Karma's A Witch

'I don't give a flying broomstick!'

Chapter Nine

6:50am, Thursday

September 18th

"So, why don't we drive?" I asked, standing at the end of our driveway. Yes, ours, as in, this is my home now. Since I turned down Charlie and had a mother-daughter moment with Esme I accepted this family as mine but that isn't exactly what sealed the deal. After we rescheduled training since Carlisle had been busy in the lab, we had a family game night. We played cards and marbles, Alice and I vs. Emmett and Rose. We won, but mostly because Emmett and Rose couldn't seem to work together. It just goes to show you, being bound doesn't come with happy emotions; you have to work on that. They were stuck together, so they should probably start sooner rather than later. Regardless, I had a great time just relaxing with my new coven and family.

"It's all a part of the experience." Alice says, excited all over. "We also tell everyone that our parents are strict. It helps when we're invited places, we just say 'I'll ask my mom and dad, but you know how they are.' So people think our parents don't let us use their cars. But mostly because the bus is fun." Rose snorts at her explanation.

"Like we're ever invited anywhere. We're the 'weird' kids." Her constant sneer probably doesn't help her in the friend department. She had been okay to be around last night during the games. It seemed when she wasn't being mean was her version of nice. That 'nice' time was obviously over.

"I'm invited sometimes!" Alice exclaims before looking away, nervous about standing up to Rose or doubting herself. She shouldn't do either.

"Then why do you always sit with us at lunch? You know where you sit defines your status to them." What was going on? Humans have statuses? I've seen movies about high school and knew there were cliques but, well we weren't Goths or kids that did weird things outside of the house. How were Alice, Emmett and Rose the weird kids?

"I sat with Jessica and Eric before you even started coming to school here! I could sit with them again but choose you and Emmett. Why do you have to be so mean?" Rose flushed before looking away and glaring into the woods. Emmett sighed and gave Alice an apologetic smile.

"I'm glad you switched tables, and now, we'll have Bella. I say we're the cool table." Emmett grinned then, dimples showing. Alice nodded, smiling at me too. Whatever they were talking about, I didn't get why it mattered to them.

The bus came into view down the road and my stomach turned. I had a canvas single strap side bag. Esme had some extra notebooks and folders for me, Alice gave me some mechanical pencils and all my completed assignments were all tucked in my bag. I was good to go. I'd finished the last of my assignments while trying not to think about what was taking Carlisle so long with my results.

The bus stopped in front of us while everyone lined up and I followed Alice as we walked to and on the bus through the tiny doors that popped open. Esme had looked sad to see me go. She'd managed a smile but I don't think she was kidding when she told me yesterday how lonely she would be without me at the house. Alice's energy infected me though, and I was more excited than nervous.

The seats were a dark green with permanent marker written in places and holes dug into the plastic showing the off colored yellow stuffing. Alice motioned me along; the other kids on the bus were younger than us, and looking with wide eyes at me. I followed Alice to the seat she found in the back, making note of the emergency escape routes, just in case. Emmett and Rose sat across from us in the aisle. We didn't have safety belts, what the hell was up with that? Buses are not safe.

"Don't get your hopes up," Rose said, also seated in the aisle seat so I couldn't pretend I didn't hear her. "You're new meat; people will be swarming you, wanting to know your story. This is a small town, if you're new, you are suspect. They'll even pretend to like you." Her smile made her face light up, but it was a dark smile. She was happy with my discomfort.

"Although Rose said it cruelly, yeah... small towns are all about gossip, so get your story straight. Rose and Emmett are foster kids, and I'm your cousin." She smiled. "I'll be with you for most of your classes so don't worry too much."

Our bus bumped along and when we went over a set of rail road tracks too fast everyone on the bus yelled 'jump it'. Alice giggled but it took me by surprise. So the human kids liked when the bus driver made the bus rock and jump? Huh. Riding the bus is an experience.

"We have five out of eight classes together." Alice mused having opened my bag and pulled out my schedule without having asked me. "But the ones we don't have together are still the same classes. That means we'll get to study together!"

"Does she have cooking with us?" Emmett asked from across the way. Alice beamed at him; her bright smile looking past me. "Then our group just got more awesome. Mrs Buttplug can finally stop trying to get us to separate and join another group. Three is closer to the required four per group."

Mrs Buttplug? I blushed. That couldn't be her actual name, right? I would have mine changed if that was the case.

