Chapter 7

"Who are they?" I asked the girl from my Spanish class, whose name I'd

forgotten.

As she looked up to see who I meant — though already knowing, probably, from

my tone — suddenly he looked at her, the thinner one, the boyish one, the

youngest, perhaps. He looked at my neighbor for just a fraction of a second, and

then his dark eyes flickered to mine.

He looked away quickly, more quickly than I could, though in a flush of

embarrassment I dropped my eyes at once. In that brief flash of a glance, his face

held nothing of interest — it was as if she had called his name, and he'd looked

up in involuntary response, already having decided not to answer.

My neighbor giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table like I did.

"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who

left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She

said this under her breath.

I glanced sideways at the beautiful boy, who was looking at his tray now,

picking a bagel to pieces with long, pale fingers. His mouth was moving very

quickly, his perfect lips barely opening. The other three still looked away, and

yet I felt he was speaking quietly to them.

Strange, unpopular names, I thought. The kinds of names grandparents had. But

maybe that was in vogue here — small town names? I finally remembered that

my neighbor was called Jessica, a perfectly common name. There were two girls

named Jessica in my History class back home.

"They are… very nice-looking." I struggled with the conspicuous understatement.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all together though —

Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together." Her

voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town, I thought critically. But, if I was being honest, I had to admit that even in Phoenix, it would cause

gossip.

"Which ones are the Cullens?" I asked. "They don't look related…"

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties.

They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, twins — the blondes —

and they're foster children."

"They look a little old for foster children."

"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs.

Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that."

"That's really kind of nice — for them to take care of all those kids like that,

when they're so young and everything."

"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly, and I got the impression that she didn't

like the doctor and his wife for some reason. With the glances she was throwing

at their adopted children, I would presume the reason was jealousy. "I think that

Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," she added, as if that lessened their

kindness.

Throughout all this conversation, my eyes flickered again and again to the table

where the strange family sat. They continued to look at the walls and not eat.

"Have they always lived in Forks?" I asked. Surely I would have noticed them

on one of my summers here.

"No," she said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival

like me. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."

I felt a surge of pity, and relief. Pity because, as beautiful as they were, they

were outsiders, clearly not accepted. Relief that I wasn't the only newcomer here,

and certainly not the most interesting by any standard. As I examined them, the youngest, one of the Cullens, looked up and met my

gaze, this time with evident curiosity in his expression. As I looked swiftly

away, it seemed to me that his glance held some kind of unmet expectation.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I asked. I peeked at him

from the corner of my eye, and he was still staring at me, but not gawking like

the other students had today — he had a slightly frustrated expression. I looked

down again.

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't

date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." She

sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. I wondered when he'd turned her down.

I bit my lip to hide my smile. Then I glanced at him again. His face was turned

away, but I thought his cheek appeared lifted, as if he were smiling, too.

After a few more minutes, the four of them left the table together. They all were

noticeably graceful — even the big, brawny one. It was unsettling to watch. The

one named Edward didn't look at me again.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***