|Chapter Three|

WE HAVE BIOLOGY, NOT CHEMISTRY

God must have had a unique sense of humor while directing my life. For when I entered my biology class, which was taught by Mr. Banner, I was welcomed with one of the Cullens sitting at one of the tables, reminding me of their existence.

It happened to be the bronze haired vampire sitting at the only biology table without a partner. He had one of his nicely shaped, dark hued eyebrows arched up, his pale and thin hands were interlocked together. His head was tilted to the side, and the clouded weather outside sent a bluish gray tinge into the well windowed classroom. He still had aggravation laced in him, and concentration but it was well hidden enough for most to not detect.

Perhaps though, it was not God that was directing my life, but Anne Rice. Yeah, that sounded better, of course I would rather have her vampires in my life than these ones—except for Maman.

"Miss Dupont?"

My brown irises flickered away from the golden eyed vampire to the middle-aged teacher, Mr. Banner, standing behind his desk. There were two metal baskets teachers often used to put their students' assignments in them on the right side of the desk, reminding me I should worry about my grade in the class instead of the vampire. The baskets both were balanced quite similar in weight of assignments. So, I shouldn't expect him to take forever to grade work and give it back to me.

"Oh, yes, I'm Miss Dupont. My first name is Isabella. Well Bella for short, which ever you prefer," I remarked as I turned to look directly at the middle-aged man in front of me. He smiled before he ushered me forward. He took my slip and signed it before he handed it back to me.

"Here's your textbook. You'll have to sit with Edward Cullen, it's the only available spot for you. He's a good kid," Mr. Banner informed me, I nodded my head before I went to the table and sat down on the hard metal stool.

Edward Cullen glanced at me as I sat down, but I ignored him. I wasn't determined to become friends with any of the Cullens. I didn't want to jeopardize my maman and I's relationship. It would be too dangerous. I didn't care to know them either.

I was certain they would try and make sure I would feel welcomed by them and let me know I should automatically accept them. It aggravated me, how these goody-two-shoes thought any vampire (well only Maman in this case) should join their coven. If only they knew how much Maman didn't care much about covens. She was more of a nomad vampire than anything else.

I paid all my attention on Mr. Banner as he talked about Cellular Anatomy, though I had already gone over it last semester in France. Edward noted how I was writing in French, intrigue lighting across his features. Again, I ignored him, I didn't care about his opinion towards me, nor how I wrote in French. There was nothing special about him, nor did I need to have him accept me or find me interesting enough to become friends with me.

As soon as class ended, I gathered up my things, and rolled my chocolate eyes as I turned, finding that Edward was already gone. Way to be subtle, then again since I was raised by a vampire, I should be able to notice things like this. Unlike my classmates, which should be a good thing for the Cullens.

Mike, who shared my last class of the day, Gym, popped up next to me before I had the chance to leave the classroom. A too eager expression on his baby face made me sigh. He smiled brightly while he declared, "You don't mind if I walk to you to Gym, do you, Bella?"

Yes. I would mind it, very much. Alas though, I knew it wouldn't deter the boy in the very least. I cursed myself for being a little more stylish, and probably being a foreign student. If I dressed normal and was an average Plain-Jane, then maybe he wouldn't be so interested in me. Who was I kidding though? He would totally want to be my friend, just because I was the new girl in school.

"Of course, I don't mind," I agreed, which in return made him smile even brighter. I trailed after him as we left Mr. Banner's classroom and the building before, we went towards the gymnasium. I dreaded this as much as I dreaded Government and Spanish. I was not coordinated at all.

As we entered the gymnasium, I noticed how a good amount of classmates of mine had already changed into their uniforms. So, this meant Coach Clapp wouldn't have me participate in whatever exercise they would do for today.

Coach Clapp was standing by the bleachers on the left side of the gymnasium (which was on the smaller side).

He was an older man who didn't have anything special about him. He was average in everything you would expect from a gym teacher. He wasn't the fittest coach, but he had some muscle on him. His hair had thinned, and he was wearing a hoodie and athletic shorts, his calvas at least were in good shape. He glanced up, as though he sensed me, before I went towards him, weary at what he would say about my obviously unathletic figure.

"You must be Dupont, I'm Coach Clapp. As you can see, we wear uniforms. I'll give you your uniform tomorrow. Tell me your size and I'll make sure to reserve it for you."

