HERE WE GO AGAIN
Despite her hearing loss, much like others, Bella could dream with sound.
She didn't dream as freely as she did before she had lost her hearing, and she never remembered what she had dreamt about usually after she would wake up. She did know she would talk in her sleep, often saying embarrassing things when she would take naps on the couch and either Charlie or Renee were in the room—witnessing her odd anecdotes. It wasn't anything serious, sometimes she would call out her parents' names in her sleep, letting them know she was remembering when she had first become hearing impaired.
Slowly but surely Bella's eyes opened, confused at the feeling of vibrations around her. She groaned and reached her hands up, wiping away the tiredness from her face, before she sat upright and glanced around the room, thinking for a moment she had stayed back in Phoenix. Thankfully that wasn't the case, she was in her childhood bedroom in Forks, and the alarm tied on the bedpost was letting her know she should get up and be prepared for the first day of school.
Turning off the alarm, Bella got up from the bed, stretched some, before she plucked her hearing aids from the nightstand next to her. She contemplated telling Charlie she lost her hearing aids so she couldn't go to school. If it were Renee, she would have done so without any hesitation. Since Charlie had been in her corner since day one of her hearing impairment journey, Bella sighed and stuck her hearing aids into her ears and turned them up to the appropriate level.
Moaning, Bella dragged herself out of bed and went to her closet before she yanked out a simple pine green hued sweater, dark washed jeans, and a pair of her trusty tennis shoes from down in Phoenix. She changed into her ensemble and picked up Grandma Swan's locket at the last minute, slipping it around her neck and touching the locket for a second. She hoped Grandma Swan was going to give her strength from up in Heaven.
Once she had brushed her hair and straightened it, along with brushed her teeth, Bella grabbed her purple backpack Charlie had bought her before she had moved up here so she wouldn't have to worry about buying a new one (her old one was so worn down there wasn't any point in her bringing the backpack up here with her). She also grabbed her denim satchel purse at the last minute, making sure to put it on cross satchel style.
Charlie was already gone, as she expected, when she went downstairs. There was a plate of burnt toast and burnt bacon on the kitchen counter for her. She gave a small smile towards it in amusement before she scraped them off the plate and threw them away, before putting the plate in the dishwasher. She never had been a breakfast person, but Charlie always persisted in her eating something for breakfast. Even if it meant he would end up having to cook said breakfast meals for her, though they wouldn't even be edible because they would be almost blackened.
Stepping outside, after she pulled off her satchel purse to put her purple parka on and then put her satchel back on, Bella stood quietly on the front porch of the house. She took deep breaths, her hot breath fanning out in front of her, reminding her she wasn't down in Arizona anymore. She would have to be careful because sudden change in temperature, such as moving from a dry and hot state to a cold and dreary state meant there was the possibility for her hearing aids to be messed up—due to the condensation that would form when the temperature would fluctuate and enter and damage the electronic components.
Going to her new-to-her truck, Bella almost groaned and slipped as she yanked open the driver's side door so she could climb up into the driver's seat. She had to grab onto the door so she wouldn't fall back onto the unforgiving gravel made pathway. Thankfully she was able to get up into the truck without falling and ending up in the emergency room.
Bella made sure she wasn't playing any music in the truck, then again, the car radio didn't work. So, there was no point for her to even play the radio. She preferred to listen to her favorite composers on her stereo, which was currently in her bedroom. Right now, wasn't the right time, partly because this was the first time she was driving in this town, and another being she didn't want to get distracted while she was driving to the high school.
Forks High School was off the highway and instead of a single building, it was made up of multiple buildings that looked more like matching houses than anything else. Bella pulled up into one of the few parking spots and got out of the truck. She hopped out, before pulling the hood of her coat up and over her head, shielding her from the gusts of cold wind and the slight sprinkle of rain that was hitting at an irritating angle. She looked straight ahead, though some of her pieces of hair got out from under the hood and flew against her face.
Walking into the front office, Bella let out a sigh of relief when she was welcomed with the heater in the building kicking on due to the front office door opening. The office was on the smaller side, just like Bella expected, and the walls were a deep cream hue. Two flag holders were behind the counter that cut the room into half—one with the American Flag and the other being the state's flag, the American flag being on the left and the state's flag on the right. There were office padded folding chairs lined up on either wall of the office, along with orange flecked commercial carpet. Potted plants were put into every crevice of the office, which brought a mixed feeling to Bella (she wasn't a green thumb and the only plant she had was a pet cactus she named Spike, which was currently sitting on her bedroom windowsill back at Charlie's house).
