So this was it. My first day of school at Forks High.
The day wasn't off to a great start.
Firstly, my hair was not behaving. Having curled it, then straightened it, then washed it again, I'd resignedly put it up into a scruffy ponytail. I'd planned to wear a cute blue dress that was just casual enough for school, but realising that all my pairs of leggings were in the wash, I sighed and pulled on my skinny jeans (with holes in the knees from when I'd drunkenly tried to climb in through my own window in Pheonix), a ribbed white tank top and tied a grey oversized cardigan around my waist.
I assessed my reflection in the mirror. I wasn't glamorous, or sexy, but I might possibly pass for kind of cute with a bit of mascara.
I wasn't the kind of girl who usually cared that much about my appearance, which is why I was failing so epically at trying to put together a kicking ensemble. But today I did care- and I didn't want to admit it to myself, but there was one reason in particular for me wanting to look good.
A reason that had dark eyes, permanent sex hair and lips that I just wanted to bite.
A reason who was going to be at school today. And who, much as I wished it otherwise, had a girlfriend.
I hadn't seen Edward much since the party last week. I'd come across him when I was walking back from the store on a sunny day. I was wearing a tee with a big strawberry on it and some denim shorts. Edward was walking with a couple of guys- the blonde one I recognised as Jasper, who I'd met at Alice's party, and the other one, who was brawny and even taller than Edward, was unfamiliar.
The big dude had been throwing a baseball in the air and catching it, and then he threw it to Edward, who deftly caught it in one hand.
Then Edward spotted me- at the sight of him I'd only just managed to carry on walking without either falling over or running away.
"Hey, strawberry- catch!" and he launched the baseball at me.
For someone vaguely co-ordinated, it would be an easy catch. But being Bella Swan, I gasped, dropped my bag of groceries and let the ball bounce off me and into the curb.
The boys burst into laughter. I blushed, hard, and bent down to pick up my dropped bag. Emmett swooped down to pick up the ball, and Jasper bent down and helped me repack my groceries, then winked at me and walked on with the group.
As they left, I distinctly heard Edward's voice saying 'did you see her face? Red as a strawberry. Classic."
I blushed just remembering it. But no- new school, new start, etc. It was time to stop being clumsy Bella, who trips over her own feet and blushes whenever a boy looks at her. Time for Bella the supervixen, who traps gorgeous men in her web of awesomeness.
Yeah. Right.
As I fixed myself some cereal Charlie attempted some bonding.
"How you feeling Bells? First day of new school and everything. You nervous?"
"I'm fine, Ch...dad. Are you done with the milk?"
"Sure. You want a ride to school? Or is that not 'cool'?"
I made a face. Embarassing as my truck was, I'd choose that to arriving in a police wagon. With my daddy.
"Thanks, I should probably head off now though." I chomped down the rest of my cereal, drained my coffee and swung my backpack over my shoulder as I headed out the door.
"You look nice today, by the way" Charlie called after me.
Big fat liar.
I was already feeling much more nervous as I pulled into the parking lot of Forks High. On the way I'd imagined about a hundred nightmare first-day-of-school scenarios. Nobody sitting with me in the cafeteria. Tripping and landing in my lunch tray. A gaggle of cool cheerleader-type girls sneering at me.
Then someone knocked on the window of my truck, reminding me that I don't live in a bad American-high-school movie.
"You coming out or what, babe?" Alice complained, and I slid unwillingly out of the truck to join her.
Double math first thing. Oh joy of joys. In my nightmare first day scenarios I'd forgotten just how boring and crappy school generally is, without even having to be humiliated or bullied.
There were a lot of eyes on me as I walked into my first class, and I scanned it for a face I knew.
"Bella. Bella! Come sit here." It was Jessica Stanford. Oh. Ok.
I tentatively sat down next to her, and she beamed and flicked her hair- which was super shiny. I wondered if Edward liked it, then wished I hadn't.
"This is Lauren" she said, indicating to her left. Lauren nodded once, staring at me suspiciously. I wondered if she remembered me from the party. I also wondered if she knew that Jessica and Edward were, like, a thing. Hmm, there was a minefield to avoid.
"Are you good at Math? Because I'm terrible, and Lauren's not much better. We don't understand, like, anything Mr C says."
Jessica was interrupted by Mr Carver starting the class, and I spent the next hour and ten listening to Jessica getting told off for trying to talk to me.
I felt pretty exhausted when I went to my locker in the break. If I hadn't quit (ha) I would be scouting out the nearest place for a smoke- as it was, I settled with swigging a Coke and trying to work out on my map where to go for Biology, my next class.
It took me a while to find the classroom, but I eventually stumbled in five minutes late.
"Isabella Swan, I presume? Very well, find a seat quickly"
I scanned the classroom for an empty seat. There was one. And ohdearlord it was next to none other than manofmydreams Edward Cullen. He was looking godly and eyeing me up and down in a way that made me feel nervous. I sat down awkwardly, letting my hair swing down and hide my blush. I thought maybe I should say something to him, but Mr Banner was already back in full swing with his lecture and I wasn't sure if I was able to form a coherent sentence around Edward yet. I settled for examining his hand out of the corner of my eye. It was nice. Big, with long fingers. He bit his nails.
Something nudged me in the ribs. It was Edward.
"Yeah?"
"Er, d'you wanna go first or shall I?"
Crap. Mr Banner had stopped talking and asked us to do something while I'd been daydreaming about the things that Edward's hands could do to me.
"Um" I said, articulately.
"Y'know what, it's fine, I'll do them all actually. I'm frickin' awesome at Bio. You're lucky to be my lab partner to be honest, you can just sit back" Edward proclaimed.
"I'll have you know I'm fab at Biology, Cullen." I said, annoyed by the (correct) implication that I was useless at Biology.
"Big words for a small girl" he said, grinning crookedly, and I melted a tiny bit.
"I'll just finish off this little experiment or whatever while you watch in awe. What are we doing again?"
Edward laughed, and I smiled too, elated that I'd actually managed to string together some sentences in front of dream-boy.
As it turned both of us were terrible biologists. We spent ten minutes arguing whether the first slide was anaphase or metaphase, only to be told by Mr Banner that it was actually prophase.
Considering the fact that I'd been anxiously imagining this first conversation with Edward for the last week, I thought it was actually going surprisingly well. Because I was sitting down the effects of my clumsiness were limited, and I hadn't stuttered or accidentally told him I wanted to lick his face. I was totally cool and casual.
The bell rung, and as we left he held the door open for me, winking. But before I could even melt into a pool of lust at his feet I bumped smack into Jessica.
"Shit, sorry Jess" I gasped, and I thought I could see a glint of suspicion in her eye when she looked from me to Edward.
"That's ok Bella. Edward, wanna walk me to lunch?" and she snaked her arm around his waist and whisked him away. I watched as he slung his arm around her shoulder, not looking back.
The wink burned in my mind, making me shiver.