at, but not as much as yesterday. If that was all that went on Tuesday, I would have called it an okay day, but there is more. I don't even understand why it bothers me so much.
Edward wasn't in school Tuesday. I didn't notice until Biology, with all the drama and shouting at lunch. When Mike, Angela and I went to Biology, I saw my lab table was empty. After the bell to start class rang, I was worried, was he really sick, then? I relaxed though, when I realized I could space out and daydream safely in class, without Edward's glare creeping me out.
That is why I call Tuesday a bad day, Edward was missing. Sad, I know. I don't even know the guy, yet I missed him. I wonder what Renee would say. Or any of my friends back home. Not seeing Edward wrecked my entire day, and I never even spoke to him.
The rest of the week was similar. In English, Alice and I would whisper about anything and everything, except either of our families. I could never bring it up, I felt awkward about it, and Alice never brought it up either. I found out Alice is obsessed with fashion when she ridiculed the plain sweater I was wearing one morning. I always thought it was cute, but I know nothing of fashion. Apparently, Alice is not worried about failing, because she never cracked her book or notebook, both sitting closed on her desk all week. On Friday, I finally asked her about it.
"Alice, why don't you take notes?"
"Oh, I read Jane Eyre in Alaska. We had accelerated programs." She answers before throwing the question back. "What about you? You don't seem to mind. Your notebook has one line of notes and half a page of doodles."
"Well, me too, we covered Brontë in the fall."
We continued talking about the local boys and how immature they were. At least Alice and I agree on some things.
Angela was beginning to warm up, slowly talking to me more and more and I found myself being open too. Mike is still following me around, but its okay, he doesn't hit on me, just acts like a shadow. He could be a good friend, he is cute and smart. Jessica is more talkative and less bitchy, and I truly am starting to like her. As long as I didn't bring up Alice in conversation, Jessica is super friendly. I guess she is just shallow and insecure, wanting to know I put her first in friendship. She's one of those people who need attention.
AAAND, Edward hasn't shown up all of the rest of the week. I really hope he's okay. Alice doesn't seem to be worried about her brother, blood or not, the Cullens/Hales really seem to look out for each other. I like that, respect, you don't see that in most teenagers.
Dr. Cullen seems to be good at picking out perfect couples to adopt. I know there is no way he could have foreseen this, but the way it looks, damn, I want to be adopted, even if I could just be best friends with Alice. I would never fit in with the family, though; I am nowhere near beautiful enough. Which leads me to this conversation on Thursday, while Jessica was still in line, getting her food, Angela caught me staring at the Cullen table.
"I know they are gorgeous, don't you wish Dr. Cullen would adopt you?" Angela whispers, and I glance at her before looking down at the table, blushing. I saw Angela was blushing too, which made me wonder, did she like Edward? I thought she liked Eric or Ben… but I could be wrong.
"Yeah, he's like the perfect match-maker…"I say nodding to the table. Jess was sitting down then, so the conversation ended. I wonder why she hates them so much. Friday in Biology, Mike sat on the corner of my table, talking before class started.
"Are your eyes hurting, Bella? Cuz they're killing me!" Mike says, with the goofy grin from Monday again. Great. Now he's flirting, and he absolutely sucks. That is the cheesiest pick up line in the entire world. The polite smile I plastered on my face whenever Mike talks to me was instantly erased and replaced with a scowl.
"Get glasses if your eyes hurt, Mike," I say, turning from him.
The first weekend in Forks was a drag. Like usual, it was rainy, so I stayed in most of the weekend. Charlie went on a fishing trip with Billy Black and some other friends.
I did the homework that I couldn't do during class, and caught up on housework. I vacuumed the carpets and rugs, scrubbed the kitchen floor and did the entire bathroom. Sunday I did laundry and reorganized my bedroom, trying to make it look more mature. There isn't much room to work with, but I tried. I pushed Gran's old rocking chair that I inherited to the other corner and twisted the desk to the side. Not much, but I decided to ask Charlie if I could paint it soon.
Finally, I checked emails. Renee sent me several. Each one got tenser. I told her to chill, Forks is okay, I liked school and classes were easy. I am making a few friends. I was just waiting for something exciting to report. The rain still hasn't stopped.
My friend, Shannon, from Phoenix, sent me an email saying how much she missed me. I was a bit more honest with her, saying I missed her too and couldn't stand the rain. My "albino" skin, as we joked about it, fits in perfectly here.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were much like last week. Alice and I got closer, along with the lunch crew. I still feel odd, like the main object of focus, something that never happened in Phoenix.
Thursday morning came, and I was greeted with a surprise. After I shut off the alarm, I noticed a glow from the window. I went over and checked it out. Sure enough, the sun was out, burning through the fog. I thought it was a permanent feature. Smiling, I got ready in a flash. It was still cold, mid 40's, but the sun made my day.
I was so happy and could tell everyone else was too, people laughing and chatting outside, instead of rushing into class. I wanted to talk to Alice in English, but she wasn't there. How odd, I half expected her pixie form to be dancing to the sun gods today. Her bright personality seemed to belong in the sun.
The rest of the day was normal, except the sun kept peeking in the windows. At lunch, I noticed none of the Cullens were at their table. After a quick scan, they weren't in the cafeteria at all. I got worried, was gorgeous Edward really ill? I still have no idea why this boy is so important to me, or why he keeps cropping up in my thoughts, I mean, he did glare at me the entire first day. Again, Angela caught me staring. She sure is perceptive (after Alice, Angela is my favorite person in Forks, so I don't feel as awkward about her catching me. If Jessica saw, I'd likely die of embarrassment).
"Dr. Cullen always takes his family camping or hiking when it's nice out. Since it doesn't happen too often, they take advantage."
"Oh, that's really nice," I say, relief washing over me.
"Yes, it is, I tried it on Dad, but he doesn't buy it," Angela says, warming up to conversation.
"Your dad doesn't buy what Ang?" Jessica asks, sitting down in her usual seat across from me.
"I just told Bella about how the Cullens all go camping when it's nice out."
"Yeah, my mom doesn't like the idea either. She says it's bad to skip school." The conversation carried on and for once Jessica wasn't bitchy about the Cullens. Good, maybe it was just insecurity, and now that she sees I prefer to sit with them for lunch, and won't desert her, she can talk civilly about them.
I couldn't help but thinking, if they are going camping, then Edward must be okay…
All the Cullens were gone on Friday too, since the good weather held up. Weekend number two was as dull as weekend number one. This time, I went to the library, to see if it was any good. I had my doubts, and they were right. I'll need to go to Seattle or Olympia for a good library. The good weather broke by Sunday night, and it began to rain again.
