I had two more lessons after lunch, and then had to wait for Angela at the gates. When I walked into French, I was a little late, having been separated from Carly as she had Spanish. The whole room was quiet and were reading from textbooks. Crap, the lesson had begun.
"Ah, nice of you to join us. You are ten minutes late" the woman, who I presumed to be Madam Pierre looked at me through her black square glasses.
"Sorry, I got lost, I'm new" is shrugged. At my old school, I would have given her a mouthful and sat down, but I wanted to make a good impression here.
"Jade Carpenter?" I nodded, "Take a seat next to Mr Cullen at the back. I am trusting you to behave, if you do not you will be sat at the front" she warned. I nodded and walked to the back, being careful not to look at the breathtakingly beautiful boy and pass out.
I took out a pen and looked around for something so I could do what the rest of the class were. Madam Pierre was sat at her desk, reading and not looking up. I felt someone nudge my elbow. Turning, I saw Jack was grinning at me. He pushed his textbook forwards so it was sat in the middle of the two person desk.
"We have to read that passage about our vacation and then answer those questions, and then write our own version of the passage" I nodded.
"Thanks" I whispered, leaning closer to him so I could see the book. He smelled wonderful, like a fragrance I couldn't describe. I felt drawn to him somehow.
I was brought back to reality by my phone buzzing in my pocket. No one had heard and looked up, so I pulled it out and saw a text from Edward. Edward. Since I had laid eyes on the god like boy next to me, I hadn't given my loving boyfriend a second thought. How bad of a girlfriend was I? it seemed as though I was forgetting my boyfriend!
"Phone away Miss Carpenter, next time it will be confiscated and a detention will be given." Madam Pierre screeched, and I quickly put it back in my pocket, not bothering to look at the text from Edward.
I looked at Jack, who had been peering curiously at he text.
"How do you know Edward?" he asked, his voice like satin.
"It's probably not the same Edward you're thinking of" I shrugged, "He's my boyfriend, from back in England"
"Oh right. I'm sorry, I just realised I haven't introduced myself. I'm Jack Harvey Cullen" he held out his hand. I found it weird he introduced using his middle name aswell.
"Well, I'm Jade Elizabeth Alice Carpenter" I took his hand. It was ice cold, but I didn't pull back.
"Interesting middle names" he mused.
"Yeah, apparently Elizabeth's an old family name and Alice is someone my mum used to be good friends with" I shrugged an began to get on with my work, not noticing the confused look on Jack's face as he tried to work something out.
*
It was pouring down with rain by the time the bell went signalling the end of the day. I pulled up my hood and stood at the gates, waiting for Angela. She had said she wouldn't be late, as the kids school's ended half an hour before mine did, so she would be able to come straight here. But as ten minutes turned to twenty, I began to wonder where she was, and if everything was alright. Looking back at the parking lot, almost every car had gone, except a shiny black convertible, with the hood up. Wondering who this lush car belonged to, I stared at it until I saw Jack Cullen walk over and get into it. I quickly looked away, not wanting him to think I was staring, when even from here I could see his beauty.
Not expecting any acknowledgement from him, I was astounded when the car stopped next to me and the window rolled down.
"Do you want a life Jade? The weathers' getting pretty bad?" I deliberated what to do. What if I missed Angela? A clap of thunder made up my mind, and I climbed into the passenger seat.
He immediately turned up the heaters and down the CD player volume. He had a strange taste in music, like stuff from the 1940's, but I liked it.
"Why were you standing there getting soaked?" Jack asked, and I looked across at him. Even in this weather his hair was flawless.
"Oh, I was waiting for my Auntie Angela to pick me up, but she must have forgot. I would have walked, you didn't have to offer" I fiddled with the hem of my skirt.
"It's no trouble, honestly. Where do you want me to take you?" he was so nice and kind. I couldn't believe I had met someone this charming on my first day. I was expecting to be Billy No Mates and yet here I was, sat with Jack Cullen, not to mention Carly and all her friends who had given me their numbers.
"Just continue on this road out of Forks, the house is in the woods" he looked at me.
"That's where I'm headed, maybe we live near each other" what a coincidence that would be - a really great coincidence.
When the car stopped, I climbed out and said thank you to Jack.
"No problem Jade. If you need a lift in the morning, call me." he handed me a small piece of folded paper with his number on. My heart almost stopped.
"O-okay, thanks!" I stuttered, waving as he drove off.
*
When I entered the house, I heard raised voices coming from the study. Uncle Ben and Auntie Angela.
"You need to call Bella" Ben was saying.
" I can't I've told you, Bella doesn't know that jade and Lucy are here! And could she really cope with this news now?" Angela protested.
"But they're back! It was all over town today! What if they recognise Jade and use her to try and get in contact with Bella?"
"I don't know. But they can't meet Jade! I won't let that happen - they will mess up her life, just like they did Bella's! Do you remember that depression she was in after they left! It took months for her to accept her pregnancy and months after that for her to come out of the state she was in!" Angela's voice was becoming higher, "If Bella or Steve knew they were here, they'd have Jade and Lucy back home as fats as they could!"
"I know, but they just got here! Let them have some time to get over everything that happened with Bella, Ange, please. I know you're only looking out for them, but they need a break, they can't be passed from pillar to post" Ben sympathized.
"I know, I know"
I chose this time to walk in and act like I had just arrived.
"Jade!" Angela checked her watch, "Oh God, I' so sorry! I got sidetracked. How did you get home - you didn't walk?"
"No, I got a life off a friend"
"You made friends?" Angela gasped, "Come on, we'll have a coffee and you can tell me all about it before you go to work" Shit! I'd forgotten about work starting tonight. Oh well, looked like I'd be up late doing homework. There's a first - me actually doing homework!
JACK POV
I walked into the house and walked over to the living room, where I could hear Edward playing on the piano.
"Have a good day?" he asked without looking up.
I sat next to him, and immediately he stiffened.
"yeah it was ok, met the new girl - what?" Edward had stopped still, looking like an ice sculpture.
"You smell like…Who have you been around?" he asked immediately, and I could pain in his eyes.
"Just the normal people. But I gave the new girl a lift home" I said warily.
"What was her name. jack what was her name!"
"Whoa, calm down. She's called Jade Elizabeth Alice Carpenter" I recited the full name she had given me, I found it quite amusing.
"And she's your age?" his mind was working double fast, even for a vampire.
"Technically I'm over fifty years old -"
"You know what I mean!" he growled.
"Sorry. No, she's in the year below me, I just share French with her. Because Carlisle and Esme decided I would blend in more if I pretended to fail a subject, so I chose French and they moved me down a grade for that class. I sit next to her" why was all this relevant?
"What did she look like?" he pressed.
"Erm…"
"Did she look like this?" he took a photo out his pocket and shoved it into my hands. It was a photo of a young girl with mahogany hair and a heart shaped face - his Bella presumably. But Jade looked almost like her.
"A bit, but she has green eyes and short hair to just above her shoulders with a bit of bronze colouring in it, and her face is thinner - why, Edward?" why was Jade so important.
"It could be the same girl Rose and Emmet bumped into in Wal Mart. It sounds like her, smells like her and if she's 15 like what Rose said - well, we left almost 16 years ago"
"What are you getting at?" I sighed.
"It looks like Bella moved on a lot faster than I would have thought" his face broke with the pain that was always shown so clearly behind his eyes.
A/N - please review, and thanks for reading! X