A/N: Enjoy :3
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters; Stephanie Meyer does.
Chapter Two
BPOV
I make it through all of my morning classes, none of teachers withholding homework though it's the first day of school. I start to pack up my stuff after the last class before lunch when I hear a smooth voice from my right.
"Hello." I lift my head come face to face with one of the new students. "My name is Jasper Hale, and you are?" I look down and see that his hand is outstretched.
"Isabella Swan, but call me Bella; good to meet you," I say, shaking his hand. I'm surprised by how cold it is but then again, the weather here isn't exactly warm.
"Likewise. Do you mind showing me where the cafeteria is? I kept losing my way in between classes and I'm pretty hungry right now, I wouldn't want to miss any of my lunch time," he says with a smile that makes me feel like I'm missing a joke.
"No problem, just let me finish packing up my stuff and I'll show you the way."
As we walk in the hallway all eyes are on us, though mostly on Jasper. I can hear the whispers, some louder than others.
"So how long have you lived in Forks, Bella?" Jasper asks with a polite smile.
Before I can reply, my klutziness kicks in and I trip over my boots. I never make contact with the floor however, since a pair of cold arms catches me before I fall. Looking up, I see Jasper's face closer than I'm comfortable with, and immediately feel a blush creep up my neck and onto my cheeks. I notice the slightly pained look on his face.
"Thanks, I've lived here my whole life," I reply as I right myself. We reach the cafeteria doors and say our goodbyes. I head straight for my table and notice that Angela, Eric and Ben are already sitting there. Eric and Ben begin talking about an upcoming movie that I really couldn't care less about, while I help Angela with her trig homework. We both have Mr. Varner, who was never my favorite teacher. His 'homework everyday' policy is the primary reason.
I feel my ears begin to get hot and I look up, searching for any eyes that are on me. Mine come in contact with a pair of topaz ones, full of mirth and curiosity. The color reminds me of Jasper, and I figure it might be his sibling.
I know that staring is rude, but I can't find it in myself to look away. The eyes are beautiful and I only wake up from the trance I'm in when my eyes begin to burn and I remember to blink. Through my rapid blinking, I notice that the owner of the beautiful eyes is laughing and I can't help the small smile that forms on my face.
When I take the time to take in the rest of her, I'm amazed. She is the most beautiful person I have ever seen. Her short, spiked hair frames her face well, and makes her look kinda like a pixie or an elf. Her clothes are very form fitting and I'm sure they're designer. She has very pale skin, but it doesn't look sickly. Finally, her eyes - my favorite thing about her so far - are an unusual but enticing color. The exact same color as Jasper's eyes, though hers appear more alive. I feel a strong urge to get to know this beautiful creature and have her know me.
"Bella!" I jump so high I almost fall out of my seat. Looking over to my left, I see that Jessica, Lauren and Mike have joined the table.
"What the hell Jessica?"
"I see you've noticed the Cullens and the Hales" she says, her eyes twinkling. Oh yay, here comes the gossip, I sing sarcastically in my head.
I sigh. "You know them?"
"There's five in total, two of them are in our grade, the short girl and the hot guy with the bronze sex hair." She nearly drools as she eyes the "hot guy" and I try not to throw up in my mouth. "I had Art with the short girl. All the guys were like panting after her. It's disgusting." I roll my eyes at the jealousy in her tone.
"Do you know their names?" I ask, glancing back at the pixie-like girl only to find her watching Jessica with annoyance.
"The hot guy's Edward. Such a sexy name, don't you think? I mean, it's not something generic like John or Mike." Mike's head shoots up when he hears his name, but seeing no one talking to him, he turns back to his conversation with Eric.
"And the girl?" I ask, trying not to sound too interested. The blush that appears as I ask probably gives me away though.
"I don't know. Iris or Allen or something. Who cares?" I do, I answer in my head.
My gaze wonders back to the table where my nameless girl is sitting. Ahem, I mean the nameless girl.
"And the other three?" I ask with little interest. I already knew Jasper, of course.
"No idea. But the guy with the blonde hair's kinda cute. If a little gay-looking."
"Mr. Varner made Edward introduce himself in trig today," Angela offers. "Apparently they're all adopted, and their father's Dr. Cullen. It's really nice of him and his wife to adopt them all even though they're teenagers."
