They are sitting at a table in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from everyone else as they could be in the bustling food hall. There are five of them, three boys and two girls. One of them is Alice from Maria's classes, and she smiles kindly at Maria from across the room, and then she stands up very gracefully and takes her tray of an unopened soda can and an uneaten apple to the bin before leaving the cafeteria without a second glance back at them. The four left at the table are all ghostly pale with the same obsidian eyes as Alice, and it's only now that they are all sitting together that Maria notices how pale they and Alice actually are. Paler than Bella, even. None of them seems to notice her, Bella and Jessica staring at them.

"That's Edward and Emmet Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr Cullen and his wife," Jessica tells them under her breath.

Maria tries not to stare at them, not wanting to appear rude, but something about the thinnest boy amongst them, with bronze hair and a younger-looking face than the rest of them catches her attention. She's not sure what it is about him, but his looks stand out to her even next to the other two unnaturally pale boys, who are both extraordinarily handsome.

"They're very attractive," Maria states simply, and the boy who's caught her eye finally looks up from the table and catches her stare. She looks away shamefully, hoping that he is not offended by her staring and looks over at Jessica, who is giggling.

"Yes!" She agrees. "They're all together though - Emmet and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together!"

"Oh... are they related?" Maria asks, hoping that the ones in relationships are not related in any way.

"No," Jessica assures her. "Dr Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. The Cullens are all adopted. The Hale's are brother and sister, twins - the blonds - and they're foster children."

"They look a little old for Foster children," Bella says, intrigued.

"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 nice - for them to take care of all of those kids... especially when they're so young," Maria says, smiling a little at the notion of it. "I would love to foster kids when I'm older."

"I guess so," Jessica admits in a reluctant fashion, and it's clear that she doesn't like the doctor and his wife. "I think Mrs Cullen can't have any kids, though."

"Well, it's still nice. They didn't have to take in all those kids," Maria doubles down on her stance, not willing to change her mind about Dr and Mrs Cullen's good-natured act. Maria looks over at them again, and the bronze-haired boy is still staring at her with his brows knitted together as if he's trying to figure something out. Her cheeks flush red, and the boy grips the table when he sees the blood pooling under her skin, turning away and staring out the window. "Have they always lived in Forks? I don't remember ever meeting them when we used to visit in the Summer."

"No, they just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."

Maria frowns a little, it's clear that they have some form of connection with one another, given that half of them are dating, but she does wonder if they might be lonely not having any friends outside their adopted or foster siblings or their romantic partners. Especially Edward, who Jessica didn't name as being in a relationship. She wonders if she should try and befriend them all. Maybe the other students in the school were intimidated by their good looks or the size of their group. Maybe she could ask Alice about it in one of their shared classes, she doesn't want anybody to feel lonely if she can do something about it, and she generally gets along well with most people.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair...? He keeps looking at Maria," Bella asks quietly, and Maria looks over again at the boy, who is staring at her yet again. She raises an eyebrow at him, questioning his gaze, and he turns away again and speaks quickly to one of his siblings.

"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." Jessica responds, and Bella hides her grin and guessing that Jessica has been rejected by him and that's why she's acting so sour. The corners of Edward's lips twitch up too, and then the family swiftly abandon their table and leave the cafeteria. "They're really weird though... seriously... I would try and steer clear of them if I were you."

"Maybe they just feel isolated here... I can't imagine being adopted or fostered is very easy, and they moved here not too long ago," Maria suggests, not wanting to agree with Jessica labelling them weird. "I'm sure they are just too nervous to make new friends or something."

"Maybe..." Jessica shrugs her shoulders, not too bothered by Maria's comments on their characters. "They don't exactly make it easy to be friends with... they hardly talk to anybody except each other, and they act like they're better than us all."

"Well, I've been speaking to Alice all morning, and she seems lovely," Maria tells Jessica, who raises her eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really," Maria nods. "I didn't think there was anything weird about her... she just has eccentric taste, but I don't think there's anything weird about that."

"No- I don't- um..." Jessica struggles to find something to say in her defence, and then she scratches her head uncomfortably. "Well... I didn't mean to be rude. She's just different to the rest of us, I guess."

"It's fine, Jessica," Maria says sincerely, not really that upset with the girl. She knows that people like to gossip, and while Maria doesn't think the Cullens and Hales are weird, they do stick out a little bit, so she can understand Jessica's apprehension. "I'm not annoyed at you."

"Oh, good," Jessica then beams at her and starts to eat the rest of her lunch. Maria finished off her lunch too, now, occasionally joining in with Jessica and her friends, who joke around and banter with each other. Maria gets along with all of Jessica's friends quite quickly, but she particularly likes Angela, who has been trying to involve a rather shy Bella quite a lot and Jessica herself, so she is glad to have made a few friends on the first day.

"We have Biology II next," Bella says absentmindedly to Maria, who is about to get out her class schedule towards the end of the lunch period.

"Oh, I'm in that class," Angela pipes up shyly. "I can walk with you two if you like."

"Yes please," Maria accepts her offer, glad to have someone to show her to her next class. She nudges Bella with her elbow. "Maybe we can sit together? I'm terrible at Biology anyway, so it will be good to have some help."

