edited: 7/9/2020
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RORY ADEN HAD NEVER been the type of person to obsess over what others thought of her. Usually, it as the other way around. With her wicked grin and gleaming eyes, she exuded confidence. She was attractive and intelligent. She wasn't afraid of people, but something about Alice Cullen and Jasper Hale unnerved her. Especially Jasper Hale.
Maybe it was the freakishly pale skin and weirdly colored eyes or the way Jasper Hale went between blatantly ignoring her to glaring a hole at the side of her head when she looked elsewhere. Rory didn't know if he hated her and for some unfathomable reason, it irked her immensely. Like she wanted his approval. Deep down, she knew she didn't really care but something about Jasper Hale pulled her in while something about her pushed him away.
It was...unusual.
It turned out that Rory and Jasper had the next class together—AP chemistry. Then AP Biology. Except thankfully, in both of those classes, Eric and Jessica were in respectively so she didn't have to awkwardly follow Jasper around or sit with him. She was positive they were both glad for it even if they both tended to feel each other's eyes on them at random intervals.
Halfway through the day, Rory's anxiety finally subdued as she grew more comfortable around the school. Aside from one particular person, everyone else she had met made her feel beyond welcome.
"Yeah, so you should totally join the volleyball team, Rory," Jessica was saying to her as they walked to the cafeteria. "I can't believe you were captain and had to move in the middle of the season."
Rory shrugged lightly, her eyes guarded once more. "Captainship doesn't matter to me. Besides, I was just glad—"
"Hey, hey, hey," the discernible voice of Mike Newton said as he slipped his arms over the shoulders of Jessica and Rory. "There's my two favorite girls."
"We just met," Rory rolled her eyes while Jessica glared at Mike.
Jessica's face soured. "What about Bella, Mike? She was your favorite girl just yesterday and now that you have a shiny, new toy—"
"Woah, chill." Rory frowned at the two, shrugging Mike's arm off. "I don't know Bella yet, but I didn't move here to become someone's toy and I highly doubt she did either."
"Yeah, my bad. I was just joking, really," Mike apologized sheepishly as they entered the loud cavernous room filled with starving high school students.
Rory sighed, "It's fine."
A couple of jock-looking guys called out for Mike which he eagerly responded to, leaving the girls to join the lunch line with a wave.
Jessica exhaled sharply. "I didn't mean to offend you, Rory. Mike just..." she groaned, while paying for her food. "He's so clueless when I've been here the whole time and with Bella it was somewhat tolerable but now you—you're too freaking gorgeous for this town and I just—"
"Hey," Rory patted Jessica's shoulder, ending her self-deprecating spiel. "Looks aren't everything and men are trash," she said matter of factly. "If Mike doesn't see what a great girl you are, then frankly, he doesn't deserve your attention."
"Men are trash," Jessica repeated in stout agreement, lightening up tremendously in just a few seconds. "God, we might have just met Rory, but I'm really glad you came here. No one else would've set me straight like that."
"No problem," Rory shrugged and then pointed to a table where Eric was frantically waving them over while the entire table stared at her. "I presume that's the table."
"Yup!" Jessica was peppy once more. She pulled Rory to her side as they got to the table. "Guys, this is—"
"Rory Aden," the table of teenagers chorused.
Smiling widely, she sat down. "Word gets around quick," she laughed, glad she didn't need to correct her name preference herself.
The friendly looking group arranged themselves to include Jessica and her. Eric and Jessica then began an unspoken battle of who could introduce each person sitting at the table to Rory the fastest. Rory even posed surreptitiously for the school newspaper feature on her. She didn't mind; it was clear Forks didn't get much newsworthy material.
"And this is Bella," Jessica said quickly before Eric could, pointing to the pale and quiet brunette whose attention had mostly been at something behind her. "If you're wondering what Bella is doing, she's checking out Edward Cullen, as usual," Jessica stage whispered, causing the girl in question to turn a bright red.
Cullen? Rory casually followed Bella's gaze to a table in a quiet corner by the window. There were five of them and they were all perfect. Jasper Hale and Alice were counted amongst them to Rory's dread. She hadn't forgotten Alice's invitation nor of Jasper's apparent disdain for her. Before she could get a better look at the others, Rory's attention was drawn to Bella.