"Her name is Mrs Bluplu, but she does act like a total butt plug." Alice shrugged, "She takes the rules way too seriously."

"She acts like her class is the most important thing anyone could ever learn." Emmett rolled his eyes. "And, she makes me wear an apron. They don't even fit me!"

Emmett was overly big. His legs were pressing into the seat in front of him. When I helped Esme with laundry the other day, she filled me in that he had to go to a specialty store called 'big and tall'. Poor Emmett, being a bear had to be tough.

The bus picked up a couple more kids, jumped a couple more bumps and finally pulled into the school's parking lot. Alice tucked my schedule away again, and closed my bag.

"I'll go to the front office with you, and point out your classrooms as best I can so you aren't lost without me." I nodded at Alice, nervous all of a sudden. There were so many humans. Would they know I wasn't one of them? Would I never have a place I truly fit? Were we the weird ones because the humans had some internal alert system they weren't fully aware of that warned them away?

We were different, but the four of us were different together.

Alice brushed off the front of her outfit. She modeled for me until, after I told her a million times to just pick one she liked, she 'settled' for this. Her bright green colored jeans were skin tight, she had on ballet flats, and a green and black zebra stripped shirt that said 'Everyday I'm Shufflin'". She called it her 'party rock' look.

Me, well I wore what I usually did. Knee high socks, shorts and a t-shirt. It wasn't ever warm here, but it didn't feel cold enough to wear tights underneath my socks or to dig out a pair of my fingerless elbow-length gloves.

I had started a list of things I needed from the mall, I would have to put down a coat for the snow. I already had a few things on the list, one of the items being a wallet. Now that I had identification, I needed a place to put it. Plus, Esme gave us all lunch money. I had to put mine in my shorts pocket, even though I didn't eat anymore. We hadn't told Emmett and Rose anything because Carlisle wasn't done. Alice told her mother she 'saw' it, even though she hadn't.

Everyone stood when the bus came to a stop so I followed suit, playing the sheep. Alice buzzed beside me. I could feel her constantly moving behind me. After Emmett and Rose filed out, I followed their example, and Alice followed me. Both of them wished me luck, even Rose, surprisingly.

Rose looked stunning of course. Her skin was alabaster, her hair long and shiny. She had the biggest light eyes. She wore tights tighter than Alice's jeans, and a v neck shirt with sequins that glittered in the sun almost as pretty as her hair. Emmett was all dark. He had a black shirt with gray thin strips going horizontal across it, his jeans were faded with worn hole spots that had to be intentional. They looked good together.

My chest twinged, I brought my hand up to rub the spot, trying to work out the sudden muscle pain. Was this from nerves? After a moment the pain passed and I waved at Rose and Emmett as they went off together to the 'senior wing'. That's what Alice called it; there were four hallways of lockers so everyone divided them up by grade.

The building was a tall rectangle, so if your class room number was 100-something, it was on the first floor, 200-something on the second floor and so on. Humans are so well organized. Alice and I went to the main office which was to the right when you first walked into the school from the front doors.

"Hi Mrs. Cope!" Of course Alice starts yapping away to the lady. She smiles brightly at the both of us as I'm introduced as her cousin Bella. I flush, having Alice claim me in front of someone I didn't know made me cherish her all the more. Angela was the only one who did that, she always called me her foster sister though. Mrs Weber only did it when it had been absolutely necessary and even then I was usually just 'Bella'. I couldn't take offense because her own daughter was usually just 'Angela' too.

"It's nice to meet you and welcome to Forks High school! I know you just came from home school so if you need a tutor, please let me know." She winked at me, smiled at Alice and handed me a piece of paper with lines on it. "Please have your teachers sign this and return it to me at the end of the school day. Good luck!"

Mrs Cope left no room for questions as she turned her whole body to face her computer. Alice frowned but shook it off and guided me to my locker. Apparently being a late add-on made you the last locker and they ordered them alphabetically. Alice was a Cullen so we weren't even close.

Everyone was staring at me. I tried my best not to make eye contact but there are just so many students and no one was remotely attempting to hide their stares. Alice seemed oblivious or was used to it. I faced my locker to felt semi protected from all the hushed whispers around me. I pulled out the slip of paper with my combination.

Alice chattered about my teachers, tried to give me a little background on anyone I should stay away from and when I failed twice on getting my locker open, Alice did it for me. "You'll get used to it. Every day is different and humans are so much fun! They always have something new to tell you and it's always dramatic."

