Chapter Thirty Seven

As always, the first day of school left me feeling nervous to the point of nausea, and barely able to sleep the night before. Somehow I always managed to pull it together and be able to function through the day. I stared up at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, the events of a couple weeks ago still rang in my mind. After Edward had left me alone, I had plugged my phone in and instantly received over twenty texts from Gaia. At first my heart stopped at thinking she knew everything, or worse, was hurt. Thankfully Paul followed the rules and didn't breathe a supernatural word to Gi. She had gushed over the date, and then also prodded me for details about mine. I forked over as much as I could before I had to start lying, I didn't know how to explain Edward showing up, so as far as she knew I caught a ride home with Charlie. I knew I could get away with it, because Charlie Swan wasn't ever one to really question us. He assumed the best of us, and assumed we were self-sufficient enough to not get into too much trouble on our own.

Now I stood in my living room, a to-go cup of coffee gripped tight in both my hands, and my keys dangling from my pinkie. It was August twenty fifth, which meant there was only three weeks until I could take my drivers test. The freedom that September would bring was so deeply relieving to me, the fifteenth would mark my sixteenth birthday, and that meant only one thing. I was another year closer to putting Forks in my rear view for college.

I began running through my mental checklist, my book bag hanging heavy on my shoulders, loaded with items that once in my locker, wouldn't leave until the final day of school again. I tapped the toe of my new shoes as I thought, which were extra high converse hightops, I stared at the white laces that started just a few inches south of the hem of my shorts.

Once the checklist was done in my head, I threw one more glance to the reflection in the back of the curio cabinet that sat in the dining room that only gathered dust. I stared at the reflection, still taking in the drastic change I had undergone after my last Edward encounter. In addition to the shoulder length hair, which now had gained about an inch since the impulsive cut that left it dusting the tops of my shoulders when straight, I had a neon green streak peaking through the dense layers. I had been talked down from the raccoon style I had seen on Avril, I was particularly glad Gi had gotten me from that ledge. I took another glance, adjusting my black flannel over the black tank top one more time before heading out the door to see Gaia pulling up at exactly 7:15 like she said she would.

"Are you ready?" She asked as I threw my bag in her backseat and then crawled in the front.

"Uhh… yes?" I looked at myself, questioning my fashion choice suddenly.

"Not for school, I like your outfit, I meant for seeing E for the first time since last year. It's been three months." She refused to say Edward's name sheerly on principal, Gaia was truly a better friend than I could ever be.

"Oh, that…" I scrambled mentally to find a sufficient enough response to her question. "I mean, as ready as I'll ever be? As long as we aren't lab partners or something I can't see it being a problem." Gi nodded as she pulled from my driveway, immediately launching into the game plan for yearbook and newspaper this year. Once we pulled up to the school, reality began setting in full force, and I had to push the panic down.

I walked through the front doors of the admin building, ready to pick up my schedule for the year as well as my new school provided chromebook. Gaia and I had shown up early so we could snag the good chromebooks that didn't have broken or stuck keys. We also needed to head off all the traffic to the yearbook room, between her and I we could curb all the questions about scheduling. There was always at least one photographer that wanted to make it clear that they couldn't take photos for the football games because they were on the cheer team, or because they had a prior engagement on Friday nights. There was also always one senior who wanted to make it clear only they got to make the senior pages, even though they knew that it was run by the juniors. It was annoying but we learned quickly how to deal with it last year.

I pulled the yellow paper that served as my schedule to skim for my locker combo and number, hoping it was the same as last year. My eyes danced until they found the words, Locker number: 559. Shit, that wasn't the one I had last year, I'd have to go searching already. I parted with Gaia, agreeing to meet her at 7:45 to head off the traffic and help her start set up.

Once the locker was located, I skimmed the paper once more for my combo, shocked at its simplicity. Locker combination: 1 • 5 • 15. Once my shock was settled, I entered the combo and opened it quickly, the smell of cleaner still strong. I waved my hand in front of my face, wishing the smell of bleach would disperse faster, and began setting my locker up. I had a rack that would elevate my books from the bottom, then a small bin that would fit my bookbag should I choose to leave it in there, which I usually did if it wasn't raining. After I got my little door decorations set up on the inside, I could feel the day looking up. With a glance at my phone, I knew I had to head off to Gi and collect the camera that would capture first day pictures.

"I thought you'd be late, I'm not going to lie." Gi said as she rifled through her desk at the front of the room when I stepped through the door.

