A/N: Chapter title is taken from the song A Strange Day by The Cure.
The moment I arrived at my new school the next morning, I noticed Alice and (presumably) the other Cullens standing by a fancy car – at least, it appeared fancier than all of the other cars in the parking lot – and they all noticed me too, their eyes trained on me as I drove in. It was probably the sound of my truck that drew their attention, which temporarily embarassed me until I realized I actually liked the roaring of it a lot. This thing was like a dragon, all red, old and loud.
"Bella!" I heard as I stepped out, before being briefly embraced, platonically kissed on both cheeks and gorgeously smiled at by the small pixie I'd met the night before. "Great to see you again! How was the spaghetti?"
"Hey Alice, nice to see you too. It was actually pretty good. Both of us enjoyed it," I replied, already flustered. "Are those your siblings?" I pointed out the other four kids that had been standing with Alice.
"Esme would be so glad to hear that! Glad our efforts weren't wasted," she joked and beamed, enthusiastically (yet gracefully) hopping around on both feet. "And yep! Could you tell from the family resemblance?"
She must have been joking with that last comment, because none of them looked alike. There were some similarities – all five of them having bright golden eyes (matching contact lenses?) and appearing somewhat intimidating in their own ways – but each one was quite different from the others. Two of them (including Alice) were extremely pale, but the other three had varying skin tones. I noticed that they weren't all of the same racial group, so my current assumption was that some or all of the Cullen kids had been adopted.
"Hmm, I guess not," she continued while I was distracted looking at her siblings. "Anyway, would you like me to introduce you to them now? I swear that they won't bite! And I'll walk with you to the front office to get your things straight afterwards."
"Sure, and thanks," I replied, following her to the group. When we started heading that way, two of them hurried off, hand in hand. "Where are they going?"
"Oh, they're probably just going off to cuddle a bit more before school. My brothers, Jasper and Edward, are very affectionate with each other. But don't worry, you'll get to meet them both later on!"
We finally stopped in front of the remaining two. One of them was Middle-Eastern, tall and muscular with a goofy grin and a buzzcut, and the other was a pale, platinum-blonde with a seemingly permanent scowl. Both of them wore designer clothing like Alice, but they still had their own styles.
"Hi there! Bella, right?" the tall one spoke up, grin widening. "I'm Emmett, Alice's big bro. It's really so cool that I'm finally meeting you. Ali hasn't been able to shut up about you since yesterday!" he chuckled, Alice playfully smacking him on the arm at that remark.
"Hi, Emmett..." I was blushing slightly as I replied to his greeting, wondering if Alice had actually been talking about me with her siblings.
"Rosalie," the blonde replied, slightly nodding at me before walking off.
"She's kinda asocial," Alice commented, rolling her eyes at her sister's retreating back. "You'll get to know her more at some point, though."
"Heh, that's probably the most Rose has spoken to anyone outside of the family in the two years we've gone to school here!" Emmett joked (well, I assumed it was a joke, but it could very well have just been an honest observation). "Gonna have to catch up with her. See you folks later!" And then, it was only Alice and I left behind.
"Didn't expect them all to run off so soon," I said in confusion.
"Sorry about that. They aren't used to interacting with non-family members yet..." Alice looked and sounded genuinely saddened. "We're considered weird to this town, so most people avoid us."
"Hey, it's no problem. And my dad told me about that. It's ridiculous! You all seem so nice," I replied, panicking slightly at my new friend's expression. My mind was screaming that no one so cool should ever feel bad like that, and I couldn't help but to agree wholeheartedly.
The pixie girl beamed at me then, giving me another quick hug before we headed off to the office. I wasn't really used to this amount of physical affection, but I didn't mind it at all, because I was getting free hugs and kisses from the beautiful girl that is Alice.
We gathered my schedule and other items together quickly, and then she walked me to my first period class, which we shared. It was still early by the time we arrived, so there was only one other person already there – a cute Latine student with glasses, a button-up, white long-sleeved shirt and dark hair in a ponytail – and the teacher was busy dozing off in the front.
"Mr. Mason?" Alice caught the teacher's attention. "I brought the new student, Bella Swan."
"Ah, yes," he smiled at me, introducing himself before letting Alice take me to a seat at the back. She sat to the right of me, while the other student sat to the left of me.
