Chapter 2- EPOV
Beep.
Beep. Beep.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Bee-
I moaned and slapped the alarm clock hard. I turned over in my bed, sighing, I sat up.
I rubbed my face, and got up.
School today, I thought. I felt nervous, which was weird seeing as I was now thirty-eight, not five. But still, I wanted the kids to like me, I remembered the horrible teachers I used to have when I was growing up, I would try not to be like that, I hated school, as I was growing up , but the music lessons were an escape. The teacher I used to have Mr. Winstanley, inspired me to to do music when I went to college, and I wanted to be that for my students.
I showered quickly and tried to tame my messy hair, with no avail, eventually I gave up and put a white shirt on and a pair of black trousers. I sat at the breakfast bar and ate a couple of slices of toast while listening to my iPod on the speaker dock.
At ten past eight, I pulled my iPod out of the dock and shoved my earphones in, listening to The Verve as I walked.
The school was much bigger than my old high-school, it was a collection of red-bricked buildings and mobile classrooms.
Walking towards the reception, I saw a girl, who couldn't be more than seventeen, sitting on a bench, chatting to two other girls, she had brownish-red long hair that was tied back with a ribbon, I had this nagging feeling that I'd seen her before, and I couldn't pinpoint why.
I quickly shook the feeling off and carried on towards the little reception. It was a small cramped room with industrial grey carpets and beige walls, behind the desk sat a woman of about forty-five, with dyed dark-red hair and rectangular glasses, she looked up as I came in, and her small, piggy eyes widened.
"Hi, I'm Edward Cullen, the new music teacher?" I told her, half saying it as a question.
"Of course." She fluttered, "Mr Collins is waiting to see you." I started to walk over to the door marked 'Headmaster's Office' when she said, "By the way, if you need anything, I'm Alison." She trying to be seductive, but Bella could be more seductive in her sleep. Dammit Edward, think of what Emmett and Jake said, I need to move on, I thought.
"Thanks, I'll bear that in mind." I replied, not really meaning it.
I knocked softly on the door and a voice behind it said, "Come in."
I entered and walked in.
"Mr. Cullen, it's nice to see you again," He shook my hand,"And congratulations on getting the job." Mr. Collins was a plump, ruddy-faced man with tufts on ginger hair sticking out on his balding head
"Thank you."
"Right then, I won't waste any time, let me take you to your classroom, here's your timetable." He handed me a sheet of paper and walked out of the office, I quickly followed him out and looked back at Alison, I was almost certain I saw her wink at me behind her glasses and I had to restrain a shudder.
"I don't think any of your classes should be a problem, most of the students here are a nice bunch of kids, you have the seniors first lesson, they're really great, I know them well. Well this it. Good luck." He left me outside a classroom with a newly-put up sign saying "MR. CULLEN- MUSIC ROOM 1" and couldn't help but feel a stab of glee as I saw it.
I pushed open the door and looked around. The floor was carpeted in the same industrial grey and beige walls, urgh... I'd have to put some displays up in here. There were four six-seater tables at one end, and the other end had tables lined against the walls with key-boards on, above the keyboards they had guitars hanging by the specially put up hooks. This wasn't bad, better than I was expecting anyway.
Deciding to test some of the guitars while I still had time, I took one down off a hook and strummed it gently, it was out of tune, that much I could tell just from listening to it, though that wouldn't take much fixing, other than that, it was good quality instrument, I was impressed, this was better than what I had in High School.
I sat down with the guitar, and started to tune it, strumming it softly as I went. I didn't even realize as a few people came in, I looked up, the girl I'd seen outside and her two friends sat down, talking amongst themselves.
"Hey," I said, "I'm Mr. Cullen, the new music teacher." I hung the guitar back up, making a mental note to tune the rest when I got the chance. A couple of boy ambled in and sat down, laughing at some shared joke.
I waited a few minutes as the rest of the class came in.
"Right, I think that's all of you now, I'm Mr. Cullen, your new music teacher." I told them, looking at their faces, "And before we start, I don't want any chewing gum in this class, so get rid now please." A couple of people went up to the bin.
I walked to the back of the room, picking up the bin as I went,"You, what's your name?" I pointed to a skinhead burly boy who was still chewing.
"Conner." He replied lazily.
I put the bin in front of him, "Gum." I said simply. I watched him halve it in his mouth and pull out one half and throw it in the bin. "And the rest." I said, and he sighed and pulled the other half out too.
"As a note for the future, class, I wouldn't try anything with me, because I know, and probably made up every trick in the book, so it won't wash with me." A couple of people snickered in disbelief.
"Right, so I can get to know you guys, and what I need to do with you for the next few weeks. Tell me an artist or band you like, any music artist at all."
