chapter 7: Discovery

The science block was easy enough to find because of the numbers on each building I passed. Most people were wearing dark raincoats, or holding colorless umbrellas over their heads as I passed them to get into the building. It was kind of depressing to watch, which in turn made me long for some crazy colors like blue or red. Even a little yellow would have been fine.

As I finally found the right class - and mentally wondered if it was the same one that Bella and Edward would meet in - I could see that I had been wrong about the lack of colors -- most of the other kids weren't wearing black, grey or white under their raincoats. Well, it didn't really matter. I wasn't psychic like Alice so I couldn't have known.

Potato chips Katherine! I swiftly had to remind myself. If this was going to continue all day, the Cullen's would be gone for sure in moments.

Potato chips, potato chips. I love me some potato chips! Think about potato chips and you'll be fine! I singsonged in my head, as I went over to the teacher's desk. Sure enough, it was Mr. Banner and he stared at me for just a moment too long as I handed him the slip to sign. Seriously, do you have to stare? It's not like I'm inhuman or something...

My eyes widened for a second. Potato chips, salty fish, licorice, rubber ducks, jelly-babies, homework! Boring, boring homework...

Mr. Banner handed me back the slip and I turned around in relief. No incidents so far and he hadn't asked me to introduce myself. So far so good.

I let my eyes wander over the classroom and my new classmates. Most of them looked like they could use an extra hour of sleep, while others were engaged in conversations with their lab partners. The room looked pretty much like I had imagined it would: there were blacktopped lab tables - like the ones I was used to in Salem -- high windows where I had to be standing on a chair or table to be able to even remotely look through one of them -- and lots of stuffed animals inside the various cabinets and jars on shelves. And there, right smack-bam in the middle of the room, sat none other than an incredibly, inhumanly beautiful, small, andshort-haired pixie girl.

My knees went weak for a second and I had to grab hold of the nearest table to avoid crashing to the floor. Luckily no one seemed to notice even though everyone's eyes were on me even Alice's.

At least I hoped no one noticed.

I tried to letnothing go through my mind at that moment. If he was listening in... well I wasn't going to think about it long enough to find out. It even almost escaped my notice that Mr. Banner was showing me to my seat -- the only seat in the room - next to her.

I swallowed silently before gradually walking down the aisle. Alice didn't seem to move as I sat down next to her but she did flash me a quick smile. I tried to smile back, but I wasn't sure I succeeded. Her attention was already on the blackboard again before I even had the chance to analyze her smile properly.

Damn, those stupid super-reflexes of vam-- Lalalalalalalala!

I was never going to survive today at this pace.

The rest of the class was rather uneventful, despite a couple more slip-ups by me. Mr. Banner had decided that today's topic was cellular anatomy -- something I had already been through back in Salem.

When class ended I noticed that Alice slipped out rather quietly and I was extremely sure that no one else than me noticed. I looked away from the door and was about to pack my new textbooks into my bag when someone suddenly approached me.

"Hi, you're Isabella Swan, right?"

I looked up and saw a blonde girl looking rather

expectantly at me. She had shoulder-length hair and was wearing a green long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans. Her matching, green bag was hanging from her right shoulder and I could almost imagine that she had stocked way too many books since I wasn't sure if they had lockers here.

"Do I look like Charlie Swan's daughter?" I blurted rudely before I had the chance to think of what to say. Thegirl practically looked shocked at my comment before I quickly covered my hand over my mouth. "I'm so sorry -- blurting out stuff like that is a really bad habit of mine. Forget I even said it," I stretched out my other hand for her to shake. "I'm Bella's friend, Katherine -- but just call me Kathy." I smiled at her, hoping it would ease the shock and tension between us.

"Sure," she agreed and shook my hand. She was still halfway giving me the stink-eye but I could live with that. It wasn't as if I'd never been looked at like that by my peers before. "I'm Lauren Mallory," she continued.