Once I had told him what my size was (without telling him my first name since coaches had the habit of calling their students by their last name only), he ushered me towards the bleachers. I eagerly sat down, about in the middle section of the bleachers before contemplating on texting Maman to see how her first day at work was going. I hoped it was going smoothly for her, and her coworkers weren't giving her a hard time. She was quite talented in the midwife field, so hopefully it would show how serious she was at her passion and calling.

I knew though this was the last thing I should do. Coach Clapp would glance up at me as my classmates played soccer, since the weather wasn't good enough in his eyes for them to play on the field. The weather wasn't that nice period for outdoor athletic activities. The soccer goals were quite worn out and they needed to replace them as the goal posts were scratched up and some of the nets were missing parts of them. Maybe they didn't have the money to replace them, or they probably didn't care enough to replace them until they absolutely needed to be replaced.

I almost jumped out of my skin when the soccer ball almost hit me as I was rereading my notes for a Government quiz. I would receive the quiz at the end of the week so that Mr. Jefferson could know how much I understood American Government. He was determined to remind me how little I knew about American Government.

The almost getting hit with the soccer ball made me spew out in anger, "Regarde ça!"

No one seemed as though they knew what I was saying. I had said, for them to watch it, but I should expect for them to not know French well enough to know that. It was a small town where they didn't offer French for an elective.

I threw the soccer ball down to the court, though I blushed as I noted how it was a pathetic throw. I bowed my head down, cursing myself for showing how weak my throw was. If only I had vampiric strength like my maman. Well not as strong as her, that would have made everyone know I wasn't human, but enough of a strength it wouldn't embarrass me.

I was more than relieved when class ended, and I hurried out of the gymnasium. I didn't want to be in the presence of Mike any more than I had to. At least Eric and Angela were smart enough to pick up how I wasn't someone who was very sociable. The others could learn a little bit from them, especially Tyler Cowley. I was lucky none of the faculty had noticed me slap him across the face, or else Maman would learn how I had earned detention on the first day. She'd be more than pissed.

As I walked into the front office, I widened my eyes when I saw Edward Cullen conversing with Mrs. Cope. I was kind of grossed out with how enamored the woman was as she listened to Edward. She was middle aged, old enough to be his mother, and he was a teenager. Though he was probably a lot older than her, but he had the appearance and attitude of a teenager. So yeah, it was gross.

Yet it wasn't just the sight of Mrs. Cope trying to subtly flirt with Edward Cullen that really got my attention. It was how he was asking if he could change his Biology class for another period. Great. He wanted to get away from me.

Well, you know what, I would be glad if he would leave. I wanted him away from me, both in that class but in life. There was no way in hell I would ever be interested in starting a conversation with him, or even more, become friends with him.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Cullen, but all the other classes are full. You'll just have to stay," Mrs. Cope dictated after noticing he wasn't reacting to her pathetic attempts of seducing him.

Edward slumped before he turned around, his eyes falling on me. He glared at me, though I could tell he wasn't breathing (not that vampires needed to breathe, it was more for appearance sake), before he stalked out of the front office in an immature manner.

"Miss Dupont! I hope you didn't have any trouble with getting to your classes!" Mrs. Cope smiled brilliantly at me, before I went up to the front desk and handed her the slip of paper. She nodded her head in satisfaction, letting me leave a moment later.

Maman's car was already parked in one of the empty spots in front of the front office. I rushed forward and got into the car before I shut it behind me. I whirled around to face her, where she had a look that let me know she knew what I was going to confront her about.

She shook her head, "Not here. They'll be listening in on us. The last thing I want is for them to report to Carlisle. I'm not going hunting either, until next week, I don't want to run into any of them yet."

Of course, I should have realized all five of the teenagers could probably hear us though they were miles away from us. I slumped some in my seat, because she was right. She pulled out of the parking spot and headed towards the entrance/exit of the school so we could head towards our cottage. The silver Volvo, which let me know the Cullens were near us, was in front of us—taunting us and reminding us we couldn't have just a simple time here in Forks.

Once she knew they weren't in hearing distance she sighed, "I had heard there were rumors they had come back here. I didn't think too much about it. I hoped it was merely rumors. It wasn't until I was at work they were wondering if I had met Carlisle yet. Apparently, some of them have family that live here and want to hear the gossip. That and I'm certain they were wondering if I was related to them."

