Chapter Text
First days are never fun for anybody. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re lying. First days are dreadful; first day of class, first day back from break, first day of work. At least for most people, those first days are surrounded with other people also going through the same, dreadful experience. Misery loves company, right? Some, however, were in the unlucky group that Jane Levey was currently sitting in — or, standing, in this case.
Fifteen pairs of eyes stared at her from the center of the room, all of them equally unfamiliar to Jane as she straightened her back, remembering the advice her sister, Anne, had given her that morning. If you look confident, you’ll become confident.
The harsh sound of flipping paper brought her attention away from the curious gazes.
“Angela, raise your hand,” the teacher called out; Mr. Varner, if she remembered correctly from the name plate on the classroom door. Across the room, one hand lifted into the air. Following the movement, Jane spotted the owner of the hand, a dark-haired girl with light, oval-shaped glasses that she could make out even from the front of the room.
“You’ll be seated next to Angela Weber. I do have assigned seating so prepare to be sitting there the rest of the semester,” Mr. Varner continued indiscriminately, barely checking to see if Angela had even followed his instructions before he was tossing the seating chart back onto his desk.
Not the warmest welcome, but at least she hadn’t had to stand and introduce herself, Jane thought gratefully as she made her way through the desks. By the time she had taken her seat, Mr. Varner was already lecturing again, filling the silence that had followed her to her seat.
“Jane, right?” The timid voice came from beside her, a quaint smile paired with it as her desk-mate turned a bit to face her. Jane couldn’t help but think that she looked very.. academic. Not to turn to stereotypes, but between the glasses and the quiet disposition, and the organized notes she spied on her desk, it was easy enough to guess.
“Right,” she answered, giving her a grin. “And you’re Angela. Mr. Varner really does a great job at introductions.” Perhaps it was because Angela reminded her of her friend, Emily, but she found herself relaxing in her presence despite the hard voice that resounded from the front of the room. At least the teacher wouldn’t be able to hear them talking over the sound of his own voice.
She earned a short laugh from the girl, and Jane couldn’t help but feel pleased. Hopefully she’d made a good first impression.
“Listen,” Angela continued, her voice soft and quiet as a mouse. Or, a student afraid of getting in trouble for talking. Jane didn’t share the sentiment, but for her classmate’s sake, she tried to be inconspicuous as she leaned closer to hear her. “Lunch is after this class, if you haven’t seen your schedule yet. It’s already the middle of the year, so everyone’s kind of picked their spots, so..”
The girl trailed off, making Jane wonder if there was something wrong before she continued with, “Do you want to sit with my friends? They kind of already heard about you and they wanted me to ask.”
Ah, so that’s why she was so sheepish. Her friends had asked her to do it.
“New students are that popular, huh? Already made my debut before I’d even made it into class?” Jane joked dryly, giving Angela a smile. “I don’t mind. Honestly, you’re doing me a favor.”
Angela seemed relieved, and she mouthed the words ‘Thank you’ to Jane before turning her focus back to the notebook in front of her. It seemed like this wouldn’t be an awkward first day, after all. Hopefully she didn’t jinx it.
The last few minutes of class were shared in silence, broken only by the scratching of pencils across paper. Calculus, huh? Jane flipped through the book she’d received for the class, full of worksheets and homework problems, and mentally reminded herself not to groan aloud.
Instead of working on the problems - she’d have to remember to ask Angela for her notes - Jane focused on the view outside of the window to her left. The weather wasn’t that different from Neah Bay: cold, dreary, and, unfortunately, more rainy than anything. Even in the middle of January, it seemed like the rain couldn’t allow the snow to share the spotlight, leading to mushy piles of sleet that gathered along the edges of the sidewalks and roads. No “Winter Wonderlands” here in Forks, WA.
The harsh ringing of the bell was a welcome sound after the painful silence of schoolwork, and she wasted no time packing up her things and following Angela into the hallway.
Before they’d even made it to the cafeteria, the two of them were greeted by a small pack of boys, one of which immediately drew Angela’s hand into his own.
“Hey, Ben!” Angela greeted him cheerfully, sounding much more relaxed now than she had in the classroom. Then, as if she had suddenly remembered the girl at her side, “Oh! Ben, this is Jane! Jane, this is Ben, my boyfriend.”
Ben, who she noticed now was just a few inches shorter than Angela, gave Jane a quick grin. “So I’ve heard! Word travels quick here at Forks High,” he mused, though his attention stayed on her for only a moment. It was clear that there was only one girl that could keep his attention, and that was sweet Angela, Jane noticed with a smile.
The other two boys, though, were a different story. As soon as Ben’s introduction was over, Jane found that they had formed a little cluster as they walked through the hall as they all tried to join the same conversation.
