Chapter Two:
The next morning came quickly and my alarm screeched promptly at 5am. I slapped the snooze button with admirable speed and whimpered gently at the ache in my back from the hard mattress I've already grown to hate.
School.
With that one word I rolled out of bed and padded across the hall to "my" bathroom. After a long, scolding shower, I returned to my room, a bit pinker than before, and rummaged through my unpacked rucksack for clothes. It being Forks meant dressing for rainy weather so I tugged on a dark blue pair of skinny jeans, a black Alesana long sleeved shirt with a My Chemical Romance hoodie over it, and my beat up red cons. I blow dried my blue hair, straightening where needed, and applied a touch of eyeliner and mascara.
I didn't smile reassuringly at my reflection, but I didn't grimace either which was a start in my books. Breakfast proved to be an ordeal seeing as how my father continued to ignore all of my beliefs, including my being a vegetarian. This led to me walking to school hungry because if I "didn't eat what was on my plate then I didn't eat at all".
Wonderful.
Forty-five minutes later, as I approached Forks High, I found myself wishing that I could orb...and that personal gain wasn't such an issue. I could hear the gossip the second my foot hit the sidewalk and practically see the cogs turning in their heads.
Shameless gossips is what they were. I strolled up to building clearly labelled "Office" and shoved the door open with ease. Everything seemed to stop.
Here we go again.
The word "freak" was being hurled at me rather quickly making me long for the days of magic school and all the other "freaks" that I considered my friends, my family. The overly enthusiastic, busty receptionist was more than helpful with my schedule and school map, although seeing how small this place was I doubted I'd need it. I was given a slip of paper to have signed by all of my teachers and returned at the end of the day.
Simple, really.
I heard the warning bell sound signalling that I had five minutes before first period started. I didn't bother stopping at my newly assigned locker, seeing that I didn't have any books yet, but rather just found my way to eleventh grade U.S. History with Mr. Woodrow.
Great, history at eight in the morning, this should be interesting.
I walked into class with two minutes and forty-two seconds to spare. Eyeing the teacher with a certain amount of suspicion, I handed him my slip and waited. Mr. Woodrow's eyes scanned it slowly before, "Ahh, class, it seems that we have a new student, Hannah Halliwell. Ms. Halliwell would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?"
I let my eyes pass over every student then replied just loud enough for them all to hear, "No."
Then, while everyone was sufficiently stunned, I made my way to the only available seat next to some giant jock looking guy with pale skin and golden eyes. He was doing his best not to laugh outloud and met my presence with a wide grin which I returned with a satisfied smirk.
Mr. Woodrow, instead of trying to reprimand me, decided to move on and began lecturing the class on the civil war.
Oh, God. Boring. So unbelievably boring.
I already did this two years ago. How far behind is this school? I groaned as he droaned on for fifteen minutes before the beefy guy next to me started to speak.
"I'm Emmett Cullen, nice introduction." He had this twinkle in his eye that said to me that he was one for mischief and his voice was absolutely melodic. If I was interested in body builders I might have swooned.
"Hannah Halliwell, as you know, and thank you. I do try my best to be as entertaining as possible," I replied smoothly while pretending to take notes, but really I was just scribbling across the page. Emmett noticed what I was doing and chuckled lightly. "I can tell from your hair, that's pretty entertaining." At that I laughed, earning both of us a glare from the front of the room.
The rest of the class went relatively well, but by lunch I was already growing bored of being the new, hot commodity. I had another Cullen in my trigonometry class, a bubbly girl named Alice who was not unlike a pixie. She had pale skin and perfect features much like her brother, but something about them seemed odd. It was staring me in the face, I could feel it.
Pushing that gut feeling aside, I entered the cafeteria which quieted immensely from my presence alone. I felt my anger spike and tried to reign in my emotions.
Okay, Hannah, calm down. We don't want any magical accidents, now do we?
Breathe. In. Out.
Once the feeling to cause bodily harm to everyone within a fifty foot radius ceased I got into line and bought an apple and a water bottle before heading towards an empty table.
"Hannah!" Oh no. Please, oh merciful God, save me!
"Hannah, over here!" You love to mock me, don't you?
