One: Meeting
"Now then everyone, I expect you all to have a binder tomorrow full of loose sheet paper." Mr. Haliwell droned on, half the class already falling asleep. The roly-poly man cleared throat and pulled at the collar of his white and blue plaid shirt; a shirt that no matter what just did not match his brown pants and black shoes. "So, as for this Chemistry course. You will all need---"Before he got to finish and much to the students delights, the classroom door opened. A girl in a pair of four-inch stiletto heels stepped in, raising the sunglasses off the bridge of her nose with perfectly manicured hands to the top of her head. Long jet black hair streamed down, perfectly straight, down her slim and perfectly tanned body. A few boys whistled, causing a pearly white smile to form on Alice Brandon's perfect and flawless face.
Her jade green eyes looked over Mr. Haliwell, a frown twitching at her face. However, her gaze seemed to linger just a bit on his badly balding head.
"Can I help you?" He asked, looking over at Alice from his podium.
"My name is Alice Brandon. I'm an exchange student." Her stilettos beat against the floor as she walked over to hand Mr. Haliwell a piece of paper. He read it over with a grunt.
"Fine then I guess." Mr. Haliwell moved to give the paper back, his brow rose as he watched Alice reapply some candy pink lip gloss and pucker her lips at a small compact mirror. "Ms. Brandon." He said sternly.
"Hmm? Oh! Sorry!" She closed the compact and twisted the top of the gloss back on, stuffing them both into her over-sized silver hobo bag. Alice smoothed over her light gray V-neck sweater and pulled at her black leggings.
"Yes well, maybe next time—"
"'Scuse me?" A blonde and blue-haired girl stepped into the classroom, looking from the paper in her hand to Mr. Haliwell. "You Mr. Haliwell?"
"Yes, I am."
"Oh, good. I'm in the right class then." She smiled, though, her lips tried to form a smirk as her green-blue eyes looked over Alice (who openly glared right back). One hand was on her hip while the other held the class roster by her side. She was dressed in a practice jersey that was faded, but the number '13' and the name 'McCarty' were still visible on the back. Emmette McCarty's jeans were loose, faded, ripped and stained, making it look as though she had just come off the playing field. Her wild hair was pulled up in a ponytail that swung and bounced as she walked toward Mr. Haliwell. "I'm a transfer, just in from L.A. I surely can't say it's as hot here in Forks, that's for sure." Emmette smiled, adding, "Or as sunny."
Mr. Haliwell frowned just a bit. "Well, yes… Forks, Washington is the most rained-on city in all of North America. He took Emmette's paper, looking it over before signing it. "Now then, you two will—"
"Whoa! Watch out!" Out of nowhere, a body flung into the room, knocking into the other two girls so that they all fell to the floor.
"Oww... Sorry! I'm so sorry!" Bella Swan bit her pale lower lip, looking to Emmette and Alice as they got back up. "Are you two alright?"
"Just peachy keen. Heh, I've been tossed around so much by the football team back home I could probably stand up to a grizzly bear!" Emmette said with a smile, adjusting her black carrier bag and dusting off the wolf screen design on the front flap, howling to the moon.
"I'm okay, too. I mean, I'm glad I brought my fake Prada bag instead of my real one today." Alice said with a smile, looking just as gracious and poised as ever.
"Oh, okay. Well, that's good." Bella smiled, pushing back a loose curly brown lock of hair. Her dark blue eyes were kind and still held an apologetic sense to them. "I was coming down the hallway and someone was mopping I guess but they forgot to put up the little caution sign so I slipped and I'm not very coordinated so I tripped in." Her black sneakers and the hem of her jeans here wet and a bit muddy from the rain puddles she walked in on the way to school. Her dark blue sweater fit snugly to her and the belled sleeves reached just to her knuckles. The dark colors of her clothes and hair over-accentuated her pale skin, however, gave her a serene glow about her.
"Let me guess," Mr. Haliwell said, starting to become annoyed now, "You're another transfer student, right?"
"Uhm, yessir…" Bella turned to her black back pack, searching for the slip which she pulled out a moment later. "Here you go."
With a scowl, he took the paper while muttering a few inaudible things to himself. "You three sit in the back for now. You'll get this at the end of class Swan."
The girls didn't hesitate and took the first empty seats they saw.
Mr. Haliwell then continued on with what he had been saying before.
"Mary Alice Brandon or just Alice." She said, crossing her arms over to shake hands with Emmette and Bella, as she was sitting in between the two girls.
"Emmette McCarty." She smiled, taking Alice's hand. "Or just Em works, too."
"Isabella Swan, though, I just prefer Bella." Bella took her hand as well, smiling after a moment's hesitation as well. "You two don't look like you're from around here."
"I've been all over, but I'm originally from New York City, New York." Alice said with a smile, taking her hands back.
