Chapter Text
Since last November, I have been hunted by red-eyed vampires. They had come out of the shadows, feral in their demeanor. Their coal eyes ablaze with thirst. They had crossed our path mid-hunt. It had been just an ordinary hunting and camping trip with my dad. I didn’t know that it would be our last. My life has been chaos ever since. I have swum in rivers to wash away my scent. I never stay in one place for too long. Posing as an emancipated minor in the Logging Capital of the World and enrolling myself in high school was normal for me these days. I arrived at Forks High School early to avoid the inevitable stares of my future peers. Rumors about me and why I was in Forks had already spread since I moved to town a week ago. I didn’t mind so long as I was safe from James and Victoria.
My morning classes were spent trying to ignore the whispers of my classmates, but my enhanced hearing made that difficult. Mr. Jefferson’s second period Government was particularly annoying due to Mike Newton’s and Tyler Crowley’s ceaseless mumbling about my looks. I also didn’t enjoy third period Trigonometry. Mostly because of Ms. Varner, who was the only teacher to make me stand up in front of the class and introduce myself. And because, well, it was Trig. Lunch time came and I walked to the cafeteria from Mrs. Goff’s Spanish class with Jessica Stanley.
It was there in the lunchroom when I saw them. A table of vampires. They sat at a table as far away from the student population as possible. There were five of them. Four females and one male. I had caught the faint scent of vampire when I arrived in town. I had hoped the scent was old, but of course I wasn't so lucky.
I was relieved to see that they had golden eyes. The sure sign that they drank the blood of animals. Just like my father had. Just like I did. I focused my hearing, tuning out the sound of heartbeats and the chatter of students at my table. I easily found the voices of the vampires. They spoke amongst themselves in a pitch in audible to human ears.
“Is the new girl afraid of us yet?”
It was the male who had posed the question. I chanced a look in their direction. The one who had spoken was exceptionally handsome. Even sitting down, I could see that he was tall. He had a muscular build and I suspected he was stronger than the average vampire. One of the smaller girls answered.
“I’m not sure. I can’t hear her thoughts.”
She had my full attention. The telepath was impeccably gorgeous. I was used to the godlike beauty of vampires, but she took my breath away. Her long hair was somewhere between red and brown with a metallic sheen that could only be described as bronze. She was slender and petite. I could see muscles underneath her perfectly smooth skin. My gaze lingered or her full and pink lips. Her beauty could only be compared to that of Aphrodite’s. She must have felt me staring because her eyes looked up to meet mine. I heard her breath catch in her throat. She was just as shocked by my beauty as I was by hers. Though I appeared human I still possessed the enhanced beauty of a vampire.
“That’s Edith Cullen.”
Jessica’s voice brought my attention back to the humans at my table.
“Edith isn’t really friend material,” Jessica continued. “Apparently, no one is good enough.”
Jessica continued to tell me all about the elusive Cullen and Hale family. The two blondes – Rosalie and Jessamine Hale- were the nieces of Doctor Cullen's partner Mr. Cullen. They had been adopted by their uncle upon the death of their parents. Edythe was Dr. Cullen’s goddaughter before being adopted by him after her parents died. The fourth girl and the guy were Alice and Emmett Cullen. They were siblings and Doctor Cullen’s foster kids. I was positive that this was all a story fabricated by the Cullen’s for the humans. Dad and I had often woven backstories when we lived amongst humans.
The lunch hour ended, and I was escorted to my next class by Mike. Biology II was my second to last class of the day. I stepped through the door to see that the class was nearly full. The last empty seat was next to Edith Cullen. I made my way to the chair, trying not to notice the fallen angel who was clearing her books from my side of the desk. Mr. Banner entered the room with a box of microscopes. He began class by announcing that we would be doing a lab on onion root tip mitosis. After passing out the lab equipment and giving instructions he left the students to work
“Hello.”
The voice was lovely. I turned to face its source and met eyes that were brighter than polished topaz.
“My name is Edith Cullen. You are Isabella Swan, right?”
“It’s just Bella.” I corrected her.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Bella.”
A smile tugged at the corner of her full lips. Be still my beating heart. She reached for the worksheet and wrote her name at the top. Edythe. I had been spelling her name wrong in my mind. She passed the paper to me and a scribbled my name next to hers. I couldn’t explain it, but seeing our names together felt right.
“Would you like to go first?” Edythe gestured to the microscope with the first slide in place.
“Sure.”
I easily identified the slide as prophase, but before I could write it on the worksheet Edythe asked to confirm. The rest of the lab went on like this. One of us would identify the slide, fingers grazing as the microscope was passed between us. Then the other would double check before writing the answer on the worksheet. We were the first lab partners in the class to complete the assignment.