A large, curvy, pallid woman with a multitude of red freckles against her skin was sitting behind the office desk with a pair of purple glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. Her hair, which matched the shade of her freckles, was pulled in a low bun though the hair still seemed to be mane-like despite her attempts of trying to control it. She was wearing a sweater, which was matching the shade of the glasses, or was it the glasses that were matching the sweater?
She was looking down at the school computer but glanced up with half interest when she heard the front office door open, as though she was expecting to have a usual high school attendee come in with a doctor's excuse or one of the substitute teachers asking for a blueprint of the high school since this was the first time they were substituting at the high school.
Instead, when she looked up, she found herself looking at a short teenage girl bundled up in a purple parka with her arms curled around her sides. The said girl was staring at her with familiar brown eyes, eyes that looked just like—
"You must be Isabella Swan, the Chief's daughter!" The woman, Mrs. Cope, declared before said daughter sighed and slumped some, before muttering in aggravation, "I prefer Bella, but yes, I'm the Chief's daughter."
Bella stepped forward; thankful it wasn't snowing today. She just had to worry about the little rain drizzle that was happening outside. She let her fingers dance together and without even realizing it Mrs. Cope mentioned Grandma Swan's locket. Bella frowned, wondering how she knew about the necklace, before she realized she had been playing with it—it was called grounding, something the therapist said people with anxiety did in order to calm themselves down.
Mrs. Cope didn't have time to persist on the necklace, in order to learn enough gossip to satisfy for the time being, because the front office door opened. Both turned their heads, noting a very short girl coming into the office with excitement brimming in her green eyes, layered in stylish but moderately priced layers of clothes.
"Jessica Stanley, what are you doing in here?" Mrs. Cope didn't hold any anger towards the girl, instead she held nothing more than curiosity.
Bella inwardly sighed again, hoping she wouldn't have to be around the high school secretary that much longer, since it was the only interesting thing they would do. They'd gain as much gossip in the high school while they would be working on the school computers and answering the school phones.
Then they would sit with the rest of the faculty who had the same lunch period as them and talk about the students, and what was the most interesting thing they had learnt about when it came to said students. Bella would end up being one of them, she was sure of it. She was the topic of conversation with the faculty and students in Phoenix, merely because there wasn't anything better to do than stare at the kid who had a botched ear surgery and ask if they could see her hearing aids. She'd have to tell them no because she didn't want their hands to dirty up her hearing aids.
"Mr. Mason wanted one of us to come and pick up Isabella Swan from the front office, so she doesn't have to worry about finding where the building is. As soon as I learnt we were getting a deaf student I immediately started learning sign—"
Bella cleared her throat, gaining the girl's attention. Bella tapped her hearing aids against her ears, as though to signal she could hear her just fine. Jessica blushed as she blabbered, "I mean nothing by it! I hope I haven't—"
"It's fine, I'd just like to get my schedule and whatever else I need for the first day, please," Bella remarked as she turned her attention away from the still blushing Jessica Stanley to Mrs. Cope.
It didn't take long for the woman to give her a blueprint of the school—with highlighted pathways for her to take to each building she had for the day—and a strip of paper she needed to have all her teachers sign by the end of the day, so she could turn it in to Mrs. Cope. Bella could tell how Mrs. Cope felt even worse now, as she handed the papers to Bella, for not telling Jessica that it was rude to talk about Bella without asking if she was here to begin with.
Leaving the front office, Bella let her eyes take in Jessica as she walked next to her. The girl had pale skin, but it was a darker shade of pale than Bella's. Despite trying to sun bathe in Phoenix she still couldn't hold a tan. She had thicker, and darker brown hair than Bella did, and it was a lot wavier with volume. Her clothes were a little more expensive, but that might be because Jessica had a job and could spend her money however, she liked, which would mean she would save enough money to get expensive clothing brand clothes.
They stopped outside of Building 3. Bella went to enter only for Jessica to reach out and almost touch her arm. Bella turned, while Jessica ran her fingers through her hair in a nervous manner—that was her grounding technique then. "I'm sorry, we don't get that many new kids here in Forks. I really didn't mean to be insensitive. I didn't know—"
"If you stop apologizing, I'll act like it never happened," Bella quickly interrupted, it was a bad habit of hers to keep apologizing, too. Still, she knew as someone who was saying sorry repeatedly, it just made it sound more meaningless each time.
Jessica nodded her head as they walked into Building 3, where there were a few stragglers in the corridors of the building. Bella dismissed them, not paying attention to anything around her, she just wanted to get to her first class so she could be one class closer to finishing her first day. She would be one step closer to going home and being by herself again.
