twilight doesn't belong to me
Chapter Three
Even though Charlie got home later than I thought he kept his promise to the Cullens.
It was apparent that he really did want try and work something out when it came to me, especially when it came down to the business of driving me to school and other places. I didn't know what it was that Charlie had worked out with when it came to Esme and Carlisle until Charlie sat me down in the living and slowly began to tell me how things were going to be.
"Esme has offered to drive you to school tomorrow, because I know that you seemed comfortable with them. Her daughter, Alice, is going to drive you home from school," Charlie informed me, as I absorbed what he had told me. I felt nervous but happy that Esme would be the one to drive me to school, but I had yet to meet any of her adoptive children, along with her niece and nephew.
That night I slept a little worse than wear, due to the fact that I was anticipating Esme. I was happy that she had gone out of her way to drive me to school, I enjoyed that she had offered to take me home yesterday but had no problem whatsoever when it came to the aspect of driving me to school.
Charlie came into my bedroom early in the morning to kiss me on the head, before he left for work. I could sense his presence and his trademark scent when he would come near me. It comforted me that he loved me so, and though we weren't good with expressing our feelings most of the time there were rare moments when we would let our emotions peek through.
I woke up and looked through my closet before I found a beige turtle neck sweater, a regular pair of jeans that I had bought at the mall, and some brown chunky boots. I also found one of my other bulky coats to put on. I quickly put on my clothes, brushed my teeth and hair, and grabbed my purse and backpack before I went downstairs to eat my granola bar.
I ate faster than I usually did, due to nerves, a mixture of excitement and nervousness. I was never good with the unknown. I often wanted to be informed of anything and everything; it helped obviously with my whole mental health.
I was washing my hands when I heard knocking on the front door. Taking a deep breath, I gathered my things and opened the front door to see Esme Cullen in front of me. Her hair still fell in its perfect ringlet style; she wore a sweet blush pink sweater and some designer jeans. Her feet were nestled in nice but stylish brown leather boots and a necklace with different rhinestones for all her children, along with her and her husband, displayed itself around her neck.
"Good morning, Bella. Are you ready to go?" Esme studied me, as though to make sure that I was ready to go, before I nodded my head.
She smiled and I walked out before shutting the front door. I pulled out my house key from my coat and locked the door behind me before we went down the porch and I was greeted with the sight of her deep metallic silver Volvo XC90, it was a beautiful SUV that displayed the fact she was just like any other mother (a rich one but that didn't matter).
She had the car unlocked so there was no awkward waiting for the driver to unlock the car with their key, and I hopped into the passenger seat. It was fresh, clean, and looked as though it was brand new. She turned on the radio and the heat, so that I would be warm and could listen to music.
I didn't say anything and she didn't pressure me to say anything as she pulled out of the driveway and began our journey to the high school. I leant back into the leather seat and forced myself not to look at what speed Esme was driving at, it was a bad habit for me to try and conquer.
"Tell me about your kids…if you don't mind," I randomly spoke up, making Esme smile as she glanced at me before letting her eyes focus on the road in front of her again. She must have known that I didn't like prolonged looks in the car from the person that was driving.
"Well, the eldest two are my sister's children, Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They were adopted by me and Carlisle when they were eight. They are very reserved, but once you get to truly know them they are two of the best people that you will ever meet," Esme began, "the other eighteen is my son, Emmett Cullen. He's very funny, though don't let it get to his head, he sometimes tells the cheesy jokes."
I smiled at the thought of Emmett; I always thought that people that were naturally funny and happy were people that I should be around. I needed someone who could make me laugh, have tears running down my eyes and my stomach hurt from how hard I was laughing.
"Then there is Edward, he's very gentlemanly like Jasper is. He's a little more social than Jasper, and he plays the piano. He even composes his own music, I'm very proud of him. Alice of course will be so excited to be your friend; she's very forward in fashion. She's quirky to say the least, she will make sure that you will feel welcomed and that you should feel confident," Esme finished telling me, there was pride that was brimming in her eyes that let me know she adored her children to the moon and back. It made my heart fuzzy with happiness, at the obvious love and acceptance that Esme had towards her five children.
I knew that my parents were proud of me. The way that Esme held pride in her about people made you want to make Esme proud.
I didn't say anything for the rest of the ride to school, the soft music that played on the station didn't sound familiar. It didn't sound like any classical music I had heard before; though the person that was playing the piano was talented…maybe Esme had a CD made of Edward's compositions.
