A/N:
Hey there guys, well this is the chapter where some stuff actually happens!
yay!
Thanks in this chapter goes to freakylittlepixie, whose just awesome.
Pixie and I chatted about all kinds of things, including popsicles (she is one) and chipmunks and we share this crazy-psycho-insanity syndrome that makes us sound completely nutso, even though we arent. (we arent, right pixie? *wink, wink*)
I also have to mention AshlynA for telling me where Estonia is... I used that in this chapter. lol.
So here it is!!! Enjoy!!!
xox
sms
=]
Chapter Two: Always Attract
I was rounding the last row of cars when a silver volvo turned the corner and parked in the spot next to where I was standing. A short, spiky haired girl of around my age stepped out of the back seat. She took one glance at me, frozen on the spot, and her face flickered between disbeleif and recognition for a second before cracking into a sweet smile. She skipped toward me, looking every bit like a dark-haired pixie, and held out her hand.
"Hi! I'm Alice. You must be new, right?" She winked, and I noticed her eyes, gasping in surprise. They were a gold sort of colour, exactly matching my own. The effect of drinking animal blood as opposed to human blood. I took in the rest of her appearance and was confronted by the fact that I was facing another vampire. Another animal-blood-drinking vampire. One I had searched my whole life for.
"Yes. I'm new." I whispered. I couldn't help but break out in an identical grin. "Bella." I took her hand and shook it.
"We are going to be great friends, Bella, I can see it." She gestured towards the car where the other passengers were getting out.
"This is Jasper." She took a tall, blonde vampire by the hand as he smiled and waved shyly to me.
"Rosalie." Another blonde vampire with long flowing hair stepped out of the car and walked over to greet us, her beauty stunning me as she smiled a perfect smile.
"Emmett." A big, muscly brunette boy appeared by Rosalie's side and took her hand as he grinned.
"Hey there! Alright! A newbie!" He exclaimed. I let out a giggle. They were all so nice. I was beginning to think that Forks wouldn't be so bad, what with new vampire friends that were like me, then I noticed the driver had not appeared yet. I looked over towards the car, just as Alice did the same.
"Hmm, what is he doing in there?" she asked. "We will be late if he doesn't get out of that car." I threw her a quizzical look, before returning my gaze to the driver's side of the volvo.
"Who?" I asked. I did not need an introduction, as the driver chose this moment to open his door and step out of the car. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Edward. It was my Edward, looking more beautiful than I ever remembered him.
"No! It can't be him!" I thought. "He died! He is dead. I can't keep doing this with every boy who looks remotely like Edward. It isn't him. I'm imagining it. I have to stop doing this!" All the while, my eyes were glued to this boy, and his to me. He looked just like my Edward, but this was not him. I had done this many times before, disillusioning myself into thinking that by some miracle, he was still here with me. Alice noticed our exchange, glancing back and forth before speaking.
"Um, Bella, this is Edward. Have you met before?"
"No." We both said, perhaps a little too quickly, not looking away from each other's eyes. The same name. It must be a coincidence. I had changed my name from 'Isabella' to 'Bella' with the changing times, but if this was my Edward, he hadn't done the same.
Alice continued to look at us each suspiciously, and the others had caught on as well, so there was a slightly awkward silence while I took in the sight of this stranger and tried to pick the differences between him and my love. There were few. He also looked at me with a slight frown, a gaze of fascination and frustration at the same time. The school bell rang and we did not move. Other students began to make their way towards the gates but we stood planted to the ground. There was some sort of connection between us, but I didn't know what it meant. The boy's gaze was searching, like I knew a secret that I wasn't telling him. I didn't understand what he wanted from me, it was like he expected something. I put in my mind that I didn't know this boy, and left it at that.
"Uh, so I guess we'll see you around, hey Bella?" said Alice hesitantly, still throwing confused glances between us, as she dragged Jasper in the direction of the school.
"Yeah. Sure." I said distantly, my mind back in 1918. This Edward tore his eyes away from me, and followed the others, leaving me standing in the empty parking lot.
It took me a few moments to gather my thoughts, before realising that I was already late for my first day of school. I rushed towards the gates, and into the brick office on the left to sign in as a new student. I walked through the glass doors and the elderly receptionist looked over her glasses at me in dissaproval.
"You're late." She said simply.
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't find my way to the entrance is all." I smiled apologetically and blinked a few times, the perfect picture of innocence. She smiled back warmly.
"That's okay, dear. It is your very first day, after all." My smile widened and she handed me six slips I was to present to my teachers.