"Hello, I'm Angela Weber," the girl spoke up quietly, smiling shyly at me before extending her hand in greeting. I shook it, introducing myself even though she probably already knew my name from the exchange with Mr. Mason.
"Hey there, Angie!" Alice said, smiling brightly at the other girl. "How are you?"
"I'm good, and you?"
The two exchanged some more pleasant conversation, my contribution being quite minimal as I was still adjusting. They seemed to get along quite well, so I assumed this girl didn't buy into the town's stigma against the Cullens. That was instantly endearing.
After a couple minutes, more students began showing up, and the lesson began. Many did a double-take when they saw me, intentionally staring even though I was at the back of the classroom. Being the new kid and sitting next to Alice seemed to draw a lot of unnecessary attention to me, which was uncomfortable – I didn't much like attention, even if it was positive – so I was squirming in my seat, watching the clock and anxiously waiting to escape this tiny room to go to the next one.
Both of my companions noticed my discomfort at the stares, so Alice glared at a couple until they turned around and Angela alerted Mr. Mason that the kids who didn't budge weren't paying attention to his lecture. I was grateful for their help, so I smiled widely at both of them.
They continued to help me like that throughout the morning, both walking with me to the classes we shared and directing me to the ones we didn't as well. It was really sweet of them, and I felt a warm feeling growing in my chest. I had friends, plural! On the first day! Being the dreadfully shy kid that I was, this was a huge achievement for me, so I was squealing internally with excitement for hours.
By the time lunch had rolled around, I'd acquainted myself with some other students, including Jessica, a chatty but warm pale girl with large, curly brown hair, and Eric, an East-Asian boy with short black hair that seemed to like me right off the bat. The other kid I'd talked to was a blonde boy named Mike, but he creeped me out with his stares, so I subtly avoided him after our first and only interaction. I mean, he'd seemed nice enough, but he should really know better than to check out a complete stranger all sexually.
"Hey, Bella, Alice! You should come sit with us," Jessica offered, smiling at the two of us. "Angela'll be there too."
We both accepted the invitation, although Alice was a bit hesitant at first. She'd pulled out her phone to text one of her siblings that she'd be joining me with my other friends before making her decision. When we walked over to the table, I noticed that we were indeed joined by Angela, Eric and, unfortunately, Mike. There were some others, but I hadn't gotten their names yet.
Thankfully, Mike seemed to be too shocked at Alice joining to start trying to "seduce" me, so I smiled at the girl again for being so great at absorbing all the attention. She noticed, returning my smile with a knowing grin.
"Umm, Alice, aren't you gonna eat?" Eric spoke up in confusion.
"Oh no, I'm on a special diet," she replied, her tone mildly amused as if she was making an inside joke. "Can't afford to ingest unhealthy high school cafeteria food."
"That diet seems to be working..." I commented absently (referring to her attractive physique) before realizing what I'd said and blushing. Alice giggled at me, swatting my shoulder playfully. I repressed the urge to sigh blissfully at the sound of her laughter, and the feeling of her light touch. Way too soon for that sort of reaction.
"Ooh, the new kid's a real charmer," Jessica chuckled. "Watch out everybody!" We all laughed, even though I was a bit embarassed at the attention coming back to me. It was inevitable though, I'd guessed.
"How are you enjoying Forks so far, Bella?" Angela asked, smiling at me again.
"It's better than I was expecting," I replied honestly, shrugging slightly. "Thank the gods it didn't rain today. I would have been full of bruises before I even got to school, slipping in all those puddles."
"You must be really clumsy. Maybe you should take some ballet lessons to help with your balance or something," Alice suggested with concern.
"Been there, done that. It was a total disaster," I replied, grimacing at the childhood memories.
We all talked for a bit longer, so I got to learn the names of the other kids at the table (Tyler and Lauren) but we ended up getting distracted by a sudden hush in the cafeteria's constant chatter. Some of the kids were staring at our table, likely due to the presence of Alice and I, but most of the attention was focused on a small group of new arrivals entering the cafeteria. I recognized the two in front as Emmett and Rosalie almost instantly, noting that they were quite close, with Emmett's arm around Rosalie's shoulders. Emmett grinned and waved slightly at me as they walked by, but Rosalie completely ignored me. Not that I felt entitled to her attention, but... Whatever.