Her brown eyes sparkled. My locker was empty and only one hook was still attached to the side of its walls. The other two were missing completely. I didn't have anything to put inside so closed it and attempted again to get the combination right. I failed so motioned for Alice to show me her locker.

Alice was going in depth about a particular teacher I shouldn't answer any questions for when a familiar voice called my name. We both turned simultaneously and Ben Cheney came up to us, completely at ease. All his time around Angela and I must have worn down his internal warning system.

"I heard the rumors but I didn't believe them until now. I always thought it was odd both you and Angela called your parents Mr and Mrs Weber." He shrugged like it was no big deal and gave me an apologetic smile like he wasn't sure if he upset me or not.

"Yeah. It's a bit of a miracle that this late in my life the social system found a living family member who was willing to take me in. Small world, right?" I blushed. Hopefully Angela hadn't told him about my inability to lie.

"It really is. Too bad Angela couldn't come with you; I'd have liked to go to school with her." His shy smile spread and I couldn't help but smile back. He was such a sweet guy. Hopefully Mr and Mrs Weber would still let Angela volunteer since I wouldn't be there anymore. He walked with us over to Alice's locker and we compared schedules. We had biology together.

"I have a lab partner already but hopefully since everyone is paired Mr Banner will let all three of us be a group." When the first bell rang he said goodbye to both Alice and I. He even gave me a half hug and told me 'if anyone bothers you, let me know'. I wished I had a way to contact Angela; she'd have loved to 'awwww' at this moment. She always got a faraway look whenever we talked about Ben.

"You already have more friends than Rose," Alice whispered conspiratorially at me. We had our first two classes together so we were going toward our English room while we both laughed. It made me feel a bit better knowing we were all in this together. Everyone was still staring. Maybe it was Alice's outrageously colored 'party rock' outfit, but I knew that wasn't the truth. I blushed just thinking about the lie I told myself.

The classroom was half full when we both walked in. The chatter died down noticeably but Alice and I both ignored it as we approached the teacher. She was a frumpy lady, her big butt covered in pink fabric that tried to squish her chunky legs into shape. When she turned to look at us, the buttons on her blouse weren't lined up correctly.

"Oh, you must be our new student." I nodded and handed her over the piece of paper she had to sign. While she wrote her name I searched through my bag for all my completed English assignments. As she handed me my paper, I handed her mine. She seemed surprised her little mouth forming an 'o' between her round cheeks. "Well, aren't you proactive?"

The name signed on my sheet said Ms Barker. I turned toward the students and Alice took the lead walking down the center of the classroom with her chin up. Why couldn't she be like this around Rose? Alice nudged me when we were both seated in the back of the class room. Our desks were next to one another.

"You didn't say a word to her. That takes talent." Alice grinned at me, obviously teasing me.

"Says the girl who tries to say every word." I grin back just as teasingly, we giggle again and the second bell rings. The class goes quiet so I follow the lead and turn toward Ms Barker. She starts passing out a book, some kids who already got their books in the front groan. I look at Alice alarmed.

"Humans are all about drama, remember?" She whispered and the boy in front of me turned and gave Alice a weird look. Right, she just called them humans like she wasn't one. Alice raised her right hand and separated her middle in ring finger and said 'live long and prosper.'

"Trekky!" I hissed, pointing to myself. Alice's eyes widened before giving me a wide grin. "I stopped after 'The Next Generation'. Have you seen the new movie though?" Her little head bounced so fast confirming that she had witnessed the awesomeness of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto.

"I'm glad you didn't continue, the next-"

Ms Barker ah-em'd at us. Putting a book down on both of our desks. "I see this isn't going to work with the two of you seated so close. Samantha, come trade seats with Ms. Swan." My eyes widened. So no talking was a rule? How was I supposed to know, I didn't even get a warning!

"Ms Barker this is the first time Bella has ever gone to public school." Alice explained for me. "I was just trying to make her more comfortable and I hadn't told her that no talking is your number one rule."

The teachers' big cheeks puffed out even more. She nodded and told Samantha to disregard. The girl had her things ready but she sat back down at the front of the classroom. I would have hated sitting there. When Ms. Barkers back was turned, I mouthed 'thank you' to Alice. Is there a human rule book? I needed to order one stat.

