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Lunch comes soon in the day for Mia. She manages to meet up with Bella in the cafeteria, who is accompanied by a boy who introduces himself as Mike Newton. He seems very pleased to welcome both new girls into the school, as he pulls out chairs for both of them as they sit at a table. Mia notices that he is friends with Eric from the morning, but overall she's just glad to not having to be sitting by herself.
Forks High School doesn't seem to get many transfer students, especially ones arriving in the middle of their junior year. Her teachers have all made her stand up and introduce herself at the start of each class she joins (her Advanced Music teacher made her list all the instruments she could play, which is quite a lot, and she was flared bright red with embarrassment at the end of it). Mia feels a little like she's a little goldfish in a fish bowl- and while it doesn't cease the stares at all, she enjoys being with Bella- it makes her feel like she's not alone, and not the only one out of place.
"Hey, Mikey, you met my homegirls Bella, Mia?" Eric says as they all take their seat at the cafeteria table. Mike's eyebrows shoot up.
"Your- your homegirls?" Mike asks Eric, leaning on the table, resting his elbow on the table.
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
Mia can feel the awkwardness arising from the table, and she turns to her fries as another random boy, who has clearly been eavesdropping, announces, "My girls." And promptly kisses Bella on the cheek, before pulling the seat out from underneath Mike.
"Sorry I had to mess up your game, Mike!" He calls gleefully as Mike starts to chase after him.
Bella and Mia look at each other in thinly veiled confusion at the interaction. It's clear to Mia that these kids had known each other since they were fourteen or so, and both Mia and Bella are something exciting to happen.
"Oh my god," a girl that Mia knows as Jessica, which Bella whispers to her, says, sliding her chair towards them. "It's like first grade all over again. You're both like, the shiny new toys."
They'd known each other since first grade? Mia thinks. Jessica is right; Bella and Mia really are like shiny new toys.
"Smile!" Says another girl, in a soft voice, camera held up to face flashing as she takes a shot. Mia blinks in surprise, dropping a fry back onto her lunch tray. "Sorry," the girl apologises. As she takes the camera away from her face, Mia can see her white rimmed glasses framing soft brown eyes. "Needed a candid for the feature."
Eric snaps, "The feature's dead, Angela. Don't bring it up again." He stands from the table, likely to go get a can of soda from the vending machine.
"It's okay, I just-" Bella tries to placate, but Eric pats her on the shoulder as he's leaving.
"I got your back baby."
Mia finds herself exchanging an uncomfortable look with Jessica. The whole "baby" pet name is starting to get to her; her and Bella had literally only just met the guy. Mia sighs, going back to her fries, which are starting to get cold.
Angela sighs, "Guess we'll just run another editorial on teen drinking."
"I mean," Bella starts, shooting Mia a nervous look as she attempts to keep up conversation. "You know, you can always go for eating disorders."
"Speedo padding on the swim team," Mia adds, sending Bella a supporting smile. Her old high school in New York had a similar scandal, so she figured it was most likely a universal thing. Angela and Jessica both look interested in the ideas.
"Actually, that's a good one," Angela comments.
"Kirk?" Jessica nods excitably, turning to Angela. "Right? That's exactly what I thought."
Mia finishes her fries, starting to zone out Jessica and Angela as they discuss which boys on the swim team had been padding out their speedos. Bella seems distracted with someone entering the cafeteria, but Mia doesn't look up, focused on pulling the pickles out of her burger, until Bella speaks up.
"Who are they?"
The students in question are stepping through the cafeteria doors. Mia looks up as they enter, her breath taken away somewhat as she realises how beautiful they all are. There are five, all with golden brown eyes, perfect hair, and skin so pale they could be translucent.
"They're Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids," Jessica answers, lowering her voice like she's discussing a secret. "They moved down here from Alaska, like, a few years ago."
"They kinda keep to themselves." Angela comments.
"Yeah! 'Cause they're like, all together!" Jessica exclaims in a whisper.
Angela rolls her eyes. They've clearly discussed this before. "Literally, only two of them are dating, Jess."
"Whatever," Jessica dismisses, before diving back into her explanation. "The blonde girl, that's Rosalie, and, the big dark-haired guy Emmett, they're like, a thing. I'm not even sure that's legal."
Rosalie has blonde, bouncy curls that look professionally blow dried, and is holding Emmett's hand. She's average height, taller than Mia, but looks petite next to her boyfriend.
"Jess," Angela sighs. "They're not actually related."
Jessica turns to Angela with wide eyes. "Yeah! But they live together. It's weird. And, okay. The little dark-haired girl's Alice. She's really weird. And, that's Jasper, the blonde one who looks kinda like he's in pain."
Alice is quite little, about an inch shorter than Mia. She's laughing at something Jasper must have said, walking with little twirling footsteps that makes her the ruffled hem of her dress swish around her thighs. Jasper is walking alongside Alice, and as he turns slightly Mia sees his face- and she swears that he is the most beautiful man she's ever seen. His eyes match his golden hair, which is curly, yet swept off of his face stylishly. While his forehead is deepened in a frown that could look like barely concealed pain, he is still slightly grinning at Alice's laughter, and reaches over to ruffle her hair good naturedly, to which she bats his hands away.
"Who's he?" Bella murmurs, as the last Cullen steps through the door to the cafeteria.
"That's Edward Cullen. He's totally gorgeous- obviously, but apparently nobody here's good enough for him." Jessica says, a tone of bitterness in her voice. "Like I care, you know?"
Mia and Bella exchange a glance, as Bella takes Mia's discarded pickles off of her plate and pops them in her mouth. Clearly, Jessica did care. Bella turns her head to look over at the Cullen's table, like a magnet drawn to metal and Mia finds herself doing the same, eyes flittering over the five students. Suddenly she manages to catch eyes with Alice Cullen, who is leaning back from whispering something in Jasper's ear. Alice sends Mia a small grin, but as Jasper turns to look at Mia, she couldn't seem to draw her eyes away from his. She doesn't know if it's the lighting, but his eyes now seem blown out, darkened to the point of black.
"Seriously like," Jessica starts again, making Mia whip her head back so fast she feels like she could have gotten whiplash. She feels like a cold bucket of water has been thrown over her head, after holding such a short yet intense eye contact with Jasper Hale. "Don't waste your time."
Bella huffs out a fake chuckle, shaking her head and forcing herself to smile. "Wasn't planning on it." She says, and Mia nods in half-hearted agreement. She doesn't turn her head back to look, like Bella does, instead stares down at her food. She doesn't feel much of an appetite now; butterflies dancing along her insides has replaced her hunger.
