By the end of her summer, Jules found herself developing a newfound allergy for her best friend and her fiancée. They were fine in small doses, but Jules could no longer bear to spend her every afternoon feeling like the unwanted tagalong on their dates. It was ridiculous, as if their engagement had flipped off a switch inside them. Suddenly, they were no longer two individuals, they were a morphed being- and Jules decided she did not enjoy the company of the overtly happy couple.

She did consider that her feelings stemmed from the announcement of their engagement- something she still struggled to wrap her head around by the time the first week of September rolled around. If Jules heard Sam say when you know, you know one more time she might actually consider committing a heinous crime. The lanky boy with his signature mop of charming silky dark hair would surely be missed, but Jules deemed her best friend would recover eventually.

When you know, you know- pah! I don't even know what I want for dinner tomorrow.

The shift in her friend group dynamic brought Jules to oddly look forward to her first day of sophomore year. There was something different in the air that morning, a shift in space she could not recognize. Jules was in a good mood- something that never happened in the mornings. Charlie stared at her like she had grown two heads as she arrived fully dressed in the kitchen, humming under her breath as she twirled over to the fridge on her bare feet to pull out the eggs.

"Did you sleep at all?" Charlie squinted in suspicion. She wore a glen check vintage waistcoat over a thin white shirt with thin grey stripes, rolled messily up to above her elbows and mostly tucked into her deeper blue 501s, a wide black ribbon fashioned into a loose necktie knotted over where she had left the top three buttons open on her shirt. Her hair was as loose as ever, silkily whipping about her as she moved, eyes more aware and bright than Charlie had ever seen in the morning.

Jules chuckled, fully aware of why her Uncle would tease her in the morning. "I had a good dream. Omelette?"

"Mhmm." Charlie sipped his coffee. "Looking forward to the first day?"

"Nope." Jules popped, preparing Charlie's usual breakfast order on the weekdays. "Apparently there's going to be new kids. Ella texted me."

"Yeah." Charlie remembered. "Uh, new Doctor in town. Something Cullen. Seems nice. Came down to the station last week to introduce himself as the new Chief Physician."

"Cool." Jules wasn't really interested. She had never much cared for hospitals, and she hadn't had reason to step foot into Forks Community Hospital in a whole year of living here- a proud achievement she intended to continue.

"Mentioned he had five kids going to high school, I think." Charlie seemed to strain to remember what sounded like an unnecessarily dull conversation.

"Damn. He got busy." Jules hummed offhand, beating three eggs harshly in a plastic bowl. "Oooh, are they quintuplets? That would be interesting."

"No. Foster children." Charlie frowned. "The boys and I were a little concerned, kids like that coming from the city."

Jules shrugged. "I'm your foster kid. I'm no trouble."

"You're my niece." Charlie shot her a flat look. Jules raised an eyebrow back. "And you're trouble plenty, don't think I don't know what you get up to camping in the woods with the Quileute kids."

"You let me have a beer with you at least once a week." Jules rolled her eyes. "We're not delinquents Uncle Charlie."

"Just- promise you'll stay out of trouble this year?" Charlie sighed. "I don't want another phone call from the Principal's office."

"I cannot help if Mister Berty and I have differing opinions on King Lear, he should not be teaching if he refuses to allow his students to use their own brains." Jules defended herself dismissively, putting her hands up in mock surrender before pouring the eggs into the could only chuckle and shake his head. "Besides, I have Mister Mason this year. Apparently, he is much more pleasant."

Jules had been having a good morning. The weather was pleasant enough that the wind felt good on her skin for once instead of bitingly cold, whizzing down the side of the street on her skates as she listened to music from her iPod. She'd picked out a pastel blue double breasted coat she'd collected from a trip to Port Angeles, the soft satin lining feeling luxurious on her forearms as it flew behind her. Jules didn't start to push herself forward with her own legs until she turned onto the parking lot of Forks High, one of her favourite songs coming on.

This would be the first time Edward Cullen laid eyes on her.

Psycho Killer! Qu'est-ce que c'est? Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-far better! Run run, run, run, run away! Oh oh oh! Pyscho Killer! Qu'est-ce que c'est? Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-far better! Run run, run, run, run awaaay! Oh ooooh ooooooh! Aye aye aye aye aye!

Jules' eyes were lit up with mirth as she twirled around effortlessly, letting herself land on the edge of the bench seat of Ella's old beetle, the door open and ready for her from where her school friend leaned on it. Ella appeared amused at the fluidity of her actions, watching Jules begin to take off her skates with a familiar fondness. "Well?"