“Angela, you’re not gonna introduce us, too?” One of them encouraged her, earning a quick eye-roll from Angela.
“Jane,” she half-sighed, though her smile proved she wasn’t that annoyed, “This is Mike Newton,” A wave from the blond, baby-faced boy, “And Eric Yorkie.” The one that had spoken up a second ago, Eric, gave her a grin. His black hair nearly covered his eyes with how long it was, but it was an endearing look on him.
It was then that she realized she hadn’t spoken up yet, clearing her throat as they entered the cafeteria in the same, oversized cluster. “Well, I’d introduce myself, but you guys seem to know me already,” she started, ignoring the embarrassment that prickled at her skin. On the reservation, she had grown up with every kid in her class and could name each and every one of them. This was her first time making new impressions with people her age that she had never met before.
There were two girls already seated at the circular lunch table, a peppy-looking girl with dark brown hair and another dark-haired girl who was.. definitely not as peppy-looking. Even from here she could see the dark bags under her eyes, but since she was trying not to stare, Jane just chalked it up to her pale skin. Underneath all of that, though, she was pretty, even Jane could tell that much.
“Finally,” the peppy girl groaned as the group made it to the table. “I’ve been sitting here with zombie girl for like five minutes.”
Jane started at that, glancing quickly at the pale-skinned girl that had clearly been labelled ‘zombie girl.’ That was rude..
Following her gaze, the disgruntled girl just shook her head, flashing a quick half-smile in Jane’s direction.
“Don’t get worked up. She didn’t even hear it. This is Bella Swan,” she said with a tone that suggested she would rather talk about anything else. “Don’t get your feelings hurt if she doesn’t talk to you.”
It seemed like there was more to the story, and Jane almost asked, but the girl continued without giving her a chance. “But I’m Jessica! President of the Student Council and the volleyball team. Oh, are you interested in joining? We really need some girls, and honestly, being tall isn’t all that goes into it. You need muscle, and you look like you’ve got more than others. Sorry, Angela,” she added as an afterthought, flashing Angela a smile.
“Ah, thanks?” It came out as more of a question. This girl was a chatterbox, Jane thought, but before she could say anything else, Jessica was scooting over to another seat, opening up the spot between her and Bella.
Taking the bait, Jane tried to reign in her first impressions of both girls on either side of her as she sat down.
It took nothing out of Jane to get Jessica going once she was seated.
“You’re from the reservation, right? Or, well, not La Push, the other one!”
“Your hair is so long! I wish mine would get like that, but hey, I make up for it with volume!”
“Are you sure you don’t want to join the volleyball team? You must’ve had sports at your old school, right?”
It was.. tiring. But, as the conversation went on, Jane just tried to get used to the ill-represented curiosity and answer her questions as they popped off. In fact, she was only partially paying attention when Jessica suddenly stopped talking, looking at her expectedly.
Crap, had she missed something?
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“I asked if you wanted to come to First Beach with us this weekend!” Props to Jessica for keeping the exasperation out of her voice. “It’s supposed to be sunny, so we’re going down there for a little cookout. You should come, we’re all going!”
Already an invitation? Her older sister would be proud.
“Everybody’s going?” Jane echoed, earning nods from everyone.. except the girl to her left. “What about..?”
“We invite her, but it’s been forever since she’s actually said yes. Or no. Or anything at all,” Mike explained, catching the conversation before Jessica could. “She’s been depressed ever since the—”
Angela shushed him harshly, a sound that surprised everyone at the table. “Don’t say their name. You’ll just make things worse. She can hear you. Don’t act like she isn’t there,” she scolded him, making him wince. The protectiveness in her voice, coming from such a quiet girl.. She must have been Bella’s friend, more so than Jessica.
“Who?” Jane couldn’t help but ask. The shared looks that crossed the table made her feel like she was on the outs of some secret, and a lump formed in her throat.
“The Cullens.”
___________________________________
Jane wished she had asked more questions, but sitting beside Bella, it felt wrong. Instead, lunch passed by almost like a blur and before she knew it, the final bell was ringing and her first day was over. Thoughts of the Cullens, as mysterious as they sounded, would continue to hover around her for days to come, as unrelenting as the millions of questions she had been asked herself all day long.
Bundled up in her coat, as worn and faded as it was, Jane hurried to find solace from the freezing air that threatened to creep past her coat and reach her bones. Over the sound of cranking cars and the general mumble of conversations as students meandered out of the building, the sound of her name being called made her whip her head around.
“Jane!” There, across the lot, stood Ben, Angela, and Jessica, the first of which was waving his arms to grab her attention.
Even from here, his heartfelt grin made her smile and she waved back. The burst of cold air that drifted down her sleeve almost made her regret the action, but the extra-enthusiastic waves she got in return made it worth it.
