Chapter 2

School seemed to be the only place where I could completely focus my mind on something other than the nameless impolite redhead I had met at Mr. Emerson's music shop last week. I hadn't intended to, but for some reason the girl hadn't left my mind since I first met her.

The memory of her was like an unbreakable barrier between me and focusing my attention on things that were actually significant to my life. She wasn't important. She was just a random girl I had met at the music shop, no one special. In fact, I detested her. She was brazen and boorish, not even remotely attractive, so there was absolutely no reason for me to replay our conversation over and over in my head.

Yet I still did. Why was that?

Mr. Day, my English teacher was rambling on and on about the book we were reading, but I couldn't care to listen. I think he said something else before he started, but I hadn't been paying attention to that either.

The classroom was dreary, with forty-two desks lined up evenly in rows. Each student looked pretty much the same, but then again I didn't care enough to look at them closely. Mr. Day's desk sat at the front of the room a couple feet in front of the blackboard. There were only windows on the left side of the room, but they were small and were covered most of the time. In short, it was so unbelievably dull that I felt no need to pay attention to anything that happened within its walls.

"Hey, Edward!" A voice behind me whisper-shouted.

I whipped my head around just in time for a crumpled up piece of paper to hit me right on the forehead and fall to the ground.

"Oops."

I looked up at Andrew Fisher, one of my closest friends, and the person who had just thrown a wadded up piece of paper at me.

"What're you doing?" I whispered back, trying my hardest to sound annoyed. The thing about Andrew is, you can never be in a bad mood around him. He was genuinely one of the funniest people I knew, and it took a lot for anyone to get angry with him.

"Trying to give you a letter. Open it!"

I sighed, picking up the crumpled paper off the floor, wondering why Andrew would jeopardize his knuckles for this. I didn't like the idea of having my knuckles rapped for a silly little note. I turned back around and put my hands underneath my desk, so that Mr. Day couldn't see what I was doing.

It took me a minute to decipher his messy handwriting, but eventually I got the message. There, in Andrew's sloppy scrawl, I was able to make out the words, "what do you think about the new girl?"

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. We had a new student? If so, would Andrew be interested in her? Chicago was anything but a small city, there were new students almost every month. I probably wouldn't even be able to determine who my classmates were if my life depended on it. Getting a new student was no big deal. And even if it was, I probably wouldn't have noticed the new girl either way.

"No." I muttered.

"Mr. Day just introduced her. Her name's Isabella, and apparently she's from Arizona. She came here because of her father's work. She's kinda pretty if you squint." Andrew informed me.

I rolled my eyes. "Honestly Andrew, I couldn't care less about this Isabella. Why do you?"

"I just told you. She's kinda pre-"

"Mr. Masen? Mr. Fisher?" Mr. Day bellowed from the front of the classroom, his hand hovered in midair above the notes he was writing on the blackboard. The notes we were supposed to be taking in absolute silence.

I winced. We had interrupted his lesson, and Mr. Day's punishments were often humiliating or painful. Most of the time however, they were both.

"I was just asking Edward for a pencil, sir." Andrew lied, trying to discreetly hide the pencil he already had.

"Really," Mr. Day put down his chalk, "and how did you write that note if you didn't have a pencil, Mr. Fisher?"

My eyes flashed to Andrew's. We had been caught.

"I do not condone note-passing in my class. Hand it over." Mr. Day was now standing in front of my desk with his arm outstretched. All eyes were on us.

I sheepishly handed him the note, praying no one could tell I was blushing.

"Thank you, Mr. Masen." Mr. Day walked to the front of the room where he read the note aloud to the entire class. "Gossiping is not permitted inside of this classroom, Mr. Fisher."

The other children began to talk amongst themselves, giggling at the two idiots who dared to pass a note in the classroom belonging to the most stern teacher in the world.

"Since Mr. Masen wasn't paying attention to me when I introduced Miss Swan, perhaps I will just have to do it again. Miss Swan, please stand up."

I directed my gaze to the girl who Mr. Day had asked to stand up, and what I saw made my breath hitch. Although she wasn't facing me, I could tell who it was. It was the new student from Arizona, who coincidentally was the same girl I had met in Mr. Emerson's music store.

She sat at the front of the class to the left of Mr. Day's desk. When she turned around to face our classmates, I suddenly wished I was anywhere but here. Her large brown eyes caught mine, and I knew she recognized me. Not only had I been rude to her, but I had also embarrassed her on her first day of school.

"Please tell the class about yourself, Miss Swan."

The girl's face twisted into a scowl, clearly miffed about having to repeat herself. "My name is Isabella Swan, but I prefer to be called Bella." Her voice was hard. "I moved here from Phoenix, Arizona because my father got a new job offer."

So... the mystery girl had a name. Isabella Swan, or Bella, as she had said.

"Thank you, Miss Swan. Was this enough information for you, boys? I hope you were paying attention this time, Mr. Masen." Mr. Day said.

My ears burned.

Bella had sat down, but I could still feel her eyes on me. I was determined to keep mine on the bricks of the wall above Mr. Day's head, but Bella's stare demanded my focus.

Finally, I gave up and risked a glance over at her. Her eyes were steely and filled with anger. She was glowering at me, and I knew she wasn't going to let this go.

Now I would have to apologize for two things.

A/N: Uh oh. Looks like someone's in trouble. Let's hope Edward doesn't screw up this apology he's planning to make.

Big thanks to those of you who have reviewed/favorited/followed my work so far. It means more than you know. I hope I can update again sooner rather than later, but unfortunately life doesn't always let us do what we want. Thank you again for the support, and I promise my chapters will be a teeny bit more eventful in the future. Stay tuned for chapter three!