Twilight (but different)

chapter two

I pulled into the new school's parking lot, my old truck causing many eyes to draw towards me.

My first day at a new school. It's March -- middle of the semester.

Great.

The engine backfired as I parked the old car, hopping out of it. I could see a few groups of people gathered around, eyeing me carefully.

I grabbed my bag, closing the car door behind me.

As I passed a (probably football playing) boy, he spoke up. "Nice ride."

I couldn't tell if he was just being sarcastic or not, so I muttered a quick "thanks" and walked past him.

I looked at the schedule in my hands, trying to figure where I was supposed to go and where everything was.

Soon, a boy with black hair walked up to me, a friendly smile on his face.

"You're Isabella Swan, the new girl," he says, the words coming out more as a statement and less as a question. "Hi, I'm Eric, the eyes and ears of this place," he introduces. "Umm... anything you need? Tour guide, lunch date, a shoulder to cry on?"

I chuckle. "Uh, I'm okay, but thank you for the offer," I say. "I'm more of a suffer-in-silence type."

He nods. "Good headline for your feature," Eric says.

I turn to him quickly, caught a tad off guard by his words.

"I'm on the paper, and you're news, baby, front page," he explains.

"Front page?" I ask.

He looks over at me, his smile slowly dropping.

"Listen, I'm fine with a little paragraph or something, but I think front page is a little too extreme, Eric," I say. "I appreciate the thought and everything, but I'd rather not have my face plastered on the front page of my new school's newspaper-"

"Woah, chillax. No front page. We can still make that work."

"Okay, thanks," I say.

"Cool?" he says.

"Cool," I repeat.

The rest of the day was a mess of confusion and asking students for directions.

P.E. class was extra fun, though.

The girls played volleyball -- a sport that I sucked ass at.

When they hit the ball in my direction, my first instinct was to hit it, but I quickly backed away when another (much more sporty girl) ran in front of me.

She hit the ball, saving me an embarrassment on the first day.

They hit the ball back to me, and this time I wasn't as lucky.

I spiked right into the back of a kid's head, causing it to bounce into the basketball court.

I quickly walked over to him. "Holy shit. I'm so sorry. I told them not to let me play. I suck at this stuff," I ramble as he turns around with his hand rubbing the spot of impact.

"No way. No, no, no. That's... That's... Don't..."

He stuttered like a nervous teenage girl who was flirting with a senior.

"You're Isabella, right?" he asks.

"Yeah," I say. "You can just call me Bella, though."

He nods, holding out his hand. "Yeah. Hey, I'm Mike Newton," he introduces.