"Well what?" Jules tugged off her earphones, the music somewhat audible from where the beat up wires dangled over her shoulders on either side of her neck. It was always a slight effort to undo her bright laces the normal way, but Jules was used to it.

"The New Kids." Ella jerked her chin out towards the other side of the parking lot. Jules raised an eyebrow from her crouched position. "Mom met the Dad yesterday during her volunteer shift at the hospital, said all the nurses are going crazy for the guy. If he looks anything like the kids I don't blame 'em."

"The Cullens." Jules supplies, still not bothering to look over in the direction Ella had gestured at. Now that her earphones were down, she could hear the familiar buzz around her- the same buzz of gossip that had ignited when she had first joined school. "My Uncle met the good Doctor. Apparently the kids are all fosters."

"Huh, they all look kinda alike though. Must be relatives." Ella frowned. "Oh, Stace! What've you got?"

"The hot one's called Edward." Stacy Gilbert wheezed, panting and crouching down to brace herself against her knees near the two girls. Stacy was on the volleyball team- and one of the main reasons why Jules chose not to sit with Ella at lunch or to hang out with her and her friends after school. "Jessica Stanley- you know, Mrs Stanley's kid? She's a freshman. She walked into Mrs Cope's office while they were getting their paperwork. Scary Blonde and the Big Guy are in our grade, the rest are freshman."

"Which hot one? They're all hot." Ella seemed to be peering up over at them, arms still folded under her chest. "It's like they all came off a runway or something."

"Nah, I don't like the look of the big guy-Emmett, I think? Too much muscle, I'd feel like I was getting crushed." Stacy shook her head.

"I dunno, it's rare to find a guy who's taller than you." Ella mused, before freezing and looking down. "Shit! They're looking over here, shit shit shit!"

"Well what did you expect? People can feel when you ogle, you know." Jules snorted, standing upright now that her feet securely adorned a pair of black ankle boots.

"I did not ogle." Ella huffed.

"You kinda ogled." Stacy winced, and Jules shot her a look as if to say there we go, tucking her hair behind one ear, balancing her skates by their laces over her shoulder by her fingers. "That's such a weird word. Ogle."

"Weirder than crushing on a freshman?" Jules raised an eyebrow, amused. Stacy flushed furiously.

"You dated Troy last year!" Stacy refuted.

"I dated him for a week." Jules rolled her eyes. "Why are people so fixated on that, hmm? Besides, he was the sophomore. I would never date a younger boy- they would not know what to do and I have no patience to teach them."

"You're so French it almost hurts." Ella groaned. Jules chuckled, patting Ella on the shoulder. "See you in homeroom?"

"See you." Jules waved, already heading off, plugging her earphones back into her ears.

Jules had a habit of walking with such speed and confidence in her stride that oncoming students reflexively parted to give her room. Her dead expression in the mornings used to aid this effect, but now she smiled with amusement at the nervous freshmen chittering about. Her locker was easy to get to- she dumped her roller-skates carelessly at the bottom, pulling off her coat to set it within. She pulled out the schedule she'd collected earlier in the week along with her sophomore year book list, cross-referencing what textbooks she'd need for the first half of the day before she dumped out the rest into her locker to trade out at lunch. She felt the strange sensation of being stared at, but when she glanced up she found nothing but the bustling crowds of first day rush.

Thinking nothing of it, she pushed the narrow metal door shut, taking a sip of coffee from her tumbler as she made her way down to Mister Varner's math class- her new homeroom. The man hadn't arrived yet, but that didn't stop Jules for making a beeline for her old seat at the back of the classroom, right next to the windows. This was where Jules had spent much of her freshman year, daydreaming and staring out longingly at the woods beyond the windows, trying her best to tune out the math equations she would spend most of her free time slaving over.

Jules smiled as the last song shifted on to Oasis' Champagne Supernova, dumping her backpack on top of her desk. She folded her arms over it, resting her chin as she took in a deep breath, looking out longingly at the gorgeous green of the trees beyond the confines of the dull classroom. School hadn't even technically started yet, but she already missed the summer. The mellow song only served to make her even more nostalgic.

The bell rang in that moment, the last of the students straggling behind filing in, Mister Varner amongst them. Jules could hear the buzz of chatter over her music, but she didn't pay attention, not until it all cut off abruptly. It felt like someone had called her name. Her senses alerted her of their arrival mere seconds before they actually did, the hairs at the back of her neck standing as she glanced lazily away from the window to where the two new arrivals. And the breath caught harshly in her throat.

