(Edited 29/08/24)
–
"Of course it's raining." I muttered to myself, as I peeked out at the miserable weather through the yellowed curtains. I thought about my battle plan for the day, starting with my outfit; I didn't want to stand out, but I also didn't want to simply blend in – I wanted to be completely invisible today. I chose a heavy cable knit sweater in forest green to hide my slender frame and paired it with some battered mom jeans. The sweater was new, yet, given my penchant for chewing sleeves, I knew it would look ancient by the end of the week.
When I was dressed and prepared with the stationery and paperwork I needed for the day, I headed downstairs to make food for Charlie. I did the eggs my usual way and served them with some buttered toast before calling him to breakfast. I wasn't hungry this morning. In fact, I felt queasy just smelling the food on the table.
Charlie grumbled about a sore neck as he lumbered down the stairs and I made a mental note that he might need a new pillow. Considering how the rest of the house had barely changed since the last time I was here, I wouldn't be surprised. He woke up a little more once he started digging in and I decided to try my luck in conversation.
I cleared my throat. "Hey dad, would you mind giving me directions to the high school?"
"Oh, it's just off the highway, like most things. Wait, hang on. You don't know where that is. Right." he motioned to my backpack, seemingly asking for a pen and paper.
"It doesn't really look like a high school, just a bunch of buildings. Look for the sign and you'll find it, you're smart."
"Thanks dad."
He grunted in response. The rest of breakfast was a quiet event, and he wished me good luck before heading out the door. "If you need anything, call me, I'll make time," he told me emphatically.
Once I'd done the dishes, it was hard to stay still a minute longer. My body was coiled in anticipation of the day ahead. At home, I would have usually gone for a walk to take advantage of the early, cooler hours of the day at this time. Connecting with nature was always considerably more calming than connecting with people.
I wished that I could go for a walk now, but the rain was doing its best to make it as unappealing as possible. Still, I couldn't stay in the house anymore. I donned my jacket – which had the feel of a biohazard suit – and headed out into the rain.
I hurriedly locked up and walked quickly to the dry sanctuary my truck provided. When I turned the key, the engine roared to life, then idled at top volume as I waited for the heating to come on. It was significantly louder in the silence than I had remembered, but I didn't mind. I smiled to myself. The truck's grumbling reminded me of Charlie and his poor neck this morning.
I decided to drive in silence today, letting the calm early morning light and beautiful scenery wash over me in lieu of a proper walk. Plus, I wasn't sure if the radio worked yet. Following dad's directions, finding the school wasn't too difficult. Charlie was right, it wasn't obvious that it was a school, and only the battered sign reading 'Forks High School,' made me stop. At first, I almost missed it, obscured by tangled shrubs as it was.
I parked in front of the first building, which had a small sign over the door reading 'front office.' I was sure it was off limits, since there were no other cars in the lot, but I had to report to the office anyway, so I may as well ask for directions. I stepped unwillingly out of the now toasty truck cab and walked down a little stone path lined with dark hedges. I took a deep breath before opening the door.
Inside, it was brightly lit, and warmer than I'd hoped. The office was small; it was essentially a waiting area with orange-flecked commercial carpet, notices and awards cluttering the walls, a big clock ticking loudly. Padded folding chairs sat in mostly neat rows, punctuated by the plants growing everywhere in large plastic pots, as if there wasn't enough greenery outside. The room was cut in half by a long counter, the surface covered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly coloured flyers taped to its front.
There were three desks behind the counter, one of which was manned by a large, red-haired woman wearing glasses. A couple of people were sitting inside, but it was mostly quiet and empty, the only noises being the clock and heating unit. The red-haired woman looked up from her computer when I walked in.
"Can I help you?" She sounded impatient.
"Um," I began, walking towards the desk. I caught my foot on one of the folding chairs and it scraped across the floor loudly, sending heads turning in my direction. I tripped, banging my knee on the metal seat and wincing. I was less concerned about the bruise that would surely form later, and more about what an idiot everyone must think I am.
The woman waited until I reached the desk. "Are you okay?" It didn't sound as if she cared about the answer.
"Yes, thank you." I blushed. "It's my first day."
"Name?"
"Isabella Swan." A flicker of awareness lit her eyes.
"Of course you are." She dug through a precariously stacked pile of documents on her desk until she found the ones she was looking for.
"This is your schedule and map. You can park here," She pointed at a location so quickly that I didn't catch it. "Get these slips signed by each of your teachers and return them here at the end of the day. If you need any help, you're best off asking another student, we're very busy here."
I resigned myself to driving around in the rain – no way was I going to ask her to show me again.
"Thank you, have a nice day." I smiled shyly.
"You're welcome." The woman returned to typing furiously.