The way Maman spoke about the Cullens, I could tell she wasn't that thrilled they were living here after all. It was as though she had dreaded this, knowing that she had limited time before she would end up running into them. She knew it was destined for her to run into them, because she believed she had only so much luck with being a Vegetarian vampire before they would learn about her and ask her if she would want to be invited into their coven.

"Edward Cullen is in my Biology class. I'm sure you just saw him leave the front office. He was asking if he could transfer his Biology class with another one of his classes. I wish Mrs. Cope could have, it would have made things a lot easier," I grumbled, though Maman didn't say anything about my remark. I sounded childish but who could blame me? I only wanted one vampire in my life, other than that I didn't want to deal with anymore.

The car moved quite smoothly when we went up the dirt pathway to the cottage, all the time I knew the both of us were pondering if any of the Cullens were heading this way to try and introduce themselves to us properly. Since this was legally our land, and we hadn't invited them here, then we could remind them they were stepping onto someone else's property, even if Maman and them were vampires.

Maman could easily tell them they were trespassing, and they would have to listen to her, especially when it came to them being vampires. They didn't want anything negative to be affiliated with their pristine reputation with the town.

The first thing I did when we entered the cottage, was to go into my room and plop down onto the mattress. I groaned in tiredness and turned around on my back. I peered up at the ceiling above me, at the skylight where the bluish tinge came throughout the room. I could hear Maman moving throughout the living room, there was no television in the house. I never cared to watch television, I had my books, and I was happy about having only them.

Maman eventually came through the open doorframe and sat down next to me. I got up from my slumped over position and leant up against her. She undid my bun and let my hair fell around my face. I closed my eyes and focused my breathing on the minty scent that came from her. Her coolness to some deterred them from holding her, or letting them hold her, but it was all I had known. Ever since I was a babe, I had found comfort in this, I held onto her so desperately.

"I'm proud of you, Isabella," she whispered to me, more like breathed it. If it weren't completely silent in this house and I wasn't accustomed to her quiet voice I was certain I wouldn't have been able to hear her say this to me.

I smiled at this; she knew I wanted nothing more than to make her proud. She said it quite often, though not all the time. I had done many things growing up that made her proud of me. There were times she would be disappointed in me. She had never gotten mad at me, nor did I want to imagine what she would look like when she would yell at me.

We didn't talk about the Cullens for the rest of the afternoon, nor that night. It was an off topic, something we would not talk about it. Neither of us seemed as though we were thrilled with the thought of talking about them. Out of sight, out of mind, it was what we believed when we were inside this cottage. It was our haven after all, we didn't need to talk about people or things that made us uncomfortable or aggravated.

Edward Cullen and the rest of his family members weren't at school the rest of the week. I was trying to keep my intrigue at a minimum. I didn't want to look too interested in them. It wasn't sunny, so I didn't know why they weren't here. Perhaps they were trying to figure out what their next step in this town would be like. They weren't expecting for there to be another vampire living here, one who was Vegetarian and happened to have an adopted human teenager.

It was during lunchtime, on Friday, as I was sitting at the cafeteria table that was going to be my usual table I would sit at. Mike and Jessica still sat on either side of me. In fact, everyone was sitting in the spots they had decided to sit at when I had come to school on Monday. I noticed how Mike and Jessica were almost bouncing out of their seats, as though they had the most interesting information, they wanted to tell all of us.

"Can someone tell me why you two look like you snorted a bunch of crack?" I almost demanded, which in return made Tyler and Eric chuckle at the description I had given to their two friends.

Lauren of course wasn't happy with me talking about crack and her best friend in the same sentence. Angela gave me a small smile, humor in her brown eyes.

"We're thinking of going to La Push Ocean Park in two weeks, the weather will be perfect for it," Mike started off, and he added as though he remembered I was from another country all entirely, "it's on the Quileute Reservation. The Natives are cool. I hope you'll come. I mean we'll have some cars with us, for everyone to carpool if you want."

"Please come, it won't be the same without you!" Jessica pouted, not even giving me the chance to tell them whether I would be interested in coming with them.

Maman did want me to go out and be friends with them, since this would be the only time I would be in high school. I'd end up going to college thousands of times, so I should enjoy this time. I could prove to her I did want to enjoy my time here. Even if I would have seven Vegetarian vampires keeping tabs on me to make sure I wouldn't tell the human world about vampires.

