Disclaimer (in reference to entire story): All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

Some things just never change.

I still remember how it all started.

By the time that you start high school, you don't usually remember much of your elementary school days. I always did though. I had too much to remember. Everyone knows that it's the things that really strike your nerves that you never forget. For me, those things are school days. The girls that I went to school with. I remember all of them – every remark made about my eyes, my hair, my clothes, my hobbies.

The first true instant was when I started fourth grade. I was nine years old and practically a baby. You know you're too young to be subjected to what I have been when you've yet to graduate into the 'Girl Scouts' and you're still a 'Brownie'. It was Brownies itself that started it all.

"Mommy, do I have to do Brownies?" I crinkled up my little nose as my mom walked me to our neighbors' house after school.

"You can quit later if you don't like it, honey. I just want you to try," she spoke softly, a smile on her face. "Don't worry about it – I know you'll love it. You'll make a lot of friends!"

Friends.

That was one of the many things that I wasn't good at when I was little. All the other kids thought I was weird. And whenever I ran into one of those innocent, not judgmental kids, they would not like me because they thought I was annoying. When you're little you're only allowed to have one best friend, and I couldn't even hold onto that. My mom had hoped that Brownies would be a tight group of accepting girls.

My mother was more wrong than I wanted her to be. Deep down I had hoped that she was right. That the girls would be diverse, and nice, and accept me for who I was. They did nothing even close. Instead, when I showed up, I went through what most people would call a shunning.

"Alright, girls, we have a new member here in our little group. I would like to introduce you all to Isabella Cullen." The group leader, I believed her name was Mrs. Stanley, brought me up front upon arrival.

"I like the name Bella." I whispered to her and she chuckled. Slowly, I turned to face the group of girls. Instead of them greeting me, or even smiling, they all gasped. Each one of them reacted in some way – and none of them looked happy with me.

"What's wrong with her face?" Mrs. Stanley had a daughter my age – Jessica. Jessica's golden eyes were wide with what looked like mock fear. At the time, all I saw was the fear in them. The instant separation between the girls and I.

"I have...hetero...hetero...chromiala," I told them and Mrs. Stanley chuckled.

"Heterochromia, honey."

"My eyes are different colors and I was born like this. I can't change it though." I scratched the back of my head as I tried to find the words. Nothing had clicked on the girls' faces. All of their perfect, stuck up, little faces. Not a single one of them had ever had a reason to feel left out. None of them had ever had a reason to understand how I felt then. How they were going to make me feel for the rest of my sad little life. "My name is Bella...and, um, I just moved here with my mommy and daddy."

"You still call her mommy?" At the time I didn't know her name, but later I discovered that her name was Lauren Mallory. She was the ring-leader of all of their games. With her pin-straight blonde hair and ice-blue eyes.

"That's her name." I responded, not knowing that I may as well have started a popularity contest then and there.

"Whatever." She shot a fake smile my way, and then went back to the coloring sheet she was working on. By that point, they all had become preoccupied with their sheets again. I bit my lip nervously, starting a life-long habit as I tried to decide who I wanted to sit by. Everyone seemed to close to Lauren and Jessica. I didn't want to sit with them because they were already mean to me.

"Well, have a seat," Mrs. Stanley said from behind me, because I still hadn't made up my mind.

I looked back at the girls. Jessica pointed at me again, and they all giggled. Every single one of them nodded their heads in laughter and then went back to what they were working on. Jessica and Lauren then went as far as to scoot their chairs over so that all of their backs were to me. They had put up the second real wall between us. They made me feel excluded through the smallest of tactics – things that nine-year-olds shouldn't understand.

I turned back to Mrs. Stanley, where she was smiling behind me. I began shaking my head at her and her brow furrowed.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"I don't wanna'...I wan't...can we call my mommy?"

"We haven't even started!" She exclaimed loudly, and all of the girls turned their heads and watched us.

"I wanna' go..." I hissed, not wanting the girls to hear everything that we were saying. "Please?"

