Midnight Star

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: First Day

Usually the idea of pizza is enough to keep me awake, but the forty-something on the bus finally caught up with me and when Charlie came upstairs to rouse me for dinner, I refused to be woken and he gave up, just letting me sleep. I must've been even more exhausted than I thought, because I slept straight through, waking up early the next morning, just in time to get up for my first day at Forks High School.

Charlie was amused at how heavy a sleeper I was, but when I was tired enough, I could sleep through World War III. And believe me, spending two days on a bus from New York to Washington with a bunch of guys talking loudly in the seat behind me, refusing to pipe down even at three o'clock in the morning, making it impossible to sleep would make anybody exhausted.

Unfortunately, the next morning, I found out just how terrible a cook my uncle was, because he "attempted" to make pancakes since I hadn't had any dinner the night before. If my own cooking skills were any better, then I would have taken over kitchen duties, but unfortunately, the few times that I've tried to cook, I've ended up either burning the food or leaving it extremely undercooked.

And now that I think about it, Mom's cooking skills were pretty bad, too. Maybe it's actually genetic, I thought as I ate what I could before I headed out the door, to the truck that Charlie had gotten for me.

It took me a few minutes to figure out how to work the stick, but I finally managed to get it into drive and pulled out of the driveway, following Charlie's directions and headed towards the school. I had put a few minutes in early, since I knew I was going to have to get my schedule and locker and I didn't want to be late for my first class. Not the best impression.

The school was nothing like my old one back in New York; it was more of a mass of little buildings put together. But it had a nice, homey feel, I thought as I scanned the buildings, searching for the front office, which Charlie had instructed me to go to, and found it immediately.

Pulling into a space right next to it, I headed into the building, which had only a single occupant, a smiling redheaded lady.

"Hello," she said, turning her smile towards me. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm Susan Dawson," I explained as I moved closer to the desk. "I'm supposed to start here today."

"Of course," the redhead said, still smiling. "Miss Dawson . . . we've been expecting you."

Automatically, my reflexes tensed and my hand moved instinctively towards my shell necklace before I forced my hand to relax, trying to calm my instincts, but they were all in warning mode.

Now, normally, this kind of response would be overreacting somewhat, but after four years in the supernatural world—or whatever you want to call it—I've learned to be on my guard at all times. And usually, the phrase "we've been expecting you" is one that monsters tend to use right before they attack.

But the redhead didn't notice my reaction; she was too busy searching through her pile of papers, producing a schedule and locker number and combination, along with a map to the school. I thanked her and quickly fled from the office, glancing over my shoulder just to make sure that she wasn't about to attack me, but she was just looking puzzled, confused at my quick disappearance.

Later, I realised that I had overreacted just a little bit, but really, I knew that I had to keep my guard up. I was a daughter of Poseidon, a child of one of the Big Three. My aroma was stronger than other demigods and generally, it's not safe for us to live outside of camp. If there was a monster within a fifty mile radius, then it was bound to find me here, living in a small town without a single satyr or any kind of protector.

My first class was English, which was both a relief and a terror. I love reading; I'm addicted to it and usually, when I'm not training back home, then I can usually be found reading next to the beach, but being dyslexic, I have a hard time reading English, because it's not my natural language. Being a half-blood, my brain is hard-wired for Ancient Greek and reading anything else is extremely frustrating and causes the words to float off the page. Dyslexia and ADHD, which are my natural battle reflexes, are the signs of a half-blood. On their own, they don't generally mean anything, but when put together, it's almost a sure sign that someone is a demigod. I have to work extra hard to actually understand what I'm reading.

And unfortunately, I couldn't skip out on any of the books that we were supposed to read, because most of them were ones that I'd never read before. Well, I'd read the Shakespeare plays, because they're fascinating to me. (Probably has something to do with the characters having just as messed up lives as I did.) But everything else, I'd never gotten around to reading.

I swiped a seat in the back of the class, hoping that this would avoid getting me attention, but people still were turning around in their seats, trying to get a good look at me. One guy in particular—Mike Newton, I think Mr. Mason called him—was eyeing me in extreme interest and I shifted uncomfortably at all of the attention.

When class finally ended, Mike attempted to block my path so he could introduce himself and escort me to my next class, but I was quicker than he was, so I was already halfway out the door before he could get to me.

