Three

When I sprinted back to the dorms, I quickly stripped and had a shower, rinsing away all the grime from the so-called 'fall'.

After I changed into some clean clothes, I grabbed my hefty bag full filled with my new books. They were all as thick as my hand was wide. But maybe that was just because I had small hands.

Lucy was still sprawled among the mess of blankets that was her bunk, the curtains still drawn.

I tucked my iPod into the clutter on my desk, grabbed two apples, and without another glance back at Lucy, I left the dorm.

By the time I'd walked down the hallway and out of the building, I had already eaten one apple. As I chomped on my second, I looked around me at the little mountain town of Lianna.

Apart from the huddle of personal houses, Mount Citreon (or MC for short) High, and the Dorm House, there were only one of every necessary shop; i.e. one butcher, one hairdresser/barber/makeup stylist combined, one shopping market. It really was a very small town, but so far, I liked it. I'd come here because I'd wanted to try and live life a bit more independently; without my parent's help.

Of course, Renee and Charlie begged me not to, but I insisted on going.

But after seeing their pleading faces, I compensated. I allowed them to visit whenever they wanted.

But I also sneakily chose to come to Lianna because it was far away from my hometown, and it would be pretty hard for my parents to visit often.

Since the town was so small, there was really no need for cars, except for when leaving the town, and for this I was grateful. Everyone my age had learnt how to drive, except … you guessed it. Yours truly.

I just seemed to have a bad feeling about cars. I'm not sure why.

As I walked along, I saw a stream of other high school students walking towards MC High. The only difference between us was the fact that they were walking in little huddles. I immediately felt isolated.

I suddenly felt a rush of giddy nervousness, and I frowned at myself. I usually wasn't that shy. I mean, I'd volunteered to live in a small town for a year or so! That was my character. So, I pushed aside my anxiety, and strode forwards pushing open the school double doors, confidently. As I walked in, I heard many whispers, coming from all sides.

Did they actually think that I couldn't hear them?

"Is that the new girl?"

"Huh. She's seems really up herself – look at the way she's strutting."

"Um, I don't know. That might be how I would walk if I was really nervous."

"Whatever."

I ignored them. There was sure to be a few bitchy people – even in a tiny school like this.

I decided to check what subjects I had first.

I awkwardly held my bag in the crook of one arm, the half-eaten apple between my teeth, and then unzipped my bag to look for my timetable. As I whisked my hand through the contents of my bag, I heard a voice.

"You could put the bag down, you know."

Unfortunately I forgot that I still had my apple in my mouth. "Zairs muhd on da flaw." I mumbled through my apple.

Then I looked up.

It was, of course, that beautiful guy from the forest. I kicked myself. I should've recognized his voice; smooth and alluring. He was grinning at me again. He had a new shirt on, pale blue. I couldn't help but notice that it contrasted perfectly with his marble skin.

Snap out of it!

I jumped as the shrill alarm-like bell rang. In shock, I spat the apple out. He watched with amusement as it splattered on the floor. People hastily skirted around the mess, as they hurried towards their classes.

He decided not to comment, for which I was eternally grateful.

Instead he turned to me and spoke in his lovely, velvet voice again.

"I'm sorry. I've been terribly rude not to introduce myself earlier. Your little… incident… distracted me."

I just looked at him. No comebacks came to mind.

He stuck out a hand. "I'm Jasper. Pleased to meet you."

I smiled back at him. Apart from his annoying smirk, and mildly insulting jokes, he seemed pretty nice. Nicer than the girls I heard bitching about me before.

"Indie. Nice to meet you too."

"Is that short for something? Or just…"

I replied as I always did. "Yeah. My real name's Indiana."

He nodded. "That is a real mouthful. I like 'Indie' better."

Before I could protest, he snagged my bag straps from my arm, and held it out for me. I just shook my head, amazed at his speed. Within seconds, I'd found my timetable.

"What do you have first?" he asked as I unfolded my crumpled timetable

"Um…" I used my finger to search. "Chemistry. With Gardinier." I said finally.

He smiled at me. "Me too. Let's walk together."

As we walked side by side, he chatted to me.

"So what are you doing here, in this god-forsaken little town? And on your own?" he asked.

"Well, I asked to move here."

He waited.

"By myself. As in no parents."

"Well that's usually what 'on your own' means. But why?" his curiosity seemed genuine, so I continued.

"Because I wanted to be more independent! New town, no one I know. Just me and my lonesome."

He cocked his elegant eyebrow.

"What? You don't believe me?" My temper always got me into trouble.

"No, quite the contrary. I think you're being brave."

I looked at him, surprised.

We entered the classroom. I glanced around - everyone was staring at me.

Or rather, Jasper.

He moved away from my side, slipping gracefully into one of the two empty stools at the back. I was still hovering, uncomfortable, near the door, unsure where to sit. Then Jasper looked up.

"Sit next to me, Indie." he called loudly.

You could have knocked everyone in the room over with a feather. The girls looked shocked, as if they were watching a horrendous scandal, and the guys looked at me up and down, as if wondering what was so special about me.

Only Jasper had a friendly expression on his face.

I met his eye with a grateful smile, and began walking towards the back of the room.

"Just a second Miss Lane."

I turned around. The teacher – an old man with crumbs in his scraggly beard – motioned to me with a finger. I walked back up to the front of the room.

"We have a new student this year. Miss Lane… would you like to introduce yourself?"

No! I'll pass!

But I could see there was no getting out of it, so I fixed a fake grin on my face and said, "Hi… my name's Indiana Lane, but you can just call me Indie… um." I looked to Mr. Gardinier, to see if that was enough.

