Chapter Four – To Care or Not to Care

I looked down at the thing. Its red bumper glared at me in the sunlight and its bulbous headlights stared me down.

"How do you like it? I know it's not exactly new, but it's a good old Chevy. At least that's what Billy said; however, we were slightly drunk at the time and I had just caught this huge fish so I was ever so slightly excited. Oh, and he was about to sent it to the scrap yard, but…" He paused. "It's still a good car!" Charlie tapped the bonnet with a smug expression.

"Err…" I wasn't exactly sure what to say. It wasn't like I had Porsches at home, but I didn't actually want to pay for…the thing. It had possibilities as a name at least. "How much is it?" I asked, trying to mask my look of horror.

"Well I kind of already paid for it, like a homecoming present." He ruffled his hair, looking a bit embarrassed. "I mean you can always get something else, if you don't like it." He looked at me with hopeful eyes.

"Free?" I blurted out without thinking. "I mean, thanks so much, it's brilliant!" Charlie's face lit up and I smiled; it was so easy to please him.

I climbed into the driver's seat and revved the engine. It roared; I wouldn't be surprised if it woke up everyone on the street. I sighed as I looked was a sorry beast smelling of old leather and cigarettes, and it was hard to drive as the gears kept on slipping.

"Have a nice day at school, Bells," Charlie said, holding my hand.

"You too, without the school part of course. But yeah…" I finished rather lamely.

He laughed but then turned serious again as he said, "Be careful, and don't care for people, alright?"

"Even you?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

He didn't laugh, instead looking in my eyes and saying, "Even me."

I pulled out thinking hard about Charlie's words. Was I actually supposed to not care for him, or was this just a way to tell me he didn't love me?

I shook my head. 'Don't think about that, it's your first day here. You should be happy, so think positive!' I told myself as I reached Forks High. I must say, I wasn't impressed. Where were the CCTV cameras, the metal detectors, the fences? What kind of school didn't even have a fence?

As I got out of my aging truck, I noticed them. They had had come out of a silver shiny Volvo, easily the best car in the lot. But that's not why I looked at them. They were different, icy almost, with this unnatural beauty which was so hard to describe. Their faces were perfectly proportioned, not even an eye lash out of place. But all of my attention was on one face.

His hair was an almost golden colour, and messy; it was as if he had just got out of bed. His pale porcelain face held a small trace of stubble on his chin. But his eyes…his eyes looked at me like he could see my every thought, my every desire, what made me and what broke me. He seemed to know everything.

'Was he like me?' I thought, but then I chastised myself. 'Why on earth are you thinking he's like you? You haven't even met him. Don't make things up that you know aren't true. He's human, one hundred percent human.'

The bell rang, and a crowd of students surged towards me, pushing me about and I fell. I fell just because I was thinking about that stupid boy and his stupid good-looking family. I would pay for that mistake later. Anger surged through me and I saw one of the family members, a boy with wild blond hair, shake his head in my direction.

When I got up, the corridor was thankfully clear of students. Attempting to clear my thoughts, I collected my books and set off for the reception desk.

"Can I help you dear?" The receptionist had a soft, round face with short brown curls framing her pale face.

"My name is Isabella Swan; I'm a new student here," I said in my politest voice. She laughed a little too loudly and a little too vigorously to be genuine in my opinion, but I shrugged it off. I looked behind her desk and immediately regretted it. How many plants does someone need? The level of greenness hurt my eyes and reminded me too much of my past.

"The Chief's daughter, welcome back! Here's your timetable and some slips you need your teachers to sign, alright?" She paused, looking at me like I was some animal on display at the zoo. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you come to Forks, Isabella?" She smiled, obviously trying to glean some new gossip from me. I hate people sometimes.

"I do mind, and the name's Bella." I turned on my heels and walked straight out, leaving the receptionist in mid-sentence.

As I walked to my first lesson, my mind was in chaos. 'Did that receptionist deserve that? Am I mean, a bully?' Then my mind calmed. 'I can't care for anybody, and they shouldn't care for me. But I shouldn't attract attention like that.'

School went by fast; almost too fast; it was a mess of activity, introductions and staring. 'Why did they have to stare that much?' All too soon I was seated at a table in lunch with people I hardly recognized, let alone remember their names.

The family was sitting all together at the end of the cafeteria. They didn't seem to be eating anything and I was once again admiring their perfection. Then the small, pixie-like girl emerged from their table and skipped, as graceful as a ballerina, to dump her untouched tray of food in the trash. It was only then that I noticed their clothes: they were all designer brands, all seeming to have just come out of the factory. It almost wasn't fair to have good looks as well as money.

"Who are they?" I asked the blonde girl in front of me. It was only then I remembered her name was Jessica.

"Oh, they're the Cullens; they were all adopted by Dr. Cullen and his wife." I was surprised at the Cullens' generosity, they had taken in five kids who they had no relation to whatsoever and raised them as their own. "But I heard that she can't have kids anyway. The girl with the blonde hair is Rosalie Hale. Her brother is the boy with the crazy hair, Jasper. The muscular boy is Emmett, the pixie is Alice, and the golden boy is Edward. Oh, and he doesn't date apparently." I sensed some history and hid a grin, carrying on with eating my sandwich.

'Biology II, how hard can that be?' I had been in the AP classes in Phoenix so this, I hoped, would be a breeze. As I entered the classroom I noticed that the golden one, Edward, stiffened. His onyx eyes stared at me full of hate. Mr. Banner flustered while signing my slip and sent me over to Edward.

I steeled myself and walked straight up to him. His forehead was creased and his clenched fists pushed up against the table. 'Did he want to kill me? It certainly seemed so.'

I looked at him through the curtain of my hair. I almost wanted to just reach up and snap his neck. It would be so easy. But I controlled myself; there was no sense in killing an innocent boy just because he didn't like you. For whatever reason that was… maybe he liked the receptionist?

As soon as the bell rang he was out. He obviously didn't want to stay one second closer to me. "What did you do to Cullen? He looked like he was constipated or something," Mike asked, grinning. I shrugged, choosing to act dumb. "What's your next period?" He pulled up his bag next to mine.

"P.E." I grimaced. I hated P.E.; there was too much risk involved.

"Me too! Do you want me to walk with you?"

"Sure."

P.E. was thankfully normal. I sat on the bleachers watching everyone else; there are some advantages to being new after all.

I heard a scream of pain; Mike had been kicked in the face by accident. His nose was bleeding and there was a large bump emerging on his forehead. His eyes were glassy and he could hardly stand.

'What a joker,' I thought as the bell rang, 'he was only kicked in the face lightly and he's making a big fuss about it.'

He was being carried out on a stretcher, as he was carried past me he whispered "Bella." 'Did he honestly think I was going to go after him and nurse him back to health? He would get hurt worse if I did.'

As I was about to enter the reception, I saw the person I least wanted to meet: Edward Cullen. He was trying to switch classes to get away from me. 'Be my guest' I thought. He was failing badly so I was about to enter the reception and tell Mrs. Cope my opinion when his head snapped round, his dark eyes seeming to burn me from the inside. In one motion he swept past me, towards his stupid shiny Volvo.

Mrs. Cope smiled at me; she seemed to have had forgiven me. "How was your first day, dear?"

"Normal."