Chapter Two
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I do not own Twilight. All characters from Twilight belong to Stephanie Meyer. The only character I own is Coralynn. Plot belongs to me solely. Some quotes are from Meyer's book, but very few. Maybe one or two will pop up. Leave a comment if you like it, let me know how I did, criticism you want to add, etc. etc.
I woke up the next day, and just laid in bed. Since my trip to the hospital, I found out that Dr. Cullen had put a school note in my paperwork, so I was out of school for today with directions to rest and take it easy. I heard a knock on the door, and looked up as my mom peaked her head in. When she saw me, she fully came in my room carrying a small cup that I could only assume were my morning pills, and a glass of water in the other hand. I turned on my side and pulled the duvet over my head. I didn't want to deal with the crazy girl spiel this morning.
"I'll just leave these here, sweety, please make sure you take them. There's an Advil in there for your head, ok? Come downstairs whenever you're ready." She laid her hand on the duvet and rubbed up and down my arm a little bit. This was the only physical contact I'll let her have. She gave a quiet sigh and walked out the room, closing my door gently behind her. I love my mom, really. I know she's fed up with me pushing her away like I do, but I can't tell her that physical contact is what causes my seizures. That'll make her go in a frenzy and send me to more doctors, which is one thing I absolutely don't want to do. My dad doesn't come around me much. Since I was around ten, he went to work, came home, ate dinner, and went to the den to watch television. He distanced himself from both of us because I'm guessing he can't handle having a psycho kid. I wouldn't blame him, but then again it still hurt. My mother didn't deserve the way he's pushed her away.
With that thought, I threw the covers back, grabbed the pills in the cup, swallowed them with water, and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. I may not be going to school today, but I wasn't laying around being lazy, I needed to go buy a few things. After a quick shower and brushing my teeth, I put on a pair of jeans, some old sneakers, a sweater, with a raincoat. I walked downstairs and saw my mother making what looked to be her second cup of coffee.
"Mom, can you take me to get a laptop and a phone?" I asked. I had research to do. Since this whole adventure started, I needed to google some things.
She glanced up from me, looking surprised I even came to the kitchen. "Sure honey, why don't you eat something first before we go?" She asked. I looked down at the plate of food on the table. 'Gross' I instead just grabbed a banana, some yogurt, peanut butter, almond milk, and a handful of strawberries and made a quick smoothing to put in a to-go cup. She rolled her eyes at my behavior and grabbed the keys hanging up by the door and walked out to the car. I was quick to follow, grabbing a metal straw and my raincoat I had put down.
The trip to Port Angeles was a slow and steady drive; it took an hour to get there from Forks. This was fine, but the car ride had a heavy silence that was only broke by the 70s music station my mom had playing on low volume. I had never been out of Alaska, so the scenery was so different than home. In Alaska, while we had a lot of green, it was nothing compared to Forks. Anchorage had a lot of green as well scattered throughout the city, so when we passed the city limits of Port Angeles, I was surprised to see that it wasn't all that different from home. I smiled a bit at this little reminder of my old town.
My mother drove towards this shop near the water that looked promising, and once inside I was able to secure a decently priced laptop and a cheap flip phone that came with a phone plan. I didn't need anything else, so for the next few hours we browsed the nearest mall and picked out a few new articles of clothing. We grabbed a quick lunch and was soon heading back to the house in rainy Forks.d
When we got home, I grabbed my bags and sprinted to my room, not bothering to wait for my mom. I was anxious now that I had access to the internet; I didn't know what I would find. After tearing apart the packaging and setting up the laptop as quickly as I could, I opened the search browser and hesitated over the keys. What would I even search? I typed in 'Twilight' first, and the only results I got was about the time of day. I kept adjusting the search parameters and nothing about the books or movies came up. I looked up actor names, and Stephanie Meyer, still nothing. I tossed the laptop aside in frustration. 'This is seriously pissing me off.' I laid back on the bed and winced at the sore spot. The fact that I'm stuck here now is irritating. The fact that my parents seemed to age and grow even more distant than they already were before is irritating. The fact that I was now surrounded by a bunch of stupid, supernatural beings is the most frustrating. I already had a shitty life; I didn't need this on top of things. It was nearing eight o'clock, so I changed into pajamas and put my things away to finally go to sleep.
