Part II-Chapter 5: Fresh Start
Disclaimer. I own none of the original Twilight characters. Ownership belongs to Stephenie Meyer.
Crush-David Archuleta
Fifteen-Taylor Swift
Start all Over-Miley Cyrus (it pains me to put this song in here)
Day 3
I heard a loud vibrate in my ear and jumped in my spot. The vibrating continued and I hissed through my teeth before picking the damn thing up.
"What?" I snapped.
"Vanessa?" Kim's quiet voice asked.
"Oh, God I'm sorry Kim. I didn't know it was you. You woke me up." I laughed.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Vanessa. I figured you'd be up by now," she mumbled.
"What time is it?" I asked as I dragged my body out of bed and sat up.
"It's almost 1pm," she replied cheerfully.
"It is?" I gasped. I guess I had fallen asleep on the phone with Embry last night.
"Yea," she chirped. "I was just calling to say hello."
I grinned. Kim was so different from that of my other friends. She was quiet like me and had a meek personality.
"Hey, how are you?" I asked, walking over to my dresser and pulling out a pair of jeans and tank top.
"I'm good. I can't wait until school starts, though," she mumbled shyly.
"Still on Jared?" I asked.
I thought it was incredibly cute how in love with Jared Kim was. Paul and Jared are best friends and even though I've mentioned her to him more than once he still doesn't look at her or make any attempt to. Jared is a jerk. I'll be one to admit it because he is. I like everyone, whether they hate me or not but I won't lie about a person's character.
"Of course, he's like a God," she gushed. "I wish he would notice me just once. You know?" she sighed longingly.
"I'm sure he will one day. This year could be entirely different, Kim," I tried cheering her up.
"You're right. Thank you for telling me that. I have to go to lunch with my parents but I'll text you, k?" I agreed and we said our goodbyes. I smiled to myself and dressed into new clothes for the day.
"I love the outfit," a voice said from my doorway.
I turned to see Darius appraising me. Paul's words rang through my head and I tried smiling.
"You alright?" he asked, walking over to me and taking my hand in his.
"I'm fine," I assured him, casually slipping my hand from his to change my earrings.
Darius looked put off but crossed his arms over his chest and smiled again.
"You're parents told us not to wake you but when the clock hit 1 I had to see if you died." He laughed.
"Ha, yea…sorry I was up on the phone with Embry all night," I explained, watching as his face turned sour.
"Cool, you're parents said we're going to have lunch here." I nodded and we both went to the dining room. Laura and Ryan were huddled close together and talking in hushed tones with smiles on their faces and Dad looked at them with a frown while Mom looked relieved.
We ate lunch and watched movies that day. It passed rather quickly just had the week Darius stayed. I stayed away from him like Paul suggested and he struggled to stay closer to me. He didn't seem threatening but I kept my distance nonetheless. He finally left after a week and said he would be back for Thanksgiving. He kissed my cheek when he left and lingered longer than needed.
Next week rolled by even quicker and I had talked nonstop with Kim, Leah, Embry, Quil, and Jake on the phone. I threw myself drastically into writing, seeing as I emailed a story to Leah and she absolutely loved it. It was about our Legends back home and a single wolf who finds their imprint. She was enthused.
The month flew by quickly and before I knew what was happening my mother took me out for brand new clothes, only the best according to her, and school supplies. She didn't even let me pick my own backpack. Instead she ordered a custom made Louise Vuitton purse large enough to hold 3 books per period and notebooks that the school sent over.
I sort of liked the purse. It was very colorful and the inside was velvet red. I accidently made the mistake of looking at the price tag tucked neatly away inside. I think my mother plotted that to make sure I knew how much she was spending on me and to uphold her precious reputation. Or I could be completely delusional but I'll go with the former. She also came in with another bag which was pure white with gold clasps. I liked it more, until I learned that it cost 3 thousand dollars, over a thousand more than the latter. I would personally like a 60$ backpack like I had back home.
I showed Leah all the new clothes Mom got me and I told her that I would be giving them all to her when I got to her house for her birthday. She was ecstatic. I was glad. It was now the day before school started and I was picking out something nice to wear but not too nice for school. Sighing, I figured I should just wear one of the outfits Mother bought.
I went over to my walk in closet and let myself gasp in wonder at all the different clothes and shoes. I picked out a simple black tank top that reached above my belly button and grimaced. The only good part about it was the rhinestone straps. I put it over my arm casually and looked through my denim jeans to pick a pair of dark washed and a pair of hot pink chucks I brought from home. I set those on my dresser and set a bebe necklace down on top.
"Now just time to go to bed and wake up for school." I sighed.
I settled myself into my comfy bed and rested my head on top of Lil E and thought of everything that could possibly go wrong at school tomorrow. My last thought was of a vicious cheerleader sticking gum in my hair and then I feel asleep.