"Yes, they're in a relationship," Alice muttered to me. "It's not creepy because they aren't actually blood-related."
"How'd you know I was gonna ask?"
"I have my ways," she smirked, winking at me. "...I actually just figured that you would because that's the most obvious subject of discussion, but I'll let you think it's something mysterious that I have at my disposal."
Trying to recover from the reaction that gave me, I concentrated on the arrivals once again. There was one other kid following them, and I noticed it was one of the siblings that had trailed off before I could get introduced to them. The last one – Edward, I think his name was – was still missing, however.
"That's Jasper," Alice stated, correctly guessing my next question once again. "Edward won't be back for a week or so for some reason, so you'll have to wait to meet him. Sorry again."
"It's really not a big deal, don't worry," I replied, smiling at her in a reassuring manner and hoping that her negative feelings wouldn't return.
I noticed that Jasper was an African-American man, not quite as muscular as Emmett but still well-built, with lots of scars on his face and shoulder-length textured hair. He looked like he was in pain, so I felt a bit of sympathy stir for him. Turning to me abruptly, he gave me a small smile and a nod of acknowledgement before following after the other two again, the pain returning to his expression.
The trio sat at a table far away from the rest of the students, none of them grabbing any food, just like Alice. It made sense that they were all on this "special diet", as she'd called it. Maybe I should try it, too? It seemed to make people unfairly attractive, so that was incentive enough for me. I'd been insecure about my appearance for years, no matter how many times someone'd spoken about it positively. Perhaps it was the constant emphasis on my assumed gender in compliments that put me off. Actually, yeah, that was exactly it.
"So, Bella, how do you know the Cullens?" I was broken out of my reverie by Mike, who'd finally found the guts to speak up around Alice, to my chagrin.
"My dad's a friend of their parents, apparently," I replied, trying to keep the edge out of my voice. "And Alice brought me spaghetti yesterday as a housewarming gift. He probably told them about me coming here."
"Aww, Alice, that's so sweet," Angela said, smiling at the girl. Alice returned the smile, so I couldn't help but grin at the exchange. Something about these two girls just filled me up with positive thoughts and feelings.
"Wish someone would have brought me spaghetti when I first moved here," Jessica said, pouting.
"Not everyone can be as lucky as me!" I exclaimed, grinning.
We talked for a bit more, and then the bell rang, signalling the start of the next session of classes. I groaned, but perked up when I realized I'd be sharing all the rest of my classes with Alice and Angela. I barely knew them and they already brightened my school-mood.
The "A-Team" helped to drag all the attention away from me once again for the rest of the classes, so I found myself actually enjoying my first day for once in my life. First days were usually the worst, so that promised a lot of good things about the rest of the year. At least, I hoped it did.
At the end of the day, I exchanged numbers with Alice, Emmett, Angela, Jessica and Eric, purposefully avoiding Mike once again (I didn't want him sending me weird shit) before heading home.
"How was school? Make any friends?" Charlie asked later that night while we were working together to cook dinner.
"It was actually enjoyable, somehow. Guess it doesn't hurt to know at least one person there before you actually get there. I'm friends with Alice and Angela, and I talked a bit to some other kids too."
"That's great, Bells."
We ate dinner in a comfortable silence once again, and the fatigue hit me as soon as my hunger was satisfied. I hugged my dad goodnight and headed upstairs, not forgetting to text some of my friends before putting my phone on charge and dropping in bed.
I briefly considered checking my emails, but I knew my mother probably hadn't sent anything. She didn't seem concerned about her only child anymore, which was heartbreaking, but I always knew that our relationship wasn't the best that it could be.
I shut my eyes, but not before realizing that I'd just had one of the strangest days of my life. Not because of any major event, but rather because I had enjoyed the day. There were other strange elements to it that had caught my attention too (like the weird behavior of Alice's siblings, and the girl in question's little mind tricks), but the disappearance of the dark cloud in my mind was far more important to me. I was smiling in my sleep again, already anticipating.
A/N: Thanks to everyone for all the support so far. This story won't have a strict update schedule, so don't worry if it seems like I'm taking too long to update. I'm probably just gathering up the willpower to write or something ridiculous like that.