When I woke up the next morning, I was dreading the day. Everyone would be looking at me weird and asking questions they shouldn't. I also had questions, especially directed towards the Cullens, but I wouldn't voice them. I wanted to stay as neutral in this world as I possibly could. And if that meant I would be in the dark on the questions burning me from the inside-out, then so be it. I got out of bed, not bothering to make it, and got dressed in a plain forest green dress with black tights and a pair of ballerina shoes, put my hair up in a messy but, brushed my teeth, and grabbed a banana, a sweater, and my bag on the way out the door to the bus. It was clear today, but it looked like it might rain later. I took my usual seat on the bus and went through the first half of the day without much interruption. There were stares everywhere I looked, and Eric tried to ask me multiple times if I was okay, but I kept my eyes down and focused on plowing through the work the teachers assigned us. If I ignored him, he might stop bothering me.
When lunch arrived, I looked towards the table the Cullens were sitting at yesterday out of reflex. Everyone was there except Edward, which, thinking back now, he left for a week after meeting Bella didn't he? Alice was at the table, her eyes following me. When she caught my eyes, she grinned fully at me and waved with her entire arm, like she was excited to see me. I don't know why she would be; I haven't even met the girl. I raised my arm slightly to give the tiniest of waves. The big one, Emmett, was looking at me with a happy and boyish grin on his face. I remember from the books that he was the childish one of all of them, always wanting to play games and have fun. Rosalie, beside him, was looking at me with a neutral look on her face. If I looked closely enough, I could see her eyebrows drawn together in a resting face. Jasper was looking only at Alice, like he'd never seen her before. It looked like both men worshipped the ground the girls walked on with how their eyes would shine when they glanced at them.
"Coralynn! Come sit with us!" I glanced over at the blonde one, Ben maybe, and sighed heavily. I didn't want a repeat of the last time. So, I shrugged my bag on my shoulder and walked out of the cafeteria; I might as well explore during my free time. I managed to find the library, which I could spend my time studying during lunch, and hopefully not be bothered by anyone. I also found the way to my next two classes relatively easily. I had biology with Mr. Banner and gym with Coach Clapp. The gym was like the lunchroom, it was separate from the entire school, I'm guessing for noise purposes. The only interesting thing about it was that it smelled like testosterone and sweat. Gross. As I was making my way back to building 2 for Biology, the bell rang, and the noise level increased with teenagers excited to be nearly done with another school day. I was the first one in the classroom, so I was able to get my slip signed and find the furthest seat from the front in the corner of the room and get my things out before anyone else got to the room. I watched as the kids filed into the room in groups of 2, one of the last ones in was Bella and Eric. Bella paused at the door and looked to the window side of the room and at a single table. Her eyes looked pained, but she signed in defeat and went to sit at the table by herself. 'Oh, Edward isn't here. Well, she got attached pretty quick', I thought. Bella got all her books and paper out and looked up at Mr. Banner with a sullen look on her face for the rest of the class, until the bell rang to release us for our next class. Eric and Angela came up next to her and together they left towards their next class. I followed behind at a steady pace, not wanting to get too close. As we neared the gym, they split off from Bella and went towards the left, I followed behind Bella, going up to Coach Clapp and handing him my slip to be signed. He told me to just sit in the bleachers today, which I was fine with, and be ready to dress out tomorrow.
