BPOV
I groaned as I tossed from side to side. The constant pattering of raindrops against the rooftop was an alien sound to me and I was getting frustrated. It was too cold, and the alien sounds were too loud. Getting up, I pattered down the hallway to the cupboard that stood beside the bathroom and grabbed an extra blanket. Then I returned to my room and grabbed my CD player from off my desk and groped around in the dark mindlessly for a random CD to insert. I then pressed 'play' and plugged my ears and allowed the music to drown the sounds of the raindrops. It was a CD that Phil had given me for Christmas, a band I normally wouldn't listen to. Something with Park in its name. But the loud drums were definitely a welcomed distraction from the pattering raindrops and before I knew it, I was sound asleep.
I dreamed of him again, like I did every night. The beautiful bronze-haired stranger. My eyes shot open as my heart started thumping wildly from the loud 'thud!' that woke me up. Glancing around, I quickly realized that the 'thud' I heard was from the CD player tumbling off the bedside table and onto the floor, no doubt due to my tossing and turning in bed. I wasn't the quietest of sleepers. It seemed that my lack of verbal skills when I was awake, was more than made up for when I was asleep. Renee often made fun of me for that.
I glanced at the clock and groaned. No point going back to bed if I had to wake up in half an hour. I grimaced at the prospect of having to leave the warmth of my bed, but braced myself all the same, for the harsh cold that would greet me as I stumbled blearily into the bathroom to get ready for school.
School, I almost sigh. It's March, the middle of the semester. I wasn't looking forward to waltzing into Forks High School, especially since, in a town this small, all the other kids were sure to have been friends for forever. I stood in front of the mirror a little longer than usual this morning. I was nervous, afraid, scared.
Forks High had a grand total of 358 students now that I was joining, and that tiny number scared me. Back in Phoenix, there had been over 700 people in my junior class alone.
But I knew it wasn't just the small number that frightened me. It was more of the fact that I would be the new girl from the city, the freak, and more or less the fact that dozens of curious eyes would no doubt be observing my every move, scrutinizing me. Maybe if I'd looked like a girl from Phoenix, it might be alright, but physically, I'd never really fit in there. Whilst everyone else was tanned, blond and sporty, I'd always remained painfully pale, with a skin that burned rather than tanned.
I exhaled a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Deciding than that I wouldn't wallow in self pity any longer, I stepped into the shower, letting the soothing scent of my strawberry shampoo waft away all my insecurities. The pounding hot water on my back helped too.
After a few more minutes, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel tight around me, trapping the remaining warmth and then padded gently down the hall towards my room. I threw on a pair of skinny denims and a really thick sweater before pulling on my well-worn all stars. The smell of jasmine that lingered on the sweater soothed me, it was my mother's scent. I fought back the tears that were threatening to spill over.
Focus Bella, I told myself as I walked into the kitchen. Charlie was gone, he'd left a note taped to the refrigerator. I downed a bowl of cereal, grabbed my backpack and my coat before heading out the door and into the truck. My truck. It started with a ear-splitting roar that was oddly comforting.
I rumbled down the highway and almost missed the obscure sign that said "Forks High School". I was feeling out of my element. Nothing about Forks High suggested that it was a school. There was no intentionally dull, uninspiring building. There were no metal detectors, no sprawling grounds and no track field.
I parked in front of the first building. There was a small sign above the door that said 'Office', so I assumed that being new and all, going in there was the right thing to do.
I ran through the cold, focusing solely on getting to the warmth without tripping. Surprisingly, I made it to the entrance. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and immediately walked towards the woman with the purple t-shirt.
She looked up immediately. "Can I help you?"
"I'm Isabella Swan?" I half asked her, and saw from the way awareness lit up her eyes that my worst suspicions had been confirmed. She knew who I was, as did the rest of the town. The Chief's daughter come home.
"Of course," she said as she rifled through the pile of papers on her desk. "Here you go dear, your schedule and a map of the school." She began to trace out the most direct paths to classes and then she handed me a slip. "Get all your teachers to sign this and then return it here at the end of the day." I nodded to show her I understood. "Have a nice day!" She called as I walked away, I smiled back as convincingly as I could.
I got into my truck and drove into the main parking lot of the school. I was glad to see that my truck wouldn't stand out at all, in fact, it was the shiny volvo in the lot that stood out. I parked and slid carefully out of the truck, making sure that my feet were firmly planted on the ground, I pulled my backpack out and held the map and schedule in front of my face, desperately trying to memorize it so I wouldn't draw any more attention to the fact that I was the new kid.
The classroom was small and as I glanced around, I noticed that everyone around had pale skin, so I wouldn't stand out too much. I sighed in relief and copied the two girls in front of me by taking off my coat and hanging it on the row of hooks available on the wall. Then I made my way towards the English teacher, Mr. Mason, I believe, and handed him my slip to sign. He didn't ask me to stand up and introduce myself, so I decided I kind of liked him, that was until he handed me the list of books that we would be doing this year. I nearly groaned when I read it. Chaucer, Faulkner, Bronte... They were all fairly basic, stuff that I'd done last year.
The seconds dragged on until finally, the lesson ended. I stood up quickly, only to be greeted by a whiny, nasally voice.
"Hi! You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" I look up and find a gangly, pimply, black haired boy leaning across my desk. He looked like the overly helpful, chess club type, and it didn't help that he had an expectant look on his face either.
