Charlie was already gone by the time I woke up, but left a note with some cash to grab lunch with. I was actually grateful, as it gave me time to get ready without anyone watching over me. After I was showered and dressed I made myself eat some breakfast. Just a couple of slices of toast, but it's time to get back into good habits, or start them as I never really had them before anyway.
Once I finished I did another check in the mirror. I decided to keep it simple, a nice green jumper and a pair of jeans. It had been a challenge to not listen to my impulses and grab the black objects from my wardrobe, but no. This is a new start, and I'm going to be the positive and happy person I wanted to be. Or hell, just not the usual mess I was.
As I left the rain was beginning to fall down, but not too harshly thankfully. I raced into the truck, and instantly fell in love. Sure it was a bit battered, and could probably break down at any moment, but it felt great driving it. It was easy to find the school as well, I just headed in the rough direction I knew it to be, and turned up no problem. I guess that's the beauty of small towns, never that hard to find where you've got to go.
I drove into the parking lot, and saw that I was clearly a bit early. Guess they started later here then down in Phoenix, at least it means more of a lie in for future. Once I parked, I took a moment to breathe, and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I stared straight into my eyes, and knew what I had to say.
"Life throws you crap every single day. Deal with it." I spoke aloud, and then briefly panicked in case someone saw me. Last thing I needed was to start my first day as the nutter who spoke to himself in his car. Thankfully it was still empty, and my insanity remained hidden for a brief moment more!
I exited the car, and started walking to the building, looking for the main entrance. After locating it, I was soon in an office where some woman started calling out to me.
"Hello! Can I help… oh! You must be Aaron Swan right?" She smiled at me.
"Er… yeah. How did you know?"
"Only got one new student starting today as far as I'm aware. So…" She looked me up and down, clearly surveying me. "How are we feeling today?"
I resisted frowning. Stupid permanent record. Shake it off, shake it off.
"I'm good! Kinda excited actually!" I smiled widely. "Looking forward to seeing what it's like here."
"Wonderful! That's the attitude to have. And don't worry, everyone here is nice at Forks, but if it starts to get a bit too overwhelming, please just let us know." She smiled and reached a hand out to pat my arm. "No matter how scary it might feel."
"Sure. Thanks." Great, I'm already classed as the unstable loser. Forget it, I will just have to prove them all wrong.
After handing me a map of the school, my timetable, a slip to get my teachers to sign and about six more we are always here to help's I was out of the door. As I left, I saw the school parking lot was already starting to fill up, so I quickly memorised the location of my next class and made my way there.
It wasn't long till I noticed that practically everybody was staring at me. At first I thought they all knew about my past, but then realised it was much more simple than that. I was something shiny and new in a town where everyone knew everyone else. Can't blame them I guess, curiosity is a tricky beast.
I made my way to my first class, where I was the first one there. It worked in my favour as the teacher quickly signed my slip, and pointed to a seat near the middle of the room that he said was always free. Well at least everyone will get a chance to look at the new animal at the zoo.
Everyone started coming in, and all of them had at least a small glance in my direction. Some more subtle than others of course. However no one made an effort to talk to me yet, which was fine. I needed the time to build myself up to it, but made a mental note to communicate with someone in my next class, even if it was just to ask something stupid like where the bathroom is.
English was fine, I had read most of the reading list so was good to know I was already ahead. Algebra was a nightmare though, and I instantly cursed my teacher with instant baldness after he made me introduce myself to the entire class. It did lead to my first conversation with one guy though. His name was Mike, and a total jock or at least seemed that way at first glance.
"So you're from Arizona?"
"Yep, Phoenix."
"Bet you miss the sun! I'm from California, moved here several years ago and still hate the rain."
"That sucks. And here I was hoping to get used to it."
"Yeah good luck with that. I'm Mike by the way. Mike Newton." He offered out his hand and I shook it.
"Aaron Swan."
"Yeah I know, everyone does. You're pretty much famous."
"Famous. For what?"
"New kid." He shrugged. "Doesn't happen often. But still, cool to meet you dude." He then motioned his hand for a fist bump, which I returned. Yep, total jock. Still, who am I to judge?
The rest of the morning went fine, and in my one class before lunch I had my second interaction with a girl who was determined to share her workbook with me. She said her name so fast, I instantly forgot it. She also seemed to ask a lot of questions, but I somehow don't remember answering any of them. Still I was happy for the interaction, especially when she invited me to join her at lunch.
