The next day came around quick, the morning went around pretty much the same the only difference was the weather, instead of rain, today the sky was thick with dense clouds, my favourite type of weather.
Bella seemed in a little bit of a better mood, she was quickly making friends with the group we sat with yesterday lunch, me, well I was whispered about in the halls after my outburst yesterday in the parking lot. I dragged my feet almost as I walked to lunch, knowing there was no way I could escape all the whispers especially with the Cullen being in the same room.
Walking into the room following Bella and Jessica, I'm sure everyone went silent, I glanced up and took a quick scan of the room, my eyes landed on the same table yesterday but there was one difference, Edward 'the jerk' Cullen was nowhere to be seen, I nearly almost let out a visible sigh, I quickly walked to the table where everyone was sat and quickly sat with my back towards their table so when the inevitable came and Edward arrived, I was hoping I could just simply ignore him and this all would pass over when the next tiny thing happened in school.
I tried to listen to what everyone was talking about at lunch while picking and poking my salad without really eating any,
"you okay?" Bella whispered to me, I gave her a small smile,
"of course I am, just not very hungry" I answered hoping my answer would pacify her, as normal I was wrong when it came to Bella,
"is it Edward, I've seen he's not here, I wonder if he will be in biology, I hope it's not to do with you" Bella said, I knew she didn't mean to make me feel guilty but she had succeeded,
"I dunno Bells" I muttered, pushing the tray away from me,
"course it is, I heard from Josie in English, Dr Cullen was furious when he heard and isn't letting Edward back until he is moved from the class because of her" Jessica said like she knew everything,
"that's not right, I heard his family especially the big one is furious and told him to ditch" Eric said, I felt like I was being swallowed by the chair, this one seemed more passable than the first, was Emmett really that furious with me? I was only defending my sister, I didn't care if he hated me but Bella was like an injured doe,
Crack
I myself along with a few other jumped and then I turned and just saw Emmett storming out of the cafeteria closely followed by the rest of his siblings, everyone's eyes then turned on me, I glanced around trying to avoid everyone eye line,
"Ana? Maybe you should apologise to them" Bella enquired quietly, her words came like a slap to the face, it was all because of her this, her stupid doe looking eyes looking miserable and me feeling like I need to protect again, I grabbed my jacket and quickly left the room, ignoring the calls from behind me.
I walked towards biology and then without thinking went through one of the exit doors and walked straight across the parking lot and into the forest.
The large trees that lined my way were calming me with every step, I knew dad would freak out when he found out I had skipped but at this moment I couldn't care less, was I really the reason Edward wasn't in? maybe he was just running late? Maybe he ill? But Emmett? He stormed out of the room so quickly if I blinked I would have missed him, was there any truth to what Eric had said? For some reason I hated the thought of them hating me, I hated anyone being angry or upset with me, I tried everything I could just to please everyone, stopping coming to my dad's every year because Bella hated coming to Forks, trying who knows what clubs when I was younger because mom wanted me to, I found a fallen tree and sat down, I sighed before placing my head in my hands and sighing once again, I wish I could take back confronting Edward yesterday, I sat there for a while thinking everything over, I knew I would have to head back soon as Bella would be waiting for me, I guessed I had been up here for around an hour, my eyes snapped up when I heard a branch snap from behind me, I jumped up and spun round, nothing.
Suddenly the forest dawned on me how dangerous it could be for me on my own, I slowly reached for my pockets to see if I had anything that I could defend myself with, nothing.
