A/N: Sorry for the short last chapter, but don't worry it all leads up to some awesome drama sooner or later…
Chapter 3
I heard Charlie come in after his first day working as a police officer in Forks. The job wasn't as high paying as it was in Phoenix, but our expenses weren't as high costing, either. When he entered the kitchen and saw me pulling a chicken out of the oven and finishing up the rice on the stove, he wasn't the least bit surprised. Even before my mother, who hadn't been too great in the kitchen, had died, I was always whipping up meals.
"How was your first day, Bells?" Charlie asked. He seemed to be much more energetic now than at his old job; I suspected that Forks didn't have a high crime rate, if one at all…
"It was okay." I said. But to be honest, the whole day was I was distracted. I hadn't managed to trip and talk to any more cute boys. There I was, thinking about him again. He was the reason that my day was so clouded over. I couldn't seem to get my mind off of Edward. Alice had not been in any of my classes, either.
I wish that she had been.
Throughout the entire day, as I navigated the halls and sat quietly in my classes, everyone stared at me. Edward was right; this town really wasn't very entertaining at all. A new girl moves to town and you would think that I was a celebrity. I didn't like it; it made me feel like everyone was talking about me.
I also had the feeling that people found it hard to approach me. I didn't know why, it wasn't like I was intimidating or anything. Alice told me that I was dressed okay, so I knew that it wasn't the way I looked. Oh, well, I thought. I didn't care about what people thought of me at my old school, so why start here?
Lunch wasn't any better, not by a long shot. Once I navigated my way to the cafeteria, Rose was already outside the door waiting for me. "Thanks for waiting for me; I feel like I have three heads the way people have been staring at me all day."
Rosalie just shot me a confused expression. "Don't you enjoy the attention?" she asked.
Um, no. Not at all, I thought. I was about to say this aloud, but right then, Lauren walked past me, shoving hard into my shoulder as she passed. "Oops!" she said in a fake innocent voice, though her face showed that she hated me. But why? I knew nothing about this girl and she knew nothing about me, so how could she hate me? I had never even spoken to her in my life.
I knew that if I struck back, things would go downhill. This was the type of drama that snobs like her lived for. I would not give in. I wouldn't, but apparently Rosalie would.
"What is your problem?" she whirled on Lauren.
"My problem? It's your little friend over there with the superiority complex going on." Lauren snarled and nodded at me.
Superiority complex? Okay, this girl was deranged. Even if I did think that I was better than everybody else, which I didn't, this girl wouldn't know it. I had barely talked to anybody in class besides in homeroom, and even then, I hadn't said anything cocky, had I?
"What are you talking about?" I spoke up. She shot me an evil glare with narrowed eyes.
"'I'm Bella, but you probably already knew that'" she said in what I guessed was supposed to be my voice.
And that's when I remembered. Lauren and Jessica were in my homeroom class and they must have overheard my conversation with Edward. Crap! Lauren had misinterpreted what I had said (misinterpreted or twisted). Exactly what I had thought Edward would do- and made me seem like I was stuck up. I looked around and everyone was stopping what they were doing and watching us now. This put me over the edge.
"Actually, Lauren, all that I meant when I had said that was that everyone here seems to somehow know who I am and won't quit looking at me like I'm on display! What is with that? More importantly, what is with you? You already appear to hate me and I haven't spoken to you before this, or ever even known who you were up until seven o'clock this morning! If I'm not mistaken, it seems to me that you're the one with a demented superiority complex here, not me!"
I was in a rage. I didn't care that everyone was now staring at me with wide eyes, or that Lauren looked as if she wanted to rip my head off. She didn't even open her mouth to respond. At that, I turned to Rosalie, who had a look of shock and impressibility on her face. She also looked like she was trying not to laugh.
"Let's go, Bella." She said, and together we walked out of the café, leaving our peers and my new enemy behind.
All riled up, I forgot one thing.
"Where are we going?" I asked. But my question was answered when we stopped in front of a row of lockers that I assumed contained hers.
"Jasper, my brother was in there. Now we just have to wait for him to catch up with us. He was waiting for us." She said in an offhand voice. I felt bad, though, for leaving him in there without telling him where we were going. Not that I knew we were even going to go, or where we were going to.
But no worries, because just then, Jasper showed up. "You could have told me that you were going to storm out like that, Rosalie!" he said. Okay, so I felt bad again.
"Oh, yeah, because I really knew that was going to happen! Besides, I saw your lunch was gone anyways." Rosalie argued. "By the way, this is Bella. Bella this is Jasper."
"Hey" we said to each other. He extended a hand towards me and I shook it.