I walked over to the bleachers and pulled out my homework from today and went ahead and started it, hoping to be done with it by the time class was over with. I breezed through Spanish, government, biology, and English. Math, however, was a different story. I struggled through it; Pretty sure I was doing some of them wrong. It would have to do, as I finished the last problem on the paper, the bell rang for the end of class. I gathered my things and headed towards the parking lot where the busses sat outside.
I stopped when I got outside, a thought running through my head. I turned towards the cars in the parking lot and looked around for the monster of a truck that Bella drives. It was still there, but Bella was opening the door to get in it. I sprinted across and was able to get to her just as the truck roared to life, rapidly knocking on her window. She jumped and accidentally slammed on the horn that made a groaning sound, like it hadn't ever been used before. It took a few seconds, but after she calmed down when she saw me, she rolled the driver side window down with what looked like a lot of elbow grease.
"You're…Coralynn right?" She asked, unsure. I nodded.
"Yeah, Cora, actually. Hey, I was wondering if I could ask a favor of you. We have every class together, and I noticed that you had no trouble in trig, so I was wondering if you could maybe tutor me?" I wasn't sure what she was going to say, but it couldn't hurt to ask. She looked up like she was thinking about it before answering.
"Yeah, um, okay. Do you want to start today?" She asked. I hesitated before nodding.
"Yeah, what's your address, I'll have my mom drop me off." She stopped for a second before moving her backpack to the middle of the cab.
"Just get in, you can call from my house" she said. I looked towards the bus line one last time before walking towards the passenger door and climbing into the huge truck. My short frame didn't help matters much.
She put her seatbelt on and put the truck in gear, stalling it twice, before we finally pulled out of the parking lot. The truck rattled and sputtered as we got onto the main road, it acted like it didn't want to make it over 35 miles an hour. I noticed the scenery was very familiar and realized that we were heading towards the way I lived now since getting transported to this freaky alternate reality. As my house came into view, I noticed Bella was slowing down some. We must live near each other then. I pulled out the flip phone I got yesterday and sent a text to my mom, telling her I was at a friend's house and that I'd be home soon. A few houses down from mine, I saw a cozy two-story house with a medium sized tree in the front yard. Bella led me over to her front door and let us both in with her spare key. Inside was a place to hang your jackets and take your shoes off at, so I followed her example.
I took my time looking around at everything. I was in one of the most iconic places in the whole series. It was just as Meyer described, the kitchen cabinets were painted a very hideous yellow-green color, with old lace curtains framing the only window. The living room had an old brown couch and a large recliner, both looked like they had seen better days as the couch had a few noticeably lumpy spots sticking out. The television looked worse for wear as well, but it looked well used. Bella caught my attention when she called out to me from the kitchen, showing me two water bottles in her hands as she walked up the stairs. The wall that connected to the stairs was filled with photos, I could see a little Bella in there more than once, and a woman who looked very similar to Bella but had willowy hair and it was a lighter color with not as many curls. There were wedding photos towards the top, I assumed they were Charlie and Renee from how similar they looked to their acting counterparts. And lastly, scattered about here and there, were some Native American people. Their hair long, dark, and straight, and their skin a lovely brown color. Everyone looked so happy in these pictures. I was envious of the relationship you could clearly see; I didn't have anything near that with my parents, not since all of this started.
When I made it to the top of the stairs after examining the pictures, Bella could be seen walking in her room, which was also like the movie. The walls floors were made of old wood and the walls were a faded blue color that led up to a peaked ceiling. The curtains covering the window were a yellow lace material that looked ready to be replaced. It looked untouched since it was put together probably when she was a baby. There was a desk pushed against the wall with the old and bulky white computer system, a bed with a purple bedspread across from it. In the corner was a rocking chair that looked nearly unused. Overall, it looked quite cozy, but it needed some tender touches of knickknacks that Bella would add later. She was sitting at her desk, with the chair turned towards the bed, so she could talk to me easier and tutor me.