The book laid sideways across my desk had a generic cover, but I recognized it as Romeo and Juliet. Seriously? A love story about two people who can't be together over their family names seemed petty compared to me and my vampires story. Not that our story could ever be a love story. My face heated just thinking about having kissed a vampire.

Alice and I had study period next so she took the lead and chattered away about Ms. Barker being a bitch. "Seriously she must have known you've never been in class before! I don't have an excuse, being quiet isn't in my genetic makeup. I blame my dad's side of the family, have you got him talking about the moral implications of having a selective 'royal dictatorship'? Yeah, I inherited his ability to fill in every space with what feels like important speech."

Royal Dictatorship? Oh, like the Volturi? We'd barely touched on the topic; it seemed almost taboo to mention them around Esme and Carlisle. The both of them even told me that they might come for me, or they said it while I was in their presence, I don't think it was directly said to me. So Carlisle must have some pretty strong feelings about the Volturi and I didn't pick up on any positive vibes.

Not that I liked them, they did enslave shifters after all.

In study hall, which was just the library, everyone was quiet. The teacher signed my new student sheet as Alice and I signed into study hall. We walked away as Alice explained in a whisper that the librarian wrote people up constantly for being too loud. Since we were inside the library and the tight-bun lady was staring over at me, I was too afraid to ask what being 'written up' meant. By tight bun, I mean her hair. My blush flared up again because I had to check if she did have tight buns, and she didn't. What was up with the lady suits? Is there a dress code for teachers that stated 'dress like an old lady from The Golden Girls'?

Once seated at a table, most of the computers having been taken up, Alice passed me a note. We were surrounded by other students who probably also had study hall. Some were whispering quietly, others were looking through the book shelves on either side of the tables in the middle. The whole room smelled faintly like old, moldy books. Or the carpet had gotten wet and there was mold there.

I unfolded the piece of paper Alice passed me. 'Did you just check out Mrs. Simpson's behind?' My eyes widened. I couldn't help it, I mentally said 'tight-bun'. I couldn't exactly say that in a note though, so gave Alice a little glare before writing back.

'Do all teachers have a dress code? Ms. Barker and now Mrs. Simpson both have the knee length skirt suits going on. At least her buttons are straight.' That had to explain my wandering eye, right? Its not like I enjoyed the view! Alice muffled her laugh to sound like a cough and tucked the note away since she had gotten Mrs. Simpson's attention.

Since I'd finished all my assignments before today I cracked open my new copy of Romeo and Juliet ready to laugh at their insignificant problems in their relationship to pass the time. Try being soul cleaved to a vampire, Juliet. Romeo was a sleaze though; he loved Rosaline before Juliet and just hopped on the Juliet bandwagon when she was old enough.

Sigh. Hopefully my vampire and my story didn't have similar endings.

Alice and I had to go our separate ways after study hall. My nerves jolted, I had a feeling people were only leaving me alone because there were two of us. When it was just me, the humans would swarm. Alice showed me my class room and gave me a half hug trying to hurry to her own class room.

"You'll do wonderful," Alice yelled at me from down the hall. She was so sweet to inconvenience herself for me. Hopefully she wasn't late for her class. We had Cooking together after my History and her Gym class, so she'd shown me where that classroom was on the way here. Emmett would be with us and I knew that class would be the best one. All the student in the hall simultaneously turned to look at me. It was like a horror film where all the zombies you were trying to fool realized you aren't infected. I rushed into my classroom and went right up to the teacher's desk.

"I'm Mr. Vanderhorst," the history teacher said, looking me over with his squinted eyes behind rounded glasses. He looked young, like maybe in his late thirties and his smile didn't show an ounce of unease. Maybe it was just my imagination that humans had an internal radar warning them away. Perhaps Alice was simply strange enough, Emmett big enough and Rose mean enough for everyone to keep their distance. "Hopefully you are enjoying Forks so far. I've heard a bit about you."

Mr. Vanderhorst is the first teacher that actually wanted to talk to me. I told him to call me Bella and that I liked the sun barely shined around here. Was that something humans didn't enjoy? Well it made me feel better knowing my vampire couldn't burst into flames if he came for me. The teacher laughed at me, gave me a quizzical look and told me that I should sit in the third row in the only empty chair remaining.

Class hadn't started yet so when I took my seat a blond boy turned to me with his hand extended. He had a buzz cut and a pimple right beside his straight nose. The jersey he had on was dark blue with white lettering that said 'Spartans' across the front. He must be a football player.

