Dusk & Dawn Ch.2 (Twilight) - 2 Week Early Access (Patreon)

All characters in this story are over the age of 18

Bella’s first day at Forks High School was going to be in the middle of the semester.

Great.

She was unsure of how things would go. Many of the students here had grown up together. Their grandparents were probably toddlers together. Bella readied herself to be classed as the new curiosity all the way from the big city. All morning, she had rehearsed her answers for the inevitable questions she would face. She knew that it was pointless because when it came time to respond, she knew that she would shut herself in. Still, it kept her mind busy as she drove from Charlie’s house to the school. Thick fog was all that she could see, casting the town with a creeping sense of claustrophobia. Bella took her time. Before she had left the house, Charlie had wished her good luck at school. Although she thanked him, she feared that his hope was wasted. Bella wanted to think positively. But, she believed there was a glitch in her brain that barred optimism from entering.

She wished to be different; to be the person that people expected her to be.

Finding the school wasn’t difficult. The large building was just off the highway. Bella admired the structure as she searched for a spot to park. The many trees and shrubs that surrounded the building caught Bella off-guard. She wondered nostalgically if this place had chain-link fences or metal detectors. It hardly felt like an institution. Somehow, that made her feel more nervous. Everything felt so freeing. There were expectations for her to be the same. She didn’t want to feel restricted or cold. Once she managed to park in front of the building, she sat in silence for a moment and sighed.

‘’What’s the worst that can happen?’’ she murmured.

She stepped out of the toasty truck cab. As she turned to slam the door shut, she felt her foot slip on the wet pavement. She managed to catch herself on the handle of the truck door. Behind her, she could hear students laughing.

‘’Don’t break a leg on your first day, new girl.’’

Ignoring their taunts, Bella took a deep breath and ventured towards the school, refusing to lock eyes with her hecklers. She headed into the main office where she needed to collect her class schedule and a map of the school’s layout. The lady at the desk was pleasant. Though, Bella couldn’t be certain if she was like that with all students or just with her because of her relation to the Police Chief.

There was still time for Bella to familiarize herself with the building. She glanced at the map and followed the routes, highlighting the best ones to take. She avoided the traffic of students who had also arrived early. Bella kept her head down, but could still feel their eyes burning into the back of her skull. She was the shiny new toy. Bella wasn’t sure who she feared more, those who were interested in her or those who were sceptical of her. She knew that being the daughter of Charlie Swan meant that she was going to arrive with a pre-packaged reputation. If by some miracle, she was going to make friends, she hoped that it would be because of her. Then…it felt like she was struck by lightning as someone came to mind.

Alice.

Bella looked up and scanned the faces of those walking through the school hallway. Her hopes were raised. Alice was the type who would stand out in a crowd. If Bella could find her, she would already have a familiar face who would make this first day easier. With every passing second, her hope dwindled. More students were flooding into the corridor. Yet, Alice was not among them. Bella couldn’t understand why she felt such a crushing wave of disappointment. She hardly knew the woman. They had one friendly, albeit strange, meeting. Though, that strangeness added to the pale girl’s charm. Bella bit her bottom lip and stared back at her map.

Would Alice have the same classes as her?

Bella sighed and glared up at the ceiling. Was it still too early to suggest that she had a crush?

‘’You’re Isabella Swan, aren’t you?’’

Bella turned around and saw a gangly boy with hair black as an old slick. His smile was cheerful and innocent.

‘’Just Bella,’’ she corrected.

‘’Well, Bella, I’m Eric! I’m the eyes and ears of this place.’’

‘’Oh,’’ Bella smiled tentatively. ‘’Do I look lost?’’

‘’Kinda,’’ he chuckled. ‘’I guess this is a different vibe than Phoenix, huh?’’

‘’Very.’’

‘’Don’t worry about it. If you need a tour guide or anything like that, I’m the man for the job.’’

‘’Cool.’’

Bella wanted to say more. Eric seemed nice, and she appreciated the effort he was making. But, his attempts to coax her out of her shell made her feel more apprehensive. She wanted to say the right things. She didn’t want to stumble over her words, so she said nothing. She didn’t want to trip over her own two feet, so she remained rooted.

Eric studied her. ‘’I’m not trying to make this weird. We don’t get many new students at this school. You’re front page news.’’

‘’No, I’m not!’’ Bella blurted. She tensed when she saw Eric flinch. ‘’Sorry, I just…I’m not front-page newsworthy. I’m sure other things happen which garner more attention.’’

Eric snorted. ‘’Not really. Trust me, as chief editor of the school paper, I wish there were more stories to cover. But, this is an unremarkable town with unremarkable people.’’

‘’I guess I’ll fit in perfectly.’’

He tried not to laugh. His diplomatic approach did ease Bella’s nerves somewhat.

‘’Yo, Eric!’’ A new voice cried out. Out of the corner of her eye, Bella spotted a baby-faced boy running towards him. His blond hair was carefully gelled into orderly spikes. ‘’Was Spanish class 9:45 or 10:45 today?’’

Eric sighed. ‘’10:45. As always.’’

