Chapter Five:

Monday, September 4th, 2000

Dad pulled into the parking lot, right beside the front office. I left the Jeep unlocked as I darted inside, hoping I made it in enough time to get my class schedule. The office had called asking me to come in about thirty minutes early.

School started in an hour, so I should be fine.

Inside the small office was warm, with bright sterile white lights. There was ugly brown tile and faded grey walls. The plants, growing in mismatched pots, were the only beautiful part of the decorations.

I must have stood there looking confused long enough for the office lady to notice me. She slapped her hands on the desk to get my attention.

"Hello! Hello!"

I held up a hand and waved, tentatively. "Hello… I'm looking—My name is Bella…"

"I know who you are, sweetie," the woman said. "My name is Miss Carla and I am just waiting for your schedule to print out. I have everything else for you right here."

Miss Carla reminded me of the Little Mermaid. She had extremely long red hair, in the same Disney red. She had painted her nails the same green as her dress and lipstick. There was even a little fish-shaped name plate on her desk.

"Feeling a little outta sorts?" Miss Carla asked.

"Yeah. Actually."

"I used to live in Los Angeles," Miss Carla said. "It is different here."

"It feels like a different dimension," I said.

"It will for a while."

Miss Carla was right.

I simply walked into the office like nothing could ever go wrong. It was weird. No metal detectors, no guards, no one telling me I needed to show them what was inside my bag. It was an "open campus." Dad didn't seem to think it was weird and he was in police work. Still, it gave me pause and I hoped I would get used to it soon.

There was no glass separating me from Miss Carla. The counter was two desks pushed together, covered in mismatched wire baskets, hand labelled with NEWS, SICK FORMS, LATE NOTES, FIELD TRIP SCHEDULES, and PASSES.

"Okay, so this is what you will need to have Charlie fill out for us," Miss Carla said. "It is going to be your class schedule, student handbook… Sign here and here to let us know you will return the books at the end of the semester. Also, your allergies if that matters."

"Thank you."

"Do you need me to go over your schedule?" Miss Carla asked. "We have a map on the back, but I can have someone guide you around if you need. Everyone here is helpful, so you could just ask if you don't want to stand out too much."

Miss Carla was already putting papers into a Manila folder for me, without even asking to see ID.

In Phoenix, I would have been asked for an ID, two back up IDs, a blood sample, and a drug test. Amelia, who had started school last week, told me they installed metal detectors and made everyone carry clear backpacks.

I told her thank you.

I headed back to the car, to give Dad the paperwork. He was waiting with the windows down. I sat in the car with him for a moment, enjoying the cool sunny weather. He signed the needed paperwork and said he would hand it in to Miss Carla himself.

There were some things I would need to have teachers sign, but for the most part I could handle the rest on my own. Dad said he would make copies of all my paperwork when I got home, so I would have a backup.

Then he had me get out and head towards my first class. I still had some time before I needed to head anywhere, so I sat down and highlighted according to the Bella Swan Method.

I made sure the colours matched the path I had to take on the back. I thought I would be fine, but my lack of directional sense told me otherwise. I was sure someone would help me find my classes, even if it was to pretend to listen so they could tell someone my deep, dark secrets.

My phone alarm went off.

I had ten minutes before class started.

I realized most of the students had already arrived, as the parking lot had filled up significantly.

I set off to my first class.

I shouldn't have been surprised that the campus was made from several old houses converted into classrooms. I thought they might have been old hunting cabins, knowing the area. There were eighteen buildings total, surrounding the head office building. The only new building was the gym, which was much bigger than the student population needed.

Dad said there were about three hundred students, total. Which, again, was a bit of a culture shock.

When I looked pathetic enough, for long enough, a girl detached herself from her group and approached me. She had on an orange and black jacket, with an anime written across the back in kanji.

I think her name was Anna. She spoke so quickly I couldn't really catch most of what she said. She did take my arm, wave to her friends, and lead me towards Homeroom. She left me at the door, wished me goodbye, and was gone.

Homeroom was small.

While it wasn't raining, most people had on slickers. I took mine off and went to hang it up with the others. I was happy to see the black coat didn't really stand out. I wasn't super interested in being the centre of attention if I didn't have to be.

I approached the teacher, holding out the slip Miss Carla gave me.

"Um, hello."

The man looked up from his desk and smiled. "Ah, you must be Isabella. I'm Mr Mason. This is going to be your homeroom and first class, lucky you"

He got out a syllabus and handed it to me.

"Anything I should know before you sit down?"

"I prefer Bella."

"That is easy enough to remember," Mr Mason said. "You can take any empty seat. The books on the desk are for you. I just ask you return them in decent condition."

I took the first empty seat in the back of the room. I looked at the small stack of books in front of me and sighed. It was going to be the classics. I hated Shakespeare, which was the first book we had to read. At least we were doing Hamlet, a book I had not read yet.

When the class ended, I felt like I would generally like Mr Mason's class. He was, unfortunately, what Renee would call "A Beige Cash Cow." The type of guy she thought was unfortunately boring, only good to make sure she had enough to pay the bills.

I didn't think he was boring, so much as forgettable. He must be close to retirement because he was asleep on his feet. I hoped that when we finally got to real class, with real discussions, he would be a little more animated. Then again, I was exhausted just from listening to him drone on about the syllabus.

He likely repeated himself hundreds of times, to hundreds of bored faces, over his long career. I would be bored, too.

Eric looked like his parents still dressed him. He had on a white polo and khaki pants. Even his shoes looked a little too clean to belong to a 14-year-old boy.

I told him to call me Bella, which he refused to do until he saw how angry it was making me. The way he was saying Isabella was nightmare fuel.

He did show me where my next class was. Which was fine, I guess. I was overjoyed to learn we didn't have the same schedule. He was in building seven, while I was in building six with Jefferson, the government teacher.

Luckily one of the girls in my class, Amy, had the next class with me. She didn't seem interested in being friends, but she was a thousand times better than Eric.

I had a few classes I knew I would need tutoring in. Trigonometry, with Mr. Varner, was going to be one of them. My brain was already shutting down the moment he opened his mouth.

I started recognizing a few people, at least by the outfits they were wearing. I was horrible with faces and names. People did introduce themselves, ask about my schedule, and how I was liking the rain. I had seen a lot of my classmates around town during the summer but hadn't really bonded with anyone. No one was a friend, just friendly. Which was fine, I wasn't super social in the first place. Some of the people I did talk to, who lived on my street, weren't in my class at all. They were either older or much younger.

Still, it was nice. People were trying to at least make me feel comfortable. I hoped, eventually, I might make a few friends.