CHAPTER VIII ―

BELLA, MEET CANDICE!

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓, 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐀 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃, and Nora had to admit she missed feeling wanted. Feeling anything besides this burning guilt and sadness that ate away at her. It's been nearly two weeks since the incident in the lunchroom, and Candice had been nice enough to not question what'd happened, but Nora could practically feel her eyes boring into her, trying to figure it out.

Although they'd left her alone, she still had to sit next to Edward in Biology until the next term. It wasn't exactly easy, either. Half of the time, his amber eyes bored into her, like he saw straight through her; an uncomfortable feeling for Nora. She didn't like the fact that Edward was practically stripping away her armor, the one thing that had protected her for the last few months since the accident. Edward Cullen was beginning to be a pain in her ass.

It was exactly four days of silence when Rosalie Cullen had walked up to her and apologized, a genuine apology from the blonde goddess. It was painfully awkward, needless to say, and as Rosalie began to drone on and on with a long analog, Nora had cut her off. "You weren't wrong, Rose. Emmett was." It was that day that it seemed Rosalie Cullen had gained a new respect for her.

It was a Friday when Nora found herself sitting in the passenger seat of Bella Swan's orange Chevy truck, a loud pop sounded through any time Bella accelerated. To Nora, it was a rolling death trap, but to Bella... it was the best thing ever. It was today that Chief Swan's daughter started her first day at Forks High School, the exact day that Nora found herself explaining to Bella how Forks High School worked.

"It's like every other high school you've ever been to." Nora had explained to Bella, telling her to turn right. "Welcome to Forks High School, Bella." And just like any other day at Forks High, it was dreary and cold.

Nora cringed when the muffler backfired as the truck parked and Bella turned the engine off, a cloud of black smoke behind it. Bella gave Nora a small smile, although it was more of a grimace.

"Nice ride!" A familiar voice called out and Nora's eyes found Tyler leaning against the hood of Lauren's car, eating licorice. A chatter of laughter followed.

Nora's eyes narrowed. "Really, Ty?"

Tyler shrugged. "I mean it!"

Looking at Bella, Nora's lips pressed together. "Welcome to Forks, where Tyler is the only major dick." At that, both girls giggled to themselves as they walked up to the front office and got Bella's schedule for the year.

...

"And here's your locker," Nora smiled gently at Bella, watching at the brunette began to spin her combo in. A familiar flicker of white jackets caught Nora's attention out of the corner of her eye, and she found herself staring at the Cullen's as they entered. Like two magnets, Edward's eyes instantly found Nora's and she ducked her head, avoiding eye contact before she got sucked into the abyss of Edward Cullen.

"Who's that?" Bella had noticed the interaction between Nora and the mysterious, good looking man. He was tall and lanky but had enough build where he was proportioned. Although she couldn't see his eyes, she was sure that they were just as beautiful as the rest of him.

Nora turned her attention back to Bella. "Well, he's no one important, but those are the Cullen's. Unbelievably beautiful, I know, probably going to be the only thing you'll hear all year, all the time. Trust me, it gets old."

"Who's this?" Turning to her left, Nora found Candice standing there with narrowed eyes. Nora chuckled slightly.

"This is Bella. Bella, meet Candice." Nora gestured to the tall blonde and Bella couldn't help but think that she was exactly like Naomi, the girl from Phoenix that Bella just didn't get along with. "Candice, meet Bella. She's Chief Swan's daughter."

Candice pursed her lips. She didn't exactly like the idea of someone stealing Nora from her. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Bella." Bella could tell it was forced, she could read through the lines. The tall blonde's attention went back to Nora, a bright smile. "Are you actually going to sit in by us for lunch today? Or is it going to be in the music room again?"

During the duration of Cullen silence, Nora had found every way to avoid having a run-in with a Cullen. Meaning, she spent her entire lunch period in the music room, playing her cello. It would definitely beat facing Edward or Emmett.

Nora shrugged. "I don't know, we'll see." Turning her attention back to Bella, she gave her a small smile. "You good about heading to your first class? I have AP Trig first hour, so I have to get going. Big test today."

Bella nodded, although she doubted herself. She didn't want to hold Nora back, especially with the way Candice was practically glaring at her. "Uh, yeah, no problem here."

And before Nora had the chance to say anything, Candice's arm was looped with her's and she was being dragged off.

...

AP Trig seemed to drag on as Nora was the first to finish her test, absolutely confident in her answers, even when the teacher as her to double-check them. Why would she double-check something she already knew what was right? The words were on the tip of her tongue when a pointed look from the substitute teacher made her sit back down and double-check her answers. There was something about old lady's and piercing eyes that got to Nora... perhaps because her grandmother had those same piercing, brown eyes.

