A/N: I had the chapter done already, so I figured I should update it as well...there's not much to say except:
WE HAVE A WINNER! sapphyre18 guessed what song I destroyed in last chapters authors note...I'm impressed that you even recognized it, but maybe it wasn't really that hard. Anyway, that's it from me for now, I won't ramble for once, so here's the next chapter.
Hope you like it.
Bella POV
"Stop complaining and hurry up," I said to my sister. She was still sitting on the floor of our now somewhat empty bedroom, whining about the fact that we had to go to the academy in Forks. I didn't even understand her problem. She did agree to go because she wanted to, and now she was acting as if our parents, who were somewhere downstairs waiting for us, had forced her to go. "Come on, or we're going to miss our flight," I tried again to encourage her.
"Is that a bad thing?" she sulked.
"Chris," I groaned.
"Okay, okay. It's just weird, you know. We're leaving everything we've ever known behind and we don't even know what to expect when we get to Forks or what expects us."
"Yes, I understand and I feel exactly the same way. But you know, maybe we should be a bit more excited for this trip. We don't know what kind of great people we are going to meet, and maybe if we get lucky, it'll be just as magical as Harry Potter," I smiled encouragingly at her.
She just rolled her eyes. Normally she was the one making the Harry Potter jokes.
The two of us made our way downstairs and smiled at Dad as we said, "We're ready."
Mom was standing outside waiting for us. She'd been crying all week because she couldn't get used to the fact that we were leaving, even though she'd known this day would come since the day she signed the application forms.
"Oh, my little babies, I'm going to miss you so much!" she sobbed. "You have to promise me that you'll fly up here as often as possible, even if it's just for the weekend, or else I'll get lonely. You know that your father isn't around that often—" she stopped only to make a tissue appear out of her pocket and then she carried on her blubbering, even though none of us were listening as we quickly loaded our bags into the trunk and hopped into the car.
The drive to the airport was anything but quiet. Mom was continuously crying as she recited one hundred and one stories about how cute we were when we were little. Chris was complaining about how her tan was going to be ruined when we moved to Forks, and Dad was mumbling to himself something about 'women' and how 'no one understands them'. I simply listened and answered with 'yes' as soon as someone asked me something. It seemed to be right answer to all of their problems.
"Mom, we have to go now," I choked out when Mom wouldn't let me go.
Chris already had her bone-crushing hug from Mom, and Dad seemed to be thinking if he should hug or if a handshake would do best. He'd never really been one to show emotions, but no one was bothered by that because we all knew he loved us deeply.
When I was finally free to breathe again, Chris and I stood in front of our parents. I felt tears rise in my eyes and my sight began to blur slightly, but I refused to cry.
To all of our surprise, we heard a sniff coming from Dad, followed by one from Chris. Neither of them ever really cried, even though we'd already seen a worse outburst from Chris yesterday. But to make things even more surprising, Chris suddenly jumped into Dad's arms.
"I'm going to miss you Daddy!" she shouted before pecking him quickly on the cheek. She kissed Mom quickly too, but she knew better than to hug her again.
I kissed our parents goodbye as well and then I took Chris' hand so we could finally board the plane. I was by far more excited for this trip than Chris was. Her mood drastically improved, though, when we passed a group of guys who wolf whistled and cat called at her. This always happened on a regular basis because Chris was much prettier than me. She said that wasn't true, but I hardly ever listened to her.
"Oh man, the food here is disgusting," Chris complained. I agreed completely. Whatever this was, it certainly was not the pasta the stewardess had tried to pass it off as. "I hope this freak school had better food."
"It's not a freak school, Chris. It's a school made for people like us," I told her. I knew that she wasn't being serious, but sometimes I felt the need to answer her stupid comments anyway.
"Yeah, like I said, freak school," Chris replied nonchalantly.
"We are not freaks," I said as I gave her a meaningful look.
"Yeah, apparently we are because freaky things only happen around freaky people and seriously, the whole elemental mag—"
"Are you crazy?" I cut her off. "You can't talk about that in a plane full of people."
She just huffed and started to talk again. "See, there you have it. If we were normal, I wouldn't have to keep quiet about it."
"When did you decide that we're freaks?" I asked her softly.
"This morning when I realized that we could have stayed home if we were normal." Chris sounded like a small child.
"Do you miss Raven already?"
"Not exactly. It hasn't really been long enough to actually miss her, but I am worried."
"Don't be. She'll do just fine."
"I hope so," said Chris. "But I'm also worried about us. There are going to be hundreds of freaks in this freak school, and we're going to be the only normal freaks." What was it with her and freaks?
"We'll be fine too," I assured her.
"Seriously Bella, sometimes I wish I could be as good-hearted and confident as you."
"You are good-hearted."
