Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.
The second thing I noticed was the set of golden eyes looking at me from where the, usually very human, teacher usually sits.
There's a vampire. A vampire is teaching this class. The only good thing I can think of is at least it's a vegetarian vampire. Even knowing she doesn't hunt us, I don't want to let this strawberry blonde vampire know I know what she is.
After a brief pause in the doorway from when I first saw her, I stumbled my way over to her desk so she can do her normal teacher duties and assign me the only free seat in the class.
"Um, I'm Isabella Swan, I just transferred here." I told her while handing her a piece of paper to sign that I have to turn in tomorrow.
When she took the paper, I thought I saw her eyes darken slightly; I guess she's not immune to how good I apparently still smell.
"Isabella." The vampire said, sounding almost like a purr. Her voice sent a chill down my spine, but in an oddly good way. "I was under the impression you preferred to be called Bella?" The vampire asked.
What? How did she know? I only tell that to people that I've actually met, and I know for a fact that I've never met her before. I remember every vampire I've ever met, granted I haven't met that many, but still.
She smirked at my obvious confusion, but offered no explanation. Just as I opened my mouth to say something, not that I knew what I was going to say, the bell for class to start rang.
"Well, Bella, my name is Tanya Denali. I will teach you all you need to know. Why don't you go take a seat, right there in the back." Ms. Denali said while pointing to the seat.
Her name sounds familiar, not familiar as in it's the name of the town I live in now, but as in I've heard the name mentioned before. For the life of me I can't remember when, where or even why I would have heard this name.
"O-okay." I stuttered to her.
I couldn't but stare at her eyes; eyes that are the exact same color of the ones that have caused me so much pain, so much heartache. These eyes seem different, I'm pretty sure it's a good different, but I'm not sure.
What I am sure about is that I'll try my best to stay away from this vampire. I'm a senior with less than a semester of school left; then I'm on my own. I don't want to be around the supernatural anymore. It hurts too much to be around them since eventually it always becomes clear that I'm just a human and don't fit in with them.
As soon as I realized I was just staring at her, I blushed and quickly turned to go to my seat. By the time I got to my seat I only tripped twice and not because of 'Lauren'. I tripped because I was trying to get to my seat quickly to avoid any further embarrassment; of course that never works for someone as graceful as me.
The first half of the class was easy; all we did was take notes. Math was never really my forte; all I could ever manage to get was a 'C'. Technically a 'C' is a passing grade, so I never really cared too much about putting forth any extra effort to improve it.
But I did take good notes. Edward always made sure I did so that we could go over them before a test. With his help I had raised my grade to a 'B'. But due to recent…events, my math grade dropped to a 'D'. Charlie was less than pleased with that. So I made sure I wrote down everything Ms. Denali wrote and a lot of what she said. Everyone actually seemed to be very attentive to what she was saying, but I think that's the vampirism working not the subject matter. After she had given us all the notes she wanted to, she gave us ten practice problems to work on for the rest of the class and she wrote down the homework assignment on the board.
Normally when students were given class work, there's always talking and usually the teacher doesn't care unless it gets to loud. But right now it's so quite that I'm pretty sure I could hear a pin drop, it's a little unnerving. I'm guessing Ms. Denali is a strict teacher, that or people are too afraid of her to do something to risk getting in trouble. She is a vampire, so I'm betting they are too afraid of her.
What was more unsettling than the silence was when we started our work; Ms. Denali kept her eyes on me the whole time. At first I thought I was just imagining things, but when I looked up at her I could clearly see her sitting at her desk and blatantly staring at me. She has her elbows on her desk with her chin lying on her clasped hands. She wasn't even trying to hide the fact that she staring at a student. If anyone noticed though, they weren't showing it.
Once our eyes met, she winked and I blushed and returned to my work. That was easier said than done though. My blush would not go away while I knew she was staring at me. I tried focusing on my work and it seemed to work when I got stuck on a really hard problem. I was so into trying to figure it out this stupid problem that I not only had I almost forgotten about being stared at, but my blush was almost gone.
At least it was until I felt a hand on my right shoulder and a presence to my left. I looked up from my work and found Ms. Denali next to me looking down at my work. She kneeled down and pulled my paper closer to her. With her left hand, since her right arm is still around my shoulders, she started working out the problem for me and told me what I did wrong and how to fix it. I almost wasn't able to pay attention to what she's saying because not only is her voice mesmerizing, but her smell is very distracting; more so that Edwards' ever was.
"Does that make more sense Bella?" Ms. Denali asked, now looking at me.
"Um, ya." I answered, still unable to talk properly to her.
Ms. Denali smirked at my very eloquent answer before she stood to address the class…with her arm still around my shoulders.
"I expect all of your homework to be on my desk by the start of class tomorrow. Remember if you need any help at all, I'm here after school every day until five."
Just as she finished talking, the bell rang, releasing us from this class. Ms. Denali's arm stayed around my shoulders, officially keeping me in my seat, until all the other students left. Grace was the last one out of the room, she seemed to have waited for me at first, but when it became clear I couldn't get up, she left.
"Can I go now?" I asked after Grace left.
She finally took her arm off me, and then moved to lean against the desk in front of me, staring at me with darkened eyes. This probably isn't the best position to be in. I'm alone in a room with a vampire that seems to be losing control, lucky me.
"I've heard a lot about you Bella." Ms. Denali finally said.
"Okay?" What did she hear, and from who?
"When I was first told about you, maybe a year or so ago, I was intrigued." She seemed like she was going to continue, but a student for her next class came in. "I look forward to getting to know you better Bella."