It was then that Nora's mind seemed to wander as she stared out the window. This happened to be the only class she didn't share with any of the Cullens, which was a godsend. After this class, she had Emmett and Jasper in her PE class with Bella, perhaps she could team up with Bella before any of the Cullens could find her... she didn't want to talk to them, not anymore. She was sure her message had gotten across to them all, they hadn't made any effort to talk to her...

"You may all turn in your tests now and chat among yourselves," the substitute teacher that Nora had no intention of remembering her name, narrowed her piercing eyes at the class with her glasses on the bridge of her nose, practically glaring. "Let me tell you now that I will have a pop quiz for you if you talk loudly." Nora frowned. What made this woman so nasty?

Everyone stood up, quickly turning their tests in quietly and chatting amongst themselves. Nora made sure to be last, she hated bumping into others and having to uselessly apologize. She didn't bother trying to talk to anyone as she sat back down, opening up the new book that she'd gotten just the other day, almost done with it... it was effortlessly one of her favorites besides Dracula, there was something about classic books that Nora just loved, and To Kill a Mockingbird came close to top five.

"I  wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."

The familiar ring of the bell ripped Nora away from her book, naturally folding the edge of the page she ended on, dog eared. A sigh left her lips as she grabbed her textbooks and bag, heading for the door and leaving her test on her desk, like everyone else, following the neverending crowd of fellow peers, occasionally bumping into one another.

Reaching her locker, Nora quickly spun her remembered combo, opening her locker and frowned when a slip of paper fell onto the floor. A note? Putting her textbooks in her locker, she reached down before it could get swept along with the crowd, looking around to possibly find the person who'd slipped it into her locker.

It was on notebook paper, ripped neatly from someone's binder and folded just as neat. The words I'm sorry were sprawled across it in the neatest handwriting she'd ever seen, so precise that she couldn't help but feel a glimmer of envy at whoever had left this note in her locker. Looking around once more, Nora stared back at the note in her hands, frowning...

Edward.

His name popped up into her head just as the bell rung, jumping slightly at the sudden sound. The halls had quieted down and suddenly, Nora found herself late for her class, but she didn't care. She cared about the note in her hand. Reading it once again for the millionth time, a gentle, barely-there smile formed on her lips. He cared. Folding it neatly back into its creases, she put it in her notebook that she'd take home, pondering over this note later tonight.

...

"Elliot, let's go! You're one of my best setters, c'mon!" It was surprising how much Mr. Lehman was into volleyball, drilling her to beat his wife, who was the actual volleyball coach here at Forks High School, a team she'd suddenly found herself apart of. She scored another one, easily hitting the ball straight over the net and down, her team erupting into cheers. They led by two points.

It wasn't hard, surprisingly enough. Volleyball was a sport that Nora had always been good at. It was a sport she'd done most of her life, besides a little cross country. Before Nora could get anymore in her thoughts, a sudden force hit her in the back of the head with a loud "Oh my God!" from the culprit. It was exactly how she found herself laying on the gym floor with a wince. It had caught her off guard.

"Nora, I am so sorry!" It was from Bella. Of course, it was Bella. Nora chuckled to herself, looking up at her newfound friend. "I-I told them to not let me play, I'm horrible." She was stammering, looking completely apologetic.

Aside from the newfound pounding headache, Nora put her hand out. "Just help me up and for the love of God, play on the other side of the court." Half the girls were playing volleyball and the other half were playing basketball, the guys completely by themselves in a very active game of basketball. It was quite a large class.

"You good, Elliot?" It was Mrs. Lehman this time.

Bella easily helped Nora off the floor and she gave her coach a thumbs up, rubbing the back of her head gently. "Sorry," Bella muttered again, sheepishly rubbing her hands together.

"It's fine, Bella. Just-" Nora smiled at her, "not over here, okay?" Bella nodded, quickly trotting off with the basketball, meeting up with Jessica, it seemed she'd easily made friends with her.

The rest of the class went along without a hitch, besides a pounding headache and slight knot on the back of her head, Nora was fine. It seemed the whole gym class had seen the show because she found Emmett trotting over to her as she walked towards the locker room to change.

"You good, Nora?" The brunette shrugged.

"I'm just fine, thanks." Emmett smiled.

"Seems you're accident-prone, huh?" Another shrug. Emmett's bright smile turned into a frown and Nora suddenly felt guilty. Emmett was really trying, just like he always does.

"Em," the nickname caught his attention and his eyes found hers again, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. It made Nora give him a gentle smile. Emmett was way too nice for his own good; he really was a giant teddy bear. "We're good."

With that, Nora walked into the locker room, leaving behind a more than thrilled Emmett, who had a large grin on his face. Edward cared.

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