‘’I knew that…I was just testing if you knew,’’ he replied before his gaze fell upon Bella. He smiled at her in a friendly way. ‘’Hey, you’re the new girl, right? Isabella?’’

‘’Bella,’’ she corrected him politely.

‘’Hi, Bella. I’m Mike Newton.’’ He offered his hand which Bella nervously shook. He glanced at Eric. ‘’What were you two talking about?’’

‘’I was offering to show Bella around the place if she needed it.’’

‘’Oh, cool,’’ Mike turned back to Bella. ‘’Yeah, I get what it’s like to move to a new town. I lived in California till I was ten. So, I can understand if you miss the sun.’’

Bella nodded slowly. ‘’Yeah…but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get a tan so they kicked me out.’’

Eric and Mike exchanged an awkward glance before a slight chuckle escaped them. Bella hoped that it was just a case of her sarcasm being late with sticking the landing. However, angst hooked itself into the back of her mind and wouldn’t budge. Her joke fell flat. She cringed and started to walk away.

But, before she could leave, Eric stepped forward. ‘’I was about to suggest we head to the cafeteria. There’s still time before the first class. Plus, if Jessica and Angela are there, we can introduce you to them.’’

Bella wore a smile. ‘’Y-yeah, we can do that. I skipped breakfast anyway.’’

‘’Me too!’’ Mike said. ‘’I mean, not that skipping breakfast is something we should have in common. It’s an important meal. I just meant that…it’s neat that…we both…didn’t…you know…’’

Eric leaned next to him. ‘’Abort! Abort! You’re crashing.’’

‘’Shut up,’’ Mike shoved his friend playfully.

Mike crashing and burning brought a genuine smile to Bella’s face. The fear of them pretending to be nice lingered, but she tried to retain hope.

As they guided her to their destination, Bella quickly discovered that Mike was quite the chatterer. Once he started talking, it was near impossible to get him to stop. Eric was always ready with a response. But, he was more of an observer. He’d have one ear open, listening to the other students they passed in the hallway whilst still being able to converse with his friend. Bella was impressed and intimidated. She kept quiet throughout. They didn’t seem to mind. Whenever they passed a point of interest, they would have its backstory ready, both trying to one-up each other by being more knowledgeable than the other person. Much to Bella’s surprise, she wasn’t irritated by their antics. Their friendship was sincere despite their banter.

It almost reminded Bella of an old of hers at La Push.

When they finally reached the cafeteria, Eric and Mike showed Bella to a table where two other girls sat. One was tiny; several inches shorter than Bella, but her wildly curly dark hair made up a lot of the difference between their heights. She was prattling on about classes whilst reading from her phone. The other girl, taller with short dark hair and glasses, saw the group approaching first and waved at them. Before Bella had a chance to settle, the taller girl retrieved her phone and took a quick picture of her.

‘’Angela!’’ Eric scolded, waving his hand over his neck in a slicing motion. ‘’Ixnay.’’

She lowered her phone and offered Bella an apologetic glance. ‘’Sorry, it’s been so long since we did a feature on a new student. I was hoping to edit a story together for the paper about the girl from the big city.’’

Bella’s heart went out to the girl. She hated photos of herself being taken, but it was clear that there was nothing malicious about Angela’s intent. ‘’I-It’s fine,’’ Bella stuttered. ‘’But, I thought Eric said he was the editor.’’

Eric let out a nervous laugh. ‘’Well, when I say editor, it’s more like a manager role. I sniff out the story and Angela is the one who captures it.’’

Angela smiled. ‘’We’re a team.’’

‘’Dyslexia is a bitch.’’ Eric said.

Mike laughed. ‘’Whenever I got a birthday card addressed to Mick, I knew who it was from.’’

‘’It happened once.’’

‘’Twice.’’

‘’Who’s counting?’’

‘’I am, clearly!’’

They laughed, playfully pushing each other as if they were trying to knock the other person off their chair. Their competitive banter made Angela laugh with them. The discouragement she felt a moment ago had passed which filled Bella with relief. Once again, she was thankful that this interaction went smoothly. There was still a small part of her that dreaded the possibility of it all being for nought and that they were going to play a joke on her. She chose to ignore it. Her eyes wandered over to the other girl whom she assumed to be Jessica. She was still fully focused on her phone, barely even acknowledging Bella’s presence. Looking over her shoulder, Bella saw someone at a table in the corner of the cafeteria.

Bella’s throat hitched.

It was Alice.

She was sitting alone, reading a book while a tray of food in front of her remained untouched.

‘’She’ll catch you staring.’’

Bella nearly jumped out of her seat when Jessica spoke. The girl finally tore her eyes away from her phone and stared at Bella with a playful smirk.

‘’I-I wasn’t…’’ Bella stammered, drawing the attention of everyone else around the table. ‘’I just saw Alice and I…I…’’

Mike did a double-take. ‘’Wait, you know Alice Cullen?’’

‘’Not really, I only met her briefly yesterday,’’ Bella answered. ‘’Who is she exactly?’’

‘’She’s the foster kid of Dr and Mrs Cullen,’’ Jessica replied. ‘’Their family moved from Alaska a few years ago.’’

‘’She mostly keeps to herself, especially this year,’’ Angela said.