"That was crazy back in there! Nobody has ever stood up to Lauren like that before! If you were known for being the new girl before, you're a legend now!" Jasper said.
I knew that he was trying to praise me, but for some reason, this statement made me feel no better. Now people would be talking about me even more. When they looked at me like I was involved in some kind of scandal, there would be a reason behind it. Great. All this good luck on my first day.
I neglected to tell Charlie any of this, though. He probably didn't want to hear about it, and I didn't want to tell him. So I asked him about his day at the police station instead.
"Nothing of interest, kid. Believe it or not, there isn't too much trouble around here" he said sarcastically.
Not outside the high school cafeteria, anyway, I thought. We sat in the same old silence for a while until I heard the phone ring. It was probably Alice calling to ask me about my day. I'd bet that she already knew about what happened at lunch today with Lauren.
"I'll get it!" I jumped up from the table and ran to the phone.
"Better not be any boys!" Charlie yelled jokingly from behind me. I looked at the caller ID and I had been right, it was Alice. As soon as I picked up the phone, even before I had the chance to say hello, Alice screamed in my ear.
"YOU HAVE TO COME OVER NOW! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! OF COURSE I WASN'T THERE FOR IT!! YOU HAVE TO COME OVER NOW!" and I heard a click. She hung up. She was very demanding, I laughed to myself. I went back to the kitchen.
"Dad, is it okay if I go next door to the hang out with Alice for a little while?" I asked.
Charlie grinned at me, obviously pleased that I had made new friends so fast. "Sure, Bells. Have a great time. And don't even worry about the dishes, I'll do them tonight."
I smiled back and nodded. I put on my shoes and a sweatshirt and walked out the door, mentally preparing myself to be attacked with questions. I rang the doorbell of her house and surprisingly, Alice was not the person who answered. Instead, I was greeted by a burly boy with dark curly hair.
"You must be Bella! Alice has been going off the walls for the past 5 minutes since she found out about what you did at school today. That was really cool, by the way! But if I were you, I would have punched her in the face." He was grinning, but I had the feeling that he wasn't joking.
"Thanks…" I trailed off, indicating for his name.
"I'm Emmett, Alice's bro-" he was cut off and I heard somebody squeal "IS SHE HERE?" Alice, of course. I then heard her pounding on Emmett's back to get past him, but he stood there like a brick wall laughing at her. I couldn't help but laugh, too.
"I am calling Rosalie and telling her you play with Barbie and Ken and pretend it is you and her!" Alice threatened. Emmett's face was suddenly serious and he quickly ran away, probably to hide every phone in the house.
With Alice in full view now, she squeezed me into a hug. "Come in, come in! Let's go get some snacks and then you can tell me everything!" she said. I laughed.
"Okay, Alice." So we went to the kitchen where we made some popcorn and got ourselves some sodas. Then she led me to her living room and turned on the radio. The latest Britney Spears screamed out at us, but Alice was too excited to hear my story to notice and change the station.
I gave her a weird look. "Do you mind if I change this?" I asked. I didn't even notice that I was being rude. Britney Spears and I didn't mix. "Sure, sure, just come on and tell me what happened!" she urged me. I put the station to my favorite and "The Curse of Curves" by Cute Is What We Aim For came on. I took a deep breath and told Alice everything.
"That is amazing, Bella!" she said. "You'll like, go down in history!"
I groaned. "I wished that everyone would stop saying that! I don't want everyone to know about me! It was bad enough before!"
Alice frowned. "Bella, if you really didn't want everyone to know about it, then why did you have an outburst in front of the entire school?" she asked. Then she saw the look on my face. "I mean, uh, you're fine! It's not so bad, and it's a good thing that you did what you did, because people will take you seriously and respect you. Already on your first day, too! See, it's not so bad."
I smiled. "Thanks, Alice. You're right. That's exactly what I needed to hear." Alice's cell phone rang and she looked down at the caller ID. She flipped it open and began to talk to somebody. I went to take a sip of my soda, but found that it was empty.
"I'm gonna get more soda. Want one?" I whispered to her. She nodded and continued her conversation. I made my way to the kitchen again. When I entered, there was somebody looking through the cabinets. It must have been Alice's other brother, I decided. Not wanting to hear any more of "I heard about lunch", I turned back around and tried to quietly tiptoe out of the room. I was almost free when I heard a velvet voice from behind me.
"Bella?"
I froze. I had only heard the voice once before, but I knew it instantly. I turned around slowly, and I was right.
Edward.
A/N: some good stuff about to happen… but not in this chapter. Review and maybe I'll let you find out… please? (pouts)