I nod absently and look at the table again, this time taking in each of them. I'm surprised by the similarity in their appearances since they're supposed to be adopted. They all look pretty nice, except for the huge guy with the dark hair whose neck looks about the same width as my thigh.
I go back to helping Angela with her homework, and we're done with still enough time to eat. My thoughts keep wondering back to Iris-slash-Allen, and I can't seem to stop.
Angela walks me to Biology before making her way to her French class. I enter the room and see that Edward is in this class. Since it's the first day of school there's no seating arrangement, so I go and sit next to him. He's probably my best chance at getting to Iris-slash-Allen.
"Hello," I say with a friendly smile.
He stares at me for a while, as if surprised that I spoke to him before nodding his head in silent greeting.
"So, I heard you're Edward. I'm Bella," I reach my hand out for him to shake. He stares at it for a while before looking back at me with frustration in his gaze. Eventually, he shakes my hand before facing the front of the room.
He's not making conversation easy.
"So, I couldn't help but notice that you have a sister in our grade," I say, trying to seem nonchalant. "What's her name again?"
He answers a bit too late. "Alice."
"Alice," I repeat in a whisper, a warm feeling spreading through me. I can't help the grin that spreads across my face. It suits her much better than Iris or Allen.
I notice Edward looking at me queerly from the corner of his eye, but I ignore him; his purpose was served.
The rest of the day passes quickly, and each time I can't help but hope that I'll have Alice in one of my classes, but I don't. Before I know it, it's my last class of the day - Gym. I enjoy Gym just as much as the next klutz with no sense of equilibrium.
I try not to let it bring me down and walk with my head high, trying to stay optimistic.
"Hi, Bella!" I hear from my right. I turn to face the owner of the voice and see Alice rushing up to me with a grin on her face.
"H-Hi," I stutter before getting a grip on myself. "How do you know my name?"
"Edward," she replies with a small laugh; a cute sound that I want to hear again and never stop listening to. Okay…that's creepy. Snap out of it Bella.
"Thank you Sex Hair," I say a bit too loudly. I can tell she heard me but the weird look she gives me, and I mentally smack myself for managing to look like an idiot within ten seconds of meeting her.
She ignores it and continues to smile. "So, how long have you been in Forks?"
"I've lived here all my life."
"Really? So you should know the place and people really well then, right?"
"That I do, why do you ask?"
"Well, I have practically no sense of orientation, so would you mind showing me around sometime? Or at least for as long as it takes me to get used to being here."
I try to keep my smile in check so she doesn't see just how willing I am to do that. "Well, I don't see why not. Though Forks is pretty small, so it shouldn't take long," I reply.
"I'm sure we'll find other things to occupy our time," she says with a knowing smile, and I feel like I'm missing something. I can't help the pathetic warmth I feel as she says 'our time'. We're already sharing things. "But you're not the only Forks resident who can show me around you know. Mike Newton seemed eager enough to meet me earlier," she adds with a grin as she skips ahead of me, going into the girls' locker room. My smile drops and the warmth disappears. "You coming?" she asks, turning back to me with a grin that lets me know she is teasing.
I jerk back into motion and follow after her with a small smile, wondering how someone her size could have that much energy after such a long day. At least having her in one of my classes is better than none.
Gym ends up being less heinous than I had originally thought it would be, and that is mostly thanks to Alice. We pair up for warm-ups, and she manages to keep me laughing throughout.
We play volleyball, a sport that I hate, but apparently one that Alice excels in. Whenever a ball comes in my direction I avoid it, which costs us more than one game. Alice isn't even upset about it. She just laughs and moves on like it never happened, which is more than I can say about the others on our team. I manage to hit the ball every now and then, twice hitting Alice and three times it bounces off the net and hits me. Alice offers to hit the balls for me, but still lets me attempt to get one every now and then.
By the time we start heading to the changing rooms, I'm sweating heavily, but Alice doesn't even look like she's started. When I mention this to her, she takes my water bottle and pours its contents down the front of her shirt.
"There, better?" she asks with a smirk.
"Much," I say, unable to keep my eyes off the outline of her breasts made visible by the water.
"Why are you sweating so much anyway? I did most of the running."
I snap out of my stupor and bring my eyes back up to hers. "You might not know this, but continuously dodging a ball is very hard work, and takes a lot of energy. Only people with my superior lack of balance can perform such a task." She rolls her eyes at me and enters the changing room.
