Chapter 4: first day of school

Time passed slowly up until Monday, but when it came, it seemed to all have been in a rush. Suddenly, I had to wake up at six 'o' clock and carry a backpack. All of my notebooks and and highlighters were color coded for each class and there was a fresh pack of my favorite pens just waiting to be used. School supply shopping was like cocaine and I, the willing addict.

The morning of my first day, the snooze button was pressed nary a time. Of all the days to sleep in, today wasn't it. Besides, I couldn't fall back asleep anyway. I was too wired, too anxious about being in a new school with new classes, full of new people that would hopefully not hate me. I wanted to put my best foot forward, preferably clad in a rain boot. After a nice shower and blow drying my hair, I felt a little more stable. I was having a good hair day, and my skin looked smooth for once. Perhaps the stars were aligning. Usually when I tried to keep my makeup simple and low key, it still looked over the top. So I forced my jittery hands to stop after filling in my eyebrows and applying generous coats of mascara and a lip tint.

I threw on one of my new sweaters, a pair of jeans, and the boots I'd gotten yesterday, along with my rain jacket. Dark grey clouds blanketed the sky outside the window, promising some amount of rain before the day ended.

Cara was sitting at the breakfast table by the time I made it down stairs, a bagel in one hand and the sport's section of the newspaper in the other. I grabbed an apple and took the chair opposite of her.

"Nervous about school," she asked without looking up. Her eyebrow quirked upwards, the one thing that all the women in the Walker family shared.

"A little," I admitted before biting into the apple. I really would have rather eaten a waffle with eggs and bacon, but my stomach didn't need anything else weighing it down. It had already dropped to the floor. I hated how sick I felt when I got nervous. It was so unnecessary.

"You'll be fine. Forks isn't much bigger student wise than back home. It is spaced out a little weird, though."

I nodded, chewing my breakfast slowly.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna head out early so I can find my classes. I'll see you this afternoon." I tossed the core of my apple in the trash and went back upstairs to grab my book bag. There really was no reason to get to school a whole thirty minutes before the first bell, but it would make me feel a little better. Right as I shut the door of my car, rain started falling in big, fat drops over the windshield. Here we go.

I noticed a silver Volvo at the Swan's house as I drove past, most likely belonging to that Cullen guy Cara had mentioned. I really hated driving in the rain, though there was no escaping it here. Thankfully, not many cars were on the road yet, and the school was only a couple of miles north. I could drive slow and still get there in plenty of time.

The student lot sat in the back of campus, mostly empty this early in the morning. The rain calmed to a drizzle by the time my car rolled to a stop in one of the spaces nearest to the office. I shrugged on my new rain jacket and checked that all of my notebooks and pens were in my bag. Then I double and triple checked, just to be sure. After that, I had no reason to stay in the safety of my car any longer.

One, two, three, go. Don't think about what you're doing. Just do it.

My hand was on the door handle and my feet on the wet gravel before I realized what I was doing. Just one step at a time. Whether it was an hour or just a minute until I reached the front office, I couldn't be sure. The cold had seeped in through my clothes and chilled my skin before I had made it halfway there. My hand automatically reached up to push my hair back as I made it to the double glass doors. It was already starting to frizz despite the hairspray. Warm air from inside washed over my face as I pulled the door open and stepped over the threshold. A middle aged secretary with horn-rimmed glasses looked up as I approached the counter.

"How can I help you?" she smiled gentle and my nervous immediately eased, but only slightly.

"Um...I'm a new student. Collins Walker. Just need to pick up my schedule."

"Oh! You're the new student from Alabama, aren't you? Let me see..." She clicked away at her computer and started typing. I glanced around the office in an attempt to distract my racing mind. The nameplate on the desk read Ms. Hartfield. Beside that, a Snoopy mug filled with pens, some of which I recognized as my favorites. Several pictures behind Ms. Hartfield's desk showcased a much younger version of the woman in front of me, along with whom I assumed to be her husband and kids. The sound of a whizzing printer drew my attention back to the whole reason I was here in the first place.

