I awoke to the pitter patter of rain on my window. I slowly opened my eyes and blinked against the sleep that threatened to engulf me again. I, unlike most southerners, loved the rain. I reveled in it. I glanced at the clock that sat on my desk. I was definitely up earlier than I needed to be. Oh well, I, would have time to check my email before I left for school. I switched on my computer to let it warm up as I grabbed jeans and a tan sweater from my tiny closet. After I had changed into the clothes I had selected, I walked across the hall to brush my teeth.
As I glanced in the mirror my unusually pale face greeted me. My emerald green eyes held no signs of excitement that I, as a normal teenager, should have felt about the first day at a new high school. Most teenagers would have viewed this as a golden opportunity to start fresh, not something most people got to do after two and a half years into their high school careers. But no, to me this experience seemed more like the perfect nightmare.
Truth be told, I didn't want to be here. Sure I enjoyed the break from the heat in the summer, but I would have been just as content to remain where I was. In the school I attended back in Mississippi, I went virtually unnoticed. Sure people knew who I was, I mean I had been in this particular school system since kindergarten, but that didn't mean I had to draw attention to myself. I was fine with being the overly smart, quiet kid whose only friends or acquaintances were those who had been in the Honors classes with him since they began in sixth grade.
But here? I knew in this very small town there was no way I would go unnoticed. In addition to being a new student I also had to deal with being the police chief's son. I could just hear it now, all the ancient gossip about the chief's wild and crazy ex-wife and the son she had taken with her when she had fled more than a decade ago. Now after all those years, to have that son return to Forks. I really could almost imagine the stares I would receive upon entering the school. I shuddered.
That crazy ex-wife of the police chief's was the reason I was here finishing my high school education instead of in Mississippi. She had recently gotten married to a motivational speaker who did quite a bit of traveling. She greatly desired to travel with him but for some reason felt a strange obligation to stay at home with me, so I removed myself from the equation, thus leaving her with no excuse not to travel with her new husband.
I focused on my reflection once more, the pale skin that I had grown accustomed to seemed out of place today for some reason. Maybe it was because I knew how people would stare and say "I thought he was from the south? Isn't it supposed to be warm and sunny there?" I shook my head to clear away the questions I knew would come and brushed my teeth.
By the time I got back in my room the computer was humming cheerfully. Well at least something is cheerful, I thought gloomily to myself. I found the reply email I had been expecting from my mother.
Mom: Well it's a good thing you at least email since you didn't call like you said. It's a relief to know that you made it there safely. Please call after school, it would be nice to hear your voice.
My reply email was short, most people would say it wasn't even a decent sentence.
Me: Okay Mom.
I gathered the few things I would use to take notes with until I got definite supply lists from each of the teachers I had recently acquired. I placed the notebook in a backpack that I had thought to bring and headed downstairs. I dropped the bag close to the foot of the stairs and went into the kitchen.
Charlie sat at the kitchen table reading his morning paper and sipping a cup of coffee. He glanced up when I entered the room.
"Morning," he said in a voice void of expression.
"Morning," I said in the same expressionless tone.
I opened the fridge and peered inside. I had never been much for cold breakfast, so I grabbed eggs, ham, and cheese and started to fix myself an omelet.
"Umm, Dad, would you like an omelet?" I asked tentatively not knowing if he even liked eggs, while I was offering him an omelet.
"No, thanks. I had some bacon a while ago."
"Oh, okay. So, there's not a coffee shop around here, is there?" I could have easily made a pot of coffee myself, but I had gotten used to buying different drinks instead of plain coffee with cream and sugar.
"Sure, there's a little place next to the Newton's camping store."
"Okay, thanks."
"Sure thing, kid."
I glanced down at my watch. If I left now I would have time to go by the shop on my way to school, and still have time to get there early enough to get my schedule and whatever else I would need for the day.
I finished the omelet in record time and headed for the door after washing up the plate and things I had used to make the omelet. I grabbed the set of keys that didn't belong to the cruiser and was headed out the door before I realized I had better say something to Charlie about my plans for the day. I backtracked and reentered the kitchen.
"Umm, I had planned to go grocery shopping after I get home from school, so I'll have something with which to make dinner. Is that okay?"
"Sure. That sounds good. There's grocery money in the jar in the cabinet over the sink, so…."
"Umm, okay. Great. I guess I'll see you this evening then." I said inching away from the kitchen door.
"Yeah, sure."
I took this as a goodbye and quickly exited the house. When I got in the truck and started the engine, I wasn't sure what to expect and what it got wasn't even remotely in the vicinity of anything I had been expecting.
The engine was loud. Really loud. I hadn't really been expecting it to be smooth and quiet, but I hadn't been expecting it to be so loud either.
I drove in the direction I remembered the store being and passed by the high school. I noticed with some annoyance that it had more than one building which meant I would be walking in and out all day. Lovely.
I found the coffee shop right where Charlie said it would be, but to my dismay it was not yet opened.
What kind of coffee shop wasn't opened at 7:30? They couldn't have very much business. I had almost worked myself into a mood for serious ranting when I remembered where I was.
I was in Forks Washington. A place 95 of the United States probably had no idea existed. Of course coffee shops didn't open at normal times here, it only made sense that a middle-of-nowhere town would have different standards for appropriate coffee house hours.
