A/N: Ok, the next few chapters are still going to follow the general plot of the Twilight book but I am trying to slowly loosen my ties…I feel like it has an iron grip on me and I don't like it! So start to look for more changes! (There you go BrownEyez44!)
Thank you to my reviewers!
Bella
"You said you have biology next, right, Bella?" Mike nudged me on the arm.
"Uh, yeah." He was distracting me from the graceful swaying of Alice's slender hips as she escaped from the cafeteria.
"Cool, me too." There was that word again. Cool. He tried to high five me but I didn't realize it until the last minute and he narrowly missed hitting my cheek instead. "Sorry." He blushed.
"No, my fault." I returned to my soda. I ignored my new friends' chatter until lunch ended a few minutes later. With the shrill bring of the bell I gathered my garbage onto my tray and dumped it into the trash bin.
"Come on Bella!" Mike encouraged over the bustle of the students funneling out of the cafeteria. "You don't want to be late for your first Biology class!"
"Heaven forbid," I muttered. Then, for a reason unbeknownst to me, Mike felt the need to grab my arm by the elbow and guide me out of the building and into our biology classroom. I felt like that blind kid everyone felt the need to physically move where they wanted her to go. When we made it through the doorway he dropped my elbow and made a beeline straight for what I guessed was his usual seat. He plunked his bag on the floor, plopped onto his stool, and dropped his chin into his hands, watching my every move as I handed my biology teacher my New Student Slip.
And then Mr. Banner directed me exactly where he wanted me to sit and I felt my heart fly out of my chest. Who else could be sitting at that lab table but Alice Cullen? I stepped forward and felt my hair whip around my neck into my eyes. Stupid fan. It sent a shiver up my spine as it turned all of the raindrops lingering on my skin into icy chills.
A sudden shattering of glass resonates throughout the room and I was startled to see the previously graceful Alice crouched on the floor scooping shards of mutilated slides into her delicate hands. "Sorry", she mumbled hurriedly. I looked up and everyone else was watching her too, clearly as surprised as I was by her sudden…outburst as I guess you could describe it.
I realized had paused a few feet away from my newly assigned seat with the ruckus and closed my dropped in time for Alice's golden eyes to roam over mine. She averted her eyes again quickly, dumped the glass pieces in the window and returned to her seat by the window before the word "hello" could even leave my lips.
The rest of the class, possibly including Alice, who was staring straight ahead but looked completely unfocused, had returned their attention to Mr. Banner's lesson. I discreetly placed my backpack down and placed my biology book on the desk and flipped to the right page. At least I could be thankful Mr. Banner didn't make me do some God-awful introduction about where I was from and my favorite hobby.
Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed Alice move away from me like I had the funk. What the hell? I sniffed my hair self-consciously. All I could smell was my favorite strawberry shampoo. I was beginning to doubt my original star struck impression of this girl. Maybe Jessica was right. Alice was very weird.
Alice stood up behind her seat and waited for our teacher's attentions. "Um, Ms. Cullen, May I help you?" Mr. Banner asked.
"May I be excused for a moment?" She looks hesitant, almost confused, likes she's never asked a teacher if she could leave to go to the bathroom before in her life.
He agrees and Alice scurries along, avoiding me all the while, and even though I didn't look at the clock hanging on the wall, I could tell she was gone at least twenty minutes.
When she came back, she seemed a little bit calmer…she still stared straight ahead. And acted like she was a part of that wall instead of a separate being, but her spastic was much less unusual. Instead, her strange actions are limited to the clenching and unclenching of her fists, and I notice that unlike most people, when her knuckles press tighter against the skin, they don't get any whiter. Strange. But I guess the girl is already so pale that it is impossible. I wonder if she gets tan in the summertime?
The bell signaling the end of class sounds dragging me out of my thoughts. Alice is gone before I can even get my pencil back in my orange backpack. "Wow, what did you do, stab Alice Cullen with a pencil?" Mike asked as he appeared by my side. "I've never seen her act like that before."
Oh, so this wasn't normal behavior for this chick. I tried to shrug it off nonchalantly. Like I didn't give a shit that I was the first person Alice had treated like this. But I did. And I wanted to know why.
We make it out into the drizzle and my devoted puppy dog Mike and I meet up with Eric. "What's next?" They ask me eagerly.