I seriously hoped that I disguised my grunt-like outburst as a believable cough. That was Lauren Mallory? Talk about having fish-like eyes! "Hi," I quickly greeted, wanting nothing else than to just run out of the room at vampire speed. Lauren was not on the list of Twilight characters I wanted to meet.

"So... where's your next class?" she asked, which in turn made me notice that several of the students who were still in the classroom had turned to look at us. Mostly at me though. Great.

I picked my schedule out of my pocket just so I could look away. "Trig with Mr. Varner in building four," I told her.

Lauren's smile was kind of fake as she in turn offered to follow me to my class. On the way, she started introducing me to a few friends of hers, whom I immediately forgot the names of again. One of them though a girl with curly, brown hair - I was sure had a name that began with an A. It didn't matter though; it wasn't like I was going to be hanging out with this crowd.

"So Kathy," Lauren began as we were putting on our raincoats, ready to get out of the building. "What drove you to our small town of Forks?"

I thought for a moment while swinging my bag over my shoulder and letting the rain drip gently on my face. What had actually driven me to accept Bella's offer to come with her in the first place? "I guess I didn't want to lose a great friend." I shrugged. What else was I supposed to say? That it was a coincidence? Charlie had probably been talking about me at work, so soon I would be the

talk of the town too. I couldn't afford to lie about stuff like

this.Lauren's brows shot up in question, as did her friends. "You moved because of Isabella?"

"Bella," I corrected automatically. "And no, it's not like that. I'd been thinking about moving too, trying to live on my own. When Bella mentioned Forks I thought it would be cool if we moved here together. To kind of... not fall apart as friends." Gosh, I hoped it sounded credible.

"Oh." That was the last thing Lauren said to me before we finally reached Trig. She looked kind of disappointed as she and her 'gang' left again. I guess she was just hoping for something juicier. Well, nothing like that was going to come from me today.

Trig went sort of like Biology, with the exception that Mr. Varner wanted me to introduce myself in front of the whole class. It wasn't half bad but I would have preferred not to do that. At least they wouldn't all go asking me if I was Bella now. That was always something.

After class a dark-haired guy named Eric surprisingly approached me, only to tell me that he had talked to Bella after the first period while following her to Government. He even offered to follow me to my next class and I couldn't just refuse him. Overly helpful chess club-type indeed...

"So where are you headed?" he asked as we both swung our bags over our shoulders.

I once again found my schedule in my jeans pocket. "English in building three with a... Mr. Mason." It almost felt like I was too good at lying about not knowing the names of the various teachers. Eric had to ask some questions where I couldn't tell him anything else than the truth. Right now, I'd had enough of lying for one whole day, even though I knew there was much more to come.

We went on our way to the doors and put on our raincoats before Eric decided to bombard me with questions once more. More than half of the people around us turned their heads to listen in. Somehow it didn't bother me as much now as it did the first time. Was I already getting used to the attention? Or was it just because I was walking with the overly helpful chess-type that I felt less embarrassed?

"So, Forks must be very different from Salem and Phoenix, huh?" Eric asked after having questioned me onhow I liked the school so far. So Bella had been telling people about my real home. Well, she was a lousy liar, so I hadn't expected differently. I jumped over a small puddle before answering him.

"Salem's not too different from Forks. It's not as cloudy and rainy as here though no offense."

"None taken," Eric smiled. "You probably wouldn't believe it, but we get that a lot here."

I definitely hadn't expected that. Weird. I contemplated what to tell him about Phoenix. That was a bit tougher for me since I'd only been there for a couple of hours including at night. "I think Phoenix was too hot for me," I answered honestly. "I wouldn't really want to live there permanently. Red hair and freckles, you know?"

Eric looked at me for a second before realizing I had been making a joke. Jeez, didn't they have a sense of humor up here?

"My family emigrated from Scotland. That's why I'm pale

and my hair is red," I slowly explained to him. Hopefully, he would get the joke now.

"Ohh, right..." he averted his eyes from mine in what I guessed was discomfort. I had the serious urge to bury my face in my hands. Eric wasn't going to be part of "my crowd" either. Not that I had any plans to include him before. Is a common sense of humor too much to ask for?