The high school was off the highway and as we pulled into the campus I noted that the high school was more like a collection of matching houses. It was completely different from the loam of the two story behemoth of a building that made up my high school back home.
Esme pulled into a parking spot that was for visitors, in front of what I assumed the school office was. I let my eyes wander away from the building in front of me and towards the woman that sat next to me. Her gentle golden eyes held nothing more than patience and compassion.
"I hope you don't mind but I told Alice to be calmer than usual, like I said she's a very social person. I don't want her to scare you off or anything," Esme reminded me, and I nodded my head to let her know I understood her.
She pulled something out of her purse and handed it to me; I glanced down and noted that it was a scrap piece of paper with what looked to be her phone number written in perfect handwriting on it. I tucked it in my coat, ardor washing through me at this little scrap piece of paper.
"Have a nice first day of school, Bella. If you need to call me don't hesitate," Esme whispered before she leant forward and kissed me on the forehead. I unbuckled and went to get out of the car, only for me to turn around and hug her. Hot tears began to trickle in my tear ducts but I wiped them away, once I had pulled away from Esme and hopped out of the car before she could hold me.
Esme waved goodbye to me after I got everything out of the car, I watched her head back into traffic before I turned and made my way towards the entrance doors to the school office.
The school office was mundane, with padded folding chairs, orange flecked commercial carpet, and potted plants. The plants seemed to stretch out into every crevice that there was in the office, as though there wasn't enough greenery outside. It just assured me that I was no where near Arizona.
The room was cut in half with a counter, where a woman sat behind it. She had been typing on her school computer but had looked up once I entered. She was a large, red haired woman wearing glasses but she had an inviting look upon her face as though she wanted to make me feel as comfortable as possible.
"Good morning, dear," the woman spoke, and I slowly made my way towards her. The closer I got the more detailed my scars became noticeable to her. She let her eyes linger on my right eye, not too long, but enough for me to notice. She let her eyes wander back to me, "you must be Isabella Swan, Chief Swan's daughter."
"B-Bella, I like to be called Bella, but yes, I'm his daughter," I responded, earning a nod from her before she rolled her office chair to the back counter of the office. She looked through the different metal baskets that held papers in them, finally fishing out some papers to hand to me.
"Here is a map of the school, I can highlight the routes from each class you have to the next. And here is a slip I need your teachers to sign for you to bring back at the end of the day. You have fifth hour lunch."
The woman handed me the papers, and despite the fact that I assured her I didn't need the routes highlighted she still did it anyway. She must have thought that she was doing her good deed of the day, if it meant highlighting a piece of paper so that a half blind girl could know her way around the school.
I rolled my eyes as I made my way towards building 3, my eyes set forward and my hands clasped on the straps of my backpack. I made sure that my focus was directly in front of me and not on the students that were looking at me too long, or asking quite loudly in a failed attempt of whispering what had happened to me.
Two girls were in front of me, heading into the building. It was apparent that they hadn't noticed me yet; they were too busy talking to each other to notice that someone was behind them. I didn't know if I should take it as a blessing, since I was certain that they would notice me once we were in the classroom.
Taking off my coat and sitting it on the coat hanger that was near the classroom door, I made my way towards Mr. Mason. He was looking down at his study plan for today, but when he looked up he paused. "You must be Isabella," he finally spoke, earning a nod from me as I handed the slip to him, "I like to be called Bella though."
He signed it but stopped me, "the only available seats are closer to the back. Are you fine with that? Or do you need me to make sure that there's a chair up here for you?"
"I'm fine, it's just one eye," I responded to him, knowing that it was true. If I sat on the right side of the classroom then it wouldn't be bad. So I made my way towards the back of the classroom and sat down in the right corner of the classroom.
Class was started within a few minutes and I absorbed myself into the lesson, my eye catching on the fact that we were going to focus on the literature works of Bronte, Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Faulkner. I had already gone over this back in Phoenix, so I was already prepared for this class.
As soon as first hour was over, I started to head in the direction of where building 6 was only for me to hear the sound of footsteps hurrying towards me. I took faster steps; I was not in the mood to talk to anyone right now. It was my first day and I just wanted to get through it before I would make any friends.
Only, I wasn't welcomed with that pleasure, a boy stumbled up to me and gave me a large smile. "Hi, you must be Isabella Swan!"