"Fine. Just...go use the phone over there." The woman practically pouted as she pointed to a desk in the corner of the room. I clumsily ran that way, wanting nothing more than to hear my mommy talking to me again.

I quickly picked the phone off of the receiver and began dialing my mom's number. She, thankfully, picked up on the very first ring. I let out a true sigh of relief because I knew that she had promised to take me home if I wanted to leave, earlier.

"Mommy?" I whispered and heard a sigh.

"What's wrong, baby?"

"I wanna' leave."

"I thought we were going to try..." her words were slow, as if I hadn't understood her the first time that day.

"They..." I glanced back over, and at the girls in the corner, where they were giggling away. I sighed, and spoke in a much lower tone. "Mommy, they don't like me."

"That can't be right." She chuckled and I felt my face grow warmer than it had in front of the girls. "Honey, are you really ready to go home? Are you sure that you can't try harder?"

"Mommy! Please!" I whispered, my voice cracking that time. I heard her sigh in complete caving.

"Okay...I'm on my way, honey. Hang tight."

My mom showed up a couple hours later. She came in and took her time apologizing to Mrs. Stanley though. I stood behind her legs, refusing to watch the crazy girls for even one more second. They sure didn't mind staring at me. When my mom finally finished her social call, she lifted me up and onto her hip, and then carried me out the door.

As we made our way out, I looked at Lauren. She stuck her tongue out at me and I pursed my lips in frustration. I had hoped that moving would help me gain more friends. It merely introduced me to an even crueler crowd.

"Bella, honey, want to talk?" Mom asked me as she started her car and I buckled myself into the back.

"They didn't like me."

"I heard that much, but...what made you think that?" She finally asked and I looked out the window.

"They were staring at me like...like I was weird. And then they laughed at me, and said that I had a wrong face." I explained to her, wishing for just one second that she'd understand. That she could spend just one day with two different colored eyes. Instead, she lived a life with her pretty blue eyes – something that I'd only inherited one of. I got my ugly brown eye from my dad.

It wouldn't have been so hideous if it weren't next to the blue one. I sighed and ended up letting out a shuddering breath. My mom looked at me suddenly, her eyes much softer as she watched me this time. I wasn't sure what she saw, but her eyes didn't show happiness.

"Mom..."

"Why don't we just go out and get some ice-cream, baby? We can talk there." She smiled suddenly, but it never reached her eyes.

"Kay, mom."

Things didn't end that day. School started and the girls didn't talk to me at recess, unless they were telling me something that they heard about me. That I was a freak, demonic, and crazy. And they kept going until middle school. Things went from bad to just awful in a matter of a few years. Only the minor name-calling transformed into full blown rumors. Things that thirteen-year-olds shouldn't even know how to say. They were said and I was the main target.

"God, Bella, what, did you eat an entire cake this morning?" Lauren sneered loudly as I walked past her through the lunch-line.

"Lauren...I..." I began to defend myself, but the words disappeared before I could even come up with them.

"Fat ass." Jessica hissed sharply and followed Lauren right out the door.

That was around the time that I began eating in the classroom that I had before lunch. I was tired of not only having to hear from the kids in class, but wasting my lunch with them? That was just masochistic. Instead, I camped out in whatever class I had that day and ate in there. I still did that, right on through high school.

I had no social life. I used to consider my parents my friends, but then they began working more hours as I got older. Then they had my sister, and became even more preoccupied. I never held it against them – they loved each other, their work, Bree, and me. They just hadn't learned how to fairly divide their time. Instead of holding it against them – I spent my time focused on my academics and things similar to that.

I knew that I was different. I was abnormal and a bit of a freak compared to everyone that I grew up with. Starting high school changed my life in many ways. For a while it was for the worse, but at one point...things began to change for what could have been the better.

I thought so, at least.

Maybe, even though I didn't know how to change, and the people in Forks were incapable of it...maybe even that couldn't have stopped my life from changing.

A/N: Just a preface, a bit of an introduction to my first story! If you review, I'll mention you in my next chapter, in complete thanks for being so kind and for taking the time to share your opinion. I am seriously curious about where you want things to go from here.

- Ro