I blushed again in embarrassment. I didn't feel welcome. I felt like dying. To my relief, other students were starting to arrive by the time I reached my truck. I hopped back in and followed the line of traffic. I was glad to see that most of the cars were older like mine, nothing flashy. I cut the engine as soon as I parked, hoping that the thunderous volume wouldn't draw attention to me.
I preoccupied myself with untangling my earphones while I waited for the parking lot to fully populate. Then, I pulled my hood up, picked up the map I was given and climbed out of the truck. Before I could even orient myself, a gust of wind ripped the map out of my hands with almost supernatural force.
"Damnit," I muttered. I was notorious for getting lost, even with the best of maps.
As I checked that my schedule, at least, was still safely inside my pocket, I suddenly realised that the air was stagnant and oppressive, with barely any wind. Just as it was before my map was so rudely stolen by the elements. I looked around, curious as to whether anyone else had noticed the strange occurrence, but everyone seemed oblivious.
Everyone, that is, except for one student. He leaned casually against the stair railings, his own earbuds locked firmly in place. He was lanky, with untidy bronze-coloured hair, pale in the extreme, almost marble white. He looked like a ghost, with purplish bruise-like shadows under his eyes.
His eyes… They were black – coal black and completely devoid of emotion. Yet, despite my unsettling description, he was devastatingly, inhumanely beautiful. I wasn't attracted to him, or any boys for that matter, but my body was seized with some innate instinct – I wasn't sure whether to run and hide or weep in awe.
Fortunately, I didn't have to make a choice in my dazed state. Those stairs led to the main entrance of the school, made obvious by the crowds of students filing past him. Run and hide it was. I averted my gaze as I approached, trying to act like I didn't notice his attention on me.
Why was he looking in the first place? I was beneath him, and I was sure he knew it. I bit my lip nervously, just a little too hard, and a bead of blood bloomed on my chapped lips. I quickly swept it away with my tongue.
Sneaking a glance at him as I passed, a wave of shock rippled through me. He looked hostile, furious, murderous even. He was rigid now and met my eyes with a gaze I'd never imagined would be directed at me. I looked away quickly, hoping I had misread the situation. How could this beautiful stranger hate me this much?
All day I stumbled around campus, barely dragging myself from class to class in time. The lack of a map was noticed by all of my teachers yet none of them even attempted to help me with my navigation problems. My classmates were a similar story, but this I was grateful for – I had wished for invisibility and my wish was granted. If only it lasted into the last class of the day, Biology.
While building three was easy to spot from the centralised cafeteria, where I had eaten alone earlier that day, I felt my breathing gradually creeping toward hyperventilation as I approached the door. There was no obvious danger, and my classes had been mostly uneventful thus far, yet my instincts were telling me that something inside that building was very wrong.
I quietened my inner sense of danger and steeled myself for an uncomfortable yet hopefully uneventful hour ahead. No one was going to bite me, I reminded myself. This was a high school, not a battlefield. As I pulled the heavy, metal door handle open and stepped into the doorframe, it took me a moment to figure out what was wrong with the scene before me.
Precariously crowded potted ferns spilled over several sideboards around the edges of the room, bringing a jungle-like environment into the classroom. A large taxidermied snowy owl perched on a central oak desk, located at the far end of the room where a comparatively small teacher with wiry grey hair was scrawling lesson objectives.
The floors were smooth, dark wood, worn down by generations of rowdy teenagers. Scratched oak lab tables were arranged in rows, mobbed by chattering students. Some perched on worn wooden stools, while others crowded around their friends, lingering until their own lessons began. I could imagine building 3, with its central location within the school, made for a good meeting point.
There was one lab table that wasn't filled or crowded, however. It was as if everyone had purposefully kept their distance, like people trying to escape the radius of an earthquake. This wouldn't have been too surprising - every school has a few designated 'weird kids' people tend to stay away from. Perhaps some would consider me one of them. But out of all the potential faces I expected to belong to the boy sitting at the half-empty desk, I didn't expect it to be the bronze-haired boy from this morning.
I froze in shock. I shouldn't have been surprised to see him again, he was a student here after all. Yet, seeing him in this jungle of a classroom, surrounded by people so full of life and completely unlike himself… He struck me as a wolf in sheep's clothing. A predator among prey. At first, I thought it was just me who was affected this way. However, looking more carefully at the faces around me, I noticed eyes shifting to and from his seat, nervous whisperings quickly interrupted by a glare; I noticed not one person had their back to him. So, it wasn't just me, I thought.
I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other, though my legs felt numb. I passed the boy without a glance and introduced myself to the teacher, Mr. Banning. He signed my slip and waved for me to sit anywhere, although it wasn't like I had a choice; The crowd had parted now, and it was clear there was only one table with free seats – the one with the bronze-haired boy. As I found my way to my seat, I busied myself with returning my paperwork to my backpack. Unfortunately, this meant that I was paying no attention to where I placed my feet, which was never a good thing for someone as clumsy as myself.