"Here's your schedule and a map to help you find your classes. If you have any trouble, one of the other students should be more than happy to help you, or you can come back here. There's usually an office aid with nothing better to do," she handed me the two pieces of paper, along with a school handbook. "Oh! I almost forgot."

I watched her rummage in a filing cabinet before producing another paper.

"Make sure to have each of your teachers sign this, and bring it back to me at the end of the day. Got all that?"

"Yes ma'am, I'll be sure to do that. Thank you," I gave her an appreciative smile and started back out the way I came.

"You're welcome. Your accent is just the cutest thing!"

A. P. Calculus

Government

P.E.

Lunch

Art

A.P. Anatomy/Physiology

A.P. English Lit.

Good Lord, what was I thinking, signing up for 3 AP classes? My old school didn't have the funding for AP courses, and now here I was, taking three.

"It'll help you get ahead," I remembered Mom saying as we picked my classes over the break. Yeah, but I actually had to pass for them to do me any good! And who puts Calculus at the beginning of the day? I'd definitely need to start drinking coffee on the regular.

Luckily, I was able to find the first room easily. Mr. Savrda, as he had introduced himself, signed my little slip of paper before letting me choose a desk. Really, any desk, considering no one else had arrived yet. Front of the room made you an easy target for questions, middle of the room put you in the thick of things, and the back said 'antisocial.' I took a desk in the second to last row, hoping that'd be a good spot. There was about fifteen minutes left until students usually arrived, so I went ahead and pulled out my math notebook, a good pen, and a few highlighters. I doodled outside the margins until some students started to trickle in. They all seemed to know each other, chatting as they took their desks around the room. A few of them looked at me for a couple seconds, a question in their eyes before turning back to their conversations. Apparently new students were easily noticeable. I snuck glances at each person that walked in: a girl with beautiful curly brown hair, some guys wearing football jerseys, a girl with rectangular framed glasses. Please let at least one of these people like me, I thought as the room started to fill.

Right before the tardy bell rang, one more guy slipped smoothly through and took the desk nearest the door. He was exceptionally handsome and exceptionally pale. I'd gotten away with peeking at my other classmates, but this one almost immediately met my eyes.

Oop, look away, look away.

I felt my cheeks flush as I tried to nonchalantly direct my attention to the front of the room, where Mr. Savrda had stood up and began approaching the dry erase board. Hopefully it didn't look like I had been staring because I wasn't

"Alright, settle down, settle down," Mr. Savrda addressed the chattering class and glanced directly at me. "Before we get started, I want to introduce a new student that transferred over the break from Alabama. If you'll look to the second to last row, you'll see Miss Collins Walker."

All the heads in the room turned towards me, as if they were in perfect sync. My already blushing cheeks were now on fire. I gave a wave and a small smile. Some smiled back, some seemed totally disinterested.

"Most of you guys have been in school together since kindergarten, so let's make sure to give Collins a warm welcome, okay?'

Almost everyone had stopped looking at me, though I still felt the weight of their stares. Before Mr. Savrda could begin writing on the board, the guy I had noticed earlier stood and whispered something to him. Mr. Savrda sighed and said something along the lines of 'this early?' and scribbled out something on a sticky note. The guy took the note and hurriedly exited the room. Weird. I didn't have much time to think about it as Mr. Savrda handed me a used textbook and started a lecture on integrals. Math wasn't necessarily my best subject; I definitely wouldn't want to teach it. But I had never been particularly bad at it either, as long as I took thorough notes and worked the problems enough, though it didn't come naturally like science or literature or even art.