"See, that's exactly what I mean. People like you always try to make people like me feel better."
"But you really are a good-hearted person. You always make me feel better when I'm sad, and you always try to boost my self-confidence. You always beat up people who bully me around. I love you, my silly twin," I said sincerely as I awkwardly hugged Chris from the side.
"I love you too, my nerdy twin. You're the only person that I would do everything and anything for. I hope you know that."
I nodded silently and tightened my grip on her.
"That is...so cute."
I looked up to see the stewardess from earlier wiping tears off of her pretty face.
"May I help you?" Chris asked roughly as she let me go.
The stewardess shook her head and kept sniffling.
"You shouldn't be that rude to people," I heard another unfamiliar voice as soon as the stewardess was out of sight.
I looked at the seat in front of us where a handsome blond man sat, facing us to scold Chris for her rudeness.
"I'm not being rude, I'm just honest," Chris smiled sweetly.
"That is also considered as rude," the man continued.
"Maybe so, but I'm not in the mood for playing nice," Chris shrugged.
The man shook his head. "You have to be a truly amazing person if you're able to bring a soft side out of this, girls," he then said to me. His brilliant blue eyes seemed to pierce right through me.
"I think she's just in a bit of a bad mood because we're going somewhere she thinks she'll hate," I defended my sister.
"And where is that?"
"Washington."
The man laughed. "I think I could have figured that out considering we're all on the same flight which lands in Port Angeles."
I blushed slightly at my own stupidity. "Yeah, I guess you would have. What I meant to say is that neither of us are very thrilled about flying to Washington because of the weather."
"It actually snows in the winter," Chris chimed in.
"Yes, that happens to be a rather normal phenomenon," the man replied.
"I've never see snow. Is it nice?" I asked excitedly. In movies, they always made such a big deal out of snow so now I couldn't wait to see it. Dad said it was nothing special, but I wanted to see it on my own.
The man merely shrugged and I started feeling a bit weird talking to a stranger about the weather.
"Are you vacationing in Port Angeles?" Chris asked, not sounding all that interested.
"No, I live in that area."
"Really? Have you ever heard of a town called Forks?" I asked hopefully.
The stranger laughed again. His laugh was warm and friendly. "Sure, I have, I live there."
"Coolness. Do you know anything about their freak school?"
I smacked my forehead at Chris' stupid question.
"Are you talking about the academy?" The stranger was curiously looking at us as he smiled excitedly.
"Yes, have you ever been there?"
"I teach there. I'm Carlisle Cullen." He held out his hand and Chris and I clasped it in between our hands to shake it at the same time. We did that often. Carlisle looked at us with amusement dancing in his eyes.
"We're—" I started, but was cut off by Carlisle.
"Isabella and Christabel Swan, of course."
"How do you know that?" The wary expression on Chris' face was going to be permanent if she didn't change her attitude.
"I'm actually the headmaster of the high school," Carlisle smiled warmly.
"Do you know all the names of your new students?" I wondered. He must be very dedicated to his job if that was the case.
"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We will soon be arriving in Port Angeles, so please fasten your seatbelts. I hope you've enjoyed travelling with us and that you will once again honor us with your presence." The voice from the speaker sounded like he was reading a manuscript, not even caring if anyone really enjoyed the flight.
"I guess we'll have to continue our conversation later on," Carlisle said and turned around to put his seatbelt on.
"Did you notice that he's already the second incredibly good-looking teacher?" Chris whispered to me. "If all the teachers are so hot, I am never going to be late for class again."
"Of course you would because then you'd need even more time to get ready," I murmured back, but she was right. Carlisle and Mr. Decour were both extremely handsome.
"Bella, let's get something to eat," Chris whined.
I sighed and rolled my eyes at her. We were actually supposed to be looking for someone holding a sign with 'Forks Academy' written on it. Carlisle had disappeared somewhere in the crowd, and so he couldn't help us. When I didn't see anyone, I gave in to her whining and finally we went to get something to eat.
"Chris, why are you wearing sunglasses?" I asked her after I saw through a window in the cafe that it was raining outside. We were back in the giant main hall of the Port Angeles airport.
Chris heaved a dramatic sigh. "I'm trying to pretend that we're still in Phoenix and that I don't have to put on a raincoat soon." But she was rummaging through her back for a raincoat anyway.
I chuckled at her silliness and kept scouring for someone with the sign.
"Maybe we should go get our luggage," Chris suggested after she'd managed to pull out her raincoat.
"No, the letter said that they will take care of our luggage as long as we have written our names properly on it. Maybe they're taking so long because of all your suitcases." Chris had somehow filled stuffed six suitcases full of her items while I only had three.
"What letter? The letter said no such thing."