"Bella." I corrected automatically. Almost everyone turned to look at us. I flushed.
"Well. I'm Eric Yorkie!" He replied, smiling. "What's your next class? Maybe I could show you there!" Yep. Definitely over helpful. But since I was new here, I wasn't complaining. I needed all the help I could get.
"Thanks," I mumbled, grabbing my jacket and making my way over to building 4.
"So. It's a lot different from Phoenix huh?" He asked. Like you have no idea, I wanted to snort.
"Very."
"It doesn't rain very much there does it?"
"Nope." OK. So I should've been putting in more effort.
"Wow. What must that be like?" He wondered. I wanted to stare at him, was this kid for real?
"Sunny."
"You don't look very tan." At this, I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes.
"My mother is part albino." I joked. He didn't get it. I sighed. Obviously rain and comedy couldn't exist in harmony. Eric walked me to the door that was clearly marked Trigonometry.
"Well, here we are." No shit. I bit my tongue. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together!" I smiled at him vaguely and walked into the room.
Mr. Varner made me stand up and introduce myself. I decided right then that I hated him, and it wasn't just because of the lesson he taught. In true Bella fashion, I stammered, blushed and stumbled. It wasn't very pretty, but did I honestly expect any better? The rest of my morning passed more or less like that. The faces were starting to blend into each other, but I realized several of them repeated. In each of my classes, there was always someone like Eric who asked me questions, mostly about how I was liking Forks. I tried to be nice, really putting in the effort. I mostly just said that it was different.
Finally, lunch time came. This girl with really big hair walked down the hall with me to the cafeteria. I couldn't really remember her name, only that she sat next to me in both Trig and Spanish. She was shorter than me, but her incredible hair really made up for our height difference. I smiled and nodded as she regaled me with stories and gossip. I didn't try to keep up as she dragged me to a table full of her friends. I forgot all their names as soon as she introduced them to me.
Eric waved to me from across the room.
It was as I sat there amidst the curious stares and awkward conversation that I first caught sight of them. They were sitting in a corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible. There were five of them, and they weren't talking. Their trays of food remained on the table in front of them, untouched. It was like edible art. But what struck me most about them was their incredible beauty. They were all incredibly pale, paler than even I was and that said something.
There were two girls and three boys. There was this incredibly gorgeous blond girl who looked as though she belonged on the Victoria's Secret Angels runway instead of in Forks. Her friend was the complete opposite of her, short, with spiky black hair. Then there were the guys. There was this incredibly huge, muscled guy with dark, curly hair. Then there was this taller, leaner, but still muscular blonde guy. But it was him who caught my attention most. The last of the three boys. He looked younger than the lot of them, and had the most beautiful, exquisite face I'd ever seen.
"Who are they?" I asked the girl with the incredible hair. And as she looked up to see who I meant, he suddenly looked at her. The last one. He looked at her for a fraction of a second, and then glanced at me. Almost immediately, I flushed and dropped my gaze, but in that brief moment, I felt my heart thud. There was something so familiar about him that I couldn't quite place.
The beautiful boy with the bronze colored hair.
"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen." She giggled, "and that's Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They're twins." suddenly, the black haired girl stood up and dumped her tray gracefully into the bin. I almost sighed with envy, wishing I had half of her coordination. She moved with the practiced grace of a dancer. "The one who left is Alice Cullen. They all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." she whispered. I suddenly remembered that her name was Jessica.
"They're very... nice looking." I flushed as Jessica gave me a knowing giggle.
"Yes!" She agreed vehemently, "They're all together though. Like together, together!" She whispered, her voice containing shock and malice. "They're Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's adopted kids. They're foster children!"
I frowned at Jessica's tone. I glanced towards their table involuntarily again. They continued staring blankly at walls.
"Have they always lived in Forks?" I murmured, trying to place why he looked so familiar.
"No. They moved down here two years ago, from somewhere in Alaska."
For some inexplicable reason, I felt a tiny surge of relief. I glanced up again and caught his eye. He was staring at me, but not in the gawking manner that I'd received all day. His was slightly frustrated. I flushed and looked down again. Jessica noticed.
"That's Edward." She said, a snooty timbre coloring her voice. "He's gorgeous, duh, but don't waste your time. Apparently no one here is good enough for him." She sniffed. I bit my lips to hide a smile that was threatening to show. As I glanced at him again, I noticed that his face was turned away, but he appeared to be hiding a grin as well.
Overhead, the bell rang. I stood up with the rest of the people at the table and made my way out of the cafeteria. I had Biology next, and I walked happily down the hallway with Angela. She and I had more in common than I had with Jessica. She was shy too. As we entered the classroom, she immediately moved to the back of the room to the seat where she'd been assigned. I walked to the front and handed Mr. Banner the slip and to introduce myself.
"Ah. Ms. Swan... yes. Well, I'm afraid there's only one remaining seat left," He pointed. I turned to look. "Next to Mr. Cullen."
Great, I thought, shivering slightly as a gust of wind blew in through the front door. Suddenly, I saw Edward Cullen tense in his seat.
A/N: OK. So I don't really like this chapter. I think it's too long winded? But... Anyways. This is the pivotal point. I borrowed heavily from the original Twilight book for this chapter. I don't like it, but this is the part where it HAS to be like the book. Once Chapter 4 is up, the rest will be original. Seriously. I hope this isn't plagiarism though... In any case, I don't own Twilight or any part of it. That belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer.