For heaven's sake! Slow down or you'll kill everyone!" She slapped her brother in the shoulder, and he obediently, though slightly, slowed down
"Since when have you been so worried about them?" He said spitefully. He knew well that was a topic that was not supposed to be discussed.
" You do not appreciate my efforts at all" she muttered and looked out the window
Forks was a small, rainy town with little to no secrets. Perhaps, except for one, about which the girl was soon about to find out.
She liked the rain. Waking up to the sound of intrusive raindrops hitting the windowsill was one of her favourite things. That was one of those days, that is why she was quite happy. She hoped that the day at the new school would go well. She changed school often due to their vampiric lifestyle. They couldn't stay at one place for too long since Augustus did not age.
Augustus hadn't killed a human in nearly two months, during which he had great self-control. In fact, there had not been many instances in which this control was put to the test - and he barely had any trouble controlling himself. But he knew that it was time to finally some animal down. For this reason he was about to leave Forks for a few days just after dropping Hope off for school.
Learning was easy for them. Hope had visited many places and learned many things. She knew Spanish quite well. When she was little, her parents made sure she developed in many areas, and the girl showed a talent for languages almost immediately. Spanish was her favourite subject, along with biology and English, which she was also supposed to have that day. Hope was very shy by nature, which is why she found that day both exciting and stressful. But she was positive for what was coming.
Parking lot was full of students getting ready to start a day. The bell was about to ring in less than five minutes, so she started walking towards the door. Over the weekend, she was invited to take a walk around the school to get to know it better, so she had more or less sense of where her first lesson would be. The Spanish classroom was situated on the first floor. The school looked quite new and modern. It had large windows, and the canteen visible in the right wing was almost completely glazed which allowed students to observe everything that was happening outside the window during the meal. The interior was wooden and the rooms were painted a relaxing emerald colour. The facility was definitely newly renovated. The Spanish classroom was already filled with students who were waiting for the first bell that day. A the desk, there was a small Latino woman who resembled a teacher.
"You must be Hope" she said in a velvety voice, then called someone from the corner of the room "Jessica!"
This Jessica reacted immediately and walked towards them. She was a blonde of medium height with a tanned skin, which suggested that she must have spent her vacation outside of Forks. She wore a stylish skirt and a vest, which was a part of the uniform, and sneakers from a well known company that did not belong to the cheapest ones.
"She's our new student" explained, as it later turned out, Mrs. Reyes. Hope thought hat their cooperation would be one of the nicer ones
" Jessica" - the blonde extended her hand, expecting the girl's embrace.
"Hope" she shook it immediately with a soft smile.
Jessica pulled the girl towards her desk, in which she was sitting alone before. Jessica, although popular, did not have too many real friends. It is true that she was always in the centre of attention, mainly because of her attractiveness, and many boys dreamed of being able to hold her hand during breaks, but none of them intended to pursue that fantasy.
"Will you sit with me at lunch?" Jessica whispered " I will present you to my crew. I think you will like each other"
"I hope so" Hope replied awkwardly.
Indeed, after two hours of Spanish classes and an hour of English, it was time for lunch. Jessica was constantly pulling Hope's hand everywhere, as if they were best friends. It was a big deal for the blonde, because she felt that with attention the new one was getting, she was also getting some. The girl met Mike and Angela, who seemed to be quite nice. Angela especially won the girl's favour thanks to the hug with which she welcomed her. She knew that it was possible to feel safe in her company. Angela seemed brilliant and intelligent.
"You have no idea how much Richardson annoys me" Jessica moaned, pointing discreetly at the boy who was sitting innocently at the other end of the room "He keeps texting me. After all, I've already let him know I'm not interested"
"Oh, the Cullens '' Mike said sheepishly, turning back as soon as he heard the cafeteria door open"
A girl, who looked like an elf, danced through it . She had a round, girlish face framed by jet-black hair. Her eyes sparkled with mischief. She was accompanied by a taller boy who held the door for another couple. This time a blonde girl of incredible beauty entered, she resembled Hollywood actresses. She had wavy blonde hair and honey coloured eyes that immediately caught the eye of half of the boys in the room. Rosalie Cullen was a girl who had even more secret admirers than Jessica, but her heart belonged to the strong Emmett, who had to bow his head to fit in the doorway.
"It's Alice and Jasper" Jessica explained, escorting them to their table with her eyes.
"And that one?" Hope asked, noticing the firth member of the Cullen gang.
The boy's wet, rain-soaked hair fell over his forehead. He was tall, though not as tall as Emmett, but still of impressive height. At least Hope, who was not the tallest, found it impressive. He was wearing an unbuttoned coat that revealed a well-fitting shirt that showed subtle, albeit strong muscles.
"It's Edward" Angela added seeing how Hope looks at him thoughtfully.
"He's the only one of them who's single" moaned Jessica, sighting.
Edward Cullen was incredibly handsome to the majority of the female population. Hope, however, did not pay much attention to him, he seemed to be quite commonplace. She could admit he was objectively attractive, but he didn't seem to be of her liking. She was just nibbling on a croissant when the Cullens sat down at their table. Mike watched them surreptitiously for a moment longer. He hated the attention Edward attracted. He was a male version of Rosalie and all the girls loved him.
Augustus left Hope's bike, which he had brought with him by car earlier, at the parking lot. It was by it that the girl was supposed to return home. Their house was at the far end of the quiet town. The rest of the classes went as Hope expected - without any serious troubles. Now she was ready to go home. It was raining heavily and she knew she had to be particularly cautious while biking. She started off and was about to leave the school's territory.
"Shit!" the driver shouted with anger that made her scared.
She was an attentive and thoughtful cyclist, and knew that the car wasn't around five seconds earlier when she looked back to make sure it was safe to leave the parking lot. He had to drive at dizzying speed to materialize there in one short moment. She decided to ignore the fact that she had almost been the victim of an accident and continued on towards her house. Numerous students watched the event, shocked by the boy's anger, because he usually didn't seem to say a single word. Additionally, Hope was new and her mere presence attracted a lot of attention. She felt very uncomfortable feeling the eyes of dozens of people on her after she was almost run over by the owner of the luxurious car. She looked at the driver. Edward Cullen was sitting behind the wheel, angry like never before. She just sighed.
She managed to get home in the matter of twenty minutes, still a bit out of balance because of the incident. It was supposed to rain for the rest of the day but even if the weather was relatively nice, she was not in the mood to go outside. Instead, she devoted herself to reading "Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris. She loved such climates. She turned page after page, finally having finished the book since there was not much of it left.
" I leave for three days and you've already almost been hit by a car?" said Augustus with concern.
" It was not my fault. He is reportedly known for driving like crazy!"
"You should be more careful"
Hope sighed irritably and hung up on Augustus. She was heating breakfast in the microwave. The honey cereal was perhaps not a very valuable meal, but it was definitely better than nothing and Hope tended to skip breakfast. The second day of school was just beginning, and the first was to be a two-hour history class. Hope's mother, a life-experienced vampire nearly five hundread years old at the time of her death, always told her about the historical events she had lived through. Thanks to this, Hope knew everything about the plague epidemic in Europe or the French revolution. History may not be her favorite subject, but there was no denying it - the girl had a broad understanding of it.
It was raining again. Drops ran down her forehead and glued her black curls together. The coat also got soaked quickly. By the time she got to school, she was completely wet. She spotted Angela's car immediately as she was talking to Eric about a biology vacation assignment. The girl greeted her with a hug again.
"What do you start with on Tuesdays?" Eric asked, walking towards the entrance to the school. The girls followed him right away.
"History" Replied Hope "What is the teacher like?"
" Mr. Walker?" Eric laughed. "He's an okay guy. Only when he gets upset does he start asking too many questions.
"Oh, I understand."
This time the history classroom was on the second floor. Although for the average person climbing there was not a problem, Hope got extremely tired. She was an advanced asthmatic for whom every physical effort was a nightmare. Eric was supposed to have the story with her, but the place next to him was already occupied. The room was decorated with amateur drawings of historical figures such as George Washington and William Shakespeare. The walls were blue for a change, and the benches were more modern than in other rooms. A tall man with kind eyes stood at the desk, elegantly dressed in a suit. Hope thought that he must take his job very seriously.
"Professor Walker?" she shyly asked, "I am Hope Wright. I was supposed to report to you for the book.
"Ah, yes, I've heard" He smiled at her and handed over the book. "Here you are.-Where did you go to high school before?"
" In Paris." Hope replied, grabbing her arm timidly.
"Please, sit behind Alice and Edward," he nodded at them, then went on to go through the papers he had been busy with earlier.
The girl sighed inwardly. Alice looked at her for the first time and Hope thought that she looked even prettier than she had thought before. She obediently sat down behind them, putting her backpack on the desk and taking out a pen and notebook. As soon as she sat down, she noticed that Edward was whispering something to his sister and glancing at Hope out of the corner of his eye. Hope blushed with humiliatingly. She thought he must be informing her about the incident of the previous day and telling her how much of a wimp she was. "Great" - it crossed her mind. "He'll keep everyone informed, now they'll think I'm clumsy. A lovely start."
Alice stroked Edward affectionately on the shoulder, without saying a word. Almost with his whole body he turned towards Hope and looked deep into her eyes. The girl was terrified of their depth, for they were black as coal. She knew she had seen such dark eyes before, but could not remember where it was.
The lesson passed without any problems. Mr. Walker turned out to be really nice. The topic was the Americans' fight for independence. Normally, it would have been boring on its own, were it not for the professor's talent for storytelling. Edward and Alice didn't seem very interested. The girl played with her short hair as if in frustration, and Edward sat tense and still like a statue. While Hope had not yet formed a sufficient opinion about Alice, the boy seemed unusually cold to her. Earlier, in the corridor, foreign students waved at her or came over to say hello, and he had the nerve to look at her for a long moment and say nothing. Indeed, he didn't even mean to apologize for almost hitting her with his car the previous day.
"On the occasion of the start of the school year" Mr. Walker began exactly three minutes before the bell "In a week we are going to the Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle. We will see new exhibitions specially prepared for students"
There were happy bangs in the classroom. The students were enthusiastic about the occasion, after all, it was a pretext for the standard classes not to take place. Hope was also excited for the trip, that is until Edward Cullen didn't get up and leave the classroom in an incredible hurry.