Look, I'm not really shy. I'm quiet and . . . okay, maybe I am shy. I'm not particularly a people-person, especially when those people are all looking at me in that ogling fashion, like more than half of the guys in this school were, as though I were some prize to be won. And I extremely hate it when the girls look at me coldly, like I'm about to steal their men away from them, which most of them were doing. Only a few of them gave me a friendly smile, not at all hateful or cold.

But none of the friendly ones seemed to be in any of my classes, which is probably why I ended up sitting in the back of all the classes, working quietly and trying desperately to ignore the looks that people were giving me.

It wasn't until my fourth class, art, that I actually met somebody who was friendly enough to talk to me. Her name was Angela Weber and she was nice and friendly, chatting with me easily, but not over-abundantly, asking a series of questions and wanting to know every little thing about me. She was actually somebody that I could see myself being friends with.

She actually kind of reminded me of Aria. You know, when she and I were actually talking.

I was actually a little bit relieved when Angela invited me to eat lunch with her and her friends. Lunch was something that I had been a little bit worried about, since I was the new girl. Unfortunately, when I got to Angela's table, my relief soon turned to horror when I discovered that amongst her friends was Mike Newton, the guy who had been attempting to put himself in my path all day, and this girl named Jessica Stanley, whom I had in a couple classes and while she seemed friendly enough, I got the feeling that the only reason why she was being nice to me was so she could be the centre of attention. Since I was the new girl at school, I was going to the news around here for awhile, something that I was not looking forward to.

But since I had nowhere else to sit—the rest of the tables were all full—I reluctantly sat down at Angela's table, nibbling at the food that I had bought—and trying not to grimace at the taste of it—politely talked with her friends, which besides Mike and Jessica, also included a girl named Lauren, her boyfriend Tyler, and this guy named Eric.

Mike insisted on firing question after question at me, wanting to know every little thing about me, and after about a hundred or so question, I thought that he had to be some kind of monster. That was the only conclusion for him being so freaking annoying.

But rather than voice these particular thoughts aloud, I just answered them as best I could, but Mike was getting annoyed with the one-syllable answers that I was giving him.

"So tell us something about yourself," he said invitingly, looking towards me expectantly as I worked my fork around what I think was supposed to be macaroni.

Jessica was throwing me a jealous look at the amount of attention that Mike was giving me, one that I immediately recognised. I may not have had a boyfriend yet, but that didn't mean that I was completely incompetent when it came to love. I mean, my best friend was a daughter of Aphrodite, after all. And Valentine used to give the girls that were looking the wrong look at her boyfriend Leo the same look that Jessica was giving me. Mike might be unaware of it, but Jessica definitely had strong feelings for him and she hated the fact that he was paying me more attention than her.

"I don't know," I said, finally giving up on digesting any more food, making a mental note just to bring my lunch from now on, because there was no way that I was going to survive on this stuff for the rest of the year. I may not be a good cook, but I can do sandwiches. That's not hard. "I'm part Greek," I said, my mouth twitching at the inside joke.

"And part what?" Lauren said snottily. I ignored her tone, not at all bothered by her unfriendliness. It wouldn't be the first time that I had to deal with it today.

"American, of course," I replied, forcing a smile on my face as I turned my gaze towards her. She just looked at me coolly before turning back to Jessica, turning the conversation as far away from me as possible, which I was actually eternally grateful for.

The conversation turned towards something unimportant—actually, I have no idea what they were talking about, because at the moment that Lauren and Jessica started talking, with the boys chiming their opinion in, something caught my attention.

There are some moments in time that completely shape the course of our destinies. They can range from anything and everything. They can be enormous moments, when something huge and unexplainable occurs. Or they can be slight, subtle moments, like when you see someone for the first time. And in my case, it was five people, two girls and three boys.

They were sitting at a table near the windows, farther away from the other students, as though they didn't want to get too close to them. All of them had extraordinary, luminously pale skin, as pale as the moon, and had dark eyes with circles underneath them, as though they hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in a long time.

