Thank you to my Beta Lil Miss Golden Eyes
A big 'I heart you' to my girls Amanda, Michelle & ecandme (check out her story - Crooked Halo's and Ink Junkies)
I learned a lesson on my first day.
You were far too divine.
Don't defend what you didn't say.
Another taste for conflict anyway.
Pretend again who you are today,
To give a reason to contradict again.
I slipped through the door just as the last bell rang and headed over to the large desk in the front of the room. I handed the teacher my slip of paper and he quietly introduced himself as Mr. Banner. He then motioned for me to take a seat at a table in the back. My head turned in the direction of his outstretched arm and I inhaled sharply when I saw that the only empty seat was next to the one and only, Edward Cullen. Alice had looked at my schedule. Why wouldn't she have mentioned Edward having this class? Surely she knew her brother's schedule. Well that's just fucking fantastic.
As I made my way to my seat, I noticed Edward become more and more tense. I don't like this arrangement anymore than you do buddy. I sat down and saw him quickly cover his nose and mouth with his right hand and shift his chair to far end of the table. His left hand gripped the edge of the table so tightly that it caused the muscles in his forearms to protrude from his skin. After settling in on the stool, I braved a quick glance in his direction and noticed that he was glaring at me with flagrant hatred. The look almost mirrored his expression from this morning, only then it had seemed a bit more controlled.
"What is your fucking issue?" I hissed at him. My question was met with complete silence. Throughout the entire hour his position never altered. I busied myself with taking meticulous notes, even though I had already studied the material in Phoenix, and chancing sideways glances at Edward. Seconds before the bell rang Edward shot up from his chair, grabbed his stuff and pounced for the door.
"Well fuck you too," I mumbled under my breath. As the words left my lips, I saw him glance quickly over his shoulder at me before disappearing.
I gathered up my books and bent over to begin stuffing them into my backpack. Just as I finished zippering the bag, a pair of sneakers came into my view and stopped. I slowly scanned my eyes up the person attached to the shoes until I found myself staring in the eyes of the blonde haired boy from lunch.
"Hey, Bella. Just wondering if I was lucky enough to have P.E. with you next class?" Blondie asked.
"Um…yeah actually. I'm sorry, what's your name again?" I grabbed my backpack, threw it over my shoulder and started towards the door. Blondie followed closely behind me like a lost puppy.
"Mike. Mike Newton."
"Right…Mike. I'm sorry, I'm terrible with names." I stopped walking and turned around to give him an apologetic smile.
"It's ok. So…can I walk you to P.E.?" he asked, rolling back on his heels. I bit my lower lip as I thought about his request. On one hand, something about Mike made me feel uneasy; he seemed clingy, annoying and something else. Possessive maybe? On the other hand, I really didn't feel like making any more enemies. Being an enemy of Edward and Rosalie was more than enough. I figured it couldn't hurt to let the poor kid at least show me where the gym was.
"Um…sure. I don't really know where I'm going anyway," I lied. I had passed the gym at least a dozen times today and was well aware of where it was. As we walked, Mike's shoulder occasionally brushed against mine. He seemed to have no concept of personal space and it made me uncomfortable. Thankfully, we reached the gym before I snapped and made him an enemy anyway.
"Thanks for helping me out. I'll see you later, okay?" I turned and walked through the double doors before he had a chance to respond. I hunted down the gym teacher, had him sign my slip and made my way towards the locker room.
I swiftly changed and shoved my clothes into the locker. Slamming the door, I spun around and smacked into something hard, causing me to stumble backwards and hit my head against the lockers behind me. Looking down, I found myself staring at the pint sized Cullen pixie. Jesus. For someone of her size she sure is like a fucking brick wall!
"Shit, Alice!" I exclaimed, rubbing the back of my head. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention."
"It's ok, Bella. It was my fault. I shouldn't have snuck up on you. I just wanted to know if you wanted to be my partner for class?" she asked. Her voice had a beautiful melodic tone, reminding me of tiny bells dancing in the wind.
"Sure. But I have to warn you…I am not very athletic, or graceful for that matter, and you risk bodily harm being my partner," I admitted, laughing.
"That's alright. I think I can handle it," she replied as she shot me a wink. Snaking her tiny arm through mine, she dragged me out towards the bleachers as we waited for class to begin. Does anybody in this damn town understand personal space?
"So how was your first day?" she asked as we settled on the cold, hard seats of the bleachers.
"It was alright. High School is pretty much the same no matter where you are," I answered shrugging.
"True. I'm just glad you're finally here."
"What do you mean 'finally'?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.
"Um...well, I kind of knew you were coming," she whispered. Her eyes were downcast, focused intently on her hands.
"Knew?" I questioned.
"Yeah. It's not a big deal really, but I can sort of see things." She shrugged her tiny shoulders.
"Like…a psychic?" I asked incredulously. Alice's head snapped up and a huge smile lit up her face.
"Exactly!" She squealed, grabbing my arm and pulling me off the bleachers towards the gym floor where the rest of the class was gathering.
Psychic. Right.
I inwardly cringed when the coach announced that we were playing volleyball. It was a very dangerous sport for someone as uncoordinated as myself. I did my best to avoid the ball while Alice pranced around the gym floor like some high strung fairy.