Snap
Another branch made me spin back around to where I thought the noise came from this time, my nerves increasing with every second, I slowly backed up until I felt my legs hit the branch I was sat on a few moments ago, keeping my eyes firmly focused on the tree line, all I could see where trees, I weighted my options up,
"hello?" I made myself say, my voice sounding a little shaky, no response came to which I couldn't decide if that was bad or good, I wrapped my coat firmly around myself and set of walking, very quickly back through the forest, I tried not to focus on my fears as I quickly walked, although I quickly realised I had no idea which way I was meant to walk to get back to the school,
Snap
I jumped again and spun around, nothing, where there any wolves in these woods, I decided not to stick around and find out, I turned and ran in the opposite way and keep running,
Snap
I quickly changed direction without wanting to look back, was this how I was going to die? My dad wouldn't even know where my body was and wouldn't be found for a while,
Snap
Changing my direction again, I ran down a small hill and almost cried with joy when I saw the parking lot, I quickly ran into the parking lot ignoring the students glances who were just leaving the school, I spun round to look back but again saw nothing, as I turned I spotted Rosalie and Lucas stood my a silver Volvo, Rosalie was frowning while Lucas looked concerned, I quickly avoided there gaze and jogged over to the truck, I stood next to the truck, and glanced over to find Emmett had now joined them and was looking directly at me, the stare sent a shiver straight down my spine,
"where have you been? You missed biology and gym" Bella's voice came from behind me, I jumped and spun round trying to control my breathing,
"are you okay?" Bella asked concerned,
"I'm fine, let's just go" I said quickly, she unlocked the truck and I quickly got in without another word to her. As she pulled out of the parking lot, all I saw as we passed the Cullen's was the same dark coal like eyes staring at me, but this time it wasn't Edward, it was Emmett. And that hurt me more than I wanted to admit.
"Bella? Liliana?" my father called out, I pushed myself off my bad and quickly walked downstairs,
"Hey, Dad, welcome home" I heard Bella say as I reached the kitchen, Bella was stood by the oven,
"Thanks" He hung up his gun belt and stepped out of his boots, I smiled and sat at the table as Bella bustled about the kitchen. As far as I was aware, he'd never shot the gun on the job. But he kept it ready.
"What's for dinner?" dad asked warily. My mother and Bella loved to cook whereas I was like dad and couldn't cook to save my life,
"Steak, salad and potatoes," Bella answered as she placed a salad bowl on the table, dad seemed to feel awkward standing in the kitchen doing nothing and honestly he looked awkward so without a word he lumbered into the living room to
watch TV while Bella finished cooking. I stood and set the table wanting to at least help in some way.
"Smells good, Bell" dad said as he sat down, I nodded
"sure does Bells" I answered picking my fork up, my stomach now grumbling from not eating at lunch,
"Thanks" Bella said quietly,
We all ate in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable, we wasn't bothered by the quiet. In some ways, we were well suited for living together.
"So, how did you like school? Have you made any friends?" he asked us he was taking seconds.
"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica. I sit with her friends at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice" Bella said politely
"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid — nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here, how about you kid?" dad said turning to me,
"yep going okay" I gave a small and straight to point answer, dad looked confused but his attention was quickly pulled back to Bella,
"Do you know the Cullen family?" Bella asked hesitantly, I almost wanted to get up and leave,
"Dr Cullen's family? Sure. Dr Cullen's a great man, only spoke to him a couple of times" dad answered,
"They... the kids... are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school" Bella said, understatement of the year I thought, Charlie surprised me by looking angry.
"People in this town, Dr Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any
hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here, We're lucky to have him, lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers but I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should like camping trips every other weekend... Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk." Dad mutter although getting quite worked up towards the end,
It was the longest speech I'd ever heard my dad make since arriving, he must feel strongly about whatever people were saying, Bella quickly blushed,
"They seemed nice enough to me. I just noticed they kept to themselves. They're all very attractive," Bella added, trying to be more complimentary, I laughed out loud at that one, she was under selling them,
"You should see the doctor, It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the
nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around." Charlie said, laughing, we both laughed before we lapsed back into silence as we finished eating.
After we had all finished I cleared the table and started on the dishes as dad went back to the TV and Bella went upstairs to do homework as she said,
"right dad I'm off upstairs, night" I said in the doorway before turning to disappear up the stairs,
"Liliana? Are you okay kid?" Charlie asked, I thought about telling him everything, I normal did but for some reason I found myself saying,
"of course I'm just tired, think jetlag is catching up with me" I said and smiled, dad seemed to buy the answer and let me disappear upstairs for the night.
The rest of the week was uneventful. I got used to the routine of all my classes, and the stares and whispers were finally dying down, Bella seemed okay just getting on with everything, Edward Cullen didn't come back to school, that week, each day I watched anxiously until the rest of the Cullens entered the cafeteria without him, knowing I had to face him sometime, although every time I looked for some reason Emmett was always looking at me, and I couldn't understand why,
By Friday I no longer worried that Edward would be there and seem to forget about him, for all I knew, he had dropped out of school, but I couldn't totally suppress the worry that I was responsible for his continued absence, ridiculous as it seemed and that was why Emmett wouldn't stopping staring at me.