We reached building three and Eric followed me directly to the door even though it was clearly marked. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "Good luck," he told me before waltzing off to his own class.

I sighed before taking off my coat and hanging it on the low row of hooks just inside the door. The classroom was small smaller than the English classroom back in Salem. How many students would be able to fit in here? 20? 25? We'd been 38 in English back home, and there'd still been space for a few more.

I breathed in heavily. There wasn't much to look at, it was just like any other classroom with tables and chairs. Most of the students hadn't arrived yet either, so I slowly went up to the teacher's desk and handed him the slip he hadto sign. The desk marked him as Mr. Mason, who was exactly like Bella had described -- a tall and balding man. He gawked at me for just a second too long, which in turn made me turn tomato red. Seriously, had no one told him that there were two new students?

As he was signing the slip I decided to sneak another peek at the class behind me, seeing as I could hear it was beginning to fill up. There was a girl with sandy-brown hair and glasses sitting in the front row, currently reading "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris. I felt the urge to roll my eyes. Charlaine Harris was pretty neat, but Anne Rice had written the superior story. And Stephenie Meyer probably beat both of them in sales with "Twilight" anyway.

"Shit," I mumbled and started ranting mentally.

Mr. Mason looked up at me before handing me the signed slip. "Did you say something?"

"Uhh, no." I shook my head, hoping I would be able to sit down soon.

"Well, why don't you introduce yourself to the class? I'm sure they'd like to know who the second new girl is." He smiled at me before getting up to write something on the blackboard.

Oh. My. God. He had to hate me already. Did he hear me before? I turned around and was about to open my mouth when my whole body suddenly froze in shock at the sight of bronze-colored hair.

No, no, no! No freaking way! He can't be in my class! I can't, he'll--potato chips Katherine! Oh my God, I'll ruin everything! He's going to read my-- lalalalala! My eyes went completely wide with fear. This was so not happening to me. This was exactly why I had told Bella I couldn't come with her! I was already ruining everything!

I abruptly frowned. Why wasn't he looking at me already?

Edward Cullen? I tried tentatively.

No reaction.

I know you're a vampire?

Still no reaction. He didn't even flinch. All he did was look longingly out the window. Of course, he was inhumanly gorgeous and even better looking than I had imagined, but somehow I couldn't help but feel sorry for him in that instant. Alone for 80-odd years... gosh I couldn't even begin to imagine the loneliness.

I almost gasped out loud as Edward still didn't look my way. He couldn't read my mind? I smiled to myself before noticing that most of my peers -- except for a few, including Eddy and the Charlaine Harris-girl were looking expectantly at me. Oh, right. I had to introduce myself.

"Hi," I began and finally earned the attention of everyone in class. Even Edward turned to look at me. His eyes were darker than I could have ever imagined. I really tried to look away from him again. Somehow his gaze made the knot return to the pit of my stomach. "I'm Katherine and yeah... you can probably see that I'm new." This made several in class laugh, including Edward. "I transferred from Salem, Massachusetts and well, I'm a friend of Bella Swan," I finished before Mr. Mason finally followed me to my seat right next to Edward. I almost sighed. Just perfect.

I turned my attention to the blackboard, even though I probably should have been looking at the reading list Mr. Mason had given me. But I already knew what it would say: Brontë, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner... You could say that I'd basically memorized the small list from the moment I first read "Twilight". And my own list back in Salem... well it was almost the same.

As Mr. Mason talked throughout class, I turned stiffer and stiffer. I knew Edward was looking intently at me, trying to figure out why he couldn't read my mind.

Oh jeez... he's going to think I'm more interesting than Bella... especially because I don't smell like her...

Right? I turned to look at him, hoping I wouldn't meet a pair of hateful eyes. Thankfully I didn't -- Bella's scent must have somehow been mixed up with all the new ones at school Thank God. Instead, Edward looked like he was trying hard to solve some kind of puzzle. He looked way too attractive and thoughtful for a seventeen-year-old boy. His eyes almost reflected his real age.

