A/N: Wow, I wasn't expecting that kind of response. Over 500 hits on my first day and so far 19 reviews. Thank you so much. I'll try to keep the story updated but I want to make sure that I do a good job and don't screw up. Also, I tried to make this chapter extra long for you guys.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything except Clare, Jesse, Micheal and Lee. Everything else belongs to SM.
Shifting the infant in his arms, he looked at what his family was so stunned by and let out a gasp of his own.
Right there, attached to the girls back, was a pair of snow white wings.
17 years later...
"Bella! Hey Bella! Wake up. It's time for our first day of school in this abysmal town and your first day of school ever. We don't want to be late." Jesse yelled from downstairs in an attempt to get me up. However, in my sleep addled state, only one word stuck with me. Late. Oh, God. Did I oversleep on my first day of school? Surely that was a bad start to my academic career.
Eyes wide, I leapt out of my bed and ran to the bathroom, deftly avoiding the pair of ice skates that I had managed to leave in front of the door. "Are we gonna be late? Did I oversleep? You should have woken me up sooner!" I shouted, in a panic over the list of things that could go wrong today.
I had just entered the bathroom when I heard laughter from downstairs, along with quiet whispers.
"I told you she'd over-react. She probably didn't even look at the clock" The voice was once again my sister's, but the laughter that followed was undeniably my brother Lee's.
Stopping in my tracks, I slowly turned to look at the clock on my bedside table. 6:30 am. Growling slightly, I started walking down the wide stairs to the living room, picturing the smug looks on my siblings faces. I can't believe that I fell for this. Again. I should know better by now.
Sure enough, as soon as I walked into the big room, both of them started laughing.
I crossed my arms and glared at them. "Ok, this may be funny for you because you've gone to school countless times. I, on the other hand, have never been. So can we tone down the jokes please, I'm nervous enough as it is."
Lee cleared his throat and looked at his feet, "Sorry, Bells. We'll behave, I promise," Lifting his right hand, he gave the Boy Scout salute, elbowing Jesse until she did the same.
Jesse made a sound that was halfway between a grunt and an affirmation. Standing from her place on the white leather couch, she came over and wrapped me in a hug. "You don't have to worry, Bella. I know it's your first time going to school and everything, but you always keep your cool, no matter what."
I returned her hug, still feeling slightly miffed at their joke but knowing that I couldn't stay mad at either of them for long. "It's not so much school itself, rather the people there. I mean, as sad as it sounds, I don't really know how to interact with people my age," I could tell she was about to protest, so I quickly continued, "Not that your crash course wasn't helpful."
Chuckling, she pulled back, "Well, considering that I'm nowhere near your age, I think I did pretty good." Leaving one arm around my shoulders, she led me to the couch and pulled me down beside her. "All you really need to know is that most teenage boys are horny and a high percentage of the girls are bitches. But that doesn't mean that they're all bad."
Lee gave a small laugh on the other side of her. "Way to make her feel better, Jesse. Did you practice that little pep talk?" Still smiling, he turned to look at me, ignoring Jesse's huff, "Bella, you've never been to any kind of public institution and for good reason. However, we all agreed that, now that we have all of those problems out of the way, it should be okay for us to go back to school. You've been excited about this all month and it's only now that you're second guessing your decision. You may not have spent any time around people your age before, but you'll do fine."
Sitting forward so that she blocked my view of Lee, Jesse but both of her hands on my shoulders and looked me right in the eyes, "You really should watch out for those teenage boys though. They'll definitely hit on you and you have to be prepared. Remember, just say no." She didn't look too pleased with the idea of guys hitting on me.
Lee's eyes narrowed when he looked around Jesse. "If any of those boys bother you, just come to me or Jess and we'll sort them out. No one hits on our baby sister without her consent."
Looking at Jesse, I could see her nodding her agreement and I felt a pang of worry for the boys of Forks. Quickly standing up, I faced my two siblings. "Okay, I'm good, minor freak-out over. I'll be down in a few minutes."