One of the girls was one of the most beautiful girls that I'd ever seen and believe me, once you've gotten a good look at the daughters of Aphrodite, that's saying something. Briefly, I thought she might be one of Aphrodite's daughters. There are some that don't even know that they're demigods, if they're not powerful forces. It's rare, but it happens. Her luxurious blonde hair fell past her shoulders and halfway down her back, silky and wavy. She was tall and exquisite and she held herself with poise and an air of confidence, in a way that I would've expected from a high-society blue blood, but not from a high school student in Washington.

The big guy sitting next to her I assumed was her boyfriend, due to the closeness between them. He was one of the biggest guys that I'd ever seen, with enormous muscles that would've made Ares' kids jealous, looking like it would be no problem for him to pick up a car and rip it apart with his bare hands. Unlike his girlfriend, he had dark, curly hair.

Sitting next to the guy was another couple. The guy was tall with blonde hair and he looked extremely uncomfortable, as though he were restless and unsettled with the mass of students crowded around him. Still, there was something about him that reminded me of a soldier and he was definitely no stranger to battle, I noted as I caught sight of the faint scars painted on his skin. I could see them, even across the room.

His girlfriend was short and pixie-like, instantly reminding me of a nymph or a dryad, looking as though she could take flight at any given moment. Her dark hair was short and it stuck out in every direction. And there was a playfulness about her, almost childlike, but at the same time, there was a wise, knowing look in her eyes, as though she had seen a lot more than most people.

My gaze turned towards the fifth, the youngest of them, and I literally felt my heart stop in my chest as I saw him for the first time.

He was tall and lanky, just as pale as the others, but other than the similarity in their skin tones and the same dark, tired-looking eyes, they didn't look that much alike. The last boy was . . . well, younger than the others and he actually looked like he might be in high school while the others appeared to be older, almost college-aged. His untidy bronze hair was fixed in an artistic mess and there was a thoughtful, almost brooding look to him. But there was something about him that just drew me to him, like a moth to a flame.

As though he felt my gaze, the bronze boy lifted his dark eyes from his tray, which I noted through my dazed and muddled mind was completely empty, and turned them towards me, his dark gaze colliding with my blue-green ones. My throat felt dry as we stared at each other across the crowded room and it wasn't until one of the girls asked him something that he broke his attention from me, looking back towards her and answering the question.

"Susan? Hello?"

Distracted, I pulled my gaze away from the extremely handsome boy, a blush rising to my cheeks as I thought that, looking back towards Mike, who apparently had asked me a question. "Uh . . . sorry, I was distracted," I muttered, looking down. "What did you say?"

"What were you looking at?" Mike asked, arching his neck to see what—or rather who—I was paying attention to, but Jessica beat me to the punch.

"The Cullens," she said, smirking.

"Who are they?" I asked, curious despite myself, my eyes flickering back towards the bronze-haired again, but he wasn't looking at me any longer.

"They're Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids," Jessica said matter-of-factly. She spoke as though she expected me to know who these people were, but being the new girl, I didn't have a clue as to who she could mean.

Thankfully, though, Angela took pity on me and explained, "The Cullens moved down here a few years ago. Dr. Cullen works down at the hospital, but they, uh . . . kind of keep to themselves."

"Yeah, because they're all together," Jessica put in, emphasising the word more than necessary, as though she didn't expect me to understand what it meant. As though I were dumb rather than dyslexic. "As in together, together."

"So?" I said, though this was probably the wrong thing to say. "What's wrong with that? You said that they're foster kids, right? So it's not like they're actually related."

I knew immediately that it was the wrong thing to say, because the looks I got were everything between revulsion, disgust, and disbelief. Angela, bless her, was the only one who wasn't staring at me as though I had suddenly grown three heads.

"Are you kidding me?" Lauren said in disgust. "They live together and everything."

"Yeah, it's weird," Jessica said, shuddering slightly and giving me an appalled look. But then, she continued on as though I hadn't said a word. "Okay, the blonde girl? That's Rosalie and she's with the big dark-haired guy Emmett. And the little dark-haired girl's Alice and she's with Jasper, the blonde one who looks like he's in pain."

"Hmm." I pierced my lips together, glancing back at them again, once again struck by the strangeness of them, the way that they stood out amongst the mass of students.

They just sat there, talking amongst themselves, their untouched food sitting in front of them, not at all threatening, but there was still something about them that made me reach towards my shell necklace, just to reassure myself that it was still there, ready to whip it out the moment that I might need it. I couldn't explain it, but despite them not appearing to be dangerous, I still felt like there was something . . . otherworldly about them.