He sure wasn't going to waste time on the first day either. Back in Andalusia, I had taken regular Calculus in a semester. Surely AP Calculus wouldn't be too different or difficult? I didn't want to find out. My hand flew across the page, making sure to jot down every word and example worked on the board. I vaguely remembered integrals from before Christmas break, but all of that information had kind of been forgotten while I stuffed myself full of mashed potatoes, buttery dinner rolls, ham, and enough dessert to last the rest of my life.

By the time the bell rang an hour later, I'd forgotten all about the weird kid from earlier, or the fact that he hadn't returned to class. My mind swirled with numbers and operations while still trying to figure out where my next class was. Ugh, Government. Don't get me wrong, I liked history classes well enough. But in my experience, they could be mind-numbingly boring.

Building 5, building 5, which one is that again?

I looked down at the map in my hands and tried to orient where exactly I was and where I needed to go. Why in the world weren't these buildings set up in order? It was like someone had drawn numbers out of a hat and randomly assigned them to the buildings. I thought building 5 was right beside the one I currently stood in, so I headed left down the hall and hoped I was right. Through the double glass doors, I saw a large blue number five against the red brick. Relief made it much easier to breathe, now that I could make it to class without being tardy.

Most of the desks were taken, so after another awkward introduction and collecting another worn out history text (both courtesy of a Miss Campbell), I snagged a seat in the back right corner by the window. At least she seemed to only want to review before diving into new material today. Mr. Savrda should take a leaf out of her book. After completing an intake quiz, we were free to chat and catch up with friends. I looked out of the window at the ever present grey clouds. It had stopped raining, but I was convinced the clouds never really went away. They were just taking a slight intermission.

A soft tap on my arm pulled my gaze back into the room and towards the girl sitting in front of me. She wore a pair of purple tortoise shell glasses, along with a timid smile.

"Hi, I'm Angela. It's Collins, right?"

"Yup, that's me," I returned the smile ten fold. I couldn't help it. Making friends in Forks had been an obstacle I'd foreseen the second we'd started packing the car. To be carrying on a conversation with someone on my first day was a blessing straight from the gloomy sky. "Signed, sealed, and delivered straight from Alabama."

Corny, I know, but at least it made her laughed.

"Awesome! We hardly ever get new students here. The last time was almost a year ago."

Wow, and I thought my school had been small.

"I can't imagine why. The weather here is to die for," I said sarcastically while gesturing towards the window. "No offense," I added in case the locals were defensive about their home. I sure could be about my hometown.

"None taken. Trust me, we don't actually like the weather here. We just tolerate it until our parents ship us out to colleges. It must have been difficult moving out here in the middle of your senior year, hm?"

"You've no idea," I couldn't hide the slight dryness in my voice. Not easy, but doable.

"I can't imagine. You should sit with my friends and I at lunch. That's where the last new girl ended up too, so I'd say we're relatively welcome to the transplants," we both laughed at that, and I had to contain my smile so I wouldn't look like a total psychopath.

"Really? Thanks, I'm sure your friends are great."

"No problem. Just don't pay attention to the idiot guys that sit with us. Their bark is worse than their bite but...their bark is pretty bad."

The bell drowned out the sound of my awkward squawk of laughter. As we all gathered our books and backpacks, Angela sidled up next to me.

"Where's your next class? I can help you find it if I need to," she offered helpfully.

"I appreciate it, but I have P.E. next. If I can't find the gym, then I probably should just drop out at this point," I joked.

"Oh, yeah that shouldn't be too hard to find. My class is in the opposite direction anyway. Meet me at the cafeteria for lunch and I'll show you to our table!" She called the last sentence before being swept into a current of bustling students. I waved and turned around to fight the upstream battle.

Thanks to the fact that I hadn't any clothes to change into, Coach Garner let me sit out on the bleachers as the other girls dressed out and started up a rousing game of volleyball. I actually felt a little envious as the ball sailed over the net between the ragtag teams. I had played volleyball the last two years at my old school. We kind of sucked, but it was still a lot of fun. Now that the season was over, I itched to be on the court, setting the ball up for a hard spike. I would definitely remember my gym clothes tomorrow.