A part of me had not exactly understood how Bella could describe Edward's face as boyish, yet chiseled - but sitting next to him, I finally understood how. Despite his face having perfect, angular features - high cheekbones, straight nose, strong jawline, and full lips (Gosh even his eyebrows were perfect!) - he still had a youthfulness to his face. He looked elegant and young - it wasn't hard to imagine him in vintage clothing, curtsying, taking a girl's hand in his and kissing it as he looked into their eyes....

I blushed and looked away. I should definitely not have thoughts like that. He was Bella's... something. Going to be anyway. Even if she didn't know it yet.

Mr. Mason said something that escaped my attention just before voices started buzzing through the classroom. I turned to Edward who was still looking at me with that puzzled expression.

"Umm, I was kind of not paying attention just before, what did Mr. Mason say?" Oh my God, it was hard to just open my mouth and get words out in front of him!

He smiled a crooked smile, making my heart skip a beat. Seriously control yourself, Kathy! He's taken! Well, he will be...

"He told us to discuss which of Shakespeare's works we liked the best." I could never have imagined his silky smooth voice would sound like that. It was literally like there were bells in the air. I had the most serious urge to just close my eyes and listen to him talk.

"Oh," was all I could say. That was surprisingly... easy. "I like 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'," I told him before I had a chance to think through my answer. Immediately after, I clasped my hands over my mouth in shock, before I buried my face in them. That just didn't happen in front of Edward Freaking Cullen - did it?"I am so sorry!" I mumbled through my hands. "Sometimes I just blurt out stuff! It's is a really bad habit of mine, it just kind of happens when I'm not thinking... erm I mean when I don't concentrate... aaand I'll just stop talking now." I purposely let my hands fall into my lap and looked down at them since I was blushing so furiously.

I was absolutely mortified.

Instead of the expected awkward silence, Edward was laughing, which in turn made me look up at him again. Why was he laughing at me?

"Don't worry," he insisted. "It's quite refreshing actually."

"Really?" I couldn't stop myself from adding. His black eyes suddenly didn't seem as antagonizing as before. Not that he had been looking at me in anything else but wonder.

"Absolutely."

I bit my lip out of habit as I turned to look down at the list again. I was about to ask Edward what his favorite work was when he all suddenly surprised me with an off-topic question.

"Why did you decide to move from Salem to Forks?" He looked genuinely intrigued; even though I was sure he just wanted the information so he wouldn't find me so interesting anymore.

"Well," I bit my lip again. He was the first to ask me directly why I had moved. I decided to repeat the same story I had told Lauren. "I'd decided I wanted to move away from Salem for a while. Try living on my own. You don't know how tiring it can get when people continuously come up to you to ask where they can find "The Salem Witch House". Or expect you to know every detail of the trials as a local. So when I heard that Bella wanted to move to Forks, I decided to move with her." He looked puzzled. "Bella Swan," I added. "She doesn't like to be called Isabella."

He still looked puzzled. "I thought she lived in Phoenix."

I almost facepalmed. Of course, he'd pay attention to the fact that we lived in different states. He was a 93-year-old or something like that -vampire after all. "I was a transfer student in Phoenix a couple of years back," I lied smoothly. "Bella and I just kind of 'clicked' back then." I hoped my smile was genuine enough. "We've been emailing, and stuff like that, ever since."

"Oh," he said and that was kind of the end of our 'off-topic' conversation.

After talking for a while about Shakespeare's more obscure works, I surprisingly found out that Edward was quite fond of Othello - and Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", after a well-placed question about his favorite on the reading list. Of course, it was no surprise that he was fond of the more tragic Shakespearian works - I'd already known that in advance - but it was nice to actually hear about it in person. It was somehow more... special like that.

No, Kathy! You can't begin to think like that! I chided myself. It's just not right! The only way he and Bella will ever get together is if you don't talk to Edward Cullen like he's your friend. You've only got to talk to him when necessary.