I sighed. Note to self: ask mom if Chris is truly my sister, and if she is, ask if she's really my twin. Perhaps they accidentally switched kids on the playground or something.
"I'm talking about the other letter. The one that came two weeks before the flight. You know, the one with the tickets in it."
"Oh yeah, I remember. I didn't read it, did I?"
"Apparently not. Maybe you should start informing—"
"Ooh Bella, look there's the person with the stupid sign you've been looking for. And damn does he look good." Chris was suddenly ecstatic, but I figured it was because of the guy, who indeed was rather good looking. What was it with the handsome guys these days?
There was already a small group formed around the guy, and while he was holding the sign, another guy held the checklist and continued to check off the names. The latter was good looking as well, but he was huge like a grizzly bear. But seeing as nobody seemed scared of him, and that they were actually laughing with him, made him a lot less intimidating.
"Come on, let's go," Chris whined and dragged me toward the group. She stopped right in front of the guy with the sign.
He was tall and nicely muscled, although nothing compared to the other guy. Both of them had dark brown hair, only the grizzly bear had cute curls on his head and the other one had straight hair with just a slight bit of wave around his face. He looked a bit like this Sam guy from Supernatural, some strange TV show that Chris forced me to watch with her.
"Hey," Chris said in her seductive voice, smiling sexily as she flipped her hair. She knew that she was overdoing it, but it always got the guys attention.
"Hey," was the answer she got. He sounded like he was wondering if she was out of her mind.
Chris turned to me for a second but I couldn't make out her expression because she was still wearing her sunglasses. Maybe that was why the guy was so confused.
"What's your name?" she tried a bit harder to be seductive and I heard the people around us start to giggle.
"What do you want, little girl?" he asked, sounding bored. Now the giggles got louder.
Little girl? Chris didn't look at all like a little girl. Almost every girl back home envied both of us for our curves, but right now, she did look a little younger than usual. Her backpack hung down low on her back, and it was pink with flowers on it which was weird for her, and she was holding her raincoat in front of her body in a way that made her look sweet and innocent. If this guy could see what she was actually wearing, he wouldn't have said that. Once again, she was wearing a red crop top. She didn't listen to me when I told her that she should dress more appropriately and so she simply put on what she liked best. Her favorite crop top and her baggy jeans. In some ways, she looked like Rihanna in the music video for Pon de Replay, and since that was one of her favorite songs to dance to, I figured she did it on person.
"Did you just call me a little girl?" Chris asked, stomping her food on the ground. That just made the guy smile.
"Yes, I did. Now go away, I have more important things to do."
"Chris, don't—" I started to say but stopped immediately when I felt a jolt of anger pulse through me. It was very disorienting and I knew that this was the weird phenomenon that Chris had talked about a few weeks ago.
"Oh yeah, like what? Holding up this sign?" Chris asked, pointing at it. Normally she didn't care if she got rejected, but I guessed that the 'little girl' comment set her off. Talking about setting off, the sign the guy held started burning as soon as Chris pointed at it.
Both Chris and I jumped back instantly and started squealing like crazy.
"Shit." The sign guy dropped the sign and started stomping on it to kill the flame. When he managed to put the fire out, he turned to stare at where we were actually still squealing, but his glare silenced us both. "Are you crazy? Don't you kids have any respect these days? I'll report you for almost setting me on fire, and in public no less. My father will not be pleased about this." His glare was so harsh, I could've sworn he could've killed Chris with it.
"I didn't set you on fire. Did you see me use a lighter? And even if I would have done that — which I didn't — don't you think it sounds a bit ridiculous when a big boy like you threatens to report me to his dad?" Chris'v oice sounded a bit off, even though she was using her annoying mocking tone.
The guy was about to reply something when the other one came up to him and held the list out for him. "Dude, everyone except the Swans are here already."
"Why aren't they here? Their flight arrived earlier than everyone else's and we've already got their luggage," he sighed. He was probably remembering all of the suitcases that belonged to Chris.
"Maybe they got lost or something. I mean, they are the only ones who've never been here before."
"Yeah yeah, but how hard could it be to read one simple sign? Not only are they behind in everything that concerns our world, but they also seem to be stupid."
I knew I should have interrupted and told them who we were, but I was momentarily stunned by the fact that we were apparently the only newcomers. That would certainly explain why Carlisle Cullen had known our names so easily.
I already knew that normally most students had gone to the school since elementary, but I didn't think that we were the only ones who were starting in senior high. Suddenly, I wasn't so excited anymore, I just felt sick.
Chris didn't say anything either, but judging by the vibes I was getting from her, it was more because he called us stupid. The two boys were discussing whether or not they should start looking for us, but then their eyes fell on us.
"What are you still doing here? Maybe I didn't make myself clear earlier. What I actually wanted to say is: I don't do little girls. So take your friend and go wait with the others," the sign guy sneered while pointing at the group of kids behind him.
