RISING MOON
CHAPTER TWO
. . .
The next morning, Jonathan woke up to the sound of cars pulling up to the front of the house. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he pulled a sweatshirt over his pajama pants and walked out to see a gigantic orange truck in front of the house with his father and Billy Black.
"Look who decided to wake up," Billy announced as he noticed the youngest Swan. The others turned to him, and that was when he noticed Bella in the truck with Jacob Black.
Jonathan pulled a crooked smile, shaking hands with a \man he'd known all his life, Charlie's best friend. "Nice to see you, again, sir."
"Welcome back, son." Billy smiled softly at the boy.
"Good to be back," Jonathan smiled back, letting go of his hand and turned to look at the truck, "Does this mean I get to be chauffeured now?"
Charlie laughed a bit, "Yes. It's Bella's, but you're free to use it or ask her to drive you places." He then got caught up in whatever play-fighting that had been taking place before Jonathan had gotten there.
"Sick," Jonathan smirked at his older sister, who rolled her eyes at the mischief lighting up in his eyes. "You hear that Bells?" Jonathan called out as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You get to drive me places now."
"Like you ever go out anyways!" Bella calls back, grin on her face widening. It was good to see as Jonathan watched her converse with Jacob, albeit still a little awkwardly.
The next morning, Monday, both Swans pulled into the high school parking lot. He could see the dread washing over Bella as the only free parking space was in the front, surrounded by other cars and students, all lounging about before the first bell.
Sighing, Jonathan turned to Bella, "Hey," he caught her attention. "We're gonna be okay. Okay?" She nodded, just trying to keep her focus on her younger brother. If only they were actual twins, instead of being separated by a little over a year between their births. She needed the lifeline to her brother, who wasn't sabotaged by anxiety, who was always a steady storm that she had grown to rely on.
Jonathan wasn't extroverted by any means, but he also wasn't wracked with anxiety that kept him from fitting in. He had his issues, which was why he was also a chaotic storm of emotions with a temper and wrath worse than the ocean itself, but he was steady, consistent. He was all she had, and they were close, regardless of their differing, conflicting relationships with their mother. Jonathan never had a hard time making friends, not that he ever was really interested in making friends. People just seemed to gravitate towards him, and they liked him, for all of his grumpy, reactive ways. It was never hard for him to talk to people, and it was definitely never hard for him to get girlfriends or boyfriends, not that they were ever serious to Jonathan.
"Just keep breathing, okay, Bells?" He brought her back frmor the recesses of her own mind, and she nodded, pursing her lips as she took a deep inhale. "Good. We're gonna be okay." He told her once more, making eye contact, and she focused on the streams of jade green that swirled into the pale blue of his eyes.
"I'm ready..." She finally managed to find her voice, albeit a little shakily, and he nodded as he held her hand, squeezing tightly to comfort her, before the two began to make their way out of the vehicle.
"Nice ride," A guy said, smirking at the pair.
Bella made it over towards Jonathan's side. "Thanks," She locked the car and averted eye contact, before following her brother closer towards the school, making their way out of the parking lot.
Bella soon pulled out a crumpled set of papers, a list of things she'd need to get through the day, and Jonathan followed her, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he trailed behind her.
Immediately, they were approached by a lanky Korean boy with long, side-swept hair, "You're... Isabella and Jonathan Swan," he smiled, "Hi."
"Hey," Jonathan greeted politely.
The boy cleared his throat, "I'm Eric, the eyes and ears of this place." Eric walked beside Bella as Jonathan trailed behind them, not at all interested in talking to the guy, who was obviously interested in the allure of the "new kids" who had transferred in the middle of the school year, the third week of the spring semester. "Anything you two need, tour guide, lunch date, shoulder to cry on?" He asked, though he was mostly talking to Bella.
After an awkward pause, Bella responded, "Uhm, I'm really kind of the more suffer-in-silence type." She tried to politely end the conversation, not that this guy was really picking up on her subtle signal.
"Good headline for your features!" Eric smiled, "I'm on the paper, and you're news, baby, front page."
"No, I'm not." Bella immediately said, before she began to panic and stutter out how much she really wasn't interested in it.
"Woah, woah, chillax," Eric smiled reassuringly, "No feature. We're cool."
"Thanks," Bella smiled, relief washing over her like a warm blanket.
"What about you, Jonathan?" Eric asks, smiling back at the boy. Jonathan towered over the pair a little, at 5'9", and with his hands stuffed in his pockets and earbuds hanging from being tucked into the hem of his dark sweatshirt and t-shirt, he looked cool.
"Sorry, man, but I'm not really interested." Jonathan answered shortly, before guiding himself and Bella away from the boy.
"Totally fine, see you two later!"
. . .
Getting into his first period class, Jonathan entered just as the teacher began his lecture. "Sorry to interrupt," Jonathan spoke, voice soft and calm, and immediately a few students perked up at the sight of the boy. "Here's my slip from the office... I recently transferred here."
"Ah, yes, Jonathan Swan," The teacher smiled as he read from the slip, "You're just in time, we'll be covering Shakespeare this semester. You can go sit over there," and he pointed to a seat near the back, closest to the window.
