A/N: You ever meet someone and know instantly you'd be best friends?
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters I'm just taking them for a spin.
Alice approached her first period art class nearly bouncing with anticipation. She had tried all of the night before to entice a vision of her day at school and she had a vision of every class except Art. Logically that meant she had the wolf in her Art class.
The prospect of interacting with someone whose future she couldn't see was something to be celebrated. As much as Alice loved her gift it did take some of the fun and mystery out of life. But this wolf represented a chance for Alice to be surprised from time to time and Alice refused to let such an opportunity pass her by unexplored.
Alice paused as she entered the room and found it overflowing with the unmistakable scent of Alpha. "Damn that's ripe." She stopped breathing and was thankful that the seat next to her target was near a window. Unfortunately, that seat was currently occupied by Lauren Mallory.
Alice walked over glaring down at Lauren. "Move," Alice commanded simply and, like magic, Lauren was gone and Alice was seated after opening the window wide. She could hear shuffling behind her.
"My name is Alice Cullen." She said, turning to offer her hand to the wolf beside her. "We're going to be best friends." She started watching as Bella paused in gathering her books. 'Oops." Alice thought and giggled as she realized Bella had intended to move as commanded.
"Isabella Swan." Came the hesitant reply as the girl cautiously sat back down. Alice waited but it seemed no handshake was forthcoming so she dropped her hand.
"Pleased to meet you," Alice replied lowly. "Pretty strong scent you got there...you claiming the art room?" Alice teased with a smile but it fell as she took in the fear plainly evident in Bella's eyes.
"What, no no!" Bella whispered urgently, eyes going wide. "I didn't mean to claim anything. I didn't know this was your territory!" Bellas breathing increased alarmingly.
Alice thought Bella might have a full anxiety attack any moment the way she was nearly hyperventilating. "Woah! No, calm down." She said gently. "I was only joking. It's the art room, it's no one's territory." Alice was confused at the panicked response so unlike any Alpha, she'd ever met.
Bella blushed as her heart rate returned to normal.
Alice wanted to keep becoming Isabella's best friend but they both turned to pay attention as the teacher entered and began the lesson. Bella took a deep breath and took in the very colorful woman before her.
"Class today is an exciting day!" Mrs. Diaz began with her usual enthusiasm. Bella thought she looked like a humming bird with the way her arms flitted around as she spoke. "We have so much to do, so much. You'll be choosing partners for the next project and we have a new student with us today!"
Mrs. Diaz clapped and jumped in place momentarily before dancing her way over to Bella and Alice's table. "Why don't you stand up and tell everyone a little about yourself dear?" She said as she, and the entire class, stared at Bella.
Bella swiftly felt the blush return to her cheeks as the room fell silent. Time seemed to slow as she stood and peered at the faces of her new classmates. She felt sweat collect on her palms as she felt her usual charming mask fall into place. "My name is Isabella Swan. I'm originally from Louisiana but I've been travelling around the country with my dad for the last few years." She felt a lump form in her throat as she went through the backstory Charlie had her practice so many times over the years. "Fun Fact about me: my name is carved into at least 1 bench in every State park in the country." Bella sat down when she was done and breathed a sigh of relief.
"That is a fun fact! An appreciation for nature is a lovely trait to have Isabella, thanks for sharing." Mrs. Diaz gave Bella a kind smile before returning to the front of the class. "And that ties directly into our next unit and project! Forks is such a beautiful place teeming with an abundance of nature. For your next project you'll be working in pairs to capture some of that beauty."
The volume in the room increased as the students began whispering and separating into pairs. Mrs. Diaz rolled her eyes with a fond smile before speaking again, louder, to be heard over her students desperate dash to not be partnerless. "You're medium will also be nature. You and your partner will create some visual representation of our lovely biome using the material it provides you!" The volume in the room increased again as the students took up with ideas and inspiration.
"Eyes up kids!" Mrs. Diaz cheered and clasped her hands together glancing around the room making sure she had everyone's attention. "This project will account for a significant portion of your grade. In addition to the visual aspect you'll need to write a paper analyzing your work and you'll be presenting in front of the class." The art teacher spoke as she handed out the project guidelines to each row.
At the mention of a presentation several students began voicing their distaste. "Yes, yes everybody hates public speaking." Mrs. Diaz chuckled. "Best to get used to it now then! Don't want your first speech to be on your wedding day or graduation!" Her words had the desired effect; a small chuckle passed through the room as the students imagined the offered scenarios. "Now go ahead and take the rest of this period to choose partners and discuss your projects."
It seemed to Bella that some unspoken signal had been given because every student seemed to stand in unison and begin shuffling around the room. The volume of chatter increased dramatically as everyone took free liberty to abandon whispering. With mounting panic Bella realized that she'd been assigned a group project in her first art class when she knew absolutely no one.
"Want to be partners?" Alice asked the pale wolf sitting next to her who looked to be on the verge of hyperventilating.
Bella's panic paused and was replaced with shock as it registered that someone supernatural wanted to partner with her. She turned to look at Alice studying the girls twinkling eyes and puppy dog pout. She glanced quickly around the room seeing that everyone had paired off before turning back to Alice.
"She's only asking you because there's no one else. She'd probably rather work alone." Bella did her best to swallow the paranoia accompanied by the voice echoing in her head. She focused again on Alice's pout laughing slightly as the other girl clasped her hands together, batting her eyes dramatically.
"Don't forget she said she wants to be your best friend." Bella had to admit she was in no position to turn down friends. Especially friends who could know she was a wolf and not die for it.
"Sure. I'll be your partner; looks like you're stuck with me anyways." Bella finally replied cringing at her lame joke.
Alice didn't seem to notice as she jumped up, pulling Bella into a barely human speed joyful jumpfest. "Yes, yes, yes!" She cried in Bella's ear before letting the girl go. "We're gonna do great. Well I hope we are. I'm not sure because I can't see it but that's the exciting part of all this right?!"
"Uhhh I guess?" Bella replied. Alice seemed to have switched into hyper drive and Bella was barely able to keep up with her conversation.
"So you're new in Forks right? So I think we should try to capture how you're seeing the beauty of our nature with virgin eyes-"
"How do you know I'm a virgin!?" Bella whispered only slightly too loud she realized as some of the surrounding tables snickered and took up less art centered whispering.
"I meant that you've never seen our woods before so you probably have a fresh take. Man you're a dork. My best friend is a dork." Alice said, holding in her laughter, as a blush crept up Bella's face.
"Oh." Bella slumped down in her chair in an effort to shake the hot gaze of her peers. "That sounds like a good idea. We can go hiking in the area and find a focus for our project. The handout says we have a few weeks to work on this so we can take our time with it." Bella felt her embarrassment fall away as she got more involved in planning the project for the rest of the period.
When the end of period bell rang they had plans to spend Saturday morning together hiking the area around forks. Alice also invited Bella over for lunch offering to give her a proper tour of the town afterwards. Bella had reluctantly agreed with some slight begging and pouting from Alice. To Bella's continuing surprise Alice seemed to genuinely want to spend time with her.
A/N: And that's chapter 7. R & R.