Turning, I ran up the stairs at human speed, remembering that I needed to practice doing everything slowly now. Walking into my room, I glanced at my cat, Sanderson, stretched out on my bed without a care in the world. We had found him as a kitten on the side of the road about three years ago. His mother had just been hit by a car and I couldn't leave him alone to fend for himself. Of course, being a sane animal, he had been freaked out by my vampire family at first, jumping into my arms whenever any of them had gotten close. It had taken about three months of near-constant coaxing on my part to get him to relax around them and now he was totally fine. He was probably the only cat in the entire world that actually went up to vampires to be petted.
Once again walking into my bathroom, I stripped off my pyjamas, a pair of shorts and an oversized t-shirt and threw them into the clothes bin.
Hopping into the shower, I hurriedly turned it on and started washing, enjoying the warm water. It had taken me ages to find a body wash that didn't smell bad to my sensitive nose, but I had finally found one in an old herbal shop during one of my infrequent visits into town. Now that we'd moved, I'd have to find a new one.
While I washed, I thought about my upcoming day at school. Usually, panicking wasn't my thing, whatever happened, happened, but it was just such a new thing for me. I mean, it's not like I had been living in a cave for the past seventeen years or anything. I had gone places and done stuff, but growing up with vampires means that you don't get a lot of chances to interact with people and my own, unique nature meant that we didn't do much mingling outside our own home. That even extended to other vampires. Other than my family, I had only met three others, and none of those meetings had gone well.
Sighing, I switched off the stream of water and stepped out, quickly wrapping a towel around myself. Heading over to the sink, I wiped the steam off of the mirror and stared at my reflection.
Bright blue eyes stared back at me through a mane of silver-white hair. Because of that pale hair and my very pale skin, the only colour on me were my eyes and my red lips, which were full and, like everything else about me, perfect. In the looks department, I outshone my entire vampire family by miles and I hated it.
I honestly don't know what I would do without my ring, which, aside from the blanket, was the only object they found on me that day in the forest. Spying the very object on the shelf above the sink, I picked it up and studied it.
It was nothing ostentatious, a simple band of silver with a vine-and-leaf pattern and a small, dark blue stone in the centre, yet it was beautiful.
Slipping it on my finger, I felt the familiar electrical tingle run through my body and I once again looked at my reflection. Instead of my normal, highly noticeable shades of eye and hair colour, both were now a nice, simple brown. My facial features shifted, becoming less perfect and more human. I was still beautiful by human standards, but now people would be more focused on my siblings than me. Without my ring, I would never have been able to go out in public without attracting a whole load of attention, and while I had no idea who had given me the ring, I was eternally grateful.
Satisfied with my second appearance, I walked back into my room and got dressed, pulling on a pair of jeans and a forest green shirt. Over that, I put on a brown jacket, hopefully enough protection against the near-constant rain in Forks. Sanderson gave a lazy meow which I chose to take as a 'Good morning', so I bent down and scratched him behind the ear. He immediately started purring and leaned into my hand.
I smiled at his attempt at getting more rubs, "Sorry, Sandy, I got to go. I'm a student now," I heard Jesse scoff downstairs," and that means that I'm not going to be around as much as I used to."
Giving him one final scratch, I picked up my backpack from beside the door and went back down stairs.
My parents were already waiting for me in the kitchen, identical proud smiles on their faces.
"Jeez, it's not like I'm going off to join the army, it's just high school." I said, opening the fridge and taking out some milk, filling up a glass before returning the carton.
Clare gave me a quick hug and smiled warmly at me, "We're your parents, we get to be excited on your first day of real school, regardless of whether or not you already know the entire curriculum and are seventeen years old. It's still a first and you don't have many of those left."
Jesse chose that moment to speak up, "Sure she does. She has her first crush, her first kiss, her first time punching a guy who keeps on making advances and her first time throwing someone's prize possessions into a wood chipper." As she said that last she surreptitiously moved away from Lee, who was glaring at her back, no doubt remembering all of the times she had thrown something of his into the wood chipper. She really loved that machine.
Micheal stepped in between the two of them, holding up his hand and counting off fingers," Firstly, if you guys don't hurry up you will be late. Secondly, I have no intention of letting any boy kiss Bella until she is at least fifty-three. Human males are really not that clean-minded and thirdly, Jesse you have to stop with the wood chipper. I don't care how much you enjoy it, I'm sick of finding bits of household items floating around the garage and considering that I've told you countless times to stop already, I'll just assume that you're not even listening to me." As predicted, Jesse was staring absentmindedly at the microwave.
