The next morning, as I
drove my new car into the school parking lot, I was acutely aware of
everyone staring at me. Good, they needed a taste of quality British
engineering.
I had made the car that
morning, and it was absolutely perfect. A BMW Mini Convertible;
small, square, two doors, shining pale pink in the weak light that
filtered through the clouds, with a black soft top sheltering me from
the biting wind. I could see the car fanatics descending as I parked
next to Edward’s distinctive silver Volvo. As soon as I was in the
space, I grabbed my bag, climbed out and locked the car, all in about
5 seconds. I winked at the boys drooling over my car, and crossed the
lot to where Edward, Alice and Bella were leaning against the rusty
red Chevy and gawking at me, just like everyone else. I pretended not
to notice.
“Morning!” I said
brightly, “How’s your head Alice?”
“Fine, thank you.”
Alice was smiling too, perfectly at ease. “It hardly hurts at all
now.”
“That’s good. I
don’t want to cause you pain.”
I was happy that Alice
seemed to like me. I wanted to be friends with all of them as soon as
possible.
“What car is that?”
Bella asked, sounding uncharacteristically interested.
“You like it? It’s
a Mini.” I replied smiling wider.
Even Edward looked
confused. “What does that mean?” he asked.
Ok, I knew the Mini was
a British thing, but I didn’t realise it was that unheard of
overseas.
I sighed and looked
bored, like I was explaining this to a small child for the tenth
time.
“It’s a BMW Mini
Cooper S-class convertible with a custom Bubblegum Pink paint job and
a Sony Basspumper sound system. 125 brake horsepower, top speed 150
mph, and V6 engine. My dream car; ostentatious, but I couldn’t
resist.” I shrugged.
“Impressive! And you
just made this out of thin air?” Edward asked.
“You catch on fast!”
I grinned at him. “I made a whole house for myself. It’s only a
few miles from yours; you should come over sometime.” I glanced at
my watch.
“Good lord, is that
the time? I better get to class. See you at lunch!” I called over
my shoulder as I made my way to the Maths building for Calculus,
leaving a trail of stunned students in my wake.
I was definitely going
to like it here.
***
That day passed in a
blur. My teachers welcomed me warmly and seemed impressed by my
willingness to contribute, even though I was new and behind. My 2nd
hour Government teacher said he had never met anyone so polite and
friendly. The other students seemed to like me almost instantly; by
the end of Music 3rd hour, I had been introduced to
everybody, and 5 different boys had asked to walk me to my next
class, including Eric Yorkie and Tyler Crowley. Jessica Stanley made
her usual show of buddying up with the new kid, but I tried to be
nice and give her an example of true friendship.
I met Mike Newton in
Spanish. He was very helpful, explaining things to me so I could
catch up. I hadn’t done Spanish in years, (English schools only
offer French and German) and the knowledge I had was incredibly
basic. He walked with me to lunch, and seemed delighted that I was
already sitting at their table, although his face fell a little when
I started chatting to Alice and Angela before I was in my seat. Mike
was part of what Bella referred to as ‘the us side’, but he
wasn’t as comfortable around the Cullens as Angela was. He talked
to Ben about comics and movies, while we talked fashion and Edward
and Bella had a quiet conversation of their own, concerning Bella’s
desire to visit Jake over the weekend.
After lunch I walked to
class with Bella again, and we talked until the teacher called us to
order. Even then, I was still talking. Just not out loud.
Edward asked me
questions all lesson, listening intently to my answers. He liked that
we could have conversations in our heads. It was nice for him, he
said, to have someone to talk to, to alleviate the boredom of the
class that he’d done who knew how many times before. He asked
questions about my life, my school, my hobbies, and I flashed him
pictures of mum and dad, our house, my friends, dance lessons, and
Alex. He heard the sadness in my thoughts and he was very
sympathetic, letting me know he understood, before switching tracks
and quizzing me on the events of the past year, testing how much the
books had taught me, and filling in some of the blanks for my
benefit.
It was comforting, and
I was happy to have found so many good friends here.
When I left, people
waved to me like I had been there for years, instead of only a day
and a half. I went to sleep that night happy and content.
***
The next day at lunch,
Alice was looking me over with a speculative expression.
“Honestly Becky,”
she moaned when I paused to take a bite out of my pizza, “You can
wear anything you want to school and you wear that?” She
waved a hand over me, making a face.
To be honest, I hadn’t
been thinking about clothes. After the first day, when I’d left on
the jeans and t shirt I was already wearing, I hadn’t bothered with
fussing about my appearance; just throwing on the school uniform I
had packed and tying my hair up like I did at home.
Apparently, Alice
didn’t approve of the white blouse, black trousers and black, blue
and white striped school tie that made me feel at home.
I sighed.
“I feel comfortable
in these clothes Alice. They’re me.”
“Still, you could try
and wear something else.” Alice was definitely scheming now; I
could see it in her face.
“I don’t have that
much to choose from. I only brought one case of clothes. Actually, I
could use a shopping trip.”
Better to arrange it
now than get kidnapped later. I added mentally, pulling my
barrier back so Edward could hear.
He snorted, coughing to
cover it up and grinning at me. Alice glared at him briefly then
turned back to me. “Well, I’m not busy tonight. We could go to
Port Angeles after school.”
I considered that for a
second. I did need some new clothes. England was rainy, but I
still had very few clothes that could put up with the extreme and
wildly diverse weather of Forks. And it would be nice to get to know
Alice better. Why not?
“Sure, I’m not
doing anything tonight. I’ll have to pop home and get changed, and
then I’ll meet you at your house.” For some reason, I didn’t
want to reveal the exact location of my house just yet.
I smiled as I
considered shopping with Alice in a place with such a limited range
as Port Angeles.
And then I felt a
nervous twist in my stomach as I contemplated meeting the other
Cullens.
This was going to be
interesting.
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