The Face of Beauty to Fall For

The day was a normal, gloomy day as I pulled into the parking lot of Peninsula High. I was already bummed at having to quit my extracurriculars for a job and the clouds threatening to open and drown me didn't help any.

I begrudgingly peeled myself off the cracked pleather seat of my outdated Chevy Malibu, and headed for the side gym entrance. There was about ten minutes until classes started and I had just enough time to tell Coach Jacobson that I was quitting.

As quietly as I could, I slipped into his office. "Hey Coach." I said nervously, scuffing my worn down Converse on the old and dingy linoleum floors.

"Travers! What can I do for you?" Coach asked excitedly, thinking I was going to give him an idea to help us win the big game against Gig Harbor on Friday.

"Well, as you know, my dad's leaving for Iraq in a week and he doesn't want me to be totally dependent on our country's government for finances." I explained, much like my father had done to me earlier that morning. "So I start my new job soon." I added, hoping to prolong the inevitable let down.

"Well congratulations, Travers. It's good that you're taking innitative off the field." He told me with a smile.

"However, it's going to interfere with my extracurriculars, so my father said I had to give them up." I told him quietly, looking down.

He was silent for a moment before he erupted into laughter. "Good one, Travers, now get to class." He said, holding his stomach and still chuckling slightly.

"Coach, I'm not kidding." I stated seriously. Letting him down easily was going to be harder than I thought. "I have to quit, sir. I can't hold a job, take honors courses, and do sports. I'm sorry." I told him, walking out.

"But what about Gig Harbor?!" He called after me, upset.

I kept walking to keep from crying. The one thing I could count on, no matter where my dad hauled me too, was baseball. I was even lucky enough to get put on the men's team at this school, whereas I'd have to play softball and the girls teams were never as aggresive enough for me.

I was so caught up in my thoughts of my loss of happiness that I barely noticed someone in my desk when I got to class. I say barely because when I sat on them, I noticed.

I leapt from the desk and nearly threw myself across the room in shock. "What are you doing in my seat?" I asked, holding my hand over my heart.

"It seems like you came in too late and your seat was given to me." He said smartly, not bothering to look up at me.

I frowned and sat in the back of the class, leaning against the wall.

"Miss Travers, what are you doing?" Ms. Davies asked from her desk.

"You gave away my desk." I explained, indicating the boy inhabiting said chair.

It wasn't until just then I noticed him as a being rather than an obstruction. He had thick bronze hair, ivory pale skin, and a frown that would make God cry.

That look alone made it seem as though all happiness was gone from the world and I nearly ran to him and hugged him happy. Fortunately for me I wasn't very impulsive, so I just took to staring at him with a sad expression of my face. At least until the girl sitting next to him, who I assumed was his sister by the same paleness and their body language, leaned over and whispered something into his ear.

His frown quickly turned into a glare directed right at me, and the world's happiness was transformed into the deepest pit of hell.

At that point I knew my high school career was going to suck.

First period finally ended with not a single word from the hateful boy. His sister, however, answered every question asked as though she had been there to ask Chaucer herself.

I didn't care about that, though. I was more absorbed in trying to ignore the pretty guy that had stolen my desk, but he kept casting dirty looks at me, so I found it rather impossible to do so.

I was glad to be out of that classroom, and away from the evil looks. Unfortunately, the powers that be had it in for me that day and he, his sister, and two other relatives of his were all in my Calculus class.

And the glaring continued. I very nearly asked his sister what I'd done, but I was too worried that she carried the same hatred gene, so I stayed silent.

Another hour passed with all three of the evil boy's family answering the problems the teacher gave without so much as a thought. This time between classes, though, his sister caught up with me.

She smiled at me, "Hello. I'm Elizabeth Cullen." She explained.

I looked at her strangely for a second. "Ember Travers." I replied, smiling a little.

"So what class do you have next?" She questioned, still giving me a smile that made me slightly edgy.

"Ecology." I told her.

"Me too! Cristophsen?" She pressed.

"Yeah." I told her, feeling a little more at ease when the other male relative of hers from our math class passed behind me.

"Mind if I walk with you?" She asked kindly.

"Not at all." I stated, heading towards class. "So you don't hate me then." I noted with a slight smirk.