Chris huffed and turned elegantly, and before I could warn her, she bumped into someone who stood behind her. He caught and steadied her and I couldn't help but giggle at this. It was the kind of situation I would usually be in. I then looked at the guy whom she'd bumped into and recognized Carlisle Cullen.
"Well hello again. I thought you were already on your way," he said as he let Chris go and smiled at the two of us.
"Yeah, well Chris here is having some trouble," I answered, letting out a small laugh.
Carlisle's eyes settled on the sign guy and judging by his slightly frustrated expression, he'd heard what he had said to Chris.
"Carlisle, we have a problem," the other guy barked and waved the list in Carlisle's face. "The Swans are still missing."
Carlisle just looked at the two of us then at the two boys before he started laughing hysterically. All of us watched him, mesmerized. At first, I was confused as to why he was laughing, but then I thought about the situation and realized it was indeed rather funny. I started giggling too, since it was really stupid that we were standing right in front of them and they were still looking for us. Chris just shook her head, but I heard her chuckle a little.
"Carlisle. The joke?" sign guy asked, sounding annoyed.
"The Swans...missing...oh God...can't breathe...didn't even...say a word...and...mean..." Carlisle was clearly in hysterics by now.
"You know, it's really not that funny. Well, it is in a way, but breathing or rather not breathing like that is really unhealthy. You might pass out, and so far, you are the only nice person from the academy that we've met. I mean, Mr. Decour is okay, I gues—"
"Bella, you're rambling," Chris cut me off.
"No, I wasn't, I had a point," I defended myself.
"Yes, but you already made your point, then you just kept talking and talking. That's what you call rambling."
"Whatever. This isn't even a breath worthy conversation."
Chris nodded in agreement and put her arm around my waist. Meanwhile, Carlisle had managed to calm himself down and judging from all the confused faces around us, this didn't happen often.
"Thank you, Isabella, for those strange yet kind words," he was still chuckling.
The big grizzly bear guy seemed to finally get what was going on and he let out a booming laugh before looking at Carlisle in confusion. "When did you guys meet? And why are you here, anyway?"
"I was visiting an old friend of mine, who happens to live in Phoenix just like the girls, so we met on the plane," Carlisle smiled fondly as he spoke of his friend. "So I guess you don't have to search for them anymore."
"Aren't they supposed to be twins? They don't look anything alike. Well, at least not from what I can see," the annoying sign guy said as he studied us with a wary expression, frowning at bit at the fact that Chris was still wearing her sunglasses.
"Aren't you supposed to be holding a sign?" Chris snapped back at him.
"I would be if you hadn't set it on fire," he barked back, taking a step toward Chris.
"I didn't set it on fire." Chris let go of me and went closer to the guy, too.
"Of course you did, and all because you couldn't handle my rejection. You're not the first little girl to get upset over that." Sign guy was no leaning down so he was eye level with Chris, only he couldn't look into her eyes because of her glasses.
"And you're not the first guy who's made the mistake of making me upset."
"So you admit that you couldn't handle the rejection?
"No, I admit that the look on your face is making me furious."
"Funny," the guy said. "A few moments ago you were hitting on me."
"So what? A few years ago I tripped over a stone. Who cares about the past? Right now, I find your face infuriating."
"I would say the same thing to you, but you're hiding behind sunglasses. You do realize that you're not in Phoenix anymore, don't you?"
"Obviously. There's no assholes like you in Phoenix."
"So why are you hiding behind glasses? Are you ashamed of your face?"
"Maybe I don't want my eyes to burn when I look at you."
"Well then, burn." And with that, he pulled the glasses off her face.
Chris instinctively reached for them when he held them up, causing her to drop her coat.
This time, I burst into laughter because of the way the sign guys jaw dropped. Chris turned to look at me in question, but I just shook my head and wiped my eyes. This was just like a bad sitcom and I wasn't even a main character, which was sad considering the fact that this was my life. Chris finally noticed the ogling of the sign guy and smiled triumphantly before picking up her coat and putting it on.
Carlisle cleared his throat and everyone turned their attention to him. "Dylan, I do not appreciate you being rude to our new students. I suppose I'll have to send Edward or Alice as a mentor for them. Chris, I understand that you may have just defended yourself, even though I have a feel you started it since you set the sign on fire. However, if there is anymore fighting between the two of you while I'm around, you will each receive detention."
Ha! School hadn't even started yet, and Chris was already in trouble.
"But I didn't set the thing on fire! How could I have done that?" Chris mumbled.
Carlisle looked at her in surprise and wonder and that strangely excited expression crossed his face again.