"Thankyou." I said sincerely. "Have a nice day." She beamed, showing a gold strip in one tooth.
"Thankyou dear! You have a good first day, alright?" I nodded and pushed the door open, entering into the cold wind. I wrapped my scarf around my neck, not making any difference to my temperature but knowing it was what any human would do. Keeping up appearances was very important, as I'm sure Alice and her friends would know. I smiled, knowing that at last I had found a group of people I could relate to, who wouldn't laugh at my choice of lifestyle and who seemed quite friendly and genuine. I continued walking down the corridor, before I realised I had no idea where I was going. I checked my timetable and saw that my first class was Geography, in the G block. I turned down the hallway on my right towards the classroom, opened the door and went inside. Once again, every head turned my way. The teacher, a tall, thin woman named Ms. Williams, with short, curly red hair and stylish glasses took my slip and directed me to a seat in the back. I walked down the aisle, towards the back desk, only to see Mike waving estatically from the desk opposite. I smiled back hesitantly, and slid into my chair, next to a boy with brown dreadlocks.
"Hey Bella." whispered Mike as I got out my book and pens from my bag. "Good to see you again!" I kept my eyes on my pages.
"Hmm. You too, Mike" I said in my best impression of a bored and uninterested tone.
"So... you wanna sit with us at lunch?" I could just feel his eager gaze boring into the side of my head.
"Uh, no thanks, I'm fine." I said, busying myself with pretending to listen to what the teacher was saying and taking notes.
"Really? You sure?" What was it going to take to throw this guy off?
"Listen Newton, she said no. Now back off. She's obviously not interested." Mike leaned back into his seat and turned his head to face the front, lapsing into a defeated silence. I looked up to thank my rescuer sitting next to me, and was met by the warmest pair of blue eyes I had ever seen. And the most heart melting smile.
"I'm Nate." I smiled back, a little speechless.
"Bella." I said, biting my lip.
"Miss Swan, Mr. Byrne. Is there something important about continental drift you can contribute to our discussion?" I shook my head and shrank back into my chair, never good with confrontation, but Nate rose to the challenge.
"Actually Ms. Williams, Bella and I were just discussing the effect drifting plates had on the flora and fauna of the continent of Australia and it's contribution to the development of Drawin's theory." Ms. Williams inhaled sharply, then turned her attention to the class in general and recommenced her discussion. He was smart as well as good looking. And Mike was seething with jealousy.
"Um, wow?" I whispered.
"Um, thankyou?" He replied mockingly. I laughed.
The rest of the lesson went by in a blur as I talked to Nate in between pretending to take notes and pretending to listen to the class conversation that was taking place around us. The bell went and I was almost sad to have to leave Geography. Almost.
"Come sit with me at lunch." he said casually.
"Okay." I said with a smile, collecting my books and heading off towards my Extention English class.
I've always loved English, mostly because we study the classics, Shakespeare, Austen, Orwell, and I just never get tired of them. It has always come easy to me and I love every aspect of literature. Today, however, I was particularly looking forward to lunch, or, more accuratley, seeing Nate again.
I walked into the cafeteria and it was like someone had shined a spotlight on me. When would all this new girl attention stop? I sighed and cast my eyes to the floor to avoid all those curious, and a few lustful, gazes.
"Hey Bella!" I snapped my head up quickly to see Alice beaming at me over a full tray of food. I took one look at the masses on the tray and burst out laughing.
"You're not serious, are you? You aren't actually going to eat all of this?" She playfully swatted my shoulder.
"Of course not, silly!" She cried, before dropping her voice to a whisper. "We are actors, after all." She gave me a sly wink.
"But what do you do with it all?" I whispered back, eyeing the sheer amount of food on the tray. She laughed and began to walk, me following her to a nearby table.
"We are very... creative." She said choosing her words carefully, setting the tray on the table and sitting down, gesturing for me to sit opposite her. I sat. Just then, Jasper showed up carrying an identical tray and sat next to her, Emmett and Rosalie following soon after.
I realised that in our six seater table, the only spare seat was next to me. This was a setup.
I realised a moment too late, with Edward arriving and standing by the back of his chair, giving the others dirty looks when he thought I didnt notice. He sat down next to me and set his tray down with a hard bang. He always did have a temper...No! This isn't my Edward, this boy is nothing like him. Although I desperatley wanted to know what they all did with the huge mounds of food, I couldn't stay here any longer.