"So, what do you know so far so I can get an understanding of your knowledge in trig?" She asked, crossing her legs while I got comfortable on her bed, book out in front of me with a paper and pencil. When she asked this, I looked up at her, a blank stare on my face. She tilted her head, "Do you know any formulas?" Another blank stare. She brought her hand up to her face put her face against it and gave a loud groan, like I was stressing her out. It wasn't my fault I suck at math.
"Okay look, we'll start from the beginning, how about that? We'll get together every day until you understand this, okay?" She explained, I grinned at her and laughed. Maybe she wasn't so bad.
This routine continued for the rest of the week. I had to give the girl credit; she was an excellent tutor. She explained the subject very well and was able to answer my questions as they frequently came up. I met her father, Charlie, during the week. He was a nice man of few words, and he told me how he was the chief of police. When the weekend came and we finished that week of school, Bella and I had become decent friends, surprisingly. I would make it a habit of going over to her house even when we didn't have school on the weekends or if I didn't need help with math. Before I knew it, I was adjusting rather quickly to living in Forks now, and the new week of school had arrived. It was Monday, and of course the weather was overcast, but no raid was in sight today. I had started riding to school with Bella in the morning since we lived nearby, and after school she took me home, so it was a blissful routine where I didn't have to ride the bus. So, I stood outside in my sweater and jeans and waited by the road for Bella. As I heard the sputtering of what I had started calling, Hubert, came chugging into sight, I edged closer to the road so Bella didn't have to fully stop and worry about stalling Hubert out.
"Hi Bella, it's cold today, isn't it?" I asked, fidgeting with her heater. Bella's eyes slid across to me, giving me a hateful glare. She really hated the cold. I laughed at the look but turned the radio up and bobbed my head as the 50's station was playing some oldies song I didn't know. During the week I had spent with Bella, I had opened quite a bit. I wasn't as withdrawn as I was; since Bella was quiet and didn't reach for sudden hugs or contact, I could relax a bit around her. She knew how to listen, and she could have a dry sense of humor when the time called for it. Overall, I liked her! I disliked her when she was portrayed in the books and movies, but in real life, she was decent. Pulling up to the school into a spot, Bella shut off Hubert and we both got out and slammed the doors shut. There were a few people who waved in our direction, more towards Bella to me, but I was okay with that. I had a friend, and that's all I needed right now. My eyes slid towards the right side of the parking lot, and I saw the sporty cars the Cullens decided to show off, and there was Alice, her pixie hair bobbing as she jumped up and down to make sure I saw her wave at me. I never did figure out why she was so focused on me, but I waved back, nonetheless.
"Do you know her, Cora?" Bella asked, asked we walked inside with Ben, Jessica, Tyler, and the rest of the crew behind us. I looked at Bella and shook my head. I didn't really know what to say, because I was just as clueless as she was.
"No, I don't know her. I've never spoke to her before. She seems nice enough, though." I said, as the heater of the school thawed out my frozen digits. It really was cold outside today. We walked into English class and saw the words "POP QUIZ" written in Mr. Mason's chicken scratch on the black board. It was on Wuthering Heights, but Bella had forced me to read the book out to her this week so I wouldn't put it off and forget to do it at all. The quiz ended up being easy, which is a lot different than how I normally did in school. I thanked Bella the entire way to government after the bell rang to make sure she knew she was the best. She finally got tired of my repeated phrases of gratitude and let me know with a fierce shove of my backpack. I laughed at her as I went to my seat. Math and Spanish were the same as the other two classes, with Bella's help, I was going through both classes with ease now that I finally understood what I was looking at.
"Hey Bella, you should consider a career in teaching. You're helping me pass all my classes, and you're great at answering questions." I said, she shrugged at that.
