Cullens
SCHOOL. I hated everything about it. Granted, I never stuck around long enough to enjoy any part of it. As I readied myself in my floor length mirror for another year, Mana watched me. I smoothed out my skirt, hating that I tried to look like I cared about school even though I didn't.
I heard Charlotte call for me and I grabbed my backpack before heading downstairs. I found she wasn't alone as Bella was standing beside her, "I see you've made a friend already, Veronica. She wants to drive you to school."
"Oh, hey, Bella. Um, yeah, a ride would be nice," I said, feeling awkward all of a sudden. Not many people entered our house. Charlotte had some of her occult things hanging up now and I silently prayed Bella wouldn't see them. I quickly looped my arm through hers, dragging her from the house.
"Your mom seems nice," Bella complimented as we entered her truck. I looked out of the window to find Charlotte looking through the blinds at us.
"She's not my mom," I informed her. I knew by that statement that I made the situation awkward, but I hated when people made the assumption she was my mother. I felt a pang in my heart as I thought about my real mother. I closed my eyes, fighting back against the tears.
It didn't take us long to arrive at school since it was only a few minutes away from our homes. When Bella parked her car made a loud popping noise. She looked mortified as she slowly exited the truck. I followed suit and we kept our heads down as we walked to the school. Thankfully, we had both gotten our schedules before arriving so we set to finding our first teacher. As we were busy looking at our schedules someone stepped in our path.
"You're Isabelle Swan, right," he asked. We looked up at him, shocked by his braveness to speak to us.
"Bella," she corrected.
"And you're Veronica Bronwenn?"
"The one and only."
"I'm Eric, the eyes and ears of this school. Anything you need, tour guide, lunch date, shoulder to cry on," he said. I looked at him, amused. Was he for real? I looked over at Bella, finding her embarrassed by his attention.
"I'm kind of a "suffer in silence" type."
"Good headline for your feature. I'm on the paper and you're news baby, front page-."
"I'm-no-I-I-I'm not news-," I cut her off as she look as flustered as she could get.
"No feature," I told him. He nodded and I pulled Bella away from him, making an excuse that we needed to get to our lockers. We found Bella's class first and I left to go find mine. Mr. Varner, which was Calculus. Fun.
I entered the class and found most of the students were already in there. I sat in the back of the class, keeping my head down as I began pulling my things out. I felt a presence beside me and looked up to find a bronze haired boy standing there. He was probably the most attractive guy I had met yet.
"Let me guess, I'm in your seat," I questioned. He seemed to take a second to snap out of whatever trance he was in. He came back to reality, shaking his head.
"I'll find another seat," he muttered before choosing the seat in front of me. I shrugged and went back to opening my notebook.
"Is that her," I heard a girl whisper to my left. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see a girl gesturing to me, not so subtly.
"Yeah, but don't make eye contact, you'll make it obvious," the other girl hissed. I rolled my eyes. It was already obvious.
"I heard her father murdered her mother," the girl whispered back. I curled my hands into fists, my nails digging into my palm, "At least, that's what the news article that came up when I Googled her name."
"That kind of trauma, I wonder what that did to her."
"Well, I'm not getting close enough to find out."
I felt my anger began bubbling inside of me, threatening to burst. As it reached its height I felt a wave of calm wash over me. I frowned, confused on where the calm came from. I looked around the room, but no one was paying attention to me, all eyes were on the teacher. I shook off the weird feeling and went back to looking at my notes.
I could never escape the rumors. People believed the worst in others, never thinking that maybe the news report was fabricated to make a more interesting story. If only they knew the real story. Maybe they would be more scared of me than they were now.
The bell rang moments later, pulling me from my thoughts. I quickly gathered my things before leaving the class. The next few classes went smoothly, no one bringing up things they heard about me. It wasn't until lunch rolled around that I knew almost everyone had heard. As I passed by tables, they closed ranks, not allowing space for me to sit. I took to an empty table near the back. It looked broken, but there was at least one chair there.
I sat down, keeping my head down as people whispered around me. I had no idea what they were talking about, but my mind assumed they were talking about me. I heard a short hush fall over people and I looked up to find a group of people entering. In the front was a blonde haired model on the arm of a muscled, dark hair guy. Behind them was a petite girl with a pixie cut. She was smiling wide and skipping behind. Behind her was the boy from Calculus and a blonde haired boy.
They all looked equally perfect with flawless skin, beautiful match gold eyes and well dressed. I sighed, looking back down at my food. I began picking at my mashed potatoes, but was shortly interrupted by a nervous girl. She looked to be a freshman.
"Um, hi, I'm Heather. I came over to ask a question, one that a lot of people want to know. We are a small town, you have to understand there isn't much to do here except gossip. A lot of people are saying your father was a murderer. Is that true," she asked. I heard some girls laugh and I looked around Heather, glaring at them.
"You want the truth, Heather? My father didn't kill my mother, someone else did. I get that this is a small town, but a question like that is not excused by that. Return to those girls and tell them that if they really want to know if I'm a daughter of a killer they can come ask me themselves," I hissed. She quickly ran off and I sat there, fuming. I finally had enough.
I gathered up my stuff and went out the back door, not wanting to finish out the day. I walked to the forest that was behind the school, needing a release. I finally got far enough away before I sat down on a log, taking a calming breath. Tears began falling from my eyes and I soon began sobbing. I heard a twig snap behind me, startling me.
"Who's there," I demanded. I turned around, finding the pixie cut girl from the lunch room.
"I overheard what that freshman asked you. Are you alright," she asked.
"Not in the slightest," I answered, "I'm waiting here until school lets out and then I'm going to have my neighbor drive me home."
"Mind if I give you a ride," she asked. I shrugged, not wanting to sit on this log for the next three hours alone. I followed her out of the forest, to her car that was waiting in the parking lot. It was a silver Volvo.
"Nice ride," I commented.
"Thanks, it's my brother's."
I got in and directed her to my house. When we arrived, Charlotte was waiting for us. I thanked the girl before exiting. As I walked up to the front door, Charlotte stopped me.
"Why are you home so early?"
"Because people think my dad was a murderer," I answered before continuing inside. I ran upstairs to my room, collapsing on the bed. I sobbed into my pillow until passing out from exhaustion. No matter where I went, I couldn't escape the horrors of my past.