‘’Why’s that?’’ Bella asked.

Jessica looked more than happy to gossip. ‘’There were four of them; all adopted. The other three graduated last year. I think they all still live together. But, they’re super reclusive.’’

‘’Which means that she is super exclusive,’’ Eric joked, earning a sigh from Angela and Mike. ‘’But, no chance of that happening. She’s a loner. I don’t think I’ve seen her react to anyone outside of class.’’

‘’That’s strange,’’ Bella said. ‘’We didn’t talk much, but she seemed nice.’’

Angela shrugged cautiously. ‘’I think she is. But…there was a bit of an incident last year. One of them, I think it was Jasper, he got into a fight.’’

‘’Are fights rare here?’’ Bella asked.

‘’The other guy was on the basketball team with me,’’ Mike said. ‘’He looked like he went ten rounds with a professional boxer. It wasn’t a pretty sight. It’s weird cause he was like twice the size of Jasper. I don’t know how he came off worse.’’

Bella had intrigue plastered all over her expression. Her eyes flickered again to the table where Alice sat. She felt a surge of pity. As beautiful as Alice was, she was still an outsider. Whether by her own accord or because of other factors, Bella still didn’t have all the answers. She continued to examine her until Alice finally looked up and met her gaze. Bella turned away swiftly. A slight blush crept across her cheek, unnoticed by everyone else except Jessica.

‘’I wouldn’t waste your time,’’ she said to Bella. ‘’I don’t think anyone can break through the walls she’s put up.’’

Bella glanced back at Alice. She was reading her book again. Her cheeks appeared lifted as if she was smiling.

Bella could almost see herself in Alice’s shoes. The loneliness that would suffocate her was something that she would not wish upon anyone. There weren’t even any other chairs around Alice’s table. No one dared to go near her.

Without a second thought, Bella slowly rose to her feet. ‘’Excuse me.’’

Everyone’s eyes were on her as she walked towards Alice’s table. Bella didn’t know where this resolve came from. Her body almost stopped out of fright. But, she persisted. One step at a time. She felt her heart racing as she got closer and closer to Alice. Once again, she could see the corner of Alice’s mouth curl upward as if she could already hear her approaching. Bella chewed the inside of her cheek nervously. When her shadow was cast over the table’s surface, Alice finally lifted her head and greeted Bella with a warm smile.

‘’Hello, I’ve seen you before,’’ Alice teased.

‘’Yeah, small world,’’ Bella snorted quietly. ‘’How are you?’’

‘’I’m good. Just reading up on my assignment before English class.’’

Alice showed the cover of her book. Bella nearly did a double-take when she saw it. She recognized it instantly as Romeo and Juliet. However, her astonishment came from the fact that it was a rare copy that went out of print many years ago. ‘’Whoa, the school has that edition?’’

‘’Actually, it belongs to me.’’

Bella’s eyes widened. ‘’That’s incredible. It must have been so difficult to track down.’’

Alice grinned mischievously. ‘’Not as hard as you think.’’

‘’Uh…so what other classes do you have?’’

Extending her hand, Alice gracefully snatched Bella’s schedule. Her movements were so swift. ‘’Shall we compare?’’

Bella stood there anxiously as Alice scanned the paper. Bella didn’t want to look away from Alice for two reasons. Firstly, she didn’t want to react to the others around the cafeteria who were undoubtedly watching. If she did that, she’d crumble under the pressure. The second reason she couldn’t tear her eyes away from Alice was because of the young woman’s bewitching beauty. The way her nose crinkled as she read the schedule was adorable. Her bubbly smile was infectious. Even the features that others might not have been drawn towards, such as her pale skin and short, messy hair were something that Bella admired.

Yes, she had a crush.

‘’Look at that,’’ Alice said, dragging Bella out of her trance. ‘’We have biology together. That’s the first class of the day.’’

‘’Really? Cool.’’

Bella wanted to say more. But, she had already ventured too far out of her comfort zone. She shakily retrieved her schedule from Alice when she offered it to her.

‘’I’ll see you in class, Bella Swan,’’ Alice beamed.

‘’Not if I see you first, Alice Cullen.’’

Feeling that she ended the conversation on a good note, Bella quickly retreated, careful not to trip over her feet and ruin the moment. Her head felt numb as she sat back down at the table with the others and exhaled. Looking up, she saw that not only were those around her own table gawking at her, but almost the entire cafeteria was acting like they had witnessed a divine miracle. The weight of the moment finally crashed onto Bella’s shoulders. She shrunk into her chair and covered her face. She grabbed a piece of toast and chewed on it until she nearly choked.

‘’So…how about the weather?’’ she mumbled.

Angela and Mike were gobsmacked. Their jaws hung open. Jessica was equally stunned, though a smirk slowly took shape. Eric had to laugh. He grabbed Bella by the shoulders and shook her gently. ‘’What was that you were saying earlier about being unremarkable? You are already the biggest thing to happen to this school!’’

Bella forced a smile. She was unsure if she had managed to fit in or just make herself more of an outcast.

Hopefully, she would have a better idea by the end of the day. If she survived her first class…with Alice.