Whether I tripped over a shoe, backpack or something else, it all had the same outcome. Laughter erupted around me, but I barely noticed. A white hot brand of fear flashed through my body as burning cold hands caught me, wrapping around my upper arms like a vice. He levelled his black, stormy eyes with mine and leaned close. "Will you be more careful?" He hissed. A hushed whisper had settled over the class as I felt the blood drain from my face. I imagined I looked as ghost-white as he did.
"You're hurting me." I whispered. He let go of me as if I was the one who had burned him.
"Is everything alright over there?" Demanded the teacher sternly. All of a sudden, the boy's demeanour changed and a brilliant smile – with teeth white and predatory – fell across his face like a flash of lightning.
"Of course, Mr. Banner. I was just reminding her to be careful."
At this, the teacher looked dazed for a moment, and then shrugged it off. I couldn't believe it. Was this his normal behaviour? I walked in a daze of my own to the empty seat, watching where I was going this time. I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took a seat, but I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. He was rigid again, leaning away from me and sitting on the extreme edge of his chair. I let my hair fall over my right shoulder, forming a dark curtain between us.
During the whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair. I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin. This, too, he never relaxed. He had the long sleeves of his white shirt pushed up to his elbows, and his forearm was surprisingly hard and muscular beneath his light skin. I was afraid of the enormous advantage those muscles would give him over me.
Then, the moment the bell rang, the boy was out of his seat and slamming the door before anyone else had scarcely breathed. I sat frozen in my seat, for a moment, staring blankly after him. I began gathering up my things slowly and mechanically, trying not to cry.
"Hey, are you okay? Cullen was intense there." a male voice asked. I looked up to see a baby-faced boy with pale blonde hair carefully gelled into orderly spikes. He would have been cute, though his face was currently creased with concern.
"Cullen?" I asked, barely managing to speak.
"Edward Cullen. I've never seen him act like that. You're Isabella, right? New girl? I'm Mike."
He held out a hand to shake my own and I backed away instinctively. I couldn't be touched right now.
He held his hands up in surrender and smiled slightly. "Okay, no handshake. Can I at least walk you to your car?"
I nodded weakly and found my voice. "Thank you. And it's Bella, just Bella. He certainly was… intense. I didn't really speak to him."
"Weird. If I were lucky enough to sit by you, I would have talked to you." He smiled, and I returned it tentatively.
As we reached my truck, we swapped schedules, and it turned out we had a class together just before lunch tomorrow. He offered for me to sit with his friends in the cafeteria, which I accepted. Although I was anxious about it, I was more anxious about being on my own after the incident with… Edward. It felt strange to finally know his name.
Satisfied I was safe, Mike left me to the sanctity of my truck, where I locked the doors and promptly cried my eyes out. When I finally stopped myself, the parking lot was practically abandoned. Darker clouds had pressed in, giving the false appearance of much later evening. The wind, which had been still most of the day, was now strong and bitingly cold. I gathered my slips and climbed out, planning to walk slowly to the office in the hope my red, puffy eyes would be less obvious by the time I got there.
I wrapped my arms around myself and sucked in a deep breath. There was silence all around, with no sound of footsteps. But I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched from the moment I stepped out of the truck. Worse still, the feeling grew as I continued. It was the little things – an outside door opening and slamming to my right, a flock of birds taking startled flight to my left… Edward in my path to the front.
I stopped dead, my heart in my throat. My vision blurred and I stumbled backwards in fear. Just my luck, I thought, I was about to be murdered by a psychopath on the first day of school. I blinked my eyes clear. Edward was gone. I looked around wildly – was he hiding? No-one could move that quickly. I stumbled to a wall and leaned against it, my chest heaving.
It was a little while later when a silky, feminine voice spoke softly to me, as if not to frighten me off. "Hello Bella," she said.
Instead of looking up, I focused on holding consciousness.
"Shit," The girl muttered. I listened to her running her hands through her hair. "I didn't expect this to happen… Can you hear me?"
I nodded slowly and felt myself sliding down the wall. My breathing was heavy, but I kept it measured.
Black-clad knees knelt in front of me, with well-manicured hands resting on them. The girl's nail polish shone a ruby red.
"May I touch you?" She asked.
I nodded. She reached slowly for my hand and placed it on top of her palm. It was icy cold, just like Edward's… No, not just like Edward's. She was cold, yes, but it was a cold breeze on a summer's day compared to Edward's frostbite.
"I don't know if this happens to you a lot, but it's sometimes helpful to have different sensory experiences when you feel overwhelmed," She explained, "Feel free to take as long as you need."
I gently moved my fingers, circling her palm. Her skin was velvety smooth, but strong, with no elasticity. I gently pressed, watching as the skin stayed immobile, as if I was touching a marble statue.