I would have asked her to elaborate what she meant by that, but if I wasted any more time, I might be late for my next class; which I still have to find. As she left to her desk, I quickly packed up all my stuff and bolted for the door. In my rush to leave, I nearly ran straight into another student, the person wasn't as clumsy as me and easily dodged me; so we luckily didn't collide. Once I was walking down the hall, running was obviously too risky, I heard the unmistakable sound of a vampire laughing.
My last two classed were over fairly quickly. To be honest, I don't even remember what I was supposed to learn in either of them. Every thought in my head is about Ms. Denali. No matter how much I tell myself to not think about her, I do. There are so many questions I want to ask her. Like how did she know I preferred to be called Bella and not Isabella? Or who told her about me, and why does she want to know? As much as I want to ask her these questions and more, I really don't want to. I'm committed to staying out of her world. Edward made it clear, I'm not for their world; if I was he would have stayed with me. But he didn't, he left, they all left. I couldn't even hold onto Jacob.
So no, I won't ask her any of those questions. I'll only talk to her when I have to; which means it might be a lot because I really hate math as it hates me, but I really need to pass the class. Maybe I'll only talk to her during class, if I talk to her after school, well, that just opens doors. It shouldn't since she's my teacher; but I'm pretty sure she doesn't care about that. If her actions during class were anything to go by, I'd say I'm right.
I met up with Grace and group as I left the school building to go to the student parking lot. As we started breaking apart, because there were arriving at their cars, I realized the teacher parking lot is right next to ours. That realization came at the same time I felt someone watching me. I would have guessed it was 'Mike', but he's talking to me from right next to me with his eyes on the ground. So I carefully looked around, already guessing who it was. At the edge of the teacher parking lot, closest to the student one, I spotted Ms. Denali starting at me. Shouldn't she be in her classroom helping a student or grading papers or something?
As if reading my thoughts, though I'm positive she can't since the actual mind reader couldn't, she smirked, winked at me then walked away towards the school.
"So will you?" 'Mike' asked.
Wait, what did he ask? I was too focused on finding who was staring at me that I didn't hear anything he said. I hadn't even noticed that it was only me and him walking now.
"Huh?" I asked turning my attention to him.
I wish Grace was here, she would surely save me from whatever it is 'Mike' just asked. Hell, even 'Jessica' would try to take up all his attention.
"Well, a group of us, you know, Grace, Zach, Sarah and Lindsay are all going bowling tonight. We were talking about it during lunch, but you seemed kind of out of it. Do you want to go? I think Sarah and Lindsay are bringing dates, and I don't know, maybe you can be mine?" 'Mike' rambled to me.
At least he gave me Sarah's, Lindsay's and Zach's names, now I just have to remember which girl is which. Though I'm sure if I actually tried to, I could.
Whoa, did he just ask me out on a date to group bowling?
"Listen…" Crap, what's his name? "I just got out of a long relationship. I'm really not looking for another one." I told him. Maybe he won't realize I don't remember his name.
"Oh, well, that's okay. We can just go as friends together." He said, though it sounded more like a question.
If I agree, Charlie won't be so worried about me. If I act like a normal teenager that didn't just had her second family abandon her, then Charlie will be happy and after I graduate I can on with whatever life Edward thought I could have.
"Fine, I'll go as friends." I agreed; guess now I'll have to learn his name.
We exchanged phone numbers so he can call me and give the necessary information later. Now I just have to get Charlie to say yes. It's a school night, so he might not want me going out. But he's also been trying to get me to hang out with friends for the last few months, so he might say yes. I'll just have to wait for about an hour until he gets home, then I'll find out his answer.
I left the school grounds quickly before anyone else could try to delay my departure any more. Not that I actually thought someone would, but whoever wants to risk staying at school longer than they have to? Especially when they have nothing to do; not this kid, that's for sure.
About an hour after I got home, I had my chores and homework done and I had even gotten the bowling info from 'Mike'. I guess we're all meeting in two hours for several games of bowling and eating there and apparently he's giving me a ride; which is fine with me because that'll save me gas money. As I hung up with 'Mike', Charlie came home.
"Bells, I'm home!" Charlie yelled as he walked in the house.
I left my room and walked downstairs, the sooner I asked him the better. I might talk myself out of going. A night with 'Mike', Sarah and Lindsay does not sound like fun. Even though Grace and Zach will be there, it still doesn't seem like that much fun.
"Hey dad, how was work?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen, where he was taking off his police gear.
"Nothing too out of the ordinary happened. How 'bout you, how was school? Did you make any new friends yet?" Charlie asked. He almost sounded like a high school gossiper trying to get new juicy information about the latest scandal.
"School was school. I actually did make some new friends. They um, actually asked if I can go bowling with them in a couple hours. Is it okay if I go?" I asked, still not sure which answer I want.
His face lit up for only a second when he heard I had friends. But when I asked to something tonight, he frowned slightly, probably because of it being a school night.
"Well, I think you should." Damn it, now I have no choice but to suffer with Sarah and Lindsay. "Just don't stay out too late, do you need money?" Charlie asked.
"Ya dad, I do. Um, thanks." I said as I started to make my way back to my room.
"No problem Bells, I'll leave money on the counter for you." Charlie said as I started up the stairs.
I wasn't going to change into anything else, what I wore to school is just fine for bowling. So I spent my time waiting for 'Mike' to pick me up by reading. It seemed like I had only just started when I heard Charlie calling for me.
"Bella, Matt is here!" Charlie yelled from downstairs.
Oh joy, time for bowling.