After we got our food, I found myself at a table with her and a group of friends, including Mike Newton who wanted another fist bump. Introductions were done, but still none of the names stuck as everyone started on with their daily chatter. However I then remembered that the girl's name was Jessica, and started to try and engage.
"So Jessica, what do you guys do for fun around here?" I asked.
"Oh well we sometimes go down to La Push, the beach at the reservation. The sun is rarely shining which does nothing for my tan, but there's still a few cool things you can do." She then smiled at me. "Maybe next time we go, you can come with us and I can show you?"
Holy crap, is she flirting with me?
"Yeah sure sounds great!"
"Perfect!" She grinned widely. "We will have an amazing time I promise!"
Yeah, I may be no expert but the way her eyes were staring at me, she's definitely trying to flirt. I smiled back to be polite, as I took a closer look. Sure she was very pretty, and seemed nice enough, if a little too chatty. But no… wasn't feeling anything. I don't know why I'm surprised, I never seem to find a girl I'm into, no matter how hard I've tried. Guess I've just been so wrapped up in my issues, never really had time to think about it before.
We carried on chatting and I started to get to know other people at the table. There was Mike's friend Eric, who was a bit of joker and worked for the school newspaper. Then there was Lauren, one of Jessica's supposed best friends who seemed to be glaring at her more and more as the lunch went on. I was in the middle of a conversation with a sweet girl named Angela, who seemed shy at first but lit up loads when I asked her about her family, when Mike said something that grabbed my attention.
"One of the Cullen's keeps glancing over."
"Which one?" Jessica asked turning to him.
"Edward. " Mike replied.
"Who are the Cullen's?" I asked, and Mike nodded his head towards a table at the other end of the cafeteria. I quickly glanced around to the direction where he stood when I saw them. Alone at a table by themselves, five shockingly beautiful human beings. I had been so wrapped up trying to talk to people, I hadn't even noticed them. Now that I had, it was hard to look away.
There was two girls, one short with a cute brown pixie cut, and the other glamorous beyond belief with long blonde hair. The guys also looked like they had walked out of a fashion shoot. One was tall and burly with curly brown hair, and probably captain of the wrestling team. Another was blonde who seemed quite reserved, and almost in pain. Probably a sports injury I guessed. The final one was the one who kept glancing over. With reddish brown hair, and an intense gaze, I gathered this one as Edward.
"So are they the cool kids then?" I joked, when the others all stared sceptically at me.
"They wish." Mike said. "The Cullen's are weird, no-one ever talks to them."
"Cause they never talk to anyone else." Lauren interjected. "Plus they're all incest-y."
"What?" I turn to her confused, when Jessica cuts in.
"Well not exactly, it's a bit weird though. Like they're kind of together, together."
I glanced at her, clearly confused so she went on to explain.
"Well a couple of years ago they moved here from Alaska somewhere. Dr. Cullen and his wife can't have kids, so they took in a bunch of foster kids from relatives and elsewhere. The blonde ones are the twins Jasper and Rosalie Hale. And Jasper is going out with the other girl Alice, while Rosalie is with the big guy curly haired guy Emmett." Jessica explained. "Then there's Edward, he doesn't date anyone. Guess none of the girls here are good enough for him."
I could sense there was some history there by the way she looked. Instantly I guessed he had probably spurned her at some point and she took it hard, so I thought I'd try and make her feel better about it.
"Well maybe he just doesn't like girls?" I shrugged. Everyone immediately stared, as shock went over their eyes.
"Oh my God!" Jessica whispered loudly. "I had never thought about that before. I bet he is!"
"So what if he is?" Angela interrupted. I turned, a little surprised and clearly I wasn't the only one at the table. "It's his business who he likes or not. We shouldn't judge him for it."
"Well said Angela." I smiled at her. "Who cares anyway?" She smiled back at me softly, and I knew immediately I wanted to be her friend.
"I wasn't judging!" Jessica protested. "Just caught me by surprise is all."
"I wonder who he fancies then?" Mike said, with a little bit of ego showing. I decided to tease him about it.
"Probably you Mike since you clearly think you are so irresistible to gay guys." I joked. People around the table then laughed, including Mike himself.
"Exactly Swan, who could blame him!" Mike joked himself, and as chatter turned to other subjects, I glanced back over to the table that the Cullen's were seated. I was then shocked to see Edward Cullen staring straight at me. I froze, confused at the expression on his face. It was like he was trying to concentrate, as if he was trying to work me out.
After a moment, I guess he had, as his eyes seemed to change. I was pretty sure he was glaring at me.
Crap, guess he had heard what I said.