Beta's Note: ACK! Sorry! I was really busy today. The update will be on time next week.

Chapter 4

Bella awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and content. The soft melodies of the mysterious violinist had kept her all through the night, till the freshly dawned sun peeking through the gaps in her blinds awoke her. What time was it? She rolled over to check the time on her mobile phone which had been left on the floor charging from the night before, but was taken aback by the display. It was 9:30, far past the time that school was advertised to start at. She jumped out of bed and darted down a flight of stairs to find her father sitting in the couch; the television was on and he was watching the news.

"Dad! Why didn't you get me up?!"

Charlie turned around slowly, "Um… what? Oh, school. Today was school." Bella looked at him with total disapprobation, but in a moment her father's smile let her know that he wasn't serious. "I called the principle last night; he said you should come in 'round lunch time to get oriented."

Bella's face flushed with relief, she wasn't late.

"You… you might want to get dressed before we head out though." Bella blushed. She had been in such a hurry that she had quite forgotten that she was still wearing her night gown. She turned around and headed upstairs.

The office wasn't quite how she had imagined it. When you picture a high school principal's office one usually imagines things like sports trophies, pictures of graduating classes, or at least a few books. Instead the room which greeted Bella was almost Spartan in appearance, with nothing but a desk, a moose head, and a paddle which hung from the wall beneath it; emblazoned across its front were the words 'old faithful.' The principle was a skittish looking man with thinning hair and an inconsolable moustache. A pair of thin spectacles perched on the tip of his nose haphazardly. "Of course, you'll have to understand," he said in a raspy, nasally voice, "That we don't normally allow this sort of arrangement. This young girl's education is far too important to be spread out over several schools." Bella looked down, "But… since your situation is extraordinary, what with your mother passing and all, I have decided to allow it. You will be a student at Forks High School for one month and, if you chose to stay in our town we will formally have you enrolled."

"Thank you sir…" Bella said quietly.

The principle didn't seem to realize that she had spoken, opting instead to continue his diatribe. "For now we're going to operate under the assumption that you're going to stay at our school; this means that we're going to get you enrolled in some of your core classes."

"Yes sir… I'll stop by the guidance councillor on my way out-"

"I am the guidance counsellor. In case you didn't realize, Miss Swan, Forks is a very small town, less than ten thousand people live here, and the school has… I think just over eight hundred students…"

"Um… ok…"

"I think you'll find that most staff wear one or two hats here." He made a sound that could so nearly be described as a laugh, but to do so would grant all laughs discredit. "Now, about your English class."

Bella walked out of the principle's holding a sheet of paper that listed all of her classes; English, History, Geometry, Geology, Physical Education, and Art. She studied the paper silently as she walked through the halls of what would soon become her high school, not to imply that there were many halls. The principal's office was at the back of the campus and so, to return to the parking lot from whence she came she would have to pass every building in the school; of which there were six. When she reached the last building she stopped for a moment. Bella could distinctly here the sound of a piano being played raucously, and the softer sound of singing; "And the people all said sit down, sit down you're rocking the boat." She was almost spellbound. The song was of course one of the bedrock pieces from Guys and Dolls, the musical; but what on earth was it doing here?

She crept up to the door and slid it open to see a tall thin woman sitting at the piano. "G-flat, now c! No, C! This…" She repeatedly strikes a key "is C!"

"Sorry Mrs Cullen." Said the young man.

"Nah, it's alright; but if you really want the part you need to get that C."

"Yeah, it's kind of up there for me."

"Hey, keep practicing. You'll get it; and it's still Miss Cullen. I haven't been married off yet." Then she noticed Bella at the door. "I'm sorry, can I help you?"

"Um… I'm sorry to interrupt; I just heard Guys and Dolls and had to drop in."

"Yeah, it's a classic. Are you new here? I don't think I've had the pleasure." The woman walked towards Bella in two quick, smooth, steps and offered her her hand. After a moment Bella shook it.

"Bella." She said with a smile. "I just transferred here."

"Oh, I think I heard something about that… Alice… or 'Miss Cullen;' oh god, that sounds so formal. At any rate it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

"So, Bella, do you want to stick around. There's always room for one more in the music room."

"Oh, I can't. My dad's waiting for me in the parking lot."

"Some other time then."

"Definitely." Bella turned around and began to walk out. Just before door closed she heard Alice sit back at the piano and say "And one two three" and so the music resumed.

Bella sat down in the truck and quietly began to flip through her paper work. After a few moments Charley tried to engage her in conversation; " So… how did it go?"

"Good…" Bella said with a faraway disinterest in her voice.

After a few moments Charley tried again, "Did you make any friends?"

"Um… yeah… maybe."

"Maybe?" Charley said with a chuckle.

"Yeah… maybe." She began to thumb through her geometry text book. Bella didn't like what was inside though and quickly closed it.