Sacré bleu.

Jules blinked, as if they were a mirage. The vision standing before her was- frankly, ridiculous. The boy looked far too old to be a sophomore, built like a brick house just like Stacy had mentioned. Jules had always considered herself tall, perhaps not as tall as her sort-of-friends from the Volleyball team, but certainly tall enough to feel often equal in height with the boys in school. This boy made her feel tiny. He had to have easily surpassed six foot four, but the height seemed a good thing, serving to make the great mass of perfectly bulging muscle set across his broad frame to look oddly proportionate. Like the muscle belonged on him and fit him like a glove.

He was sculpted like a statue of Zeus, skin as pale as porcelain. It made his eerie yellowish gold eyes stand out even more from beneath his dark looming brows, full of childlike mirth. His short dark curls only served to add to this boyish look, taking away perhaps just a tiny chunk of the impressive intimidation of his body alone. He wore clothes that Jules could easily recognize as designer, but the new store-bought kind unlike her vintage and secondhand eclectic pieces. He seemed to be wearing a full outfit straight off a catalogue, a grey cable knit sweater pushed up over his ripped forearms over a blue flannel shirt, snug designer jeans over trunk-like legs.

If the boy was Zeus reborn, the girl next to him was a veritable Aphrodite. Her beauty was such that it almost made Jules' eyes burn, like she needed sunglasses to protect her from the photosensitivity. Her hair was straight out of a L'Oréal commercial, as if it were made of finespun sunlight itself. Jules could've sworn it glowed beneath the terrible, harsh white tube lights of Forks High School. Her face was the kind that would make master artists paint a million masterpieces in her honour, every minute detail as perfect as the next. It was almost jarring how pretty she was. Her eyes matched her hair in exact colour and hue, the same liquid gold, lined with perfect liquid eyeliner to make them pop even more. Her lips were perfectly stained pink, and Jules was grateful that she wasn't smiling- she treasured her eyesight and she was certain it would be blinding if it was anything like the boy's dimpled bright grin.

Her Aphrodite seemed as tall as the boy next to her, but as they began to walk away from the teacher's desk together Jules realized it was because of the brown suede heels she wore, a strange choice in a town like theirs. She wore a white silk camisole with a lace frill tucked into deliciously tight jeans with a gold buckled brown belt, a white loose knit impossibly soft cardigan hanging off her delicate porcelain shoulders. Jules swore she had never seen anything so painfully gorgeous in her life.

And then she realized they were looking right at her. She blinked owlishly, breaking out of her reverie. She raised an eyebrow, realizing that they were speaking- belatedly recognizing that Mister Varner had forced them to introduce themselves just like had forced her the year before. She fought the urge to pull out her earphones to listen, realizing how ridiculous she was being.

Someday you will find me, caught beneath the landslide… in a champagne supernova in the sky. Someday you will find me, caught beneath the landsliiide, in a champagne supernova…a champagne supernova in the sky.

Jules hated the way her heart raced, her mind a swirl of colours and golden eyes as she tried to look as unbothered on the outside as she had been before she set eyes on the two newcomers. If Edward's the hot one then what the hell is Aphrodite? No- stop it. Snap out of it Jules. She tried to focus on the song in her ears, on the dull ache of her sharp jaw digging into her bony forearm. On the smell of her coffee wafting through the tumbler by her face.

On the blaringly empty seats next to her.

The panic welled up inside of her. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Like an endless stream, she prayed to whatever god was above her that they would sit anywhere else. Jules didn't know what it was, but something about the two of them unnerved her. She didn't like the way they had looked right at her. She didn't like the way their teeth were too perfect- the way they were too perfect. Something deep in her gut told her everything was wrong, that there was something incorrect in her immediate universe. Like a glitch in her system, she felt wrong, the hairs continuing to prick at the back of her neck. As they walked closer, the goosebumps spread, erupting on the skin of her forearms and down her calves with a chill that made her shiver. Her constant mantra seemed to work, or so Jules liked to believe, the two sitting across the classroom from her, on the same row where the back row remained mostly empty.

Jules gets distracted by motion in her peripheral vision, glancing upward again to see Mister Varner waving at her, the muffled sound of him speaking coming through over the harsh guitar riffs of the song's climax. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he gestured at his ears. Ah. Jules lifted her chin up off her arms, tugging her earphones off. Mister Varner sighed in exasperation. "Thank you Miss Rowe- for gracing us with your attention."

"My pleasure sir." Jules could not help herself, the class breaking into snickers while the balding man's smarmy smirk dropped.