"Sure, that should be fun. I mean I'll have to double check with Maman, of course," I assured them, which in return made Mike show how excited he was I would come with them. I wouldn't be surprised if he would brag to the Natives how he had gotten to become friends with some hot French chick and was hoping he would end up dating me in the end.

The last thing I wanted was to deal with a romantic relationship here in Forks. I didn't care about having a relationship to begin with. I wasn't someone who felt as though they needed to have as significant other or else, I would end up not knowing how to function. I had been raised by a strong, willed, single mom vampire who let me know I didn't need to feel as though romance should dictate my life. I shouldn't let any person hold any power over me, for the both of us needed to have equal power in our relationship.

I only snapped out of my thoughts when one of them asked me when I would have a car again. Thankfully the car would end up arriving on Sunday, so I would be able to drive to school without depending on my maman. She had well tinted car windows and windshields, so no one could see her inhuman beauty or her golden irises.

"Sunday, after that, I'll be able to drive to school. It's coming in earlier than we thought, Tuesday was the original day it was supposed to come in," I informed them. I picked up a couple of the grapes on my tray and popped them into my mouth.

Clearing my throat, I gained everyone's attention, as interest came across them at hearing me voluntarily start a conversation between all of us. I usually only said something when someone asked me if I would do something, or if they could have my opinion.

Other than that, I sometimes tuned them out, thinking about how I would rather be back at one of my cottages checking the vegetable garden or the flower garden that I lovingly planted. I'd have one of my summer dresses on and the wind would be perfect, the weather not too hot nor cold, and Maman would be sitting at the garden table while reading one of her favorite books. I'd be back in France, and not here in this dreary, small town that held no importance to me.

Something big would have to happen for me to want to even come back here after I would turn into a vampire, and even then, I would make sure to time it where the Cullens weren't here. There were one too many vampires that were currently residing right now.

"Do you have any idea why the Cullens aren't here? They haven't been here since Monday," I noted, making Jessica nod her head.

She was pretty good at digging stuff up in this school, always had someone report to her what they had learnt in their classes earlier in the day. I admired how she was good at focusing on one thing, but I would rather it not be gossiping. Though then again it was coming in handy right now, since I was now a part of her friend group.

"Dr. Cullen's uncle is really sick. He's really picky on doctors and since his nephew is a doctor and they have a good relationship him and Mrs. Cullen decided to go see him. They brought the kids with them because they don't know how bad things will be for the uncle and if anything, they want the kids to see him one last time," Jessica stated, before she looked down at the roll that was sitting on her cafeteria tray. It didn't look fresh to me; it was one of those frozen rolls the school board would give to schools so the cafeteria ladies would heat them up and serve them on trays.

Maman never told me much about her human life, partly because to vampires their human memories became blurry after some time. There were cases of some vampires having such trauma in their human lives, that once they were turned those memories seemed to be taken away. They were horrible in their first life, and whether it be a blessing or curse (depending on if you believed someone needed complete closure over trauma), they would have those memories taken away.

All she had told me was how she was changed, how she ended up in a mental institution when she was going through her transformation, and how she was a lot more nomadic until she had come across me. She used to not stay more than a year in one place before she had me, but after I came into her life, she wanted me to experience as much as one place as possible—which always ended up being two years in the said place. Then we would end up continuing to the next French village.

"I had to leave for a month back in middle school because one of my second cousins got diagnosed with Terminal Cancer back in China," Eric said, reminding me once again how closed off I was to everyone else. I couldn't just sit here and tell them about made-up aunts and uncles, nor did I feel as though I should do that. It just wasn't who I was.

"What about you, Bella? Do you have any family members over in France?"

My eyes fell onto the empty table across the cafeteria, where the Cullens usually occupied it. Others avoided it like it was a plague, as though the Cullens would know even far away someone was sitting at their table. They were close knitted, stayed together, made sure to always hold that family dynamitic, which I could respect them for because they played that role well.

Without looking away from the cafeteria table that was empty I answered them so soft I was sure they would barely be able to hear it, "it's just been me and Maman. Always has been."

It was just Maman and me, always had been, and I would make sure it would always be. I didn't need anyone else than my maman in my life.

author's note: first of all, Twilight doesn't belong to me. Sylvia does though. :)

secondly, who should I pair Bella with? Jasper, or someone from the Volturi (either Demetri or Alec). I have an obsession with Bella/Alec pairings but I also like Bella/Demetri pairings. I love Jasper. :) Just tell me which of the three you prefer.

-Emmy

edited: 12/18/2021