"Ye have little faith." I shook my head and made my way to the camera cabinet, entering the combo that Gaia never bothered to change from last year. "Who all is getting first day duty?"

"You, Ang, Eliza, and Luke." Gaia said with a quick glance to the open chromebook that illuminated the dark corner of the room. She hadn't bothered to turn the lights on since no yearbook class began before second period besides hers.

"Only four of us? What happened to the junior rep? Luke is a senior this year but isn't Eliza only a freshman?" I thought back to the group of students Gaia and I had vetted for yearbook in the last month of school. It was the same vetting process that made it clear that Gaia had more potential to run the yearbook than any of the senior candidates last year, especially since none of them were doing it by choice.

"Eliza is a freshman, you're right." She clenched her jaw like she was hiding something from me as she rifled through the desk again.

"Gaia Beverly." I pulled her middle name and saw her head shoot up and her eyes widen. "Who else is getting a camera?"

"Well, as you know, last year we didn't have a lot of sophomores…" She stood up and straightened the papers she had pulled from the drawer. "So I had to do some last minute recruiting, and you weren't a part of that process since it was mostly by teacher recommendation."

"Who is it, Gaia?" I crossed my arms as I set the cameras down on the table.

"Based purely off of the recommendation of both the art teacher and the principal… Rosalie… Hale." I felt a dagger of ice shoot through my stomach as I heard her name. "You won't ever have to work together I promise! She does mostly art photography, so… oh." Realization hit her as she remembered my focus on art, and that the reason I never took the photos is because I was a part of the events. "Ari, I'm so sorry!"

"No, it's fine. Just hand me the label maker so I can assign the five camera's this year." I dropped my eyes to the equipment and held my hand out expectantly. "It's not your fault after all, you're stretched incredibly thin, you don't need to be in photography again this year." Once the cameras were assigned, distributed, and the buses pulled up, I finally took a glance at my schedule again, part of me hoping it would be an easy start to the day.

First period (8:15am-9am)

Monday: English AP: Ms. Hanley Room 801

Tuesday: English AP: Ms. Hanley Room 801

Wednesday: Studyhall: Coach Hunt

Thursday: Biology CP: Mr. Wyatt Room 483

Friday: Biology CP: Mr. Wyatt Room 483

The school was switching to a block schedule, and it was easily the most annoying thing I've ever experienced. I'm sure I'll love it when the year is over, but for now? Awful. We were granted five minutes to move from class to class, and there were still two lunch periods. Group one, which was freshman and sophomores, then group two which was juniors and seniors. It just worked out that way because of when the upperclassman periods were, and typically if any of them were to have short days it would be after the fourth period. It Dawned on me that this meant the Cullen's would spend this year with separate lunches. Rose and Emmett were Juniors, while Alice, Jasper, and Edward were Sophomores. I guess that's how it goes when they graduate anyways… I thought to myself.

With another glance at my schedule to confirm my first period schedule, I made my way to my AP English class. Last year I had been in college prep, but my test scores had qualified me for the bump up in curriculum. Unfortunately for me, before Edward and I had called it quits, I was informed that he also received the bump up. This brought me a new form of anxiety, where I found myself worrying if I would experience a repeat of last year, and be sat next to Edward, or really any of the Cullen's.

I took a deep breath outside the door of my English class, stepping in just seconds before the tardy bell sounded. Of course, there was only one seat left in the classroom, and to my dismay, that seat sat next to Edward Cullen. He sat stiff, his eyes glancing up to me in all their amber glory, some relief found me as I realized this meant his mood would be marginally better than what it was during our last encounter. The relief was short lived however as I sat and felt the pain was over me. Every nostalgic memory of our shared time in English last year washed over me like a tidal wave of hot iron. This class would be the death of me, and I started every week in it, and the seats we had chosen would be our permanent ones until the second semester.

Second period (9am-10am)

Monday: Choir: Mrs. Keller Room 274

Tuesday: Choir: Mrs. Keller Room 274

Wednesday: Art: Mr. Jay Room 760

Thursday: Yearbook: Editor Gaia Spanò; Monitor Mr. Jay

Friday: Yearbook: Editor Gaia Spanò; Monitor Mr. Jay

My second period schedule brought me relief, I knew none of the Cullens would ever be caught dead in a choir class, but I also knew that I would likely share my Wednesdays with Rose again. I made a dash out of the class as soon as the bell signified it was time to change, leaving Edward behind in the room. As my feet pounded the linoleum of the hall, I glanced at the room number again, confirming I was heading in the correct direction. That was when the next realization hit me, all my yearbook periods would also be spent with Rose.