"I am not," Bella protested weakly. She gave Rory a small smile. "Sorry about that. Um, I think we might be neighbors."
"Really?" Angela, the camera welding girl with cool glasses next to Bella, asked. "That's some crazy coincident. Except you moved here because of your dad. He's the chief of police, Rory," she explained, curiosity bloomed in her eyes, "you moved here because...?"
A horrific tragedy and scarring events. Rory's lips curved lightly. "There was a need for a new surgeon at Forks Hospital and my mom and I needed a change."
Bella nodded. "Ch—my dad and I meant to stop by to welcome you both yesterday, but he got home pretty late what with all the animal attacks."
"Animal attacks?"
Everyone at the table grew solemn. Rory understood then. Even small towns had their tragedies.
Eric's usually light expression turned dark with heedy caution. "Don't go out in the woods alone, Rory. There's some dangerous things lurking about."
Rory let out a shaky laugh. "And to think I was planning on taking a hike today after school. I guess that beautiful forest surrounding my house won't get explored any time soon." She shrugged while everyone looked sort of relieved.
"So, where are you from?" Bella took it upon herself to ask, realizing no one else had. "You have a slight accent, it's interesting, but I can't quite place it."
"I didn't know I did," Rory hummed, glancing around the fully attuned table. "I'm from San Antonio, Texas, actually, but I'm also hispanic and I've spoken Spanish my whole life, so it could be a combination of the two. I never noticed it anyways."
Angela's smile widened. "I'm Mexican-Italian," she shared, thrilled she had a fellow hispanic friend. "Es un buen cambio del mar de personas blancas." [tr.: It's a nice change from the sea of pale people.]
"Pues, cariño, estoy aquí para quedarme." [tr.: Well, darling, I'm here to stay.] The two girl's shared a grin of solidarity while their tablemates felt out of the loop at the sudden language switch.
Jessica tsked. "See, this is how tan people from the south should be." She poked fun at Bella's ivory complexion despite having lived in the south for so long. "Bella is supposedly from Arizona."
Rory raised her brow at being called tanned when she was a brown woman. It reminded her of when the girls in her old hometown would hold their arms next to Rory's to compare their tans in the warmer months. 'Look, I'm darker than you!' they would brag, all while ignoring the fact how they had definitely increased their chances of developing melanoma. Bella's stubborn paleness was oddly likeable.
"Leave her alone, Jess," Angela rolled her eyes, but Bella hardly seemed to notice.
She was looking past everyone to the back of the room again. Rory followed her gaze to a quiet corner of the room where the five incredibly beautiful people sat at. She understood Bella's inability to look away—in fact, several others in the cafeteria seemed to be spending their lunch staring at the group too.
Aside from Alice and Jasper, there was one other girl and two boys. The girl was insanely beautiful with long blonde waves and the guy beside her was huge, muscular and intimidating. The bronze haired boy who looked like the youngest of the bunch with boyish features was seriously good looking—all of them were. Rory couldn't believe they were all high school students, most of them looked more like college students. They all looked like they could be on the cover of GQ or Vogue and that was including the actual circular cafeteria table.
"Oh, not you, too," Mike groaned as he joined the table with a tray of food. He seemed to have decided it had been long enough for the previous tension to subside as he slid into the closest seat to Rory. "Like I said before, what is it with the Cullen's and new girls? I guess they probably can't stand to see such beautiful girls sitting with us common folk instead of their royal court." He managed to somehow flirt, joke, insult, and disregard centuries of progress all in two sentences.
For whatever reason, Rory glanced at the Cullen's table in the impossible possibility there was a chance they had heard him all the way across the cafeteria.
Jasper Hale was looking his best to look as though he was definitely not looking at their table in a way that Rory believed he might have been just doing. The two guys Rory hadn't met appeared highly amused at some joke while the ethereal looking blonde stared back unimpressed. Alice was waving her over excitedly as she made eye contact with Rory, tilting her head toward the empty seats at their table meaningfully.
"Hurt you weren't invited to the club, Mike?" Rory raised her brow, unimpressed by his attitude. She hoped he snapped out of his evidently large ego quite soon as she was growing a little tired of it.
"You were?" The table inquired in surprise.
With a burst of energy and manic-spite, Rory wiggled her fingers back at Alice and stood up.