My first weekend in Forks was lovely, I spent time catching up with homework, doing a bit of housework and drawing, my favourite pastime, dad unused to spending time in the usually empty house, worked most of the weekend. Bella seemed to enjoy it too, no dad and she spent most of the weekend to ahead on homework, and writing my mom e-mails, and the highlight was going to the library for her, a trip which I politely declined, I promised her we would plan a day to visit Olympia or Seattle soon and find a good bookstore for her to which she said she wondered what kind of gas mileage the truck got and that thought even made me shudder at the thought.
Before I knew it, Monday was back around, Bella seemed to fall into an easy schedule of meeting her friends in the morning and heading off to class with either Angela or Mike, I found myself being comfortable within my own company when in classes, although Maths on a Monday was bound to sour anyone's mood.
As I walked towards t
When I walked out of Maths class, the air was full of swirling bits of white. I could hear people shouting excitedly to each other. The wind bit at my cheeks which made my pull my scarf tighter,
"Wow, It's snowing" Mike said as I caught up to him and Bella walking to class, I looked at the snowflakes that were building up along the sidewalk, and smiled I always loved snow,
"I hate it" Bella mumbled, course she does I thought to myself
"I'll see you at lunch, okay? Once people start throwing wet stuff, I go inside" Bella declared and walked off, nodded and said I quick bye and Mike quickly made him excuses and scurried after Bella, reminding me of a lost puppy.
Throughout the morning, the mood in school was excited due to the snow and everyone seemed to be in a good mood, I'm sure I even noticed Rosalie smile as I saw her across the hall, I had noticed Rosalie never seemed to smile, but Alice seemed hyper all the time
I quickly walked to the cafeteria with Jessica as we shared a Spanish class, the mush balls of snow were now flying everywhere. I kept a binder in my hands, ready to use it as a shield if necessary. Jessica thought I was hilarious, but also used one to protect her hair as she said it was the most important thing, Mike caught up to us as we walked in the doors, laughing, with ice melting the spikes in his hair. He and Jessica were talking animatedly about the snow fight as we got in line to buy food. I glanced toward that table in the corner out of habit, expecting and also slightly hoping to see Emmett looking, but then I froze where I stood, there were six people at the table.
"Hello? Liliana? What do you want?" Mike asked
I looked down muttering a apology and grabbed a salad, I had no reason to feel self-conscious, I reminded myself. I hadn't done anything wrong, I was sticking up for Bella, I waited for them to get their food, and then followed them to a table, my eyes on my feet and quickly sat next to Bella who was sipping a soda slowly, her eyes darting between the Cullen table and me.
I kept my head down and glanced up under my lashes. None of them were looking this way. I lifted my head a little and let myself glance over,
They were laughing. Edward, Lucas, Jasper, and Emmett all had their hair entirely saturated with melting snow.
Alice and Rosalie were leaning away as Emmett shook his dripping hair toward them. They were enjoying the snowy day, just like everyone else, only they looked more like a scene from a movie than the rest of us, it made me smile before I turned back and carried on eating my salad,
"Edward Cullen is staring at you," Jessica giggled, I looked up to see her talking to Bella,
"He doesn't look angry, does he?" Bella asked, I looked over and quickly looked back,
"No, why would he be?" I asked confused,
"I don't think he likes me" Bella confided, I suddenly felt queasy, was that because of me?
"The Cullens don't like anybody... well, they don't notice anybody enough to like them. But he's still staring at you" Jessica said the bitterness creeping into her voice,
"Stop looking at him" Bella hissed, I laughed while Jessica snickered but looked away, I took one last look to see both Edward and Emmett staring at me, I quickly turned around feeling uneasy.
For the rest of the lunch hour I very carefully kept my eyes at my own table and soon we were on our way to biology.