"Are you feeling any better?" It was then that I realised my breathing had normalised and I felt in control of my body again. I retracted my hand gingerly and swallowed, looking up.
"Yes, thank–" My sentence dropped off. Immediately, I knew that she was related to Edward. While their features were nothing alike, they both had the same strange pallor and bruise-like shadows under their eyes. Yet, if it was even possible, the girl in front of me was even more flawless than her relative. Bow-shaped lips lined with brilliant red, enigmatic eyes in a shade of deep amber, pale golden hair down to her waist… I struggled to think of anyone matching her beauty.
I averted my gaze downwards again, "Yes, thank you."
She laughed musically. "You're allowed to look at me, you have been holding my hand for over 20 minutes after all. That's further than any guy at this godforsaken place is ever going to get."
I blushed red. It was embarrassing enough to have a panic attack in public, but it was so much worse that the person who helped me through it was so inhumanely beautiful.
"Can you stand? Let me help you." She stood, holding out her hand again, and I took it. Rather than simply pulling me up, she placed her other hand under my elbow and gently guided me up to make sure I was steady.
I could see that she was tall now, with long legs and a balanced silhouette. Her bone structure was neither too round nor too angular; Instead, it was perfectly classic and timelessly beautiful.
"Thank you, again."
"I should be thanking you – for your patience with my brother I mean. I'm Rosalie, Edward is my brother… Unfortunately." She paused to look at me, making sure I was listening, before continuing.
"Anyway, I'd like to apologise for his behaviour. He's not the most… welcoming of our family." Her lip curled in disgust as she spoke.
"If I can do anything to help, please say the word. I'll do my best to ensure he stays away from you."
I spoke quietly. "Thank you, Rosalie but I started it, really. I think I made him angry by tripping into him."
She laughed bitterly. "And yet you're the one with bruises. Please, men like my brother have a tendency to put their hands where they're not wanted."
I bit my lip and thought about her words. "Rosalie, I was planning on transferring out of my biology class, but I'm not sure if they'll agree… Will you switch classes with me?"
"What, and spend a whole period with my brother? Absolutely no chance."
My heart sank to my feet, and I opened my mouth to apologise–
"But I'll switch with him, if that's the same to you."
"And if he doesn't agree?" I asked anxiously.
She smiled deviously. "Then I'll make him."
I returned her smile weakly. "I need to go… I have to take this paperwork to the office."
Rosalie sighed and held out a manicured hand. "Give it here."
"Huh? I said, brilliantly.
"Give it here. The office closed hours ago, but I know a way in. Then you won't have to speak to those stuck up bitches tomorrow."
I choked on a laugh as she snapped her hand in a beckoning motion. I handed over the papers and watched as she turned dramatically and strode confidently towards the office building.
At first, I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. Rosalie, in her 3-4 inch black heels, deftly scaled the air vents on the side of the building, effortlessly pulled her body weight onto the roof and dropped down through a previously unknown skylight without a sound.
I was only waiting for a few anxious minutes before she emerged through the plexiglass front doors, casually twirling a set of keys on her finger with a smirk.
"What?" She asked amusedly, "They'll only think someone forgot to lock up."
I shook my head and smiled. "Thank you for everything. I'll see you in biology."
Rosalie nodded curtly and moved to go past me, before rethinking it and taking my hand in hers. We locked eyes.
"For both of our sakes, I hope he'll stay away from you." She dropped my hand and continued on her way.
I dragged myself back to my truck and drove straight home to Charlie. Though it was unlikely, I had hoped he lost track of time as much as I had. Unfortunately, hope breeds eternal misery. Charlie was pacing in front of the TV when I arrived home and looked up in anticipation as I opened the door.
"Bells! How'd your day go? I didn't think you'd be gone so long."
I sighed guiltily, "Sorry dad, I just needed to be alone for a bit… I'm sorry I worried you – I promise I won't make it a habit."
His forehead creased. "Alone? Bella, I thought you'd go out with some new friends, not sulk around alone. Now I'm worried." He crossed his arms.
I cringed and ducked into the kitchen. "Did you eat dinner already? I can make something quickly if you're hungry."
Charlie followed me in. "Talk to me. Did the kids at school say something to you? Did you understand the classes okay?"
My hands were pressed into the side of my jaw, fingers splayed. I brought them down in a defensive block as I stressed, "Dad, I'm fine. Can we please just forget about it?"
He stayed silent for a moment before grunting, clearly unsatisfied. "I ordered pizza earlier. There's some in the fridge for you if you want it."
I let out a deep breath. "Thank you." I plated up a few slices to bring upstairs as he settled onto the couch. Before I went to my room, I turned to Charlie, who was now sat reading a fishing magazine.
"I'm sorry. I'm just not used to people caring." I left before he had a chance to respond.