Never had I wished so powerfully for a sunny winter.

Third period (10am-11am)

Monday: French CP: Mr. Yule Room 314

Tuesday: Yearbook: Editor Gaia Spanò: Monitor Mr. Jay

Wednesday: Ceramics 1: Mr. Jay Room 760

Thursday: Studyhall: Coach Riley

Friday: French CP: Mr. Yule Room 314

I stared in utter disdain at my third period block, it was a mess. For some reason it was the only one that had such a hectic breakdown, and the only one that gave me a repeat teacher for a two hour experience. Granted, I wasn't very upset about having my Art and my Ceramics back to back, both giving me fine arts credits, and helping me work toward graduating with honors. Some painful part of my mind wondered if Rose was also taking ceramics, or if she would remain on the art side of the room for the next two years. That was a question that wouldn't be answered until Wednesday for me, but I found myself curious if I would be spending two whole periods on Mondays free of a Cullen.

I stepped through the door into my French class, and found the disappointing sight, I wasn't free of them for French after all, as a matter of fact, I was out numbered. There in the room sat both Edward and Emmett, and my legs felt like they might give out. Edward had his eyes pinned to the desk, knowing the circle my thoughts were looped in, but Emmett just gave me a half hearted smile as I looked at the seating chart. My heart sank further as I saw how the room had been broken down. We would be in groups of three, and to my dismay that left me in a group with not only Emmett, but Edward too. Suddenly even my loose fitting flannel felt like it was too tight to my body as I collected my french book and sat down at the circular table, my back now facing the door. I was left with only one option to look at other than the boys which was the window that looked out onto the parking lot. Je suis foutu. I thought to myself bitterly as I signed the inside of the book and opened my chromebook to follow the direction on the welcome sheet in the middle of the table.

Fourth period (11am-12pm)

Every day- Lunch (group 1) Cafeteria

***Lunch menu for the following week will be posted on the school website every Thursday, and in the school Newspaper every Friday.

Finally, I had entered the lunch portion of my day, and once I got into the Cafeteria I found Angela and Gaia right away. They had commandeered a table right next to the windows for us, knowing that as creatures of habit we would sit here for the rest of the year. I felt relieved knowing that I would never be forced to sit next to a Cullen during this period, that I could even skip it and hide out in a room that nobody could find me. The idea rang in my head happily as I leaned against Angela's shoulder.

"Long day already?" She asked sweetly as she twisted the green streak around her index finger.

"The longest." I groaned and then snapped a quick and sneaky photo of her with the camera.

"Hey!" She yelped and covered her face.

"Oh that reminds me!" Gaia looked up from her chromebook for the first time since I had sat down, pointing her finger at me in an almost accusing manner. "Have you been taking photos today?"

"Yep, lots of hallway shots so you have filler photos for the collage pages." I Smiled and snapped a photo of her sneakily.

"Bless, thank you, also don't act like I didn't see that." She laughed and returned to her task. It always astounded me that she never slowed down, but I also knew that if I were to sneak behind her I would see she was emailing with Paul in between here planning for the first week's newspaper. "Can I borrow some of those shots for the welcome back edition?" She asked, not looking away from the screen, but raising her eyebrows to let me know it was a question directed at me.

"Yeah, I'll have them in the system tonight for you." I smiled at her, watching her shoulders relax in a silent thank you. After that was settled and we knew our table had been sufficiently claimed, Ang and I made our way to the lunch line.

Fifth period (12pm-1pm)

Monday: P.E.: Coach Hunt Gymnasium

Tuesday: Weightlifting: Coach Riley Weight Room

Wednesday: P.E.: Coach Hunt Gymnasium

Thursday: Weightlifting: Coach Riley Weight Room

Friday: P.E.: Coach Hunt Gymnasium

I stared at my fifth period schedule in pure disgust, annoyed that my schedule would do something so brutal as put me into nothing but physical activity immediately after lunch. Thankfully for me, I had conned them into giving me two credits this year, and the weightlifting classes would count towards my P.E. credits which would in turn make my senior year very easy. I had never seen one of the Cullens in a P.E. class so maybe I would be lucky and not have to deal with any of them two periods in a row.