"You know, to prevent anymore fights between Dylan and Chris, you two could drive to the academy with me. I normally don't offer this to any students, but I think I'll make an exception for the two of you," Carlisle suggest, looking at me. Something in his expression told me that he thought I was the more grown up one. Right now, that was entirely true.
Since the day we heard about the academy in Forks, Chris had been annoying and uncontrollable, but I wasn't always the grown up one. I was just more responsible and sensible. Nor did I have such a hot temper. Okay, maybe I was the grown up out of us.
I quickly nodded at Carlisle's offer and watched as Chris did her happy dance, which only caused Dylan and several other guys to ogle her even more.
Five minutes later, we were seated in Carlisle's sleek black Mercedes. I sat in the front and Chris was busily texting on her Sidekick in the back.
"So Carlisle, what exactly do you do at the academy?" she asked, not taking her eyes off her phone.
I rolled my eyes at her boldness but Carlisle smiled kindly.
"I'm the headmaster of the senior high school and officially, you are supposed to call me Mr. Cullen, but some of my students call me Carlisle when we meet in outside of school."
"Like this Dylan guy," Chris noted.
"Yes, but he's actually my adoptive son and sometimes forgets that I'm his teacher as well."
"No offense, but you didn't do a very good job in teaching him manners."
"Chris!" I scolded but Carlisle simply laughed.
"Yes, sometimes I think that too, but my other kids have turned out just fine, so perhaps it's not my parenting skills."
"You have more kids?" I asked. If they looked as good as he did, I definitely wanted to marry one of them.
"Yes, I have another son, Edward. He's two years older than you and already in is senior year, and my daughter, Alice, is about your age."
"What year is Dylan in?" Chris asked. I started to wonder why she was so interested in this Dylan guy.
"He's in his first year of college."
"Hmm," Chris hummed in response before she went back to texting.
I suddenly remembered something. "Is it true that we're the only new students?" I asked nervously.
"Yes, that's correct."
"How did that happen?"
"Well, you are the only regular borns."
"The only what?" Chris piped.
"Mr. Decour said something like that too," I recalled.
"When?" Chris asked exasperatedly.
"When you were being difficult," I answered, giving her a pointed look.
"I take it Mr. Decour hasn't told you everything about us?" Carlisle interrupted.
"Apparently not."
"Okay, then I suppose I will have to do it." He took a deep breath, but never released the road from his eyes. "Usually our witch students sta—"
"Whoa, hold up! Witches?" Chris barged in. "You are not seriously trying to tell me that this is some sort of school for witches, are you?"
"Of course it is. What else would it be?" Carlisle looked at us with an amused expression.
"Maybe a school for special gifted students?" I offered and Carlisle's smile widened.
"Yes, that's what you can call it, but we refer to ourselves as witches. It may be a bit old-fashioned, but that's what we've been known as since the ancient world."
"So do we need wands or something like that?" I questioned.
"No, not always. Wands are only used for some spells."
"Where do we get wands?" Chris' voice was more excited than usual.
"On campus. You'll see once you need one."
"Do we need spellbooks or something?"
"You'll see," was Carlisle's slightly cryptic answer.
"So we're going to learn how to use magic spells?" I asked carefully.
"Yes and no. It's not as simple as that. You learn how to use magic spells and such, but you also learn how to use and expand your own abilities to their fullest potential."
"What does that mean?" Chris' voice chimed with mine, mixing in perfect synchronization.
"Well, every witch has his or her own power. It's something they are born with and they don't need spells to use. It's a part of who they are."
"So we're some kind of X-Men meets Harry Potter mixture?" Chris asked. She seemed to find this much more interesting than she had a few weeks, or even hours, ago.
"Yes. In a way, I suppose you could view it like that and still find truth in it," Carlisle chuckled.
"And what kind of ability do we have?" I really wanted to know more about this.
"That is something we don't really know. Usually our students discover their powers in elementary school. That's when they appear for the first time, but they hardly ever have control over it. Mostly it just spikes up for a short period of time before vanishing again until they hit puberty. That is when the powers are actually present and that's when we start to train them. Junior high is all about controlling it and not letting your emotions control it or you. Most students are able to channel their powers in the way they wish to, but they don't know the limits of it yet. That's what we learn in senior high. We let them work actively with their powers for the first time. A lot of students are already able to do it, but it has never been done in class, so there could be more for them to learn."
"So not only are we going to be the new students, but we're also going to be the only ones who don't know what they're doing?" I was starting to panic. There was also a very large chance that we would mess up and be at the bottom of the class. And I'd never even been anywhere near the middle.
"Yes, you are, but don't worry about it, you'll be fine. Just think of something to help you when you feel like you need it," Carlisle said reassuringly as Chris patted my shoulder in a soothing manner, even though she wasn't feeling much more confident than me.
