There's an author's note at the bottom; thanks. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight series. I wish. Psh. Stephenie is one lucky chick.

Chapter One

My first day at Forks High, I thought. No biggie. No reason to panic, I thought to prevent myself from freaking out. It wasn't working. I was walking up to the main office with an aged, frail-looking lady sitting at the desk when a kid bumped into me exiting the small office.

"Oof! Oh, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going," he said with an apologetic smile. He had a cute, baby-face with light blue eyes.

"Nah, it's fine," I smiled back.

"So you must be new here. I mean, I haven't seen you around before. You're Isabella Swan right?"

"Yeah, call me Bella."

"Okay, hey, Bella, I'm Mike," he smiled extending his hand and shaking mine, "I should go, though, I don't want to be late. Maybe I'll see you around?"

"Sure, nice to run into you Mike," I laughed. He chuckled back.

"See yah, Bella," he waved back, walking backwards. I giggled when he ran into a brick pole, and he blushed and smiled awkwardly. I was surprised at his action; none of the guys in Phoenix ever paid attention to me.

I turned and entered the office. The lady at the desk looked up at the sound of me opening me, and smiled up at me. People here were nice. I could live with this.

"Hi, I'm Isabella Swan, a new student here."

"Ah, yes. Here's your schedule; Swan, Isabella, was it? Yes. Here's a map, dear," she continued talking, highlighting the best routes between the buildings to get to class.

"Thank you," I smiled.

It had started raining during that brief chat, so I pulled up the hood of my parka and walked to first period. I looked to my schedule and saw:

Swan, Isabella. Junior (Grade 11): Forks High School Student ID: 35294
Locker #: 345 Locker Combination: 21-31-15First period: English, Mrs. Stanton
Building 2.

Building 2 was like the other buildings with a big 2 painted in black. It was also smack between buildings 1 and 3; obviously. I entered the class with a few other students in front and behind me and followed their lead when they hung up their coats. The teacher wasn't there yet, so I just stood awkwardly by the door and the desk, trying to ignore the stares and the whispers. I saw Mike come in and he waved, so I waved back and smiled.

The teacher finally came in, Starbucks coffee in hand, and looked at me.

"Ah, yes. A new student; nice to meet you…" she trailed off, leaving me to answer.

"Bella, Bella Swan," I murmured.

"Are you Chief Swan's daughter?" I nodded.

"He's a good man. Tell him Elizabeth says 'hello' for me, would you? Anyway, here's the reading list, I expect you've read some of these books at least, and here's your textbook…," she continued talking, and I tried to pay attention. When she finally allowed me to take a seat, I sat between Mike and this other boy with sandy brown hair and brown eyes. Both of them were looking at me. I looked down at the reading list: really simple, and yeah, I didn't read 'some' of them: I read all of them; Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Romeo & Juliet and other Shakespeare, Ethan Frome, and other classics.

This year would be a breeze.

I continued to pretend to be interested in the list and somewhat of the lecture Mrs. Stanton, or Elizabeth, was talking about. Wuthering Heights was one of my favorite books, so I didn't like to hear other people criticizing it, so I just ignored the rest of the lesson. Before I knew it, the bell rang, and I was soon met by Mike, my books in hand, and the other sandy-haired boy, my coat in hand.

"Hi, I'm Andy," he extended his hand to me. I took it and shook it, though he squeezed a little too hard, as if he were flexing his muscles.

"Bella," I replied.

"So what's your next class? Maybe we have it together." He sounded hopeful as he handed me my coat.

"Uhm, Algebra, McKinley," I said quickly checking my schedule.

He sighed and Mike said something along the lines of dang it man. I just laughed and said, "See you two around then."

Building 6 was a little ways away from 2, and the teacher was nice enough not to make me introduce myself. That was a bonus, as I would already not like him enough for the subject he teaches.

At the end of the period, a shy girl named Angela came up and asked me how I was and what my next class was.

"Spanish," I told her. She had it too, and I was glad, we walked together. I was sure we could be friends.

The rest of the day went in similar order, a couple of brave souls coming up to talk to the 'new girl'. I met Jessica, a short, bubbly brunette girl and Justin, a kid with a skater hair cut and baggy jeans. At lunch I looked over the lunch room for someone I already met, and saw Mike Newton waving me over. Angela came over to me and asked if I wanted to sit with her.

"Sure, but do you mind if we sit with Mike?" I asked.

"Of course," was her simple reply; I knew I liked her.

I looked around the table and recognized a few faces; Justin, Andy, Aaron (I think) from Global, and Ben from Study Hall.

"Hey Bella! How's your day been so far?" Mike asked eagerly.

"Great, thanks for letting us sit here, guys." Ben looked happy to see Angela sitting with me. I scanned over the lunch room and this time, I found a secluded table with 5 outrageously gorgeous people. I didn't pay them much attention; they looked like if they wanted to be popular, they would be.

After lunch, I went to Biology with Mike, who happened to be in that class. When we walked in the door, Mike whispered to me, "sorry, I would offer to be your lab partner, but we get assigned one."

"It's okay," I whispered back. As I walked up one of the aisles, I saw that only one lab table had an empty seat, and it was by one of the ridiculously gorgeous kids. I pretended not to notice.

"Hi, I'm Bella Swan," I told the balding teacher, Mr. Banner.

"Ah, yes. You're seat is by Mr. Cullen, he will be your lab partner."

So I walked up to the desk and saw the kid looking at me with a strange look in his eye, like I didn't live up to some expectation he held.

I sat down and flipped open my notebook to take notes, fanning my face. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Cullen stiffen, a hard look on his face. He glared at me with a murderous look in his eye and I immediately shrunk back into my seat.

Did I do something to offend him?

In this story, Mike Newton isn't that vile kid in Twilight. Instead, he's a typical teenage guy, with a few good exceptions, of course. This is just an idea that I thought over, a side-project, if you will. You may have noticed that Bella isn't quite as shy or clumsy. Yeah, I took that out, you'll see how this fits into the story later on. Anyway, let me know what you think so far, and PM me if you want a sneak at the next chapter. :)

Oh, and I need a good name too! Have any ideas? :D