I sighed and turned to him. "Bella, it's Bella."
Eric blinked a few times, noting the state of me. He studied my eye, and then my scar, a little longer than I wanted. I decided that this was enough, so I started walking again. He jogged to come up to me, "Hey—"
Spinning on my heel, I made sure that I was looking at him, "look, I'm new here. It's my first day here; I just want to go through my classes. It's nice that you probably want to walk me to my classes but I'm fine."
Eric sighed and had his gangly shoulders slump. The boy with skin problems and oil black hair had obviously wanted to be an over helpful person, and for the longest time I had allowed others to walk me around school to show me my classes. I didn't want to do that here, I would be okay without Eric.
"Oh, sorry, I don't want to sound annoying. Maybe I'll see you later?" Eric probed to me, but he didn't receive a true assurance from me that I would see him later. I shrugged, "maybe," before I ventured to my next building—which happened to be building 6.
It was Government with Jefferson.
There weren't any students that were eager to help me when I entered Government.
A few of them craned their heads to the side, only to have affirmation that I really was Chief Swan's daughter, and yes I was the famous girl that had been in a car wreck in Arizona. The very wreck that had made me blind in one eye, and made me heavily scarred was true.
Mr. Jefferson made sure that I sat in the front, no ifs and buts, so I was on fully display for him. It must have been because he was writing on the board the whole hour, making sure that everyone would write down what he had written. He did look surprised when he saw that I wasn't the last person that finished writing their notes, so he was appeased that I wouldn't be making the class hang back due to my right eye.
Fourth hour was probably the worst class that I had been greeted with so far. Mr. Varner was everything that I hated in a teacher. He made me stand in front of the classroom and introduce myself. He even decided that some students should ask me questions about myself, which ended up with me assuring them that I did indeed get my scars from the car wreck and yes I was blind in my right eye.
I blushed some, in humiliation, at the knowledge that I was being poked and prodded when it was the last thing that I wanted.
Spanish was fine; there wasn't really anything to report. I didn't have to introduce myself in front of the class. I did trip on thin air though, but I swore that at the last minute I saw a high heel sticking out from under a desk. I pushed it off to the side, knowing that if I made a big deal about it no one would let me walk around by myself.
When the bell rang for lunch, a girl that had been in my Trig and Spanish classes named Jessica decided that she should walk with me to the cafeteria. She had eagerly asked me things about Arizona. She seemed like she really, really wanted to ask me more personal questions but realized that doing so might make me decide not to be her friend anymore.
"People were saying that Mrs. Cullen drove you to school this morning," Jessica started up, her eyebrow arched up as she waited for my response. She was respectful enough that she stood on my left side to make sure that I wouldn't have to readjust us so that she would have to be on my left side.
I smiled, "Esme is really nice, she offered to drive me to school today. Her daughter, Alice, is going to drive me home. I can't drive; I do have a permit…"
Jessica's eyes widened, "wait, you seriously are letting the Cullens drive you to and from school? What does your dad feel about this?"
We were outside of the cafeteria, under the overhead, while others were walking into the cafeteria without stopping. Jessica, tiny and short and wild dark haired Jessica, was staring at me as though I had told her that I had become best friends with the school's residential ghost.
"Charlie loves me. He wouldn't leave me alone with anyone who would harm me," I assured her, which in return made her bite her lip before she looked over her shoulder as though she was expecting for the Cullens and Hales to arrive right behind her. It would have been funny though to see her jump in fright at their sudden appearance.
"Well…all right. Anyway, let's get inside so we can get something to eat. I'm starving! Then you meet the rest of the crew," Jessica decided, entering the cafeteria with me following after her.
The last thing I expected was the velocity of the noises that radiated in this large room. Screeching and giggles, and trays falling reverberated and I couldn't help but close my eyes, along with taking deep breaths. I had to remind myself that just because it was loud around me didn't mean that I would have anything bad happen to me.
"Bella, are you okay?"
"I'm all right, Jessica. Go ahead and get something to eat. I'll be there in a minute," I assured her with my eyes still closed. I leant back against the wall and made sure that my heart was still decreasing from its risen beating.
"I really do hope you're okay."
My eyes peeled open, revealing a beautiful dark golden eyed girl in front of me. She was short, a pixie like girl, thin in the extreme with deep and dark cropped short hair that pointed in every direction.
