Liv stared at the forest, her mouth hanging open in a dumb, awe-filled expression.
"It's…It's so… green!" she whispered, seeming shocked and even somewhat disturbed by the color of her new home. Olivia had only ever seen the grey tones of New York City and the closest she had ever gotten to wildlife was in museums and theaters.
"You're such a city girl, Liv." Nikita teased, chuckling. He ruffled her hair which she had so neatly pulled into braided pigtails.
The girl whined and smoothed her now mussed hair down. Without bothering to defend herself, since she knew his stereotype was true, Olivia marched to her car.
Nick, after dropping Olivia off at the house (already furnished and painted according to their previous rooms), had gone back to New York, gotten her car and driven it back. Then, he went all the way back again to retrieve his own car. She searched through her messenger bag for her keys, but was unable to find them. She sighed impatiently and looked up, only to see Nick standing between her and the car door, holding her keys.
"Give 'em." She ordered.
He laughed. "Oh no."
"What now?" she asked, obviously irritated.
"I'm driving." He stated simply, pointing to himself and grinning.
"Ugh, fine." She rolled her eyes, walking around the car, towards the passenger side.
She heard Nikita's chortle and turned to look at him. Only he wasn't where she recalled him being. He was instead at the driver side door of his own grey Chrysler ME412.
"Are you kidding me? Nick, in this town, that thing is practically made of gold."
He shrugged. "I like attention." He smirked, climbing into the car.
"Of course you do…" Liv muttered, stomping over to his car. She opened the passenger door and hopped in, huffing. He only laughed at her sulking.
Once her seatbelt clicked together, she looked at him, eyes narrowed. "Why do you have to drive, again?"
"You're bound to get lost, firstly. And I don't want you running into any dogs."
"Get lost? Nikita, I lived in New York my whole life and never once did I get lost. This town is like the size of a mall in New York." She shot back, then continued. "And dogs? Please. You know just as well as I do that they wouldn't dare cause a scene just because I smell like you. And if they did harm me, that would break the treaty, correct? Which would cause a war. And no one wants that… unless they're masochistic mutts." Her green eyes had never been more deadly.
Nikita knew she was still bitter about moving to Forks, but he'd never seen her so vicious. He twisted his face in a search to find a reply.
"Well I need the car anyways."
"Why? We're gonna be in school."
"Uh… you will be in school." He said, averting his eyes out the window.
"What?! You're abandoning me?" she gaped.
"Not exactly… but during the time that you'll be sitting in a tiny desk and learning pointless facts, I'll be arguing with Carlisle."
"Fine…" Olivia started pouting again.
"Oh, and don't bother looking for any of the Cullens. They're out…uh… 'camping'." He used air quotes on the last word.
Liv rolled her eyes. She didn't feel like talking anymore. He was only making it worse, despite his efforts not to. She turned and tossed her messenger bag into the backseat before being thrown back by the momentum of Nikita zooming forward down the wet street.
"Idiot…" she muttered, glaring out the window.
Olivia walked through the small double doors and nearly frowned. She was expecting it to be small, but this was tiny. It was nothing like Olivia's New York High School. The ceilings here were much lower and the few short halls a lot narrower; she was starting to feel a tad claustrophobic. The cafeteria was close to the size of one of the classrooms at Regis Secondary School, and she tried to imagine all of the students at Regis fitting in that one cafeteria… it was rather a comedic thought and nearly made her laugh. Another thing that bugged her was the common lunch. Every student ate lunch together. Olivia was used to an assigned free block and only having maybe half the school at once in their gigantic cafeteria. The thing she'd liked about so little people in a big space was that she had the freedom to have a table all to herself. While here, she was certain to have to sit beside someone.
It wasn't hard to figure out all of the separated buildings, since their numbers were written very clearly. Her schedule was different from New York, since it was the second semester and she wanted new subjects. She was only given permission to choose three classes, since she would have P.E. all year long. She decided on mathematics, history and biology. She wasn't worried about the severity of any of her courses, since she knew Nick could teach her more than the teachers themselves could.
In the school, no one had heard about her arrival, apparently. They noticed her. Oh, did they ever. They stared at her with curious eyes, but no one ever actually seemed to have the courage to speak to her. One shorter girl with dark curly hair and a very bubbly face looked very tempted, but stopped herself last minute, as if remembering something.
Olivia preferred that. Being a loner was a sort of comfort zone for her and having the option of slipping into that role once again was a relief. It was like part of her identity. She was never lonely. She never had been, even before Nikita came along. Solitude was just something she enjoyed, it helped her think clearer.
