Isabella sits awkwardly in her chair in room 233. She tries to make it seem like she doesn't notice all the stares she's getting but it's very hard considering no ones even trying to be discreet about their curious eyes. She guesses new people are rare here because she feels like an exhibit.
Her heart is still pounding just as nervously as it was when she was talking to the cute boy in the hallway. He's not even near her yet just the thought of him affects the rhythm of her heart. Her heart really can't catch a break. If it's not beating at a fast speed because she's nervous about her new school, it's beating because she's thinking of him. She's snapped out of her thoughts when someone taps her on the shoulder. She turns her head and her eyes meet with a wide smile.
"Hi," the girl speaks, "I'm Melissa."
Isabella mentally tells herself not to be as shy as she is.
"Isabella." She smiles back at the girl.
"Are you ok? You seem nervous."
Isabella begins to say she's not but who is she kidding. "Oh I am. I feel like everyone's staring at me and this school is huge, and," she realizes she's about to begin her habit of rambling nervously so she stops herself, "Well I'm just not used to the attention."
Melissa nods. "Yeah we don't get new people around here. It's like the only people who live here are the ones who were born here," she laughs and Isabella smiles, "But you'll like it. Everyone's really close. You can hang out with me and my friends if you want?"
Isabella is shocked at the offer. The world needs more nice gestures like this.
"I'd love that. Thank you." She smiles.
"You're welcome. They're nice, hopefully you like them. Well one of them is my brother, Xander, he seems kind of cold at first but-" Melissa pauses when she hears, with her werewolf hearing, Isabella's heartbeat pick up.
"You ok?" She ask once again.
Isabella smiles a little forced. "I'm fine! I'm just wondering if that's who I met before I came into class." Isabella starts to blush. Of course the guy who she's been thinking about all class is the brother of the first possible friend she can make here.
"Is he tall? Brown hair? Wearing a black jacket?" She ask and Isabella nods. Melissa wonders why the mention of Xander would spark the new girl's heart rate but suddenly it clicks in her head and she prays to the Moon Goddess that this pretty girl is her brother's mate. She decides to get more out of Isabella.
"How'd you meet him?"
"I ran into him. Literally." Isabella blushes remembering how embarrassed she was when she ran into him and of course dropped all her stuff.
"Hopefully he was nice." Melissa states knowing that if her brother were to meet his mate he may be stand offish considering he's not interested in having one.
"Um yeah he was. We didn't say much though. I was la-"
"Girls." Their conversation is cut short by the teacher addressing their attention to him.
"Just find us at lunch." Melissa whispers and Isabella nods.
Isabella walks by herself to her next class, finally-just a little bit more-understanding the layout of the school. She internally smiles to herself when she gets to her art class. The one class she has on her schedule that she will actually enjoy. Sure she loves learning, but school makes it so tedious and borderline torturous. She shyly peaks her head in and takes a breath before walking in. Her head moves around as she takes in the large room. She sits at the only group table, as there are no desk, that has a seat open. The students smile at her and she smiles back. The bell rings and right on cue the teacher walks in. Isabella can sense her free spirit right off the bat. Her long brunette hair is down and her yellow dress, with a sunflower pattern, flows as she walks.
"Good afternoon, everyone, hope you're all well! As usual, you have the whole period to work on your independent projects, this week's is due in three days. But," She puts her finger in the air, "Before we all scatter around and get into it, I believe we have a new student." All the heads turn to Isabella and despite her usual nice posture, she shyly slumps in her seat but still she smiles softly at the class.
"Introduce yourself to the class, sweetie!" If Isabella could nicely decline she would but she could never say no to this woman who is sunshine in human form.
"Hi, I'm Isabella or Izzy if you want."
"Hi, Isabella. I'm Mrs. V. What type of art do you like the most, Isabella?" The teacher ask.
"I like drawing and painting with watercolor. I sketch a lot also."
"I'm excited to see your work. The art room is open a little before school, during free periods, lunches, and after school as well, so you're welcome here anytime! We don't do specific assignments here. You have two weeks to create whatever you want and you hand it in for a grade. I hate to put a grade on art but I have to according to the district." She rolls her eyes and Isabella laughs at her obvious dislike towards authority. "Just do whatever! Make yourself at home."
Isabella reaches into her backpack and pulls out her sketchbook. She flips through it and tries to find a piece that she wants to blow up on a canvas and paint. Instead of picking her best and most intricate piece, she chooses the first one that makes her smile and gets to work, after finding materials in the room. She gets far into her project as she gets into the zone of her work. Isabella barely notices the lunch bell but decides to continue her project anyway.