Angela jokingly narrowed her eyes. "Bored of us already?"
Rory tossed her hair behind one shoulder, not noticing the eyes of a few boys following her movements. She gripped her backpack, slung it over one shoulder and smirked. "I'm going to say hello."
"You're ditching us for the Cullens?" Jess quietly shrieked, alerting those in the immediate area, if not a good half of the cafeteria of the new girl's intention to fraternize with the school's most mysterious group of students.
Rory patted the high-strung girl's shoulder. "Not for forever," she assured Jess with a laugh.
A few (Jessica, Mike, and Eric) protested with pouts and sighs, while others (Angela and Bella) were more curious than anything. As Rory passed the other new girl, she paused. "Wanna come with, Bella?"
The brunette turned crimson, stiffening as she shook her head rapidly. "Um, no—no thanks, I just—it'd be awkward—"
"Oh, come on, Bella. Don't let me throw myself to the wolves just yet," Rory glanced back at the Cullen table where she caught them all in mid laugh. Rory raised her brow, what was so funny?
"Yeah, Bella. Go say hi to Edward," Angela joined in, poking the shy brunette in the side.
Rory raised her brows at Bella.
"Fine."
Rory and Angela shared triumphant grins. A little peer pressure was healthy.
Bella begrudgingly stood.
"I'm going to projectile vomit," she hissed, growing even paler than before as Rory led the way to the Cullen's table
"Aim to the left then. My boots are new."
Not only were the five teenagers staring at Bella and Rory, but the entire cafeteria were also watching the new girls about to make a fool of themselves. Rory, while her stomach flipped tumultuously, was skilled in the art of deception and kept her body language nonchalant.
Bella clutched Rory's forearm. "I feel like I'm about to die."
"You'll live, Bella."
"Rory! Bella!" Alice stood up, a bright smile on her fairy-like face. Her bell-like voice echoed loudly, making it obvious to the entire school, if it wasn't already, of the two girls' destination! Bella!"
"Alice," Edward and Jasper hissed at their adopted sister. Both boys quickly calmed down as the pair of brunettes approached, adopting stony expressions.
Up close, the group of teenagers were so impossibly beautiful, it was almost unreal. Besides their extremely pale white skin and bruise-like under eyes, each teenager had perfectly symmetrical features, walking photoshopped beings with such an ethereal demeanor Rory felt incomprehensibly inferior, even though she was fully confident in herself.
The gorgeous blonde sitting between Alice and the brawny guy glared at them, her glacial face as sharp and deadly as the winter. "Do you two want something?"
Bella looked very much eager to scamper away with her tail tucked between her legs. Rory assumed the bronze haired boy had to be Edward by the way he was intensely staring at the quiet brunette.
Arching her brow, Rory planted herself stubbornly. The blonde reminded her of her old crew and she knew just how to deal with her. "Just the ever so lovely hospitality of Forks I've heard all about," Rory drawled before smiling cheerfully. "Alice invited us, if you didn't get the drift."
The blonde narrowed her gaze and Rory smirked. The linebacker-like dude beside the blonde whispered something to most likely calm her down. "As I was telling you all, this is Rory, my new friend," Alice interrupted the beginning of the bitch off, gesturing to the two girls to introduce them to the others. "We all know Bella."
"Hello, Bella," Edward greeted the brunette smoothly.
"Hi." She racked her mind for something smart or cool to say to the bronze-haired boy. "...Did you do the assignment for biology?" Inwardly, she slapped her forehead, but Edward gave her a crooked grin.
Rory hid her smile as she urged Bella to step towards the empty seat next to her obvious crush. That left the only other empty seat between Jasper and Rosalie. Lovely. She inhaled sharply, unintentionally catching strong notes of leather and cinnamon and something else as she sat down cordially.
"Jasper."
"Aurora."
Rory narrowed her eyes. "Don't call me Aurora."
The devastatingly handsome blond stiffened. "My apologies."
Rory shrugged. Bella and Edward had fallen into an awkward-for-everyone-at-the-table stare off. Her manic rush waned as she fully registered her actions. Why did she think she had the right to barge in on the group's lunch?! Why didn't someone stop her?!
Rory cleared her throat, forcing her anxiety to go away. "So, I've met Alice and Jasper, but I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the rest of you."