"Gym." Figures. I've just finished my two years of required physical education in Phoenix. I get to Forks and it is required all four years. I should be excused from gym just for the personal safety of the other students.
Gym—volleyball—was largely uneventful—the kids on my team leaned quickly to keep the ball away from me and to duck when it was my turn to serve. Aside from a few runaway balls, gym ended on a pretty good note for me. I didn't bother changing out of my gym clothes—I figured it made more sense to go home and take a shower there after I turned in my New Student Slips.
I made my way, backpack slung over one shoulder, my stack of slips clutched in the opposite hand, towards the front office, eager to end my first day at Forks High School.
When I slipped into the office I was surprised to see Alice Cullen was already there. But I guess that the way this day was going, I really shouldn't have been.
"But there has to be another option," She was arguing with the receptionist.
"Nothing," the woman insisted, clearly frustrating Alice.
Her back stiffened and she turned her head slightly, just enough to blink in my direction and acknowledge my presence. "Never mind," I said quickly. "I can see that it's quite impossible." She spun around on her heels and bustled out of the room, making what seemed to be a conscious effort to stay as far away from me as possible. Seriously? This was all about me? I don't believe it for a second.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Alice didn't come back to school the next day. Or the next. Or the next. Or many days after that. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if I had dreamed her up.
Every day at lunch I would look hopefully at her table. Only four Cullens would be sitting there. Where was she? I thought about asking Rosalie—she seemed the friendliest. Well Emmett also seemed nice but the whole WWF wrestler physique was rather intimidating. And Jasper looked like he had potential but that would require getting him off the arm of the dark, angry, and brooding Edward. Yes, emo described Edward perfectly.
I don't know why I cared so much where Alice was after the way she treated me in biology class. I like to think it was a fluke and that's not really who she is. Like Mike said, that's not the way she usually is. Could have just been PMSing or something. It happens to a girl. Maybe it's just because she is so damn hot and want that girl to crush on me the way I am crushing on her. In any case, about a week and a half after Alice's disappearance I decided to brave it and pay a visit to the Cullen table.
I put on my confident and stride up to the table, unable to help but notice that not a single one of them has touched their lunch trays. What is this, do they all have eating disorders? I felt awkward—their conversation immediately stopped upon my approach and they all stared at me.
"Um, Rosalie," I hesitated, shifting my feet, staring down at them, shifting again. "Can I, uh, can I, uh, speak to you for just a second?"
Rosalie lifted Emmett's arm from the back of her chair and stood up. "Of course, Bella. I would be glad to speak to you. Why don't we step outside?" She gestured just outside of the cafeteria, where some committee, probably the PTA, had been kind enough to set up and awning to shield the students from the rain did they feel so inclined to brave the elements.
Rosalie held the door open for me as we exited. "Sorry to take away some of the few moments of dryness from your day," she smiled at me as I stepped into the cold, misty air that was the Forks climate, "but I have found that I have some very meddlesome brothers."
"Uh, that's fine, I appreciate that." Why couldn't I avoid making a fool of myself in front of Rosalie Cullen. Or did she have a different last name? I vaguely remember Jessica saying Rosalie and Jasper were twins and had a different last name…
Rosalie interrupted my rambling thoughts with a question. "I imagine you were wondering about Alice?"
"Yeah, I actually was." I shoved my hands in the pockets of my skinny jeans and stared down at my soggy black Converses. I really should invest in some rain boots.
"Alice has been a little under the weather lately. So to speak." Rosalie waved her arm around abstractly as if to remind me that the weather didn't change much around here. "Which I'm sure accounts for her odd behavior on what I suppose must have been your first day at this school. I assure you, she is normally quite well-behaved." Rosalie smiled at me again and I swear all of Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's kids must be able to get exactly what they want just be cracking a grin. What a skill to have.
"Oh," I said stupidly, like Rosalie didn't tell me exactly what I just wanted to hear.
"She'll be delighted to hear that you were asking after her," Rosalie added. She was trying to move this along.
"Good." And now I had been completely reduced to one-word sentences. Way to show off the skills, Bella.
"Right, well, it was lovely to speak to you, Bella, and I will tell Alice you were concerned. But I do need to finish my lunch before the bell for sixth-hour rings."
The one she hadn't touched? Riiiiiight. "Oh. Of course. Thanks."
"Anytime." She smiled at me again and then disappeared back into the cafeteria, leaving me to wonder what exactly 'under the weather' meant.