19. First Sight
Esme stopped the minivan about a block from the school, trying her hardest not to embarrass us. I wouldn't have cared if any other student saw us, but the others did.
The four of us walked silently towards the school. We were all a little nervous, but at least we probably were not the only new kids.
The high school worked on a semester basis. For half the year we had one set of classes, the other half we had the other. The only exception was I had Concert Band and English all year and I had to alternate between the two of them.
I only had one class with Alice in the second semester, and I had no classes with Rosalie and Jasper. It was going to be weird knowing nobody.
My first class of the day was choir, and I was relieved to see there were about 20 people in it. Everyone already seemed to know each other though, and everyone seemed to be as extraverted as the drama students.
We did the regular first day stuff. We got the course outline, a folder of sheet music, and we were assigned places to stand in our sections.
There were only 5 guys, and two were bases and two were altos. I was the only tenor in Denali too, but there were a lot less people there.
Everyone seemed to stare at me when we did vocal warm ups. I did not think I sounded out of key or too loud, but I started to doubt my perfect pitch. Was my voice obnoxious? Was my voice out of sink with everyone else's?
The next class was Concert Band, and I was relieved to be able to hide behind a piano. Most of the students did not have instruments yet, so we went around the room and introduced ourselves.
"Hi," I said when it was my turn, "my name is Edward Cullen. I have been playing the piano for about 14 years. I'm 16 years old, but I am a junior. I live with my parents and my sister, as well as my two older cousins"
All the students stared at me like I had a third head, and I wanted to shift by body back behind the piano so nobody could see me. Mrs. Tanner seemed to sense my awkwardness and quickly moved onto the next person.
I dashed out of the music rooms, relieved everyone seemed to be chatting casually to each other. I found Alice easily.
"... It's weird, right? It's like everyone here thinks we are aliens. Someone saw you in A block and asked me how we were siblings but looked nothing alike. Like why is that something people ask? You should have seen his face when I had to explain how our first set of parents were dead" Alice's usual chatter was easy to follow, "And it's so weird to me that we have like, no classes together. What's that about? Rose and Jazz have English and Spanish together, and we only have History together next semester? That's so dumb…" She blabbed on.
I looked over to look for the other two. Alice and I had already found a table, and it was weird that they had not found us yet.
"Oh c'mon" Alice moaned, pointing in the direction of the jock table, "how are they already popular?"
Jasper and Rosalie were at the table with all the people wearing sports jackets. Rose was surrounded by the girls in cheerleading sweaters, and Jazz was with the guys wearing football jerseys.
"What did you expect? Of course they wouldn't sit with us if they had the option to be with people they actually liked"
Alice sighed, looking at Jasper, "I thought he was different"
She looked at him with such… adornment.
"Oh please tell me you are not pulling a Tanya. He is your cousin"
Alice rolled her eyes and laughed, but she did not seem sincere. I wonder why it bugged her that Jasper was ignoring us. It's not like this was not normal.
Next up on my schedule was Biology. I did not like any science class, but I was not about to take chemistry, physics, or geology. I was already dreading the thought of cutting up an animal…
I walked into the classroom and picked a seat near the back. I wanted to be ignored in this class.
A girl with brown hair and big brown eyes came in a few seconds after me. Her face was strangely out of balance, but despite this her face was beautiful. Her beauty was unexpected and strangely enduring.
To my surprise she came and sat beside me. She put her pencil case next to me and her pen dropped to the ground and I reached down to pick it up for her.
"Urg," She said, "Let me guess. You are a jock and you think I am too because I am from Arizona. I am not, and I'm not interested in going to whatever dance is happening in the inter, okay?"
I almost wanted to laugh at her obvious annoyance at this school.
"I think you dropped your pen," I said with a small smile. I did not want her to start chewing me out.
"Oh my God" Her face was full of embarrassment, her cheekbones bright red.
"It's okay" I said, "I'm new here too. What is with how intrusive everyone here is?"
She smiled and put her hand out towards mine,
"I'm Bella Swan"
I shook her hand, "Edward Cullen"
"I think I have your sister in my English class before lunch"
I laughed, "You're not the one who asked her why we don't look alike, right?"
She smiled, "No, but I did have to witness the awkwardness of that conversation. I still cannot believe someone actually asked her that!"
"So why have you been forced to come to this sunless place? I asked her
"My mom remarried and her husband made it to the MLB. She wants to go on the road with him, so now I live here with my dad" She rolled her eyes, "I never spent much time with him. He likes fishing and sports, and everyone here seems obsessed with the same things" She sighed, "What about you?"