••
Xander tries his best to not look at the lunch room door as people file in. He most definitely does not-not even a little bit-care about seeing the pretty girl he ran into earlier. He has other things to worry about than seeing her again. Like an entire pack to run. The Alpha breathes in trying to pick up her scent but gets nothing. He fails himself once again as his head snaps towards the door, but instead of seeing who he wants, he sees his friends filing in. He sighs and frowns.
"Well don't you look ecstatic to see us." Kristin says sarcastically as she and everyone else sit down.
"Seeing you every day gets old." Xander smirks, joking.
"Agreed." Josh nods and Kristin just playfully glares at her mate knowing he's also joking.
Matt rises from the the table and loudly claims, "Love just radiates from this group, doesn't it!"
Melissa laughs and grabs his arm pulling him down so his ass is actually on the seat.
"Why were you looking at the door anyway," Melissa ask, "Expecting someone?" She teases knowing only Xander could potentially get it.
"No." He says flatly, ignoring her implication, deciding not to read too much into it.
There's about 10 minutes left of lunch and when Isabella is still nowhere to be found, Xander can no longer go without seeing her. He's never been anxious in his whole life until this moment and he doesn't understand how people deal with such a feeling. He gets up from the table and everyone looks at him.
"Where you goin?" Matt ask as he shoves the rest of his chips into his mouth.
"Library," He states, "See you guys later."
Xander walks through the hallways and tells himself he's not looking for Isabella. He rolls his eyes at himself when he passes the library, knowing damn well that that wasn't his destination. Xander suddenly picks up her intoxicating scent and his feet start to move faster. He arrives at an art room he's never been in and slowly walks in. His heart unexpectedly skips a beat when he sees her. Her back is to him and she's busy painting and he's busy admiring her. He starts at her feet and trails his eyes up her body. She's slim but has thick thighs and a nice butt that he can't even deny he stared at for a little longer than the rest of her. His eyes finally get to the top of her, her head slightly tilted as she concentrates.
Before he can stop himself, the greeting comes out. "Hey."
It startles her as she thought she was alone in the room and she jumps, dropping her paint brush. Xander quickly goes to pick it up but Isabella does the same at the exact time. Their foreheads bump together. Not hard enough to hurt too much.
"Ouch." Isabella says as she stands up and rubs her forehead. She pouts a little and he thinks it's adorable. Xander, who went unhurt by the accident, experiencing much worse pain in his werewolf life, instantly worries about his mate. He puts his finger under her chin and tilts her head up so he can see her forehead better. He uses his thumb to lightly trace her forehead to make sure there isn't a bump forming.
"Are you ok?" He ask looking into her eyes.
Isabella nods shyly and can't help but heat up under his touch. Her heart feels like it's pounding out of her chest and she's so thankful he can't actually hear it...but little does she know.
"Sorry...again. I don't know how I managed to bump into you a second time." She laughs.
Xander grins at her. "Well I'm not complaining."
Isabella instantly blushes and she tries to say something but her mouth just goes dry at the flirtatious comment she was definitely not expecting. Xander smiles at how cute it is to see her all bashful and worked up over something so small. His eyes go down to her plump lips as she chews her bottom one nervously. Once he has the familiar urge to place his lips on hers, he instantly steps back and creates distance between them.
"So what are you working on?" He ask a bit awkwardly.
She tries to hide her disappointment in his change in manner. "It's in idiom," she points out. She painted a girl's face with a lot of detailing, but there are clouds surrounding her and thin transparent ones over her face. "I tend to day dream a lot and work up fantasies in my head, I have since I was little. So to snap me out of it, my mom always said to get my head out of the clouds. It's not a masterpiece but...I don't know, it's one of my favorites."
Xander has to smile when he sees her's and he realizes he could really watch her talk about something that makes her happy forever.
"Because it's personal." He says and she looks at him and smiles.
"Yeah, exactly."
"It's really good. The detail is amazing." He says honestly as he admires her work.
Isabella smiles. "Thank you."
"So what brings you to Silver Lake?" He ask, trying to continue conversation. Half of him wants to talk to her all day and the other half wants to try to forget his mate exist.
"My dad. When my mom died a couple years back, he started seeing a counselor. She encouraged him to venture out and do things he wants, because holding himself back is only going to make him mourn about the past. So he took her advice a little too seriously, had an impulse to move to a nice town and here we are. I think he just couldn't cope with being there anymore, but I support him. I have to be there for him and be strong for him, and so when he mentioned moving I smiled, packed my bags, and here we are." She finishes. She looks up to see Xander not just looking at her, but reading her.
"What?" She ask.
