I pulled in front of the first building, the parking lot seemed almost completely empty save for a few vehicles parked in random spots. It definitely appeared different compared to our school back in Arizona. Where were the metal detectors? The fences? The onslaught of security? In a town this small it was probably unnecessary and in comparison more than likely it would be overwhelming to have anything similar.
The sound of clanking and the roar of Bella's truck filled the air as she pulled into the space beside me and parked before getting out.
"Thanks for the ride." She said playfully glaring at me as I hopped out of my car.
"No problem, Bells." I said laughing as I slung my bag over my shoulder before shutting the car door behind me.
She shook her head before looking at the building in front of us seeming to be considering turning back around and going home.
"Come one, Bells. The sooner we go in the sooner we hurry up and get home." I said grabbing her arm and dragging her down the stone path leading to the door. She stopped just short of the door and took a deep breath before nodding her head towards me before I opened the door for us. I released her arm and let her enter first following behind her.
The temperature was definitely warmer and seemed to be cozy, the first person my eyes landed on was a plump woman with red hair, glasses and a plain purple t-shirt. I stole a glance over to Bella who seemed to regretting her choice in clothing already as she looked over the woman.
The woman looked up from her computer, "Hello, can I help you?"
I gave her a small smile as walked towards her, "Yes, actually. I'm Sophia Swan and that's my sister Isabella." I said pointing my thumb over to Bella who had just made her way over to the spot beside me.
I could see her yes widen behind the frames of her glasses, she was expecting us, this was probably the highlight of her week. We were the chief's daughters finally returned home at last.
"Of course," she said as she dug through the stacks of papers littering her desk in search of something before she finally found whatever she had been in search of. " I have both you young ladies's schedules right here and two maps for each of you." She said pulling out numerous papers and spread them out on the desk.
She went over our schedules with us as well as highlighting the best paths to take to each class on our maps and gave us each a slip of paper for our teachers to sign which we were supposed to bring back to the office at the end of the day. She gave us a final smile and wished us luck on our first day of school in Forks. I gave a genuine smile while Bella's seemed to appear forced on.
When we headed back out to our vehicles students had begun to arrive. After a quick exchange I got into my car and she her truck and began following the line of traffic. Looking over the cars littering the parking lot it was easy to tell most the vehicles here were older models, though there was a shiny Volvo which seemed to stand out among the others. The cars here were a big contrast to those in Arizona, we had lived in one of the few lower income neighborhoods. It had been common to see a new Mercedes or Porsche in the student parking lot back home.
I pulled into an empty spot and waited for Bella to pull in beside me, the roar of her truck quickly being shut off as she removed the key. I could see a few glances being thrown towards our vehicles, the roar of her truck having drawn attention to us.
I had already gotten out of my small car, but she stayed strapped into hers, holding the map in front of her face as she quickly studied before taking a deep breath and finally exiting the car.
She had pulled her hood up, already attempting to hide her face and blend into the crowd. I won't lie, I was probably going to make that difficult considering the bright jacket I had grabbed before we left.
We made our way down the teenager crowded sidewalk scanning the buildings we passed, reached the cafeteria we separated as she left for building three for English while I headed out to building five for Algebra 2
Finding the building proved fairly easy and it was actually nice that the class wasn't quite as crowded as it was back in Arizona. The class only consisted of about twenty kids, all of which had seemed overly curious about the newcomer otherwise known as myself.
Bella and I had two classes together, Spanish and Gym, in our Spanish class she and I were approached by a girl named Jessica who others looked at in awe when she spoke to us. She came on as overly friendly at first, but it honestly seemed as though she cared more about talking with the new kids rather than actually making friends in my opinion.
She had invited us to sit with her during lunch with her and and her friends. When we entered the cafeteria it seemed to quiet down as curious eyes followed our movements. We ended up sitting at a table with several of her friends, one being a boy who seemed all to eager to make our acquaintance.
I tuned out the table's conversation as my eyes wandered across the room before they landed on a table situated far off in a corner as far as it could be from our table.
There were five of them sitting there. All looking into different directions, none looking in any particular spot nor eating any of the untouched food on their trays. None of them spoke to the other, but none of them appeared awkward in any sense.
Unlike the rest of the students, not one of them was staring at Bella and I. None of the looked alike, save the two blondes, though it seemed that was their main similarity.