"I'm Mike." He said as I realized I needed to shake his hand in greeting. "So you're new?"

I nodded, a little nervous that this was the first human I was meeting. Ben didn't count since I knew him already. The girl on the other side of me announced herself and I turned to look at her. "I'm Lauren."

She smiled at me, so I smiled back. Lauren was a pretty girl, her lips were extremely pink though, and it matched her over done eye shadow. She didn't have any blemishes that I could see but Alice told me that makeup can do wonders. "Mr. Vanderhorst is nice, but if you raise your hand he'd keep asking you more in depth questions to really get you thinking about the topic. Be prepared because he calls on us randomly too."

"Thanks," I told her genuinely glad that she gave me a heads up. Humans weren't so bad and my smile grew. That is I was smiling until Mike, my other new friend, poked me in the arm and I flinched, surprised at the contact.

"If you want me to show you around, I'm available," Mike told me, apparently not liking that I wasn't paying attention to him. He completely ignored the fact that I flinched away from him and the way he said 'available' made my eyebrow arch on its own accord. Along with a human rule book I needed a human dictionary because I'm pretty sure available in this context meant something I wasn't understanding. Lauren confirmed my suspicions.

"What about Jessica?" Lauren asked, leaning over her desk to look past me and at Mike. "You aren't 'available' Mike, you are 'taken'. I know you don't understand these big words so say it with me. 'un-a-vail-able'." She said it slowly to him, emphasizing each syllable. Mike fumed, his face turning red and he turned away from the two of us.

"Football jocks." Lauren shrugged at me with a smile like I should know just what she was talking about. "I told Jessica it wasn't a good idea to start dating him..." I didn't know what to do, do I smile and laugh with her? But what about Mike, he seemed like he was just being nice? Wouldn't that hurt his feelings? Mr. Vanderhorst saved the day after the bell rang. I liked him already even if he didn't know what he was interrupting.

Lauren walked with me out of class and I showed her my schedule for this semester. She smiled when she told me we had Gym together, then laughed. "You'll see Jessica and Mike in action then. There are no words to describe their relationship."

We went our separate ways. Lauren hadn't asked me about where I came from or anything. I liked her; she didn't seem uneasy around me either. Maybe I was just different, since I was no threat; I wasn't activating the human danger radar. Even walking alone down the halls didn't seem daunting. People were even giving me shy smiles and little waves in almost greeting. This wouldn't be so bad, maybe.

Emmett and Alice were already in the cooking room when I came in. There were mini kitchens with tables in the center of them. Alice and Emmett's faces lit up when they saw me coming. Emmett even waved me exaggerating the gesture like I hadn't noticed them and might miss where I should go. With Alice's new outfit and Emmett's massive frame there wasn't any way I could miss their table.

I plopped my bag down beside a chair and filled them in on my last class. Alice giggled while Emmett's nose crinkled. Alice took the lead and started to explain what happened while Emmett rolled his eyes.

"That's called 'flirting' Bella, and I'm glad Lauren interrupted him, you're too nice. You'd have probably said yes and had Jessica as an enemy for the next two years. We'll have to go over some slang and stuff. Just, don't accept any requests for anything. Remember our parents are strict." Alice winked.

"And..." Emmett said, "Lauren is a lesbian so don't get too cozy with her." I hadn't seen that one coming.

"She is not!" Alice said, punching Emmett in the arm. "That's a rumor! Don't believe everything you hear! Seriously Bella, people make stuff up all the time so don't listen to them." Emmett nodded his head at me when Alice looked away like Lauren was a lesbian but didn't want to say more since it upset Alice. She caught on though and Emmett received another slug but this time to his side. He acted like he didn't even feel them, and honestly he probably didn't since he is a bear. Or, being around Rose all the time made him hardly notice when things unexpectedly hit him. Human life does seem a lot like the movies though. Good thing Angela and I practically worshiped Life-time then. I had some experience under my belt.

The bell rang and I was quickly learning to respond to bells. Pavlov's dogs anyone? I sat down and turned toward the front of the room. I pulled out my signature sheet to have the teacher sign so I wouldn't forget about it. Mrs. Bluplu started passing out a single sheet a paper to each table, when she got to ours, which happened to be last, she paused.