"Well, if it helps, we've already got a slight idea of what your powers are. Chris seems to be able to manipulate fire, and you, Bella, have used telekinesis before. However, we're unsure if that is your real ability or if it's just excess magic that has somehow made it's way out."
I thought about what Carlisle said. Telekinesis would be a really cool ability, and it might not be so difficult to learn to manage, but I didn't know if fire was the right thing for Chris. She would set the school on fire.
"You still haven't told us why we're the only new students," Chris noted quietly. Her earlier excitement had passed and now she seemed to be exhausted.
"You are the only ones with non-magical roots. It happens sometimes, but it hasn't occurred in years."
"What does that mean?" This did not sound good.
"Magic is normally passed on through bloodlines, even abilities can be inherited, but sometimes witches are born into non-magical families. Nobody knows why this happens, but it does. Many of the teachers are already very excited to see what you two are able to do because this is a true rarity. I am one of those teachers who would love to see you put to the test in class, and fortunately for me, I am one of those who are lucky enough to teach you," Carlisle smiled contently.
"So that means that every other student has been in the academy since elementary school? We're the only ones who don't know a single thing about anything," Chris stated calmly, but I knew that panic was rising in her.
Welcome to the club.
Carlisle nodded and the two of us groaned in unison. We should have declined when we had the chance to.
"There's nothing for you to worry about, you'll both be fine. I will make sure that Alice keeps you company and she'll explain everything you need to know."
"Is there anything we need to know now? Do we need dorm passwords or something?" Chris tried to joke, but she still sounded exhausted.
"Oh right, the dorms. You two still need to be ranked."
"Ranked? What do you mean?"
"We rank our students by color to classify abilities a bit. There are currently four different ranks: red, green, blue, and black. You get a scarf with the color of your rank. How you wear it doesn't matter, but it's suggested that you wear it with your uniform."
"What do the ranks mean?"
"Red and green are the normal ranks. A lot of students are in one of the two. It's not bad, it's just the average mark. Blue is for the ones with more powerful abilities who are also good students. It's also fairly common to wear blue. Black is the top rank. Quite a few students wear black, but it's the minority. Black is for those who have powerful gifts or work very good with them. The ranks don't only grade the powers, but also your school work. The teachers can also degrade you for bad behaviour or upgrade you when they feel like you have reached a high enough mark in their opinion. All other students already have their ranks, and so they also already have their dorms. The ranks aren't only for show, though. There are special privileges that come with the higher ranks. The dorms are sorted by ranks, as well. The students in the Red house have to share their rooms with another student and they get less pocket money than the others. In the Green house, everyone has separated rooms and gets more money. The Blues have bigger rooms than the Greens and double beds, as well as more money. The Black scarfs have the biggest rooms and everyone has his or her own bathroom. They also—"
"Get more money, I got it. How much do we get anyway?"
"Reds get eighty, and from there, it's always goes ten dollars up."
"What rank are we?"
"You'll be Red for now, but if you work hard, you can make it to the top."
"I don't want to work hard to make it to the top. I'm always the best," I started to whine.
Carlisle threw me a surprised glance. Yes, I also had an immature side.
"Oh, don't be upset, Bella. You know we've been at the top since kindergarten. We're going to be back up there in no time, you'll see," Chris encouraged me.
"What if we're not?"
"If we don't make it, then we'll be bad on purpose so they'll throw us out and then we can go to school with Raven. Deal?"
I nodded, still sniffling a little.
"The two of you are highly interesting to watch," Carlisle commented and shook his head slightly.
I wanted to answer, but something from the corner of my eye caught my attention and my breathing sped up as I panicked a little.
"What's wrong?" both Carlisle and Chris asked worriedly.
"We just passed a 'Welcome to Forks' sign," I answered as my stomach started churning.
"Oh shit," I heard Chris mumble as she took in our surroundings. We were indeed in a one-horse town and there was green everywhere. The gray sky was giving the whole place a dull note, too.
"Yes, it's a small town, but if it helps, the campus is bigger than the rest of the town and there are more people," Carlisle said, laughing.
The car came to a halt in front of a beautiful large gate. 'Forks Academy' was written in beautiful elegant script above the gate. From what we could see through the wrought iron gate, the campus seemed to be a little town of it's own. Carlisle spoke to the guard while both Chris and I looked around at everything in awe. In front of us was a long street and at the end of it was a huge, gorgeous building that looked a little like a castle. On the sides of the road were a few shops and coffee bars. Several more streets branched off from the long one and everywhere were people walking around, making it look even more like a town.
Finally the gate opened and we drove in through it. People quickly jumped off the street when they saw the car and all of them watched as if they had never seen a car before.
"Usually there are no cars allowed on campus, except for the school buses, so every time there's a car driving in here, the students know that there is something special going on. Right now, it's your arrival," Carlisle explained quickly.