"Yes, sir," Jonathan muttered as he made his way to the seat, and got settled. The other students watched him, before their attention was diverted by the teacher as he began his lecture on the introduction to Shakespeare language. He sighed, taking out his notebook and a pen, before he began diligently taking notes. He enjoyed Shakespeare, and had read many of the plays before, so this wasn't very hard.
At the end of the class, as students left, Jonathan took his time packing up, and was approached by a girl. "Welcome back, Superboy," The girl was Korean, with long black hair, some red dyed in the back. She had numerous piercings in her ears and wore mostly black, small, slender rings shining in the light on her fingers, nails painted black.
Jonathan grinned, "Nice to see you're still edgy as always, Cassandra," he teased, using her full name.
"Watch it, pretty boy." Cass smiled, bumping into him as she walked alongside him out of the class and into the crowded halls.
Cassandra Yang was his best friend growing up. She'd moved to Forks when they were 8, and were actually next door neighbors. They'd been best friends ever since they got into a fight over a batman toy and it had ended with them wrestling in the mud. Neither had lost or won that day, but they'd become quick friends because she was one of the few people who could handle his turbulent emotions.
It worked out that they also had similar interests, being obsessed with the DC and Marvel comics, as well as having the same tastes in music. They both got a kick out of the fact that they bore names similar to DC characters, Cassandra being the name of Orphan, an adopted daughter of Batman and former Batgirl, and Jonathan being the son of Superman. Though Jonathan liked Jason Todd, the Red Hood and second Robin, better. She would always be his badass Cassandra Cain, and he would always be her loyal Jonathan Kent.
"Where've you been?" Jonathan asked with his usual crooked smile, "I've been back since Friday, and I've only seen Billy Black and his son."
"Busy, not everything revolves around you." Cass quipped, before she giggled, nudging him with her shoulder. "No, but I've seriously been busy. My older sister's been having me work for her in my free time."
"Trying to get you into the elusive family business, huh? My condolences." Jonathan smiled genuinely, "It's nice to see you, again, Cass."
Jonathan had no idea what Cass' older sister, her guardian, did, but it was such a big secret that even Cass had no idea growing up. And it wasn't looking like Cass would be telling him anytime soon, seeing as she hadn't already told him. Not that he minded, really.
"Same here, Jonny." Cass smiled, "Especially now that I'll be seeing you every day now. Now that you're coming to school here."
"What do you have next?" Jonathan asked.
"History, you?"
"Same."
"Then, let's go."
. . .
"Looks like Bella's already found some place to fit in," Jonathan smiled as he and Cass walked into the cafeteria as lunch began. Bella was surrouned by people, most likely from her various classes today, and it was a bit of a shock. Two boys, one of them being the Korean kid from the newspaper earlier that morning, and two girls. More people than Bella was definitely used to.
"That's good." Cass smiled, "Means you won't have to ditch me."
"Like I'd ever ditch you, Cass," Jonathan smiled as he sat down beside her at an empty table. "You're my only friend here."
"Well, you better not ditch me, because I honestly can't stand anyone else here, but you." Cass said, and then added as an afterthought, "And maybe Bella. She's cool, I guess."
"Good to know." Jonathan smirked as he took a bite from his apple.
His eyes caught a new group entering the cafeteria from outside. They were beautiful. All of them. And they wore fitting, stylish clothing, definitely looking very affluent. As they walked into the room, he noticed a couple of them looked like couples. "Who're they?"
"They're the Cullens." Cass explained, "That's Rosalie and Emmett, Alice and Jasper, Edward, and then that's Evageline. We've actually had classes with Evangeline today. They're all the adopted children of Doctor Cullen, he basically saved the town when he moved his family here to work at the hospital."
Jonathan examined each and every Cullen. Rosalie was the beautiful blonde, golden hair and perfect face, though it was devoid of emotion as she leaned into Emmett, the large brunette who looked like he could be a football or rugby player. Alice was a small brunette holding onto the dirty-blonde boy named Jasper, who looked as if he was in serious discomfort. Edward was indeed handsome, not exactly his type when he swung that way, but not bad. He had his eyes on Bella, though, and Jonathan didn't miss that at all. Then there was Evangeline. She had black hair, and a beautiful face, albeit a little stoney and stoic. Much like Rosalie, she looked as if she walked straight off the catwalk. She had walked in beside Rosalie and Emmett. "Looks like they're all together."
"That would be because they are," Cass answered, casually, eating some baby carrots from her the plastic bag it came in. "Except Edward and Evangeline. They're both single. They're usually the center of gossip around here. Well, until now."
"What?" Jonathan asked, confused, as he turned back to look at Cass.
"You and Bella seem to be the new topic of conversation." Cass smiled, drinking from her juicebox. "We rarely ever get new students."
Jonathan smiled a bit as he chuckled, looking down at his tray of food. His half-smirk grew as he continued to talk to Cassandra, catching up with her when they finally moved topics. Unknowing to the golden eyes staring at him.