After lunch ended, I had worked out that Mike and Angela were in my next class so the three of us started making our way to Biology. As Mike was going on about some sport or other that he was fantastic at, I exchanged a glance with Angela and rolled my eyes. She grinned slightly, and I was happy that we seemed to be bonding. After all I wanted to try and get myself some good friends, and she was definitely the nicest person I had met today.
As we entered the classroom, Mike and Angela left to take their seats, while I went up to the teacher. He then pointed me over to the only available seat left, right next to Edward Cullen who was glaring straight at me. I almost burst out laughing due to the awkwardness of the situation, but instead I stayed quiet and walked over, sitting beside him.
His seat immediately shifted away from me, clearly as far away as he could get. My heart sunk as guilt washed over me. Crap, I really must have offended him. I risked another glance, and saw he was still staring, clearly pissed off.
I turned away and started thinking. I mean, all I did was suggest he might be gay to make Jessica feel better. And it's not like being called gay is something offensive, unless he was a complete utter bigot. Then it dawned on me… maybe he is gay? And I just inadvertently outed him to the other kids at school. After all, they said they hadn't considered this before until I mentioned it. I keep forgetting that I'm in a small town now where people talk, and he was probably happy flying under the radar until I ruined it. Perhaps his family doesn't even know.
God I'm an asshole. I wondered if I should just pretend I hadn't said anything, but fought against it. No, I should at least apologise. I then turned to introduce myself.
"Hi, I'm Aaron." His eyes suddenly flashed with fury. Okay was kinda expecting that, now to try and make it right. "It's Edward right? I er… don't know if you heard me say something in the cafeteria or anything but um, if I somehow offended you, I'm sorry I really didn't mean too."
I wasn't expecting that. The look of anger quickly changed to one of confusion. I guess he hadn't heard me then? But why was he staring at me like that? I glanced at his eyes, and noticed there was something off about them. They were kind of black, and looked a bit weird. I then realised how pale his skin was and that he seemed to be gripping onto the table, trying to keep himself steady or something. His face then looked pain, as if he was in some kind of agony.
That's it, I realised. I hadn't offended him; this guy was clearly on drugs!
The teacher then started the lesson, and soon began perhaps the most awkward sixty minutes of my life. The longer we were there, the more and more I realised that this psycho was probably about to attack me at any second. He seemed to be really losing it, and I wondered if there was anything I could do. However I resisted talking to him again, convinced he would bite a chunk out of me if I did. I spent the remainder of the lesson wondering if perhaps getting murdered by a crazed druggie on the first day of trying to get my life back together was some sort of ironic poetry of life or not. When the bell finally rang, I was overcome with relief when Edward Cullen clearly raced out of the room as fast as he could.
"What did you say to piss Cullen off so much?" Mike asked me, as we made our way to Gym class.
"I honestly don't know." I replied. "He just seemed so ticked off or something? Maybe he heard what I said at lunch?"
"How?" Mike wondered. "We were at the other end of the cafeteria and you didn't say it that loudly. Don't think too much over it, who cares? Cullen's a weirdo anyway, him and that family of his."
"Hmm," I nodded. I don't condone the use of calling people weirdo's usually, hell I've been called it enough times to know it sucks but I just didn't want to discuss Edward Cullen anymore. I had more pressing concerns facing me… like how on Earth I was going to get through Gym in one piece.
Back in Phoenix, I had thankfully been able to give up Gym last year but in Forks it was a requirement for all four years. Luckily it wasn't that much of a disaster. We were playing volleyball and I was on a team with Mike who worked out quickly that I was useless and immediately took over, playing most of the game himself. He ended up winning, so I'm sure that was a nice boost to his ego.
Afterwards it was thankfully the end of the day, and while the weirdness with Edward Cullen had been a negative, it still was actually an okay day. I may have even made a few new friends so things were clearly picking up. Plus Cullen was clearly on drugs or dealing with his own things that probably had nothing to do with me.
I almost headed straight back to the truck, when I remember I had to hand back the slip all my teachers signed so headed back over towards the school office. As I entered, guess who I see but none other than Edward Cullen. He was talking to the woman and seemed to be wanting something changed.
"Is there not anything you can do? I really can't stay in that class." Edward spoke. I was shocked at how well spoken he sounded.
"I'm afraid not, you will have to stay in Biology I'm afraid." She replied, and I froze.
So clearly I am what's causing him to act that way. I then instantly noticed him stiffen, as he turned around and glared at me, clearly furious. We stayed a moment, staring at one another when he turned back to the woman.
"Fine. I see that there isn't anything you can do. I will just have to endure it, thanks for your help." He then turned and started to make his way to the door behind me, and I felt my anger begin to grow. Endure it? As in me? Who the hell does he think he is? I know I may have upset him, but I apologised so why is he actively hating me? Before I could even stop myself, I ended up blurting out something I instantly regretted.
"What the hell is your problem?" I shouted at him just as his hand reached for the door. He immediately turned to me, both shocked and furious. I then began to panic; I had never had someone look at me with that much anger. For a split second I felt as if he was about to attack me so I reacted instantly.
