Chapter 8: ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ғᴏᴜʀ

CHAPTER FOUR

ғɪʀsᴛ ɢʟᴀɴᴄᴇ

It was Mike's brilliant idea to wake up bright and early on Saturday morning to make our way up through the trees at the edge of Forks. For me, it was brilliant: I loved the early mornings, when the air was still misty around these parts and the sun was still low in the sky- and that was if it could even be seen at all.

I was lucky enough that the morning began with a light drizzle, setting the day up to be cold and damp. The unfortunate weather earned a number of groans from Jessica, and a girl called Lauren, who she'd invited. Erik and Tyler hadn't shown either, which Mike seemed rather happy about.

For the first hour, I walked wow, dragging behind Angela and the other two as Mike talked at my ear. He was nice enough but in the space of half an hour, I'd learned more about him than I'd ever need nor want to know. He'd lived in California until he was ten, which was apparently a good enough excuse as to why he could complain about the cold as we walked.

For the rest of the morning, also on Mike's insistence, we hurried ahead, leaving the rest of our group to dawdle behind as they chatted. He was fed up by half an hour, lagging behind with jagged breaths that he tried hopelessly to suppress. We were halfway up another incline when he shouted up to me.

"You aren't tired yet?" He said, hands leaning against his knees.

"No." I chuckled.

"So you do this often then?"

I stopped, leaning against a tree as he caught up.

"I lived in Canada. Of course I did!"

He forced on a smile, pushing in front. "Great. Great."

I laughed again, quickly gaining my pace again. And as he died down into his quietness again, it was then that I realised I was hungry.

On Monday, it seemed that Mike's interest in me had dropped as quickly as it had came. I wasn't the new girl anymore, to my relief, and stares were sent away from me and to someone else: a pale girl from Arizona, was the gossip that I'd heard. Mike had picked her up third lesson and dragged her to our lunch table, looking as surprised as I must have looked when he'd done the same to me.

"Looks like you're the shiny new toy Bella," Jessica sniped, watching as Mike shuffled his way beside her. "It was Elide last week. They get over it after a few days."

Bella ignored Jessica, instead smiling grimly, her lips in a thin line and hair falling darkly to shield her face. She was as pale as I'd heard, something Jessica found pleasure in teasing about, but my worries about another secret identity were squashed from the minute I'd seen her. Delicate and nervous. She couldn't be a vampire.

"How are you finding Forks?"

"I don't like attention," she said, shrugging her shoulders and looking away. "But it's nice. I like the trees."

She was obviously lying. I decided then that Bella was a bad liar. I couldn't blame her though. If I was still human, I would have preferred the heat to Forks' horridly often downpours.

"Mr Varner make you stand up for an introduction too?" I asked, watching as her eyes lifted with recognition.

She smiled softly. "I hated it."

For the rest of lunch, Bella clung to my understanding, choosing to talk to me about classes and how different the place was, rather than join in on Mike and Erik's enthusiastic gossip. Angela joined in too- she was a lot more sympathetic than the rest, something that Bella found comfort in too.

"Who are they?" Bella blinked, a frown gracing her lips.

I saw them before Bella had even asked.

Five of had walked in ten minutes ago through the dining hall with such a purposeful walk that they looked far older than their ages. Bella's eyes had never left their sitting figures, eyeing the food on the table that was untouched as they talked quietly, most of the time staring off in silence.

They hadn't been there last week.

There were three boys. One with honey blonde hair, his lean but muscular body leaned against the back of a chair stiffly, his strong jaw clenched. He wore a forced smile, as if he was ready to put up a fight at any moment. The other had dark curly hair, and stood much taller than the rest, his muscled figure making him look double the size too. And the last boy, who Bella had noticed at the same time, had brown hair, tinted a light red, and was taller, incredibly thin. But he held a catlike mature, so smooth and effortless in his movements as he rolled a blood-red apple around on the table but able to snarl and swipe with strength. He looked like he'd always land on his feet.

