Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, they belong to Stephenie Meyer. I only own this shiny purple ring.
Chapter 2-Bathhouse Morning
I nervously rubbed my finger over the smooth gem of my ring as I drove up to the school parking lot. This was a nervous habit I'd picked up over the years. I could feel the silver setting of the ring, cold and hard, against my sticky skin. Even though I had layered my clothes, almost protectively, over one another, I could still feel the icy wind blow through each layer.
I shivered, even though the heaters were blasting, nearly wheezing, out the warm air.
The old red truck made a loud groan as I pulled to a stop in front of a small building on the campus.
I longed to climb back into the warm-ish truck cab as I stepped out into the freezing wet air, clutching my rain jacket closer so it wouldn't blow away in the wet, icy, wind.
I made my way into the cozy little main office of Forks High School. The stout woman behind the desk looked up at me, her eyes brightening with excitement, and said, "Can I help you dear?"
"Yes," I responded, trying not to whisper the words into my jacket collar, "My name's Isabella Swan, the n-" I didn't even have to finish my sentence, a flash of recognition passed through her eyes and she started digging furiously through a stack of papers.
I inched closer towards the desk, hoping that I could leave quickly. The woman held up some sheets. I quickly stretched out my hand to retrieve them, but she pulled back. I looked at her, my eyebrows furrowing.
"This is your schedule, and this..." Oh, she was going to explain everything, only to get more time with the chief's daughter, of course. I sighed, trying hard to conceal my blush behind my many collars without looking odd.
Absentmindedly, I started spinning my ring around my finger, over and over again.
"Oh, and I'm Mrs. Cope if you need anything dear," she said.
"Oh, um, thanks Mrs. Cope. I appreciate your help." I smiled tightly, not enjoying the spotlight.
"It's my pleasure Isabella," she responded with a warm smile.
I stretched my hand out, not trying to be rude, but desperately wanting the papers so I could leave.
I stepped a little bit closer, placing my cold, sticky hands on top of the slippery counter. My ring made a soft dink as it clacked against the plastic-like material.
Mrs. Cope's meaty hand plopped on the counter with the papers slowly fluttering down, spinning in circles as they moved through the air.
"What a beautiful ring," she breathed. I could feel her hot breath against my face.
"May I look?" she asked, peering up at my face.
"Of course," I replied, more brusquely than I had been intending to. I just wanted to escape this office. It seemed to be shrinking by the second.
She grasped my hand and turned it in hers, looking at all sides of the lovely purple stone entwined in the silver band.
"My, wherever did you get this ring? It's absolutely gorgeous!" Mrs. Cope exclaimed after a couple minutes of thorough examination.
I clearly remembered that the beautiful stranger had not been a friend, but just that, a stranger. It would be quite odd for me to admit to receiving the ring from someone I'd just met in the forest. We were in Forks though, so there weren't many other places to meet. But that was beside the point.
"It was a present from a friend," I replied vaguely, hoping to sound nonchalant.
"What a good friend then," Mrs. Cope gushed, still staring at my hand resting on the counter.
I jerkily pulled away, walking towards the exit.
"I'd better be off. Thanks for your help," I called behind me.
"Oh, no problem dear. Come ba-"
But the wind slammed the door closed with a loud thunk that cut off the rest of her words.
OoooooOoooooO
I walked to the cafeteria, led by a peppy brunette whose name had slipped my mind. I slowly walked behind her as she practically bounced to the doors. Even though she was very energetic, she was nice, and she offered to let me sit with her at lunch. Lunch was the part of the day I was dreading.
I stood in the line while listening to her chatter about her friends and how wonderful they were. I nodded in the right spots and said that I couldn't wait, even though inside I was trying to find a way out of meeting all these people.
With food in hand we walked to a large table in the middle of the room. There were already six kids sitting and eating. They all looked up and waved hello to my energetic leader, and once noticing me, staring with wide mouths. One blond girl sneered at me and went back to her eating. Another girl with long brown hair cleared the spot next to her and tapped it gently. Nervously smiling, I sank onto the hard chair beside the girl and wished a hole would open in the floor and swallow me whole.
After many boring questions, I glanced up from the mesmerized faces of the kids around me, and looked around the room. All of the tables were filled; actually, they looked more than filled. The funny thing was, though, that there was an empty table in the corner of the room. But all of the students ignored the table as if it weren't there.
"Jessica?" I asked, remembering the name of my energetic leader.
"Yeah?" she said, swallowing a sip of her water.