As they stepped into their classroom, Jessica came up to a tall, balding man who was standing in front of the white board—writing down the authors they would be going over the semester with an expo marker. He turned, giving a kind smile towards Jessica as she introduced Bella, who was thankful when she had not said Isabella. Bella wouldn't have to worry about telling him how she preferred her nickname instead of her full name.
"Thank you, Jessica, you can go back to your seat. I'll be getting Bella her book and assigning her a desk," Mr. Mason informed her, earning a nod from Jessica before she went to one of the desks near the middle of the class (a girl with corn stalk hued hair gave a heated glare at Bella, later she would find out her name was Lauren Malloy and she was possessive of her best friend, Jessica).
Mr. Mason turned his attention back to Bella before he spoke, "welcome to Forks, Bella. You've come at a perfect time, since the semester just started and today is a review day on all we will be going over. I've been informed about your hearing impairment, so you'll have to sit in the front row. I don't know how reliable your hearing aids are, so it's better safe than sorry."
Bella soon was directed towards one of the desks and she sat down, after she had Mr. Mason sign the slip of paper, and she was handed both a copy of the book they would be reading first: Wuthering Heights, along with her textbook. She flipped her textbook to the appropriate page that was written on the white board in front of her before she paid attention to Mr. Mason as he began his prepared lecture for the day.
When class ended, Bella was one of the first to leave the classroom, partly contemplating on getting into her truck and driving home. She knew she needed to be here all day, to show that she really did want to be up here with Charlie. Besides, there wouldn't be any point for her to come here if she would only be here for one class. She needed to be strong and go through the rest of the day, even if she hated being a new student.
Bella had barely left the building when she bumped into someone. She pulled away from the person, noting a gangly boy with skin problems and oil black hair was staring at her. She blushed and pushed pieces of her hair behind her ears, which in return showed off her hearing aids. The boy seemed to have put two things together because he shot her a warm, almost too friendly smile.
"You must be Chief Swan's daughter! I'm Eric, Eric Yorkie," the boy declared as he reached his hand out so she could shake his hand. She studied him for a moment, long enough for him to have his hand fall by his side again.
"I'm Bella."
Bella went to move around him only for him to appear next to her again. "What building is your next class in? I can help you to it." Bella showed him her map, enough for him to nod his head before he added, "I'm in Building 4, but we should have enough time for me to take you to Building 6. I have to warn you, Mr. Jefferson is kind of intense."
She almost wanted to groan, the last thing she wanted was to have a teacher who was intense. She played with her locket again, biting the corner of her lip. Eric looked as though he was going to comfort her but easily could read the signals. He knew it would only make it even more awkward if he tried to tell her she'd be okay.
Mr. Jefferson was exactly what Eric had claimed he was. He was intense, he made sure everyone had their backpacks up near the front of the classroom with only their notebooks and their textbooks on their desks. All phones were put into a basket onto his desk, and he made sure to have Bella sit in a student desk, which was up against the teacher's desk in order to make sure she would be able to hear all his lectures.
It was everything she had feared, she made sure she would keep her head down the entire time she would have to be in this classroom. She didn't want to be stared at, be put on display without asking her how she felt about it. It was everything she had been warned would happen by Renee, who had made sure to remind her there were plenty of people who would do this to her, she just hadn't imagined she would find that kind of person here, in Forks.
Mr. Varner didn't make her have an assigned spot, though it didn't surprise her when Jessica happened to decide she would sit next to her when she learnt they were sharing Trigonometry together. Bella almost was tempted to turn off the hearing aid which was on the side of where Jessica was sitting but knew it wasn't right. Partly because her hearing was already jacked up enough as it was, another being she wasn't that kind of person.
Spanish on the other hand, well Mrs. Goff was one of the nicest teachers Bella could say she would have, even counting the ones she had back in Phoenix. The woman was nothing more than a sunny person, though she knew how to reel it in. She had lived in Mexico after college and had fallen in love with a man there, where they ended up getting married and then moved back up to Forks not too long ago so she could teach here. She even made sure to have Jessica sit a good bit away from Bella so her new student could focus on the class instead of having her ear talked off by Jessica.
As soon as Spanish ended, Bella had barely gotten her things together to leave the classroom when Jessica bounded up and wrapped one of her arms around Bella's to make sure she wouldn't go anywhere. Bella sighed but didn't say anything, knowing there was no point in doing so. It would only make Jessica persist even more. She would make sure Bella would sit with her and her friends, whether Bella wanted to or not.