Just before the bell rang -- the indistinct buzzing sound almost blended into the background of sounds -- Mr. Mason had silenced the class and given us tomorrow's homework. I was about to pack my bag when I heard that absolutely perfect and undeniably smooth symphony of a voice that belonged to none other than Edward Cullen.

"I'll see you in class tomorrow?"

I turned around to see him rise from his seat. His expression was friendly, a slight smile gracing his completely gorgeous lips.

Fo-cus!

"S-sure," I answered, and I swore that my cheeks - for the umpteenth time in the last hour - felt hotter. Let's just hope we won't so everything can take its proper course...

As he walked past me I couldn't help but notice that he was much taller than I'd thought. His arms too were more muscular than I had allowed myself to notice during class. I hadn't really been paying attention to the way the sleeves of his white shirt were pushed up to his elbows. Gosh, what wouldn't it feel like to be caught by those arms...

I shook my head before resuming my packing. I couldn't allow myself to think that way about him, no matter how gorgeous he was.

"So..." I heard a female voice behind me exclaim. "I see you've caught the Cullen fever."

After swinging my bag around my shoulder I turned around again and found a black-haired, dark-skinned girl who was just a few inches shorter than me. She was wearing the most ridiculous outfit I had ever laid eyes on which were quite a few when I thought back on Joe's many attempts to find her feminine style, and Jack's tries at being macho. This girl's shirt was long-sleeved and had every thinkable color of the rainbow printed in stripes on it. On top of that, she was wearing a knee-length sapphire-colored skirt and knee-length boots of the same rainbow pattern as her shirt.

Thinking of my sister and former boyfriend almost brought tears to my eyes. I seriously hoped that this weird girl didn't notice. "The what now?" I asked, hoping to distract her from looking into my eyes.

She laughed. "The Cullen-fever. And you've got it bad girl," she winked before dismissively waving her hand. "Then again he has that effect on everybody."

I almost snorted. Almost. Of course, he had that effect on everyone - he was a vampire!

For a moment I was about to think about potato chips again, but then I remembered that he couldn't read my mind. This fact made absolutely no sense but was a welcome surprise. At least I wouldn't screw the story up that way after all. Now I just had to make him and Bella fall in sweet, sweet love and then I could be out of here.

The sooner the better.

The black-haired girl stretched out her hand for me to shake. "I'm Brittany Gray," she smiled at me. "You must be Katherine."

We shook hands. "Yeah that's me," I told her. "But could you please call me Kathy? Katherine's kind of long..."

"Sure," Brittany agreed with a smile. "But only if you'll call me Britt," she insisted. "The ridiculous nickname was my mom's idea of a joke on my dad. He's not the brightest, so here I am, weird name and all."

I laughed and so did Brittany. Perhaps I had found a friend here after all.

"So, where are you headed?" she asked after a while. I took out my schedule again. weird girl didn't notice. "The what now?" I asked, hoping to distract her from looking into my eyes.

She laughed. "The Cullen-fever. And you've got it bad girl," she winked before dismissively waving her hand. "Then again he has that effect on everybody."

I almost snorted. Almost. Of course, he had that effect on everyone - he was a vampire!

For a moment I was about to think about potato chips again, but then I remembered that he couldn't read my mind. This fact made absolutely no sense but was a welcome surprise. At least I wouldn't screw the story up that way after all. Now I just had to make him and Bella fall in sweet, sweet love and then I could be out of here.

The sooner the better.

The black-haired girl stretched out her hand for me to shake. "I'm Brittany Gray," she smiled at me. "You must be Katherine."

We shook hands. "Yeah that's me," I told her. "But could you please call me Kathy? Katherine's kind of long..."

"Sure," Brittany agreed with a smile. "But only if you'll call me Britt," she insisted. "The ridiculous nickname was my mom's idea of a joke on my dad. He's not the brightest, so here I am, weird name and all."

I laughed and so did Brittany. Perhaps I had found a friend here after all.

"So, where are you headed?" she asked after a while. I took out my schedule again.

"U.S. History in Building Six."

Brittany smiled. "Well, ain't you lucky! That's where I'm headed too!" We both laughed again before making our way to class.