“You better not ditch us tomorrow! It’s a small school, we’ll see if you sit with someone else!” Ben called, making other students turn their heads at the sound, but Jane just grinned.
“I’m already stuck with you guys, got it,” she replied, earning a small laugh from the group that she could hear from beside her truck. Desperate to get out of the cold, she hopped into the driver’s seat and shut the door, effectively muffling the sounds outside and locking the cold air inside the cabin.
During the drive home, Jane had to keep her coat securely wrapped around her body even inside the truck because, as unfortunate as it was, she had neglected to fix her truck’s broken heating unit even in the dead of winter. The only one she could blame was herself; it had been broken for months, but between the move and her own procrastination, she had left herself without a heater.
Honestly, she was surprised it had managed the drive to and from the reservation during their move. Neah Bay itself was an hour and a half away from Forks, so having to run through that drive several times had nearly drained her poor truck dry, but it had persevered!
Her new home was only a short drive from the school. The driveway was unmistakably overgrown with creeping weeds, and her truck complained loudly as it went bounding down the long drive as she got further from the road.
Perhaps it was a bit of a fixer-upper, a thought that had crossed her mind when she and her sister had first moved in and now echoed in her mind as she approached the house. It was small— quaint, as Anne put it. The house may have been yellow at one point, but now it had faded after years of erosion that had left even the shutters a muted brown.
Ivy brought back the color to the house, but it wouldn’t be long before she’d have to get to work on getting it off of the shutters and paneling, a thought that already had Jane’s muscles aching
There were two cars in the driveway when Jane parked her truck. Anne’s car was still in the same place it had been that morning, but there was another familiar car parked directly beside it, neatly parked compared to her sister’s haphazard parking. Recognition sparked through her and a smile broke across Jane’s face, not fading even as she practically skipped across the driveway to reach the front door. Could it be?
“Emily!” Jane flung the door open into the living room, and she beamed at the sight of Anne and Emily sitting together surrounded by half-emptied boxes.
“Jane, welcome home!” Emily returned her smile and, without hesitation, Jane closed the distance between them with an eager hug.
“I haven’t seen you in over a year! But I’m finally in Forks, so that better change. No excuses,” Jane huffed, pulling away to get a good look at her old friend.
Of course, this wasn’t the same face she’d always been used to.
Emily Young, her friend since junior high, was and always had been beautiful. Not even her worst injury could change that. Jane’s gaze brushed over the three deep, twisting scars that lined the right side of her face, dragging the corner of her mouth against the smile that had popped up on her face at their reunion.
The last time Jane had seen Emily, she’d just been out of the hospital for a terrible bear attack. It wasn’t long after that that she’d suddenly moved out of Neah Bay, coming to Forks for seemingly no reason — until her engagement was announced shortly after.
The move and engagement had originally rubbed Jane the wrong way, and she could admit that it was entirely her own fault that their friendship had suffered because of it. It wasn’t Emily’s fault that Jane hadn’t visited until months afterwards. Between the sudden disappearance of her friend, especially after a terrible accident, and the rapid engagement with a man that Jane had never met, she had.. well, taken it personally. For a short period of time, it felt that Emily had become a different person, with different friends and a different life that didn’t include her in it.
Things changed once Jane’s sister had made the announcement that they were moving to Forks. Now, Emily was here within the week to help them unpack and it seemed like a year hadn’t passed at all.
“How was your first day at the new school?”
Jane turned away from Emily then to face her sister, who had gotten up from where she’d been seated on the floor amidst all the boxes.
“It was good, honestly,” Jane answered, unable to keep her own surprise out of her voice. “Actually, I’m even going to First Beach with some friends from school this weekend. They seem pretty nice. Well, most of them.”
Anne grinned at that, absolutely unable to hide her delight. It was no secret that the two of them were related. They had the same beaming smile, the same almond-shaped eyes, even the same dimple on their left cheek. However, the similarities ended there.
Jane had always admired her older sister. She’d tried to follow in her footsteps and become an artist, dealing with sculptures and paintings, but she had lacked the patience that Anne had mastered after years of dealing with Jane as a child. Even now, the only thing Jane could master art-wise was photography, but that alone had brought a smile to Anne’s face and she had never given up on it.
“First Beach?” Emily echoed, drawing Jane’s attention back to her once more. “The boys are planning on going there this weekend, too. Maybe we could all get together,” she suggested with a smile. She was always so nice, like a mother to her friends. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard about the boys, nor would it be the last, Jane knew that for sure.
“It’s about time I meet them, I guess,” Jane laughed, coming to sit beside them among all the boxes. Her friend's smile grew at that, almost mischievously, something that Jane did not miss. “You haven’t told them anything embarrassing about me, right? Please tell me you didn’t.”
Emily laughed heartily, her melodic voice full of amusement.
“You’ll just have to wait and see.”