Finding the school wasn't difficult, though we had both never been there before, the school was, like most other things, just off the highway, it wasn't really obvious that it was a school, I could only tell it was a school because of the sign, which declared it to be the Forks High School. It looked like a collection of matching houses, built with maroon-coloured bricks. There were so many trees and shrubs I couldn't see its full size at first, hidden by the lush green forest it sat in front of, gone were the days of huge steel institutions with the chain-link fences and the metal detectors, it was like a complete breathe of fresh air compared to our last school,
"this actually looks nice" Bella said sounding actually surprised, I hummed in agreement before watching her park in front of the first building, which had a small sign over the door reading front office.
No one else was parked there, so Bella quickly parked and shut down the engine of the car, we both stepped unwillingly out of the toasty truck cab and walked down a little stone path lined with dark hedges. Bella took a deep breath before opening the door. I laughed at her she made it seem like she was entering the worst horror film of all time.
Inside, it was brightly lit, the office was small, only having a small waiting area with the standard folding chairs, notices and awards cluttering the walls, a big clock ticking loudly. As me and Bella waited for someone to arrive at the desk.
A red-haired woman looked up, she looked like she had passed the age of retirement over ten years ago,
"Can I help you?" she asked politely, glancing up at us,
"I'm Isabella Swan, and this is Liliana Swan, were new here" Bella informed her, I saw the immediate awareness light up her eyes.
"Of course," she said. She quickly spun in her chair and dug through a precariously stacked pile of documents on her desk till she clearly found the ones she was looking for.
"I have both your schedules right here, and a map of the school." She said as she brought several sheets to the counter and placed them in front of us, we both said quick thank you before she went through both of our classes, highlighting the best route to each on the map, and gave me and Bella slips to have each teacher sign, which we were to bring back at the end of the day.
We quickly gave our thanks and left the building,
"I'll see you at lunch?" I said with a small smile, Bella nodded,
"don't be nervous, try and make friends" I said trying to encourage her, Bella didn't respond and then left to find her first class, I sighed knowing I would be worrying all day about her, I quickly glanced back down at my schedule and headed towards my first lesson of the day; English
Once I found the class, I quickly slipped inside and handed the slip to the teacher who stood at the front of the class, a tall man who looked like you average teacher, he introduced himself as Mr Pitman and encouraged me to find any seat that was at the back, I walked down the centre of the room and to a wooden desk near the back, I sat down and got my books out, I sat waiting for the lesson to start before I boy in front turned to me,
"You're Liliana Swan, aren't you?" He looked like the overly helpful, chess club type, I cringed knowing everyone knew who me and Bella was.
"yes, nice to meet you," I answered giving a small smile
"I'm Eric," he answered holding out his hand to shake,
"nice to meet you" I answered and quickly shook his out stretched hand before the teacher started talking and Eric turned to focus on the lesson, the lesson went quick and Eric offered to walk with me to the lunch room, we got our jackets and headed out into the rain, which had picked up. I could have sworn several people behind us were walking close enough to eavesdrop. I hoped Bella also wasn't feeling like this as I knew she would get paranoid with all the attention,
"So, this is a lot different than Phoenix, huh?" he asked.
"Very" I laughed as I followed him down a set of hallways,
"It doesn't rain much there, does it?" he asked me curiously,
"only about three or four times a year" I answered, he looked shocked
"Wow, what must that be like?" he wondered, I laughed,
"Sunny," I told him as a matter of fact, he smiled
After we entered the cafeteria, I started to recognize several of the faces I had seen and been introduced to in class, Eric walked me over to a table to which I was relieved Bella was also sat at, Bella sat next to a girl I remember was called Angelas, she was tiny, several inches shorter than my five foot, six inch self, but her wildly curly dark hair made up a lot of the difference between our heights, I smiled as I sat down between Bella and Angela and Eric quickly introduced myself and Bella to a full table with several of their friends, I forgot all their names as soon as she spoke them. It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that me and Bella first saw them.
Sat in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from people as possible in the room, there were six of them. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't gawking at us, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an excessively interested pair of eyes. But it was none of these things that caught, and held, my attention.
They didn't look anything alike. Of the four boys, one was taller, leaner, slightly muscular with honey blond, another was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-coloured hair. He looked more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college, or even teachers here rather than students, the third looked a lot like the first boy just with dark brown coloured hair, the last held my gaze for a second longer, he was huge, the muscled body looked like a serious weight lifter, with dark, curly hair that was a contrast to my straight auburn hair that was currently in a high ponytail.
The girls were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back. The short girl was pixielike, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction.
But I couldn't help no matter their differences, they were all exactly alike. Every one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the students who was living in this sunless town.