"I'm not really interested in teaching, to be honest," she said. She looked like she was going to continue but stopped when we opened the door to go outside. It was snowing. I smiled at that; it feels like it's been forever since I've seen snow! I threw my backpack off and ran outside, enjoying the crunch of my shoes on the white bed of ice. Bella stood by the door with her nose scrunched up. She looked like if she touched the snow, she would spontaneously combust. Soon, Eric, came out and started making snowballs with the mush and throwing it at Ben and Tyler. I laughed at Ben when he got a face full of the stuff. It was soon an all-out snowball fight that lasted until Bella made me go in to eat. I was out of breath when I went into the warm cafeteria with Bella who looked less than amused at my childish behavior, but I just shook off some of the loose snow that was clinging to my jacket onto her which she grumbled at and tried without success to brush it off. In the end, we were both soaking wet from the snow that was quickly starting to melt outside, much to my disappointment. I heard Bella gasp from beside me and followed her line of vision to the table that sat in the corner and was only mildly surprised by the sight of not only the normal Cullens that had been present all week, but of the bronze-haired boy that my friend had become fascinated with. Said boy just so happened to be looking straight at my friend while looking back and forth between us. I could understand him looking at Bella, but why was he looking at me? From what I understood, I wasn't a shield like Bella was. I didn't have some cool mental hideaway that kept the mind-reader out. I shook my head to clear it and ushered Bella to the lunch line to get some so we could have time to sit down and socialize before next class began. But once we got there, Bella was grabbing her stomach and looking paler than normal. Mike and Jessica were talking in line when we got behind them when they stopped and turned towards us.
"What's wrong with Bella?" Mike asked. I looked at her and saw her eyes keep flashing towards the forbidden table in the back.
"I'm not sure," I shrugged. "Maybe you should go see the nurse, Bells." I told her. She sighed and just grabbed a soda from the machine.
"I think I'll just have a soda today, guys" she said, twisting the cap off. "I feel a little sick today."
"You sure, you look a little pale? Well, paler than usual." I told her with my voice thick with concern. I grabbed my bowl of mixed fruit and water and waited beside her for Jessica and Mike to grab their trays before we headed to the table. It wasn't so bad now, sitting with them. I told them to just give me space because I didn't like people touching me, and they accept it and were careful not to wrestle near me. So, in the end it worked out. I saw Bella duck her head and peak at the Cullen table and looked over as well to see them laughing at something. The boys were shaking snow out of their hair onto the girls, making fun of each other when their clothes got wet. They looked like they were having a good time today at least. Jessica took notice of Bella's almost discrete looks.
"Bella, what are you staring at?" She asked. I smacked my hand to my forehead at her stupidity. Really? Since I had already been staring with her at the Cullens, I saw Edward's eyes immediately flash over to Bella's. She ducked her head as soon as he looked over. 'Girl don't look away. It won't hurt anything to take in the good looks of him. We all know you like him.' I thought. I heard Edward laugh, what was he laughing at now? I looked back over to him and saw his honey-colored eyes on me. Well now, isn't that just interesting.
"He doesn't look angry at me, does he?" She whispered to us. I looked over to his table. He looked pretty neutral to me. A little frustrated and confused, but neutral and not at all angry. Jessica took the opportunity to answer for all of us.
"No, should he be?" She asked her.
"I don't think he likes me very much." She said to her.
"Well, they don't like anyone, really. The Cullens I mean. They've never gotten close to anyone here." She explained, talking with her hands. 'Hah, I wonder how many times Edward turned her down for a date.' I thought while smirking.
"Stop looking at him! Please!" Bella whispered to Jessica. Mike was talking to the group at the table trying to plan another snowball fight when school ended, and while I was listening in, I could see how much Jessica looked at him. It was clear as day that she really liked the boy and would do anything he wanted to do. It was cute in a dopey teenage love way. I'd never been close to anyone long enough to create a relationship like that, so the concept was foreign to me. Jessica looked happy about the prospect of maybe one day dating him, but for me the idea was out of the window. I couldn't touch someone without throwing a fit, let alone be able to kiss someone or have sex with them. I sighed to myself at the thought. It would be nice, though, to have that kind of connection with someone and for them to care for you like that. I kept to my thoughts during lunch, eating a piece of fruit occasionally, but not listening to any conversation going on at the table for the rest of the lunch hour. Soon enough the bell rang, signaling our next period would begin in five minutes. I gathered up my trash and tidied up my space before following the group towards building 2 for our biology class. Bella kept her head down the entire way there, so I was watching for anything to indicate she was upset.