She stared at me like I'd grown a second head. "Why would I?"

I shrugged, "Your brother seems to."

She rolled her eyes, "Edward hates everyone. He's a very crabby individual." She smirked slightly, regardless. "Why? Do you like him or something?"

"No!" I replied a little too quickly for my taste. How could I like someone I had barely spoken to and that hated me more than anyone I've known? "I just like knowing why I keep getting hateful death glares when I didn't do anything."

"He's just juvenille. He'll get over it." She told me, sitting next to the same guy from earlier. "This is my adopted brother, Jasper Hale. Jasper, this is Ember Travers." She introduced.

"Hi." Jasper said with a smile.

"Hello." I said, trying not to stare at his flawlessness.

"Miss Travers! Sit down. This isn't a social gathering." The teacher sniped, walking into the room.

I sighed and trudged to my seat, groaning inwardly when I noticed my lab partner.

I sat and took out my notebook, writing the lecture notes from the board.

"I'm not happy about this either, so you stay away from me and I'll stay away from you, and everything will be fine." Edward whispered to me, never once turning his head to even really recogize my existence. If I hadn't have known he was speaking to me, I would've assumed he was just talking to himself.

"Fine." I agreed sourly, looking around to find someone to be partners with, but Mr.Cristophsen was already writing down the seating chart.

"And Ember... stay away from my family." He added in a warning tone.

I rolled my eyes and kept my mind on my work instead of how bad I wanted to punch this kid.

"By the end of the semester, class, you'll be giving a presentation on one species of wildlife or flower. It's a group project so you and your lab partner will have to work together." He told us right before the bell rang. "And I want the subject a week from today." He called as we filed out of the room.

See. I told you the powers hate me. I HAD to spend time with the boy who hated my existence.

I hurried out of the classroom, wanting to get into the cafeteria before any of the good tables were taken and I HAD to sit with someone. Luckily, I found a place and just kept to myself.

"Travers!" Malcom Walker, the back-up pitcher called, walking up to me. "Coach told me you were quitting the team." He said simply.

I looked up at him. "Yeah. I can't juggle work, baseball, and school. I don't want to let the team down, but my hands are tied."

"Bullshit! You're just afraid to choke like you did last time." He said, rolling his eyes.

"I didn't choke, Walker. And it's not like you care. You get to be starter." I said, glaring at him.

He scoffed, "I don't know why Coach even put you on the team. You're not good." He spat.

I was up before I could stop myself, one fist gripping his shirt, the other ready to break his nose.

"And here I was thinking you were a big, dumb girl." Elizabeth said, sitting in the chair to my right, a muscular guy walking up with her and sitting to my left. His eyes challenging Walker to do something.

He pulled free of my grip and straightened. "This isn't over, Travers." He said darkly, walking away.

I sat down and looked at them both gratefully. "Thanks. I would've been expelled for what I would've done to that guy." I said, looking from the silent guy to my left to Elizabeth. "Who's he?"

"This is my older brother, Emmett. He likes altercations, so he followed." She explained, picking at the lining of the table.

I smiled at him, "Hi." I said. "Isn't Captain Crab gonna be pissed at you for talking to me?"

Emmett looked at me strangely.

"Edward." Elizabeth told him.

He smirked at the nickname and nodded, glancing over to his brother, who was angrily stabbing at the jello on his plate with a spork. "He hates life." He said.

"So I hear, but he told me to ignore him and you guys."

"He's not our boss. We can talk to whomever we want." Elizabeth stated, scowling.

"I'm sure Emmett can take him." I said playfully.

"Elizabeth would before I did. She's really evil." He teased.

"Shut up, Emmett." She said half-heartedly.

"Anyway, how many of you Cullens are there?" I asked conversationally.

"Well, there's technically four of us: Emmett, Edward, Alice, and me. But our adoptive mother, Esme, had adopted Rosalie and Jasper before she married Carlisle, our adoptive father." Elizabeth shared.

"And then there's Zachary." Emmett spoke up, smiling at his sister. "He's Liz's guy. He just showed up and never left."

I laughed and stood when the end of lunch bell rang. "What class do you have next?" I asked them.

"We both have gym." Emmett supplied, standing as well.

"I'm starting to think your family's stalking me." I joked, heading to class with my new friends.