Opening Up

                                    

                                          
Izzy sighed as she spotted Angela across the parking lot, standing with a group of her friends.  She took a few calming breaths and tried to muster up her courage. It's now or never, Izzy thought, she knew bell was going to ring soon. It was a small miracle that she had made it here with enough time to spare in the first place. 
                          
She was determined today. She didn't think that she could stand the quiet any longer. She was going to ask if she could sit with Angela at lunch. 
                          
She adjusted her bookbag on her shoulders as she started the trek across the lot. Izzy's heart started to beat frantically as she approached the group of students.
                          
"Um, hey, Angela?" Izzy spoke quietly, but Angela heard it and met Izzy at the edge of her group.
                          
"Hey! What's up?" She smiled welcomingly. 
                          
"I, uh, I was just wondering if I could maybe sit with you today...um, at lunch." Izzy's eyes were glued to her feet. She hated that she was so awkward.
                          
"Of course! We'd be happy to have you!" Isabella looked up to see Ang smiling brightly. She offered a small smile back, right as the bell rang. 
                          
"Cool, see you then," Izzy ducked her head and started walking to class. She heard the group whispering as she passed, but she tried hard to pretend like it wasn't about her.
                          
Soon enough, though, the whole school was abuzz with the information that Isabella Swan was beginning to be social. All the hope that had been initially lost at their first attempts to talk to her came back with a vengeance. 
                          
Izzy was ignorant to the fact that everyone was talking about her. She had learned to shut it all out way back in Phoenix after her mother died. 
                          
At lunch, Izzy decided to play it safe and get just an apple and some water. She held one object in each hand to try to cover her shaking as she approached the table that Angela sat at. She saw that Angela had saved her the seat right beside her and Izzy felt relieved. 
                          
She sat down and the table went quiet, as if everyone were holding their breath.
                          
Izzy offered a meek, "Hello."
                          
At the table sat her, Angela, one other girl who introduced herself as Jessica, and two guys who couldn't seem to take their eyes off of her. The scrutiny made her uncomfortable at first. Annoyance soon started to bloom in her chest as a response to being publicly ogled. 
                          
One of the guys, Eric, snapped her picture with a camera that hung around his neck. He said it was for the school news paper. Izzy blanched, shocked at his boldness. Much to her surprise though, Angela snapped at him before she could.
                          
"It's not okay to take someone's picture without consent, Eric." She said. Along with the growing annoyance she felt, Izzy was grateful to Angela. Before she could say thank you, though, the mysteriously good looking group of kids that had been there to help her when she fell in the hall were coming into the cafeteria.
                          
"Who are they?" she blurted instead of her thank you. 
                          
The other girl, Jessica, started to explain with an air of superiority. "Those are the Cullens." She said. Her tone implied duh, everyone knows that. "Doctor and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids. They all moved down here from Alaska two years ago."
                          
"They kinda keep to themselves," Angela added.
                          
"The blonde girl is Rosalie, and the little dark haired girl is Alice, she's really weird. They're like together. Like, together together." Jessica condemned.
                          
"Jess, they're not actually related." Angela said.
                          
"But like they live together, and it's weird." Jessica made a face, but moved on. "The big guy, that's Emmett. The blonde guy who looks like he's in pain is Jasper, and then that's Edward. Totally gorgeous, but apparently no one here is good enough for him." Jessica scoffed.
                          
Izzy got the idea that Jessica had asked him out and he had said no. She couldn't help smirk that came. She doubted Jessica had ever been told no other than that.
                          
The other guy, Mike, at her table had started animatedly talking about how weird the group was and his experiences with them. Izzy's almost forgotten annoyance grew twice as big. People making fun of other simply because they're different had always got under her skin. 
                          
She was just about to say something when a guy, she later found out his name was Tyler, stole a kiss on her cheek and said "mine!" He sprinted away, or at least tried to. Moving with speed she didn't know she had, Izzy had grabbed the hood of his jacket and yanked him back. She was half surprised that she was able to given her weakened body.
                          
She guessed rage could do that for a person.
                          
"Apologize." She demanded in front of the dead quiet cafeteria. She didn't care that all eyes were on her. She had had enough. "I'm not some shiny new toy. I don't belong to anyone. Apologize for treating me like an object and kissing me without my consent."
                          
"I'm sorry, Izzy-" 
                          
"That's Isabella to you," she interrupted.
                          
"I'm sorry, Isabella." Tyler lamented. 
                          
"Thank you," she snipped and let go of his hood, wiping her hand as if she could erase the whole ordeal. She slumped back into her seat, the embarrassment catching up to her. The room was still so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
                          
"Ouuuu, the new girl's got balls," a playful voice broke the silence and the noise came rushing in. Emmett winked at Izzy from across the room as she looked to him. She was grateful for the reprieve. 
                          
Izzy would have assumed that Tyler would have walked away, but instead, he pulled up a chair, admiration in his eyes.
                          
"Hey," Angela nudged Izzy gently, "that was really cool, how you stood up for yourself. It takes a lot of strength."
                          
"Yeah, defintiely," Jessica interjected, "but I would have been flattered." She aimed a wink towards Tyler but his eyes were on Izzy.
                          
Feeling super uncomfortable with all of the attention, Izzy leaned to Angela and whispered, "Hey, I'll see you later."
                          
Angela gave her a knowing look and waved goodbye as Izzy got up and started walking to her next class.