"Why isn't anybody sitting at that table?"
She looked at me confused.
"That table, over in the corner," I clarified, pointing towards it.
"Oh, the Cullen's aren't here today. That's their table, nobody else sits there," she said giving a shrug and returning to her water.
"Ever," she quickly added, as if forgetting the importance of it.
Something about the way she said it made me curious. "Why not? Is there something wrong with them?" I knew I was prying, but I wanted more information.
"No, there's nothing that unusual about them," she replied huffily.
Her annoyed attitude flustered me. Why was she annoyed about my questions?
"What're their names? Maybe I've seen them before on my visits," I asked.
"You probably haven't seen them Bella. They moved here two years ago."
"Oh. Well maybe Charlie's mentioned them before," I said, trying to force the information out of her.
She gave me a look then practically spat out, "Their names are Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Edward, and Alice." I could hear the venom fill her voice as she recited the list. After she finished, she turned and started up a conversation with the girl next to her.
Alice, I thought, that was the name of the girl who'd given me the ring. Maybe she's the same person! And that guy's name was Jasper. There really aren't that many Jaspers around now. It's probably the same people. But that wouldn't make sense if they were the same people. I met them when I was twelve, and they looked as if they were in college.
I became slightly disappointed. I'd been waiting for the day that I would meet them again.
Well, that's okay. At least I met them once.
I hadn't noticed, but while I'd been thinking, the girl named Lauren had been staring, no, glaring was the right word, at my hand. I looked down and saw that her gaze was on my ring.
Ugh, I thought, what is it with small towns and my ring?
I quickly pulled my hand off the table, tucking it in my lap. I nervously rubbed the purple stone while waiting for Lauren's gaze to leave my face.
She finally turned away after Jessica asked her a question three times.
OoooooOoooooO
We were doing rollarskating in gym.
I just want to ask, why? I'm not stable enough as it is walking in sneakers. This is just too much!
I went in my room and fell onto the bed. All this pent up annoyance was making me tired. I unzipped my backpack and pulled out my homework in one swift movement. I read through the book list looking for something that I hadn't already read a couple thousand times.
Nope, I've read them all. This was going to be boring, but familiar at least.
I really had nothing else to do, so I walked down to the kitchen, looking for something to cook for dinner.
I searched high and low. I looked through all the cupboards, and even searched the back of the fridge.
Argh, I thought while walking to the sink, why does Charlie have no food?
Apparently the only food he did have had melted to the fridge and then got stuck to my hand. There was now had a brown mystery substance stuck to my wrist, and it was so stubborn that it wouldn't come of, even after harsh scrubbing.
I marched out to the truck, quickly grabbing food money and my rain jacket on the way out the door.
Walking into the grocery store was just as calming as it always had been. It was a simple chore that I had performed weekly in Phoenix; it just felt right.
I grabbed everything I would need for the next couple nights and went to check out. I loaded my food onto the old counter, waiting while a younger looking girl with bleached blond hair scanned the items.
The rain made little clacks as it hit the roof, and the scanner made a loud beep in the silence of the store. I glanced at my shoes, trying not to notice the silence surrounding me.
While handing the cashier my money, she glanced down at my hand and saw the ring. This wasn't that bad. But her eyes started to glaze over and her breathing slowed down. She slowly leaned forward, her straw-like hair falling in front of her face, and placed one finger gently on the ring.
This was weird, what was she doing? I looked at the girl's nametag. "Hello, my name is Debbie. Welcome to Thriftway." Was printed in bright red letters.
"Um, Debbie. Here's the money," I said shaking the green bills towards her.
"What, oh, I'm….Oh, yes, the money. Sorry," she said hurriedly, hiding her eyes and fidgeting with her sleeve.
I could sense her embarrassment so I smiled and replied, "It's okay. Have a nice afternoon."
The shopping cart clattered and squeaked as I pushed it out of the automatic doors.
How strange that was, I mused while loading the bags into the truck bed, what was wrong with that girl? It couldn't have been the ring, that would be way too odd.
I looked down at the ring, hoping that it would show me something. Nothing happened. I moved it in the air, letting it sparkle brightly in the meager light.
I sighed, I would never figure this out.
While walking to the cab, I noticed that the woman on my right was staring at me with a full bag of groceries on the ground while a can of soup was rolling away. She didn't seem to notice. Her eyes were focused on me and only me. I tried to ignore it, but it feels weird knowing that someone is watching you.
I climbed in the cab gratefully, wanting to be anywhere but here.