Bella and Angela don't speak as they walk to class, and Maria loudly interrupts their silence, not put off by their shy nature. "Do you like Biology?"

"Yeah, Mr Banner is quite a good teacher," Angela nods.

"Oh, that's good. Maybe I'll actually do well this year, Bells," Maria grins, and Bella shakes her head, laughing.

"I doubt it, Maria," Bella replies, adjusting the strap of her backpack. "You're hopeless."

"Wow, thank you so much, Bella. I believe in you too."

"I just don't want to fill you with false hope, Marie."

"So rude," Maria scoffs, pretending to be upset with her sister as they finally enter their Biology classroom. Angela sits at her assigned seat, and Bella awkwardly takes the empty seat beside her. Maria looks around the classroom to see if there are any other free seats and sees that there is one next to Edward Cullen, so she quickly collects her textbook from Mr Banner and slips into the seat beside Edward. She turns to him with a friendly smile, ready to introduce herself, but he's leaning as far away from her as he can, averting his face and covering his nose with one hand. Maria, who doesn't usually get self-conscious, anxiously sniffs her hair which smells like roses. She shrugs off her hoodie, wondering if maybe it just smells damp from the rain and pushes her hair back behind her ears, inadvertently exposing her chest and neck. The hand on his left leg balls up in a fist, tendons standing out through his almost translucent skin, and Maria frowns deeply. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Edward breathes out raspily. He doesn't look over at her when he speaks, and she just sighs and opens her textbook, turning her attention to the front of the class and ignoring the uncomfortable stature of the boy beside her. Maria is glad when she realises that they already learned about cellular anatomy in her old school and just uses the lesson to fill in any gaps in her knowledge on the subject.

Edward doesn't move an inch for the entire lesson, Maria glances at him occasionally to see if he has relaxed, but he doesn't look over at her. Maria notices that away from his bulky brother, he's much more muscly than she originally thought, with muscles and veins prominent along his arms. When the bell does ring, Maria considers asking him if he is okay again, but he jumps out of his seat and speeds out of the room before anybody else has even stood up.

Maria stares after him for a while, still confused before she starts to pack away her textbook and pencil case and follows Bella out as she talks with a baby-faced boy with pale hair gelled into spikes.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but do I smell okay?" Maria asks them. Both of them look at her with confusion, and she sends them a pleading look so they awkwardly smell the air around her.

"You smell fine," Bella shrugs her shoulders, puzzled by her sister's request.

"Yeah... you smell fine... good actually, like roses," the boy answers bashfully, and Maria thanks them quietly before storming off ahead of them to gym class. She quickly collects a uniform from Coach Clapp and changes into it in silence. Bella doesn't get changed to do P.E., taking up the coaches' offer to sit out and watch for the first lesson, but Maria has always liked P.E., so she joins in, rejecting the options to sit on the sidelines.

"Hi, I'm Mike," the spiky-haired boy from before approaches her during the class.

"Maria," Maria replies shortly and then frowns a little. "Sorry, I'm not in a good mood right now."

"Did something happen with you and Edward Cullen in Biology? I've never seen him act like that."

"I don't know what happened. I only asked him if he was okay... maybe he was just having an off day," Maria says, trying to convince herself that it was his problem and nothing to do with her.

"He's a weird guy," Mike scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. "If I were lucky enough to sit by you, I would have talked to you."

"That's sweet," Maria says, not wanting him to feel bad about her complete lack of interest in him because he seems nice enough. She rejoins the Volleyball game after this and is pleased when her team wins with her help, which cheers her up a little more.

She quickly changes back into her clothes and meets up with Bella to walk to the office and hand in some paperwork. Thankfully the rain has stopped now, so Maria leaves her hood down.

"Are you okay?" Bella asks him, her eyebrows furrowed. "You were in a good mood before Biology."

"Did you see how Edward was acting when I sat next to him?" Maria asks Bella.

"He was being weird... looked like he was in pain or something. Is that why you were asking if you smelt okay?"

"Yeah, it was like he was repulsed by me or something. I was polite to him. I don't know what his problem -"

Maria falls silent when they open the doors to the office, and Edward Cullen is standing at the desk. He doesn't seem to notice them enter, and they wait in silence for him to leave. He argues with the receptionist in a low, attractive voice, and Maria realises what they are arguing about very quickly. He is trying to switch his sixth-hour Biology with any other class possible. Maria exchanges a hurt look with Bella and crosses her arms over her chest. The door opens again, and cold wind swirls Maria's hair around her face. A girl walks in and places a note in a wire basket on the desk, but Edward stiffens and turns around slowly and meets Maria's eyes. He glares at her, and she frowns at him.

"Never mind, then," he says hastily to the receptionist. "I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help."

He doesn't look at Maria again as he turns on his heel and disappears out the door, and Maria slowly walks up to the desk and hands in her paperwork.

"How was your first day, dear?"

"It was fine, thank you," Maria lies and leaves the office without Bella, making a beeline for her sister's truck. She slams the door and does up her seatbelt, waiting for Bella to finish at the office and drive her home.

"What was that about?" Bella asks as she closes the door on the driver's side. "Surely he doesn't want to change classes just because of you?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Bella."