CHAPTER FOUR:
I realized that Jessica was staring at me following her big explanation, like she was expecting a response. I looked back at her, a tad bewildered. What was I supposed to say?
"Um... so... strange names?" I offered when everyone at the table seemed to eagerly wait for me to respond. For Merlin's sake, it wasn't like they even knew they were vampires– was I supposed to find a group of attractive siblings a source of great gossip? Going by the incredulous look Jessica was giving me, apparently yes.
"That's all you have to say? Are you blind, or something? They're gorgeous!" she exclaimed. I shrugged.
"Well yes," I said, because they were were notably attractive, however– "I've seen better, though," I told her truthfully. Unlike my table mates I had seen full-blooded Veela before and they scored above vampires in the looks department every time. Full-blooded veela were so effervescently otherworldly in their beauty that they could never pretend to be human, not like a vampire.
Everyone at the table other then the girl with glasses who I actually liked gave me looks of disbelief (and I could have sworn I'd heard a growl from the vampires' table), but didn't comment on my dismissal. The blonde who reminded me slightly of Pansy Parkinson, a malicious Slytherin girl in the year above me, chose then to speak up.
"They're all together. Like, together together. Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice. And they live together!" Her voice was nasal and condescending and I fought the urge to grind my teeth, abruptly deciding I'd had enough of that.
Shoving my wand in my book-bag, I stood abruptly, slightly surprised and very wary when the smallest vampire, the one Jessica had called Alice, rose too, her tray holding an unopened soda and unbitten apple. Alice Cullen was tiny, extremely thin and not even five feet tall if I had to guess, with short, inky hair. "I remembered I need to go talk to one of my teachers." I lied to the surprised table, snatching up my mostly-full tray and turning away from them.
While I tried not to stomp in my irritation as I made my way over to the bin to discard my own barely touched lunch– the blonde really had reminded me far too much of Parkinson– Alice Cullen practically danced she moved so gracefully. Our elbows brushed together slightly as she tipped out her tray and as I tried not to flinch too obviously she gave me a small, curious sort of smile before turning and gliding out through the back door.
I held back my shiver, unable to help my intense feeling of vulnerability. I headed for the opposite exit to the one Alice had taken, slipping my hand into my satchel and rooting around in it until I found my wand again. I gave a small sigh as my fingers closed around the smooth, polished wood. Even though I couldn't use it, I wouldn't deny it still gave me a certain sense of security as I exited the cafeteria, walking out into the light rain.
I spent the rest of lunch waiting inside the classroom where my next class, Biology with a Mr. Banner, was held, taking the time to flip through the first few pages of the course book and trying to figure out if I understood any of it. Several frustrated sighs and groans later had me under the firm impression that no, I didn't know a damn thing about the bloody subject.
Why on earth had I agreed to Charlie's "bright idea" that I try one of the science classes, I wondered bleakly. Despite my lack of artistic ability, I was now certain I should have picked photography or something.
Was it too late to swap?
The nasally sound of the school bell interrupted my mournful, half-panicked thoughts and as a handful of students came trickling in to the classroom I resigned myself to suffering through an hour of not understanding a single word spoken.
Gathering up my books, I walked up to the front of the room to wait for the teacher to arrive so he could sign my slip, only to be unable to help stiffening slightly as one of the vampire's walked– well, glided– into the classroom.
It was one of the males, the physically youngest looking one with the bronze-hair. As if sensing my wary gaze, his dark eyes turned to meet mine and I felt an odd tingling sensation in my stomach. I swallowed nervously, looking away as sharp claws of anxiety and dread hooked into my bones. Thankfully the teacher arrived then and Mr. Banner managed to distract me from the threatening panic by spending several blessedly dull minutes telling me the rules of the classroom before signing my slip and sending me to the only spare seat left in the room– the one that happened to be right next to the vampire. My stomach sunk and for a moment I thought I would be sick.