The bronze-haired boy's gaze lifted up once again and darted back across towards me and I fought the urge to blush as his dark gaze collided with my blue-green one. I looked down, glancing back towards Jessica, who seemed to enjoying my distraction, because it kept me away from Mike.

"And . . . who's that?" I asked, inclining my head towards the bronze-haired boy, who was looking at me with a frustrated expression, as though he were trying to figure something out.

"That's Edward Cullen," Jessica said matter-of-factly. "Totally gorgeous, obviously, but don't even bother to waste your time. Every girl around here has asked him out at least twice and he's turned all of them down. Apparently, nobody around here is good enough for him." She sniffed disdainfully and I fought down a smile; clearly, she'd been on the list on the girls that he'd rejected. "So don't get your hopes up. He doesn't date."

"I wasn't planning on it," I protested. Jessica just shrugged, obviously not believing my claim, before she turned the conversation away from the Cullens. I paid attention as best I could, but my attention kept getting drawn towards Edward Cullen.

His gaze was still fixed upon me, his dark gaze filled with an intensity that I had never felt before, watching me with that same slightly frustrated look, mixed with confusion. It was almost as though he couldn't quite figure something out. Occasionally, one of his siblings would say something to him, but while he answered them, his attention was fixed solely on me.

I couldn't honestly say how I felt about the intense look that he was giving me, because there was something about the Cullens that made me uneasy . . . almost anxious.

But there was another part, a stronger part, that was thrilled that Edward was paying as much attention to me as he was. Even though I had never spoken to him, even though I had only glimpsed him across a crowded cafeteria, there was something about him that drew me to him just as surely as a moth is drawn to a flame. Only time would tell if I would be burned because of it, though.

All throughout lunch, even when the bell rang and I followed Angela to drop off my tray by the trashcans, joining the mass of students and heading towards math, I felt Edward's gaze fixed upon me the entire time.

Math class passed way too slowly for my taste and it didn't help that I was horrible at it. Fifty minutes in there felt like fifty hours and by the time that it was over, I had already decided that it was just some torture that the gods created just so they could amuse themselves at our agony.

Of course, it probably didn't help that I couldn't get Edward out of my head the entire time. There was just something about the way that he was watching me that . . . I don't know. It made me feel uneasy, almost anxious and yet at the same time, it was completely enthralling. Even to myself, I couldn't explain why I couldn't get him out of my head, why I wanted so desperately to see him again, talk to him.

There's a word for the way that you're feeling, a little voice inside my head that sounded oddly like Valentine said knowingly. It's called—

Shut up, I thought in annoyance.

After math, I proceeded to science. This had to be some kind of sick, cruel joke, to have both of the classes that I am so completely and utterly horrible at back to back. It was either one of those not so funny jokes or somebody was having a laugh at my expense.

At least, that's what I was thinking until I stepped into science and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Edward Cullen sitting near the back. As I stepped into the room, his eyes darted straight to me and his expression slipped back into that frustrated one he'd been wearing during lunch.

My legs were locked in position, unable to move as my gaze stared straight into his and by the time that I was able to move, I discovered that all of the seats had been taken and the only one left was next to Edward.

Shyly and unsteady, I walked to the back, slipping into the empty seat, well aware of the fact that every single person was watching my every step. Uncomfortable at all of the attention, I ducked my head, allowing my dark brown hair to fall forward into my face, thus hiding the evidence of my red face, and stared determinedly at the front of the room.

It felt like forever until Mr. Molina called the attention to the front of the class, directing everyone's attention towards the lesson.

I glanced edgily towards him as Mr. Molina started the lesson, only to find that his black eyes were still fixed upon me, watching me in that confused, frustrated way, as though he couldn't quite figure something out.

For one brief second, I thought that maybe he was a monster in disguise—after all, that would explain the ethereal feeling that I was getting from him—but there was no menace in his eyes, no coldness, no evil feeling from him.

Whoever Edward Cullen was . . . whatever he might be . . . he wasn't a bad person. That was the only thing that I was sure of.