For some odd reason I felt like I knew who she must be, "Alice? Are you Esme's daughter?"
Alice laughed, sounding like mischievous fairies laughing, before she gave me a warm smile, "yes, I'm Alice, and yes I'm Esme's daughter. I saw you over here and Carlisle gave a vague overview of you…."
"So you know about…." I didn't continue, but she nodded her head, "yes. You are very brave; I haven't met anyone with Panic Disorder. I don't know what I would do if I had it."
"It's tiring, stressful," I admitted as I slumped, only for her to reach out and take my hand in hers. I almost yanked my hand out of hers from the sheer coldness that came from her hand. She went to pull her hand away but I kept my hand in hers, finding that the cold helped me in a way.
She pulled me from the wall and began to direct me towards where Jessica and her friends were. I turned to her, "why can't I sit with you and your siblings?"
Alice looked like she was fighting the urge to flinch; it was almost as though someone was yelling something in her head since nothing verbal was being said. She turned her head and I followed her eyesight to the direction of where the other Cullens and the Hale twins were.
The other girl, Rosalie Hale, was tall and beautiful figured. Golden wavy hair fell down her back and she reminded me of the Sports Illustrated women on the front page. She had no expression whatsoever on her face, though I swore that her eyes were peering into my soul. She was looking to see if there was anything there that she should be weary of. It didn't help either that those eyes were just the same color as her sister's despite the fact that they weren't blood related.
In fact all of them were golden eyed. The 'boy' that was sitting next to the girl looked as though he was a lot older than a teenager. He was big, with the weight lifter vibe and had dark, curly hair. He surprised me when he lifted one of his hands and waved at me, earning a small smile from me.
I had a feeling that this was Emmett Cullen; it just screamed to me that he was the big and goofy boy that was more of a teddy bear than a grizzly bear. Even though I was certain if someone that he loved was in danger he had no problem whatsoever in becoming a grizzly bear.
Sitting next to Emmett was a lanky and least bulky brother. He had untidy, bronze-colored hair and deep golden eyes that were narrowed on me. If I was being completely honest if his face, which looked as though it was hand sculpted to show what a true angel looked (honestly all of them looked like that! Even Esme and Carlisle were inhumanely beautiful), wasn't concentrated in an apparent frustration I would have thought that he was straining because he was constipated.
"Why is your brother looking at me like that?" I couldn't help but ask, causing Alice to perk up and look over her shoulder to see that Edward had straightened up and was paying attention to his food. I swore I saw a smirk appear on her face, just the tinnier uplift of her right side of her mouth.
Emmett on the other hand was laughing, making Rosalie lean over and touch his arm as though to tell him to stop drawing attention to them.
The only one that wasn't looking at me with strangeness was a boy that sat at the very end of the table—opposite of where Rosalie sat, and who looked at me with golden eyes that I swore were changing every few seconds. He was taller, leaner, but still muscular with honey blond messy curls.
I felt drawn towards him, as though he could understand my pain, for in the moment that I looked at him, I swore that I felt nothing more than calm and normal. I had gotten used to having multiple emotions take place, the stress of the environment was still in the back of my mind when I was talking to Alice but with him it was as though he had ripped it away from me.
"Jasper has pretty eyes," I found myself saying, before I blinked and looked away. A scarlet blush appeared on my face. I looked at Alice, seeing that her eyes had widened for a second before they settled once more.
"I'm certain that he'd appreciate hearing that," Alice teased me as she led me to Jessica and the others. I could tell that there was something that was on Alice's mind, especially when I acknowledged Jasper without her having to say anything about him. What was it that made her stiffen up like that, or for Jasper to look at me as though he shared my emotions?
Alice told me that she'd be waiting for me after Gym (I didn't remember telling her that Gym was my last hour), to take me home. I turned back around, surprised when I saw a lunch tray was in front of me.
Jessica turned to look at me, "we just wanted to truly welcome you to Forks. I went up and got you a tray of food. I hope that you don't have any allergies."
I cursed myself as tears began to build up in my eyes. I managed to stutter out, "I-it's fine. T-thank you." I flinched at the fact that I had actually stuttered to them, and how they were patient with me.
Even Eric was still here, smiling at me, as though I hadn't even brushed him off to begin with.
All the while, I hadn't even noticed Jasper Hale leaving the cafeteria the split second that my face turned red.
