Chapter Five

First Day

Ainsley

"Ainsley, it's time to get up." Rob calls, gently shaking my shoulder. Sadly, even this gentle movement results in a jolt of pain. I curse as I pry my eyes open.

"It's your first day. How do you feel?" Rob asks.

"Nervous as shit." I reply, hauling myself up off the sofa bed.

Rob laughs and gestures for me to get ready. "I'll make you some breakfast. What do you want?"

"Eggs and toast, please." He shouldn't be able to mess that up.

I begin to get dressed. Pull on jeans. I say pull not because they are tight, but because my fingers are so stiff that they will hardly bend this morning. Throw on a shirt, one that's at least kind of nice looking. Lift my arm to brush out my curls. My elbow stings and my shoulder throbs.

I down the pills I have to take for my arthritis and dig into breakfast. Rob is reading the news on his phone while nursing a cup of coffee.

"You ready?" he asks after I finish eating.

"Yep. Let's get this over with."

I force myself to walk as normally as I possibly can into the office. There, the secretary passes over a small folder. I lean against the wall outside the office while I flip through it. My schedule, a map and the student handbook. I pull out my schedule and glance over it.

First period: Algebra II, Lowe, 132

Second Period: American History, Woodburn, 150

Third Period: Phys Ed, Chadwic

Fourth Period:, Chemistry, Beyers, 213

Lunch

Fifth Period: Art, Colt, 317

Sixth Period: English, Bruno, 455

Homeroom 11B, Sanches, 128

Locker: 199

Combination: 24-57-12

As it turns out, my locker is right next to my homeroom. I lucked out there. The only bad part is that by the time I've walked to homeroom, it's too late for me to visit my locker if I want to the the first one in. If I'm the first one in, nobody will see me struggle to my seat.

Algebra is next. Dr. Lowe, the teacher, points me to a seat next to a guy named Quil.

"Hi, new girl."

"Hi." I lower myself into my seat, ignoring my aching body.

"Ainsley, right?"

"Yeah." I pull out my math notebook and a pen.

Thankfully, Dr. Lowe doesn't ask me to introduce myself. I wait until everyone else is standing up to leave before I force myself up. Did anybody see that? No. I don't think so.

Mr. Woodburn and Mr. Beyers, sadly, make me go through the whole introducing myself to the class bullshit. I stand at the front of the room, hoping nobody can tell I'm nervous.

"What's your name, age, where are you from, and one fun fact about yourself?"

"I'm Ainsley. I'm sixteen, and I'm from Atlanta. I want to be an ER nurse."

Once the teacher nods, I slump into my seat with relief. He pulls up some problems on the board. Math is not my strong suit, but I struggle through.

I swing by my locker before third period. I try to work my stiff fingers around the lock, before giving up. I force my stiff fingers down towards my wrist and then back out. I do it three more times before I can actually get my fingers loose enough to work the lock. I put in my combination, and then yank hard on the knob to open it. Nothing. I try it again.

"Dammit!" I whisper shout, and slam my fist against the locker. Pain radiates up my fist, all the way up to my shoulder. "Fuck."

"I don't think hitting and cursing at it is going to make it open any better." The voice comes from behind me.

"What the fuck?" I whirl around, ready to cuss out the dick who thought it would be cool to sneak up behind me and scare the shit out of me.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." The guy says, meeting my gaze. And then his eyes widen, a dazed expression crossing his face.

"Yo! Space cadet! Come in." I wave my hand in front of his face a couple times.

"Right. Sorry." He thrusts out his gigantic hand. "I'm Seth. Seth Clearwater."

"Ainsley Snyder." I inwardly brace for the extra tight handshakes normal people like to give. Seth is no exception, squeezing my hand tightly in his. Pain. I force myself not to react.

I turn to try my locker combo again. Finally, the damn door pops open, nearly hitting me in the face in the process.

"Great. That's exactly what I need today, a black eye." Seth's hand shoots out, catching the door before it can whack me in the face. "Thanks."

"Anytime." He watches as I swap my textbook for my gym clothes. I don't know if I'll actually participate, probably not, but I should at least be prepared. I double check that I have my phone in my pocket and then slam the door and clear the lock.

"Do you have a doctor's note?" Coach Chadwic asks. Dammit. No.

"Not with me."

"Then I'm sorry. You'll have to participate. I can't excuse you for a disease I can't prove you have. We're running laps right now. Get to it."

Pain follows me with every time my feet hit the ground. Chadwic makes us run five laps and then split up to play basketball. PAIN. That's the only way I can describe it.

Fuck lunch. I stumble into Nurse Clearwater's office. Hopefully, she'll let me lie down. And give me some Tylenol.

Nurse Clearwater is alone, thankfully. Even better: she doesn't mind if I sleep away my lunch period. One of the lesser known symptoms of arthritis is fatigue. And I am really feeling that right now.

The rest of my classes drag on in a blur. Neither good nor bad. Before I know it, the final bell rings and I have to figure out how I'm getting back home.

Since all the students, besides me, live on the Res, I can't get a ride with them to Forks. Not only that, but it's five miles back. I'm fucked.

A/n: Hey, guys. I'm sorry I've taken so long to update. I'm in college and am working on an original story as well. so, here's the deal: If we can get to seventeen reviews by Saturday, I'll update then. If not, it'll be on Sunday. Later!

Lauren.

Replies to Reviews:

Twilightfanjm: I love Paul, too. I'm not sure if Jacob with appear yet. What do you think. I hope you like this chapter, too; please review and let me know.

Aquilae Ravenclaw: I'm glad you still love this. I hope you like this chapter and I hope I did the first meeting thing justice. Please review and let me know.