There were three boys and two girls, of the three boys, one was large with bulging muscles with dark, curly hair and judging by looks could have been the eldest of the boys. One of the other boys was lanky without the noticeable muscles and had a head full of messy bronze colored hair, he appeared to be the youngest of the group, much more boyish. Finally, the last of the boys was tall and lean, but still had noticeable muscles along with honey blond hair.
The girls were complete opposites. The tall one had a figure similar to a model if not better and an air of confidence even from afar, her hair fell past her shoulders in blond waves. The other girl was much shorter in comparison, with a pixie like appearance, thin to the extreme with small features. Her hair was black, cut short and spiking out in every direction.
Though at first glance they were completely different if you kept looking it was devastatingly obvious. They were all a chalky pale tone, somehow paler than even Bella. Each had a pair of dark, seemingly almost black eyes despite the contrasting colors in their hair. Though each part of their faces seemed perfect, underneath their eyes had dark, bruise like shadows.
As I continued to examine the group the small girl stood, tray in hand, despite the uneaten food still resting on it and made her way to the garbage. My eyes couldn't help but widen at the way she walked, she seemed to have the grace of a ballerina or even the sort of walk one would see on a runway. After she dumped her tray she quickly left the room at an almost impossible speed to be normal.
Pulling my gaze away I looked over to Bella to find her already watching the table, her brows furrowed as she bit her bottom lip obviously thinking the very things I had been.
"Who are they?" She asked turning to Jessica who looked up as though she seemed to already know who she had been referring to. My eyes had returned to the group and as she spoke, the youngest of the table looked up, meeting her eyes before looking at Bella and then finally meeting my gaze.
Unlike the two beside me, I returned his look, not looking away and instead raising a brow at him. After a moment passed he looked away, small frown on his lips before his mouth subtly moved as though he were speaking. His hands had begun to pick apart the uneaten bagel on his tray, tearing it into small pieces.
Jessica let out an embarrassed giggle, she had looked away and instead stared down at the table as Bella did as well.
"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live with Doctor Cullen and his wife." She said under her breath.
Bella nodded as she spoke, looking back up at the group.
They all had unique names, older ones, but still rather interesting ones. I had to say that Rosalie was genuinely a beautiful name as was Alice.
"They are... very nice looking." Bella said pausing in between the words.
I snorted," That's the understatement of the year."
I saw the corner of the younger male's lips quirk up as I spoke and I couldn't help but wonder if he had heard me, but that'd be impossible from this distance. he was probably listening to his brother's words.
Jessica squealed over me, "Yes!" she let out yet another giggle as she looked back up towards the table as well. "They're all together though— Emmett and Rosalie and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together." Her voice was full of obvious shock though there was something else underneath, maybe jealousy?
"Which ones are the Cullens?" Bella asked. "They don't look related…"
"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, twins — the blondes — and they're foster children."
"They look a little old for foster children." Bella said skeptically turning to look at Jessica.
"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that."
"That's really kind of nice — for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything."
"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly, and it seemed that she didn't like the doctor and his wife for some reason judging by her bitter tone. With the glances she was throwing at their adopted children, I could guess the reason was jealousy as I had thought previously. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids though." she added, as though that took away from their kindness.
I couldn't help but wonder how long she had been watching them herself, she seemed to have quite a good amount of background information on the family.
Bella stole a glance back to their table practically bubbling over with curiosity. I couldn't help but think that this could keep her mind occupied while we stayed here.
"Have they always lived in Forks?" I asked.
I doubted it with the amount of running around we had done in the past while visiting here either of us would have noticed them at least once.
"No," Jessica said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to new arrivals like us. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."
"Alaska?" I asked looking over to her That actually sounded pretty interesting, I wonder why they moved?
"Yeah, it's a bit weird to be honest." She said shrugging.
"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" Bella asked looking over at their table only to find that said male was already looking at her, his face one of frustration.
"What's wrong with his face?" I snorted looking between the two. As I spoke his eyes shot over to me as if he still expected me to look away and I continued to stare back refusing to look away.
Jessica ignored my comment and answered her, "That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." She sniffed and I couldn't help but smirk.
"So, when'd he turn you down?" I asked leaning back in my seat, raising my brow as I awaited her response.
"What?" She rapidly blinked obviously not expecting the question to come from me.
"Did I stutter?" Bella was looking away from us both, but I had already heard the snort she had let out after I had asked the question.
She ignored me the rest of the lunch period opting for talking with Bella instead.
The rest of lunch went by smoothly other than that and once the bell rang we went our separate ways heading off to our classes.