Pinned but Fluttering

Chapter 10

The teacher entered the room, so Mike said goodbye and, throwing an odd look over his shoulder at me, went back to his desk, seating himself next to a girl with dark, curly hair. Turning in her chair, she stared at me rather rudely, her eyes seeming both curious and annoyed before she tossed her head and returned her gaze to the front of the room. Somehow she seemed familiar to me, though.

The teacher, Senora Goff, introduced me to the class (thankfully without forcing me to walk to the front of the classroom), and the curly-haired girl narrowed her eyes as she stared again. Then she smiled at me, a strange, almost calculating expression on her face. Weird.

As I thumbed through the rather battered textbook I was given, I felt rather anxious. Spanish rather scared me as I knew very little of the language yet because I was starting school in the middle of the year, I was forced to begin with second semester work. Most of what Senora Goff said in class flew right over my head, but I took notes carefully anyway.

After class, I talked to the teacher for a few moments, telling her that I knew very little Spanish, and she offered to find me a tutor. I thanked her, glad for the help but wondering how tutoring would work with me living in La Push.

I was proud of myself for approaching the teacher in the first place, but if I was going to keep coming to school, I was going to have to learn to be more assertive. So far, so good.

As long as no one touched me. Especially boys. That Mike kid had really freaked me out when he wanted to shake my hand. Who does that anymore, anyway? Not kids my age, I didn't think. After my reaction, he probably wouldn't approach me again anyway. Great.

Not a good way to start school, I sighed to myself.

My class before lunch was American history, and I was glad to see Angela already seated in the classroom as I came in almost late after talking to the Spanish teacher. I slid into the seat beside her, glad to see a familiar face.

Angela smiled sweetly at me as we got out our notebooks and pens. Before class began, the history teacher came down the aisle, handing me a textbook and welcoming me to the school. He didn't bother introducing me to the whole class, so I knew we were going to get along great. And I really liked history anyway. This class and English may end up being my favorites.

Speaking of English class, I was surprised to see the girl with the spiky dark hair from my first period class take the seat directly in front of me. Now that I could see her better, I noticed that she was very well-dressed, probably all designer clothing. She was tiny but wore four-inch heels that looked more like a lethal weapon than footwear. Didn't those pointy toes and high, spiky heels hurt her feet?

I looked down at my own canvas shoes, sighing in comfortable contentment.

When I looked up, I was startled to see the spiky-haired girl turned backward in her seat, facing me. Her face was absolutely stunning; she possessed an almost otherworldly beauty that made her look like she should have been a character in The Lord of the Rings books or something. Her skin was very, very white—even paler than mine (and that was saying something). She had big, dark eyes and perfectly-sculpted brows and lips. Her nose was tiny and turned up slightly at the tip, making her look even more elfin.

She didn't seem surprised by my staring...and I was definitely staring at her, rather rudely in fact. A smile touched her perfect rose-pink lips, and, as her face lit up with her smile, her beauty became even more stunning.

“Hi,” she said, and even that one word sounded like music rather than mere speech. “You're new here, aren't you?” She was sitting so close to me that her cool breath fanned across my face. For some reason, I wanted to lean closer to her to smell her fragrant breath.

Weird!

In response to her question,I nodded, stunned by her beauty to complete speechlessness.

Laughing softly, she continued. “Well then, welcome to Forks High. I'm Alice. Alice Cullen.” Her laughter reminded me of bells—it was so musical.

I'm sure that my jaw was completely agape at this point, my brain barely functional. Glancing quickly at Angela, I saw that her mouth was hanging open in shock as well. Okay, this was really getting bizarre.

“I-I-I'm Bella,” I stuttered, then turned bright red with embarrassment.

Then the oddest thing happened. Her smile fading, Alice's already dark eyes seemed to grow even darker. She swallowed hard and—strangest of all—I would swear that she actually stopped breathing. Seriously. She was totally holding her breath.

Without a word, she turned her back on me, facing straight ahead.

My eyes flew to Angela's again as the teacher brought the class to order, and she looked just as shocked and amazed as I felt. She shrugged at me, as if saying, “I have no idea what just happened, either.”

As the teacher started his lecture on Fort Sumter and the beginnings of the Civil War, I tried to take notes but found my eyes and my mind wandering to the girl seated in front of me. Alice sat rigidly still in her seat, not seeming to take notes although her spiral-bound journal-type notebook was open on the desk in front of her, and she was holding a pen in her hand.

I could swear that she still wasn't breathing.

How in the world does she do that?

Naah, I had to be mistaken. There's no way she could hold her breath for that long.

But her thin shoulders and narrow back definitely were not moving.

At all....

Alice was definitely freaking me out, in more ways than one.

Alice Cullen. What an old-fashioned name. And, wait a minute....

That bizarre and beautiful boy who had sat behind me in English...Mr. Mason had yelled his name as he left. “Mr. Cullen! Edward!”

Edward Cullen.

He and Alice must be related somehow.

Angela had mouthed “Later” to me in English, and I knew what I would be asked her during lunch.

I needed to know what was the story behind these two strangely beautiful fellow students.

Because I could tell that something very bizarre was definitely going on here....   

I've been so involved with completing Evening Star that I haven't had much time to invest in this story. But now that Evening Star is completed, I can focus on Pinned but Fluttering. I may try to update twice a week, but I don't know if it will happen all the time. I still have 20,000 words to write in the last 8 days of NaNoWriMo, so that's 2500 words/day. So I should have a nice little stockpile of rough drafts which will allow me to update twice a week for a while.

Please do Like, Share, Fan, Comment, and VOTE!!! I always love to hear what you have to say, even if it's not positive. Every single comment and vote helps!!! :)



If you haven't yet read Evening Star, may I suggest that you go read it, now that it's finished? Thanks!!!

To all my American readers, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! My husband is baking apple pies and my kitchen smells amazing right now!!!

Love to you all--

Cassandra :)