Chapter 2
Disclaimer:I, Bailey Lynn Dunlap, do not own the Twilight saga. I also don't own Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Or Maroon 5. Or Washington (Do I have to disclaim that? It seems pretty obvious). Or Madonna. Or Pop Tarts. You know what, I don't own anything, okay!
As previously mentioned, I'd like to thank MajorWhitlocksBrokenGirl for her wonderful beta powers!
Isabella's POV
The alarm I had set last night blared Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's "Can't Hold Us" rediciously loud and my hand shot out to my left on instinct, reaching for the bedside table only to grab air. I was instantly awoken shooting up, realizing that I was not in my crappy bedroom in Phoenix, but in my less crappy room in Forks. I sighed, but pushed off the covers and shivered, grabbing the loud piece of technology and turning it off.
Shit, it's so cold here! With another long, suffering sigh I plugged in my iPhone to my dock and played "Sugar" by Maroon 5. It was 5 am, so Charlie was still asleep, therefore I had the house to myself for an hour or two. I danced my way through my shower and straightening my hair, Adam Levine's soprano serenading me all the way throughout. When I got to my closet I decided I need a change in tune and shuffled all. The first song that came on was Madonna's "Material Girl". With a grin, I started to tackle my closet, trying to find the best "I'm the new girl, check me out" outfit. It was way harder than you would think. Finally, I decided on a deep purple tank top with skinny, acid-wash jeans and a white lace jacket. My makeup was hastily thrown on and only consisted of thick eyeliner, mascara, and a sparkly lip gloss.
It was 7:20 when I glanced at the clock, 25 minutes until school starts. I skipped down the stairs, chirping a hello to Charlie, who sat at the table, reading a newspaper and nursing a steaming coffee.
"Is there any more of that?" I asked, gesturing to his mug. He nodded.
"In the pot. To-go cups are in the cupboard to your left."
"Thanks dad!" I quickly opened the cupboard and browsed through the various glasses. One caught my eye and I pulled it out, showing it to Charlie with a raised eyebrow. As he observed it, he blushed.
"It was a White Elephant gift. From someone at the station." He mumbled not looking me in the eye. I glanced at the pink, sparkly cup that featured a stiletto heel and shrugged, rinsing the dust that it had collected out, and filling it with coffee and creamer. The creamer which we had bought yesterday when Charlie took me to the store to fill his bare kitchen with real food. Placing some Pop Tarts in the toaster I not-so-patiently waited, chatting with Charlie as I did so. When they finally popped, I wrapped them in a paper towel and packed a small lunch. Waving goodbye to Charlie, I slipped on some white pumps, and my school bag, then ran out while protecting my head from the rain to the perfect red truck that sat in the drive.
-Flash Forward—
As I turned into the parking lot of the significantly smaller-then-I-was-used-to school, I was slightly stunned by all he people standing around in the cold and rain. Are they crazy? It's like 23 degrees out; Fahrenheit! And the rain made it that much colder! People here are nuts! As I parked I prepared myself for the rain and the cold, before throwing open my door and sprinting to shelter. Yes, bitch! I can run in heels! I've never done it in the rain though, so I was slower than normal but I made it with minimal damage to my hair. I huffed and puffed the cool, thick air and made my way into the main office. After my conversation with Ms. Cope, I started in (hopefully) the right direction to my first class of the day, wondering what the day would bring for me.
-Flash Forward—
In first period, English, I met Jessica who I also have in trigonometry, gym and Spanish 2. In other words I only have government and AP biology to give my ears a break. She's a nice girl, and I think we'll be good friends, but she never stops talking! We're in Spanish now, and can't keep my eyes of the clock. Lunch is next and I really couldn't wait to eat the peanut butter and peach jam sandwich that was packed safely in my bag. It's probably crushed now though, but it'll still taste the exact same, yum. The sad reality that is school bags. I was so into my food fantasy that I didn't notice how fast time was going by and was startled by the bell. I quickly threw the few things I had out for Spanish in my bag and tried desperately to block out Jessica's supersonic voice.
"Bella? Bella! Are you even listening to me?" She waved her hand in front of my face as we walked down the semi crowded hallways.
