Crescent Night

Chapter 1

 I stared out of the van's window, watching the tall trees and sparse traffic go by on my way to school. The familiar sights id come to enjoy these last eight months steady and unchanging.

For all intents and purposes, Forks Washington was as good a town as any to run away to. Well, not run away perse, since my family knows exactly where I am, but I did run from my problems.

Forks is cold, rainy and wet, and more than 3000 miles from anyone I'd ever met, and for that fact alone, it was perfect. It didn't matter that it snowed for half the year and rained for the rest, that people treated me like a new attraction and asked borderline offensive questions. All my problems were back in Puerto Rico, hopefully laying down to die.

I transferred to Forks Highschool last august, and each day had been repetitive, dull and blissfully uneventful, and for that I was grateful. My days mostly consist of going to school, going to my mandated therapy appointments, and spending time with Mrs. Brown, the matriarch of my host family.

My host family, The Browns, consisted of Miss Jennifer and Mister Daniel, the parents, and their five year old son, Chris. They also have a fifteen year old named Tony, who I've never met since he's also a transfer student. The Browns have been very accommodating, giving me my own room, and scarcely asking me to do much aside from occasionally babysitting Chris.

Mrs. Brown, the town's resident Pre-k teacher, is the person I talk with the most, though more from her effort than mine. She's explained that she's so glad I'm here because it feels like she finally has a daughter she can bond with, since she only has boys. Because of this I often end up accompanying her on shopping trips and other activities she usually does alone. Luckily, she doesn't mind my lack of conversation, since she usually fills up the silence with tales of her day or any new interest she has while I help her make food.

Mr. Brown is more of a no nonsense type of person, he works at the local bank and is out of the house most of the time, so my interactions with him are limited, and formal at best. Still, he seems to give me a wide berth, and from what I've heard, more liberties than he gave Tony.

They're the only people in Forks that know why I transferred aside from my therapist, and have thankfully been very discreet about it. Which I suppose is a miracle for a small town.

The van came to a slow stop in front of the highschool. "Here we are ,dear!" came Mrs. Brown's too cheery voice for morning. She continued as I undid my seatbelt and opened the passenger door.

"Make sure to keep your eye out for the Chiefs daughter, she's supposed to be in school one of these days!" Ah yes, the biggest news in Town. The police Chief's wayward daughter comes home after so long. It had been the only topic of conversation the last two weeks, and the rumors of her arrival had been ridiculously complex. Ranging from benign to accusatory, and sometimes alarming.

"Do you really think she'd come to school this soon after moving?" I retorted as I grabbed my bag.

She shrugged happily "You never know, the Chief is very diligent, so I wouldn't be surprised if she was too"

I nodded and said goodbye to Chris, who sat quietly in the back seat. Afterwards she drove off to the elementary school, where both she and Chris would spend the rest of the day.

As I entered the building I wasn't allowed more than five minutes of silence before Jessica Stanley spotted me and approached predatorily.

"Elle, Elle, Elle!" She chanted as she approached rapidly "Did you see the new girl?"

"No, I just got here"

She sighed exaggeratedly. "People keep saying she's here, but I haven't seen her!"

"Well, she'll probably be here all day, so I'm sure you'll get your chance"

As I made my way to my first class, Jessica continued to talk excitedly about the new girl, Isabela Swan, and all the rumors that may or may not have been true. Jessica and I weren't really friends, but she enjoyed talking without being interrupted, and I hardly have the energy to reply.

We eventually parted ways when I reached my geography class and she continued on her search mission.

The room began to fill up as I took my seat and the constant sound of people's conversations overtook the room. I simply stared out the window, observing the morning's drizzle. It wasn't long before an excited voice demanded my attention.

"Eleonor, good morning!" I knew who it was before looking

"Hi, Alice" a tall figure from behind her caught my attention "Hi, Jasper"

He waved politely while they both took their seats next to me.

"Did you do the homework?" She asked while taking out her notebook.

"Yeah, but if he gives that quiz today I'm screwed"

"Don't worry, he won't give the quiz today!" She smiled and shared a look with Jasper.

"Ah pues bien" I wasn't going to argue, Alice had a way of knowing these things, and I wasn't gonna bet against her.

After a short conversation, the teacher walked in and the class quieted down. And just like Alice had said, he did not give the quiz.

Alice and Jasper were a weird duo, and not in the way that everyone thought. Both of them seemed dead set on befriending me, and it seemed I was powerless to stop them. I wasn't interested in making friends, but much to the delight of my parents and therapist, Alice and Jasper had different plans.

They've been there since my arrival, and if I didn't know better I'd have said they were expecting me. And at first I was intimidated by them, with both being almost offensively attractive, but eventually I got used to their presence. The major reason had to do with the unwanted attention from everyone else, because apparently everyone in the Cullen family kept to themselves, which meant everyone wanted to know just what I'd done to obtain their attention.

Still, I found it hard to dislike them, since they never pried or asked any heavy questions, each content with my presence while they did their own thing. They were strange, I'm not gonna lie, Alice seemed to already know what I liked or what was going to happen, and Jasper always knew what I was thinking despite my deliberate attempts to keep a steady poker face. But I found these traits oddly humanizing, it would suck if they were incredibly attractive as well as normal. Everyone needed flaws I suppose.

Despite everything, they made good company. Not that I'd tell them that. Though I'm sure Jasper somehow knew that already.

The bell rang and I was brought back to the present, I looked down at my notes, a mostly empty page. A sighed and shoved it back in my bag.

"So, are you going to the dance?" Alice asked as we walked through the halls.

"I wasn't really planning on it, why?"

"What?" She over exaggerated "You have to go!"

For the rest of the day, Alice made it her mission to convince me to go, even seeking help from Jasper, who occasionally put in his support for her cause. Which made me groan, because of all the times he had to voice his opinion, he did so when it was against my interests, typical.

By the time they walked me to my biology class, Alice wore a smug look on her face, as if she was certain I would in fact be attending the dance.

I sighed as I walked through the door.