A/N – All characters belong to S. Meyer
Chapter 2
Say It Ain't So
I stared blankly ahead as the 70s Cadillac Jacob restored for my father, my 17th birthday present, twisted with ease around the sharp roads. I inhaled deeply on the Marlboro and watched as the tall trees which lined either side of the road moved gently in the wind and as I exhaled the toxin riddled smoke seemed to imitate their ridiculous dance, beckoning us into the black hole that was Queen Mary's Catholic High School.
No I wasn't being dramatic.
You may claim that I am but I assure you that I'm not. I loved Alice, Rose, my mom and dad with all my heart but I never really wanted to return here. Although Forks had never done anything to me I couldn't help but associate it with the only bleak period in my life. In October 1999, the last time I was in Forks, my mother ran off to Phoenix.
She came back of course. My mother was many things, but she wasn't that. She would never leave her child and husband to fend for themselves', she just needed "space" or so she claimed. I think both Charlie and I knew that the real reason she left was due to the prison like place she felt Forks was for her at the time.
My mother was going through one of her crazy phases at the time and felt that her free spirit was being "tied down". I think that was probably why Charlie never seemed too worried: that or he put on a brave front for his daughter. When Renée returned to the family home 3 years later it was safe to say the craze was over.
The discordant notes claiming to be songs which were forced from Nana Swan's old upright only reinforced this.
Surprisingly I ended up staying in Phoenix until earlier this year. I mean of course I returned for a few months in the summer but seeing as I had settled into school when my mother first uprooted us from Forks she was hesitant to unsettle me once again so I stayed with her sister, my aunt Ava. The decision for me to move home came about in part due to my strong friendships with Alice and Rose and partly because in only a year's time I'd be flying any form of family nest for college, this kick-started Renee's maternal instincts and she brought me home.
I never really remembered much from the my initial stay in Forks other than the Berry Cobbler, Renée brought home every Sunday so I guess I was slightly surprised and disappointed when I first saw the thick grey blanket which covered the sky when I opened my curtains.
I suppose I'm probably not being all that fair considering it is 7.30 in the morning and the dull fog will disappear by 9 and I'll be able to take in the copper trees in all their glory.
For the two months previous which I had lived here, Forks had seemed surprisingly pleasant. It wasn't a particularly old town by most standards, most of the buildings only dating back to a century and half ago: Nana Swan's, the house where she lived with my family, being one of them. However, the memories and ghosts of the Civil War still circulated here and were very much alive, as real as the local supermarket and Margey Malone's cat. I actually felt more settled here than I had for the majority of my teen years in Phoenix. I guess I feel I'm on the same wavelength as Alice and Rose, this thought is reiterated when I pull up at Al's and her and rose hop in with Thermos' full of strong coffee.
Although my heart and interests were mainly preoccupied with the sciences, over the years I'd gained a substantial amount of interest and respect for history and the past.
Despite this I still wasn't in the most pleasant of moods and my current distaste was probably also partly due to the early morning start.
My final cause of distaste is due to the lovely attire I was now sporting. Queen Mary's Catholic High School had a uniform.
So here I sit wearing a navy blue skirt, black tights, white shirt, a navy bow around my neck and a navy cardigan attempting to drink my coffee, smoke my cigarette, drive the car and talk to my girls.
Of course knowing that it was a Catholic school I had to extort the uniform as much as I could...why wait for Halloween to do "Naughty Catholic School girl" when you can do it at school itself.
I kid, although I have shortened the skirt, worn a fitted blouse and heeled Mary-Jane's I have not turned into a complete slut...If only Isabella Swan was so daring.
I think Charlie said some awkward quip about never having to wear sun-cream in response to my questioning to the state of grey but I cannot be sure. Instead I was far more focused on the looming high school building and thanking god that he didn't insist upon dropping me off in the cruiser, not only would that have been mortifying I also wouldn't have time to address my two addictions.
It was pretty typical as far as high schools go. Well. In a way. The Queen Mary's Catholic building was pretty impressive considering its placement in a small town. With its ornate details and extravagant entrance way it screamed public school: my own personal hell waiting for me behind the two wooden entrance doors five days a week.
That's not to say I was a bad student, quite the contrary I guess. I'd always achieved high A grades throughout my high school career to date which was probably no surprise. With a non-existent social life I didn't really have anything else to do. That's not to say I wasn't motivated.
I didn't plan on that many things but my future education was certainly one of them. Of course I always strived to do well but my main reason for pushing myself so hard was my desire to pursue politcal science. I'd managed to find courses at the University of Washington which wasn't too far away and I had a decent chance of getting a place. The Ivy League seemed all too daunting right now.
As we parked up at school we loitered at the side of the car drinking the remains of our coffee and just generally killing time before the first bell when he pulled up.
"Cullen seems to be getting more ostentatious with age." Muttered Rose as she took a drag: any worry of being caught by some lurking teacher seemingly not apparent. Chancing a look at her she seemed far more cool and collected than any Vogue model could ever yearn to be.
The mention of his surname seemed to start the hurricane of butterflies in my stomach once again reminding me of how I felt thirteen instead of seventeen. It also reminded me of the drunken conversation I had with Alice the day after the gig we went to last Thursday. Edward Cullen was apparently a senior here and pretty much the bad boy your mother would welcome into your home. He was lusted after by the female population in Forks but was very much off the market. His tumultuous romance with Tanya Denali: a supposed ice queen who had been a senior the year before and who was now travelling the world for modelling work. Oh I forgot to mention that she's also at Princeton studying pre-law. Could it get any worse?
The sleek black Volvo purred through the parking lot to the space located between two rusting Fords, moving as lazily as a panther stalking its prey.
When the car came to a stop, the door was opened swiftly and I was able to glimpse the driver.
"Oh my god" came the exhaled whisper from behind, I glanced at Rosalie and bit back a smile at her eye roll.
From where I was stood I could see that beneath the uniform grey slacks and white shirt, with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, that he had a lean, flat-muscled body. His hair was the most unique colour of bronze and was formed in an unruly mess: something which a hairdresser would perfect for hours no doubt but with the air he gave off; as he started to walk across the lot in his black Wayfarer's, a chorus of whispers and sighs left in his wake, it was probably more likely that he tended to get out of bed looking like this.
The paleness of his skin was particularly striking. Striking in the sense that coupled with the sharp jawline and cheekbones which lay beneath it would be impossible to ever call this boy "cute". That and a mouth to keep you awake at night.
What I assumed would keep you awake at night.
I mean I thought he looked fantastic in the harsh stage lights of the club but now in daylight, words couldn't describe.
I noticed that every girl who he walked past gained a pink colouring to their cheeks. Although I found the effect he had on them incredibly pathetic, I mean he's a human being for goodness sake, not a god...although he did appear like what I imagined one to be, I couldn't help but suspect that my cheeks would also be tainted by the rose hue which coloured theirs.
"Come on girls, we have homeroom" and with that Rose was off, her long-legged gate graceful yet determined as she set off for the school, Alice and I following in her wake.