"Sorry Jess, I must have spaced. What where you saying?" She had insisted last period (trig… gross, I know) that I call her "Jess" saying that Jessica was a mouth full. Yeah, because those last couple of syllables really are a struggle.
"Do you want to sit with me at lunch? I'm sure everyone will love you!" She lilted, though she hesitated on the last part, which made me snort. I had been hearing bits and pieces of horror stories about Lauren Mallory all morning. Apparently, she and Jessica had been BFF's since childhood, when Jessica moved to Forks. Jessica had explained that Lauren had a… way about her that instantly attracted guys to her like moths to a flame. Jessica said she wasn't jealous of her "fantastic boobs and bountiful butt", as her current beau, Mike, had apparently said in first period, but I really doubt it.
"Sure. I'd really like to meet them all." Jessica giggled at the slight reluctance in my voice but pulled me along with her anyway.
We got to the cafeteria pretty quick, Jess's running commentary never stopping (seriously though, does she ever breathe?), and sat down at Jessica's table.
"Guys, this is Bella, Bella this is Angela Weber, Ben Cheney, Tyler Crowley, Lauren Mallory, Mike Newton, who you've met, and Eric Yorkie!" Jessica rattled off, leaving me very confused. A series of hello's where shot back at me and I smiled at everyone I could.
"Bella, sit here!" I glanced at Jessica and saw her sitting across from Mike. Sitting down in my now designated space, I pulled out the sandwich I had been fantasizing about instead of listening to the Spanish teacher. Although my assumption had been correct, my sandwich had been flattened, it was still delicious.
"So, Bella, where did you come from?" The extremely nasally voice of Lauren penetrated my bliss and I glanced at her.
"Arizona. Phoenix, actually." I responded cautiously. I did not like that tone in her voice.
"Then… why are you so pale?" She said with a stupid girly giggle, like she expected the rest of the group to laugh with her. I raised my eyebrow and glanced at her skin.
"Why are you so orange?" I said, tilting my head to the side and examining her fake tan with interest that was just as fake.
"Jessica!" She screeched, making a previously snickering Jessica jump. "You told me I looked great! Golden, you said!" In that moment, I respected Jessica that much more.
"Mm-hmm. I did tell you exactly how you looked Lauren." I was the one snickering this time, as I watched the pieces try to fit together in Laurens head. When they finally did, she huffed and stood, grabbing her bag and Tyler's arm, and stomped out of the room.
It was silent for about a minute before Jessica, Angela, and I dissolved into a fit of giggles. The boys where too absorbed in their talk about a new video game to notice anything other than that fact that Tyler had suddenly been extracted from the conversation.
"That was awesome! Who knew she would get so worked up about it?!" Angela said, after composing herself.
"Me!" Jess said, still giggling. I laughed along. I might actually like it here. We continued to gossip and the girls filled me in on everything they could think of.
"Well then Ashley Dowling, you know, the girl in our trig class? Yeah her, she…" Jessica cut off suddenly and a hush seemed to fall over the entire student body. I looked up and went to question Jessica's pause when I got a glance of the most beautiful things I had ever laid my eyes on. There were five of them total, two girls and three guys. They were walking into the cafeteria in some sort of line. In the front was a really huge guy with brownish black hair and a goofy grin on his face, and supermodel with gleaming blonde hair was attached to his arm. Then there was a boy with penny hair, that didn't fit his skin tone, and a lanky body who was glaring at the really short girl with a pixie cut next to him. Then there was one last, lonely, gorgeous guy in the back. His ear length, dirty blonde hair and skin that seemed textured somehow, didn't hide the scowl on his face and white knuckled fisted wrapped around a lunch tray, he was so not happy the be here.
"And there they are." Jessica said, like the entire lunch room had been waiting for this moment since they sat down.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Those are the Cullen's. The most attractive people on campus." Angela said with a sigh.
"On campus?" Jessica snorted. "Try all of Washington." They shared a looked then nodded in agreement.
"You know what's weird though?" Jessica said, taking a sip from her soda. "Alice walked in with Edward today, and Jasper looks more pissed than usual."
"Oh, yeah! I didn't even notice that! Hm. Trouble in paradise?" Angela said glancing over to peek at the Cullen's who had settled in at a table.
