Chapter 3: Secret Identities
By the time lunch break arrived I'd had four classes and met several people, though I still liked Eric the best. You know how you just click with some people? I'm not saying we'd be best buddies but I got along with him well, and he introduced me to his social group at lunch. A few of them I'd already met, like Jessica, who were in other classes with me. The school was small enough for me to recognise a few of the others, even if I didn't know them by name. Jessica seemed to be annoyed with the fact that Mike had already introduced himself to me, but relaxed when I didn't encourage conversation with him. The nicest girl I'd met by far was Angela, and I spoke to her quite a bit during lunch. She reminded me a little of Ginny when she was younger.
It was whilst I was eating my lunch that I noticed a group of five sitting in the corner of the lunch room. My stomach clenched the moment I looked at them, and I quietly turned to Jessica.
"Who are they?" my tone caught her attention, and her gaze followed mine to the group that were neither talking nor eating the food in front of them.
"They're the Cullen family. Well, some of them are. The two blonde ones are Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The rest are Cullens. The other girl is Alice, the biggest guy is Emmett and the other is Edward. They're all like, together together. Rosalie and Emmett, Jasper and Alice," there was a tone of slight shock in her tone as she went on to reveal "and they live together! It's weird."
I wasn't surprised to hear that they all lived together in the slightest but that didn't stop me hoping that I was just really mistaken. The pale skin, the looks, and the way that Edward's eyes snapped towards us the moment we began talking about them. Vampires. I remember studying them in third year and my goodness, I did not expect to see them in a school. A coven in Forks! My parents clearly did not know about this, but a bit of me wondered if Dumbledore did. It took me a moment to realise that Jessica had started speaking again. "He doesn't date, so don't get your hopes up. They keep to themselves, have done ever since they came down from Alaska last year."
I pondered on her information for a minute, before my curiosity got the better of me. I loved hearing back stories. "So who are the parents then? Anyone I might know?" I asked innocently.
"Dr Cullen and his wife adopted them all, although I think she's the twins' aunt or something. Apparently she can't have kids." This latter little titbit annoyed me because first of all, that was private information and secondly, her not being able to have kids doesn't lessen the fact that it was still a really nice act. Five teenagers under one roof, especially with four of them in relationships, was no easy feat.
"It's still really kind of them though. My parents struggle with me and I'm an only child," I said lightly with a slight laugh, keeping my irritation to myself although my laugh was a bit ironic. My parents couldn't deal with me so much so that they sent me to the other side of the world.
Nevertheless staying in the same room as the vampires did get the better of me. I excused myself barely five minutes after my conversation with Jessica. Once outside I felt a little calmer. If they've been here for a year then it's evident they're safe, but even so! I had come to Forks to have a normal life, and now that I knew there were supernatural creatures here that wasn't going to happen. I'd be forever worrying if one of them was going to slip up and take a chunk out of someone.
In attempt to fully relax myself I walked around the school, which wasn't that big, at least in comparison to Hogwarts. On the plus side I began to learn where things were, especially around the fifth circuit of the complex. With about 15 minutes of lunch left I had reached the cafeteria again, and my impeccable timing meant that I reached it at the exact moment the Cullen coven was exiting the canteen. I froze where I was and slowly backed away. My heart was pounding in my chest and my breathing hitched when they turned to look at me. Most of them carried on walking, but Edward remained where he was, just looking at me with a frustrated expression on his face before he too turned and walked away. I let out the breath I had been holding. Apparently I needed to work on acting cool and being brave. I was vaguely aware of a slight headache forming.
Before I could get too worked up, the rest of my group came out the cafeteria. I quickly caught up with them and found out that Angela also had Biology with me. Feeling much more relaxed in her presence, we walked to class together and I quietly said goodbye as she went to her seat. I approached the teacher and handed him my slip, which he signed whilst welcoming me to Forks. He then told me to sit in the empty seat in the middle of the room. I turned around, to find that Edward Cullen was next to that particular seat. Silently hating the teacher for choosing this place for me when there was another empty one at the back of the room, I approached my seat with trepidation. Warily getting my stuff out of my bag, I sat as far from Cullen as I possibly could. For the love of Merlin, he better leave me alone.
