Chapter Text
When you arrived in Forks, you weren't as awkward when it came to interacting with Charlie. Bella was like a brick wall, even the thought of this past weekend makes you cringe. Seeing Jacob again was even worse, with all her forced laughter and awkward demeanor. Her doing this doesn't affect your life much, it just gives you a lot of second-hand embarrassment. It's the following week and the first day of school, Bella just pulled into the parking lot. She looks around, trying to find a spot close to the entrance. Eventually, she does, after some anxious lip bites. She does this when she's nervous, and she's always nervous. It never fails to make you chuckle.
She pulls into an empty parking spot and lets out a deep sigh, turning the car off and unbuckling her seatbelt. You do the same and grab your backpack from off the floor, setting it in your lap, "Nice ride." Someone remarks loudly, startling Bella. You look out your window at the boy and notice he's standing next to a dark blue van fit for a soccer mom. You raise a groomed eyebrow and sneer at the boy. You would've said something but it's your first day, and you don't want issues with someone on the first day. That would give you a reputation. Especially if you said something so rude so early in the morning.
You just ignore him and step out of Bella's old tattered truck, she does the same, pocketing her keys. You sling your backpack over your shoulder, it's so heavy, you know your shoulder will be aching by the end of this grueling 8-hour day. You join Bella near the driver's side, she seems flustered. Because it's raining, you pull the hood of your black sweater over your head. Bella doesn't, she just starts to walk toward the entrance.
With a grimace, you follow after your sister. As you walk across the parking lot, you notice the rude boy from earlier. He has his back to you, and he's talking to a group of people. As you think about his milf car, you follow Bella into your new school. When you get inside she waits for you to walk in front of her so she doesn't have to go first.
You reach the front office. The receptionist isn't nice or mean, and she hands you two slips of paper before sending you along. You give Bella her schedule and then go your separate ways. You don't have the same classes, there's no reason to walk together. Her first class is phys. Ed for some reason, you feel bad for her. She's never been good at anything relating to exercise. Your first class is English and your gym class is near the end of the day. The only class you share is Biology. Hopefully, she's able to get through the day without falling or breaking someone's nose.
The school isn't hard to navigate, and you find your English class easily. When you enter, the teacher strolls over to you, "You're the new student right?" The balding man asks, staring at you over his moon-shaped glasses. You nod, "Sit down in the back next to Jasper, Ms. Swan." He says, pointing behind you at the back of the classroom. You turn around to face the person you'll be sitting with for the rest of the year. He's pale and bony, with curly honey-blonde hair and thick, bushy eyebrows. His cheeks are high and his face is gaunt.
He sort of looks like he's in pain, or he's holding something back. Nervously, you make your way over to him. The bell hasn't rung yet, so there are only a few other students around. He has a notebook in front of him on his desk, a new one, by the looks of how clean the pages are. His backpack is hanging off of the back of his chair. When you walk past the front of his desk, he inhales sharply and you raise a brow as you sit down next to him. You put your backpack down next to you on the floor and lean over to unzip it. You retrieve your notebook and set it on your desk, along with a pencil.
Jasper seems out of place, compared to the other students. A little on edge and extra pale. Everyone here is pale, but he's nearly translucent. You zip your backpack up and look over at him, "What's the teacher's name?" You ask, realizing his name isn't on the board anywhere. His Adam's apple bobs as if he's swallowing and he flexes his fingers uncomfortably. But other than that, he does not indicate that he heard you. The classroom is starting to fill with students accompanied by laughter and loud voices.
Feeling irritated by his lack of response, you just face the teacher and wait for class to start. When the classroom fills with students and you get another look at Jasper, he looks even more uncomfortable than before. His shoulders are so tense they're almost completely hunched. It doesn't even seem like he's breathing. And his fists are clenched, resting in his lap under the desk.
He closes his eyes tight, "Mr. Berty." He answers, letting out a deep breath. Slowly, he opens his eyes and unclenches his fists. You're too surprised by his Southern accent to notice that his eyes are completely black. His strange demeanor could be chalked up to social anxiety or something. And his pale skin is explained by the weather in Forks.
Class begins and you don't say another word to the strange man. You try to focus on what the teacher is saying, Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, whatever, but his strange behavior is on your mind. There's something off about him, and you don't feel entirely comfortable sitting beside him. When you realize this, you feel bad. Guilty, almost. He's probably just nervous or something.
He glances at you, eyebrow raised. You pretend not to notice, but you see it out of the corner of your eye. You stare straight ahead at Mr. Berty. Now he's talking about the consequences of banning books. He seems like a good teacher and his classroom is nicely decorated. With movie posters, photos of various authors, and books hanging from the ceiling attached to strings.
Soon, the bell rings, and your first period ends. The entirety of it was spent glancing at Jasper and pretending not to stare when he caught you. You unzip your backpack and gather your things, risking a look at Jasper from over your shoulder. He's already gone. With a shrug, you drop your stuff into the bag and zip it back up, slinging it over your shoulder.
