WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN

≪•◦ CHAPTER FOUR | SOMEONE COULD BE LISTENING ◦•≫

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     Colby stood by her locker beside her siblings. "I didn't expect us to actually make friends so quickly," Jaxson remarked as a group of guys and girls waved at him and Chloe.

     Colby laughed and nodded. "Yeah, it's like they've never had new students before. Everyone is so upfront and not afraid to walk right up to new faces and say hello," she said, waving at Jessica and Angela as they walked to their lockers. They had just left lunch with a few minutes to spare until the bell for their last class would ring.

     "Yeah, I kinda expected us to just sit together at lunch like those people that walked in a couple of minutes after Colby sat down with her friends," Grace said with a shrug.

     "The Cullens?" Colby asked automatically. Her four other siblings looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.

     "You know those gorgeous human beings?" Chloe asked in disbelief.

     "I don't personally know them. I have classes with Rosalie and Jasper. I just know of them from Jessica," Colby said nonchalantly, noticing her younger siblings' wide eyes. "What's with the crazy eyes?"

     "I'm not surprised she knows them, or knows of them. Out of all of us, most of the attention is on Colby and her cute ass," Grace said playfully, pushing her sister.

     "It is not, shut up," Colby giggled as the bell rang, signaling it was time to go to their last class of the day. "Saved by the bell. I'll meet you guys by our cars!" Colby called back as she walked towards her anatomy class, the second class she was most excited about.

     Colby finally found the class and walked in with a smile. "Ah, Ms. Salvatore, it's a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Anatomy," the sweet blonde teacher said, smiling at Colby. "I have an empty seat right over there. I'm Mrs. King," she added, gesturing to the empty seat next to, to Colby's surprise, Emmett Cullen.

     But something was different once she sat down beside him and flipped her hair over her shoulder. Emmett froze, his eyes darkening, and his face a mixture of fear and confusion.

     Colby placed her things on the floor beside the lab table and took out her notebook and pen. She glanced over at Emmett and saw that he seemed to be struggling to breathe. "Are- are you okay?" Colby asked quietly.

     Emmett nodded. "Yeah, I'm good," he said before slowly relaxing. Colby barely knew him, but it seemed so unnatural to see Emmett in the state he was in when she first walked in. Even now, though he was more relaxed, it seemed forced.

     "Okay, class, today we're going to continue our lesson on the human body. Ms. Salvatore, just follow along until you catch up. I'm sure Emmett can help you as well," Mrs. King said. From the corner of her eye, Colby saw Emmett freeze a little again but nod nonetheless.

     Mrs. King walked over to Colby, handing her a worksheet. "You'll need this later on in the week, and we're also taking notes today, okay?" Colby smiled and nodded as Mrs. King made her way back to the front of the classroom, turning off the lights and turning on the PowerPoint with the notes for the students to copy.

     After a while, Colby saw Emmett sliding his notes over to her. "We started the human body notes yesterday. You can copy mine to help you catch up quicker," Emmett said with a smile.

     "Uh, thank you. You know, the human body honestly fascinates me. It's beautiful, in my opinion. Is that weird?" Colby whispered.

     Emmett shook his head and gave a kind smile. "Not weird at all."

     Colby blushed and smiled. Emmett looked at her, and the way his eyes were trained on hers made her breathless.

     As class went on, Emmett seemed to relax more, no longer on edge like he was at the start. Colby noticed that by the time the bell rang, he didn't bolt out of class as she had expected. Instead, they walked together in comfortable silence towards the administration office. Colby noticed Bella heading towards the office as well. Earlier, she had told her siblings she'd go to the office to let the lady know how their first day went because, for some reason, Grace thought it was necessary.

     Colby, Emmett, and Bella entered the office, but Colby saw Bella nearly turn and leave when she spotted Edward sweet-talking the enchanted female administrator. Colby turned to Emmett, whose brows furrowed for a split second upon seeing his brother. "Is everything okay?" Colby asked Emmett in a low voice.

     Emmett just shrugged. Colby noted that Edward didn't see Bella or the other two enter the office. Bella took a step closer to Colby as they listened to Edward. "There must be something open sixth period. Physics? Biochem?" Edward asked, sounding frustrated. Colby looked at Bella, seeing her visibly hurt.

     "No, every class is full. I'm afraid you'll have to stay in biology. I'm so sorry," the lady said. Colby somehow put two and two together, knowing Bella had biology for her last class and guessing they were lab partners.

     The administrator saw Colby and Bella and gestured for them to wait a minute. But Edward suddenly straightened as if sensing Bella. He slowly turned to glare at her with piercing, hate-filled eyes. Bella backed closer to Colby's taller figure, hugging herself, suddenly chilled with anxiety and hurt.

     Edward turned back to the administrator. "I'll just... endure it," he said, striding out the door. Emmett and Colby glanced at each other. Colby gave a small smile, and as if it gave Emmett permission to leave, he returned the smile and followed after his brother.

     Colby smiled at the administrator and looked at Bella. "So, uh, what happened?" Colby asked in a sweet voice.

      "I honestly don't know. I guess he wasn't too fond of being stuck with me as a lab partner in bio," Bella said as they walked out of the office and headed outside to the parking lot.

