Meet the Cullens

Lunchtime rolled around and that meant the day was half over. Since the school food smelled gods awful, I opted to make a small salad with ingredients from the salad bar. I piled on a couple spoonfuls of spinach, along with some diced ham and eggs, with a sprinkle of cheese and a light touch of Italian dressing. Bella and I sat a table occupied by Eric, Mike and Jessica, seeing as they were the only people we knew and every other table was full.

"Yo Mikey!" Eric greeted, from beside me. "You met my home girls, Ro and Bella."

I rolled my eyes at him shortening my name. I would prefer only Bella, and possibly Charlie call me 'Ro', but with a name like mine, you can only come up with so many nicknames.

"Oh, your home girls?" Mike questioned, taking the empty seat between Bella and Jessica.

"You mean, my girls." Tyler interjected, he was in mine and Bella's history class third period. He pecked Bella's cheek, then mine, before yanking Mike's chair out from under him. Which, led Mike to jump up and chase him out of the lunch room.

I rolled my eyes, why did the Male gender have to be so immature? "Oh my God." Jessica chuckled, sliding one chair over. "It's like first grade all over again, you're both the shiny new toys."

I bit the straw of my water, slightly irritated at Jessica's statement, but before I could protest, a camera flash went off in my face. "Whoa, okay." I gasped, blinking away the flash spots in my vision.

"Sorry, I needed the candid for the feature." the camera girl apologized, taking a seat next to Jessica. She was a bit taller than the rest of us, with dark brown hair and matching eyes, covered by lilac-rimmed glasses and had slightly tan skin.

"Feature's dead, Angela." Eric snapped, scooting his chair back. "Don't bring it up again."

I put on a smile, "It's alright..." I began to say, but Eric cut me off, patting my shoulder before leaving the cafeteria.

"I guess we'll just turn another editorial on teen drinking." Angela sighed, putting the lens cap on her camera.

"You can always go for eating disorders." I threw out, taking a bite of my salad. "Those are a real big issue, especially with girls our age."

"Speedo padding on the swim team." Bella muttered, hiding a small smile.

"Those aren't actually half bad." Angela replied, smiling at us.

I returned the smile, taking another forkful of my salad, when suddenly a small chill ran down my spine. Instinctively, I twirled my scarf around my fingers, glancing around the cafeteria. Movement caught my eye by the windows and I turned just in time to see the side door open, and four people walk inside. At first glance, they looked beautiful, like inhumanly beautiful.

"Who are they?" Bella and I asked in unison.

Angela and Jessica looked in the direction we were. "The Cullens." Angela answered.

"Cullens?" I repeated, ceasing playing with my scarf.

Jessica nodded. "They're, um, Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids." she added. "They moved down here from Alaska, like, a few years ago."

"They kind of keep to themselves." Angela continued.

"Yeah, 'cause they're all together." Jessica cut in. "Like together-together."

The first pair that walked by our table was a supermodel gorgeous blonde girl, who Jessica said was Rosalie Hale. Walking hand-in-hand with her was a taller, muscular, copper-blonde haired boy named Julius Cullen. Our eyes met for a brief moment and it was like I knew him, or at least had seen him somewhere before.

"Yeah Rosalie and Julius, they're like a thing." Jessica continued. "I'm not even sure that's legal."

"Jess, they're not actually related." Angela pointed out as the couple took their seats at a far off table by the wall.

"Yeah, but they live together, it's weird." Jessica argued.

The next pair that walked by us were just as inhumanly gorgeous as the last two, and were also walking together. The girl, with brown hair in a pixie cut, had her arm looped through the male's, who had golden hair and was a bit on the lanky side.

"The little dark-haired girl is Alice, she's really weird." Jessica whispered. "And, she's with Jasper Hale, the blonde one who looks like he's in pain."

I nodded as I carefully watched them join their foster siblings at the back table. My attention was turned back towards the door as two more boys walked inside.

