Friends - Jasper Hale

the new girls

          I somehow managed to beat Bella to the truck this morning, which to my relief meant that I would be the one driving us to school today.
       "Cheer up Bells," I said with a smirk, "you'll at least be in charge of the music."
        "Fine, but just know that I'm not gonna play Noah Kahan as my revenge," Bella huffed.
         "Are you crazy Bella!?!??" I exclaimed in shock, "How can we not listen to Noah Kahan on the way to school while being surrounded be all of these beautiful trees??? Find some other way to punish me for beating you to the steering wheel, but we absolutely must listen to at least one Noah Kahan song."
       "I'll only play his music because If I didn't, then I'd be punishing myself as well." Replied Bella with a cheeky smile as one of Noah's songs, thankfully, started playing. However, after the shortest ten minutes of my life, our happiness abruptly came to an end as we pulled into the Forks highschool parking lot.
       "Alright Bella," I said trying as hard as I could to hide my shaky hands, "we're about to enter a fucking war zone. If you need me at any point during the day, then I want you to call me and I'll be there in an instant."
     "It's not going to be as bad as you're making it seem cami," Bella said with a loud eye roll, "but I promise you that you'll be the first to know if I'm in trouble." I knew that what she said was out of sarcasm, but it made my pathetic heart feel slightly more relieved to know that she wasn't as nervous as I was. I gave Bella a playful shove and we got out of the truck.
          "Nice ride!" A random guy called out. I wasn't really phased by his stupid comment, but Bella immediately looked down at the ground and started playing with her sleeve, which was a nervous habit she's had since middle school.
          "Fucking dumbass." I retorted.
           "Shut up Cami or they'll send us home before we even physically step foot inside of the school." Bella scolded, but I could tell from her demeanor that she felt a little better.
             "Sorry, but you should know by now that idiots always bring out the best in me," I replied with a wink as we walked towards the office. I wasn't necessarily a confrontational person, since I tried my best to stay away from most problematic situations and I really didn't even stand up for myself when I needed to. However, I would honestly rather die than sit around and watch someone harm Bella and Charlie. They're the only family I have left so could anyone really blame me for being a bit overprotective? I was quickly pulled out of my thoughts when a hyper asian boy eagerly stopped in front of us.
"You're Isabella and Camila Swan, the new girls!" Said the boy with an annoyingly cheerful smile.
"Yeah," I replied with a fake smile plastered on my face. I had a feeling that my face was gonna hurt from smiling so much by the time school was over. "We normally go by Cami and Bella, though. Our full name sounds too mature."
"Good to know. I'll make sure to spread the word so you don't have to keep correcting people when introducing yourselves. My name's Eric and I'm the eyes and ears of this place. If you ever need anything like a lunch date, friend, or even a shoulder to cry on, then I'm you're guy," he said with the same annoying cheerful smile. I wondered if my smile was just as annoying as his since mine never left my face either.
"Well thanks for your offer but we're both more of the suffer in silence type of people," Bella replied awkwardly.
"Awesome! That makes for a great headline for the school paper, which I help write, and you two just made it on the front page," exclaimed Eric and I swore that I could've punched him in the face in that very moment.
      "Oh please no," I pleaded, trying to shut down the paper idea as fast as I could, "that's really cool of you for trying to include us, but me and Bella aren't really fans of being the center of attention." Bella shot me a grateful smile and nodded her head in agreement.
         "No worries, I totally understand," Eric said, and even though he had the same stupid smile on his face, I could tell that it was a little strained.
        "Since you're the eyes and ears of this place, could you show us where the office is," Bella asked him in a pitiful attempt at trying to ease some of the awkward tension. She must've felt pretty guilty for not letting Eric use 'the new girls' as an attraction for his beloved paper if she felt compelled to lie to him about not knowing where the office was. We literally took a tour of the school two days ago to avoid the embarrassment of getting lost on our first day. Unfortunately for me, though, Eric believed her and walked us to the office without sparing us with even a moment of silence due to his stupid rambling. Hopefully I did a good job of hiding my annoyance, though, because I would hate to be the reason that Bella didn't make any friends at our new school. However, my prayers were finally answered when the secretary kicked Eric out the office for being too loud.
            "You've got to be kidding me," Bella whispered to me in frustration after looking over both of our schedules. " We don't have any classes together and to make matters worse, I have gym as my first period."
           "You said it yourself Bells, we're going to be fine," I said, ignoring the way that my heart dropped after learning that I would have to endure everything entirely by myself. "And lunch is at 11:30, which means that we won't even be apart for too long. It's all going to be fine."
           "Fine, but at the very least text me a few minutes before lunch so we don't have to walk into the lunchroom alone."
           "Of course, Bells," I said, shoving my hands in my jacket pockets to hide my nerves. "Now let's get to class and I'll see you before you know it."