A/N: So, the description of the school might get a little confusing. Sorry, I just suck at describing places. Hopefully, you all like everything else though? Yeah? Maybe? No? It's okay. Just LET ME KNOW!

Chapter 3

Bella's POV

Two Weeks Later

"Hey, mom! Where's the bread?" I shouted loud enough from the kitchen for her to hear all the way to the living room which was a pretty long distance to where it was located on the Eastern wing of the house. I don't know when it happened, but all of a sudden, my mother was living life much more luxuriously.

I remembered her new husband, Phil, was a major league baseball player and he was currently at an away game. My mom hated traveling so it was rare that she ever went with him.

"On top of the fridge!" She shouted back.

"Gross," I muttered. I knew from experience that if a loaf of bread was left there long enough it would get all soggy on the bottom.

Today would be the official start of my new life. It was my first day at the McAdam Academy, and as I kept my hands busy making toast, I tried my best not to hyperventilate. I had no idea what to expect.

There was one thing about the school I was already beginning to dread. Uniforms. Which consisted of a black, red, and white plaid skirt, a white short sleeved dress shirt, and a tie with slanted stripes of black and red that had a pin attached to it of the school insignia.

When I asked her about it, wondering if she had some help from Phil to pay for the tuition, she told me she'd been putting money away for my education since before I was born.

This surprised me a little. My mother was known for not being the most responsible parent. She was prone to making hasty decisions, switching them around without warning. I once heard Charlie describe her as erratic, but that quality was nowhere to be seen. I theorized it had something to do with me maintaining a permanent residency in her life now.

Mindlessly munching on my toast, the time flew by faster than I expected. I suddenly had only ten minutes to make a fifteen minute drive to the school.

I grabbed my mom's car key, gave her a peck on the cheek, and gunned it to the McAdam Academy.

My first impression of the school was magnificent. There were acres of a freshly mown green lawn, with large canopy trees lining the long driveway. The buildings were made of brick, though they were painted in white with black trimmings.

To the right of the school was the parking lot, which is where I drove my car to. A few other people were running late, so I followed them in through the main entrance.

The inside was nothing like I expected. I stepped into a large circular room, with a glass dome as a ceiling. The floor was made out of a pale stone, the walls were dark paneled, and there were trophies everywhere, lined perfectly in glass cases. Certainly I was in the wrong place.

I was a little overwhelmed as I turned around in full circle. Above the entrance was a golden plaque that read, "The McAdam Academy. Est. 1901" I sighed as I took in my surroundings more carefully this time around. There were three different archways, one leading into what appeared to be an office, and the others were openings to long hallways.

I chose the office to my immediate right.

An elderly woman with short white hair sat behind her desk, which was awkwardly placed in the middle of the room. She barely looked up from her work when she asked, "Can I help you, dear?"

"Um, my name is Isabella Swan. I'm a new student here."

"Oh!" she exclaimed and frightened me to jump about a foot into the air. "Dear, I'm so sorry. Welcome to McAdam Academy. I'm Miss Cope. We've been very excited for your arrival. I have your schedule right here, all ready for you."

Miss Cope fumbled with a stack of papers and pulled out a manila folder. "In here is your schedule and a map of the school. Along with your locker number and your lunch number as well. Of course you won't be sent out alone, you'll never appear again! Also, there's a slip that all of your teachers must sign, could you please bring it back to me by the end of the day?"

"I won't be sent out alone?" I repeated. What had she meant by that?

"Heaven's no!" She wheeled around in her chair and called out, "Esme? Esme, dear, could you show our new student around? Her name is Isabella Swan."

Appearing out of nowhere, a girl a few inches taller than me, with soft caramel brown hair and light brown eyes, walked up to me with a warm smile on her face. "Hello, Isabella. I'm Esme. Are you ready to go?"

I nodded. "Thank you, Miss Cope."

"Not at all, dear," was her response before she was gone into her work once more.

"She's sweet isn't she?" Esme asked me as we walked out of the office.

I smiled genuinely for the first time in two months. "Reminds me of my grandma, Marie."

"Well, Isabella," she started.

"Please, call me Bella."

"All right, Bella." Esme smiled and motioned towards the two archways. "These are the two main hallways. The hall to your left leads to the Cafeteria, the counselor's offices, the band room, the daycare center, the gym, the football field, and etcetera. My friends and I call it 'the rejects hall,' I can't exactly remember why. The hall to your right leads to the academic classes. Which is called, drum roll please, 'the academics hall.'" She laughed at her own pun and it was impossible not to laugh along with her.

