I had to admit, Mike's unrelenting gaze was slightly unnerving. I returned his wide smile with a small one. It only caused his to grow, showing off his pearly whites. I sat next to him, noticing that his hand shot out immediately. I chose not return his urgency by reaching into my backpack and pulling out my spiral notebook. When I finally turned to face him, the hand still sat there anxiously.

"Hey, I'm Mike." He said. I gripped his hand.

"I know." I said as we shook briefly. I pulled my hand away before he had enough time to consider the suave move of lightly massaging my knuckles. He frowned a little. I hadn't realized this generation was so sensitive.

"Okay class, for the next month we will be reading Canterbury Tales. You'll be working in groups of four or five. I want each group to pick 5 tales," the teacher began writing out instructions on the board. I turned to face forward, grabbing my pencil and began taking notes. Mike's lingering gaze eventually died, and he began writing as well, "You'll be doing close readings, character maps, and I want a creative aspect. Also don't forget your literary lenses." I continued writing furiously, having not been in high school for a while, I'd forgotten most of the terms. Mike apparently had heard all of this more times than he cared to as he dropped his pencil and tried to casually glance at me through his peripheral.

"Did you like Seattle?" He asked. I'd almost missed it, he spoke so softly all of a sudden. It took me longer than it should have to realize he must feel awkward asking about a place that should harbor such horrible memories for me.

"Yes, I liked it well enough." I said trying to be as vague as possible. He nodded slightly.

"How are you liking Forks so far?" He asked, this time a little more hopeful. I glanced up at the teacher who was still writing and speaking, his back to the class.

"It's nice I suppose. I haven't had much time to see the sights." He chuckled softly.

"Don't worry there aren't many." He said, then suddenly picked up his pencil and returned his attention to the board. The teacher had started making a list of the different Tales to choose from. We wrote in silence for a few minutes before Mike's writing slowed to a stop. "I could show you around some time if you like." He added to his previous statement. I stopped my writing, a little surprised at his straightforward attempt at getting to know me. My hesitation must have reignited his anxiety. "Only if you want to. I mean I know this town like the back of my hand, and it might make it easier for you if you know your way around." He rushed through his words. I let him squirm for a little bit before responding.

"That'd be nice. But could you introduce me to the school since that's kind of my first priority." I said. He visibly relaxed.

"Oh of course, what did you need to know, your way around-"

"Mr. Newton, please try not to distract our new student on her first day of class." The teacher scolded Mike. His sparkling blues grew sad as a few students stifled their giggles.

"Sorry sir." He said sheepishly. He waited for a few moments, in appropriate juvenile fashion, before returning his attention back to me. "Like I was saying," his voice lower this time, "I can show you to your classes today and give you a tour later. Trust me, little is worse than being a newbie senior." He continued.

"I was actually hoping you could tell me a little about the social structure here." I said. He gave me a quizzical look.

"Wha-" I realized that I was letting my true age show with that last statement and quickly retracted.

"I mean uh, who's in, who's out, who to stay clear of. You know, like the hierarchy." His index finger popped up with his head in realization.

"Oh right. Well I can tell you that you'll be safe with me," he grinned at me then. I smiled then and half heartedly rolled my eyes. "You'll meet my friends at lunch, they're all cool…well most of them." He leaned his chin into his hand as he continued to think. "The circles are pretty standard, you'll just want to stay away from the 'fams'." he made air quotations with his fingers as he said this. I quirked an eyebrow in response.

"The 'fams'?" I asked genuinely confused and curious. He glanced quickly toward the teacher. I did as well before he continued speaking.

"They're not good groups to get involved with. You shouldn't have anything to worry about though, considering that if you're not already in either of them right now, you never will be." The idea of an exclusive high school clique was comical to me although I didn't let it show. "Of course there was one exception to that rule…"he trailed off. I could tell by how his gaze immediately focused on the pencil doodle on our table, that he was uncomfortable about that topic. If I were a normal teenager trying to make friends, I wouldn't push him to continue.

"What was the exception?" I asked. He looked around quickly, before picking up his pencil.

"Bella Swan." He said, his voice heavy with regret and some anger. He returned to his note taking without sparing me another glance.

Bingo.


A/N: continue?