Chapter Two

Willow's POV

Monday morning comes much too fast for my liking. I wake up early, something I hate to do, to make sure I can get myself-and Bella-ready for school. I pull back the curtains, and am surprised to see white flakes of snow drifting down. It's March tenth. In Arizona, it would be around sixty or seventy today. You could wear shorts there, while today I dress myself in jeans and a sweater. Because I was the early riser, I get to the one small bathroom first, where Bella has already laid out her arsenal of hair and makeup products, shoving most of Charlie's stuff to the side. Again, I feel a stab of pity for him.

I pull my hair back into a long braid and put my glasses on, studying my reflection. I don't look as awful as I used to before I got my braces off. Then, I was four-eyes and train-tracks, and those were just the names Bella called me. There comes an angry knock on the door, and a muffled shout of 'Get out of there, dweeb!' in Bella's voice, and I sigh and open the door, letting her in. I stifle laughter at her mussed up hair and face that is void of makeup. For once, I look slightly better than she does.

She comes down twenty minutes later, though, hair perfectly styled and makeup on. I'm about halfway through frying two eggs for us. We eat quickly, and then walk outside. Much to our surprise, there is a rusting pickup truck sitting outside with a note pinned to the windshield. Bella grabs it and laughs, but it's more of a scoff. She passes the note to me.

'I know it's way late, but Happy Birthday, I guess. You can share the truck. Billy doesn't need it anymore'. The note was in Charlie's handwriting. "That was nice of him," I say, but Bella is still looking at the vehicle as though it's some sort of monster.

"You can have it," she says, but still climbs into the passenger seat. I find the keys in the ignition, and after two tries, the engine finally catches and rumbles to life. Bella looks nervous, mostly because the seat doesn't have a seatbelt. I laugh at her, and she shoots me a dirty look. I carefully back out of the driveway and head for the school, the consistent rain lashing at the windshield.

I pull into the parking lot, expecting to have the oldest and rustiest car there, but there are some that are in a worse or similar condition and age as the truck. As soon as I park, Bella jumps out, wiping her designer jeans off. "I'm walking home," I hear her mutter as she pulls her backpack out behind her.

I laugh again, happy that she at least let me have something for once, even if it is a rusty old truck. We walk quickly through the rain to a building marked 'Office'. We get our schedules, which are pretty much identical, except that we have Biology at different times. She has hers first thing in the morning and I have mine after lunch.

We part ways, and I go off to Calculus while she goes to Biology. She won't miss me, and I suppose I won't miss her. I sit in the back of each classroom and get the occasional glance, because it's a small town, and they don't get a lot of new kids. I don't recognize any of them from the hazy memories of my childhood, so I opt not to speak to any of them.

When the bell rings for lunch, I walk into the cafeteria, not very hungry, my eyes looking for Bella. I see her surrounded by some kids, laughing animatedly just like she always does. I suck in a deep breath and walk over to the table. "Hi, Bella," I say, sitting down next to her. She gives me a look, but it's not like I have anywhere else to sit. Everyone else turns to look at me. There are two or three girls and one boy with blonde hair about the same color as mine.

"Guys, this is my twin sister, Willow," she says reluctantly.

One of the girls, the one with brown hair pulled back into a very tight-looking ponytail frowns. "Aren't twins supposed to be-you know-identical?" she asks.

"We're fraternal twins," I say.

"What?"

"She means they're twins, but they don't look alike, Jess," says a girl with dark hair and glasses. She turns and smiles at me. "I'm Angela. This is Jessica, and that's Mike," she says, gesturing to the boy, who half-waves at me.

Suddenly, Bella drops the piece of pizza she's holding. "Woah," she says. "Who. Are. They?" I look up, and see four of the most gorgeous people I've ever seen. There are two girls and two boys, one of the girls is short and dark-haired, and is standing elbow-to-elbow with a blonde boy, and walking behind them, a big-broad shouldered boy with curly hair and next to him a blonde girl that could be on the cover of one the magazines that Bella orders all the time, only about ten times more beautiful. Then the fifth one, another boy, comes in after them, and I'm pretty sure my heart actually stops beating. He has reddish-brown hair and darker eyes, and I almost faint just looking at him.

Jessica's voice breaks through my trance. "Oh. Yeah, those are the Cullens. They're all, like, adopted or something, and four of them are, like, 'together' or something. The fifth one, that boy with the bronzeish hair, that's Edward. He's gorgeous, obviously, but he won't go out with any of the girls here, so no one even tries anymore," she says, and that gets my sister's attention.

"Well, he's never met me," she says, and gazes at him with this look of utter lust.

I turn to Angela. "He's never met me, either," I mutter under my breath, and she laughs.

"Doesn't matter, he won't go out with either of you. No offense," she says.

"None taken," I say. At least Angela seems nice. Jessica scares me a bit, if I'm being completely honest. I glance back at Edward, and he looks up. For just one moment, his dark eyes lock with mine, and he looks bewildered. I stare back, frowning. Then he drops his gaze, and Bella elbows me.

"Hey, he's mine," she whines, and gets up to throw her food away, angling her body towards their table, but he's not even looking at her.

The bell rings, and I walk to Biology. The first thing I notice when I walk into the classroom-after getting lost and only making it just as the bell rings-is that the only seat left is right next to Edward Cullen. He looks mildly surprised to see me there, but when I take my seat, he gives me the angriest look I've ever gotten from someone, even Bella, and turns away. I sigh, not exactly sure what I could have done already that would make him so angry with me. Maybe Bella did get to talk to him after all.

We're given some lab that I already did back in Phoenix, and we complete it in utter silence, which puzzles me. He's making an actual physical effort to not look at me, not speak to me; I'm pretty sure he's not even breathing. It makes me want to ask him what his deal is, but I hate confrontation. The class ends, the bell rings, and he walks out so fast it's a little suspicious. I don't see any more of Edward Cullen for the rest of the day.

I wait by the truck later for Bella, thinking about him. That's when I happen to see him across the parking lot getting into a car with his siblings, and he turns around just as a wind plays with my hair. It's a cold wind, but not as cold as the look he gives me. It's almost inhuman, that look.

"Geez, what did you do to Cullen?" asks Bella, walking up to me, and glancing in his direction.

"Nothing, that's the problem," I say. "I sat down next to him-"

"You sat with him?" she asks, and I hear the touch of possessive anger in her voice.

"In Bio, yeah," I say, starting up the truck. "Anyways, I sat with him, and he just gave me this look of pure anger and refused to look at me or talk to me, so I guess he's all yours," I say wistfully.

"Sorry, Willow, but boys just don't like you," she says. "But I bet you'll find yourself your own weirdo some day," she says.

I just roll my eyes and drive us home. Bella's grin never leaves her face.