"I don't think so, but imagine that! Jasper being single? He would so go right to the top of my list." That's another thing I had learned in the last ten minutes. Jessica has a list of people in school she wants to, well, fuck.
"Wait. Are you telling me Ares and the tiny pixie are an item?" I said.
"Yes!" Jessica confirmed with a giggle. "They all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife."
"And they're couples! I mean Alice and Jasper and Rosalie and Emmett. And they live together!" Angela butted in, her voice held the shock and condemnation of the small town. To be honest though, with people this beautiful, it would have caused gossip in Phoenix too.
"So who's who?" I asked.
"So that's Rosalie and Emmett." Jess said, pointing to the brute and the beauty. Beauty and the Brute! It'd go great on Broadway.
"That's Edward and Alice!" Angela exclaimed more subtly gesturing to the second pair of people.
"And the really hot one," A really high pitched voice butted in. "Is Jasper." I looked over at Mike who was laughing before Jessica hit him over the head.
"Shut up Michael, that is not how I talk!" She said indignantly.
"Uh, yeah, it really is." Mike said.
"Girls, girls, let's get along, now shall we? You're both pretty." I said, standing to collect my bag and pat their heads.
"You'll fit in here just fine, Bella." Eric said, offering me his fist to bump with my own, which I did.
Oh, I love it here already.
Jasper's POV
It was a short journey to Forks high, considering Emmett drove like hell's hounds were at our heels.
"Jazzy? Will you grab my bag from the back for me?" Alice asked as we all climbed out of the monster that was Emmett's Jeep.
"Sure, Alice." I responded.
"Yeah Jazz, will you get mine too?" Emmett asked in a very annoying high pitched voice. I punched his shoulder and pulled mine and Alice's bags out.
"Angela, did you hear? The new girl comes today! I wonder what she's like. Hopefully not like everyone else in this town. No offence Ang!" Jessica Stanley's obnoxious voice floated over to us and I felt Alice's out-of-control excitement spark.
"Jess, is that her?" Angela Weber asked her companion.
"Maybe. I've never seen that truck around here before." Jessica said, directing her attention to the rusty truck that was entering the parking lot. As a result of Jessica's overly loud voice, every head turned with her to look at the truck, which parked and then idled for a few seconds before turning off. It seemed like the whole school, including our new arrival, pulled in a breath of anticipation. When she stepped out, the lust and jealousy skyrocketed, which made no since at all, considering we couldn't even see her face as she ran, covering it with a text book to protect herself from the rain. Though we could see her ass in those tight jeans…
"Well." Rosalie's bored voice broke me out of my trance. "That was anticlimactic." I couldn't help but agree. Alice had been so excited for hours for this?
"Silly Rosalie! This is certainly not what I've waiting for!" Alice said, looping arms with Edward who instantly furrowed his brow and they started one of their privet conversations.
"But dude." Emmett stage whispered. "Did ya see her butt?" I let out a laugh, but Rosalie didn't seem to find Emmett's teasing funny, elbowing him in the side.
"Rosie, baby, you know I only love you!" Emmett grunted through the pain.
"Dumbass." I said, which earned me a scowl from said dumbass.
-Flash Forward—
So far I had no classes with Ms. Swan, though Edward apparently had second period, government, with her and some interesting struggles arose. Such as the one where Edward was struggling with not sucking her dry. He had told us this minutes ago, when we had met up for "lunch".
"But Alice-"
"No, Edward! You'll be fine! I've seen it! All you have to do is sneak into her room every right to get rid of the blood lust!" At this point in the conversation I was very lost. Up until this point, the conversation had been with their gifts.
"Um, what?" Emmett said, a little cautious and worried. To be honest, I agreed with Emmett. This plan would never work.
"Edward has found his mate!" Now I was really confused. I thought we were talking about singers, how did we get to mates?
"Alice, don't be stupid. You can't find your mate until they're changed." Rosalie said with a huff.
"Then how did you know Emmett was your mate?" Alice said, triumphantly.
"Because he was dying. My instincts wouldn't let him die, so I was forced to take action." She had said all of this with a very bored tone, though her emotions showed amusement, mischief, and a little lust, as always.
