𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦

(the cursed witch, act one)

THANKFULLY, MIKE HAD CHOSEN TO STICK BY BELLA AND NINA'S SIDE FOR THE DAY. Nina could tell it was just because he wanted to spend time with Bella due to his impending crush on her that had formed after their two-minute conversation in gym class.

Nina was sure that if it weren't for Bella and everyone's newfound obsession with her, she would have found herself lost inside the school at least twelve times. Thankfully, Bella seemed to enjoy her presence though, which meant she hadn't been abandoned yet.

It was lunch now. Normally Nina would grab her lunch and go outside, away from the prying eyes, but since she had Bella with her, they decided to eat with everyone else in the cafeteria.

The two girls followed Mike with their lunch trays in hand as he led them to a table. Nina still felt uncomfortable in the new environment but smiled slightly when she saw Angela, the girl she had met earlier in the day, sitting at the table where Mike was leading them to.

Nina pulled out her own seat, while Mike pulled out Bella's. Beside her, sat Eric and beside him Angela and Jessica. "Hey, Mikey, you met my home girls' Bella and Nina," Eric said, smiling at Nina as Mike held out a burrito in his direction.

"Oh, your home girls?"

Eric nodded, "Yeah."

Before Mike could respond, someone came running from behind and kissed both Bella and Nina's cheeks. "My girls," he said fondly before pulling Mike's chair out from underneath him and running off as Mike chased after him. "Sorry, I had to mess up your game, Mike!"

"Tyler!" Mike yelled as he chased him.

Jessica gasped silently as she watched the two boys before moving closer to Bella's chair. "Oh my god. It's like first grade all over again. You're the shiny new toys."

Bella smiled awkwardly while Nina stared at Jessica. Being compared to a children's toy was definitely something to boost her ego...

A blinding flash cut off her thoughts as she looked up to see Angela pointing a camera in both her and Bella's direction. Angela smiled at them apologetically, "Sorry. I needed a candid for the feature-"

Cutting her off, Eric muttered loudly, "The feature's dead, Angela. Don't bring it up again."

"It's okay-" Bella went to say only to be cut off by Eric as well who placed his hand on her shoulder, "I got your back, baby." As soon as the words left his lips, he stood up before following Mike and Tyler who were still chasing each other through the halls.

Angela sighed, "Guess we'll just run another editorial on teen drinking."

"You know, you can always go for eating disorders," Bella suggested before Nina smirked, "Or speedo padding on the swim team."

The dark-haired girl who wore a pair of glasses smiled as she nodded, "Actually, that's a good one."

Jessica chuckled, "Kirk. Right?"

"That's exactly what I thought. Yeah. We're talking Olympic-size."

"But there's no way," Jessica said, disagreeing. For a skinny swimmer, his size was almost impossible - he had to be using some sort of padding. "He's so skinny. It doesn't make sense."

Nina let out a silent sigh as the two girls continued to gossip while Bella and she stayed silent as they sat down, both wishing they were anywhere else. While Nina's eyes moved to stare at the white paneled ceiling, Bella's moved to the window where she noticed a group of people walking inside through the exit door which led to the forest behind the school.

"Who are they?" Bella asked curiously, causing Nina to pull her eyes away from the ceiling to see the group of miraculously perfect teenagers walk inside.

Jessica glanced over before looking back at Nina and Bella, "The Cullens. They're Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids. They moved down here from Alaska, like, a few years ago."

"They kind of keep to themselves," Angela added. Nina nodded as she took in the information. It wasn't necessarily normal for an entire family to keep to themselves, especially in a small town. Perhaps they had a secret like hers, one that was dangerous if it got out. Or they were just private people and the people in Forks were judgy.

Nina watched as the first two walked in, both still stunning even closer up as Jessica continued to ramble about the family. "Yeah, 'cause they're all together. Like, together, together. The blonde girl, that's Rosalie, and the big dark-haired guy, Emmett, they're, like, a thing. I'm not even sure that's legal."

"Jess, they're not actually related," Angela said, cutting off her friend's monologue.

"Yeah, but they live together. It's weird. And, okay, the little dark-haired girl's Alice. She's really weird, and she's with Jasper, the blond one who looks like he's in pain. Dr. Cullen's like this foster dad slash matchmaker."

As the dark-haired girl Alice walked past them, a chill ran down Nina's spine. Her eyes locked with Alice's for a moment and watched curiously as the woman smiled at her before walking the other way towards the table her siblings sat at.

