Matthew felt a little like he was freefalling. Of all things to have happened next... a high school.
But he was more than a little disturbed by the dramatic difference between English and American schools, and he hadn't even gone into the school. They drove into school, for one thing, in Bella's truck and not a Stagecoach bus that was full of pre-chewed chewing gum and smelt of electronic cigarettes and feet.
Bella slamming her door shut snapped Matthew out of his stroll down memory lane. He quickly followed her out of truck. Bella was quiet… not exactly quiet but introverted. Similar to Charlie (and admittedly himself) in that regard. It wasn't like they hadn't had conversations but their conversations rarely stretched beyond five minutes. He ate meals in silence while Bella and Charlie made small talk. It made him miss meals at home, where his dad was always moaning about Manchester City and Matthew was moaning about how not supporting Liverpool was unpatriotic (though he did not watch football). It was a contrast with Casa de Swan, where everything just felt so awkward. And he missed his dad. One of the few people he had always opened up to wasn't… Matthew blinked very hard and told himself those were not tears forming, it was just the rain.
It was not raining.
The school was like any other school. A squat, maroon coloured building. Bella stared at it, almost like she was waiting for it to attack her.
"Are you, uh, alright?" Matthew asked. Why can't I say something without an um or an eh?
"There's no security." Bella said with something between disgust and awe in her voice. Matthew tried to recall his own high school and sixth form. There had been a fence for one, nothing for the other. He honestly didn't know what she expected- barbed wire fences? Attack dogs? Missiles to ward of the threat of space aliens? Maybe Phoenix was like that.
Matthew decided he needed to say a sentence that was witty and humorous and eloquent.
"Er…" He began, and then just as abruptly ended.
"It just wasn't what I was expecting. We should probably go to the office." And with those parting words, Bella headed towards the school (which really began to seem similar to a red bricked toad squatting in the mud) with Matthew following in her wake.
By lunchtime Matthew was in an awful mood and had come to the conclusion everyone in the school was deliberately trying to piss him off (he hoped for the sake of humanity nobody could willingly be that ridiculous) or part of an elaborate joke. Or both.
The lessons had been intimidating. He had to learn a new syllabus, and following that to later have to take enough exams to give a genius a headache and he was seriously considering crawling under a lunch table and never coming out, given that he had a double of PE after lunch.
But the main problem was Bella, or more specifically the creepy reaction everyone had to her. He had lost count of how many people followed Bella with their eyes and sometimes stalked her through the halls like she was American Jesus. Just Bella- Matthew had walked away from her to test his theory and had found people alienated him as if he were Jar Jar Binks. But he couldn't stay away because he didn't know anyone else and the alternative was talking to people which he wasn't emotionally ready for. Thinking back to everyone they had met, he decided he was OK with not meeting anyone else.
William was one who stuck out- he had acne to rival Matthews (though Matthew thought his acne was the acne to rule all acne, but he was bias) and black hair that he had done some weird back come with to look like a 1930s gangster. Matthew had been treated to one awkward conversation, where William and Bella discussed their schedules and the weather (Matthew prayed for a lightning bolt to hit him and end the pain) and at the end when Bella had left (Matthew realized too late he had an entirely different class) William told Matthew to stay the hell away from Bella if he liked his face the way it was drawling his words like an awful imitation of a gangster.
Matthew had awkwardly (his awkward-o-meter was off the scale) explained she was his cousin and William had said, so? She's a good lookin gal Matthew shuddered at the memory and resolved to avoid William for… forever might be long enough but he doubted he could ever forget that grease stain in the café of humanity. Bella had later labelled William over helpful which Matthew did think was a little harsh, as William had only been showing her the way to her next lesson. But on the other hand William was a tosser.
Matthew had deliberately come late to lunch (he had hid in the toilets, scrolling through old photos only to realize how pointless all the pictures were. Hed deleted them all and immediately regretted it. Stupid teenage angst) trying to avoid the Bella Swan Obsession Group. Particularly William Lannister (Matthew had dubbed him that for lack of real surname) and Mike Bike (again no real surname, but it rhymed that was the important part) two of the main admirers of Bella. He remembered Mikes name from his Math class which, as Matthew was horrified to discover, the removal of one letter did not make Math any different from Maths.
He moodily slammed his tray down on a table near the back of the hall making the other two people already sitting down jump- Matthew had been so absorbed in the pros and cons of going to live in a trash heap with the rest of the trash that he hadn't noticed the people. "I- er, sorry. I didn't mean to drop it."
"It's fine." The boy to Matthews left muttered, as he shuffled some playing cards in his left hand. He appeared to be well practiced with them- he shuffled them while simultaneously building a pyramid out of the meatballs and spaghetti on his plate. Matthew wished he was that talented.
"Can I sit?" Matthew asked and then felt like he might as well have a neon sign that said HUGE DORK. Probably in green because he was cursed. And green wasn't a creative colour.
"That is usually what you do at a table." The girl to his right drawled, and bounced a rubber- no it was an eraser- off the table to knock over the food pyramid which Matthew found equally impressive. The boy scowled.
"That was sabotage and you know it Kate." He didn't sound annoyed- just more amused than anything.
"Your word against mine. I'll see you in court, Robert." She said formally, then snorted.
Matthew sat and looked properly at the two- Kate had blonde hair with blue streaks dyed in. Her eyes were blue and she had a look like she could and would beat you up. The kind of teenager whom grandparents crossed the road to avoid. Robert on the other hand was wearing a shirt and tie combo with jeans and trainers. Unusually he had piano key suspenders holding his jeans up (was it dress like a 1930s mafia day?). He was black and had glasses that distorted his eyes making him look like little like a fish. Though Matthew himself wasn't exactly winning any prizes in the looks department.
"So who are you, Mr. Drop-yo-tray?" she said it in the style of steal-yo-girl. "Matthew." Matthew said nervously in a voice a few octaves higher than he would've liked. "It's, erm, nice to meet you." He added, assuming being polite might win him a few extra points with the few people who didn't seem to be crowding around Bella like lost sheep to a flock. "Likewise Matt." Robert replied, while reconstructing his tower. He didn't seem to be eating it oddly. "I-I know this might sound intrusive but do you practice food sculpting a lot?" Matthew asked- then immediately wished he could take the words back. God, nice going genius. He told himself. Shut up he replied to himself. Just another friendly conversation between me myself and I.
"I guess it's a hobby." Robert said, too focused on reconstructing his tower- then his eyes slid to the left and he abruptly dropped his fork into the tower, knocking it over. Matthew turned around trying to view what Robert was- Bella Swan Mob just ahead, a few random stragglers (wondering in a way similar to zombies) near the entrance and exit, a couple of tables of random kids all around (Matthew labelled them Hopefully Normal).
"Who are you looking at?" Matthew blustered out, too focused to realize the rudeness of what he had just said. "Sorry I mean- not that I meant- that was rude sorry." He stammered.
Kate placed both elbows on the table and leaned in conspiratorially close. "Oh, you know. The usual. Just the table of vampires that want to kill him as he sleeps." She smiled, the ketchup from her burger looking a little like blood.
"What?"
It has been forever since I've updated I know- ill try for monthly updates because the work load so far has been intense and its only just slowing down now thanks to Christmas (Yay). Anyway this really isn't how its going to go- Matthew wont instantly believe anyone about vampires and I have the next few chapters planned out. So yeah, feedback would be very helpful but I just appreciate you clicking on this :3