"Jazzy! Help me convince her!" Wait, how the hell did I get dragged into this? I was really in a pickle now.
"Well…" I said nervously. "Rosalie's right. You can't confirm your mate until they are changed, but if you had a vision of them, then… maybe?" Alice's emotions were angry and triumphant, all at once.
"Well, I did! So ha!" She said childishly. Rosalie and I simultaneously fought the urge to roll our eyes. We did this a lot around Alice, and around each other. She really was like my twin, sometimes.
"Edward's finally gonna get some! Ha!" Emmett boomed. Disgust and annoyance filled Alice and Edward both.
"I wish you wouldn't be so crass. It really is quite uncalled for." This time I really did roll my eyes at Edward's 1910-esque statement. I feel kind of bad for the utter resentment I feel for Edward, but when someone constantly tells you and acts like they are better than you for years upon years, well it's pretty hard to feel anything good towards them. Honestly, no one care about how crass Emmett is, we've gotten used to it the last 6 decades. Edward's constant squabbling about it was more annoying than Emmett's comments. I glanced at Edward and noticed him glaring at me, probably from my thoughts, so naturally what do I do? Push memories from the war to the forefront of my mind, just for him, which made him pull a disgusted face and turn his nose up at me.
"Shut up Edward. No one wants to hear it." And there's another reason why Rosalie and I could easily be mistaken for biological siblings. By then, we had made it through the lunch line, with said lunch in hand, and started to head to our table. As I stepped into the actual sitting part of the cafeteria, I was swamped with lust and hatred, two very conflicting emotions. Somehow, in the last four hours, the girl's simple jealousy had turned into an all-out hate for Isabella Swan, who seemed to be oblivious to the lustful stares and glares that she was getting from almost all of the student body. We sat down and could suddenly hear the conversation Isabella was having with Jessica and Angela
"You know what's weird though? Alice walked in with Edward today, and Jasper looks more pissed than usual." I hadn't even been aware of the fact that the student body noticed the growing distance between Alice and I, I'm not sure Alice had even realized the distance I was trying to create between us.
"I don't think so, but imagine that! Jasper being single? He would so go right to the top of my list." I seemed I had missed the comment that lead to this answer, but Emmett apparently hadn't. I heard Emmett giggle, yes giggle, and turned to look at him.
"Jasper is popular with the ladies!" He continued giggling and now Rosalie had joined in, just at the sheer stupidity of the statement.
"Oh shut up Emmett. If any of us where ready and willing, the whole of the student body would come at us." I replied with a snort.
"Wait. Are you telling me Ares and the tiny pixie are an item?" A voice I was unfamiliar with said, disbelief coloring the tone and the emotions. Alice's emotions swiftly changed to indignation and hurt.
"What, does she think I'm not good enough for you?" Alice huffed.
"She said nothing of the sort. She was probably just confused about why you are with Edward instead of me." I responded, glaring at my wife, who looked at me, unaffected.
"Oh please Jasper; she's just a simple teenager. She cares more about looks and popularity then the so called scandal in our family." The problem with that statement is, if Isabella was only concerned with those things, us Cullen's where considered top of the popularity food chain: best looks, best grades, and best money. As self-centered as it sounds, it's true.
"Alice, if she is my mate then I doubt she would be concerned with such petty high school things." I won't kill him, I won't kill him…
"All high school students, even us, are into the whole 'who fucked him, who pissed her off, who cheated on him', you know?" Emmett said.
"Emmett-"Edward started.
"Stop being crass, blah blah blah, yes I know Edward." Emmett cut him off, which earned him a kiss from Rosalie. The rest of lunch went as smoothly as it could for a family of vampires, and then we were off to finish our last classes of the day and head home. I knew something was wrong with Edward the moment we met back at the car, but I had no time to comment on it, because in the next second a very pissed off Isabella Swan was stomping over to our group.
"You asshole!" She then proceeded to slap Edward across the face.
Shit. What did he do now?
Love it? Hate it? Hate ME? Yes, I know it's very late, but I got it here eventually... right? How about this? I update every other Sunday? Less disappointment for you and less stress for me! Everyone wins!
Thank you my lovely supporters, I'll see you in two weeks!xx
Bailey Lynn