"Who's he?" Bella asked, referring to the first boy who walked through the door. He was just as beautiful as the rest, with bronze colored hair that stuck up in all directions, who was about the same height as Jasper, but a bit shorter than Julius.

"That's Edward Cullen." Jessica answered.

"And him?" I asked, motioning to the boy who walked beside Edward. He was, to me, the most inhumanly beautiful of them all. He was tall, very burly, which was probably all muscle, with short, black, curly hair.

"That would be Emmett Cullen." Angela answered me. "Him and Edward are both totally gorgeous, right?"

I bit my lip as I watched Edward and Emmett pass our table. My eyes met Emmett's, which were the color of Topaz, and he smiled at me, showing off small dimples. He even winked at me. I felt my lips twitch up into a smile, and my brain was flooding with a million questions.

"Seriously, don't waste your time." I heard Jessica warn, which snapped me out of the apparent daze.

"I wasn't planning on it." Bella muttered, glancing back at the Cullen/Hale table.

I lightly nudged her and smiled, sipping more of my water. The familiar chill I always got when Monsters were around was all around me, and I knew right off when Rosalie and Julius walked in that they weren't completely human. And they weren't demigods either. If it wasn't for the golden eye color, I would safely bet they were a coven of Vampires, but in all the reading I've done, they supposedly had red eyes. I made a mental note to message my friend, Ashtyn, who was a demigod like me, a child of Athena.

Biology was the last class of the day, and I was so ready to get home. Bella and I introduced ourselves to Mr. Molina, who in return, gave us our class books. "Welcome to class." he greeted. "Now for your seats, uh let's see." Molina looked around the room. "Bella you can take the empty seat next to Mr. Cullen, and Rowan, you can sit next to Mr. Yorkie." Eric waved at me and smiled. I nodded my head and smiled back, thought I mentally cursed. "Just tag along until you catch up." Mr. Molina told us before we took our seats.

I took the stool next to Eric and set my binder down, flipping through the Biology book, trying to find what chapter we were even on.

"Alright guys, today we're gonna be observing the behavior of Planaria, a.k.a. flatworms." Molina announced, setting a two clear jars of water with a single, tiny worm in each on the desks.

"Guess we're lab partners too." Eric chuckled. "Now, seriously baby, you need assistance, just ask."

I chuckled dryly and dug out my glasses case from my bag. My friend Ashtyn had made them for me, they were enchanted so I could read texts in English and not get a throbbing migraine. Eric whistled and looked at me with dreamy eyes. If I could get through the rest of the year without turning Eric into a tiny organism and using him as fish-bait, I would chart that up as a miracle.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Edward was basically ignoring my sister and, from the expression on his face, it looked like he was holding his breath. Suddenly that Vampire theory wasn't looking so bad, but I still wasn't one hundred percent sure. The bell rang and Edward was the first person out of the classroom.

"Wonder what his deal is." Eric muttered.

"Got me, Yorkie." I replied, shoving my binder into my satchel and standing up, smoothing out my dress.

"So, how was your first day?" Mike asked, appearing beside me suddenly.

"Fine, I guess." I answered, grabbing my book. "As far as first days go." I made my way to the door, with Mike, Eric, and Tyler hovering near me.

"Listen, if you want, we could go over the homework at the Diner downtown." Mike offered.

"Or, we could hang out sometime." Tyler added, shoving past Mike.

"Maybe chill down at the beach sometime?" Eric followed.

I halted and turned to face the three boys. "Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there." I stated. "You boys realize that my father is the Chief of Police, and he hunts on his days off."

"That's cool." Mike said.

"That means he owns quite a few guns." I added, taking a couple steps back. "He also has very good aim. And to top it off, he's very protective over my sister and I."

Seeing the deer-in-headlights look on their faces I felt proud of myself. I had to find some other way to get them off my back, besides turning them into little creatures low on the food chain. I smiled to myself and spun on my heels, and that's when I ran into something equivalent to a solid brick wall. The force was enough to knock me on my ass, and I grunted once I hit the floor.

"Okay, that totally just ruined my triumphant exit." I muttered, moving to a kneeling position.