Day 1 of High School
"Nessa, it's time to wake up," a soft voice whispered as they shook my shoulders slightly. "If you want to shower before school you'll have to get up now, honey."
"Daddy?" I mumbled groggily, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and looking into the blue eyes of my father who smiled down at me.
"Hey, baby, gotta get up, okay?" I nodded and he left the room silently.
I looked at my alarm clock which he turned off already and it read 5:45. So, early, I groaned in my head. I dragged myself out of bed and grabbed my robe for the bathroom. After showering quickly and running muse through my hair to make it stay wavy, I went to my room and dressed for the day also putting on a hot pink coat to match my shoes. Grabbing my purse and Coach shopping bag filled with my other books I exited the room and made my way into the kitchen. I set down my things on the counter and grabbed orange juice from the fridge and a protein bar.
After I finished my orange juice I put it in the sink and heard Dad call out that he was going in the car. We had finally received out car a week after arriving. I ran downstairs with my stuff and felt around in my bag for sunglasses my mother recently bought me. Why she had to buy me designer sunglasses too I'll never know. I got into our Escalade and set my bags down by my feet. I pulled on my sunglasses and ran my fingers through my hair and looked for my phone in my bag. I grabbed it clumsily and turned it off so the battery wouldn't waste.
"You excited?" Dad asked as we pulled out of the driveway and onto the freeway.
"More nervous than anything," I admitted.
"It'll get better when the week goes by," he assured me. "I remember my first day of high school. I had made the varsity football team the summer before and the other seniors kind of welcomed me to their group already. I didn't hang out with my grade and that was the mistake I made. I was too used to hanging out the seniors on my team that when they graduated I only had a couple guys from the team."
"If I hang out with my age group then I'll be with freshman and I'm starting as a sophomore." Dad had not pulled up to the school and I grimaced.
"That's the difficult part. Try not telling your age, okay? Most people don't take well to smart kids and I want this place to be different from La Push. If they ask tell them, but not unless. Oh, and have fun with those AP classes." He winked and I glared halfheartedly at him.
"Time to go?" I asked sadly.
He nodded grimly and we got out of the car and stepped onto the cement. I looked around and saw three flights of stairs leading up to the gigantic school surrounded by fields of grass.
"Whoa," I breathed.
"Yea, whoa," Dad agreed.
We looked at each other and started up the many steps to the main building. There weren't too many students lulling around to which I was grateful and I saw the redhead and brunette from the boardwalk. I smiled toward them and they looked toward each other, shocked.
"I told you!" the brunette shouted enthusiastically.
"Is that her Dad?" the redhead gaped. "He looks like he's 20!"
I passed them by with an amused smile and tightened my bag on my shoulder.
"Damn, did you see her clothes? She's got to be super rich," the redhead told her friend.
I frowned slightly but kept on to the entrance door and we entered. I felt coolers hit my face and I pulled my sunglasses to the back of head. Dad led us over to the office attendant and we saw her look up as we approached.
"Hello, my daughter Vanessa is starting today. We were told to get the map, class schedule, and locker number here," Dad said smoothly to the swooning office attendant.
"Y-yes sir," she replied, scurrying around until she came back with papers in hand. She handed them to me and offers a friendly smile.
"I would take the time now to get your books in your locker and check out both you first and second period classes. We have 2 lunch schedules and you have lunch A which means you get out of school at 2:30 and start school at 7:30. We have 3 periods then a 15 minutes break after that we have 2 periods and lunch and finally 3 periods then school ends. On Fridays we have half days which entails only your first 4 periods then it switches to the last 4 periods the next Friday. The schedule can be confusing but if you need help ask your teachers.
"Since you have all AP classes you'll need a bigger locker which is already registered to you in sophomore hall. All the halls have their names above them on signs which are hard to miss. The majority of your classes happen to be in your building which is incredibly great. The school map is very distinct so you shouldn't have that much problem. Have a nice day." She smiled genuinely.
"Thank you," I said politely back. I unfolded the school map and saw we were only a building away from my locker. "Help me unload?" I asked Dad.
He nodded and grabbed one of my bags. We walked through the courtyard and to the building marked C. I located my locker at the very end by the girl's bathroom and next to a water fountain and library. I looked at my schedule and noticed it was also across from my first and second period class. Maybe Kim was asking God to help me today.
"Looks like you got the best locker," Dad noted.
I smiled at him and lifted up the notch that held my locker in place. I pulled out my lock for it and clasped it on. It was purple and slightly broken but it was from my locker back in La Push and I wasn't about to learn another combination.
"I guess I did," I replied. We piled in all my books and other school supplies then looked over my class schedule after I tucked it in my binder next to a picture of my friends back home.
"You're taking shop?" he asked, amazed.
"I like to fix cars." I shrugged.
"Since when?"
