Annora |E. Cullen|

ONE

I certainly stood out in the small crowd of students that hardly filled my new high school's hallways. I had a rather dark complexion compared to the bodies that had never absorbed vitamin D in their entire existences. They were also all talking to each other while I navigated through the small building with both of my headphones in and my music blaring.

It was midway through senior year and my blended family just had to move across the country to, quite frankly, bumblefuck nowhere. I was content in my studies at my school in DC, I had my friends and my favourite teachers. I had my family of art teachers that took me in as their own child. I had to leave all of that behind because my father and stepmother wanted to move to a new place before the baby was born.

I threw my hair up into a ponytail so that it wouldn't keep falling in my line of sight as I tried to read the cursed map that had been copied so many times, it had lost all of its purpose. I felt someone tap on my shoulder, so I looked over without taking my headphones out. The person who tapped on my shoulder was a small girl with long, dark brown hair and sunken cheeks; frail.

"I'm sorry," she mouthed and backed away like a puppy in trouble.

I took one of my headphones out quickly, "No, you're fine. I have a resting bitch face. What's up?"

"I'm your neighbour, I saw you leave the house this morning. This is my first day, too," she held up her schedule.

"Ah, well, my name's Annora Bane," I nodded.

"I'm Bella Swan," she smiled lightly.

"What year are you?" I asked.

"A junior, you?" She questioned.

"Senior, as soon as I finish here I'm going right back home," I laughed.

"Where are you from?"

"Virginia."

"Oh, I have family there. What part?"

"Falls Church," I replied. She gave me a rather confused look indicating that she had no idea what I was talking about. "Like an hour away from Quantico," I explained, but she was still lost. "DC," I settled.

"Oh! Cool," she smiled.

"Yeah. You?" I asked.

"Phoenix," she nodded.

I laughed loudly, "You are the whitest person here, you're not from Phoenix."

"I am," she laughed uncomfortably, "guess that's why they kicked me out."

"Oh my lanta," I giggled some more, "what are you doing here then?"

"It's a long story," she sighed, "You?"

"Probably six years worth of a story," I laughed painfully. "What's your first class?"

"Gym," she groaned.

"Ha, they still have that in junior year? That blows. My old school stopped gym after the tenth grade."

"What classes are you in?"

"A lot of repeats. I finished a lot of what these seniors are taking last year. I'm in AP Physics, AP US, AP Stat, AP Lit, and AP Studio Art with a study hall in the morning."

"That sounds like a busy schedule," her eyes widened.

"Like I said, repeats," the bell rang, "Gotta go, see you later?"

"Sure, look for me at lunch," Bella nodded.

I nodded in return, placed my headphones back in my ears, and then walked across the school to my study hall that was held in the library. When I got there I immediately pulled out my laptop and started searching for projects to do. I pulled up an Excell document and began planning my general day.

I would wake up two hours before I had to be at school and immediately go for a run. Afterwards, I would get home and shower, get my things together and make my way to school. My school day was blocked off with a big orange box and then right after school, I would go home and immediately do all of my homework before taking a nap and then spending time with myself.

I was a very introverted person. After studying psychology the previous year, I had taken a Myers-Briggs test at the end of the course that told me my personality type; INTJ-A. This meant that I was introverted- I enjoyed my time with myself much more than the time I spent with others. I was intuitive as opposed to observant, however, I was almost in the dead centre of the scale on that aspect which meant I observed every situation before I acted on it.

I was 99% Thinking versus 1% Feeling- I very much valued the importance of logic over human emotions. I was Judging as opposed to Prospective, that one is rather self-explanatory. Lastly, I was Assertive rather than Turbulent; I called people out on their shit and made sure that they knew my opinions.

When the bell rang, I simply closed the lid of my laptop and retreated down the staircase and towards my AP Physics lecture. I almost always had my headphones in because I couldn't stand silence. I couldn't mentally deal with the actual concept of silence, so I tried to stay far away from it by listening to music almost 24/7. I even had music playing when I was sleeping, that's how much I hated silence.

I hated chatter more than silence, however, so the ideal fix for both situations was music. As long as I had my headphones in and my music playing, no one could talk to me and bother me. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a total loner. When I needed conversation I could talk for hours on end without a break. I didn't break out into a full-blown conversation often, though.

I walked into my Physics classroom and handed my teacher my slip to sign. He assigned me the only empty seat in the room next to a rather built man who looked far too old to be in high school. I knew what was going to happen before it did- blush was going to creep up to my cheeks and I wasn't going to be able to stop giggling.

I sat down and looked at the man, "Hello. My name is Annora, and I'm about to make the biggest fool out of myself, so bear with me."

He nodded, but he looked rather pained. Blush rushed through my face and I started giggling uncontrollably. I kept it quiet so that I wouldn't draw attention to myself, but I was sure that my face was cherry red at that point. I giggled for the entire lecture, only taking minor breaks to breathe. I took notes successfully, I just couldn't stop giggling.

Once the bell rang, I looked up at the man that I had sat beside and giggled more, "I'm so sorry, I don't do emotions, they're gross," I breathed in and grabbed my books, shook my head, continued giggling, and left the room. "Oh my lanta," I sighed as soon as I placed my books down on the table and sunk into my chair in AP Studio Art.

"I have not heard someone say that in a very long time," the person next to me chuckled.

"Say what?" I asked and took out one of my headphones.

"'Oh my Lanta'," the man quoted me.

"I'm walking 90's trash, so," I held a weak peace sign up in front of my face with one hand while I grabbed my sketchbook with the other.

"Are you new here?" He asked.

"I am," I kept my answers short.

He chuckled, "Where are you from?"

"Falls Church."

"Virginia?"

"You know it?" I turned and looked at the man in shock.

"Of course," he nodded.

"No one knows what I'm talking about when I say Falls Church, I usually have to say DC," I shrugged.

"I'm Edward," he introduced before turning to his sketchpad and taking a pencil from the tray in the middle of the table.

"My name is Annora," I returned the gesture before placing my headphones back into my ears and then concentrating on my work.