"Maybe he'll adopt me," Angela said jokingly as she clasped her hands longingly in front of her face.

Nina's eyes moved back to the door and saw another boy walk in, this one with dark auburn hair and the same golden eyes as his adoptive siblings. It was the same guy she had seen earlier that morning while she was still in the car with her mother. "Who's he?" she asked, discreetly pointing in the boy's direction.

"That's Edward Cullen," Jessica answered. "He's totally gorgeous, obviously, but apparently nobody here's good enough for him. Like I care, you know? So, yeah."

Nina held back a laugh as she imagined the countless times Edward had rejected Jessica. Clearly, it had been a lot from her obvious distaste towards the boy.

"Seriously, like, don't waste your time," Jessica added.

When Nina didn't answer, Bella did for her. "I don't think she's planning on it."

Nina's eyes continued to observe the Cullen family as the three girls conversed. Something about them was different, they were all so beautiful and held the same powerful aura to them that only a few people she had met in her life held.

They had to have a secret, some profound family thing that was never to be told - it was the only explanation.

When she didn't pull her eyes away from them after a minute, Edward's eyes met hers. He held a look of confusion and slight frustration in his eyes as he looked between herself and Bella who still sat beside her.

Before she could think of saying anything else to Jessica and Angela, the bell rang and it was time for fifth period—biology; Nina's least favourite class.

After being dragged by Bella and Mike to the biology classroom, she was gently shoved inside by a smirking Mike. "It's not that bad, Neens. We're lookin' at worms today. It'll be fun."

"That sounds disgusting, Michael," Nina muttered under her breath, as the teacher looked up to greet both Bella and Nina.

"Mr. Banner," Mike greeted the teacher, who smiled appreciatively at him.

"Hey, Mike," he greeted before he moved his eyes onto the two girls who stood slightly behind him. "Oh, yes. Miss Swan and Miss Evans. Hi. Can I have your passes?"

Nina quickly pulled the small manilla paper out of her back pocket before moving forward slightly, Bella mirroring her actions until they both stood in front of a fan as they handed Mr. Banner their papers.

"Thank you. Welcome to the class," he said kindly as he handed them each a textbook, "Here. Here's your stuff, okay? And I got a seat for you both right here, so come over. Bella, you're next to Mike and Nina, you can sit with Mr. Cullen."

Nina sighed, great the mysterious sociopath... that can't seem to take his hand off of his nose. Mysterious, definitely some sort of sociopath and now outright rude. Perfect.

"Just follow along till you catch up," Mr. Banner told them before moving back to the front of the classroom. "All right, guys, today we are gonna be observing the behaviour of planaria, aka flatworms. So what we're gonna do... regenerate. Zombie worms."

Nina took a risk and side-eyed Edward only to see him staring at her, with his hand still covering his nose. Her lips turned downwards into a slight frown as she subconsciously sniffed her shirt only to see she smelt fine.

Confused, she looked back at Edward, this time full-on. "What's your problem? Cause I know it's not me that smells bad - It's probably that fucking peacoat your wearing that looks like it's a hundred years old."

Ignoring the looks she was receiving from Bella and Mike who had on the table next to them, she kept her gaze strong as she stared at Edward who held a look of shock on his face. "Excuse me?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"You fucking heard me. What's your problem? You got some sort of snot infestation in your nose or something?"

He stayed silent again for a few moments before slowly nodding, "Yes, I do, actually have a snot infestation. I, uh, I'm gonna go deal with it now," he told her before grabbing his bag and quickly running out of the classroom, ignoring Mr. Banner's shouts as he ran out.

The man shrugged as he turned back to the class, his eyes falling on Mike who was staring at his phone under the desk. "No cell phones! Guys, let's get to it. Nina, since Mr. Cullen is clearly unwell, you can join Bella and Mike."

As she grabbed her textbook and pulled her chair over to sit next to Bella who had scooched over, Mike grinned widely. "What'd you do to him? I've never seen so many emotions from him until now."

"He was being rude. So I asked him why and then he agreed to having a snot infestation and ran out. He's probably lactose intolerant and is having issues or something."

Mike frowned in disgust, "You're really starting to make these worms the least gross thing here, Neens."

Nina grinned as she gently shoved his shoulder, "That's impossible, Michael. You're in here."