"They each split in two about halfway through," she continued.

I groaned. "Could this school get any bigger?"

"Actually, they're building a library. Hard to believe they never had one before. My boyfriend Carlisle Cullen, well, his family donated some funds for them to have one built. Carlisle and his books." She rolled her eyes jokingly.

"I love to read, too, you know."

Esme laughed. "Then you'll get along great with him. You will sit with us at lunch today, won't you?"

"I don't know, I don't want to intrude."

"Oh, please. As if you could be a bigger bother than Emmett. He's my cousin. Huge prankster, that one. I hope you don't mind large crowds, because we sort of are one. I guess I better fill you in now so that you don't get lost later. My full name is Esme Platt, my boyfriend is Carlisle Cullen. We're both seniors. My cousin Emmett McCarty is the one I was just talking about. He's going out with Rosalie Hale. Rosalie has a twin named Jasper. And he is going out with Mary Alice Brandon. Last but not least! Edward Cullen, Carlisle's younger brother who just so happens to be a junior also. Carlisle and I like to joke sometimes and call them our kids even though they're only a year younger than us."

The way she spoke about her closest friends, Esme almost sounded as if she was their mother.

She had been explaining all of this as she showed me the "rejects hall", pointing out the different doors to the gym and the band room. Both hallways, she explained, were shaped into a "y" with a long empty hallway connecting the two points, so one could walk around full circle. The triangle, she explained, inside of the "y" figure was where the cafeteria was, and in the other main hallway, this space was used for the auditorium.

"I hope this doesn't sound rude or anything, but you're all together?" I really hoped the loneliness in my voice wasn't as apparent to her as it was to me. I was trying my best to be a happier person.

"Well, yes, we are. Except Edward, of course. He's been single for the past two years. Bad break up during his freshman year with a girl named Tanya Denali. You might want to stay away from her, the girl is bad news. Either way, I'm hoping that will all change for him soon."

"I know what that's like," I sighed. I could see Esme had a natural maternal streak to her as she told me about the way Tanya had hurt Edward.

Esme gave me a look that made me think she had a plan underneath her sleeves. I couldn't help but notice how she glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes when she had said that last part. Surely I couldn't be involved in her schemes.

At this point, we were in the narrow hallway that connected the two points in the rejects hall. We'd taken the left fork in the hallway. Midway down the narrow hallway, there were two sole doors facing towards each other. "Don't we all? Well, the door to your right takes you to the cafeteria and the other door takes you outside, to the football field. There's a path there that can take you to the other main hallway. Would you care to take that way?"

"Sure," I answered her. She was just too polite. I already made up my mind about Esme, and I liked her immediately.

It was springtime in Seattle and the weather was at its peak. A cool 60 degrees.

As we walked by the football field, Esme told me more about her group of friends.

"I don't know why, but I feel like I can talk to you Bella. There's something about you that's just so original. Not like so many girls our age these days. I think it's safe to say you would be an amazing addition to our group of old souls. Minus Emmett, of course. Don't worry, you'll get used to jibbing him soon enough."

I laughed. "If he's as bad as you say, I'm sure it will just come naturally."

Esme's soft laughter filled the air. "I have to tell Alice about that one. She'll laugh so hard she'll probably drop her latest designer purse."

I smiled at her.

"Your first class is Spanish, right?" Esme asked, double checking.

I nodded.

"Okay, do you remember when you first walked into the school?"

"Yeah," I recalled.

"Well, the first half of the academics hall is where you'll find the foreign language classes. This school is big on it. Where the hall splits in two, you'll find your basics. Math, science, literature, and so on. But you're going to have to remember that one side is for the lower classmen and the other for the upper classmen. Do you understand?"

"Why are they split up that way?"

"To avoid confusion. You may have noticed this isn't your typical setup for a school. The man who founded this school hadn't intended it to be a private high school. I can't exactly tell you what it was designed for, but I know that when it was passed down to his grandson, who had two teenage boys, it was converted into what it is today."

"Nice history."

"You could say so. Here's your class. Mr. Romero is a decent teacher, but try to grab a seat in the back, you won't want to be covered in spit when he's rolling his r's."

"Thanks for everything, Esme."

"No problem. I'll see you at lunch. We'll all be saving you a seat."

