Chapter 9: First Glance
When Bella arrived at the school, she parked her truck between a shiny silver Volvo and a huge Jeep. She got out of the vehicle and looked around her. The environment was so very different than the one in Arizona. The forest surrounded just about the entire town. The clouds were always present in the sky. Sprinkles of rain blessed her skin. In the desert state, it was so barren and dry that she could barely breathe. No trees in sight or rains to bless the sky in the city of Phoenix. Bella looked up at the big two story building and took a deep breath in, closing her eyes. What she saw in the darkness behind her eyes distracted her. She saw the golden amber eyes once more. It's comforting gaze held her close and for that she was grateful. It would be a difficult day, she could tell without even having the ability to see the future. Bella released the breath from her mouth and opened her eyes. 'It's now or never Bella.' She walked into the school with heavy steps and an extra heavy heart.
Meanwhile in a classroom on the top floor, Alice Cullen sat through her English class with her chin resting in her hand. She turned her head toward the window and saw something she did not expect. Standing outside on the ground floor was the girl from her visions. The girl with the heart shaped face and dark hair. Alice couldn't see her eyes because she had them closed. No doubt taking a calming breath on her first day. The vampire smiled as she looked at the girl. 'Doesn't want her nerves to get the better of her I suspect.' When the girl opened her eyes, Alice took an unneeded breath. "Beautiful." She whispered too quiet for any mortal to hear. Unfortunately her sister Tanya was able to hear her loud and clear. "What?" She asked the pixie sitting in front of her. When Alice made no move to reply, Tanya's gaze followed hers out the window and down to the ground beneath them. "Oh my god! That's the girl from your picture." That statement was loud enough for the teacher to hear. "Ms. Cullen! Do we have a problem here?" Tanya ducked her head and brought her hand up to hide her face. Alice looked behind her and laughed at her sister's discomfort. When she looked back to the window, the girl was gone.
Bella jumped when she heard the doors close behind her. There were no students in the halls so that made it a little creepy. Thankfully the office was right by the door so she didn't have to go far to get her schedule. When she walked into the room, the sight that greeted her seemed to be one out of the movie Grease. A small middle aged woman sat in a spin chair with a pencil stuck behind her ear. It looked as if she was swamped by paper work. The woman looked up from her computer screen and gave a pleasant smile. "Why hello dear. How may I help you today?" Bella smiled as she walked forward to give her story. "Um...Hi. My names Bella Swan. I'm new here. I moved from Phoenix Arizona. "The woman smiled even bigger and exclaimed, "Oh yes, the police chief's daughter. How are you dear?" Bella kept the smile in place as she replied. "I'm doing fine. Just got the jitters cuz of the first day and all." "Oh don't worry, you'll do just fine. Let me get you your schedule." The woman turned back to her computer screen and started typing. After the schedule printed out, she went to the microphone that was attached to the speakers set up in all the halls and all the classrooms in the school. "Will Mike Newton please come to the front office?"
The woman looked at her once more with a smile on her face. "Have a seat dear. Mike will be along in a moment. The bells about to ring anyway." As if on cue, the sound of a shrill electronic alarm rang throughout the school. A couple minutes later a sandy haired pale skinned boy walked through the door to the office. He was a tall boy and he wore a letterman jacket which signified that he was a jock. "You wanted to see me?" He asked the secretary. "Ah yes; Michael Newton, this is Isabella Swan. The police chief's daughter. She just moved here from Arizona, show her around to her next class and make her feel welcome, yes?" Mike looked next to him and smiled at the girl. "Well Isabella, let's show you around." Bella got up out of the seat and stood in front of the boy. "It's just Bella, Mike. Isabella just makes me sound old." She chuckled before following Mike out the door.
Mike looked at the girl out of the side of his eye and asked, "So what's your first class after lunch?" Bella looked down at her schedule and saw the she had biology after her lunch period. "I actually have biology after lunch." Mike took the piece of paper from the girl and smiled. "I have that class too. I'll walk you there after we eat." Bella smiled at the boy and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Just as they walked through the double doors and into the cafeteria, Michael was jumped on by an Asian boy with long scraggly hair and glasses. "Jeez Eric, give a man a heart attack why don't ya." Eric just laughed and said, "Well Mike I gotta keep you on your toes somehow." He looked over at Bella and held out his hand. "Hi I'm Eric. You're Bella right?" The girl shook his hand and went over to the lunch line and got a sandwich and an apple to put on her tray. "I guess the whole schools talking about me now." Eric nodded and asked, "So may I ask, what's a girl like you doing in a town like this?" Bella smiled and answered, "Well my mom and I lived together in Phoenix and she met a minor league baseball player. They're on tour right now and the lovely state of Arizona decided that since I was a minor, I couldn't live on my own so I decided to move back here and spend some time with my dad." She said this last part as she was paying for the food on her tray.