"Emmett Cullen, at your service," the handsome buff guy beside the blonde said with a dimpled grin. Emmett tapped on the blonde's thigh, but her glare didn't budge. He sighed at his girlfriend's stubbornness. "This is Rosalie Hale."
"Edward," the bronze haired boy said, barely looking away from Bella to nod at Rory, his golden eyes distracted.
It was a bit odd how an entire group had names like that, as in the kinds you didn't exactly hear everyday. Not a single 'Tyler' or an 'Emma'—not that those kinds of names would fit any of them anyways. Well, it's not like Rory could talk either. Her name was Aurora for God's sake. Like the Disney princess.
Rory's brows scrunched together and looked at Alice for confirmation. "So, the three of you are siblings," she made eye contact with the two other Cullen boys, then. gestured to the two she sat between, "and Jasper and Rosalie are siblings as well?"
Alice nodded slightly with a little laugh. "Not exactly. We're actually all adopted."
Rory's eyes widened but Bella was hardly surprised as she already learned the story weeks ago. Rory looked around the table, noting the strange physical similarities they all shared, even those who were apparently not blood related.
"Our parents, Carlisle and Esme, adopted the three of us just a few years ago from the foster care system. Rosalie and Jasper though are Esme's brother-in-law's twins." Edward broke from staring at Bella to answer Rory's unsaid question.
"Oh. That's cool," Rory nodded slowly, appreciating how Edward included the specificity of their relation to each other unasked. "A little strange, but cool."
"Strange?" Rosalie's eyes flashed dangerously and Rory gulped, regretting her thoughtless phrasing.
"I mean. Obviously you guys are all together-together?" Her voice was unsure. Good job, Rory. You've already offended a whole ass family and it's only noon. How much more awkward could she be?
Edward Cullen was the first to laugh.
They all glanced at each other, then at Rory. Emmett could hardly hide his guffaws and even Rosalie rolled her eyes. Alice started to giggle. Jasper cracked a smile.
"We're not all 'together-together'," Jasper explained with a flicker of humor in his dark eyes. "Just Rose and Emmett. That'd be a bit incestuous, darling, if we were all just dating each other."
Rory was obscenely uncomfortable by the energy she had unintentionally created. "Oh."
"Don't worry, Rory," Alice reached over Jasper to pat her hand on the table. Rory flinched at the freezing touch, but wasn't alarmed, attributing the coldness to the weather. "Jazz and I are just best friends, I can assure you."
"Don't wor—?" Rory froze in realization of Alice's insinuation and so did the honey haired blond next to her.
Apparently, it can get very, very much more awkward.
Edward and Emmett shook their heads.
Bella was very glad the attention wasn't on her for once whilst simultaneously feeling very bad for her new friend and neighbor. Alice Cullen, for all her grace and friendliness, very much lacked subtlety.
Rory squirmed the slightest in her squeaky plastic seat. She was so close to Jasper and he barely made any discernible movement. As if Jasper Hale needed another reason to be uncomfortable by her presence and not like her.
Thanks, Alice. Both Jasper and Rory thought.
Edward snickered underneath his breath.
"Anyways," If Rory wasn't positive that Rosalie would rip her head off if she tried, she would have kissed Emmett in that moment. "Are you an Overwatch girl or a Call of Duty girl? I've got you pegged down for CoD and I need a new gaming partner. Jasper and Edward are too boring nowadays..."
Jasper was absolutely sure of three things as his siblings got to know the new girls. One, Alice was a meddling, little shit. Two, he was going to kill her when they got home. And three, Jasper was helplessly intrigued by this human girl and it was all thanks to Alice's meddlesome, future-seeing ways.
If he wouldn't look like an idiot, he would slap his palm to his forehead.
When lunch finally ended, the table dispersed to their classes. Rosalie dragged a waving Emmett to whatever class they had. Bella was whisked away to biology by Edward and Alice had slipped away to AP psychology.
"Just you and me now again, huh?" Rory offered Jasper a friendly smile.
He stared at her blankly.
Damn. She really didn't get his bipolar-like animosity. One moment, they got along with a few witty comments, the next, he was looking at her like he was the scum beneath his designer shoes.