I managed to make it through the class relatively unscathed…only hitting two poor, unsuspecting fuckers with the ball and tripping once; a pretty significant accomplishment on my part.
After the period had ended, Alice and I changed and she offered to walk with me to the office to drop off my slip which I gratefully accepted. Crazy or not, Alice was fun. I needed fun. I needed someone like Alice to balance me out. After leaving the office, we continued towards the parking lot. Halfway across the lot, Edward stood rigidly against the side of the Volvo, staring intently in our direction.
"I don't think your brother likes us being friends," I whispered.
"Eh, fuck him. He has no say. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" She threw me a quick smile and danced off towards Edward's car. I climbed in the Jeep, lit a much needed cigarette and headed home.
As I pulled into the driveway, I was surprised to see Charlie's cruiser parked in his spot. I had been under the assumption that he didn't get home until late. I parked next to him, grabbed my bag and made my way inside.
"Hey Dad," I called out as I hung my coat up and threw my book bag at the base of the stairs.
"Hey Bells, I'm in here," he yelled back. I followed the sound of his voice towards the kitchen, stopping short in the doorway. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened as I looked around and noticed that every cabinet was open and every item in those cabinets was scattered across the counters and the table. Even the contents of the freezer sat on the table. Charlie stood in the middle of the cluster fuck, looking at me sheepishly.
"I um…I wanted to make you dinner. You know…since it was your first day and all. But…I'm not really sure what I'm doing."
I laughed as I crossed the kitchen and towards the fridge to grab a drink. "Are you usually home this early?" I asked as I popped the top of an energy drink and leaned against the counter, still eyeing the mess in the kitchen.
"No, I usually don't get home until around eight or so, but I wanted to surprise you."
"Oh, I'm surprised alright." I snickered.
"Hey, I tried."
"True. How about you try to order us some pizza and I'll clean up this mess." I pushed off the counter, grabbed a handful of items and began placing them back into the cabinets while Charlie picked up the phone and started dialing.
"Got that number memorized huh?" I asked over my shoulder.
"Watch it smartass," He laughed.
I cleaned up the rest of the kitchen as we waited for the pizza to arrive. We ate in comfortable silence and after washing the dishes I grabbed an empty coffee can and headed outside. Sitting down on the top step of the porch, I lit a cigarette, inhaling the first drag deeply. It wasn't raining like it had been yesterday, but the clouds still partially cloaked the moonlight, casting ghostlike shadows across the lawn and trees. I sat for a few moments with my eyes closed, breathing in the scent of cigarette smoke and damp forest.
A soft rustling to my right caught my attention and I quickly whipped my head in the direction it had come from. I scanned the tree line looking for the cause of the noise, but there was no wind and no visible animal. An involuntary shudder rolled down my spine, raising small bumps on my skin. I stood up quickly, depositing my cigarette in the coffee can, and placed it on the corner of the porch. Chancing a quick glance once again into the forest, I made my way inside. Passing the living room I saw Charlie sitting in his favorite recliner, engrossed in a baseball game. I smiled as I climbed the stairs to my room.
I decided to check my email before I started the monotonous task of homework, so I grabbed my laptop, sat on the bed and smiled when I saw a new message from Jake. Since Jake's father, Billy Black, was Charlie's best friend, Jake had to know I was living in Forks now.
When I would visit, Charlie and I would spend weekends down at La Push on the Quileute Reservation; him fishing with Billy and Jake and I playing on the beach or hanging out in his house. I hadn't seen Jake in four years and I missed him terribly; he had been the only friend I had in Forks. I opened the email and laughed as I read the short message:
Hey Bells,
I know you are back in town. Don't try to hide from me! Call me when you get settled in. I miss you!
Love,
Jake
I hit the reply button and responded.
Hey Jake!
Like I could ever hide from you! How about this Saturday? My house, noon? Miss you too!
Love, Bells
I clicked send and closed the laptop. Docking my iPod, I turned up the volume, allowing the hard riffs of Slipknot fill the tiny room and began working on my homework.
The rest of the night passed quickly. After finishing my homework, I took a hot shower, said goodnight to Charlie and settled into bed. Replaying the events of the day, I was thankful for the kindness of Alice and Jasper. I liked Alice, even if she was a bit too hyper and eccentric for my taste. The crazy sprite actually believed herself to be psychic. I laughed as I imagined Alice sitting at a round table, cloaked in a dark robe and holding a glass ball. It was difficult to believe she was related to that asshole brother of hers.
And what was Edward's deal? Was the hostile attitude necessary? I desperately tried to convince myself that I really didn't care about Edward fucking Cullen, but no matter how much I tried, that beautiful bastard consumed my thoughts until I drifted into unconsciousness.
~****~
My lovely bestest friend Michelle suggested I let you all know about the lyric at the beginning of my chapters. All of my chapters are titles of songs that I either a) listened to while writing this or b) felt fit this chapter. Chapter 3's lyrics are from "Contradiction" by Sevendust...one of the most amazing, under rated bands. I personally have seen them in concert well over a dozen times and never get tired of it. Check them out...
And if you feel like...please review. I won't beg. But I am anxious to know if I am doing an okay job with this story and I can only make it better with your opinions.