"Thank you," I said, turning quickly, and walking hurriedly away; I did not want to be late for my first class.

It was drizzling harder as I left the office building. I glowered at the sky in defiance, pulling my face into my hood, and nearly ran face-first into someone. His name was Eric, and he looked like the overly helpful type. He spoke very quickly, but thankfully in a voice that ran a little louder and clearer than others. He wouldn't be hard to hear, as long as I was facing him. Thank goodness. He helpfully grabbed my map and looked at my first class.

"Building three? Ah I'll show you –" His head turned away, " – class together."

"Thanks," I said quickly, assuming he'd offered to show me the way because we had class together. It wasn't really necessary, as the building had a large '3' painted on the side. He led me to class, and I answered as many of his questions as possible, in as few words as possible. He didn't seem to notice, and also appeared to enjoy the attention I was attracting. Of course I would be the talk of the school. A town this small? Big gossip.

As we entered the class, we hung up our raincoats, and I detoured to hand my teacher the slip of paper. He gawked and smiled, and sent me to a vacant seat, without requiring I introduce myself. Of course I flushed anyway. My new classmates managed to stare at me, and to avoid their gazes I pretended to be studying the reading list, and then diligently following the teacher's words. His mouth would be harder to read. He had a moustache which hid his upper lip. Thankfully he had a booming voice. Maybe this day wouldn't be bad after all. Perhaps everyone here was used to talking over rain, and had to be louder.

" –Phoenix huh?" I heard. I turned to look at the speaker.

"Pardon?"

"I.. I just asked if you were the new girl from Phoneix. Kinda dumb I guess, cause it's obvious."

"A little. I mean, how many new students do you guys get around here?" I asked jokingly, trying to be nice and not sarcastically quip at anyone. I need to be nice. People are going to assume I'm rudely ignoring them anyway.

"That's a fair point."

A few months of this and I'd forget how to use sarcasm. It would be a sad day. I had to correct everyone I met on the fact that I preferred Bella to Isabella – I'd have to talk to Charlie about that when I got home. My morning flew by, at a speed that was almost unbelievable. I had multiple teachers, only one who required I introduce myself. Mr Varner. He taught Trigonometry, and so I knew without a doubt that we wouldn't get on at all anyway. His forcing me to stammer out an introduction red-faced in front of the class was icing on the cake. He also had a voice that didn't register with me, at all. I'd have to pay extra attention in that class. I'd have to ask a classmate for notes, and I had met a wonderfully bubbly individual who would probably be willing to help.

I was moderately convinced that her name was Jessica, although she had kept talking at such a speed her words seemed to blur together. I was about to ask her to slow down a little so that I could keep up when she looked up suddenly towards the door. I hadn't heard the lunch bell, but I instantly picked up on the expression of joy that came from escaping classes. Jessica was already talking about some school event, while trying to tease information out of me. Half of me believed that she truly wanted to be friends, and the other half saw the fact that she reveled in the new-found attention that I was attracting.

As we made our way to lunch, I walked beside another girl, Andrea, or Angela, I needed to see the name spoken again, as Jess had introduced her far too quickly. She was clear voiced and quiet, yet when she spoke she directed comments straight at me. Her unconscious mannerisms made her one of the easiest people to read so far.

As we sat in the cafeteria and I looked around at several faces I'd probably just been introduced to, and would have to deduce the names from later, I noticed a strange collection of students sitting at a table furthest away from everyone else. I will admit, I hadn't been to Forks a lot since I was about 10, but I would have remembered these people. They were – to put it frankly – beautiful. They all looked as if carved from marble and posed casually at a lunch table. They weren't eating, they weren't gawking, they were just still. They all looked nothing alike, some lean, some lanky, some tiny, an array of hair colours and facial features – except for one thing. They all had beautiful alabaster skin, and dark circles under their eyes, as if they hadn't slept for days.

I raised my hand to begin signing – a habit I had gotten into when I wanted to be quiet – and stopped myself. I used that raised hand to attract Jessica's attention.

"Who are they?" I asked in what I hoped was a gentle murmur. She looked around, and then looked back, smiling smugly. The bronze haired boy suddenly looked our way. He looked bored, as if he turned only by habit, or as an involuntary response to a name call, and had already decided not to answer the caller. I looked back to Jessica to ascertain the answer. She giggled and leaned in to murmur.

"That's Edward, Emmett, and Less Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hell." I was sure I'd heard Less and Hell wrong. Probably Alice, or Alex, and I had no idea about the Hell part. I had trouble with lower volumes.

I looked back at them when I was sure Jess had finished for a short period – she had taken a bite of apple.

"-Unimaginative actually. Barest hint of scandal. Not -" the bronze boy was saying. I knew it was rude to eavesdrop, or in my case lip-read, but I didn't consider it too bad an infringement of privacy, as I lost his sentence when I picked up Jessica's again.

"Doctor Cullen and his wife adopted them all."

"They're very nice looking." I stammered. Jessica giggled again.

"Yes! They're all together though. Emmett and Rosalie, Alice and Jasper." Definitely Alice. "And they live together." Even in Phoenix it would cause gossip. I continued to learn about the largest scandal that Forks had probably ever seen. Throughout the conversation my eyes kept flicking towards the table, but never lingered for long, as I wanted to learn as much about them as possible. I could stare later. The youngest looking one, the bronze haired one, peered at me with curious eyes.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?"

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good looking enough for him." Jess sneered. I looked up at him out of the corner of my eye, and he had turned his head. I could have sworn he was smiling.

I didn't hear it again, but the bell rang. This time I noticed the begrudging and unwilling expressions of students returning to class.

"Hello, I'm Angela, and I think I'm in your next class." Angela said. I smiled warmly. Another name solved. This was giving me a headache. Maybe I'd steal a yearbook from someone and go through to memorize, without having to focus on catching up so much. I always seemed to be catching up now days. After the accident I'd had to learn a lot. Lip reading. Signing. I was always behind and well surpassed by my peers in classes. Music. Part of the therapy and tracking system they had for my hearing loss. Some of the students I studied with were pure musical talent. Like Beethoven reincarnate. I was not. And also had to catch up with that. So much catching up. Life was never easy anymore.

Angela and I walked to class together in silence. She was shy too. I loved her already. She went to her usual seat I supposed, and I walked to the teacher to get my slip signed. With my eyes on the class I noticed that the one empty seat happened to be beside the one and only, Edward Cullen.