Just After Sunset

With a groan, Emily slammed her hand down on her alarm clock. The stupid thing finally stopped its horrendous beeping, leaving her with only the sound of chirping birds and running water across the hallway.

It was nearly seven A.M. and although school didn't start in another two hours, Emily wanted to make sure she took her time to get ready. If there was one thing she learned, it's that first impressions always matter.

Emily got up out of bed and strolled to her bathroom. She stripped out of her pyjamas and looked at herself in the mirror, letting her eyes wander her body. She sighed when she saw several deep scars along her torso and legs and decided then not to think about them for the rest of the day.

As Emily watched her dad drive away towards Forks Hospital, nerves instantly overcame her. she hoisted her backpack higher up on her left shoulder and took a deep breath. An instant feeling of being watched overcame her as she could tell everyone in the Forks High School parking lot was staring at her.

Before she could take another step a tall, lanky boy stood in front of her, waving his hands in front of her face. She didn't know why he wore a silk shirt and tie to school, but decided not to ponder.

"You're Emily Hill, the new girl. Hi, I'm Eric, the eyes and ears of this place. Anything you need. Tour guide, lunch date, shoulder to cry on?" His eyes darted towards Emily's neck where he noticed a fairly large, pink scar, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Hi, yeah I'm Emily. I sort of prefer crying in the bathroom stall during lunch, if you don't mind." she said slowly.

"Good headline for your feature," Eric said with a small smile, "I'm on the paper and you're news, baby. Front page."

The blonde swallowed hard, "No, please. I'm not news, I just.." she trailed off, looking down at the ground.

"Whoa, chillax! No feature, promise." He lifted his hands up in the air as to make peace and bit his lip

"You need help getting to your first class? I can hook you up, by the way. Tutor, cliff notes, medical excuse," He nodded his head towards her brace, which she quickly pressed behind her back, "Whatever you need."

"I'm okay," she said quietly, "Thanks anyway."

Emily quickly made a mental note to stay away from Eric as much as she possibly could. He seemed far too excited about having a new girl around, which led her to believe Forks didn't get very many new students. She rolled her eyes while walking towards the front desk, still clutching onto her backpack as students left and right passed her by in a hurry.

The woman behind the front desk handed Emily a map of the building along with her schedule. Her first class, advanced physics, was in the other building. It took the girl nearly ten minutes to find, so naturally she was the last person to come in.

Her teacher, Mr. Krupchek, immediately checked her slip and told her to sit down. She sighed in relief, she hated teachers that made her introduce myself to the other students. She hated the attention and besides, she got enough stares as it was.

Emily took her seat behind the only available table in the room. Beside her sat a boy whose face she couldn't see because of his blond, curly hair, which was hanging in his face as he bent over his textbook. Em had no plans of introducing herself to him and it quickly became clear to her why he was sitting alone.

The guy, who she could only describe as pale and muscular, didn't move for the entire hour. Honestly, if you would've told her he was a statue she would've believed it.

Just seconds after the bell rang, he'd run out the door, leaving Emily in her seat with her mouth slightly agape and her mind wondering what the hell his problem was. He certainly hadn't shown the same amount of friendliness as Eric, who she started to think wasn't so bad after all.

Classes came and went and so did Forks High's students, who were all too interested in her. They stared her down in the hallways and even in class, but none of them had given her any nasty looks. Yet.

Even though Em's original plan was to simply lay low and not talk to anyone, her good intentions were already out the window on that first day.

She'd met a girl named Angela during her third period Creative Writing class and she'd invited her to sit with her for lunch. It was an invitation she had trouble accepting at first, but once the two of them got talking, Emily figured Angela would be one of the least judgemental people to hang around at school. Besides, she had to at least talk to some people, right?

"I'm sorry, I really can't play. I want to, but it'd be no use." Emily told coach Clapp during her third and fourth period gym. He shook his head sympathetically and nodded, telling his new student to take a seat on the sideline.

The boys' basketball team ran drills on the right half of the basketball court, while the girls' volleyball game occupied the other half. Coach Clapp told Emily to just do some homework for now while he figured out a separate assignment for her to do instead of participating in gym.

"Block it, Cloe! Yeah, good attack!" The energetic, athletic team captain of the girls' team shouted excitedly as she watched her team kick ass.

Suddenly, the ball rolled towards Emily, who was busy reading through the first chapter of her history book. She hated history, but it was better than chemistry, a subject she didn't take anymore anyway.

"Hey, you're Emily right?" The team captain ran up to her and grabbed the ball, before tossing it back towards the group of girls. She had long, blonde hair and a nice body, not to mention a perfectly fine set of hands.
"Yeah," Emily said, "Have we met?"

The team captain giggled and shook her head, before quickly recovering, "No, I'm so rude! I'm Jessica. You're from Vegas, right? What's it like out there?"

"Crowded. Lots of tourists." Emily said, clutching onto her history book. A boy came running out from the basketball half of the court and smiled awkwardly, rubbing his neck with his fingers.

"This is Mike," Jessica said, "Emily's from Vegas!"

Mike sent her a flashy grin and a wave, to which Jessica nearly squealed. Emily simply smiled back, praying to God the two of them would leave her alone soon.

"Hey, you wanna join us for lunch?" Jessica asked sweetly.

Emily sighed, but nodded, "Yeah, sure."