Bloody hell, did someone up there hate me?
I shuffled reluctantly down the aisle between the seats, refusing to meet the vampire's gaze as I sat down beside him, pulling out my notebook and three different colored pens while at the same time being very aware of movement the vampire made.
It was only when he coughed lightly that I forced myself to turn and look at him. "Hello, I'm Edward Cullen." He introduced himself politely, "it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Bella Swan." I said, forcing my frozen features into a smile. Curiosity was evident in his gaze, a strong, strong curiosity, and it was an easy guess to make that my scent was the cause of it.
He looked like he was about to open his mouth and start talking but before he could, much to my relief Mr. Banner vegan his lecture. He's not going to kill you in a crowded classroom, I told myself firmly as I let my hair fall as a dark curtain between us and tried to focus my attention on the lecture– something about cellular anatomy?
But I couldn't help sneaking small, morbidly curious glances at him through the curtain of my hair, and after my residual panic from his appearance in the classroom had mostly faded I began to almost regret my brisk introduction as the vampire had seemed rather genuine in his greeting.
He's a vampire, Bella, I reminded myself harshly. He's a monster– a murderer. I couldn't ever forget that.
But as his eyes met mine on an ill-timed peek, the warm, friendly smile he gave me before I could abruptly turn away made my heart skip a beat and my cheeks heat.
I was relieved when the bell rung and I was one of the first out of the room, sweeping my things hurriedly into my book-bag before fleeing. Unfortunately, a baby-faced boy with carefully gelled pale blonde hair stepped into my path before I could make a clean getaway. "Aren't you Isabella Swan?" he asked and a wave of irritation flutters through me, because duh! Who else would I be?
"Bella." I corrected him, hoping my tone wasn't too short but not giving enough of a damn to really care.
"I'm Mike." He said with a smile. There were a few seconds of silence before I realized he was expecting me to respond.
"Um, hi Mike."
"Do you need any help finding your next class?" he asked and I immediately shook my head.
"I'm headed to gym, actually. I should be able to find it." I told him. My heart sunk as his face brightened considerably.
"That's my next class too!" He exclaimed, like it was some amazing coincidence and not practically an inevitability from the small school size. Resigning myself to his company, I let Mike walk beside me to class. He was a chatterer and didn't seem to be able to take the hint that I wasn't really up for a conversation.
I put up with it until he lingered by me instead of heading to the changing room and my irritation levels just about doubled. "Excuse me, I have to go talk to the teacher." I interrupted him before hurrying away before he could offer to accompany me there too.
The gym teacher, Coach Clapp, found me a uniform and told me we were playing volleyball. "Do you want to join in?" he offered. I hesitated for a second before agreeing.
It wasn't actually that hard. Four games of volleyball were running simultaneously, but there was only one ball per game and none of them a) flew or b) tried to crash into the players, which immediately made volleyball about ten times easier at least then the times when I'd been forced to play Quidditch.
It wasn't that I was bad at flying. On the contrary, flying was one of the only sports I was actually reasonably good at, if flying by itself counted as a sport– the Quidditch side of things I wasn't too flash at. Predictably enough to anyone who knew me, my first broomstick flying lesson hadn't started well. No matter how many times I'd said "up" or how firmly I'd said it, the broom had remained stubbornly on the ground. It probably hadn't helped that the hand I was holding out had been trembling like a leaf. Eventually Madam Hooch had just picked up the broom, shoved me onto it, and ordered me to push off the ground.
I'd done as instructed, kicking up off the ground, then clenched my eyes shut and waited to fall off. To my surprise though, the broom had actually been quite steady beneath me and steering hadn't been nearly as complicated as I'd feared.
A volleyball flying towards my head yanked me from my thoughts and I hastily balled my hands together to meet the ball with a dull smack that had me cursing under my breath. Bugger, that had hurt!