By swinging a punch at him.
However it didn't make impact, as Edward easily grabbed my fist with his bare hand, stopping me in place. An instant chill suddenly swept through me, as his hand was icy cold. We both stayed shocked for a few seconds, and then something truly horrible happened.
He looked down at my wrist, which my jumper had now exposed, and saw the scar I always tried to hide. His eyes then glanced to me, his expression unreadable as he let go of my hand.
"What's going on there?" The woman at the desk called over, and I found myself speechless.
"Nothing. Just a bit of a misunderstanding." Edward replied, not looking at me once. "Good day." He then turned and walked straight out of the door, leaving me standing in shock alone. At least until the woman spoke.
"Everything okay Mr. Swan?"
"Yeah, er sure. Here's my slip thanks." I handed it too her, as she looked me over quizzically but didn't say another word.
The parking lot was empty thankfully as I climbed into the truck. I took a moment to breath, before hitting the wheel in frustration. It had gone so well! I had engaged with people, was making jokes, the day was fine and then this stuck up asshole had to ruin it. I just…. I can't even understand it. Why did this guy hate me so much? I mean, it's not like I've always been liked by other people, far from it most just ignored me. But to have someone clearly loath me so much it seems like they are in actual physical pain to be near me? I might not be the best person in the world, but I don't deserve that.
Right. I don't. So what if this guy hates me? It's his problem, not mine. Let him deal with it. I've had a good day. Made some new friends. Mike and Jessica might seem a bit shallow but they were nice and actually talked to me first, wanting to get to know me. And Angela was still really nice, even if she was perhaps a little shy. So what if some wannabe Abercrombie and Fitch model took a dislike to me? There's no reason that should affect my life here at Forks, or my ability to have friends. And I don't need to be friends with Edward Cullen, if he wants to act like I'm his mortal enemy then so be it!
I then chuckle to myself a bit. Mortal Enemy? Like he's a superhero or something? Ridiculous. Although he did have great reflexes when I went to swing for him.
I laugh to myself briefly at the absurdity of the idea. It's enough to calm me down as I start the truck up and drive back to Charlie's house… or I guess my house now that is.
A couple of hours later Charlie comes back from work and asks me how school was.
"It was ok actually," I replied and realising I wasn't even lying. "Met a few cool people. Classes are okay, though I'm gonna be repeating a lot of stuff I did back in Phoenix."
"Well that's good then." Charlie replied nodding. "So you er… you feel good?"
"Yeah, I do." I smile, surprised at the feeling myself.
"Good. I'm glad." He then pats me on the back and makes his way to the phone. "So what do you fancy ordering?"
"Do you just live on takeout every day?" I ask grinning.
"No course not. I sometimes go to the diner." He shrugs and I can't help but laugh.
"Ok I'm not a great cook or anything, but you gotta at least let me get some food in and try and cook some proper meals for us to eat."
"Well if you cool with doing it, I'm cool with letting you do it." He smiles, chuckling himself.
The rest of the evening went by easy enough. I watched some bad TV with Charlie, and replied to a few emails. Renee had sent several, panicking that I hadn't responded yet while Bella thankfully sent a single one, saying she was fine and that she's trying to keep Renee calm and hopes everything is going well. After replying to both with emails where I didn't have to even pretend that I was feeling well, I crept over to bed and found myself having another blissful sleep.
Next morning I arrived at school, feeling positive and no worries about Edward Cullen, even when I saw his siblings starting to get out of a shiny and expensive looking Volvo in the parking lot. Guess I was too consumed with everything yesterday to have noticed it. However I soon then realised that Edward wasn't with them. I wondered if he drove another car, before remembering that I don't even care. Mike Newton then called out to me, and I went to go chat to him.
However as the day went on, I soon realised Edward wasn't at school. He didn't turn up the next day either, and was gone for the rest of the week. I was still confused that I somehow had driven him from school? I mean was suggesting he was gay really that bad? As far as I can tell, none of them really cared. If anything, they seemed to love the idea. Mike kept going on about how he'd probably get hit on by loads of guys if he was gay while Jessica was constantly saying how she really wanted a G.B.F (gay best friend) like it was a fashion accessory.
As the week went on, I realised that yes Mike and Jessica were a bit shallow, but I didn't mind in the end. They were just easy and fun to talk to, and I was even getting on better with Eric too. Lauren kept trying to talk to me as well, which was flattering and I always responded, but something about her attitude kept me from wanting to get to know her too well. That and the fact her and Jessica kept staring daggers at one another, which I found off for two supposed best friends.
However best of all was Angela, who was opening up more and more to me each time we chatted, and I was still stunned by just what a nice person she was. She was pretty too, but again for some unknown reason, I just wasn't attracted to her in that way. I briefly wondered if she might be feeling that way about me, but after seeing the way she looked at some small guy in another class I knew I had nothing to worry about.
All in all I was enjoying getting to know my new friends, and we even all went to the cinema on Saturday evening which was nice just to be socialising with other people for once. In fact I was so shocked at how much I was starting to like Forks that I completely forgot about Edward Cullen.
Until I saw he had returned back to school on Monday morning.