After two minutes, the building that I'd seen at the end of the road came into view. It was indeed some kind of castle with two towers and pointy rooftops.
"This is the high school," Carlisle informed us as he stopped in front of it. "On the right is the elementary school and on the left is the college building. We call this the academic road and as you can see, there isn't a single student here. Classes will begin in two days and until then, no one even goes near the school."
"Screw Harry Potter, this place rocks," Chris muttered and all I could do was nod in agreement.
Carlisle chuckled at us and turned the car around. "I'm glad you like the school buildings. I suppose I should show you the dormitory now."
"Are those castles too?" I asked.
Carlisle shook his head before turning onto one of the branching streets, which was through the middle of a park. The street ended in a huge court. Four houses were around it and there was a fountain in the middle. To our left were to very large row houses. They actually looked pretty and one of them had a terrace. To our right was a huge mansion-like house. It has large windows and had to be at least four times bigger than our house in Phoenix.
Right across from us was a house, it wasn't mansion-like, it was a mansion. The biggest one I'd ever seen. It looked like a miniature version of the white house, only a lot taller. It looked like it had four or five stories. Through the big French windows, I could see a dining area on one side. It actually looked a lot like a restaurant. On the other side of the entrance, you could see something that looked like a rec room, which it probably was because there were a bunch of kids playing pool inside.
"On the left are the Red and Green houses, and on the right is the Blue house. In front of us, of course, is the Black house," Carlisle explained, parking in front of the Red house. He quickly got out to open the door for me and Chris, then started to walk toward the Black house but stopped once he realized that we weren't following him.
We were standing there, looking at him in confusion.
"I want to introduce you two to my daughter, Alice. We still have to wait for Dylan and Emmett because they have the room arrangements," he said when he understood what we were so confused about. "If we're lucky, she'll be in her room."
"Carlisle?" Chris asked shyly.
"Hmm?"
"Can we please go back home?"
"Why? I thought you liked it here." Confusion was written boldly across his face.
I knew why Chris felt so uncomfortable, though, because for once, we felt the same thing for the same reason.
"I don't like it when people stare at me," we both said. Everyone that was outside in the plaza was looking at us and beginning to whisper while pointing their fingers at us.
"Don't worry, it'll stop. Eventually," Carlisle said, smiling brightly at us.
I had a hard time believing that, but I didn't say anything because we'd entered the Black house. It was a bit ironic to call it the 'Black house' because the exterior was completely white, and the great entry hall was as well. The tiles were white and the walls were white, but the carpet was plush and a nice cream color.
I looked up and saw that this massive building indeed had five stories. It looked like a luxury mall in here. I could see a few people leaning over the parapet which made me quickly look back down.
Carlisle was already climbing up the stair and Chris hastily grabbed my hand to drag me up as well. At the end of the staircase was something that looked like a waiting room in the corridor. There were four benches along with a few plants. Then I realized why there was a waiting room. It was because there were two elevators and of course, it would be too hard to stand while waiting for one of them.
I turned to look at the rest of the corridor. It was square-shaped, exactly like in a mall, only it was much warmer looking inside. The walls were cream-colored and the carpet was a lovely chocolate brown. There were a few people leaning against the parapet, talking to each other, while others vanished inside their rooms. There were three rooms on each side, except for where we stood. The corridor where we were standing was a bit longer than it had looked when we were downstairs, so it wasn't exactly square because I could see three more rooms hidden in the corners, in a somewhat triangular shape. All in all, there had to be about fifteen rooms on just this floor. If all the floors were equal, then there would be seventy-five bedrooms in the house.
"How many rooms are in this house?" I asked.
"One hundred and five. The corridor across from us is the same length as this one, so there are six more rooms there. It's not much if you consider that the other houses have a few hundred rooms each."
"So it's really hard to become a Black scarf then?" We stepped into the elevator and Carlisle pressed the number 3.
"Yes, that's true. All of the students that live here have very unique abilities."
"What kind of abilities?"
"Well, Alice for instance can see the future. My son, Edward, is a mind reader and he's quite fast. Dylan is a mind manipulator and he has the ability to beam from one place to another."
"So all of your kids are Black scarfs?"
"Yes."
"But I don't like Dylan." Chris whined and I rolled my eyes.
The elevator came to a stop and Carlisle led us to one of the rooms. Apparently Alice's room was one of those hidden ones on the side. When we walked passed the others rooms, I quickly looked down. The height was nauseating.
Alice's room was in the middle of two others. Carlisle knocked lightly on the door and two seconds later the door was being opened by a beautiful short pixie-like girl with short spiky black hair.
"Oh, hey Daddy, I missed you," she jumped into Carlisle's arms before he could say anything.