"Uh, sorry Alice, I just remembered I had to, um..." Nate! He was waving at me from a table across the room. Thank god for Nate. "Meet Nate for lunch. I had to meet Nate." I stood up and looked around the table awkwardly. "Okay, bye guys." I said with a little wave. They all nodded and said goodbye, except for Edward, whose back was turned to me, sitting so still you couldn't be sure if he was a person or a statue.
I turned and hurried across the room towards a table where Nate sat by himself, catching the beginning of Edward's sentence.
"Alice! What do you think you're doing, getting close to her? For all we know..." I shook my head to clear it and put all vampire-related thoughts out of my mind. When I was at school, I would just be a teenager. Like everyone else. Well, almost everyone...
"Bella. How's it going?" Nate gestured for me to sit in the seat opposite him.
"Fine." I replied, sitting my bag down next to my chair.
"What were you doing talking to that lot?" He asked, nodding towards Alice's table.
"Oh, I was just chatting I suppose." He frowned.
"They're weird, especially that Edward. Hardly says a word." He said as he ripped a breadroll in half. Now it was my turn to frown.
"Hmm, I haven't really met him." I leaned in closer. "What's he like?" Nate seemed to freeze up at the sudden lack of space between us, but soon regained his cool and began to talk.
"Like I said, doesn't talk much, but mostly around the school he's seen as this 'strong and silent' type. The girls love it, but us guys can't seem to figure him out." I was stuck on the girls.
"Wait- back up, what does he think of the girls?" Nate smirked at my obvious interest in the subject.
"He doesn't go for it. Never seen him with a girl other than his sisters. Some of us think he might be gay. Why? You crushing on Edward?" I rolled my eyes. Then realised what he had said.
"His sisters? Are Rosalie and Alice his sisters?" Nate looked at me incredulously.
"Uh, yeah! What planet are you on? But, well, they aren't blood relatives, they're all adopted." I leaned back in my chair and glanced over at Alice's table, lost in thought.
So many things had already happened in that first day, as well as finding that I shared an Art class with Alice, who I sat next to and had a ball talking to, and Biology with Edward. Nate was right, he kept to himself. He sat across the room from me, and I kept sneaking glances at him when I thought he wasn't looking. I knew he was doing the same, because every now and then I would catch him with a confused and frustrated expression on his face, and I knew it couldn't be the school work he was having trouble with.
Getting home from school, into the small but cosy two bedroom house I had recently bought, I started on my homework and finished it in thirty seconds flat. I had just settled in to watch a movie when the phone rang.
"Who in the world..." I muttered under my breath as I took it from the wall.
"Hello?" I asked somewhat skeptically. Who could possibly be calling? I had no family, and had hardly be living here for 48 hours. I prepared myself for a telemarketer.
"Hey, Bella." It was Nate.
"Ah, Nate! What a surprise." I was too polite to ask him how on earth he got my number, but I was itching to know why he had called. "What's up?" I asked.
"Well, I, uh, was just going over this geography homework and I came across the Estonia question. I thought you might be able to help me." I rolled my eyes at his obvious lame excuse to ring me.
"What, exactly, did you need help with?" There was a pause as he worded his question.
"Where in the hell is Estonia?" I laughed out loud at his blunt questioning, and thought back to my six months spent in the small country in 1993.
"It is south of Russia and east of Finland. Got it?" He was silent on the line for a moment, probably scribbling down this new information.
"Right. Got it. See you at school tomorrow, right?"
"Yep. Wouldn't miss it." I said a quick goodbye and hung up.
I sat back down on the couch and watched my movie, then another, and wondered how I could be bored in this town after only one day here. I told myself it would get more exciting once I had a few more friends.
I busied myself with a few important issues I had to address, such as, where I was going to hunt. I suppose in the woods nearby, but I didn't know where the best spots were. I could always go along with Alice and her family, just to show me the ropes the first time.
The other thing I wanted to follow up on was finding Dr Cullen. I hunted around for my phone book and located his address and number. If anything could give me some closure, it was meeting up with him.
I could go over and see him right now, but I didn't know when he worked, he could have a night shift at the hospital, assuming he still worked there. I decided to wait for a sunny day, where it would be certain he would be at home, and I could go visit him then.
Problem was, in Forks I could be waiting for a sunny day for quite a while...
A/N:
So? What did you think?
Please review!
Umm, I dont really know what else to say except for, thanks for reading I guess!!
I have exams for the next two weeks, but then holidays, so im sorry but the next chapter probably wont be up for a while... it will be done by holidays though, cos i get days off. =D
Anyway, review! In the words of pixie: Your reviews are almost as good as Edward's body. lol
xox.
sms
=]
