February 1st 2005

FORK’S HIGH SCHOOL

Another day of school…

Tod, Amir, and Beatrice sat at the back of the class.

The trio were as tightly knit as the three musketeers, being born in the same hospital in Mason County just a month apart - it did not stop them from considering themselves a triple threat of fortune.

Tod knew himself to be the fighter – at least, he considered himself as such, even when his win rate was almost nonexistent.

The five biggest fights in his life had been lost and one of those losses had been to a particularly muscular girl in the first grade.

Amir was the Casanova in the group; though, he had scars to prove that he was a significantly better fighter than Tod.

Further irony proved that Tod was a more convincing Casanova than Amir, once even seducing a sixty-year-old over the phone.

Luckily, Amir’s and Tod’s mismatch somehow contributed to their strong bond of friendship – one tall and skinny, one short and thick… one perpetually grinning and one solemn to the epitome of coldness.

Opposites attracting… but there was a need for a balancer, especially amongst the duo who stuck to their roles with unrelenting determination.

Beatrice, perhaps due to the apparent weirdness of her closest friends, managed to stick to the straight-and-narrow road of a healthy personality – she even bordered on exceptional in many aspects.

Yet, the students in the classroom tended to give her a wide berth.

She held a much too pristine reputation considering she associated with Amir – The Wannabe Casanova and Tod – The Wannabe Fighter.

Normal things are strange if they remain normal in an environment of strangeness.

Perhaps, the only one who knew Beatrice’s true intentions for avoiding the label of truly exceptional was Xavier… and the reason was simply because anyone truly exceptional would be placed along the same veins as The Cullens.

Beatrice’s face paled with the thought – Xavier and The Cullens frightened her for some reason.

Her mother always told her that she was more sensitive than others were and as much nonsense as that seemed at the time, Beatrice had to admit that there was something off with Xavier and The Cullens… especially The Cullens.

Beatrice stared at Amir and Tod for some time. “Tod…” She whispered. “Tod,” her voice was hollow as if a breath of air.

When a reply was not prompt.

“FUCKING TOD!” She growled, keeping her voice just subtle enough to avoid a glare from the teacher preaching in front of the classroom.

To Tod and Amir, this was no less threatening than finding themselves bound to the ground as a monster truck rapidly approached.

The monster truck was called Beatrice.

Tod almost hopped out of his seat; nearly dropping the hundred-dollar phone so tightly attached to his hands and so brilliantly maneuvered between the hollow gaps of his desk.

‘I was close to level nine,’ Tod internally complained, admonishing Beatrice a thousand and one times in his mind; though, his lips dare not be as fluent as his creative thoughts. “What’s up?” He inquired, rather cowardly.

Beatrice’s brows scrunched, clearly sensing something from his expression. “Are you cursing me internally?” her lips curled upward just a hint.

It was both beautiful and terrifying.

Tod felt a shiver run down his spine as he shook his head with the frequency of a rattlesnake’s tail… it was almost possible to hear the sound of his brain rumbling inside his skull.

The situation was made worse by Amir’s intermittent chuckles – he took on the role of a very active bystander.

Then, there was a sudden silence.

“The teacher is looking over,” Amir whispered, straightening his stature to near perfection while raising his textbook a little higher.

Of course, he was scribbling meaningless nothings.

More than anything, Amir was good at camouflage… or as he preferred to call it ‘professional bullshitting’.

Beatrice and Tod were always somewhat disgruntled by Amir’s laissez-faire attitude.

Beatrice and Tod felt somewhat disgruntled.

If there was anyone in the history of Forks High School who paid the least attention in class, it would be Amir… but somehow, he managed to pay attention for exactly the three seconds the teacher’s eyes would scan over the class.

Of course, his glistening eyes of feigned attention were unparalleled in sincerity.

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‘He could definitely be an actor…’ Beatrice thought.

A small urge to take petty revenge appeared in her mind and the sensation only doubled when she found Amir’s head slowly turning in her direction.

‘He forgot the teacher’s name again…’ Tod’s eyes conveyed.

‘He forgot the teacher’s name again…’ Beatrice’s eyes confirmed.

Amir was never one to remember names for a long period, thus Beatrice and Tod became his living, moving memory bank.

Thus, he panicked as the teacher wormed her way around the several desks in front.

Tod was gloating at Amir’s misfortune until he recalled the rather conspicuous phone hidden under the desk.

Without conscious thought, thoroughly reflecting his absolute trust in Beatrice, Tod threw his phone across the column gap.

Smooth…

Unhesitant…

Swift…

However, before Beatrice could react to the unexpected toss, Amir – being the ninja he is – snatched the phone from the air with a smoothness that told Tod and Beatrice that he was all too prepared to receive the phone with the timer set at level nine.

‘Fuck…’ Their minds echoed.

Beatrice and Tod raised their heads at the same time, realization flashing in their eyes – the front of the class was as deserted as it had been five minutes prior.

This particular teacher tended to spend more time in the hallway than in the classroom, not that anyone complained about the large chunks of free time.

RING

RING

Students started to stand.

The class had come to an abrupt ending.

Tod flexed his fingers as he rose from his seat, and directed a pointed look at Amir, but the latter was busy passing the level nine Tod had left unfinished.

Beatrice stretched, coughed, and extended a hand for Tod to aid her to her feet – he did so with a delicacy bordering on lovable terror.