When the bell rang for lunch, I was the first person out of the gym and into the closest building. The cafeteria, much like the gym, should be easy enough to find. All I had to do was follow everyone else.

I must have beat Angela there, because she wasn't waiting for me by the doors to the lunchroom. I tried to casually prop myself against the wall as the rest of the students milled past, but casual wasn't my most refined trait. Quite a few people eyed me as they went in, though none said anything. I guess Angela was right, they really didn't get new students often. Finally, I noticed a girl with purple glasses coming toward me among the throng of hungry teenagers.

"Hey, there you are! Sorry it took me so long. Mr. Vesta likes to stretch his class as long as he possibly can," Angela rolled her eyes as we both entered the room. I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to ignore the people who suddenly found us more interesting than the pizza on their trays. I didn't particularly want salad, but was too chicken to leave Angela's side to go through the other line for a hot lunch.

"I'm sooo glad they revamped the salad bar. Last year's was just pitiful." I watched her face scrunch up in disgust.

"Oh, my old school didn't even have a salad bar."

"No way. Seriously?" she asked, her mouth just slightly hanging open. "What about vegetarian or vegan students?"

"Uh, I'm pretty sure they had almond butter and honey sandwiches," I thought back to when Bethany had decided to try veganism. It didn't last past the end of the day, when she snagged a chicken finger basket from Dairy Queen on our way home.

"Well, I guess that's one good thing about school here then."

I followed Angela to a table that was nearly full; only one empty seat remained. Surprisingly, I knew one of the girls sitting almost directly across from me.

"You sit. I'll grab another chair."

I turned to protest, but she had already walked to another table to ask about borrowing a chair. Six other people were now starring at me as I sat down. The lunchroom suddenly felt much warmer under the weight of their stares. I didn't know what to say, but luckily, I didn't have to. The girl to my right scooched herself closer and immediately fired off a few questions.

"So where are you from? How long have you been in town? Why'd you move out here?"

I scarcely had time to open my mouth and process what she was saying before Angela returned and ran interference.

"Cool it with the 20 questions, Jess. She literally just sat down."

The girl, I suppose her name was Jess or something similar, just rolled her eyes and eased back a bit, but still stayed close enough like she might miss something. I'd never met someone who seemed so interested in what I had to say.

"Everybody, this is Collins. Collins, this is everybody. That's Jessica," she motioned to the girl beside me, "then Mike," a guy with a round boyish face and blonde hair, "this is Eric, my boyfriend," he waved enthusiastically from the other side of Angela, and I waved back. "And then that's Bella Swan and Edward and Alice Cullen."

Cullen. So this is the guy Cara had mentioned. Not what I expected at all. Since when do the hot guys get the "weird" label?

"It's nice to meet ya'll. And it's nice to see you again, Bella," I addressed her, though the last time we'd been face to face, it hadn't been much of an interaction.

"Nice to see you, too," she replied kindly. I let my eyes roam over each person and tried to commit their names to memory. Mike, Jessica, Eric.

There was absolutely no way that I could forget the other three. Bella because it was the second time seeing her. But the Cullens because I didn't think I had ever seen anyone quite like them. Their skin was pale, so pale that I almost thought their was something wrong with them; anemic, maybe. Despite that, they were unusually attractive. Not in a trendy way, but more like models. Their faces were perfectly symmetrical, each feature straight and precise. No crooked noses or teeth. It was like God had carved their faces himself. I tried not to look at them too long, certain that I wasn't the only person who had noticed how beautiful they were.

"Oh good, you've already met Bella. Is Jasper out today?" Angela asked Alice, a look of genuine concern crossing her face.

"Oh, he left during first period; I think he had a migraine. You know how he has trouble with those," she chirped. Even her voice sounded pretty. Suddenly I wished I'd put a lot more effort into my appearance this morning, though I thought I already did. I vaguely wondered if Jasper was the guy in my Calculus class that had left before the lesson even started. "So Collins, tell us about yourself. Where are you from?"