The last two, the girls, were just as unusual, perfectly beautiful in their own way. The first was tall, her body toned and enviable. She scowled faintly, her pale pink lips and impeccable eyebrows pulled into the glare, barely hidden by her honey-blonde hair that cascaded across her shoulders.

The last of the five was a girl, shorter than the rest, her features pixie-like and gentle. Her eyes were perfectly rounded, barely crinkled as she smiled, her nose a flawless curve and such symmetry too. High cheeks bones were emphasises by her dark cropped hair, the colour of a charcoal drawing, looking just as unreal as one.

They were all beautiful. It was undeniable. But there was something about the last girls smile, so genuine, so different from the rest of their grimaces, that made her features so captivating. I didn't want to look away. But I had to. Someone would see.

I continued to stare in their slim direction along with Bella. The group of five were off in their own heads, eyes glazing across the room as if they were in their own far off land. It gave the impression that they were so much bigger than anything in the school or tiny town. I wondered why such handsome creatures had remained in Forks and knew that Bella thought the same thing.

So beautiful. So inhumanly beautiful. So inhuman.

I knew what they were.

I could smell their scent. I could see their sickly paleness and alluring charm. Most of all, I could see their yellow eyes, all the same despite looking nothing alike in any other manner. They were vampires. They were like me.

"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. And Alice Cullen. They all live together with Dr Cullen and his wife," Jessica said, leaning in to gaze at them from around Bella.

Their names were as old as they must have been. The assumed youngest of the boys glanced over swiftly, eyes locking with Bella's for a single moment. The girl blushed, ignoring Angela's giggles as she turned her head, leaning it against her arms in embarrassment.

Even I couldn't help but smirk, though it was hard to pull on with the fear pushing it back. The fear of being found out. I'd never been so close to a group of vampires before. Or, at least, not in the last hundred years.

"They are... very nice looking," Bella struggled, eyes flickering over to the table again.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed, eyes widening excitedly. "They're all together though. Emmett and Rosalie are together though. And they live together. And everyone thinks that Jasper and Alice are too, though I'm not sure."

Upon the mention of the last name, I let my eyes drift to the couples in question. Alice. She must've been the last girl. The name fitted her, so pretty but different. The boy next to her must have been Jasper, the one with a constant, twisted expression. He looked hungry.

"Who's who?" I asked.

Bella nodded. "Yeah, they don't look related."

"They're not. Dr Cullen is really young. Like really young. They're adopted," Jessica said, her voice dripping with condemnation, as if it was the most scandalous thing she could talk about. "The blondes are the Hale twins. They're fostered."

"They look a little old for that," Bella said, and Jessica nodded.

"Now they are but they've been with the Cullens since they were eight. Mrs Cullen's their aunt or something."

"That's nice of them to look after them," Bella said.

Jessica shrugged, playing with the lid of her Pepsi can. "I don't think Mrs Cullen can have kids."

"Have they always lived in Forks?"

"No. They moved down here two years ago from Alaska."

Alaska. Somewhere I'd never been.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?"

Bella peaked at him from behind her hair, a pink blush still evident on her cheeks. The boy was still staring. He could hear every word we were saying. But the fact that he was looking so intently, almost annoyed, irked me. How many times had this conversation occurred for him? Yet he still looked so frustrated as he studied our table, eyes landing constantly to Bella.

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but he doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good looking enough for him."

It was clear that Jessica was jealous. Everyone could tell and simultaneously hid their numerous smirks. It seemed Edward Cullen was smiling too, as he turned his face, cheeks somewhat lifted.

The conversation moved on but Bella remained to the side, going between picking at her nails and glancing to the Cullens across the hall. There was something so attentive in her gaze, already absorbed the beauty of the five, or perhaps intrigued by it, or the by the youngest, who hadn't looked at her since.

After a short while, they stood, stalking off with ease like a big cat walking away from its hunted pray. It was mesmerising to watch. I knew what they were, and yet their unreal nature, their noticeable grace, amazed me. And Bella too.

As they left, I nudged Bella for her attention. "Caught your eye?"

"No." She shook her head, averting her gaze from the Cullens to her unopened pop on the table. "Just curious."

☾