Forcing myself to look ahead towards Mr. Molina, I tried all hour to pay attention to the lesson as Mr. Molina started us out in the basic biology, handing out textbooks and beginning on the first chapter.

I honestly did try to pay attention. Really, I did! But I could feel Edward looking at me all through class, even though when Mr. Molina—who had apparently noticed that he seemed distracted—asked him a question, he was able to answer it easily, with no amount of uncertainty in his voice.

The moment that he spoke, when I heard his voice for the first time, I felt my heart stop in my chest. It was the most beautiful sound that I'd heard in my sixteen years. It was velvety smooth and gently, but carried a slight accent to it. Most people wouldn't notice it, but I've been around immortal beings for four years and even though it's not as obvious, there's a slight accent in their voices, from living in different eras. Edward had the same lilt to his voice, as though he had been born in a different time and raised in a completely different era. And I wondered if my original feelings had been right and Edward wasn't human after all.

Whereas math had dragged by as though every moment felt like an hour had passed instead, science seemed to be over much too quickly—which was a first for me, considering how much I detest the subject—and the class quickly dispersed. The second that the bell rang, Edward disappeared from his seat, bolting from the room like hellhounds were nipping at his feet, and vanished around the corner before I had even risen from my chair.

I stared after him, wondering if I had only thought that he had left faster than he did and confused by his abrupt departure. But in his haste to leave the classroom, he had left his bag sitting forgotten next to his seat.

Hesitating for a second—after all, it wasn't mine to take—I picked up the bag, hoping to catch up with him so I could return it to him before he vanished from campus, but by the time that I got outside, he was nowhere to be seen, though his siblings were getting into a silver Volvo. The blonde girl Rosalie looked extremely disgruntled about something and her expression soured when she saw me heading their way, but the dark-haired girl Alice smiled at me as I approached the vehicle.

"Hi," I said uneasily, well aware of the looks that I was getting, both from the other three Cullens and the rest of the students, who were either heading to their cars, waiting for rides, or waiting for their friends, but Alice just gave me a friendly look, not at all bothered by the strange looks we were getting. "You're Alice Cullen, right?" She nodded. "Your brother forgot his bag in science," I explained, holding Edward's backpack out to her. "I thought I should probably get it to him, but I couldn't find him."

"Oh, he just had something that he had to do," Alice said brightly. "He was in a hurry, so he probably just forgot about it. Thanks for getting it, though. That was nice of you."

"Sure, it was no problem," I said, shrugging. "I should get going. I've got lots of homework."

Alice nodded, still smiling at me in a very strange way. "Susan," she said as I was about to walk away. I turned back towards her and she gave me a dazzling smile. "You're welcome at our house any time, in case you ever need someone to talk to."

The way that she said that puzzled me. She spoke as though we were already friends and not just two acquaintances that had just spoken five seconds ago, but despite my puzzlement, I nodded.

"Um . . . thanks," I said, staring at her. "Thank you, but I'm fine."

"Everybody needs a friend," Alice said, shrugging. "But don't forget; if you ever need anybody to talk to you, you can always come over to our house. Don't even worry about calling; just come over."

I was suddenly struck at the familiarity of the way she looked at me, reminded violently of Rachel, the new Oracle at camp. Her eyes were filled with such knowledge, greater than I could understand.

"Okay . . . thanks," I said, though thoroughly bemused as I walked back to my truck, glancing back at the Cullens as I opened the door. Rosalie was saying something to Alice. I've never been good at lip-reading, so I had no idea what they were talking about, but she looked extremely angry about something. Alice didn't seem to be bothered, though, just said something in reply that Rosalie didn't particularly like.

Whatever they were talking about, I got the feeling that it involved me, because Rosalie glowered at me from across the parking lot.

Not understanding what had just happened, I tossed my backpack into the seat next to me, climbing inside.

As far as first days were, today hadn't been so bad, I decided as I turned on the ignition, managing to get the truck into drive and navigated my way out of the lot, heading towards my house. It could have been a lot worse. I mean, so far, it didn't appear that any of my teachers were monsters.

I went home and did my homework and attempted to cook something edible for dinner—pasta, nobody can mess that up—watched some of the baseball game with Charlie and when I got bored enough, I went upstairs and read for a little bit before I went to bed.

But my thoughts never strayed from Edward Cullen.