Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot, everything else belongs to Stephenie Meyer.
Here ya go! Enjoy!
Chapter 9
Edward's POV
By the time lunch came around, Bella was the talk of the school, in fact even the faculty was discussing her return. I tried to keep an eye on her, I would walk by her classrooms and look in the window to find her sitting alone while others stared. Occasionally, she would meet my eyes and give me a smile, I walked away shortly after making eye contact because I was a little embarrassed to be caught.
Anyway, lunch came and I noticed Bella sitting in a small booth in the corner, because Forks was so small all the grades had the same lunch. Meaning, my younger sister Alice, had the same lunch as Bella. I knew that they would hit it off and be great friends, they probably would have been best friends if Bella had been raised in Forks. I scanned the cafeteria to try and find Alice, luckily she was in her normal spot with her boyfriend, Jasper. I wasn't too thrilled that she was dating Jasper Hale, he was the captain of the football team and was also a senior, but everyone assured me that he was a good guy.
"Alice, may I speak with you?" I asked walking up behind her, she looked less than thrilled to see me right now. I was just happy that she followed me so I could talk. "Look, I don't ask you for much, but I am your older brother and…"
"You want me to go sit with Bella and socialize with her right?" Alice asked giving me that famous know-it-all look that all 15-year-olds perfected. "I've been prepping for this all day, I knew you would ask me at lunch."
"Okay, smarty pants, so will you?" Alice looked at where Bella sat with a tray of untouched food in front of her, then back to where her friends were waiting. "Alice, she's having a rough time transitioning back and besides everyone just stares and whispers."
"So why don't you go sit with her?" I wanted to, I wanted to go sit and have a conversation with her but I didn't want people to get the wrong idea seeing as how she's only 17. When I didn't answer, Alice sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Fine, but Jasper's coming with me. You should at least go speak with her, no one will think anything about that seeing as how you're the counselor."
"Thank you," I said ready to hug her but I knew how much she would hate for me to hug her in front of everyone. Alice went back to her table to collect her things while I went and grabbed some food of my own. I put my things down to sit with the other members of the faculty before walking over to check on Bella. She was so wrapped up in her own little world that she didn't even hear me pull out a chair and sit down, "Hey there, how's it going?"
Bella was startled by my voice, but then eased and gave me a smile. "I guess it's going okay. People won't stop staring."
"That's to be expected," I said resting my head on my knuckles, my inner counselor was kicking in. "Not only are you new, but you were missing, you're a legend."
"I don't want to be," Bella whispered looking down at her hands and then took a deep breath. "Don't worry about me, Mr. Cullen, I'll be fine."
"Can we sit here?" Bella glared at me when she saw Alice and Jasper standing there with trays of food in their hands.
"Yeah, I was just leaving," I said with a smile and walked away from the three students.
Bella's POV
"You don't have to do this," I said looking at the two students who were still waiting for me to approve them to sit with me. When they didn't leave, I sighed and motioned for them to sit. "I'm serious, if he put you up to this then you don't have to do it."
"My brother's pretty stubborn," the girl said then gave a small chuckle, "I'm being so rude! I'm Alice, this is Jasper. Like I said, Edward's my brother and he's just worried about you."
"Really?" I asked a little surprised, but I shouldn't be surprised I mean he was my best friend. "Thank you for coming over here. I know I said you didn't have to, you didn't, but I really appreciate it."
"Of course," Alice said and began eating her salad. "How's your first day going?"
"Crazy, and I already told your brother that everyone won't stop staring," I said and reluctantly took a bite of the lasagna that the school had served for lunch. I needed to eat or else I would be starving before I got home this afternoon. "It's creepy."
"Yeah, they'll get over it! People tend to move on from things rather quickly here," Jasper said with a mouth full of bread, Alice and I stared at him before ignoring him.
"He doesn't have very good manners, but he is right. People will move on to something before the end of the week." I only hoped that Alice was right, but it would probably take something big for them to forget the kidnapped girl who was found alive after 14 years.
When 3:30 came, I was ready to leave the school, but I had told Edward that I would hang around until he was done so he could give me a ride home. I made my way to Edward's office and found him busy with paperwork, I knocked and smiled at him. "First day back, how do you have so much paperwork?"
"You can thank your other mom for that," Edward said not even looking up at me. "So many forms to fill out when you find a kidnapped girl."
"Can I help with anything?" I asked sitting down in one of the chairs and plopping my backpack on the ground next to me. Edward looked up at me and smiled before shaking his head.
"Nah, are you sure you don't mind waiting? Cause I can call your parents or your sister to come get you."
"It's okay," I said grabbing my bag, "I'm going to go get some homework done in the study hall. Get me when you're done?"
"Of course," Edward said before going back into the paperwork. I walked down the hall and found the first empty study room that was available, I didn't need anyone else looking at me and whispering while I tried to do homework. Overall, the classes were simple, I would have no problem getting straight-A's here. Deep inside, I was still mad at my mom for kidnapping me, for taking me away from my family, but I missed her and dad. I missed Jacob, I missed his humor and I knew that if he was with me right now, he would know how to take my mind off of everything.
A/N: Alright, thoughts?