I turned around slowly and made eye contact with Mike Newton, a blonde haired, baby-faced, annoying boy from English class. I suffocated the urge to eye roll and made my way over to an already full table.
Oh, wait, there's one seat open. Goodie.
"Hey Hannah, want to join us?" He asked with a large smile on his face making it impossible to be mean to him for no reason.
"Sure Mike, thanks," I answered with false sincerity and sat in the open seat between him and an Asian boy with a camera around his neck.
"Guys this is Hannah Halliwell, Hannah this is Angela Webber, Jessica Stanley, Eric Yorkie, Tyler Crowley, and Lauren Mallory," Mike introduced everyone and I waved slightly and tried to keep names to faces in my head.
Angela was a taller, shy looking girl with light brown hair and soft eyes, she smiled genuinely at me. Jessica Stanley is a petite girl with dark, curly hair and a big mouth. I noticed instantly that she's the one that's been heading the drama since I got here. Eric Yorkie was the Asian boy I was sitting next to who kept trying to take my picture, but with a well placed glare he backed off. Tyler Crowley was nice enough with pale blonde, spiked hair and blue eyes, pretty tall as well. And Lauren Mallory was a girl I ranked high with Jessica Stanley in the gossipy bitch department. She had silvery blonde hair and grey eyes with a mouth that seemed to constantly sneer.
Joy, this was going to be fun. Totally.
"So where are you from?" Jessica asked with a certain edge to her voice. I felt my anger starting to prick up, but tried to restrain myself. "San Francisco born and raised," I answered conversationally, trying my hardest to hold a neutral face.
"That's awesome!" Tyler exclaimed before jumping up and squeezing himself in between Eric and I, effectively pushing the Asian down the bench a spot. His body brushed against mine and I tensed instantly, but it went unnoticed.
"Yeah, it was." I looked purposefully away from his intense stare and scanned the room with little interest. I figured if I didn't give them the impression of being any fun then maybe they'd leave me alone. Sadly, I doubted this tactic would work.
My eyes found the table that held the two Cullens that I had met early with three other teenagers with similar appearances. One was a tall, gorgeous blonde with obvious attitude problems next to Emmett who had his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. Then a copper haired boy with a pained look on his pristine face sat next to Alice who didn't seem all that concerned. Last was a bronze haired boy with sharp features and an elegant air about him sat slightly off from the rest.
I guess Jessica must have been watching me because she immediately launched into a story about The Cullens and how they're all adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Cullen who can't have children so they adopted them all. Apparently the blonde one was Rosalie and according to Jessica, who can be considered a solid source (right), described her as a bitch. Oddly enough the goddess in question narrowed her eyes as if she heard the slight. The boy next to Alice was Jasper and no one had ever heard him speak outside of being directly asked a question in class. Lastly, the bronze with impeccable bone structure was Edward who must have wronged her in some way if the tone in her voice was any clue.
The odd thing I noticed is how they all shared such shockingly similar features without, aside from Jasper and Rosalie who were supposed twins, being related by blood.
"And they're all together, like dating. Emmett with Rosalie, Alice and Jasper. It's sick. Very Flowers in the Attic, if you ask me," Jessica said rather rudely and that was all I could take.
I stood abruptly and leveled her with my most heated glare. "You are a gossipy bitch and one day all of your comments and rumors will come back to bite you in the ass which I really pray that I'm there to witness. You need to get your fake nose and bad extensions out other people's business. And if I hear one more word about their family or their obviously wonderful mother come out of your over-glossed mouth, I will personally ruin both your face and your life."
With that I stormed out of the lunchroom, feeling everyone's eyes on my back. Calm down, Hannah. Remember to breathe. Breathing is good.
In. Out. In. Out.
"Hey Hannah!" Not again. My first instinct was to walk away as I doubted my ability to control myself today. "Wait!" The tinkling in their voice caused me to falter before a cold hand grasped my forearm and swung me around. Alice.
"Oh, Alice. Hi." Yeah, totally not awkward, Hannah. Good job.
"Uh, sorry about that. I spent most of my life as an orphan, adopted by my aunts and that kind of small mindedness really irks me," I said quietly, unsure if she was angry or not, but when a hundred watt smile broke across her face I gathered we were fine.