“You’re from Phoenix, yes?”
“That’s right,” I responded.
It was more or less true. Phoenix was the last place I lived while on the run. And I had been born there. Saying I was from Phoenix was as good a lie as any.
“What brings you to Forks?”
Her eyes bored into mine, butterscotch yellow met chocolate brown, looking for answers. At lunch, she had said to Emmett that she couldn’t her my thoughts. I suspected that she was trying to read my mind now. I knew she wouldn’t be able to as long as I had my shield up. The shield that protected my mind from all mental powers.
“My dad recently passed away and I... uh…just wanted a fresh start. I really needed to get out the city.”
Another half-truth, but she didn’t need to know that.
“I’m so sorry for your loss.” Edythe’s voice was sincere. It was the most genuine condolence I had gotten since I came to Forks.
“How are you liking Forks?” Edythe furthered the conversation.
“It’s...cold. And the people have been – “
“Annoyingly inquisitive?”
“I was going to say overly friendly, but ‘annoyingly inquisitive` works too.”
Edythe’s eyes moved to the amused smile on my lips. She smiled back at me.
“I remember what that’s like. My family moved here from Alaska two years ago.”
“Does it get any better?”
“So far? No.”
We shared a laugh. Conversation with Edythe was easy, and we continued talking until the bell rang. I hadn’t smiled like this since before my dad died. My last class was Gym, and it couldn’t go by fast enough. It wasn’t that I did poorly in sports, it just wasn’t any fun when I had to hold back and play at a teenage human level.
The school day ended at last, and I made my way out to the parking lot. I drove a red 1953 Chevy pickup that I bought at a used car dealership in Seattle. The truck wasn’t as fast as I would’ve liked, but it blended in with the hand me down cars of my classmates. The temperature had dropped dramatically throughout the day. Now there were patches of sleek ice where there were once rain puddles. Standing in front of the back of my truck, I dug my keys out of my bag. From the corner of my eye, I could see Edythe standing by a shiny silver Volvo four cars down. Her attention was on the school doors. ‘She must be waiting for her family’ I thought to myself. The doors opened and out came the rest of the Cullens and Hales. They had just reached the Volvo when an ear-splitting screech pierced the air. A driver had hit a patch of ice wrong, now their van was skidding across the lot. And it was heading right for me.
The adrenaline coursing through my veins heightened my already enhanced senses. I saw what happened in the next few seconds in immaculate detail. Students in the parking lot froze in horror as they watched the Chevy Astro careen towards me. My muscles coiled in anticipation and I crouched down. I dove out of the way a split second before the van collided with the back of the truck. I landed in a kneeled position behind the tan car parked beside my truck, but I wasn’t in the clear yet. The sickening crunch of the van folding around my truck’s bed echoed in my ears. The front of the van curled around a corner of the truck bed and the back end of the van was about to collide with me. My left knee was planted on the pavement along with my left arm. I rolled forward and my right shoulder hit the icy blacktop. I used my forward momentum to roll out of the van’s path. The van crushed the tan car, and I instinctively threw my arms over my head to protect from the shower of debris.
There was a moment of silence before chaos wreaked havoc. Students crowded around where I was kneeling. I heard shouts of “Bella are you okay?!” and “Get Tyler out of the van!” There was one voice that stood out among the crowd.
“Let me through!” I looked up to see Edythe elbowing her way through the throng of students. She knelt beside me. “Bella are you . . . alright?”
The hesitation was crystal clear in her voice. I was certain she had seen the stunt I had pulled, but I could tell that she didn’t understand what she saw. To Edythe, I was an average and ordinary human. And average humans couldn’t move that fast.
“I’m fine,” I answered. “Will you help me stand?”
I didn’t need the help but asking was the human thing to do. Edythe’s hands gently gripped my forearms and I leaned into her to let her support my weight.
“How did you move out of the way so fast?” Edythe whispered the question in my ear once we were standing. “The van was going to crush you.”
I didn’t know how to answer her question, so I did the only thing I could think of. I placed my hand atop my head and allowed myself to sway on my feet. Edythe’s hand wrapped and my torso to steady me.
“Easy Bella.”
“She okay?” Jessica stood on my other side.
“I think she hit her head.” Edythe responded. She looked at me. “Did you?”
“I think so,” I said weakly.
Edythe suddenly seemed aware of how close to me. She took a couple small steps back. Her attention was on Jessica again.
“Have the paramedics been called?”
“Yeah. Mike called them. They should be here soon.”
Off in the distance I could hear the ambulance’s sirens. I knew Edythe-and the rest of the Cullens– could hear it too. Soon enough the sirens would deafen the ears of Forks High’s population.