Insomnia

Chapter 2

My first morning at Forks High flew by. Angela had accompanied me to the office, where I had received my timetable and a map of the school grounds. So far, I had managed to get to all of my classes on time, getting lost only once. My sense of direction was awful - my sister used to tease me mercilessly for checking the maps of our local mall every time that I saw one. After all of our trips there, Cynthia had memorized each and every hallway. I, on the other hand, didn't trust my memory.

Upon entering the cafeteria, I had been waved over to a table that was almost directly in the center of the room. I had hesitated for a moment, searching for a familiar face. Eric Yorkie, a boy from first period Trigonometry, had been easy to spot, his oily hair standing out from the clean hair of the rest of the teenagers he sat with. He sat with Angela, who, after realizing who everyone was waving at, pulled out a chair from next to her and gestured that I sit down. Oh, faithful cousin - where would I be without you?

And so here I sat, being questioned unrelentingly about my life before Forks by the students I hadn't even been properly introduced to yet. I wasn't entirely comfortable being the center of attention of all these strange teenagers, but that's what I had been all day. Everyone seemed to know who I was, though not a single person, excluding Angela, had addressed me as Alice, instead using my proper first name, wretched as it may be.

Mary. Ugh.

"So, what was being homeschooled like? Being with your sister 24/7 must have been, like, really annoying." A girl with light brown curls was obviously trying to provoke some sort of in-depth response from me. I was reluctant to give it to her. She seemed like the kind of person who would stab you (literally) for twenty bucks. Then again, I could never be sure. Underneath the hundred pounds of makeup she wore, she could be a nice person.

Or not.

I rolled my eyes, incapable of disguising my annoyance as something else.

"No, actually, it wasn't. My little sister is my best friend. I didn't exactly have many opportunities to befriend people my own age." My defensive response earned me a few funny looks. Angela was the only one who looked like she agreed with me. Deciding to pay no mind to the odd glances people kept shooting at me, I picked up my fork and speared some lettuce onto it with more force than necessary.

"Oh, great, here they come. Do you think that they'll talk to Alice?" A girl with fishy eyes and dirty blonde hair was staring out one of the cafeteria windows.

I turned to see what she was staring at, and I had trouble believing my own eyes. Now entering the cafeteria were the most gorgeous beings that I had ever seen in my entire life. There were four of them, and it was easy to tell that they were all 'together'. A brunette girl and a bronze-haired boy walked hand in hand, followed closely by a breathtaking blonde and a muscled man who looked far too physically advanced to be in high school.

Well, wasn't that a boost for everyone's self-esteem. There was a whole freaking group of runway models attending the school.

My fork dropped out of my hand and I almost choked on my food (how attractive!) as a boy that was all too familiar entered just seconds after the two couples. This was the blonde-haired boy that I'd been dreaming of for the past three years. Something was different about him, though... his eyes. They weren't the frightening blood red that I had always seen in my unconscious state. No, they were an unusual amber color, matching the eyes of the equally gorgeous people who had caught my eye.

I had never before dreamt about someone before I met them, not once. Finally, finally, I was going to understand who this boy was and what he had to do with me. Of course, he mightn't have anything to do with me at all. I had experienced visions about completely random things, like what color a girl across the street was going to dye her hair, or where a little boy across town had hidden his older sister's ballet shoe. But why would I dream about him more than once if he was to have no effect on my life?

"Guess not. The stuck up jerks think they're too good for us normal people." Fish-eye flipped a short piece of blonde hair behind her ear, pointedly turning her back to the beautiful group of students. Lost in my own thoughts as I tended to be, I hadn't noticed that they had sat down together at a table in a secluded corner, away from most of the students.

Huh. I didn't understand what the big deal was about their keeping to themselves was - it didn't make them stuck up. Some people just weren't social. I wondered if all girls here made the same petty assumptions about people they didn't know. If so, I was in for a long semester.

My eye almost twitched at the thought.

"Who are they, anyways?" I asked, suddenly curious.

The curly haired girl rolled her eyes and said, "The Cullens. At least, that's what they go by. The blondes are Jasper and Rosalie Hale. They're fraternal twins."

Jasper. His name was Jasper. It suited him, I thought. It was nice to finally be able to attach a name to his face.

"The bronze-haired one is Edward Cullen. He's with Isabella Swan, the brunette. The muscled one is Emmett Cullen, and he's with Rosalie. I don't even think it's even legal for them to be together, but whatever," she said, brushing her momentary concern away. "If they get arrested for incest, it's not my problem. They were all adopted by Dr. Carlisle Cullen and his wife Esme. They went crazy with adoptions, because I don't think Mrs. Cullen can have any kids of her own. Rosalie and Jasper are Dr. Cullen's niece and nephew, so they were kind of forced to adopt them, I guess, because their parents died in a car crash or something."

"That's kind of them, taking on so many kids. It must be hard for Dr. and Mrs. Cullen sometimes, what with a houseful of teenagers and all," I said, admiration for the faceless parents of the Cullen family swelling up inside me.

Fish-eye snorted loudly. "Hardly! They're all like, straight A students, and they never get into any trouble. I'd say that they're a little too perfect."

I chose to ignore her jibe at the family as a whole, instead chancing a glance at them out of the corner of my eye. Well, in truth, I was really seeking out Jasper; how often was it that someone you'd seen so often in your dreams just appeared at your high school?

The entire family sat without moving, their backs stiff. Each and every pair of eyes was fixated on me. I gulped, a blush creeping to my cheeks. It was almost as if they could hear my thoughts, which I would definitely rather them not. I had a lot of things I'd like to keep to myself.