Sadly, he motioned for me to continue, nodding his head in encouragement.

"Okay… well, as you might be able to tell from my accent, I moved here from Melbourne, Australia."

This caused some interest. More people were actually looking at me, rather than scribbling notes to eachother. I bravely continued.

"And just incase you're wondering, I don't have a pet koala or kangaroo in my backyard."

I inwardly winced with horror at the weak joke, but surprisingly, it actually got a few laughs. I saw one guy nudge his neighbour and stage whisper, "Man, I told you so!"

At least now, about half the class weren't sending death glares at me (the male side). The girls were all gazing back at me, as if I was mentally handicapped.

Well, you can't have them all.

Mr. Gardinier gave me a pleased smile, as if to say 'See? Not too hard.'

I agreed with him. I tossed my long hair behind me and walked back to the tall stool at the back of the classroom that was waiting for me. I plunked myself down on it, and turned my head to see Jasper, my first real friend, give me a toothy grin. Of course, his teeth were all perfectly straight and white as snow. He smoothly gave me a high-five slap.

I got a jolt of shock when I touched his hand; it was cold as ice. I looked at him, feeling my brows pull together. I quickly rearranged my features and looked to the front again, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw his cheeky grin grow wider.

Chemistry was easy - Mum had paid for me to do an extra course on it. Jasper's field of excellence seemed to be Chemistry as well, so we both breezed through it. I felt the eyes of many struggling students on us.

I asked him lightly. "So, Jasper, I've told you a bit about my life… now you tell me about yours."

I found it increasingly easy to talk to him – it was as though we had been friends for years.

"Well, I live with my adopted family… my biological father and mother died… a long time ago."

I didn't know how to comfort him. I immediately felt guilty; I had both my loving parents, but I chose not to live with them. Jasper had no parents. He had no choice.

"Oh. I'm sorry." I said quietly.

"It's alright. It's been many years… I hardly remember them."

Thankfully he continued, and we avoided the awkward silence that had been brewing.

"Carlisle and Esme took me in some time ago. They also took in two other adopted brothers, and two adopted sisters. Emmett, Edward, Alice, Rosalie and B-" and here he suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Nothing." He swiftly continued, deflecting my question smoothly. "So anyway, Carlisle likes traveling, so we only stay in one place for a few years. We just recently moved here from Washington."

"So you're pretty new here too? Why wasn't anyone staring at you?" I asked, a little put out.

He fiddled with his stained lab coat, and spoke while staring at the table.

"They were staring at me. Well, rather, you and me. You see, I'm not really that good with people, so it must've surprised them to see me talking with you. Others just tend to leave me alone… and I'm really good at blending in."

I found that hard to believe. How could someone so good-looking just blend in? The idea was ridiculous.

He continued. "And anyway, they were obviously staring more at you because you're brand new. I'm only…"

"Second-hand?" I couldn't help but finish his sentence.

He laughed. "That's one way of looking at it."

I remembered how he'd mentioned that he wasn't that good at socializing with others, and one thing niggled at me.

I said "But you're good at talking with me."

He smiled. "Hmm… you're really the first person apart from my siblings, who I can be around easily. There's just something about you… as if… I've known you for a long time."

I blushed at the compliment. Jasper and I spent the whole lesson just talking, and it was comforting, knowing that I had, at least one good friend.

"Alice is going to be so excited meeting you," he remarked just as we were packing up.

"Alice? As in your sister?"

He nodded. "You better watch out. She'll probably be waiting for you after school to take you shopping."

I raised an eyebrow. By that description, she seemed really ditsy.

He laughed loudly at my expression. "Trust me, she's not like that. She's just… Alice." I recognized a powerful emotion flicker across his face as he said her name.

He was completely and utterly in love with her. I thought that I would feel disappointed, or jealous of this Alice, but strangely, I felt happy for her. For some odd reason, I knew that Jasper and I weren't meant to be together. It would be all wrong.

My next lesson was Advanced English. Jasper's next one was Calculus. He grinned down at my timetable, and his cheeky smile spread like wildfire over his face. He looked extremely pleased about something.

"Good luck Indie. I'll see you later. You're room is down that hallway, the classroom on the right," he said, patting me lightly on the back. And with that, he strode off.

Abandoned.

And so I stumbled down the hallway, heart sinking as I realized I might have to introduce myself all over again.

Thankfully, I didn't have to. My teacher, Mr. Mooney, brusquely handed me a manila folder of sheets, and ushered me impatiently towards a seat.

There was no one sitting next to me, and I felt like an idiot, with nothing to do.

As I settled on studying the numerous graffiti that had been scrawled on the desk, I heard someone talking to me.

"Hey. Are you the new girl?"

I wearily looked up to see the boy sitting in the desk in front me, looking at me. He had blond hair in that typical surfer-style, and light blue eyes. The beginnings of a beard were sprouting up from his unshaven chin, as though he was trying to flaunt his age.

He'd swiveled around so that he could talk to me.

When I didn't immediately reply, he offered me a sweaty hand and said formally, "Michael J. Newton." When I shook his hand, I simply said, "Indie." I watched as a blush coloured his cheeks. He obviously felt the fool after saying his name so elaborately. I felt sorry for the embarrassed guy and gave him a small smile.

I thought that since no one was going to fill my neighbour's seat, I might as well try and make friends with this Michael guy. He certainly seemed eager enough for two.

But before I could begin the somewhat forced conversation, the door opened with an earsplitting bang. The room fell silent.

I looked up, and felt my soul just about slipping away. This must be heaven.