Chapter 5
Summer ended eventually. Well, if there had been a summer in Forks it would have ended, but surprisingly it was still the same. The same rain, the same clouds. On her first day at school Bella was nervous and chill at the same time. It couldn’t get worse than Phoenix, could it? It was a new beginning, after all. And new beginnings usually start out being fine, maybe even exciting.
During the first period Bella had to go to the office to get signed into classes. The office was almost empty when she slid through the heavy door. Only one girl sat in the corner looking up when she heard the door. She had short dark hair and pale skin. By her clothes Bella immediately recognized her as one of the “cool” girls. So, she sat down next to the girl (because it was the only empty seat) and tried to seem as occupied with her own thoughts as possible. Which wasn’t exactly hard because all Bella tried was to calm down her heartbeat and suppress the urge to stare at that girl forever.
Simply the short glance she remembered in her brain and the fact that she could smell the girl’s perfume made Bella feel even more nervous than she had ever felt at her old high school. Back there were no girls that were as pretty as that girl.
“Sorry if this is weird, but you smell really good.”
Bella felt like her heart stopped for a second. The girl had spoken to her, right? There was no one else here whom she could have meant. Blood rushed into Bellas cheeks.
“Oh, uhm, thank you.”
She tried to look into the girl’s eyes but it just didn’t feel possible. Bella was too nervous. She had never been complimented on anything about her outer appearance before. How was she supposed to react to a compliment like this?
“You’re the new girl, right?” The girl leaned over the armrest of her chair, looking at Bella with a bright smile. Up close Bella noticed the freckles scarred all around her cheeks.
“The new girl?” Bella made a sound that didn’t sound exactly like a laugh and for a second she contemplated running out of the office.
“Bella, right?”
“Yeah. But how do you know?”
“Everybody knows. Because who the fuck moves to Forks?” The girl smiled again.
“Me?” Bella shrugged but also smiled. The girl’s happiness was infectious in a way.
“Don’t worry though. I also once was the new girl. My family moved here a few years ago. Everyone knew us.”
“Yeah I guess that's Forks.” Bella didn’t really know what to say after that so she started to fumble with the seam of her flannel.
“Oh, I’m Alice by the way.” The girl smiled again, Bella smiled back. While Bella still searched her mind for something smart or interesting to say Alice got called into the office. And Bella was left again on her own. Now; more nervous than chill.
The course selection was tricky. Most of the classes that Bella was interested in were already full and the ones that she ended up in were the ones she had already taken in Junior year. After some discussion she managed to switch from P.E. into theater at least, which wasn’t that much of a win but at least she wouldn’t have to survive another year of volleyball or all the other games that involved way too much running. Bella had never done anything with drama or theater in her life but she remembered that back in Phoenix the theater kids were the ones that held together the most and because of that were usually ignored by the cool kids/bullies. And nothing could be worse than P.E. anyway.