Rory chalked it down to a serious case of obnoxiousness. She had gathered that not many people attempted to make the effort to know the Cullen family. Or were successful in any manner. So it made some sense that Jasper Hale wasn't jumping to become her new best friend. However, Rory was tenacious.
"Don't tell me," Jasper slightly rose one dark blond brow, "English III?"
Rory matched his expression. Huh. So, he was no longer ignoring her now. His whiplash moods were beginning to annoy her. She glanced at her schedule. "AP Lang."
His expression darkened. "Our classes are right next to each other."
"How surprising."
The pair locked eyes and walked together to the English section of the school, with Jasper leading the way before amicably separating in the neighboring classrooms.
Rory was able to breath for once when she experienced a whole class period away from the flawless blond enigma. She was glad to be rid of his stares that ranged from deadly to accusatory, without any reasonable explanation and in spite of her valiant attempts to be cordial with the man. Not that she needed to be liked by him, but more so that she just just wasn't used to being so overtly disliked.
For her last class period, Rory was content to be led to her AP U.S history by Tyler Crowley, who chatted her ear off with countless bragging tales and compliments to her person. This type of attention, she was used to. It made sense. Which is why when she stepped into the room, neither Rory nor Jasper were surprised to find each other in the same class once more, because why not?
Every class together but one.
What a crazy coincidence.
Jasper knew coincidence was spelled A-L-I-C-E. She had indeed spent some time in the front office a few days ago for a now known reason.
She is so meddlesome, Jasper thought fondly of his best friend, but he was definitely gonna kill her later.
The teacher, Mr. Bryce, thankfully didn't force Rory to introduce herself to the class. He signed her slip and told her to take any of the empty seats. Unfortunately, most of the empty seats were next to a few guys with creepy smiles and stares, or placed where she wouldn't see the board well. The feeling of dread filled her as her only option became clear.
Jasper stifled a sigh when the overwhelming flowery scent of vanilla and roses grew stronger. His throat burned tightly but he swallowed the pain away. He stared at the whiteboard in front of him. Fuck my life.
Of course, Rory Aden had taken the available seat next to him in his favorite class. Jasper snuck a glance at her. Not that he thought she would be dumb, but Jasper was sort of surprised that Rory Aden's schedule was full of advanced placement classes, and in many senior classes despite being a junior. It appeared that she had no issues smoothly integrating herself into their classes curriculum without much difficulty.
Rory let out a loud sigh. "What an interesting first day."
Jasper locked his dark eyes with hers. "Interesting indeed."
Rory decided the flip flop fluttery feeling in her stomach was due to her lunch and not the attraction she felt to the blond enigma. Stupid boys. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
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When Stella Aden parked her car in the driving lot of Forks high school, she was surprised to see her daughter walking beside the most handsome teenage boy Stella had ever seen. She wasn't sure if they were purposely walking together due to the lack of words being exchanged, but something about the way they walked beside each other looked natural, like they were meant to be.
"Hey, how was your first day, mi ángel?" Stella asked as Rory opened the passenger-side door.
"Fine."
"And you got that blond boy's number, right?"
Rory turned red because the door was very much open and her mother was very much not quiet. She sneaked a glance over her shoulder to see Jasper still passing by unbothered, but Rory didn't catch the amusement on his face.
Half-attuned to their conversation, Jasper gracefully hopped into Emmett's jeep feeling very curious about the new girl in a way he's never had before.
"Mama," Rory hissed embarrassedly as she firmly shut the door. "We just met today!"
"¿Qué, mija? Él es muy guapo." [tr: what, mija? He is very handsome] Stella waggled her brows jokingly.
"Yeah, yeah, his whole family is," Rory snorted, thinking of the odd group of five inhumanly beautiful teenagers.
Stella was suddenly too quiet. She glanced at Rory with a teasing smirk. "You've met his whole family already?"
"Mama!" Rory sank into her seat, wishing her mother would just start driving. "Let's just go home already!"
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A.N this story takes place about three weeks after Bella arrived in Forks, so while Edward isn't actively avoiding Bella anymore; they are still NOT friends.
This is also before the car accident. and obviously alice and jasper are not together lol. alice is just meddlesome.
THIS STORY IS A MIX OF PLOT LINES OF BOTH THE NOVEL AND THE MOVIE ADAPTATION