"A while." I laughed lightly. "I taught Jacob how to fix them a while back. It seems easy enough."
"Wow." He smiled. "Well, I guess I should go. School starts in a little while and I'm sure you wanna take a walk around campus."
"Okay, are you picking me up?" I ask, pulling my first 3 books into my bag.
"Wild dogs couldn't hold me back." He laughs.
He hugs me goodbye and I close my locker with a sigh and turn to walk to the other buildings holding my classes. Just as I took a step forward someone stepped in front of me and blocked my way.
"Excuse me," I said, trying to walk around them. They went the same way and I gave a chuckle at how awkward this is. I looked up to apologize and find myself staring into familiar brown eyes.
"Hey, you're the girl who bought my wolf, right?" he asked with a kind smile.
"Yea, that's me. Cory, right?" He nodded. "I've been to that glass place at least a hundred times since then and I haven't seen you."
"I was actually vacationing. I very rarely get to do that." He chuckled.
"Oh, really? Where'd you go?" I asked. If he was in my grade it would be good to have a friend here who can show me around.
"Seattle, Washington. My grandpa set me up to show an old glass gallery our work." He blushed, rubbing his neck nervously.
"That's awesome. I just moved from Washington. I lived on a reservation called La Push," I explained as he started following me when I continued walking.
"You're Indian?" Cory asked as we rounded a corner leading to a new row of classes.
"We prefer the term Native American." I laughed. "I'm not Indian. I'm half Portuguese and half Native American."
"Oh." He blushed. "I get it."
I looked around and saw my third period class. Room 201: Agriculture Mechanics III.
"Can I see your schedule?"
"Sure," I replied, giving him my binder. I saw him smile at the pictures and overlook Leah's more than once.
"She's pretty, huh?" I asked him. I saw him redden but nod. "She's my best friend along with that boy right there." I pointed out to Embry and I on a swing set in Forks.
"Is he your boyfriend?" he asked curiously. Unlike other guys, when he asked he seemed just curious.
"No." I shook my head. Though I wish everyday he was, I added in my head. "He's just my best friend." I smiled.
"Cool," he replied. He looked over my schedule and with almost every line his eyebrows raised in disbelief. "You're taking all AP classes?"
"Except for extracurricular and clubs, yes."
"Damn," he breathed. "You're a cheerleader?" he asked suddenly. Confused I looked at the schedule but didn't see anything like that.
"Huh?" I said for lack of a better word.
"Your binder. You have a cheerleading outfit on."
Realization hit immediately and I laughed aloud instantly. "Oh, no. God, no." I laughed again.
"It was a dare. Leah and I had to steal a cheerleading costume from Fork's high school and parade in it all day. It made the girls really mad since they only have those costumes for show. They don't have enough students for any sports unless they get together with QTS," I explained with a chuckle at the end.
Cheerleader? Yea, right, I thought. Speaking of dares, though, Embry still has one to finish. "Hold on a second," I told Cory, fishing around in my giant purse until I pulled my phone out. I turned it on and waited while it loaded. After it loaded I sent a quick text to Embry.
"Embry(: did you ever finish that dare?"-Ness
"There," I said, turning my phone off again and placing it back inside my bag.
Cory cocked his head to the side and I shrugged it off as nothing. "You also have mechanics and veterinary science. So I'm guessing you're a junior."
"Nope, my parents just wanted to ensure I had that spot. I want to be a Vet," I explained, retrieving my class schedule to look over the rest.
Period 1-AP Veterinary Science
Period 2-Algebra 2
Period 3-AP Automotive Powertrain Systems
Break A
Period 4-AP U.S. History Seminar
Period 5-Advanced Single and Family Living
Lunch A
Period 6- AP Classical and Mythological Literature
Period 7-Pysical Education-Water Polo
Period 8-AP Spanish 4
"You must be incredibly smart then because all of your classes except for P.E are junior and senior levels."
"I guess," I mumbled, feeling my face burn. Dad even told me not to let people know I'm smart and here I go blowing it.
"That's awesome," he said with finality.
"Really?" I asked, putting my binder back in my bag know that I've been to all four first classes.
"Totally." He smiled. "I'm basically in all your classes except for Spanish, Auto, and Vet Science."
"So, you're a junior?" I was a little put off because now I had done two things my dad said not to.
"Yea, don't tell anyone, but," he lowered his voice, leaning in toward me. "I skipped a grade."
"Really?" I beamed. He nodded, looking shy suddenly. "Me too," I assured him. I saw him relax and grin instantly.
"Wow, that's scary cool."
I agreed. More students were rushing into the building now and I heard a loud bell signal that it was time to get to class. "I should go," I told him.
"Me too. I'll see you in 2nd period. Right?"
"Yea," I agreed. We parted ways and I went to the classroom by my locker. I took a deep breath and pressed my hand to turn the knob. Fight or flight, I thought.
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