"Hand it over, Miss Rowe." He held his hand out, tone firm. She frowned. "Come on. You can collect it after school."

Jules scowled, reluctantly reaching into the back pocket of her jeans to pull out her iPod, taking the time and effort to pause the song and wind the earphones neatly around the handpainted bulky square device. She begrudgingly rose up to her full height, the heels of her boots clacking on the tile as she moved down the aisle up to him, handing the iPod to him as he smirked at her. Jules still scowled as she returned to her seat.

So much for my good morning.

By the time Jules got to lunch, she felt distinctively as if she were the lead role in a horror movie. She couldn't describe the gut feeling, but it grew and grew until she could no longer ignore the alarm bells as she had chosen to early in the morning. Jules had chosen to ignore the Cullens on the simple principle that everyone was talking about them, non-stop, everywhere she went. Jules felt pity for them, knowing how unnerved she had been a year prior going through the same intense scrutiny. She decided then that she would be the exception, that she would choose to not care.

This, of course, would become an absolute lie. Jules could not ignore the Cullens, just as much as she was certain they could not ignore all the staring they received everywhere they went. It was ten times worse than she had had, and a part of her could not fault the other kids for gawking so openly at them. Each of them were as unnervingly beautiful as the other, each sharing the same golden eyes and the same terrifyingly pale blemish-free skin. The only exception to this rule was the boy with the honeyed curls who seemed to quite clearly be dating the tiny girl with the spiky short dark hair- his eyes were pitch black, terrifying Jules because she had only seen such a dark shade of onyx on the sharks in the Cinéaqua back in the Jardins du Trocadéro.

These dark eyes seemed constantly upon her whenever she left class, and now, as she sat at her lonely table by the windows, stuck begrudgingly indoors because of the rain. Jules tried to ignore the golden stares, munching on a green apple while she worked on annotating as many poems as she could in her anthology book for her English class with Mister Mason. Every time she glanced up, they were all looking suspiciously in multiple other directions, making her squint.

They were all dressed well, like Emmett and Rosalie- the Zeus and Aphrodite she shared all her classes with thus far. Jules did not know all of their names, but she had heard Edward's name often enough to connect that he was the singular boy with the bronze windswept hair and the lanky boyish build. Jules could understand why most of the female population fawned over him. He was the typical romance novel hero, the broody misunderstood gloomy variety of drop dead gorgeous that made young girls weak in the knees. Jules probably would've felt the same way, had she not been so distracted by the blonde goddess to his left.

The more times Jules felt eyes on her, scorching her skin and setting her aflame and making her freeze every time she looked up and found them looking somewhere else- the more Jules felt like they were a table of beautiful vultures, watching her, waiting for her to make a move. It alarmed her, set her nerves ablaze. She knew it wasn't in her head when Ella joined her, slamming her plastic tray down harshly and effectively blocking the Cullens' view of her. "Okay- why do the weirdos keep staring at you?"

"Yes, thank you!" Jules breathed in relief, her shoulders dropping as she took the last bite of her sandwich, a delicious combination of ham, butter and crunchy sweet gherkins sliced and layered between rustic homemade bread, the closest she could manage to recreate her favourite childhood lunch. "Mm- I do not want to talk about it. Maybe they're just curious about why I sit on my own."

"I'm still curious why you sit on your own. I've literally tried to convince you to sit with us for a whole year." Ella retorted, and Jules shot her a look. Ella rolled her eyes. "Stacy's not that bad."

Jules just keeps staring at her blankly. Ella flushes. "Okay, but she means well. Seriously."

"The one time I sat with all of you I felt like I was sat in an interrogation." Jules grumbled. "Besides, I enjoy my own company. I can get my homework done so I get more free time at home."

"Yeah to hang out with the Quileutes." Ella snorted. "What's the latest on the gang anyway?"

"Leah and Sam got engaged." Jules shot her a look, and Ella's jaw dropped. "Exactement."

"Wait- is she…?" Ella's eyebrows furrowed together. Jules took a sip of capri-sonne, shaking her head. "Okay then that makes no sense at all."

"Finally, someone with a brain." Jules' exasperation was clear, making Ella giggle. Jules spied something over Ella's shoulder, making her face fall. "Please tell me you are not spending the whole of your lunch at my table- Stacy's trying to get the others to come over here with her."

"Finnnne." Ella groaned, standing up with her untouched pudding cup, setting it back down on her tray before picking it up. "If they find your body in the woods, I know who did it. Just saying."

Jules can't help but to shoot Ella a dimpled grin as she walked away.