I manage to keep my eyes to myself while she changes, even though the urge to glance over is nearly overpowering. We make our way to the parking lot and I keep my eyes on my feet, not wanting to end up tripping over air as I usually do. I end up bumping into Alice who seems to have frozen in place. Just before I begin to worry, she becomes aware of everything around her again and begins walking.
"Everything okay?" I ask.
"Definitely," she replies, skipping ahead a few paces before turning back to me. "You coming?"
Come to think of it, she has been zoning a few times. Twice during gym, and once in the locker rooms. I had written it off as nothing though, not wanting to put too much thought into something that might turn out to be nothing.
As we get closer to the cars, I see four people - Jasper among them - walking toward the silver Volvo I had seen this morning.
"Are you related to those guys? You all have the same eye and skin color," I ask Alice.
"Yeah, but we're not directly related…it's complicated."
I nod my head. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yep, see you tomorrow Bella," she says, giving me a brief but warm hug. She skips off toward the Porsche, pulling her keys out of her backpack as she goes. I roll my shoulders, the weight of my backpack beginning to take its toll, before beginning to make my way home. I walk past unnoticed by the crowd that is gathered around the two cars, Alice's Porsche especially.
As I walk home, I grow more and more irritated by how far from school I live. At least the weather here isn't as hot as it was in Phoenix when I used to visit my mom. Thinking about Renée makes my good mood vanish. She died in a car accident on her way from work when I was eleven, and even now it still hurts to think about her.
I try to hold back the tears I can feel brimming in my eyes, quickly wiping them away before they can spill over. I focus on happier memories I have of her; playing on the beach, building sand castles, going along with her during one of her crazier phases - like when she had decided to become a fitness trainer. I cringe at the thought of how much we ran for those three days before she gave up on it and decided to pick up baking instead. She was random like that.
I feel a smile work its way onto my face and my mood lifts up slowly. I look up and notice that I'm about halfway home, so I figure if I keep my mind on something, I'll be there in no time.
Alice is the first thing to pop into my head. Certainly, the wonder that is Alice will keep me occupied. As soon as her name has filled my head, I feel myself blush as I remember how she looked after pouring my water down her shirt. A small part of me worries about already reacting this way at just the thought of her even though I've only just met her.
I'm brought out of my musings when a car slows down to a crawl next to me. I look over and see Alice sitting in the driver seat with a smile on her beautiful face, waving me closer. When she stops the car, I walk over at a leisurely pace, kicking a stone out of the way and bend down to the window level, which is a bit difficult because of my height and how low the car is.
"You want a ride?" she asks, her eyes dancing. I hesitate, not wanting to take up her time by having her drive me home. "Don't worry, I won't bite," she says, smiling like she knows something that I don't. Eventually I give in, figuring that my house is probably on the way to hers anyway since I saw her car pass me by in the morning.
Her car has a black leather interior with a fancy looking radio and a sleek LCD monitor tucked into the dashboard. It looks like a mini computer screen, but I can't be sure, and I'm not about to go poking around her car to see what everything is.
"You have a very nice looking car," I tell her casually, even though 'nice' is an understatement.
"Thank you. By the way, I think I saw you on my way to school this morning. Do you want me to give you a ride tomorrow so you don't have to walk?"
"No, thank you. We just met and I don't want to impose."
"You won't be. I'll be here by 6:45, if that's not too early," she replies with a cute grin.
I can't help the blush that creeps onto my face as I'm momentarily dazed by her beauty. "N-No, 6:45 is great," I finally reply. "Anyway, you know I shouldn't be taking rides from strangers, right?" I say teasingly.
"Well, it's a good thing I'm not strange, isn't it?" she says, with a small smile.
The rest of the ride is spent in comfortable silence, the only words spoken are me telling her when to stop, and then our goodbyes.
"See you tomorrow Bell," she says out when I climb out of her car.
"See ya'!" I reply, with a small wave.
I watch her drive off and let out a happy sigh. I guess school isn't going to be as bland as I thought.
I turn around, once again noticing the sexy black motorcycle in the driveway. I guess since I don't have the keys anyway, it's a good thing Alice offered me a ride.
A/N: Thank you for reading, review if you can.