Once inside the classroom, I saw Bella almost sigh with relief that her table was still empty. Mr. Banner was walking around the room, distributing one microscope and box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes, and the room buzzed with conversation. I quickly went and sat down and was doodling in my notebook, when I heard very clearly when the chair across the aisle be moved, but my eyes stayed carefully focused on the pattern I was drawing.
"Hello," I heard a quiet, musical voice say, I snuck a glance to see Edward was actually talking to Bella, he was sitting as far away from her as the desk
allowed, but his chair was angled toward her, His hair was dripping wet, but still looked like a model compared to the rest of us,
"My name is Edward Cullen, I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week.
You must be Bella Swan" he said very politely,
I could see Bella's mind was spinning with confusion, I was willing Bella to talk,
"H-how do you know my name?" she said stammered, really Bella?
He laughed a soft laugh,
"Oh, I think everyone knows your name. The whole town's been waiting for you and your sister to arrive" he answered, Bella said something that I couldn't quite catch as Mr. Banner started class at that moment. I tried to concentrate as he explained the lab we would be doing today, but all I wanted to know is what Bella and Edward were still talking about.
I finished the work with stealing glances at Bella every couple of minutes,
"Did you get contacts?" I heard Bella blurt out, I was confused,
"No" I heard Edward comment
"Oh, I thought there was something different about your eyes, I thought they were black but today there golden" Bella muttered, suddenly I was confused, I knew they were as black as coal before,
He shrugged, and looked away, turning towards me, I saw the golden colour that was now replacing the black, I vividly remembered the flat black colour of his eyes from the last time he'd glared at me, today his eyes were a completely different colour, darker than butterscotch, but with the same golden tone. I didn't understand how that could be, unless he was lying for some reason about the contacts. Or maybe I was going insane, he noticed me looking, I quickly looked down and saw his hands were clenched into hard fists again.
Mr. Banner then went to Bella's table then, to see why they weren't working, almost saving me
"So, Edward, didn't you think Isabella should get a chance with the microscope?" Mr. Banner asked,
"Bella," Edward corrected automatically" Actually, she identified three of the five."
Mr. Banner looked at Bella, expression was sceptical,
"is that right?" he asked, Bella seemed to hesitate,
"if he says so it must be" I found myself jumping in,
"Yes, WelI, I guess it's good they are lab partners." He mumbled something else as he walked away. After he left, I saw Bella smile at me gratefully, I smiled and I began doodling on my notebook again.
I heard Bella explaining to Edward about why we moved here, I was surprised she was freely opening up to him, she hadn't explained it to anyone else,
Mr. Banner called the class to order then, and I turned to listening but my jacket fell to Edwards feet, I apologised and quickly reached and grabbed it accidently brushing his arm,
"it's okay" he muttered, but now I could see from the corner of my eye, when I sat back up that he was leaning away from me, his hands gripping the edge of the table with unmistakable tension.
I tried to appear attentive as Mr. Banner illustrated, but confused about his reaction.
When the bell finally rang, Edward muttered a goodbye to Bella but rushed as swiftly and as gracefully from the room as he had last, but not without leaving a almost furious look towards me, and again I stared after him in amazement, what the hell was his problem?
"Cullen seemed friendly enough today," Mike commented to Bella we all walked out of the room, clearly no one had noticed the look he gave me,
"I wonder what was with him last Monday" Bella asked,
"who knows" Mike said laughing.
The snow had turned into just a mist when we reached the parking lot,
I looked around me to make sure it was clear before crossing the parking lot, That's when I noticed the still, white figure, Edward Cullen was leaning against the front door of the Volvo, three cars down from me, and staring hatefully in my direction, I quickly looked away and got into the truck after Bella, I took another glance to see Edward had gone and Emmett was now stood there with a small smile directed towards me, I quickly looked away.
Bella was too busy telling me about her conversation with Edward and almost hit a rusty Toyota Corolla pulling out. Lucky for the Toyota, she stomped on the brake in time. It was just the sort of car that my truck would make scrap metal of. I took a deep breath,
"Jesus Bella try not to kill me, I'm too young to die yet" I joked, Bella laughed at me but cautiously pulled out again, with greater success. I stared straight ahead as I passed the Volvo, but from a peripheral peek, to which I couldn't help myself I would swear I saw Emmett laughing.