An over-tanned girl, who was probably single-handedly keeping Maybelline in business, put her hand up,"Yes, you, what's your name?" I asked.
"Chelsy." She said.
"Right, Chelsy, an artist you like, anyone."
"The Jonas Brothers. They are sooo , like fit!" She replied and they class laughed and a few more put their hands up .
"Okay, if that's your cup of tea,, you?" I pointed to a ginger-haired boy,"What's your name?"
"Daniel."
"Artist?"
"The Killers."
"Not bad, not bad."
I pointed to another girl,"Name?"
"Rachel and I like Miley Cyrus."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girl with the reddish-brown hair, not unsimiliar to my own, look disgusted. I looked at her, those eyes... so much like Bella's.
I squinted at her, "We haven't met before have we?"
"No." She looked confused. I was being silly again
I shook it off, "Anyway, you looked visibly disgusted by Miley Cyrus, which if I'm being honest I am too, so who do you like?"
"Ermm... Billy Joel."
"That's more like it!" I exclaimed, happy that not all the kids I taught loved the disney-machine so-called talent, "I love Billy Joel, I don't know many teens who do though, how did you get into him?" I asked, honestly curious.
"My Mom likes him, I grew up listening to it." She replied.
"Tell your Mother she has good taste. What was your name?"
"Janey."
"Janey." I repeated, before turning back to the class,"A nice easy piece of work today,I want you write a review of your favourite song, include what you think of the lyrics, beat, and instruments used . And if you want to listen to iPods or phone through headphone you can, and you'll be able to do that every lesson, but only after I've set the work, okay?"
The class smiled and eagerly pulled their iPods out of their bags. This was going well. I pulled one of the guitars down from the wall, and began to strum it softly, tuning it.
I looked up at the class, most were humming along to their tunes and doing their work. All but one was doing their work. Janey was staring at me so I smiled at her, "You okay?" I asked.
"Yep," she looked down then but I was still haunted by her eyes, so similiar to Bella's, I looked at the register: SMITH, Rachel; SWAN, Janey...
No, it couldn't be. It was a coincidence. A girl with brown eyes and the the surname Swan, it was a common surname, and brown eyes were the most common eyes to have, definitely a coincidence. I seemed to be seeing Bella in everything nowadays, maybe I was going mad...
"Sir?" I heard someone say, it was Conner.
"Yeah, Conner?"
"How did you get into music?" he asked.
"I've always been into music, ever since I was little, then I did it in school and college, then I was in a band."
"You were in a band?" Conner asked, he looked impressed.
"Yep, we were Spinnerbait."
"Spinnerbait?" He laughed.
I put on a mock-offended look,"And?"
"No offense, Sir, but that is a lame name." I rolled my eyes at him, looking down at the guitar again.
"If you were in a band, why did you become a teacher? I woulda stayed in the band." He asked and I laughed.
"It's not that simple," I told him," We didn't make too much money,and a few things happened so we had to split." I sighed, it was the right thing to do in the end.
I put the guitar up and got another one down to tune it.
I looked at the clock, "Right guys, start to pack up for me please. Well done guys." Everyone stood up and gabbled as they put everything away.
"Class dismissed. See you guys next lesson!" I watched as my first class filed out and Janey smiled at me, I liked that girl already, maybe it was just because she reminded me of Bella so much.
The day passed without incidence, and I did enjoy my classes, the kids were polite and chatty, and I didn't have a problem with any of them.
After school ended, I went home and plugged my iPod into the speakers and started marking the work from today.
The song reviews from my seniors were brilliant, really imaginative and well-written. But there was one who stood out in particular for me.
Janey Swan.
Yep, I was seeing Bella everywhere.
BELLA POV
With a gust of wind, my daughter came in and dumped her bag on the sofa, "Hey Mom."
"Hey Janey, how was your day?" I asked her, she smiled, reminding me painfully of Edward's unique grin.
She grew more like her father everyday, so talented and musical, yet not at all boastful. She was the most beautiful thing in my world, as was Edward at the time.
I wondered, as I did everyday, what had happened to Edward, he was probably married to some lucky bitch by now, with kids on the way, and yet he'd never know about Janey.
I also thought about the rest of Spinnerbait, what happened to Emmett and Jake, they were as close to me as brothers during those days on the road, and it hurt me to know that I'd probably never see them again.
"It was good, we got a new music teacher today, he seems really nice." She told me, fiddling with a lock of her reddish-brown hair, a habit and hair colour she'd inherited off Edward.
"A new teacher? But it's nearly summer."
"I know but Mr Baddiel had to leave because his wife had a heart attack, so we've got this new one. He's cool"
"Oh." I said, wondering why this tiny bit of news affected me so much, like it would mean something later on, I shook it off and started making dinner
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