The silent hope in me that they wouldn't be in any of my remaining classes toyed with my heart, but I knew it was a bust. Instead I shared my fifth period mondays with Jessica Stanley. We had nearly buried the hatchet last year, Jess revealing to me that she had been dealing with a lot in her home life and that she had started projecting on me with help from Laurens general nasty demeanor. Jess and Lauren didn't hang out as much as they used to, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't last long. Lauren hadn't liked me for some mysterious reason since my mother died, and anyone who couldn't be even an ounce respectful during a loss like that was all but done for in my book. I didn't want her to like me at that point.

I felt the day start dragging on me heavily as we got our locker assignments in the locker room, and it didn't lighten up as I sat and listened to the coach try to rally us into signing up for a sports team. For some sick twisted reason Coach Hunt looked at me and thought it would be genius to lobby for me to join the track team when spring came around. "I hate to break it to you, but I don't run."

"Oh come on Jacks! I know you're a surfer, you've got to stay in shape somehow during the downtime." He pandered to me more.

"No really, I'm good, you have to have someone take the photos for the yearbook and the school paper, and I'm on that assignment this year." I raised my brow, expecting him to challenge it.

"Well at least consider trying out for the softball team in spring." He sighed and sent me on my way, resigning to the idea that I wouldn't be taking part in any of his extracurriculars. "Jessica! Have you considered joining the volleyball team?" He walked away from me and towards Jess, Lauren, Tyler, and Mike, three of them were already Lettering in a sport after all.

Sixth period (1pm-2pm)

Monday: History CP: Mr. Cloud Room 450

Tuesday: Geometry Tech: Mrs. Gyato Room 275

Wednesday: Geometry Tech: Mrs. Gyato Room 275

Thursday: Newspaper Room 798: Editor Gaia Spanò: Monitor Ms. Hanley

Friday: History CP: Mr. Cloud Room 450

Finally once sixth period rolled around I was back onto my academics, the reality of the block schedule finally hitting me. I had significantly more classes in this schedule, and while some were only a one semester class, some would only gain days for the last half of the year. I felt the annoyance wash over me as my class got to experience the guinea pig lifestyle of the change. The school board had pushed so hard for this schedule so that we would have more time for electives, then promptly forced us all into electives. I knew Gaia loved it because it gave her a more sturdy of a schedule, hers being entirely different from mine until this point in the day today. I crashed into the seat next to her in our history class, giving a quick glance to see if there were any Cullens settled into this class yet. I felt her hand grip my arm just seconds before my eyes landed on the figures that stepped through the door. Jasper and Alice had entered the room.

This was the first I was seeing Alice in the entire day, same for Jasper, but I felt a particular pain about seeing Alice. I had gotten so close to her, felt such a sisterhood in our interactions, and she still never had the foresight to tell Edward not to go through with his asinine plan. "Are you okay?" Gaia's voice was barely above a whisper, but I knew it was clear as a bell to the two vampires who were finding their seats just one row over from us.

"Yeah." I huffed, feeling a calming and peaceful wave crash over me moments later. "Jasper," I whispered low enough that nobody other than him and Alice could catch it, "I swear to god if you don't knock that shit off right now I will make the biggest scene in this damn history class." I knew he could feel the sincerity, and after the smallest flutter of movement from Alice, which I assumed was her confirming that my actions would make a scene, the wave of emotion left me. I returned to the tense but semi numb existence I had been stuck in since the tardy bell rang during the first period. The rest of that period passed with ease, and Gaia and I made our way to the door just as Alice and Jasper exited the class.

Seventh period (2pm-3pm)

Monday: Home Economics: Chef Bartley Room 643

Tuesday: Health: Coach Riley Room 297

Wednesday: Health: Coach Riley Room 297

Thursday: NewsPaper PrintRoom: Editor Gaia Spanò: Monitor Ms. Hanley

Friday: Home Economics: Chef Bartley Room 643

The final class of the day left me with hope, I knew Home Ec would never interest an immortal creature of the night, which promised me at least one class of peace to end my day on monday's and friday's. I was however, sorely mistaken when I stepped through and met the eyes of Edward. Bile rose in my throat as I stared at him awkwardly sitting at one of the work tables. Once again, nobody had the balls to sit next to him, and had left me with no other choice but to be partnered up with him. Fantastic, so I start and end my day with you. You planned it didn't you? I shot daggers at him with my eyes as I slammed my bag down on the metal table.

So much for peace.