She held the stars in her eyes and him in her heart
***
Bella waited anxiously for her sister to work up the courage to leave the truck. Sitting in silence was gruesome for most, but comfortable for the two girls who were struggling to come to terms with the fact they actually had to get out and go inside the school before the first bell rang.
"Okay. Let's go," Ophelia said quietly. Bella got out of the old truck first, stretching her hand out to help her sister. Together, they began the walk towards where they hoped was the front office. Still feeling perturbed, she grabbed Bella's hand once more, holding on tightly for comfort.
Much to their dismay the sisters had only one class together. "Well Jessica can show you to the rest of your classes. She's a great guide," the woman at the desk said cheerfully.
Edward Cullen on the other hand was annoyed. Arriving to school he was met with a pervasive thoughts about the new girls. He could hear the voices of the disrespectful boys that only discussed how attractive the two were. Jessica Stanley's thoughts were unsurprisingly selfish - from the parking lot he could still make out how annoying she thought it was that she had to be the one to show the blind girl around.
He could see the pictures in his head of what the two looked like. Isabella, or Bella as she often corrected, and Ophelia weren't exactly identical. Ophelia was much shorter, closer to Alice's size or barely taller. Her and her sister shared the same translucent like skin and dark hair but their eyes were different and she had freckles across her nose and under her eyes. Regardless of the differences, most people found their shiny newness to be attractive, wishing constantly to be near them or get a conversation.
Bella had tried to be polite, struggling indefinitely to choke out an answer or two when people approached her. Ophelia on the other hand didn't speak at all, instead she just sat back and observed, overhearing the whispers and taking in the essence of the neanderthals that surrounded her. Ignoring those around her as she remained focused on her school work or drawing in her sketchbook, which she could feel people stare at her closely for.
She didn't have to be a mind reader to guess what they were thinking. Trying to sneak peaks as she scribbled across the page there were tiny gasps that could be heard followed by mumbles, all wondering how she could be so good at something when she couldn't even see what she was drawing. Still, all she wished for was for the class to be over so that she could be reunited with her sister.
"I'm really sorry, but I kinda agreed to sit with Jessica," Bella whispered into her ear when they met each other in the hall. Ophelia groaned in protest but allowed her sister to loop their arms and walk towards the cafeteria. For the most part she zoned out, not paying any attention to the conversation going on at the table.
Edward on the other hand was thrown off guard. Struggling to see into the two girls heads had been impossible. At first he had been confused, sitting and having a mental conversation about Jasper with Alice, only to feel an influx of images flash through his head. Like a pounding migraine it picked away harshly at the back of his eyes, distracting him from everything else.
Glancing at Bella he knew right away they weren't her thoughts. As a matter of fact, he wasn't receiving any of her thoughts. But as he slowly met the eyes of her sister, he could feel it. The flashes of pictures fluttering once again. It was mostly trivial stuff and he was guessing as to who was who and what was what. The one that stuck out most was the one of Bella; a picture so accurate it made his brain start to strain at the detail. From the one picture he almost thought that he had somehow summoned some of Jasper's powers because of how much love and adoration that spilled from her brain about her sister.
It made no sense, unless the girl had only recently gone blind, which he knew to be not true from what the teachers had been speaking about, she should not be able to think like that. But especially the fact that she seemed to only be thinking in pictures, like a never ending slideshow with multiple window tabs open on a computer.
Ophelia could feel his gaze boring into her and it sent a strange shiver down her spine. Still, she didn't look away. "Bells why is that boy staring at me?"
Bella's head snapped quickly, ready to send a death stare to the culprit. Her eyes glanced over the perfect sculpture-like siblings that sat around the lunch table across the room. "Those are the Cullens. You weren't listening earlier?" Ophelia shook her head and squeezed Bella's hand in apology. "I don't know why he's staring at you so hard but it's rude," she grumbled angrily, glaring in the boy's direction until he averted his gaze. The only thing she hated more than being stared at was her sister being stared at.
The confusion didn't settle in his mind even after he had set off to biology. To his luck, he was stuck with both sisters in the same class. He could hear them whisper at the fact that the only two remaining seats were beside him and Mike Newton, Ophelia asking politely that she not be forced to sit beside such a nuisance. Bella hesitated, clearly nervous about letting her sister sit beside the weird guy that stared at her the whole lunch period, but gave in when she saw the even more disturbing looks Mike was giving.
Unfortunately before directing her to her seat, they had to walk passed a fan that deflected the smell of blood all the way to Edward. Never before had Edward smelled blood as delicious as Ophelia's. It made him cringe, gripping the desk tightly as he tried to act normal despite the thoughts of murdering everyone in the room just for the taste of the small girl's blood.
Walking cautiously to the seat beside the boy from lunch, Ophelia slightly stumbled on her stool but recuperated quickly when Edward carefully moved it back into place so she didn't fall. "Thank you," she smiled in his direction only to receive nothing back. Throughout the class she felt his eyes trained on her again, and she struggled internally to work up the courage to say something.
"Just because I can't see you staring doesn't mean I don't feel it. It's not very nice you know." Her voice was quiet, wavering in the slightest before she cleared her throat in an attempt to regain control.
Edward was honestly just astonished that she said anything. It was obvious she had seemed uncomfortable under his intense gaze, but he hadn't expected her to speak up about anything. Although her voice had come out nervous, he didn't think it had anything to do with him being scary as much as it had to do with her not being comfortable talking to a stranger. In her mind she had thought quickly of Bella, then a picture of some dog, before finishing with Chief Swan. Putting the pieces together he assumed those were the things that she felt most comfortable around, thinking of them helped her to speak up.
From this close he could see the difference in eye color between her and her sister. Her eyes were more of a dark green, a hazel, that shifted colors depending on the light. She also had little golden flecks around the pupil that looked like little stars. It was as though the more he stared into them the more he felt himself floating away, as if she held the universe in her eyes and he was simply lost in space.
"I apologize -" He started to say only to be interrupted.
"Are you ready to go Opie?" Bella stood beside their biology table, glaring at Edward still.
"Yeah, sure. Bye Edward." On their way out he overheard her mumble to Bella about how she had promised not to call her that outside of the house, making the side of his mouth quirk up into a small smile before catching himself and frowning again.
Finally being able to go inhale, the scent of her blood lingered behind and he knew what he needed to do.
Hope you liked this chapter <3