____
When you get to lunch, Bella is sitting in the center of the room at a table with a group of people. An unexpected outcome but not unwelcome. You hope these people aren't like the guy you sat next to in English class. Before you go over to Bella, you look around the cafeteria to see if you can find the pale boy. He's nowhere to be found, so you sigh and just walk over to your sister.
As you approach, Bella looks up at you with wide eyes. She doesn't seem like she's having fun, "I'm Bella's sister," You say as you sit down, gauging everyone's reaction. You don't look anything like your sister. She takes after Renee and you're more like Charlie. The girl next to you, with long curly brown hair and a wide smile, introduces herself as Jessica. The boy next to Jessica, Mike, is staring at Bella like he's in love with her.
So that's why she needed help.
"Have you guys been to La Push yet?" Mike asks the two of you, raising an eyebrow. But Bella is distracted by something. You follow her line of sight and notice a bunch of pale kids entering the cafeteria. The doors swing open and they walk in, it almost feels like time slows down as they glide through the cafeteria. You notice the boy from earlier, Jasper, beside a tiny black-haired girl that seems to bounce as she walks.
Mike huffs and stares down at his greasy pizza in the styrofoam tray, envious. Two of them, a tall blonde girl and a large bulky dark-haired boy, lead the group to a table in the back. They move through the room with grace, and everyone in the cafeteria seems to hold their breath and stare at them as they go.
The weirdest thing that happened all day, despite Jasper's earlier behavior, "Who are they?" Bella asks, still staring at the group openly. When she says it she sounds like she's out of breath or something.
"The Cullens," Jessica says, leaning toward the two of you. She's wearing a grin on her face, she's ready to spill, "Doctor and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids. They all moved here from Alaska two years ago." You raise an eyebrow at her information dump. Their foster father is a doctor? They must be rich.
The Asian girl with purple glasses next to Jessica nods, "They keep to themselves." She says, unscrewing the cap of her water bottle. You don't know why they keep to themselves, they look like models. If you looked like them, you'd be friends with everyone.
"Because they're all together, together," Jessica chuckles, quietly so the Cullens can't hear as they near the table, "The blonde girl, Rosalie, and the big dark-haired guy, Emmett. They're like together. I'm not even sure that's legal." She says with a scoff. Rosalie is tall with blonde hair and pale skin, she has this mean look on her face. Or she just has a resting bitch face, you're not sure. The guy next to her, holding her hand in his large one, has a playful glint in his eye.
The two of them pass your table. Rosalie glares down at Jessica as she walks by, tired of her constant gossiping.
"Jess, they're not actually related." Angela reminds the dark-haired girl, holding a hand up in their defense. Jessica shrugs, clearly she doesn't agree with what they're doing. The situation reminds you of the movie Clueless. It's only weird if they grew up together.
"But they live together," Jessica scoffs once more, "And the little dark-haired girl, Alice, she's really weird," Jess explains, looking over her shoulder at the short girl. She's standing next to Jasper, holding onto his arm as they follow Rosalie and Emmett to their table in the back, "She's with Jasper, the guy who looks like he's in pain." After she says this, the curly-haired Southern man makes eye contact with you, and so does his girlfriend. Jasper is tense, as usual. Just like he was during class. Alice looks at you curiously, tilting her head like she's confused.
"Dr. Cullen and his wife are like these foster parents slash matchmakers," Jessica says jokingly, hiding her face from the Cullens so it doesn't look like she's talking about them. You stare openly at them, at that table in the back. Jasper and Alice are joining their siblings, sitting down across from them.
"Maybe they'll adopt me," Angela comments, causing Bella to laugh to herself. You grin at the girl, deciding you like her. Jessica seems nice too, but she doesn't like Bella. You can already tell. Bella's like a fungus, she grows on you, and you know she'll grow on Jess.
Suddenly, Bella stares at the cafeteria doors again. With wide eyes, you do the same, realizing another Cullen has entered the lunch room. He has bronze-colored hair and pale skin, with purple bags under his eyes just like his siblings. He's lanky but you notice he has some muscle, it's not much.
"Who's he?" Bella asks, watching as he grows closer to the table. She can't take her eyes off of him, and you're surprised she hasn't lunged over the table and mauled him by now with the way she's staring. You're not entirely comfortable with openly staring at people, that's how fights start. He could have a jealous girlfriend somewhere and you wouldn't know until it's too late.
Jessica perks up, like she won the lottery, "That's Edward Cullen," She says after he reaches his table and sits down. When she says this, Edward looks up from his spot at the table and makes eye contact with Bella, looking just as confused as Alice did when she looked at you. Bella looks away quickly, cheeks going red.
"He's totally gorgeous, obviously. But apparently, no one here is good enough for him. So don't waste your time." She chuckles, but it sounds fake. It seems like he rejected her in the past and now she's bitter about it. Wonder why he rejected her... "Anyway, don't waste your time." She giggles this time, stabbing at her pizza with the plastic fork in her hand.
Bella lets out a noise, "Wasn't planning on it." She says, taking a glance at him from over her shoulder. He's still looking at her, now frustrated.
You hope for Bella's sake that he isn't an axe murderer.