"Nothing." He says but is thinking so much more. Maybe he's digging for something that's not there, but something tells him that she's not as strong as she likes to portray on the surface. Xander gets this sudden want to see the raw Isabella. The Isabella with no walls up.
The bell signaling the end of lunch rings and Isabella starts to gather her stuff.
She tries to hide that she's sad she has to leave him. They just met for goodness sake and he really shouldn't be having this much of an affect on her, right?
"I'll see you later. I'm gonna actually try to make it on time to one class today," Isabella says right as she has all her stuff ready to go, "Bye, Alexander."
"Bye, Isabella." He smiles at her and watches her go, sad to see her leave. Now Xander gets why Josh needs to see Kristin between periods at school. She's been gone for 2 minutes and he wants to steal her out of her last class and spend the day with her.
But he can't. His main priority is to lead a pack, not spend the day with a girl. A mate is just going to get in the way of his responsibilities. Xander doesn't need someone who's going to make him so vulnerable, someone who makes him feel things he's never felt before. So once again, he makes an oath to himself that he's not going to engage with her. He can stay away from her. He can avoid her intoxicating scent. He warm voice. Her beautiful smile. Her dark glowing skin. Her cute laugh. That won't be so hard...right?
<>
Isabella walks to her car in the student parking lot, thankful she managed to get through her first day ok. Well despite the really attractive boy who makes her blush like crazy, and makes her more nervous than she's ever been. Her medium length curls get a little messed up from the wind and she rolls her eyes at how crazy she looks right now. But someone else who is admiring her from afar thinks quite the opposite.
Xander made an oath to stay away from her. That doesn't mean he can't look at her...right? As he leans against his car and as he waits for Melissa to meet him, he watches his mate. He didn't mean to. But when she came outside, he immediately picked up her scent and once he looked, he couldn't look away. The sun hits her face at certain angles, making her golden undertone look like she's glowing. The wind blows both her hair and her dress, and he chuckles to himself as he watches her try to hold down her dress but also tame her hair. When he hears his name being called from a couple cars down, he turns around.
"Xander, what are you still doing here? I told you Matt is giving me a ride today." Melissa says as he walks hand in hand with her mate to his car. She leans over to get a view of what her brother was just so fixated on. She smiles when she sees it was Isabella. She has to be his mate. Melissa smirks when she gets an idea.
"I'll be right back." She tells Matt before quickly walking up to Isabella. Xander's eyes follow her the whole time and he groans when she starts talking to her. They're too far to hear, even with his enhanced hearing.
"Hey, Izzy."
Isabella looks up and smiles at her new, hopefully, friend. "Hi."
"I was wondering if you wanted to sleepover my house Friday. My friend Kristin will be there too."
Isabella smiles at the kind invitation but doesn't know how to respond. She wants to, as she wants to make friends, but is it really a good idea? To sleepover Melissa's house when her crush lives there? Wait, crush? She realizes she just admitted to herself that she has a actual crush on him, and internally rolls her eyes.
"I don't know..." She trails off.
"Please, it'll be fun," she begs, "Besides we'll have the whole house to ourselves. My parents and Xander won't be home all night."
Once Isabella hears this, she decides it's ok. "Alright, yeah I'll come." She smiles.
They trade numbers and after Isabella drives off, Melissa makes her way back to Matt but doesn't get there. Xander steps in front of her, ready to interrogate.
"What'd you just do?" Xander ask and Melissa has to hide a smirk.
"What do you mean?" She plays innocent.
"How do you know Isabella?" He ask.
"Oh so you know her too?" She ask, but knows the answer already.
He nods. "We met today."
"Ok...so what, I can't talk to her?"
Xander sighs. Of course she can talk to Isabella. It's just that he really doesn't need anyone making the connection that she's his mate. Especially not his sister. But he doesn't know that she already has a lead on that.
"No, you can. Why wouldn't you be able to?" He tries to hide his concern. "I'm just wondering what you guys were talking about."
Melissa smirks at her brother's effort to seem nonchalant. "Chill, Xander. We have a class together. I was just getting her number so she could text me if she ever needed help catching up and stuff." She lies. If there's one thing Melissa and Xander have both perfected, it's steadying their heart beat when they're lying.
"Oh...ok. Well I'll see you later." Xander says before he walks to his car. He breathes out a sigh of relief. He wonders what would happen if his mate and his sister were to hang out. Would Isabella talk about him? He shakes his head at how crazy he sounds and starts his car. For the hundredth time, he tells himself to stay away from
his newly found mate.
~
QOTC (Question Of The Chapter): Will he be able to stay away?
lol at the name of the town. I wanted it to sound like it could be in like a fantasy book, idk why.
Thanks for reading xoxo