I felt even more flustered than before, having a freaking goddess address a peasant like myself. Edward laughed, I'm guessing from something Bella had mumbled to him because I hadn't heard anything particularly funny.

"I just moved here from Alabama a few days ago. My dad got a promotion in France, so he and my momma went out there, and now I live with my sister."

"Oh, I love your accent! It's so country sounding," Jessica gushed from my right. And so it begins. I slowly chewed a piece of carrot and grinned, feeling my face heat up at her comment. There was no hiding my accent even if I tried. Eighteen years of southern living can sure do that to a person.

"How've you been liking Forks? Have you seen all the sights, like the diner and traffic light beside it?" Mike elbowed Bella lightly at his joke.

"Uh, for the most part yeah. My sister gave me the grand tour on Friday."

And so, that's how the rest of lunch went; everyone taking turns asking me questions and then discussing my answers like I was a guest lecturer or something. I wasn't used to being the center of attention at the lunch table, but it felt nice to have people listen to what I had to say, even if it was mundane. Edward and Bella both kept to themselves for the most part, but Alice talked ninety to nothing about everything under the sun, from sports to fashion.

"Which class do you have next?" Mike asked as the bell rang to signal the end of lunch. I noticed Jessica slowing down as we walked towards the set of doors connecting to the hall.

"Um, I think I have art," I said while shuffling around in my bag for my schedule. Yup, art.

"Oh cool. I can show you right where-"

"I'll walk you!" An arm as solid as stone looped around my own and began lightly tugging me in the direction of what I presumed to be art. If I hadn't heard the distinct bell-like voice of Alice Cullen, I could've sworn that it was a guy, what with the force that she could exert. Mike's face fell into disappointment, but there was nothing I could do. Alice would not be swayed.

"I actually have that next too, so it works out perfectly."

I'm not sure if I'd ever met someone so jubilant. I couldn't get a read on her without touching the skin of her hand, and there wasn't exactly an inconspicuous way to do that at the moment. Though what was the point? I'd probably find nothing but pure happiness.

On the way to art, Alice talked animatedly about her brother, Jasper. Adopted brother, might I add, and how she couldn't wait for us to meet because she thought we would have a lot in common. I wasn't sure what exactly we would have in common, but she insisted we'd get along well. I wouldn't be convinced until I actually had a chance to meet him, when and if that happened.

Art was one of my favorite subjects, mostly since it didn't require any studying. Well, for the most part. Art History in ninth grade had been a little less exciting, but now that I had made it to Drawing II, there wouldn't be much to do but, well, draw. I wasn't necessarily great at it, though I'd definitely improved since last year. Compared to Alice, I might as well have thrown my pencils away. She insisted on sharing a table, which I didn't mind too much. That is, until, I saw how good she was. It was a little discouraging to see how effortless her hand drifted across the textured paper, adding a little shading her or erasing there for highlights. I reminded myself that just because she was great didn't mean my picture was worthless. But that only worked up to a certain level of talent. I wasn't there yet.

After art, I had anatomy and English literature, two of my better subject. It seemed like I had waited forever to take pick back up in anatomy; I was sick of chemistry and physics. Mercifully, both of my teachers didn't make me introduce myself and decided to take things easy on the first day back. In anatomy, we went over lab safety procedures, and for literature, we discussed some of the works we would be studying this semester.

By the time I got home that afternoon, all I wanted to do was climb into my bed and nap. So I did.

A/N: I appreciate everyone that is taking the time to read what I write, whether you end up enjoying it or not. I wouldn't categorize this as a slow burn fic, though I definitely don't want to rush things. So bear with me as the first few chapter have been centered around introducing characters and integrating an OC with the Twilight universe.

Happy reading and stay safe!