At least my pain was worth it, I thought as I watched the ball fly back over the net, landing on the ground. "Nice job Bella!" said one of my teammates. I tried to give them a smile but I was fairly certain it came out as more of a grimace.
Finally, the last bell of the day rang and I changed quickly, not bothering to shower– I could do that at home. Instead, I hurried to the front office, quickly pawning off my signed slip to the receptionist. "How did your day go?" she asked cheerfully as she accepted it.
"Okay." I replied honestly– minus the bloody vampires, of course, not that I could mention those.
After the paperwork was sorted I was able to leave and go attempt to find my truck in the bedlam that was currently the student's parking lot. It took almost ten minutes to actually get out of the school, but as soon as I waa free I drove straight home as fast as I legally could.
I showered and changed after arriving, dressing in comfortable sweats with my hair hanging loose and wet around my face and down my back and my wand tucked behind my ear Luna-style as I paced around my room.
"Vampires," I muttered to myself for about the hundredth time. "Freaking vampires! I mean, I come here to effing Forks because it's a muggle town in the middle of bloody nowhere so I know I won't need to use magic, only to find out that whoops– there's a whole coven of vampires who've moved in!"
"Bella?" I heard Charlie's voice call out and at the sound of his footsteps coming up the stairs I forced a smile on my face. "You alright?" He asked through the closed door.
"I'm fine Charlie. You can come in." I told him, lying with an ease that discomforted me slightly. Charlie poked his head in and gave me a smile.
"So how was school?"
"A pain in the a–er, butt." I told him truthfully. He chuckled at that.
"Well if you need anything, I'm here." He said before retreating, shutting the door back behind him.
I thought for a moment about calling him back and telling him about the vampire coven situation, but decided against it. Unlike my mother, Charlie had been incredible about the whole "my daughter is a witch" thing, but I didn't know how well he'd take to vampires– especially considering how helpless he was against them.
I just hoped they didn't hunt in Forks, I thought miserably.
Knowing that there wasn't anything I could do to cheer myself up right now, I decided to just wallow in the misery and ruffled around in my trunk before locating and pulling out the radio I bought from Hogsmeade several years ago. It was a bulky, old-fashioned looking device with a long, crooked antennae that had to be pulled out and several large dials.
In the first few days back at Hogwarts, rumors had reached the Ravenclaw tower about a radio station created by people fighting the Dark side. Everyone who had a radio was suddenly down in the Common Room, fiddling with the dials, trying to find the elusive station.
And Isobel did. It was called 'Potterwatch', and while the announcers used code-names I recognized the sound of Professor Lupin's voice once– and a Gryffindor a few years older then me who used to commentate for the school Quidditch games.
It wasn't easy to listen to. They didn't just talk about what was honestly going on out there, they actually read out the names of people who'd disappeared and been killed, giving honest descriptions of what had happened to them. I was very aware that listening to the station, should I manage to find it, would be a painful exercise but I needed to stay aware of what was happening in Britain, despite the thousands of miles between me and it.
I tried for nearly an hour to guess the password before giving up for the night, frustrated and upset. But it was as I was putting the radio back away that another idea suddenly hit me and I found myself digging around my trunk again, this time looking for the round, gold coin I was given when I joined the DA.
It took me almost twenty minutes to locate the fake-galleon and once I'd retrieved it from my luggage I just held it in my hands for a long moment, looking down at the gleaming gold surface. Ginny had been the one to convince Luna and I to join the DA. Having been someone who barely ever broke rules, it took her a long time to convince me that I should join up.
But I didn't regret it. I didn't regret being caught. I even didn't regret the faint, now barely visible, scars on the back of my hand; I must not break rules.
Stupid Umbridge with her stupid toad-face and stupid Blood Quills, I thought with a scowl as I slipped the enchanted fake-galleon in my pocket. I didn't know if the smooth metal would ever heat up, but if it did, then I knew it would be time– time for Dumbledore's Army to gather once more and fight.