"Everyone get started," She announced so the students started buzzing around to the table of ingredients at the center of the room and grabbing aprons. "I'm Mrs. Bluplu and I hope you take this class seriously." Her narrowed eyes focused on Alice and Emmett who both acted like she was smiling, giving her big grins back to her nasty expression.

She had short choppy reddish hair, a long arched nose and high cheek bones. Her loopy writing appeared on my sign in sheet after she put the last piece of paper on our table. It was a recipe. She walked back to her desk in the tight skirt all female teachers wore and sat down to eye everyone as they worked. My new table received twice as many and twice as long looks compared to all the other tables. I didn't recognize anyone else in cooking except Samantha who I had almost traded seats with this morning but hadn't met.

"I'll get the aprons," Emmett announced getting out of his seat and dipping down so his mouth was right next to my ear. "A total butt-plug, right?" I blushed furiously and Alice rolled her eyes while Emmett walked to the cabinet across the room.

"We'll get the ingredients. The bowls are in cupboard number three." Our little kitchen was labeled with numbers all around. Apparently we were kitchen number eight, and all our kitchen items were blue. Alice and I went to the ingredients table together. She listed off what we needed and I collected it and measured it. By the end of class, I could see the teachers point. The three of us did more laughing than any other group, but we did finish our assignment and our crepes turned out delicious. Our group still got a B on the assignment even though I followed all the steps and filled out the back of the sheet for the three of us.

"Say it." Emmett urged after the big red B appeared across the top of the recipe she had given us. She hadn't even read what I wrote for any of our answers.

"She is a bit of a butt-plug," I said, looking away as Emmett's huge guffaw filled the room. Everyone stopped to stare at our table. My blush got worse with his reaction. The bell rang and he was still cracking up. Alice and I had art next. I was glad to be leaving Emmett behind in the hallway.

Alice chatted away about how great it is I liked school so far. Mrs. Jones signed my sheet and filled me in on the assignments I needed to do in the drawing book she gave me. I gave her my completed assignments a bit nervous about her judging my sloppy pictures but she assured me it was 'completion' that mattered.

Dinner was next, well it said lunch on my schedule but it was dinner for me and the Cullen's. Lauren waved at me and Ben came up to me in line while I followed Alice without buying anything.

"The pizza is alright," Ben told me, like I wasn't eating because it looked bad.

"Just nervous, I don't feel hungry." It was as close to not lying as I could get. He asked how school was going for me and I told him I did enjoy it. He left me to sit with his friends, told me to tell Angela he missed her and I didn't have the heart to tell him she wouldn't get the message. I followed Alice and her delicious smelling pizza, lunch-less. Rose and Emmett were already there.

"I don't give a flying broomstick!" Rose hissed her blue eyes dark with anger. I wasn't alarmed anymore when she got this pissed. It seemed this was her normal emotional state.

"You need to calm down; we cannot have an accident in here. There are too many people." Emmett's hands were up in surrender as he tried to defuse the situation. "I said I was sorry, I do mean it. I just... It came out wrong; it's not what I meant."

The table grew silent. Alice and I wouldn't hear more of this particular argument. They ate in silence while I wondered about Carlisle's lab results. Hopefully he'd be done by the time I got home from school today. I was more nervous waiting around, I'd rather just know one way or another if I was dying or becoming a vampire. Which did I prefer? At this point, who in the hell knows.

Biology was next and after the first bell Ben offered to show me where our classroom is. I knew Ben so ignored Alice and Rose's pointed look and accepted his offer. This wasn't being 'walked to class' it was Ben helping me out. He wasn't interested in me, he loved Angela. He was the closest thing I had to ever seeing her again.

Mr. Banner signed my sheet and he assigned me to the empty lab table. Ben was right, everyone was already paired up and I hoped he meant it when he said we could be a group of three. It was a movie day though, so I guess I'd find out another time how lab partners would be divided. Mike found out I had gym next from Ben. They were lab partners so right after the movie ended and Mr. Banner said we could talk he tapped my shoulder from behind. The two of them had the table behind me.

"I'll walk you to gym," Mike said, his smile wide and surprisingly open. "Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean it the way it came out." This reminded me of Emmett and Rose's argument. Miscommunication all around. I'd try to make sure my vampire and I didn't have anything like that between us. I was all for hearing him out, as long as he heard me out too.

"Okay, but as friends." I clarified and Ben nodded at me like I did the right thing. Mike's shoulders dropped in apparent disappointment. He just said he didn't mean it when he said he was available and now he was disappointed I agreed but as friends? "You know, maybe you shouldn't walk me."