"I missed you too, sweetie. Hello Jasper," he called over Alice's shoulder. Alice looked over his shoulder at the same moment and spotted us.
"Daddy, are those—"
"Yes, these are the Swan twins. I thought you might want to meet them." He didn't even let her finish her question.
Alice jumped out of his arms and started bouncing up and down in front of us. "Heya, I'm Alice." She shook our hands and closed her eyes for a second.
"Hi, I'm—"
"Bella and this is your sister Chris," Alice finished for me. "I know, I'm psychic."
"Alice, I thought you might want to keep the twins company while they wait for Dylan and Emmett," Carlisle piped in.
"Sure, just let me get dressed real quick."
"Okay, then I guess you'll be alright," Carlisle said to us, smiling. "I hope Alice makes you feel welcome. We'll see each other on Wednesday in class." And with that, he took his leave.
"Come on in, I won't bite," Alice waved us into her room.
I was momentarily stunned when I entered. The room was huge. In front of us was a cute sitting area with a TV. The whole wall to our left was a mirror wardrobe and on the opposite wall, was a big dresser with hundreds of cosmetics on top of it. On a raised level on the other side of the room, there was a huge bed with beautiful pink see-through canopy style curtains. On one of the couches in the room sat a handsome blond boy. I guessed that he was Jasper.
"Sit down," Alice gestured to the couches. She sat down beside the guy and Chris and I sat on the couch beside them.
"This is my boyfriend, Jasper. Jasper, this is Bella," she pointed at me, "and this is Chris."
"Nice to meet you," Jasper said in a southern accent as he eyed us curiously.
"Nice to meet you too," Chris and I said together.
"So, tell us something about yourselves," Alice beamed.
"I thought you wanted to get dressed," Chris noted dryly.
"Oh, I only need five minutes for that, and the bus won't be here for another fifteen, so we have enough time to get to know each other." I kind of got the impression that this Alice girl was a little overly hyper and motivated.
"There's not much to tell," I said lamely. "We're from Phoenix and now we're here."
Alice and Jasper chuckled at that.
"What abilities do you have? It's so exciting to get to know new people, let alone regular borns like you," Alice pressed. I started to wonder why they all found this so exciting. I felt like some kind of science experiment.
"Alice, you're making Bella a little uncomfortable," Jasper noted. How did he know that? "I'm an empath," he added, obviously thinking that it'd be a good enough explanation.
"What's an empath?" Chris asked, looking between me and Jasper, not liking that she must've missed something.
"I feel other people's emotions and I'm able to influence them," Jasper explained carefully.
"Are you a Black scarf too?" I asked inquisitively.
He nodded.
"So, what are your abilities?" Alice barged in, clearly not wanting to be ignored.
I just shrugged and Chris looked at Jasper with an intense expression on her face.
"What?" he asked self-consciously.
"How do this empath thing work? Do you just feel what people around you feel or do you do it on purpose?"
"I just feel things. Why?"
"No reason," Chris answered a little too quickly with an expression that was just too innocent.
"You're lying," Jasper declared.
"I know." That made Jasper laugh.
"So you honestly don't know what gifts you have?" Alice asked in disbelief.
"Nope."
"Then how did you even get into this school?"
"Carlisle thinks they have a vague idea of what we can do. They think I have telekinesis and Chris can manipulate fire, but they're not too sure about it," I answered thoughtfully.
"Oh, I hope they're wrong. Telekinesis isn't so special and you wouldn't get a Black scarf for it. As for the fire manipulation, it's also not that powerful, but it could get you in here," Alice mused.
Chris smiled mysteriously. "I think we'll get into the Black house. After all, no one really knows what we can actually do." The expression on her face showed that she was up to no good.
"Chris, what are you thinking?"
"Nothing," she brushed me off. "How are they going to find out what powers we have?"
"We had to take Specialization classes in junior high. It's really boring. They make you concentrate on stuff for hours and if nothing happens, they try making you angry," Alice shuddered at the memory. "You still haven't told us anything about yourselves. Do you like shopping?" Her eyes glinted dangerously when she asked us.
Jasper rolled his eyes at her question.
Chris yawned. "You're the psychic, you tell us."
Alice made a face and concentrated for a second before glaring at me. "How can you not like shopping? It's a basic need, and you don't even like it. I will make you love it." The look in her eyes worsened and I flinched away from her.
"Alice, calm down," Jasper murmured soothingly. "Maybe it's just because she's never been shopping with you."
I highly doubted that, but that look I received from Jasper told me not to voice my thoughts.
"We have to go shopping sometime, but right now, we should go down to get your room keys." Alice was sweet and calm again. Well, probably as close to calm as she could get.
I had a feeling that I was going to have a lot more trouble with Alice than Chris would.
Why me?