Well if I am all alone, what are you waiting for? I thought. If he planned on killing me, might as well do it quickly.
"I would be sorry, Bella," he explained, constantly getting closer. "But this is better for you, really."
How well he knew. If I kept on living, I'd be broken. I no longer had Jake. I had nothing. Compared to this, death was relief.
"Victoria, she's looking for you. And if I weren't so thirsty, I'd wait for her. But …."
"You could pierce your ears!" Jared yelled, electrified by his own ingenious.
"Yeah, find something to pierce through my skin," I mumbled, trying not to roll my eyes.
"I could do it," he challenged.
I narrowed my eyes, glaring. "Eat your muffin."
Gloatingly, he opened his mouth wide and shoved the muffin in whole, wrapper and all. I was slightly glad I didn't enjoy food anymore.
"You could dye your hair!" Seth offered.
I considered the idea. I didn't know if dyed hair looked different than regular with my new eyes.
"We could try it," I agreed.
Cornelia and I went out shopping for hair colors (a ridiculous notion.) No doubt the name Isabella Swan would sound some alarms with the Cullens, but I didn't look exactly like I did when I was human. The boys agreed that I could pretend to be my own great granddaughter. The irony of that thought killed me.
We met back at the big house. It once belonged to Emily, but we didn't like to say her name out loud. Sam stopped shifting a couple years after I turned; he and Emily grew old together. We kept her large house, set deep on the outskirts of La Push, half in the forest. It was something like our headquarters.
We had a fun day. Quil offered to be our test dummy so we dyed a blonde streak straight down the middle of his head. We were about to shave the sides, to give him a fauxhawk, when he jumped out of the chair and freaked out.
"No cuts! Are you kidding! Do you want me to look like a complete tool bag when I shift?" That set the rest of the pack hysterical laughing.
"We were just thinking of your future as a male model, Quil. Really, we had your best interests at heart," Cornelia said as innocently as she could. The other guys continued to howl with laughter at the image of Quil, the shaved wolf.
We stayed home the next day because of the sun, and didn't see Quil until he got back from school. The part of his hair we dyed looked just like any other hair follicle on his head.
By nine o'clock my hair was light auburn with even lighter streaks that balanced between brown and blond. My dark, chestnut hair locks were long gone, replaced with sun-kissed waves. When I looked in the mirror, I thought this is how my hair was supposed to look when I'd moved from Phoenix.
Cornelia and I went hunting around midnight, trying to make our eyes as light as possible to convince the Cullens we were safe, to let us be. When we finished, Cornelia decided to go write the essay she had due first period.
Rather than return to Emily's, I escaped to Jacob's. The whole pack would be sleeping at Emily's and although they'd be asleep, I wanted to be alone.
When I entered the tiny red house, Jacob was still awake. His back was to me in the kitchen and he didn't turn around until I closed the front door. He made a face.
"I miss your brown hair." He echoed our earlier conversation. I smiled.
"Well isn't this what Phoenix girls are supposed to look like? I mean Cornelia's blond. But now, I look much more like I'm from the Valley of the Sun."
"Yeah, except that it looks like you don't even have a skin tone. Try tanning, that might convince him."
I scrunched my face. "I'd hit you again if I didn't want to have to smell bear."
"Ugh, wolf. I'm a wolf," he complained. "Bears smell bad even to me. At least wolves take showers." I rolled my eyes. "Ready for tomorrow?"
I shook my head. "Not at all."
First period went smoothly, although I was anxious. Second period English, Irina was in my class. I walked in as naturally as I could and sat fluidly in my seat, pretending her presence didn't bother me one bit.
My peers actually felt an aversion to me today. They shifted around more than usual. Or maybe it was the Cullens. Their presence was sure to stir a few thoughts; they weren't the most friendly looking. And the story of their odd family situation already spread like wildfire. So this was what it was like the second time 'round, right before I'd arrived in Forks so long ago.
I rose out of my seat the exact moment the bell rang and was out the door before Irina could even think how conspicuous I was.
When I left my math classroom, I stepped outside to see Jacob waiting for me. I automatically smiled.
He shook his head doubtfully. "Still not used to it," he said about my hair. I took his hand anyway, greedy for the warmth.
"Ready for lunch?" he asked, meaning more than his words conveyed.
"As ready as I'll ever be," I responded.
When we entered the cafeteria, we looked like normal high school students. We laughed effortlessly as we traipsed to our table.
They turned heads. They entered in a group and settled at the most remote table, like they used to. You'd think that the point of going to school, of acting like humans, would be to interact with them. I guess I didn't understand a lot of things about the Cullen family's decisions.
I sat with my back to their table so that while Jacob pretended to interact with Seth and the others at our table, I could listen.
"Any speculations?" I heard an all-too-familiar voice mumble.
"No, Em, we waited exactly long enough. Everyone in town is new here." It was his voice. But something was off about it. The smooth velvet tone was gone. It was crinkled, disturbed. Like the velvet was brushed the wrong way.
Emmett exhaled through his teeth. "Sheesh, can you ever lighten u-"
"Stop." There was silence.
"So, how were your second-day-of-schools?" I heard Alice's voice bubble. It hurt my still heart to hear the voice of my lost best friend.
"Some kid in my Spanish class tried to talk to me," Emmett shared. "I told him the usual story and didn't seem that scared."
"Yes, he was rather interested in getting to know us," I heard Jasper's cool, calm voice add. I wondered how his restraint was; I only had bad memories of it. "He said his name was Paul and was doing an exchange program from La Push."
"Smelled like he was from there, too," Emmett added.
I hoped they didn't think too far in to it, but the conversation ended so I wasn't sure.
The bell rang, ending lunch. Jacob walked me to class.
"You'll be okay?" he asked. There was a Cullen in Biology; we just didn't know which.
"Jake, will you please just stop asking me that? I'm fine. Even if I'm not, I'll be fine." That didn't seem to console him; his eyes were still watchful.
I sighed and stood up on to my toes to reach his mouth, gracing him with a kiss. I could feel the corners of his mouth pull up in a smile as I did so. His heart sped up but his hand remained in mine and the other limp at his side. I, too, was afraid of escalating it too much, especially in this public scene.
"See you after school," he exhaled, leaning his forehead on mine. I leaned up to peck him once more on the cheek, then went inside.
Austin Newton dared come to talk to me as the class started to settle, unperturbed by my relationship status.
"You should really sit down before Mr. Douglas starts; you don't want him to yell at you."
"Yeah, I didn't even do the homework," Austin conceded, then regretfully sat back down.
I looked down at my book and decided to draw, trying not to hate Austin any more because of his identical nature to his great-grandfather. Just as Mr. Douglas cleared his throat to start the class, the door opened and several things happened at once.
First, my pen froze, poised over the paper. Second, my eyes, not looking up, ranged the classroom and counted the backs of chairs I could see. I knew the front row was full, so the rest that were in my peripheral confirmed my suspicion: the only empty chair was next to me. Third, Mr. Douglas spoke: "Ah, yes, class. This is our new student. Edward Cullen."