I blushed and nodded. I gave her a smile as I opened the door.

All eyes were on me before I was finished taking a step through the door which of course would lead me to trip over air and cause me to drop the folder in my hands, displaying all of my papers to the front of the class. I blushed a deep red and bent down to scoop them up.

Before I had a single paper in my hand, the folder was being handed to me with all of its previous contents inside.

"Oh, thank you." I looked up to see a cute baby faced boy with blond hair and blue eyes.

"No problem. I'm Mike."

"Bella." I gave him a small smile and introduced myself to the teacher.

"Buenos dias, Mr. Romero. Mi nombre es Isabella Swan. Soy una nueva estudaiante en esta escuela." (Translation: Good morning, Mr. Romero. My name is Isabella Swan. I'm a new student in this school.)

Two and a half years of Spanish, I had the language down pact.

"Wow! Now that's impressive. Welcome, Isabella. If you could wait just a moment, I'll assign you a seat and a new text book that you'll need to complete assignments for the class."

I nodded, a little embarrassed that he had spoken English in return. I looked at the marble floor, not wanting to face all the stares that I could practically feel on me.

Tucking a lock of hair behind my ear, I risked a glance at the class and was surprised to only find ten students in the room. I was used to the twenty or so per classroom that was custom in Forks.

Not only were there so few students, only two were looking at me which I was thankful for. Mike, who had helped me with my stuff was gazing at me and looked away as soon as I had looked up. And a girl with obviously processed blond hair and scornful brown eyes was glaring at me. I wondered what I had done to make her look at me that way but I was interrupted by Mr. Romero lightly touching my shoulder and leading me to the only empty seat at the back of the class.

I flinched internally as I saw that everyone turned in their seat to look at me again.

The rest of Spanish passed by in a daze. A few minutes before the bell, I looked through my folder and discovered I had Algebra 2 for my next class.

Mr. Romero gave the class some time before the bell rung and as I looked up, I realized Mike was looking at me again. I smiled at him again and roamed my eyes over the map of the school, trying to figure out which tiny door would take me to where I needed to be.

"Which is your next class?" I jumped in my seat. Mike was standing over me, one hand at the back of my chair and the other on the edge of my desk. He was a little too close for comfort and I tried not to show it as I scooted away from him a little in my chair.

"Um, Algebra 2."

"That's right next to Environmental Science. I can take you if you want." There was a huge grin on his face. I tried not to imagine him sitting on his haunches and with a wagging tail.

"Thanks that would be nice."

The bell rang and Mike lifted his arm and said, "Ladies first."

"Right, thanks."

As we walked through the not so crowded hallway, people stared at Mike and me walking closely together. Probably asking themselves who the new girl was.

"So, where did you transfer from?" Mike asked.

"Forks High School?" It sounded like a question.

"I know that school! I have a sister whose boyfriend goes there. I heard it's colder there than it is here. Is it? I mean it's already too cold here, I couldn't imagine it being even colder anywhere else. Except in Antarctica or something."

"It is, but not by much." I laughed softly. Mike was someone I could easily get along with. It was a bit difficult for me to open up to people. If I met someone who was open from the get go, they made things easier by supplying most of the conversation.

"Here's your class. I wish we had more time to talk but maybe I'll have you for another class."

"Sure, thanks." I gave him a small wave as I walked into class.

Algebra 2 happened in pretty much the same fashion as Spanish. They stared, I blushed, someone would have enough guts to come and to talk to me, and they would generously walk me to my next class; which was English.

Then, came Economics which just so happened to be the last class before lunch. I would be lying to myself if I said I wasn't excited for lunch.

As Economics ended, I sprang up and Tyler Crowley invited me to sit with him at lunch.

"Thanks Tyler, but I sort of have plans to sit with someone else."

"Who?" His voice sounded deflated and I could tell he was trying to hide his disappointment.

"Um, Esme and her friends? She gave me a tour of the school earlier and invited me to sit with her."

"Oh, all right." He sounded happier that it was Esme that had asked me. "It's okay, maybe we can have lunch together some other time."

"Sure, that'd be great."

Author's Note: DUM DUM DUM! I held it off for another chapter. CLIFFY! I love them.

So, for sure, for sure, Edward and Bella meet next time. I can't guarantee when it shall be posted up but hopefully it will be by the end of this week.

If there's anyone actually reading this…PLEASE REVIEW!

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Just want to make sure I actually have people reading it.

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See you soon.