They all had very dark eyes despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under those eyes — purplish, bruise like shadows. As if they were all suffering from a sleepless night, or almost done recovering from a broken nose. Though their noses, all their features, were straight, perfect, angular. But all this is not why I couldn't look away. I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful out of them all,
"Who are they?" I heard Bella asked Angela quietly, I tried not to show I was listening to every word that was about to leave her mouth, I saw her look up to see who I meant,
Jessica, who sat at the other side of Angela answered, looking at the table as she spoke,
"That's Edward, Alice, Lucas and Emmett Cullen, and then the two blonds Rosalie and Jasper Hale, they all live together with Dr Cullen and his wife." She said this in a sort of whisper, scared to be heard, I noticed Bella also staring out of the corner of my eye, I glanced sideways at the muscled boy, who was pushing potato round at his tray now, not seeing to be eating and looking very disinterested. His mouth was moving very quickly, his perfect lips barely opening. The others still looked away, and yet I couldn't help like feeling he was speaking quietly to them.
"They are... very nice-looking." Bella struggled with the conspicuous understatement, I almost laughed at her statement,
"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all together though — Lucas and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together." Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town, I myself was a bit confused, I turned to her with a questioning look, Bella also glanced back again before asking,
"Which ones are the Cullens? They don't look related..." Bella asked Jessica
"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales, who are the two blond ones are brother and sister, twins in fact and they're foster children," Jessica answered Bella, oh it wasn't as weird as I thought then, good on Mr and Mrs Cullen for adopting them all,
"They look a little old to be adopted" Bella said, I took a little sip of my water while waiting for the answer,
"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that, it's weird if you ask me." Jessica answered, suddenly I felt a little bad for the Cullens,
"That's really kind of nice, for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything." I asked not sure why I was trying to defend them so bad especially when I didn't know them.
"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly, and I got the impression that she didn't like the doctor and his wife for some reason. With the glances she was throwing at their adopted children, I would presume the reason was jealousy. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," she added, as if that lessened their kindness, I felt bad still talking about them as if they were a new piece of celebrity gossip,
Throughout all this conversation, my eyes flickered again and again to the table where the strange family sat, still they continued to look at the walls and not eat.
"Have they always lived in Forks?" Bella asked. I knew they hadn't, I would have noticed them on one of my summers here with dad.
"No," she said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me. "They moved down two years ago or something from somewhere in Alaska." Jessica answered Bella, I could see Bella still looking she was never one for being inconspicuous,
"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" Bella enquired. I peeked round to see him staring at Bella, but not gawking like the other students had today at us, he looked like he had a slightly frustrated expression.
"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." Jessica sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. I laughed a little under my breathe,
"jealous much" I muttered wondering when he'd turned her down,
A huge sound of laughter broke in the room and everyone turned to look towards where it came from, the largest of the group, the muscled man laughed again while the blond supermodel, Rosalie I remembered hit his arm,
"that's Emmett" Eric filled in, I wondered what was so funny,
After a few more seconds, they all suddenly left the table together. They all were very noticeably graceful. It was unsettling to watch, felt like I was watching a impromptu cat walk or something.
The rest of lunch was pretty boring, I spent most of it not being able to get Emmett out of my mind for some reason, after lunch I followed Bella and Angela down the grey hallway to science block,
When we entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped lab table exactly like the ones I was used to from our old school, She already had a partner, In fact as I glanced around all the tables were filled but two. Next to the centre aisle, I recognized Edward Cullen by his unusual hair, sitting next to an open seat, and the desk across the aisle from him.
As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, Bella was stood at the door was watching Edward surreptitiously, trying not to make it obvious. Just as I passed his seat, he suddenly went rigid. He stared at me, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face, he looked almost hostile or even furious. I looked away quickly, not quite sure what I had done to upset him and cause that reaction, I glanced back once more and that's when I'd noticed that his eyes were black, coal black.
Giving myself a little mental shake I quickly walked to the front and handed our slips to the teacher, who introduced himself as Mr. Banner, he signed the slips and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. He instructed Bella to sit next to Edward and me in the seat at the other side on the isle, I kept my eyes down as I went back past him, suddenly feeling very anxious, I fiddled with my ring on my finger as I sat down, Bella looking at me with confusion, I shook my head slightly as a silent gesture that I was okay,
I didn't look up as I set my book on the table, but I saw his posture change from the
corner of my eye. He was sitting on the extreme edge of his seat and looked like he was trying to move as far away from Bella as he could, without having to move an inch closer towards me.
Unfortunately the lesson was on cellular anatomy, something I'd already studied, I lazily took notes carefully anyway, with the odd doodle on the corner of the page,
I couldn't stop myself from peeking occasionally forward at Edward and Bella. During the whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair, sitting as far from me as possible. I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin due to the strain on them.