Alice and Emmett warned me away from accepting anything from anyone. The room number was on the schedule, it couldn't be too hard to find. Mike disagreed though.

"No, I'll walk you as friends." So when the bell rang I followed Mike as he guided me down the stairs and to the gym auditorium. Lauren was already in the gym so I waved at her, told Mike thanks and walked over to her.

"He still got to you, huh?" Lauren asked, looking over at Mike's retreating form as he apparently went to the boy's locker room. "Just be careful. I'll show you where Mrs. Carr's office is. She'll assign you gym clothes and sign your sheet." Apparently Forks had an overabundance of female teachers.

Mrs. Carr was in uniform, but the gym uniform. She gave me my own and told me to check my 'number' before I put my clothes. The staff washed them but sometimes the uniforms didn't go in the same locker they came out of. It was dark blue with white lettering just like the Jersey Mike had on. That must be our school colors. Mrs. Carr signed the sheet and sent us on our way. For being the gym teacher, she looked more like a yoga instructor, incense even burned in her office. I warned her that I wasn't good at sports, she told me to do the best I could.

By the end of the class period I'd stepped on Lauren's feet, hit a kid named Eric with a racket (great conversation starter), and scuffed up my knee's pretty badly. Lauren stuck with me though, she laughed and joked with me until we were allowed to change into our 'real' clothes again.

"For a second I thought for sure you were going to kill yourself with that racket." She laughed at me pulling on our own shirts. I liked having her around, she was always smiling. A girl came up to me after I had both my shoes tied and introduced herself.

"I'm Jessica," She said, her hand coming out to greet me. "Mike told me some about you today. I thought I should warn you that Lauren does like to start rumors." She said it right in front of Lauren, humans had a way with putting me in the strangest situations.

"Believing your sleazy boyfriend over me again, Jess?" Lauren asked a sad condescending smile on her face. At least she was always smiling... "When you come to your senses, know your best friend is still waiting for you."

Jessica huffed, apparently not interested in meeting me but actually starting a mini fight with Lauren. Humans were so strange. Lauren apologized and shrugged her shoulder but she didn't seem as carefree as she had a moment ago. We went our separate ways and I ran into Alice in the hallway. I told her what went down between Jessica and Lauren.

"They used to be best friends, Jessica started dating Mike and left Lauren behind. I don't know why Lauren wants her as a best friend again, Jessica can be nasty." She shrugged like there was nothing you could do about it.

The geometry teacher was a man; his name was Mr. Green and he greeted me with a bored expression. I don't even think he said 'welcome.' Alice was excited like usual and led me to a seat beside hers. She went on and on about having a geometry buddy because she didn't understand any math whatsoever. Apparently she needed my help and I wasn't sure if I could help her or not. It didn't seem so bad as class started, I could follow it pretty well and when the class ended the whole class started chatting.

"Schools over," Alice said with a shrug answering my questioning look. So when the final bell rang everyone went a little manic? People huddled around one another as Alice and I tried to get to her locker. We had to catch the bus home and I was actually tired. At least I could still sleep and I was getting back to my normal sleeping hours.

Rose and Emmett were already on the bus when Alice and I navigated our way around all the loud people. No one seemed to notice me anymore; I was just a student at the end of the day. Maybe everyone gossiped enough about me or word had spread where I came from and the excitement of being new was over.

Carlisle was in the living room when we came home so I knew he had finished with my results. Esme asked how my first day was from the kitchen, she sounded genuinely curious and not freaking out about my death so I had to assume the news was good news. I told her about the good things and showed her my gym wound. Rose actually laughed when I told her about hitting the Eric kid with my racket.

My chest hurt and I rubbed it again hoping to get the ache to go away. Was I in pain because I was away from my vampire? I shivered as Esme and Emmett talked about something and everyone laughed at whatever he said. I couldn't understand what they were saying. What was wrong with me? The ache faded after another moment of twitches. Every one's voice came back into focus and I gave Alice a panicked look trying to tell her that I was dying.

Alice, being my damn life saver rounded up Rose and Emmett to go upstairs with her and when it was just the three of us in the kitchen Carlisle asked me to come to the lab with him. My heart raced and I swallowed thickly. Esme refused to meet my eye.

If no news was good news, did that mean news was bad news? Damn vampire.