As if abuse had turned into enjoyment over the long years.

By the time Beatrice and Tod had packed everything into their bags, Amir was halfway through the door… he was performing a great escape having reached level eleven.

What else could the duo do but give chase?

∞

Ty and Daisy ran through their steps for the tenth time.

In the beginning, they thought it would be easy enough to come up with a few dance moves for Xavier’s video but… it was not nearly as ideal as their minds had conjured.

“Well…” Ty frowned.

Daisy’s expression was not any better but her frustration held a hint of excitement for the current challenge.

She had always had a gift for the performance arts… but having a gift meant being better than seventy percent of her peers, and hence, little opportunity to really challenge herself.

“Simon and Rosalie are supposed to meet us today,” Daisy bundled her brown, long hair into one. “But we know they won’t come…”

“At least Simon communicates,” Ty voiced.

Daisy did not bother to reply – it was almost… no, it was definitely taboo to speak badly about The Cullens.

‘But she gets the work done…’ Daisy’s mind pondered.

It was an open secret amongst the students, especially those interested in design, that Rosalie Cullen was unparalleled in her creative abilities.

Bing pulled into her circle was akin to growing wings in The Forks Fashion scene… admittedly, there wasn’t much of a Forks Fashion Scene but there were a couple of students known to do well in the design field outside of Forks.

Strangely, Rosalie’s name never came up.

“Let’s continue the rehearsal,” Ty sunk to his knees, prepping himself for another leap to his feet, followed by the choreographed dance.

Daisy nodded.

They had to get the dance down before Alice came to the practice; after all, she was the one who choreographed the dance.

Of course, there was a lot of jumping… a bit too many lively movements.

The rehearsal continued for some time before someone else arrived at the scene, someone neither Daisy nor Ty expected to appear.

Brittney met the eyes of the duo as she entered the auditorium – she saw their startled expressions and could only smile wryly.

Her position was a taboo in the school; not as much as The Cullens, but at the very least, The Cullens had each other.

Brittney had Jessie…

Jessie had Brittney…

There was probably Xavier somewhere in the mix but to Brittney and Jessie, he was equally a sword in their hands, slashing at the world for them and a guillotine ready to sever their heads at any moment.

As she always did, Brittney checked her phone one last time – Jessie tended to grow anxious when she took too long to respond to a text – proceeded to warm up, and then slowly integrated herself into the dance practice.

Brittney had learned long ago that sudden things were uncomfortable but if someone moved a centimeter at a time, even if they were sliding a knife into your gut, it would hardly be noticed.

Thus, the rehearsal of the duo turned into a rehearsal for three.

Half an hour later, Amir, Tod, and Beatrice entered the room, each quickly to find their place and tend to their respective responsibilities.

Tod was the lifter – anything needing moving was his domain.

Amir had a fluency with the girls that allowed him to maneuver in a more personal capacity; massages, buying pads, cheering, or whatever else was necessary.

As for Beatrice, she was a dancer, motivator, part-time choreographer, and all the while remaining mostly inconspicuous.

‘A room full of weird people…’

The thought could not help but permeate through Ty’s mind.

In a certain capacity, he considered himself a follower of Xavier and hence, Xavier’s representative at Forks during his period of recovery.

The auditorium was slowly getting more crowded.

Tod… Amir… Beatrice…

Ty… Daisy…

Brittney… then Jessie not long after.

Jessie’s arrival heralded the arrival of Angela, Alice, and Rosalie… Beatrice trying to distract herself from subtly noticing how Alice and Rosalie tended to stick close to Angela in recent days.

‘Almost as if protecting her…’ Her mind mused but she shook her head vigorously, causing some of her subsequent steps to be out of rhythm.

“Pay ATTENTION!” Daisy rebuked.

Beatrice had no choice but to bury such thoughts at the back of her mind, though she knew, later – just before bed – she would have to analyze the phenomenon in detail.

Tod was soon busier than anyone, rushing in and out of the auditorium under Rosalie’s and her assistants’ directions – there were many unfinished costumes to address.

Amir alternated between aiding Tod and handing out water to the sweaty girls with a charismatic flourish in his actions.

Ty mostly observed, taking note of the little things alongside Jessie – he would report to her and she would likely not report to Xavier, but still, she would tell him that she would.

Such was their routine.

Simon was still nowhere to be seen, probably trapped in his self-made studio somewhere alongside Mike, working on bringing the song to perfection.

Eric was on the phone, arguing with the cousin who introduced him to the concept of YouTube… Angela meanwhile, contented herself with taking the occasional photos.

Of course, the main subject of Angela’s photography skills was none other than Alice – she was not oblivious to the fact that Alice had been paying special attention to her recently.

Thus… in a typical Xavier-like fashion, Angela decided to repay Alice with the same, uncomfortable spying experience.

By the end of the day, somewhere around six in the evening, Rosalie had completed transforming the school’s mascot costume into something magnificent.

Angela had gathered enough photos to create a slide show.

Eric had settled matters with his elusive cousin and successfully confirmed the progress of the music with Mike and Simon – of course, the answer was don’t rush me!

Alice and Brittney had guided the trio– Daisy, Beatrice, and Ty – to memorize the choreography for the first half of the dance.

Everything had been preliminarily determined.