To my utter surprise she sprung forward and hugged me. "I'm not mad at all! No one has ever stuck up for my family before." That made my heart break a little, but the ringing of my cellphone cut off what I was about to say.
I smiled excitedly before I excused myself and answered happily, "Chrissy! I miss you dearly. Please come rescue me. I want to go home!" At that point I was whining pathetically, but I didn't care. The feeling of homesickness spread through me like ice at the sound of his voice.
"Oh Hannah, I miss you, too. You know I'd be over there in a second if I could."
I sighed longingly, picking at the hem of my shirt, a long existing habit.
"I know, Chris. So how is everything? Everyone?" I wasn't entirely sure if I really wanted to know, not sure if I could really handle it.
"Well, everything has been pretty calm. No surprises lately," he started and I nodded even though he couldn't see me. "Everyone is...coping. The twins aren't taking it well. They've been locked in their room for days, but you know how Kat and Tamora get. Whyatt is fretting like a mother hen, but what did you expect? He worries... We both do," Chris paused and I could hear him take a deep, forced breath. By this time in the conversation I had wondered passed the confines of the outside cafeteria and to a large tree. Sitting against the trunk, I waited patiently for him to continue.
"Mom, Phoebe, and Paige are another story. Mom's taking it pretty hard, all she does is cook and Phoebe and Paige just work all day when they aren't tending to the cousins. We just miss you, but enough about boring us. How's Forks?" He tried to sound enthusiastic, but I could tell it was hard for him, too.
"Shit. Utter shit, Chris. It's small and always raining. There's never any god damn sun and he doesn't know a thing about me! My room is lavender, Chrissy. Lavender! With stupid yellow daisies and pink rugs and unoriginal furniture. I hate it here. Everyone is insufferable gossips and Richard hates me," I ranted, on my feet again and pacing back and forth in front of the tree.
"It can't be that awful and I'm sure your dad doesn't hate you. Why would he take you away from us if he hated you?" I could tell he was trying to calm me down and find some sort of bright side.
"He calls me a freak." I heard him gasp and knew he was going to blow. "Chris, there is no silver lining. I am stuck here as an outcast until I'm eighteen. I won't make friends and I won't be happy. All because I can't go home."
"Hannah-" he started, but the bell sounded, cutting him off. "Look, Chris, I have to go. Biology waits for no man. Give everyone my love, okay?"
"Of course and we love you too, Hannah Banana." I smiled fondly at the childhood nickname and replied, "Bye Chrissy-Bear."
I hung up and followed the masses back to class, catching the topaz colored eyes of one Edward Cullen. He looked both determined and frustrated and coincidently enough I followed him the entire way to class. Mr. Franklin grabbed my slip, signed it messily before thrusting it back into my hands and asked the dreaded question.
"Well, Hannah, would you like to-" "No."
With that I sat in the only free chair next to Mr. Cullen and dug out a fresh notebook, preparing to pretend to pay attention.
From the moment I sat down to the second the bell rang was all a blur. Edward instantly tensed and spent the duration of the class avoiding physical contact with me like I was the plague. His attempts at being polite failed miserably and before I could apologize for making such a lousy lab partner, he was gone.
So, on top of sucking at biology and everything science related, I apparently have a disease that can be transferred through skin on skin contact.
Fantastic.
Two more classes and I was home free. Well, free enough to walk the three miles to home.
Oh well.
The walk started innocently enough. I stayed just inside the tree line so I could not be seen by passing traffic. About half way home some unseen force slammed into my right side, throwing me further into the thick of the trees. I stood up quickly and readied myself for another attack.
"Ahhh what's a little Halliwell doing this far away from the rest of the family?" A warlock shimmered twenty feet in front of me and all I could was laugh.
"Oh no, a lower level warlock has come to kill me. What ever will I do?" I mocked him while letting an energy ball form in my left hand. I could see him tense slightly, but didn't give him a chance to attack and launched it at him. He dodged to his left, barely getting grazed by it. He was quick on the draw with a fire attack but I threw up my force field and watched it explode off of it.
Yawning sarcastically, I yelled out dramatically, " I grow tired of you, evil being!" With that I froze him quickly, enjoying the fear on his face, then hit him with one last energy ball and watched him burst into flames leaving only a pile of ash behind.
"What the hell was that?!"