As soon as Clare saw where she was looking, she moved in front the machine protectively. "Jesse, you promised no electrical appliances."
Shrugging, Jesse turned away and mumbled that she'd be waiting in the car.
I downed my milk, not bothering to eat any solid food as my metabolism was fine with small quantities. Putting my glass in the sink, I shot upstairs and brushed my teeth quickly.
Back in the kitchen, I gave both of my parents a kiss on the cheek and followed Lee outside to our Toyota. I had persuaded them to pick a nice, simple car so that we wouldn't attract any more attention than was strictly necessary.
Hopping inside, I sat quietly as Jesse peeled out of the driveway, going well above the speed limit.
"You do know where Forks high school is, don't you?" I asked, wondering whether or not we were even going in the right direction.
She scoffed, looking offended, "I did remember to get directions. Jeez, I'm not that ditzy."
Now it was Lee's turn to scoff, which he quickly cut off when Jesse shot daggers at him.
Staring out the window, through the perpetual rain, I spotted the school. Now, I had always been under the assumption that schools were one big building, but this was more like a collection of matching houses, built with maroon-coloured bricks. There were so many trees and shrubs that, at first, I couldn't see its size.
Pulling into the parking lot, I noticed that almost all of the cars were second hand and very old, the only exception being a shiny silver Volvo. Next to most of these cars, our simple Toyota seemed like a Mercedes. So much for our car blending in.
Getting out, we headed to the building with the word Office written above it and dove inside to avoid getting wet. Usually, I liked the rain, but not when I'd have to spend the whole day in school wearing wet clothes.
Inside, it was brightly lit, and warmer than expected. The office was small; a little waiting area with uncomfortable-looking chairs and a pile of out-dated magazines on the small table beside them. The carpet was a horrible shade of orange and there were so many potted plants that it looked like a greenhouse that had decided to fight back. There were three desks behind the counter, one of which was manned by a large, red-haired woman wearing glasses.
She looked up and as soon as her eyes rested on us, her mouth dropped open.
While the red haired woman, Mrs. Cope according to her name tag, was still trying to think of something to say, Lee stepped forward. "Hello, my name is Lee van Allen and these are my sisters, Jesse and Bella. We're the new students and I was told you'd be expecting us." His voice was honey sweet and it just made Mrs. Cope have even more difficulty speaking.
She laid a bundle of papers on the counter and managed to stutter out, "Maps, schedules and slip. Please get your teachers to sign it and bring it back at the end of the day." When Lee didn't move, she made a wild gesture towards the papers and made a dash to the back room.
Chuckling slightly, Lee picked up the papers and compared schedules. Seeing as both Lee and Jesse were going to be seniors and I was going to be a junior, I wouldn't have any classes with them. "Ok, Jess, we got third, fifth and sixth period together. And Bella, we'll see you at lunch."
I gave him a nod and took my papers from him, actually looking forward to the school experience.
Checking my schedule, I discovered that I had English first period. Not bad, a subject that I didn't mind. A quick glance at the map and I had it memorised, already on my way to room 3.
Once I got around the cafeteria, it was easy to spot, mainly because of the huge, black '3' painted on the side. Walking up to the door, I paused, catching a scent that I couldn't quiet identify. It seemed familiar, a sweet, fruity fragrance that would be worth millions if it could be bottled, but the rain had washed most of it away and I couldn't place it.
Still thinking about that strange scent, I absentmindedly gave the teacher- a tall, balding man named Mr. Mason- my slip to sign and he gave it back to me after telling me to sit at the back next to Ms. Cullen.
I began walking down the aisle, only now realising that the scent was much stronger and was continuing to grow.
Jerking my head up in the direction that the scent was coming from, I met the startled golden eyes of a vegetarian vampire. One that wasn't a family member.
A/N: Okay, second chapter up. I wasn't expecting to get it finished but thanks to those awesome reviews, I tried extra-hard. Once again please tell me what you think and any advice you have, please share it with me.