"Los Angeles, California." Emmette said, proudly. "So then Bella, are you from here?"
"Well, I was born in Forks. My mom had me practically right out of high school. She hated it here in Forks and moved to Phoenix. But, as much as I don't like Forks, I despise Phoenix even more so I'm here for the rest of high school while living with my dad." She explained, turning to the note book she had pulled out and scribbled down whatever Mr. Haliwell had just said.
"Oh, well that's cool I guess."
"So," Alice then interjected, pointing toward the window beside her from which you could see the rest of the campus on, as well as the rain that had yet to end. "Does it always rain so much? I mean, really! This place is probably more moisturized than a celebrity's skin!"
Bella gave Alice a bit of a look, one that Emmette shared with her.
"Well, it rains a good portion of the time, but, we have a few good sunny days here and there." Bella told her, thinking on Alice's metaphor for a moment.
"Okay because my hair frizzes in the rain." Alice smoothed her hair over; however, she looked as perfect as ever. She watched Bella shake her head, causing the lighting to catch her eye of something. "Hey, Bella? What's that your wearing?" She pointed to her neck.
"Oh, this?" Bella looked down, pulling at the silver chain around her neck that had sunk below her sweater. Dangling off it was a large oval pendant with what looked like a family crest carved into it. "I've had it forever. My mom got it for me when I was little while on her honeymoon with her husband, Phil. I forget where she got it exactly, but I think it was someplace in Italy." Bella shrugged, letting the necklace hang.
"That's so weird…"
"Why's it weird Al?" Emmette then asked. "I mean, it's just a necklace. How's that weird?"
"Because, Emmie," she smirked as Emmette scowled. "My choker has the same exact design." Her hand touched the gray velvet ribbon around her neck where the small pendant was. It was exactly identical to Bella's but only smaller. "And my mother got it on one of our trips to Italy about ten years back."
"Wait a second…" Emmette lifted her wrist where a cuff bracelet encircled it. On the bracelet was a replica of the crest, exact to that of the other two, only Emmette's was about as large as Bella's. "Mine came from some place in Italy too. I got it for my birthday when I was, like, six."
The three girls looked at her each other for a moment.
"Gals, this is just a bit weird." Alice said.
Bella nodded. "Yeah, I agree. I mean, what're the chances we all have the same crest, and all received it at around the same time in our lives?"
"They're probably not that great, Bells." Emmette chimed in.
"Well, talk about coincidence." Alice sat there, thinking about it for a few moments. She then shrugged. "We'll all have to ask our parents tonight where they came from and see if it's the same place. I know it's not anything designer."
" Well that narrows it down so much Alice." Emmette rolled her eyes.
" Actually, it does. That means it's not anything Prada, Gucci, Dolce and Gabana, Chanel, Code, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Jacklyn Smith, Dior, Dooney and Bourke and a few others as well; which also means they're not some knock-off. Though, I always thought I was the only one with anything like this. Oh well, so much for being a trend-setter."
" McCarty, Swan, Brandon, quiet back there!" Mr. Haliwell then said, scowling at the girls before going on about Chemistry.
" So, who has who for what now?" Alice laid her roster out on the table and held her hands out expectantly for Bella's and Emmette's. " Okay now… Wow Bella, if it's not AP it's an honor course… Hmm… Well, we all have lunch together, and our homerooms are all right around one another. Actually, all of our classes are pretty close in range to each other. We have Chemistry, homeroom, lunch and English together. Emmie and I have History right across from Bella, who's in AP. Oh, we all have Health/Phys. Ed. Together too." Alice shuddered. " I hate gym class; the uniforms we had to wear in grade school for that class were so tacky!"
" Alice, you had to wear a T-shirt and sweatpants!" Bella protested.
" Yeah, I know. I did say tacky, didn't I?"
" What? Do you want to have gym in Prada clothes or something?"
" Well, we certainly all would look better."
Bella rolled her eyes as Alice went on. Emmette had to stifle a laugh.
" While I'm in Art, Bella you're in Music and Em is in Photography. And then we all have our language classes at the same time too." She handed back the rosters to their rightful owners.
" Well, if we ever need to find one another we just need to look right across a hall or across the room." Emmette said with a smile as she stuffed the paper in her pocket.
" Yeah, pretty much." Bella then added.
The bell then rang, drowning out the last of Mr. Haliwell's words.
" Remember that binder for tomorrow!" He yelled as the students all shot up at the bell as though they were part of Pavlov's experiment and headed for the door. " Here's your paper Ms. Swan." He signed Bella's paper before handing it over. " I hope you three won't be so chatty tomorrow."
" Oh no, we won't Mr. Haliwell." Bella assured him with a smile as she took her paper.
" Good, now get to homeroom."
" No problem Mr. H!" Emmette said, pulling Bella along as Alice led them out and toward their homeroom class.