When we opened the doors of the cafeteria, we all groaned at the sight of rain drizzling down. The snow that had stuck to the ground was washing away quickly, so any snowball fight that Mike had planned was dismissed. 'Of course it was raining in Forks, who would have guessed.' I thought, I was looking forward to playing in the snow again later, it was one of the reminders of home.We finally made it to the biology room, with Mike chatting up a storm to Bella, and when we walked in, Bella let out a breath she was apparently holding in at the sight of an empty lab desk. She made her way to her desk, while I went to the back desk, both of us depositing our bags underneath us. I glanced over and saw she was drawing on her notebook, head down, hair creating a halo around her face. To my right, I caught a glimpse of paper white skin and saw it was Edward in all his glory walking with a straight back towards Bella, eyes never leaving her. 'That's…intense' I thought, watching as he sat down next to her, chair scraping across the floor louder than necessary. I watched them until Mr. Banner came in apologizing for being late. He went around the room, handing out microscopes and different slides.
"Today we will be examining the onion root on these slides. I want all of you to identify the phases of mitosis until the class ends! Good luck everyone!" Mr. Banner said.
The class worked together with the partners they sat with, but since I was by myself, I went to work alone. I had gotten better with Bella's tutorage, but I was still slacking in some areas. One of those areas happened to be the stages of mitosis. I kept my book on the empty stool next to me and referenced the pictures with the slides in front of me. I kept glancing up at the front of the class to make sure I wouldn't get caught with my book out. There were only five slides in total, but it took me the entire period to identify them all, since I'm positive some were wrong. Because let's be honest here, they all looked the same to me. When the nasally bell sounded throughout school, I heard a chair scrape back and looked up just in time to see Edward's bronze hair leaving the classroom. I looked to Bella and our eyes met, she looked at me with wide doe eyes, her mouth in a small 'o'. I picked up my bag and met Bella at the front of the room, walking our way to gym class where we would both participate today.
"What was all that about? From where I was sitting, it looked like you guys were getting on really good today." I said to her. She hitched her messenger bag on her shoulder some more, tripping over her own feet in the process before thinking of her answer.
"I dunno, I mean he was talking to me the whole class period. And he wasn't mad with me. I did ask him about his eyes, though, so that might be why he ran off in such a hurry. But I asked about them way earlier." She said to me. I raised an eyebrow at that.
"What about his eyes?" I asked her.
"Well, when I first saw him, his eyes were pitch black and now they're a beautiful honey gold color." She let out the most girly sigh I've ever heard.
"You either have it bad for that boy, or you're extremely frustrated. Which one is it?" I asked her. I couldn't help but laugh at the offended look she gave me.
"For your information, neither. Well…both?" This caused me to laugh harder. She rolled her eyes and speed walked to gym to get away from me. When I got to the gym a minute later my sides were aching from laughing so hard and the glare that Bella was throwing my way didn't helping matters any more. Coach Clapp made us all go dress out with the instructions to play badminton today. I hate badminton since it's too hard for me to hit the birdie. With all disregards for my safety, I teamed up with Bella before Mike could make his way to her and together, we hit each other with the racket more than the birdie, but that was alright. After gym, we both changed and made our way to her old truck and got ready to pull out, when a flash of silver came tearing through the parking lot. Bella slammed on the brakes, making the truck stop before hitting a stray Toyota. Looking up with a glare on my face, I saw Edward in his foreign car, shaking with laughter as he sped out of the lot. 'What a dick'