At least it had stopped drizzling earlier today, so Bella was able to push her hood of her parka down. The forest not too far from the school was a mixture of bareness and fertility. Some of the trees were bright and green while others seemed as though they were already past their youthful stage of the year. It was another reminder she wasn't in her desert city she had grown up in. She was in the town she had been born in and was supposed to be raised in before her parents had divorced when she wasn't even a year old yet.
"How are you liking Forks so far?" Jessica probed as she looked at the taller girl, though Bella was on the shorter side. She wasn't short, short, but she couldn't say she was average in height. She was barely considered on the shorter side.
Bella shrugged. "The verdict is still out. I haven't been here since I was in middle school. Thought a change in scenery would do me some good." More like, a change in who was her parent, but that wasn't something she was volunteering to say to everyone.
"Oh, well I hope you do end up liking it here. I know it's not much, but it's not too far from Port Angeles or Seattle," Jessica commented, which Bella could agree with. If anything, she would be closer to the cities, but she was tired of cities for now.
The moment they entered the cafeteria, Bella hissed as a loud cracking came through her hearing aids, which let her know she was being overwhelmed with the velocity of the sounds that were resonating around her. She pulled out her hearing aids, glaring down at them, and the betrayal they were giving to her. She was shoved some, by someone who she didn't care to see or know about, and her hearing aids fell onto the ground.
Thankfully Jessica swooped down and picked them up before handing them back to Bella. Bella had never cared to read lips, so she didn't pay attention to what she was saying, though she knew Jessica was probably tearing in a new one to the person who had knocked into Bella.
Putting her hearing aids back into her ears, Bella followed Jessica to the table where her friends were gathered around. Eric sitting next to an Asian girl (Eric himself looked as though he was of Asian descent), both looking at the camera in between them. He glanced up and smiled brightly at Bella before he turned to the dark-haired girl next to him.
The Asian girl had warm features, her obsidian hair fell into soft waves against her shoulder blades, and she wore stylish glasses that were a little bit on the bigger side for her face. She had a multitude of layers on—a long sleeve shirt with a random button up shirt above it and a winter coat over that. Her mittens, which looked handmade and worn out some, were sitting next to her tray of food. Her fingernails had clear polish with sparkling polish over it.
"Hi, I'm Angela Webber. You must be Bella," the girl said, her voice was soft and barely hearable, but she was close enough for Bella to hear. She had a soothing aesthetic to her; she didn't seem as though she was someone who was drawn to gossip nor was someone who wanted to start gossip. So, she sounded like the perfect friend for Bella.
Bella opened her mouth but was stopped when a football was sat down onto the table next to her, as she sat down. She flinched as her eyes went up from the football to the boy who was leaning against the cafeteria table his friends occupied. The boy had a baby face, where he looked as though he was a freshman instead of junior and had pale blond gelled spikes. He wore a varsity football jacket over a random t-shirt he must have grabbed at the last minute this morning before he had come to school. The same must have gone with his jeans and shoes.
He held out his hand as he introduced himself, "hi, I'm Mike, Mike Newton. You must be the new girl. Chief Swan's daughter, right?"
"Yes, I'm Bella. Can you not slam things down next to me? My hearing aids aren't brand new, they aren't in the best shape, and loud noises sometimes startle me more than they should," Bella confessed, earning a nod from him. He sat down next to next, right before a black boy (she learnt his name was Tyler Cowley soon later) sat on the other side of Mike.
"Where did you say you moved from?" Tyler picked up his drink to get something to drink only for Bella to get up from her spot, "Phoenix. Excuse me, I need to go and get my lunch."
Hurrying away from the table, Bella went to the lunch line and got one of the premade meals the cafeteria ladies made for students who just wanted to grab whatever was being provided in the buffet. She quickly paid for her meal before she went back to her table. She would have found somewhere else to sit if she hadn't left her things with them.
Sitting back down at her table, Bella focused on eating her lunch, hoping the others would take her cue and leave her alone. The only saving grace about her hearing impairment was them knowing they shouldn't overwhelm her on her first day. Angela was already proving to be a good ally, as she would shoot looks at everyone around her if they even thought to begin a conversation with Bella without taking her social cues into consideration.
Yet, everything changed when the cafeteria doors opened. Bella didn't have to turn around to feel the intense sensation of absolute contentment hit her full on. The only thing that pulled her away from the sensation was Jessica saying, "Bella, look, it's the Cullens."
author's note: just because someone is deaf doesn't mean they know how to read lips or care to read them all the time. :) do not talk real loud or make real loud sounds near someone with hearing aids because it can be extremely rude and inconsiderate. As always: Twilight doesn't belong to me
-Emmy