As soon as the lesson started I was able to completely forget about the vampire next to me. I was still a bit tense but the lesson was just so interesting! We were starting a new topic about biodiversity and evolution, and I found it simply fascinated. My hand was flying across the page faster than ever before as I made notes without the need to dip my writing instrument into ink pots. Pens are such marvellous inventions, don't you think? Of course, not all the elements of the subject were new to me but it was still interesting to learn about them from a scientific stand point with proper instruction. Plus, I learnt new things like how to take samples with a quadrat. Midway through the lesson Mr Banner set us a series of questions, which he had written on the white board. People began to talk in their pairs soon after this, as the atmosphere became relaxed. Mr Banner didn't enforce silence. I was busy writing down the answers when my partner chose to speak.
"Hello," he said, his voice warm and musical. I froze instantly, my fingers changing colour as I clutched the pen tighter. "My name is Edward Cullen. You must be Hermione," he said politely. I had no idea how to react. Did I pretend to not know what he is? Or let him know? Did I act politely or end the conversation? In the end I squeaked out a 'nice to meet you' before I carried on answering the questions, hardly daring to look at him.
"I don't bite, you know," he laughed, and I looked down at the floor. The lion on my bag reminded me of my roots, and more confidently I turned to look at Edward. His eyes were amber, the corners of his mouth toying with a smile. His tousled copper hair reminded me of Harry's, but there was something much more controlled in this guy's than Harry's.
"Is that so?" I arched an eyebrow, questioning his statement. He frowned in response, laughter ending. It was then that I felt a slight headache come on, and immediately I broke eye contact. Drawing on everything I knew about blocking the mind, I did my best to relax. "Well I can't always be trusted." I flashed a smile at him, choosing to pretend to be ignorant as to his species. His laugh began again, a short chuckle that ended when Mr Banner came over, and seeing as neither of us had answered all the questions and because I was new he chose to ask: "Is everything okay, Hermione? Not stuck are we?"
I turned to smile at Mr Banner, something about his warmth ensuring he was my favourite teacher at this school quite quickly. Rather than focus on the questions which were all a walk in the park, I opted to further satisfy my curiosity.
"Not at all, sir. I was just discussing with Edward the reason for the slowing down of human evolution, and whether or not it directly correlates to the advancement of technology. What do you think?" He seemed taken aback by my comment before smiling encouragingly. He indulged my curiosity by contributing his views and before long it was the end of the lesson. I packed my bag and left the room. I hadn't gotten very far when Edward caught up with me, grabbing my wrist to get to me stop.
"Why did you lie? I mean you could have just said we were talking," he had that frustrated look again, but he seemed amused as well. He let go of my wrist and we walked in a momentarily companionable silence while I thought about it.
"I guess I'm just used to having to cover for my friends in lessons," I contemplated, thinking back fondly of all the times Harry and Ron had been distracted and I'd had to save them from getting into further trouble with the teacher. "Besides, I was genuinely interested." I was vaguely aware of Edward's watching me with evident curiosity but after we reached the gym block, I bid him farewell and that was that.
P.E. was no where near as much fun as Biology. I didn't have to participate thankfully, so I just sat down and watched as the others played badminton. I already knew the rules for the game so I just got to relax. Mike smiled at me occasionally, which I returned. He wasn't so bad now that I had gotten past his eagerness to befriend me and in a way I kind of liked it. There was something reassuring in the knowledge I was already accepted because it was different to primary school and Hogwarts. In primary school I was a bit of an outcast and at Hogwarts... Let's just say it took until Hallowe'en before I had proper friends, and that was thanks to a troll. I stood up quickly when the bell announced the end of the lesson. I noticed the Cullens by their silver car, and as Edward caught my eye I smiled at him - much to their surprise - before exiting the school grounds.