Lunch arrived all too quickly, and Olivia dreaded the thought of anyone waving frantically for her to sit with them. She walked in the door and a few dozen eyes lifted to glance at her. Some were more hidden with their stares, but she could see very clearly they were curious to where she would place herself. Each table was crowded with students of various types. This place was the farthest thing from cliqued. Every student mingled with one another, and it seemed to be very positive interactions. Liv almost didn't like it, having been surrounded by stereotypical young adults who always followed the status quo.
Olivia took in each pair of thirsty eyes and raised her chin a fraction, keeping her dignity as she searched frantically for an empty table. In the end, there was only one. Even just looking at it, and the way every student kept their distance from it, Olivia could instantly recognize that that was the Cullens' table. She glanced around before marching right up to the table and sitting down. Everyone froze in a state of shock. Clearly she was the first to sit there. Ignoring their confusion and startled faces, Olivia opened her bag of chips and munched on them quietly. Whispers started, so she dove into her book. That made it easier to ignore them, but in the back of her mind, she was very aware that everyone was very aware of her... along with her chosen seat.
I wonder... Olivia mused, smirking to herself, what's going on in the human lover's mind? she nearly giggled and used all her might to restrain herself from looking around the minuscule lunch room to find the girl of which Edward was so taken with.
After that, school was sort of dull throughout the rest of the day. It hadn't been until gym that anything else exciting occurred.
In P.E., they had just started a unit on track and field, one of Olivia favorites. They were told to run six laps around the field, and she started without a delay. As she ran, she smiled, loving the feeling of the cool wind against her face. The steady beat of her feet hitting the track was such a familiar sound to her,; she'd always loved running. She finished one lap, and saw that she was the first to finish one lap. She smiled, not being able to help but be proud, and continued running. The teacher praised her, clearly happy to see another more athletic person.
Olivia wasn't truly athletic. Since the recent turn of events, she'd been neglecting her dance classes. Her muscles were stiffening and she could hardly do the splits any more. Liv made a mental note to sign herself up for some classes and to do some more stretching at home to regain her lost flexibility.
Olivia looked back and realized she was far ahead of everyone. Not really caring about her mark in P.E., she slowed down to a brisk walk, giving the others a chance to get ahead. She let close to half a dozen pass her and then started to jog again. Suddenly, a small yelp came from behind her followed by the painful sound of someone falling. Liv stopped and turned to see who it was. A girl with brown hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, was wincing as she tried pathetically to stand up. In the distance, the teacher blew her whistle. Olivia jogged over to the girl and offered a hand to help her up. The poor girl accepted the aid gratefully. Her knees and forearms were scraped up pretty badly; even her palms were cut from her trying to catch herself. Olivia knew a trip to the nurse's office was in store.
The girl stood with Olivia's help and rested her arm across her shoulders for extra support. Her right ankle seemed to have twisted during her fall, since she was leaning more of her weight on the left foot. A round faced pretty boy with blond hair sprinted over to the two girls.
He caught his breath and stared at the brown haired girl with a horrified expression. "Bella! Bella, are you okay?" he asked her restlessly, his eyes wide with worry.
Bella nodded, her smile small and her cheeks bright pink as the blood pooled in her face from embarrassment.
Olivia however, didn't say a single thing. This girl, she'd been in contact with a vampire recently. Liv could smell it. The delicious, sweet fragrance radiated from her pale skin like perfume. Obviously, it had been close contact.
The teacher blew her whistle again, finally arriving at the scene. She, too, caught her breath and looked at the brown haired girl. Bella was her name, apparently.
"Do you need to go to the nurse?" she nearly screamed, even though she was only a few feet from them.
Bella's face lit up momentarily and her mouth twitched, coming very close to smiling.
P.E. hater. Liv concluded.
Hamming it up quite a bit, the girl nodded weakly. The teacher turned to Olivia. "Can you take her?" she said sharply, again too loud. It hardly even sounded like a question.
"Sure." She agreed, glancing at Bella quickly. Who is this girl? Is this the human lover Nikita told me about? Is she who Edward fell in love with?
The two girls walked (well, one walked, the other limped sadly alongside.) in silence for a long while. Bella didn't seem awkward, she just seemed quiet. Like someone who wasn't a huge fan of conversation.
When they reached the school's office doors, Olivia reached out and opened one door for the both of them. They scuttled in to retreat from the cold wet air outside and into the warmer, dryer surroundings in the small office. The secretary was currently on the phone and mouthed to them to wait a moment, pointing to the chairs against a wall. They sat next to each other, and finally Bella broke the silence.
"So… uhm… what's your name…?" she asked in a quiet voice
Olivia smiled warmly at her. "Olivia Roberts, you?"
"Bella… Swan." She seemed to hesitate between, as if she longed to say a different last name.
Cullen, I bet. Olivia thought, smirking inwardly.