I started my truck and drove back to the school to wait for an appropriate time to go into the office to get my schedule.
Sooner than I expected the lot began to fill up with cars. After looking over the cars in the lot I felt comforted that my truck wasn't the only vehicle that was on the older side. I did notice however that two cars did sort of stand out. One was a silver Andi Coupe, and the other a red BMW. I whistled low. Nice, I thought. Very nice.
I finally decided it was time to face the music and got out of my truck. I grabbed the backpack and attempted to close my door gently. No such luck. I ended up drawing more attention to my self by having to reopen the door and slam it, than if I had just slammed the damn thing in the first place.
When I entered the small front office there wasn't anyone at the desk so I waited for someone to appear. Soon enough a short, plump woman came from a side room I hadn't noticed and smiled at me.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"I need to get my schedule. I was told to come here and pick it up."
"Oh, yes. You must be Edward, Chief Swan's son." It wasn't really a question, more of a statement so I just nodded.
"Here you are dear. There's your schedule, a map of the campus, and this slip that you'll need to get all of your teachers to sign and bring back at the end of the day."
"Okay, thanks."
"No problem, dear. Have a nice day."
Once I was out of the office I committed the map to memory and stuck it in my pocket. I then memorized my classes. While I was doing this the bell to begin school rang. I walked to where the English building was designated and entered. My class was easy enough to find after that.
I got the teacher to sign my little slip of paper then took a seat in the back of the room so I could observe without being observed. The class passed with the monotony I had expected and then when I thought I wouldn't be able to stand another moment of the lecture the bell rang. The rest of my classes passed in much the same fashion, nothing interesting happened until lunch.
Since I hadn't had any coffee this morning I decided to buy myself a soda. After I emerged from the lunch line, to my surprise, I was waved over by a group of people I had not, to my knowledge, met. Since I had no idea where to sit otherwise I sat in the seat a blonde haired boy offered me.
"Hi, my name's Mike, you're in my English class." Oh, I hadn't met him, but I had had a class with him, this wasn't awkward at all, I thought sarcastically.
"Oh, okay. Pleased to meet you Mike. I'm Edward." I stuck ou my hand, he shook it and I began to look around the cafeteria. It was your average lunchroom scene. Crowded tables, kids chattering away about nothing in particular, etc. My eyes landed on a group of kids who were not average in any sense of the word.
They all sat together at a round table, but they never looked at one another. They were all extremely pale and had golden topaz colored eyes. I marveled at how amazingly beautiful they all were.
"Hey Mike, who are they?" He followed my gaze and sighed.
"Those are the Cullens and Hales. The three that have dark hair are the Cullens and the blonde ones are the Hales. They're all together though,"he paused for a moment to take a bite of his sandwich and then continued. "The girl with the short black hair and the guy with the blonde hair, that'll be Alice and Jasper. Then you have Rosalie and Emmett who are the blonde girl and dark haired guy, and that just leaves Bella."
"What, she doesn't date anyone here?"
"She doesn't date, talk, anything with anyone who isn't in her family. You see they're all adopted by Dr.Cullen, he works down at the hospital, and I guess they've been so used to spending time with each other they just don't feel the need to associate with anyone else." He sighed after this and glanced at Bella wistfully.
As I stared in the odd group's direction, I wondered exactly how long Mike had had a crush on Bella. It was kind of hard not to blame him. She was amazingly stunning. The way her long dark hair fell in sheets around her face made her seem so…. I couldn't even think of an adequate word to describe how beautiful she looked.
While I was making my assessment she glanced up at me. I could feel my cheeks redden in embarrassment at being caught staring. I looked away, but I could still feel her gaze on me. When I thought she had possibly looked away, I allowed my gaze to flicker to her face only to see that she was still gazing intently at me. Her gaze wasn't what I had expected at all. I had expected for it to say something along the lines of 'stop staring at my family and me you jerk' but it wasn't like that at all. The look I found on her face was one of pure curiousity. I was surprised to find that the bell had rang and people were exiting the cafeteria. I threw away the remains of my soda, and headed to Biology.
When I walked into the classroom I received the shock of a lifetime. In the middle of the room, next to the only empty seat in the entire classroom sat Bella Cullen.
I took the slip the teacher was handing me and walked to the seat and sat down. I was again surprised when her behavior reflected anything but the curiosity I had seen in the cafeteria. She leaned as far away from me as the chair she occupied would allow and a dreadful scowl contorted her angelic face. Her golden eyes had also completely changed to an onyx-like black.
Silently I took out my notebook and waited for the class to end. It seemed before the bell had a chance to fully sound Bella was out of her seat and out the door.
I couldn't imagine what I could have done to offend her so greatly. I pondered this throughout gym class and even after I had turned in the little slip of paper to the front office. On my way to my truck I noticed the Cullens and Hales getting into the two cars I had noticed earlier. I guess it only made sense for the cars to be theirs what with their father being a doctor.
The drive home took longer than I expected and when I finally got there I dropped my backpack at the kitchen door and trudged up the stairs. Even though I knew I had to go grocery shopping, fix dinner, call my mom and do countless other things I collapsed on the bed too worn out by the lack of caffeine and oh so many shocking events.