As the three walked to their table, they were greeted by three girls. Two of them looked to be the type who gossiped most of their natural life and the other looked like your basic down to earth girl who just wanted to get through high school. "Hey Mike," the brunette gossip girl said. "Did your class go ok? Who's she?" She asked with an attitude lacing her voice. "Hey Jess be nice. This is Bella. She just moved here from Arizona. Bella this is Jessica, Lauren and Angela." The brunette and the blonde both just gave a fake smile and put their attention back to the two boys. Angela, the girl with dark hair and glasses, held out her hand for Bella to take. "Nice to meet you Bella. So what's your story? Why did you move here out of all places?" Bella repeated her story to the table and when she was just about finished, Jessica spoke up. "Oh no. Here they come." She looked out the window to see five abnormally beautiful looking teenagers walk to the cafeteria. "Who are they?" Bella asked when she couldn't stop staring at them as they walked to their table. Angela who was next to her, got close enough to whisper in her ear. "Those are the Cullen's. They just moved here not long before you did. Their dad's a doctor here in Forks." The five teens sat down at the table and Jessica spoke up again. "The big boulder looking guy, his name is Emmett. The blonde girl next to him is his girlfriend Rosalie. The bronze hair emo looking boy, that's Edward and the blonde girl next to HIM is his girlfriend Tanya. The sandy hair boy in the middle, that's Jasper. Angela fancies that one." Bella looked at the girl next to her with a smile on her face. "Is that true Ang?" Angela ducked her head and smiled shyly. "Maybe a little bit." Lauren rolled her eyes and said, "Well at least she doesn't have a crush on one that's taken by their siblings. I swear even though they're all adopted, I still think it's pretty weird they're dating each other." Jessica nodded in agreement next to her.
"Hey where's Alice? I gotta ask her something about our assignment for art class." Angela asked to no one in particular. Just as the question left her mouth, Bella looked out the window to see a pixie looking girl walk toward the open double doors of the cafeteria. When she saw the girl she gasped and her breathing seemed to leave her and her heartbeat sped up to the point where it almost escaped her chest. She couldn't stop staring at her, the others were beautiful in their own right but this girl was gorgeous. This one had short brown spikey hair, porcelain skin and eyes as amber as the sunset. Angela followed Bella's gaze, she smiled and said, "There she is. I'll be right back guys." Angela got up out of her seat and went over to her. Alice seemed to smile as she saw the girl and gave her a hug. Bella couldn't hear what they were talking about because her blood was pounding in her ears. Only when Jessica decided to tap her on her shoulder and scream her name in her ear did she respond. "Ow! Jeeze Jessica. Why'd you have to go and do that for?" Jessica glared at her and said, "Cuz you were staring at the weird Cullen. That there's Alice, and she's the weirdest out of all of them. She likes to zone out a lot. I swear you can't even talk to her without her going all loopy on you." Lauren nodded in response. When Bella looked over at the pair again, Angela was hugging Alice and the pixie was walking to her table to join her siblings. Bella's eyes followed the girl back to her table.
When Alice sat down between Rosalie and Tanya, Tanya nudged the pixie with her elbow. "Looks like your dream girl is admiring you from afar Ali." Alice snuck a peek at the girl and smiled at her. When she saw her blush and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, it was more than she could handle. "You're right T. I wanna go talk to her." 'Alice don't you dare'. She heard Edwards's voice in her ear but his lips weren't moving. 'Goddamnit Edward. Leave me alone!' Alice looked down at her fingernails and began picking at the imaginary dirt underneath them. She peeked up once more to see the girl looking in their direction with a frightened look in her eyes. Alice looked over at Edward giving her an evil look and mentally scolded him. 'I swear to god Edward. You better leave her alone.' Her brother smirked slightly and stopped with his torment. 'Just make sure you know your place little Alice.' The pixie sighed and rested her cheek on her fist; wondering what the future would bring her.