The next morning Bella crawled out of bed at around six; nearly two house before school was scheduled to start. This morning she was dedicated to the idea that she was going to arrive on time and she was going to make a good first impression with all of her fellow students. She hadn't given Forks a chance on her first day in town, but she was determined to give it every opportunity today.

By the time that she had finished preparing it was almost 7:30, and school would start in no time. But she knew she would make it. Bella was almost excited for school, this was the first time she had looked forward to anything since the day that her mother died. Before she knew it she was standing in front of her first period class; English 301. Now, dear reader, instead of regaling you with every excruciating detail of her first hour in English class I shall instead impart you with a notion that I have been developing for quite some time now. When you are looking forward to anything (Whether it is a film, a date, or a first day of school) the amount of time and energy you spend anticipating it will be directly detrimental to the amount of enjoyment you get from it; or in other words the class was dull. The class was very dull, as was her second and her third class. In her forth class she also met nothing but boredom.

After what had to be the loneliest lunch that Bella had ever eaten, the bored husk of a girl lumbered into her fifth class for the day; physical education. Unlike the other classes, which all followed a somewhat formalistic structure, the PE class was a lot more like a circus. The teacher, a tall but heavy set woman was the ringmaster, occasionally whipping her subject –Hyperbole- but the true masters of the show were the acrobats, or in the case of this PE class the students who had been cheer leaders last semester.

As with most school hierarchies the athletic kids held much of the student body's esteem, and none held more than the cheer leaders. Bella was fortunate enough to meet three such individuals and, by almost in concert with Bella's wildest dreams, they seemed to take an instant liking to her. Admittedly Bella had no idea what they were talking about. Statements like "Oh my god, Chad!" or "Mr Baumwart is a total dick" meant almost nothing to her, but she learned that simply saying "Oh my god, yes" often invoked the desired reciprocation; namely their continued conversation, and by extension the subtle admiration of the rest of the students.

"So, are you going to try out for the cheer squad?" Becky, one of the girls was named Becky, turned and asked Bella.

Bella was somewhat taken aback for a moment. Of course she had been having a lot of fun talking to these girls (A thought she had used to rationalize talking to them at the time, later she would decide that she had been having a lot of fun being checked out by all the boys in the class) but weather she was willing to have them become her 'circle of friends' was still something that she was holding in contest. "Um… when is it?" She asked.

The rest of the girls broke out into a giggle –a word which I would like to replace with cackle, although to be honest the line between the two in this instance was almost imperceptible. "It's on Friday, duh." Said Sydney, another one of the girls who was prettier than Becky –and subtle looks of hatred from the latter made it all too clear that they both knew that.

"I… guess so. I mean, I used to do it back in Phoenix." This was only kind of true, in reality she had only taken one week of Cheer leading classes before she quit out because the costume made her feel uncomfortable. Bella was a pretty girl, but she never quite could see it in her own reflection.

"Great! I'm like totally sure you'll make it." This comment came from Mary, the third of the girls and the prettiest by far. This was made more apparent by the fact that she was dating Jonny, the football captain, and she would take any opportunity to bring this fact up. "Afterwards, Jonny's gonna take us all out in his new sports car." This comment led to much cooing from the other two girls and Bella, who realized that this was the done thing, joined suit seconds later.

Bella walked out of the PE class in an almost perfect state of ambiguity, on the one hand she had successfully walked into the role of 'popular kid' with almost no effort, but on the other hand she felt as though the girls that she was well on the road to befriending would stab her in the back for a curling iron. It was while she was engrossed in such musings that Bella walked through a familiar doorway and sat down in a familiar room. When she looked up she realized that she had reached her final class room which was, by some extended form of coincidence also the music room to which she had been a guest the previous day. Bella looked to the front of the class to see Alice. "Welcome back, Bella. I'm happy to see you're one of my students."

"Uh… Yeah. I didn't realize. My schedule had you listed as "A Cullen."

"Well, I am a Cullen, and I'm also Alice Cullen making me A Cullen again." She let out a breath that was almost a sigh. "At any rate it's good to have you here. Now, class; we're moving into Surrealism today so I expect you all to turn in your last assignment." The students began to move in a shamble towards the front of the class, each dropping off their own subpar works of art, but each new deposit seemed only to please Alice more. She would look at each new piece as though it was a work of a master, and then move to say something like "I love your use of colour" or "This has great shading." Bella was beginning to think that every student was being babied when Alice stopped. "What is this?" The student who had presented her the work looked up in terror. "You drew this last night didn't you?"

"Um… I…"

"I can tell, the ink hasn't properly set. And here… your colours blurred together because you were moving the brush too quickly." The student hung their head in shame. Alice let out another sigh. "It's ok, Alex… you've got a good hand here… you just need to spend a little more time on your work." The boy apparently named Alex nodded his head. "Are you going to do better next time?"

"Yes Mrs Cullen."

"Then I forgive you. You may sit down, and it's MISS Cullen!" The boy scurried back to his seat and quickly began to draw on a new canvas. It was around this point that Bella decided that she really liked Miss Cullen.