They all looked away except the one named Edward, who removed his gaze from me only when Isabella leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Shaking myself, I turned back to Angela's group of friends, almost wincing as I realized that they were all staring at me.

The curly-haired brunette was the first to speak. "Don't waste your time on Jasper. Apparently no one here is good enough for him," she sniffed in disdain, tossing her hair over her shoulders. I guessed that she had been rejected by him, perhaps multiple times, judging by the undertone of rejection in her voice.

I rolled my eyes again, annoyed with her assumptions. As if I would even think about that kind of thing on my first day at Forks High. I wanted get my feet on the ground before I even considered dating. Not that someone like me would ever wind up with Jasper, seeing as I was short, boring and labeled as insane by my own parents, and he was... what was he, besides inhumanly gorgeous? They all were. I wasn't one to judge, anyways. For all I knew, he could be a total jerk. But could a jerk feel the same amount of guilt that he had in my vision? I didn't think so. He had to have some sort of sensitivity inside of him.

"Wasn't planning on it," I replied drily, standing from my chair. "Well, I'm going to start heading to Biology. I don't want to be late if I end up getting lost on the way."

With that, I skipped over to the garbage bin and dumped the remnants of my lunch into it, suddenly cheerful now that I was on my way to a place where I would be away from the prying eyes of my peers, if only for a few minutes.

With my nose only centimeters away from my map, I slowly made my way towards building 4, glancing up every now and again to make sure that I wasn't about to ram into a pole. I made it all the way to building 3 successfully enough, and when I stopped to hitch my bag further up on my shoulder, my map was suddenly tugged from my hand by the wind. Groaning, I ran after it, following it for only a few moments before it landed in a puddle in front of building 6.

"Crap," I spat, turning on my heel and beginning to walk towards the closest building. According to the large number on said building, it was building 7. So I was walking in the wrong direction. Big deal. I spun myself to face in the opposite direction, suddenly worried about being late. I had only left the cafeteria a few minutes before the bell... Oh no, I couldn't be late for my first Biology class. It wouldn't do for me to make a bad first impression with my Biology teacher. So far I had managed to charm all of my teachers with my wide, innocent blue eyes and childish face, but you never knew what reactions you would get.

I was nearing building 4. Thank god. Sighing in relief, I glanced at my watch and saw that I still had about seven minutes before the bell was to ring. Apparently I hadn't left as late as I thought I had.

Taking a seat on the picnic bench that was set up outside of the building, I pulled out my sketchbook and opened it to a fresh page. I had my sketching pencil jammed into the binding, and after I had arranged myself comfortably I pulled it out and held it just millimeters away from the blank paper.

Again and again last night's dream forced it's way to the front of my mind. Eventually, I sighed, finally succumbing to my own desires and beginning to sketch the outline of the face that was all too familiar to me. Jasper's.

My watch beeped, signifying the beginning of a new hour. I realized that I didn't have much time left. Hastily, I shoved my sketchbook into my bag, hoping that no one had seen what I had been drawing. I didn't really want people to assume that I was one of those creepily infatuated girls you saw fangirling over their romance novels. I wasn't infatuated, not even close. I was just interested in this boy. Totally not my fault.

Instead of my stress having eased after drawing as it usually did, I realized sullenly, it instead increased in magnitude. Great. Now I was going to freeze up when I spoke to Mr. Banner, I just knew it.

Grimacing, I rubbed my temples, squeezing my eyes shut. I must have looked like I was in some sort of terrible pain, but in reality I was trying to shut out all of my emotions. I was usually pretty good at doing this, making myself go numb, but not today. Everything I felt lately seemed to intensify over time instead of dulling.

Fantastic.

Eventually other students began to arrive at building 4, and the blue-eyed boy from lunch sat down next to me on the bench and began chattering away, mentioning once that his name was Mike Newton. He seemed friendly enough, better than the girls from lunch. He yammered on about what we were currently doing in Biology, obviously trying to be helpful. It was nice to know that I wouldn't have to work hard to catch up after all - I had already covered this unit at home. I smiled and nodded as he struggled to explain the unit, allowing him to think that he was doing me a favor instead of boring me out of my mind.

Shortly after Mike wrapped up his lecture, those lingering outside began heading into the Biology lab. I rearranged my expression into one of bashfulness as we entered the room, knowing how well that act had worked with the other teachers. Mr. Banner smiled warmly at me and extended a hand, obviously intending for me to shake it. I did, introducing myself as Alice Brandon, not giving him the chance to call me Mary.

"Well, Alice, welcome to Forks High. The only open seat is just over here, next to Mr. Hale." He led me over to the vacant chair next to Jasper. So that was why he had been so clear in my dream. I would be spending the rest of the year sitting next to him. I felt a pang of disappointment, even though I knew it had been silly of me to hope that it meant anything else. Well, at least I had a chance of learning what was bothering him, since we would be lab partners. I would have to speak to him at some point.

Carefully, I placed my bag on the floor next to me, making sure that I didn't kick it over as I sat down as I had a tendency to do.

Mr. Banner prattled on about things that I had learned in early August, seeing as my homeschooling schedule was different from that of the public school student. Boredom, here I come!

My eyelids felt heavy, my lack of sleep finally catching up with me. Forcing myself not to yawn, I rested my head on my arm and allowed my eyes to droop. I knew the bell would wake me, or even the approaching footsteps of Mr. Banner, seeing as I was such a light sleeper. Anything could wake me up.

But of course, it was foolish of me to think that I could sleep dreamlessly, and I was once again thrown into one of my visions that masqueraded as dreams. Did they crop up in life explicitly to annoy me? Sometimes I wondered.

And so, once more, I dreamt of Jasper Hale.