I am SO sorry that I haven't published anything in a really long time! I've been studying for end-of-semester exams, having some trouble with my friends, and a whole ton of stupid little things. I'm even more sorry that this chapter is so sucky, I wrote half of it about a week ago (it seems like WAY longer) and the rest just now, so I'm pretty sure it won't flow well, might make Juliet seem really bitchy, and will probably have slightly more 'language' (as seen like, right before this, ha) than I originally intended.
Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, which is © Stephanie Meyer. Oh my gosh, my computer changed the "bracket C bracket" thing I typed in to something that looks like a real copyright sign! Trippy.
"Name?" the lady sitting behind the counter asked me. I leaned forward so that she'd hear my quiet voice, and smelled something that was like a cross between Curious by Britney Spears, and cooked carrots. Mmm, wonderful.
"I'm Juliet Ero," I said, glancing around the office to see if there were any other new students getting their course lists. Nope, didn't look like it.
On this bright, early, Monday morning, I was the only one in the Fork's high school office, besides a boy sitting in the corner, who had three tattoos—that were visible—and looked like he was sleeping. He wasn't a new student, as far as I knew, though, because he had a handful of tests all marked with an 'F' in red ink laying on his lap.
"Alright, sweetie, here's your schedule, and would you mind reminding your Aunt about book club tonight?" she said, smiling. Wow, this really was a small town. I wasn't used to everyone knowing everyone, but I nodded anyways, like I knew just what she was talking about.
Once I was out of the office, I looked down at the post-it note that the secretary had stuck to my schedule. It had my locker number, combination, and the email of a peer tutor. I rolled my eyes, and walked down the crowded hall way.
It really was a pretty small school. Small in the way that makes everyone follow you with their eyes—or, literally, follow you—as you walk down the hall, trying to find your locker. True story.
Finally I arrived in front of it, and fumbled with the lock for a few minutes before it finally gave in and opened, revealing a totally empty metal box. My locker. I shoved my books into it, before peering at my schedule.
I was wearing an outfit that my Aunt had both picked out and bought for me. It was a hot pink short sleeve shirt with a black flower on it, over top of a black, long sleeve shirt, and a pair of skinny jeans. I guess it did look sort of nice, but for the most part it was just uncomfortable, and catching the eyes of several students, all of whom seemed to be suited up in sweaters, and jeans themselves.
My schedule was written out like so; first period—Biology, second period—English, third period—home ec., fourth period—lunch, fifth period—math, sixth period—social studies.
I groaned, this would be a fun semester. At least I had English, one of my favourite courses, and home ec might not be that bad, but as for all of the rest of my classes… I wasn't exactly looking forward to them.
Before I could even begin to fully dread my first class, however, the bell had gone, and I diligently marched to class, trying to avoid as many of the stares I was shot as I could.
As soon as I had arrived in the class, I realized that most of the students were older than me. Actually, it looked like all of them were. I couldn't be in a class where everyone had failed, could I?
"Oh, you must be Miss Ero, welcome to Biology eleven," the teacher said, glancing up from some papers he'd been shuffling through.
"Um, um, thank you, but, um, I'm actually in tenth grade…" I said, slowly, as I scanned the room hoping for any sign that this might not be some kind of cruel twist of fate. I had been dreading Biology—my least favourite subject, even though I wasn't all that bad at it—enough without being in an older class!
"Ah, it seems that your marks in this class were above average, and the board of education decided to try you in an older class," he explained, barely glancing up from what I could now see was my 'file'.
Of course I had gotten good grades in biology; I had studied it every evening for at least an hour back in Australia, trying to keep my grades at a passing level. I had actually somewhat been looking forward to coming to America and no longer having to deal with that. Guess I was wrong.
"You can take a seat over there," he said, still not looking up. He was pointing to the only empty table, although I had no idea how he could do that without looking up.
I nodded slowly, and started to make my way over to the table—which wasn't exactly empty anymore. Somehow in the time it had taken me to turn around, two people had entered the room and sat at what was supposed to be my table. Wow, I didn't think I was that slow.
I looked back at the teacher, but he was apparently engrossed in taking the attendance, so I took a deep breath and stopped in front of their table. "Um, hi, sorry, I was supposed to sit here…" I said, quietly.
They both turned to look at me, and I was struck by just how beautiful they both were, in very different ways. Sitting furthest from me was a guy who looked about a year older than me—well, duh—and he just might've been the most gorgeous looking person I'd seen in my entire life.
He had slightly messy hair, the perfect face—no other description needed—and the strangest looking eyes… they were a really, really dark brown, almost black…
"Oh, of course, here," said the other person at the table, grabbing a chair and drawing my attention to her. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and a nice smile.
I nodded slightly, and took a seat. "I'm, um, Juliet," I said, slowly. They seemed like nice people…
"Bella," said the brown haired girl, smiling, and when the boy didn't answer, but rather just stared straight ahead, she said for him, "He's Edward, sorry, he's not feeling well today."
They shared an almost conspiratorial look that made me feel as though I was interrupting something incredibly personal. In response, I just nodded, and took a seat on my chair. I looked around and saw that a lot of the seats were empty.
"We have about five more minutes until class starts," Bella said, almost as if she'd read my mind… but, that wasn't possible, was it?
Before I could ask why they were here so early, a group of loud guys came walking in the door, laughing boisterously. "Hey Bells, who's your friend?" asked the first boy through the door.
I closed my eyes, wishing that I wasn't there, and missed whatever Bella said, but by the time I'd opened my eyes again he was in his seat at the other end of the classroom. I shot her a thankful smile, but she was too deep in conversation with Edward to notice.
I realized suddenly who he reminded me of. He looked a lot like the beautiful people on the plane. Could they be related? They looked too young to have kids his age though. I rested my head on my hand, letting my hair fall in front of my face so that no one could see me closing my eyes.
All of a sudden, before I even knew what was happening, I felt the wall that I'd built up in my mind so long ago falling apart. I could hear people's thoughts again.
She's so hot, I wish I could just—that sounded like the guy who'd entered earlier. Mike, I think Bella said his name at some point. I stopped listening then, not really wanting to know whatever else he was thinking.
I played around a little, for a few moments forgetting why I'd stopped reading people's minds in the first place, and then it hit me;
God, look at the new girl, she looks like such a loser. This is going to be fun. I didn't even try to figure out who that was coming from, I just buried my head further in my hands, wishing that I had just stayed ignorant and the voices in my head—wow, that sounds like I'm crazy!—had just stayed shut up for a while longer.
The teacher was still sitting at his desk, but now I knew that instead of marking papers he was discreetly scanning over his matches on one of those internet dating sites, and wishing that his students would stop coming in early.
The girl sitting at the table in front of me had just had sex with her boyfriend and was afraid that he was going to leave her, and the boy sitting next to her was trying to finish his Spanish homework.
It was almost like a crash course in knowing everyone around you. I could already probably name about half of the class without ever having actually met them. I guess a power like mine could actually be fun. Too bad I wasn't really a 'fun' person.
Just as I felt that my day would've been infinitely better had I stayed at home, something very strange came into my head; Juliet? Can you hear me?
My eyes widened, and I pushed the hair out of my face, trying to figure out whether I had just imagined that, or something very strange had just happened. It was a deep voice, but not too deep. In fact, it seemed like it would almost suit the guy—Edward—who was looking at the table with a somewhat vacant expression.
Everything about him just seemed so mysterious… oh, who was I kidding, weird eyes? Vacant expression? 'Not feeling well'? He was probably just stoned, or something like that.
I am not stoned, and you are not imagining this either!
What. The. Hell.