"You okay?" a voice belonging to the male gender asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay." I answered. "I wasn't looking where I was going, sorry." I apologized, gathering my book and satchel.

The boy who I bumped into held out his hand. Once I grasped it, a shiver went up my spine. I looked up to see who it was and, to my surprise, it was Emmett Cullen. He pulled me to my feet, his topaz-colored eyes boring into my emerald green ones.

"You alright?" he asked again.

I released his hand, nodding my head. "Yeah, a bit embarrassed, but I'm good." I replied. "Normally my sister is the one who ends up on the floor and I'm the one helping her up."

Emmett chuckled, showing a glimpse of perfectly white teeth. "I've never seen you around here before." he noted.

"Yeah, I just transferred." I confirmed. "I'm Rowan Swan." I introduced, holding my book with one hand and extending my other one.

"The Chief's daughter." he said, taking my hand, gently shaking it.

"Well, one of them." I corrected, not minding the fact that his hand was freezing cold.

"I'm Emmett Cullen." he formally introduced.

I cracked a smile, "The Dr's. son, or so I've heard." I chuckled, releasing his hand.

"One of them." Emmett clarified, laughing a deep laugh. "Nice to meet you, Rowan." His lips curled into a smile, showing off prominent dimples, which made my heart beat a little bit faster.

"Same to you, Emmett." I replied, giving a slight nod. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I should hope so." Emmett answered, winking. "Bye Rowan." He kept his eyes on me as his shoulder brushed past mine. I followed his movements, almost as if there was a magnet connecting the two of us. Emmett joined Julius and Rosalie at the end of the hall and disappeared into the crowd of students.

I blinked back to reality and made my way to my parked Caddy, where Bella was already waiting for me. "Where were you, I've been waiting for like ten minutes." she asked.

I tossed my satchel into the backseat. "I ran into someone in the halls." I answered, "After I basically threatened Mike, Eric, and Tyler."

"Why?" Bella raised an eyebrow.

I met her eyes, "Because those three yahoos wouldn't leave me alone." I informed. "And, to answer you next question, I ran into Emmett Cullen, who's practically a human brick wall." I opened the driver's door of my Caddy, "Now come on, dad's probably waiting for us at the Diner."

Bella nodded and slid into the passenger seat. I checked all my mirrors and made sure it was clear before I pulled out of the parking lot. Via my rear-view mirror, I saw Emmett climb into the driver's seat of a white Jeep, with Julius in the passenger seat and Jasper in the back. My heart raced as I remembered the way he looked at me, a car horn snapped me out of my thoughts and I pulled away of the school.

Even if the Cullens/Hales did turn out to be Vampires, I didn't get a threatening feeling from them. Especially Emmett, he may look intimidating, but I could sense he was a gentle spirit. If being who I was, was any indication, you should never judge a person by what the appear to be. They could always surprise you.

Bella and I entered the diner, seeing Charlie already in a booth. We took a spot on either side of him, and ordered our meals from Cora, who's been a waitress at the diner for as long as I can remember.

"I just can't get over how grown up you are." Cora complimented Bella and myself as she brought our food. "And so gorgeous."

An older man came up to our table, "Hey Rowan." he greeted me. "Remember me, Bella?"

I smiled back, "Hi Mr. Forge."

Bella glanced at me from across the table, shrugging her shoulders. "I played Santa one year."

"Yeah, Waylon...Bella hasn't had a Christmas here since she was four." Charlie reminded.

Waylon chuckled, "I bet I made an impression, didn't I?"

"Always." I giggled, taking a bite of my grilled chicken.

Bella let out a chuckle, "Butt-crack Santa."

"Hey! Kids love those little bottles though." Waylon defended as Cora shooed him away from the table, "Let the girls enjoy their dinner." she turned back to us, "As soon as you're done I will bring you your favorite, Berry Cobbler, remember?"

"Thanks Cora." I gave her a smile and went back to eating. Dad asked Bella and I about our first day and we just gave a simple, "Fine." as an answer.