I glanced once more at Bella to see Edward almost glaring at her, I was so confused, I was confused what I had done, but Bella, she hadn't done anything, not even muttered one word to him,
At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump a little, I went to grab my book and suddenly Edward Cullen was out of his seat. He moved so fast I almost missed it, he was much taller than I'd thought, and he was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat.
I stood and stood at the end of the desk,
"Are you okay?" I asked Bella noticing her eyes almost glossy,
"he was..." Bella started to say,
"Aren't you Isabella Swan?" a male voice asked, I turned to see a baby-faced boy, his pale blond hair carefully gelled into orderly spikes, smiling at Bella in a friendly way. He obviously just saw right threw me like I wasn't even there
"Bella" my sister corrected him with a smile, I smiled she did always hate her full name,
"I'm Mike." The baby faced boy introduced himself
"Hi, Mike, this is my sister Liliana" Bella answered politely, he turned and gave me a little wave,
"Hi" I said simply,
"Do you need any help finding your next class?" Mike said turning his attention back to Bella
"we are heading to the gym, actually. I think we will be able find it." Bella answered trying to be as nice as possible,
"That's my next class, too." He seemed thrilled, though it wasn't that big of a coincidence in a school this small.
We walked to class together, he was a chatterer, I was already tired of his voice, he supplied most of the conversation, which made it easy for Bella and myself, we learned how he had lived in California till he was ten, so he knew how we felt about the sun.
But as we were entering the gym, he turned to me asked, "So, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil or what? I've never seen him act like that."
I stopped dead in my tracks, so I wasn't the only one who had noticed. And, apparently, that wasn't Edward Cullen's usual behaviour, I suddenly felt very uncomfortable,
"Was that the boy I sat next to in Biology?" Bella asked saving me
"Yes, He looked like he was in pain or something." Mike said almost laughing,
"I haven't a clue what his problem was" I said honestly,
"He's a weird guy." Mike lingered by me and Bella instead of heading to the dressing room, Bella smiled and said a goodbye from us before dragging me through the girls' locker room door,
"don't worry about it" Bella muttered to me, I gave a light nod trying to put it all at the back of my mind.
The Gym teacher, Coach Clapp, found us uniforms but didn't make us change into them for today's class, back in Pheonix only two years of PE were required, here, PE was mandatory all four years. Forks was literally Bella's personal hell on Earth, her being the most uncoordinated person on the planet.
I sat on the edge of the court and watched four volleyball games running simultaneously. Remembering how many injuries Bella had both sustained and inflicted playing volleyball, glancing at her I could tell she too was remembering and she looked faintly nauseated, this caused my mood to brighten just a little.
When the final bell rang at last me and Bella walked slowly back to the office to return our paperwork. I wrapped my arms around myself in a feeble attempted to shield myself from the wind, when we walked into the warm office, I almost wanted to turn around and walked back out, but I felt Bella grab my arm.
Edward Cullen was stood at the desk in front of us. I recognized again that tousled bronze hair. He didn't appear to notice the sound of our entrance. I stood pressed against the back wall, waiting for the receptionist to be free, Bella almost trying to listen in to what he was saying.
He was arguing with her in a low voice. I quickly picked up the gist of the argument. He was trying to trade from Biology to any class, any at all.
I just couldn't believe this, was he that self-centred and arrogant.
The door opened again, another student entering the room and the cold wind suddenly gusted through the room, rustling the papers on the desk, I shivered at the cold. The girl who came in merely stepped to the desk, placed a note in the wire basket, and walked out again. But Edward Cullen's back stiffened, and he turned slowly to glare at his eyes once again showing what I could describe as pure hatred, he seemed to be more focused on Bella now for some reason,
He turned back to the receptionist,
"Never mind, then I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help." And he turned on his heel without another look at me, and glaring at Bella as he walked out, suddenly I was seeing red,
"Ana, don't" Bella said, but I was already moving out of the building, I almost had to run but I finally caught up to him at the top of the stairs leading to the parking lot,
"Hey!" I snapped, I knew everyone was looking, I glanced around to see that was exactly the case including all his family stood over by their flashy cars,
"You don't need to be such a jerk to her!" I snapped suddenly feeling some kind of rush of bravery,
"Excuse me?" he said perfectly,
"my sister. The one you just tried to kill just by looking at her, she has done nothing to you" I said trying not to let the fear that was creeping up my neck influence the tone of my words,
"I do apologise, I have to go, my family is waiting" Edward said and simply turned and walked off, I was fuming, how dare he just dismiss me, I stormed down to the truck to wait for Bella, still glaring towards the Cullen boy.
When I got to the truck, it was almost the last car in the lot, as Bella took forever, as soon I was in the truck and Bella started the ignition I turned the heater on,
"you didn't need to do that" Bella muttered, I scoffed at her,
"he is an arse" was my only comment as Bella drove heading back home, but I could see her fighting tears the whole way there, which only made my anger worse.