I chuckled, "My parents got better jobs here. I think they were both getting tired of Alaska, and they have this convoluted idea that we should live in a small town"
"I don't know how my dad lives here. I lived in Phoenix for most of my life but I always have dreamed about going to New York City. I want to be somewhere that never sleeps, and it feels like everyone is always sleeping here. All the trees are alive, but I have a theory that they get their lives by sucking the lives out of the people that live here" She paused and blushed, "I'm sorry, I don't really know why I am telling you all this"
I smiled and I spoke before I could properly think about what I was saying, "Don't be sorry. I get what you mean exactly…. It feels like I know you already"
She smiled widely at me.
"I used to live in New York. I think I would have liked it if my parents had not just died, and if I could have escaped the… PTSD of nine eleven. But I'm hoping to go to Julliard when I graduate"
My eyes met hers, the depth of her warm, chocolate eyes pulling me towards her. I could somehow sense that she felt this same electricity as me.
"I want to be a publisher one day" She blurted out, like she wanted me to know her as much as I wanted her to know me, "I want to have a modern home with a double oven and granite countertops"
My eyes never left hers, "With a dog, and a grand piano in the middle of the living room, on top on a podium"
"And a huge office with huge windows, and a massive ensuite and a walk in closet" She added with a smile.
The sound of the teacher talking made me jump, and I suddenly was forced to remember that I was in a high school biology class.
What just happened? Why did I blurt all that information to a girl I don't know? Why did the desire of wanting to know her grab hold of me so tightly?
And why did my heart start racing faster when I looked over and saw her looking at me? Why did I feel this desire to hold her hand under the table? To sneak off with her and talk to her for hours?
This class seemed to drag on more than the rest. The teacher passed out the class outline and went straight into a lesson about biochemistry. The bell eventually rang, stopping his description of carbon atoms.
Bella looked up at me and groaned, "I took biology to avoid chemistry. Why do I need to know this to understand life?'
I smiled at her, "What's your next class?"
She glanced at her schedule, "Ew. Pre Cal"
"Same" I said,
"Thank God" Her smile was contagious.
"So are you any good at math?" She asked as we left the room,
"No, I just did not want to take trigonometry" I sighed, "So now I have sentenced myself to whatever pre calculus means"
She laughed.
We eventually found the math class. I sat down next to her on the long rectangular desk. It felt like all eyes were on us, but I ignored them. I placed my phone on the desk and it started vibrating
"Is that your girlfriend?" Bella asked. I thought I heard a pinch of sadness in her tone, but I was probably going insane
"In her dreams" I dramatically said, rolling my eyes. "She's my cousin, kind of"
She bent her head to her left side, trying to understand.
I signed, "My family is confusing. I can explain if you want…?" I admitted
She smiled and nodded, like she actually wanted to understand me.
"So, I live with my sister and my parents and two of my cousins. But technically I'm not related to any of them. Carlisle- my dad- adopted Alice and I after nine eleven. Then he met Esme- my mom- and they fell in love. We moved to Alaska, and Esme ended up getting full custody her niece and nephew, Jasper and Rosalie"
"What happened to their parents?" she asked like she actually cared
"Their mom died, and their father took off before they were born" I said with an emotionless tone.
"So where does this girl come into play?"
"She is Rosalie and Jasper's sister. Tanya decided to live with Esme's brother instead of with us, and so did her other two siblings"
"Ew! So you just have grown up with her"
How was she not bored to death yet?
"Yeah" I admitted, "and she's 20, so 4 years older than me"
"You're only 16?" She seemed shocked
"I skipped a few grades" I admitted sheepishly, "But I had to grow up fast, and I have never related with people- besides Alice- who were in the same grade as me before"
"You said that like it might be changing" She said, flattered
I winked at her, and then turned around.
God I must look ridiculous.
But after class she smiled at me.
"I don't know if this is weird, but can I have your number? I will need help in bio and pre cal, and… well… I need a friend and you are the most approachable person I have met today"
Approachable? Me? Ha. Alice would be killing herself laughing if she saw this girl call me that.
We exchanged numbers, and I wandered out of the classroom in a weird alternative universe. Bella stayed behind to talk to the teacher about the quiz next week.
"Boo" Alice said at the doorway, and I jumped out of my skin.
"I got you!" She teased, playfully poking me.
We walked towards the same spot Esme dropped us off that morning.
"So who is she?" Alice said quietly
"Who is who? I don't know who you are talking about"
"The girl that has you acting all weird"
"Oh…. Um…." I staggered, "Is it that obvious?"
"Yep" Alice said smugly
I rolled my eyes, thankful that Esme pulled up. I knew Alice wouldn't bug me about her in front of anyone else.
"Hey kiddos! Rose and Jazz texted me and they are going to hang out with some of their new friends. Tell me all about your first day"
Alice lodged herself into her story, leaving me alone to think about mine.