A body in motion remains in motion, or a body at rest remains at rest, unless acted upon by an external force.
That’s Newton’s First Law.
And apparently, it also applies to fictional universes.
Because everything in this story should have unfolded exactly the same way it always did.
Bella Swan arrives in Forks.
Edward Cullen becomes obsessed with her blood.
Sexual tension happens.
Vampires brood dramatically in forests.
You know, the usual.
But then an external force showed up and knocked the timeline sideways.
Me.
Mike Newton.
Five-eleven.
Blond hair.
Blue eyes.
Baby face.
Resident golden retriever of Forks High School.
At least, that’s how Bella described me in the original story.
And she wasn’t wrong.
Well… she wasn’t entirely wrong.
Because somewhere along the line, Mike Newton stopped being just Mike Newton.
I didn’t replace him.
That would honestly be less weird.
Instead, we sort of fused together into one deeply confused human being.
I still had Mike’s personality, memories, habits, and apparently his inability to act normal around pretty girls, but now mixed with another lifetime’s worth of memories from someone who knew this world wasn’t supposed to be real.
A transmigrator.
Yeah.
I know how insane that sounds.
Unfortunately, insanity doesn’t make it less true.
The fluorescent lights hum softly above me while rain taps against the classroom windows in uneven rhythms.
The air smells like wet asphalt, old textbooks, and the sharp chemical bite of formaldehyde from the biology lab.
And sitting three rows away from me is Edward Cullen.
Perfect marble skin, bronze hair, frozen posture.
Bella Swan has just entered the room and I watch the exact moment everything goes wrong.
Edward goes rigid.
Not subtly, either.
Every muscle in his body locks so suddenly it looks like someone hit pause on him.
His fingers curl against the edge of the desk hard enough that the wood creaks faintly beneath his grip.
His eyes darken until they’re black.
Not metaphorically black or “moody teenage boy” black.
A hungry black.
And because of all the internet spoilers I absorbed before waking up in this universe, I know exactly what’s happening inside that terrifyingly beautiful head of his.
He wants to kill everyone in this room, including me.
Especially Bella.
The worst part is that nobody else notices.
Mr.
Molina keeps sorting papers at his desk.
Students keep talking.
Someone behind me is laughing about a basketball game.
The entire class sits blissfully unaware that a vampire is thinking about turning Biology into a crime scene.
I know things are supposed to work out in the end and he doesn’t do anything.
But what if?
My pulse pounds against my ribs.
Think, Mike.
Do something.
Anything.
And unfortunately, the only thing my brain comes up with is the dumbest possible solution.
“Hey, Edward,” I say.
My voice cuts through the classroom louder than I intended.
Edward’s head turns toward me slowly.
Jesus Christ.
Nothing could’ve prepared me for what vampires feel like in person.
Books and movies don’t capture it properly.
They focus too much on the beauty and forget the part where every instinct in your body starts screaming danger.
His face is flawless, sure, but it’s the stillness that gets you.
The way he looks at people like something pretending to be human instead of actually being human.
His gaze locks onto mine, and for one horrifying second, I genuinely think I’m about to die.
Still, I force myself to keep talking.
“You look kinda pale,” I manage weakly.
“Uh… paler than usual, I mean.
Maybe you should go to the nurse’s office?” Smooth.
Real smooth, Mike.
Edward stares at me, and the room suddenly feels too warm.
My palms are slick with sweat beneath the table.
I can hear Bella shifting awkwardly beside him, probably wondering why the weird blond guy is commenting on vampire complexion.
Then something changes.
Just slightly.
Edward blinks, and some of that murderous tension eases from his face.
“You’re right,” he says tightly.
His voice is calm and controlled.
Careful.
Like he’s holding himself together with sheer willpower.
“I’m feeling unwell.” He’s still not breathing.
And somehow, that makes the perfectly normal sentence infinitely more unsettling.
Mr.
Molina finally looks up from his desk.
“If you’re sick, Mr.
Cullen, you can head to the office.” Edward rises instantly.
Too gracefully.
Too quickly.
Nobody else seems to notice, but I do.
I notice everything now.
“Thank you,” Edward says quietly.
Then he’s gone.
The classroom door swings shut behind him, and the pressure disappears.
I exhale so hard my chest hurts.
Holy shit.
Across the aisle, Bella stares after him with her wide brown eyes, visibly confused.
Her cheeks are pink with embarrassment, and I already know what she’s thinking because I’ve seen this scene before.
She thinks Edward hated her on sight.
Honestly, fair assumption.
For a moment, she just keeps staring at the empty seat beside her while the rest of the class awkwardly pretends nothing happened.
Then the bell rings.
The sharp sound jolts everyone into motion.
Chairs scrape against the floor, backpacks zip shut, and students flood toward the hallway in noisy clusters.
Bella stays seated.
I hesitate for half a second before walking over.
“You okay?” She looks up quickly, like I startled her out of a trance.
“Oh.
Yeah.” She pauses.
“Maybe.” Up close, Bella looks exactly like she did in the movies.
Pale skin.
nervous eyes.
Constantly on the verge of tripping over absolutely nothing.
There’s something weirdly surreal about standing here talking to a fictional character.
“He looked at me like I offended him somehow,” she says quietly.
And there it is.
The insecurity.
The confusion.
Honestly, knowing the full context makes this scene way sadder than it used to be.
I lean casually against the neighboring desk.
“Nah, I don’t think it was you.” Bella raises an eyebrow.
“Really?” “Pretty sure Cullen was just trying not to throw up.” That catches her off guard.
“What?” “I mean, did you see him?” I say.
“Dude looked one bad cough away from death.” Bella laughs softly despite herself.
Small victory.
Still, uncertainty lingers in her expression.
“So you don’t think I smell bad or something?” For a second, I just stare at her.
It’s bizarre hearing an iconic line happen in real life.
But also a little painful because she sounds genuinely worried.
“No!” I say immediately.
“You smell normal.” I pause.
“…That sounded less creepy in my head.” Bella snorts.
“I just mean you smell like regular person stuff.
Shampoo.
Rain.
Human existence.” Fantastic recovery.
She’s trying not to laugh now, which honestly feels like an accomplishment.
“Thanks, Mike.” “No problem.” I shrug.
“Forks High has a strict anti-vampire-discrimination policy.” That finally breaks her composure completely.
Bella laughs again, louder this time, and some of the tension leaves her shoulders.
For a second, the scene almost feels normal.
Just two awkward teenagers talking after class.
Not a girl unknowingly sitting beside a starving vampire.
Not me accidentally interfering with one of the most important scenes in the timeline.
Bella swings her bag over her shoulder.
“See you later.” “Later.” She heads out into the hallway, disappearing into the sea of students beyond the door.
The classroom falls quiet.
Rain continues tapping softly against the windows.
And then the realization hits me.
Edward never looked back at Bella before leaving.
In the original story, that moment mattered.
Bella obsessed over it afterward.
Edward’s reaction pulled her attention toward him immediately.
But this time?
I interrupted it.
The timeline already changed.
A tiny change, maybe.
But stories are fragile things.
One small push in the wrong place can unravel everything afterward.
I sink back into my chair slowly.
Newton’s First Law.
An object remains in motion unless acted upon by an external force.
I guess that force is me now.
God, I hope I didn’t just make things worse.