While Mike rolled his eyes, Bella laughed softly at Nina's sarcastic comment, though she slightly agreed with her. Mike was kind of gross, in a boyish, I-haven't-showered-in-two-days-and-use-axe-to-cover-it-up way.

After a very long, excruciating lesson on flatworms, or as Nina likes to call them, her worst enemy, the bell finally rang and she was released from the gates of hell.

"Nina!" she heard Bella shout from behind her as she was moving to run out of the school. "We need to bring in our papers first," Bella reminded her, lifting her pass as soon as Nina turned to look at her.

As Nina groaned and reluctantly returned to Bella's side, the girl laughed. "It'll be two minutes and then we can leave this place."

Nina side-eyed the girl before eventually nodding as they walked back towards the office they had met in only a few hours before.

As they reached the office, Nina held Bella back as they stood in front of the glass doors. Bella glanced at her weirdly before she followed Nina's pointed finger and saw Edward already in there, arguing with the secretary.

"There must be something open. Physics? Biochem?" Edward persisted, but the secretary just shook her head. "No, every class is full."

It was then that Bella decided to push open the door which caused both Edward and the secretary to look back.

"Just a minute, dears," she told them kindly before her eyes moved back to Edward, "I'm afraid you'll have to stay in biology."

Edward sighed with a look of annoyance on his face. "Fine. Just... I'll just have to endure it," he muttered as he pushed off the desk and quickly ushered himself past Nina who rolled her eyes as he disappeared into the busy hallway.

Bella's hand grabbed Nina's papers after seeing how distracted her new friend was and quickly handed them to the secretary after offering a small, reluctant smile before leading Nina back out to the parking lot.

"That guy's a dick," Bella said as soon as they began to walk down the stairs.

"I know. He's an a-class dick. No wonder he and his family stick together, it's because he's such a dick that he ruins it for the rest of them."

"He's probably over-compensating because he has a microdick," Bella said, causing a loud laugh to erupt from Nina's lips that immediately earned strange looks from the students around them.

Nina glanced at them, "What are you looking at?" When they quickly looked away, Nina looked back at Bella as they reached her rusted truck that her dad had gifted her as a housewarming present. "Thanks again for offering to drive me."

"It's cool," she answered as she threw her backpack in the backseat, Nina's following soon after before they both moved to sit in the passenger and driver's seat. "Besides we live on the same street so it saves gas money."

Nina smiled, "Still."

"What? You think I was going to leave my only friend stranded because her mom's new boss decided to keep her late at work? I think that would make me a terrible friend."

Rain had begun to pour down and Bella had to turn on the windshield wipers. She could hear Bella scoff.

"You don't like rain?" Nina asked.

"It's cold, I don't like the cold," Bella answered with a shiver. "What about you? You moved from Canada, right? I heard some kids talking about it in my Spanish class."

"Yeah," Nina nodded. "I don't really mind the cold or the rain. It beats the snow, especially when it piles so high you can't get out of the house for two days."

Bella shivered again. "That sounds like my worst nightmare."

"Well, you're in luck. It doesn't snow much here, only a couple times a year and it barely reaches a few inches when it does." Nina glanced up and looked out the window, "This is me."

Bella's truck came to a slow stop by the curb of Nina's home before she put it in park. "I'll see you tomorrow? I can pick you up again."

Nina smiled gratefully, "That'd be perfect. Thanks, Bella."

After three hours of waiting, Nina's mother finally came home from her new job as a nurse in the local hospital. Nina had been sprawled out on the couch with a tub of ice cream resting on her chest just below her chin when Natalie walked in.

"Hey, honey. How was school?" she asked as she picked up Nina's legs and sat down before letting them fall on her lap.

"Eh... I made some friends," Nina answered as she handed her mother the tub of ice cream and her spoon.

"Oh, yeah? That's good. I see you didn't get murdered or eaten by mermaids. That's good. I kinda like having you around."

Nina stared at Natalie before grabbing the ice cream out of her hands, "That didn't sound very convincing. I think you would have rathered the mermaids eat me."

"What about that boy? The one that kept looking at you?" Natalie questioned. "Did you talk to him at all?"

"Yeah, I think I called him a dick... maybe a moron... I don't know, it was something like that. He was douchey."

"What did he do? Do you need me to go down there and mess with him? I could set his car on fire."

"As entertaining as that would be, I like it here so far and I don't feel like packing everything up again. Not yet at least."

Natalie grabbed the ice cream out of her daughter's hands again, "Alright. Just call me if you change your mind, honey."