     "Are you always the last one out, Colbs?" Colby heard her brother call out from between her car and Grace's truck just as Grace pulled out of the spot she was parked in, no doubt on her way to work. Beside Colby's car, she watched Edward hop into his car and peel out of the school. His siblings watched him before turning their attention to Colby and Bella. Colby was the only one to notice as she gave a small smile to Emmett, Jasper, and a shorter girl she remembered was Alice. Rosalie got into her car, and the others soon followed, getting into either Rosalie's car or the jeep. Colby continued to walk Bella to her burnt orange truck, which Colby honestly thought was adorable.

     Finally, the two reached Bella's truck and turned to face each other. "Hey, don't take it to heart, okay? Don't let some guy you don't even know ruin your first day," Colby said, placing a comforting hand on the shorter girl's shoulder.

     "Thanks, Colby. I'll, uh, see you tomorrow? I gotta meet my dad somewhere, sorry..." Bella said awkwardly with a smile.

     "Hey, don't sweat it. The twins and Talia are waiting for me anyway. But yeah, I'll see you tomorrow," Colby replied. Bella nodded and smiled, getting into her truck. Colby closed the door for her and waved goodbye as she made her way to her car. To her surprise, the other Cullen siblings hadn't left yet. Her eyes lingered on the shiny cars for a brief second before her brother gained her attention.

      "We just started at this new school and you already seem to have like thirty best friends and then like hundreds of admirers that are too afraid to come up to you!" Jaxson exclaimed.

     "Have you always been the exaggerating type?" Colby asked playfully.

     Jaxson rolled his eyes. "You're just now noticing? You can literally see glimpses—" Chloe began, but Colby cut her off.

      "I'm going to stop you right there. Someone could be listening, Chlo," Colby said in a loud but not too loud whisper as she unlocked her car. Chloe hopped in the front before her brother had the chance. The boy just scoffed at his twin and got in the back with Talia.

     "Yeah, I forgot the type of people we go to school with. We used to be able to talk about it all the time in the parking lot in Maryland," Chloe said as Colby waited for the Cullens to drive past her car since they pulled out once Colby and her younger siblings were in the car.

     "That's because in Maryland, new students weren't a rare phenomenon," Talia said as Colby drove to a small café where her parents wanted her and her other siblings to meet them. What Colby loved about Forks was that almost everything was within close distance.

      Once Colby parked her car, she noticed Bella's truck was also there. No doubt this was the place Bella had mentioned she needed to meet her dad, most likely for dinner. Her parents had called her and Jason to come with the twins and Talia for some dinner and dessert since Grace worked there.

     Colby, Talia, and the twins got out of Colby's car and walked into the café, immediately spotting Bella, her father, and her family. Bella looked at Colby with a surprised expression. "Hey, Colby," Bella said shyly but quickly gained the Salvatore girl's attention. Colby smiled, giving the girl a small hug from where she sat.

     "Hey, Bella. Hi, Mr. Swan, I'm Colby Salvatore," Colby said, introducing herself to Bella's dad, who smiled awkwardly. Colby could definitely see where Bella got it from.

     "Please, call me Charlie. You're Jason Salvatore's sister, right?" Charlie asked after shaking Colby's hand.

     Colby nodded. "Only if he's staying out of trouble," she joked. Charlie gave a small laugh, as did Bella.

     "Oh, very funny, little sis," Jason said, coming up behind his sister.

     Colby looked up at her older brother and then towards her parents, who were smiling and patiently waiting for them. Colby didn't want to keep them waiting much longer or interrupt the father-daughter dinner more than she already had for Bella and Charlie. "It was nice seeing you again, Bells, and it was a pleasure meeting you, Charlie. Hate to break the conversation short, but our parents and younger siblings are waiting for us," Colby said with a smile.

     "No, of course. It was nice meeting you too," Charlie said.

     "I'll see you later, yeah?" Bella asked with a smile.

     "Of course," Colby nodded.

     With that, Colby and Jason made their way to their family and sat down. "Colby, who was that?" Christopher asked his daughter as Grace smiled at her family, setting the menus in front of them.

     "Bella Swan. She's a friend from school," Colby said as she thanked Grace.

     "I'm glad you kids are enjoying Forks," Heather said with a smile before turning to Colby. "Anything happen at school today?"

     Colby looked at her mom, confused. "Nothing out of the ordinary that I know of. Why?" she asked.

     Heather shook her head. "Just wondering."

     Colby nodded, still with a confused look on her face, before looking back at the menu. Once she figured out what she wanted, she joined in on the teasing conversations between the twins.

      "Who said I wasn't allowed to like a junior?!" Chloe said in a whisper-yelling tone at Jaxson.

     "I did!" Jason said, looking over at Colby.

      "Wait, wait, who is it first before anyone gets a say in it," Colby said, laughing and looking towards her little sister.

     "I'm not telling you. You know him!" Chloe said, poking at her sister's arm.

      "That's exactly why you should tell me, so I can determine if he's good enough for my sweet little sister," Colby said, wrapping her arms around Chloe and giggling.

     "Fine, fine, his name's Tyler Crowley," Chloe said, playfully pushing her sister off of her.

     "Yeah, no, you're too young to like people," Colby said, trying to keep a straight face. Her family eventually broke out in laughter, Colby soon joining them as Grace brought their dinner they had ordered before the conversation with Chloe began.