Okay, I'm hoping I don't sound mean when I say that some fan-fictions really get me really mad. So I figured I should try doing one of my own. See how it turned out. It's my first fan-fiction, so I'm hoping you'll bear with me? Please? Ok, on with the story.

P.S. Sorry if the topic in the beginning, you know, hurts anybody.

Bella's POV

"Hey, Alice. It's been a while since you called," I said, taking the groceries out of the brown paper bag on the counter.

She started talking on and on and I smiled as I only caught things like, "Paris," and "beautiful clothing." Same old Alice. It's too bad …

I shook my head and internally scolded myself. I shouldn't think about him now. That would bring on tears, and soon after, Alice would be asking me what was wrong. And what was I supposed to say to that? I'm sorry I didn't reach your brother in time, and I feel terrible about being engaged with a stupid, angry mutt who got drunk with his buddies almost daily? Of course not.

I realized she was asking me about something. "Beeeeeeella?" I replied almost groggily, "Huh?" She sighed, "I was asking if you would want me to send you some new clothes. You could text me an address, since it doesn't seem I'm going to see anything with that mongrel around." She sounded pretty irritated by the end of it, and I couldn't help but laugh. "Umm, I think I'll get back to you on the whole new clothes thing. I don't think I'll need it anytime soon."

"Okay, Bella, if you say so. Anyways, I'll try to call soon, but I'll be out hunting with Jasper for a little while." I gave her my goodbye and walked into the living room of my little apartment, and saw that Jacob already sat on the couch, looking angry. Oh, this couldn't be good.

"I thought you said you'd stop talking to those stupid bloodsuckers," he said, then taking a swig from his beer. I looked at him, disgusted. I personally didn't like his taste of alcohol. "You thought wrong. I never said that I would stop speaking to Alice, or Jasper, or Esme, or Emmett, or Carlisle, or even Rosalie," I sneered, emphasizing all of their names just to piss him off.

"Well I don't like it. Stop." He said, and I immediately cussed at myself for the cold and almost… evil look in his eyes. Suddenly, though, I got a boost of confidence and jumped at the chance to talk back to him. My mind told me to stop, but I still put in a, "Stop thinking you can control me! You can't even control yourself half the time! You think you can just escape for most of the day, and then come right back home and treat me like I'm some kind of burden in your life! No one's forcing you to stay!"

He looked at me and gave me a smile that made me shudder. "You're right about a couple of things there, and you should've listened to yourself more carefully. I can't control myself-which is why you should have kept your mouth shut."

By now, he was standing right in front of me, and then all of a sudden, he put his hand up, and slapped me. Now Jacob and I had gotten into a couple of arguments, but he had never actually hit me. The worst thing was when he accidentally turned into a wolf while next to me, and I had the same marks Emily had, except on my right arm. I was absolutely terrified as he stalked towards me, like a hunter hunting his prey. Only, his drunken self didn't make it seem as graceful as a vampire.

Scared of what else he was capable of doing to me, I caught him with the element of surprise and threw the closest thing, a lamp, towards him. He stumbled back, not in pain, but in shock, and I ran back towards my bedroom. I locked myself in and I heard him reach for another beer from the fridge.

I rolled my eyes and hastily made my way towards my closet, where I pulled out a black duffel bag that Alice had given me a while back. I packed a couple of books, some essentials (underwear, bras etc.), deodorant, and was contemplating how much of my closet I should take when I thought of Alice. Of course, she could send me some clothes to… wherever I was going! So, grabbing my pile of money from my secret hiding spot (I won't tell you where because then it wouldn't be a secret.) I made sure that I had enough to the point where I wouldn't need to use my credit cards at all. And then, hopefully, Alice would keep me covered. Which, who am I kidding, she would never object to.

Deciding I could do without my bathroom essentials until I went into a gasoline station, I made my way out of the window that I'm sure Jacob would ever think of me escaping from.

Until now, that is.

…...

…...

…...

Three Days Later:

I had driven for hours and hours, barely stopping at all. I didn't even know where I was going. I eventually found myself passing a sign that said Welcome to Mystic Falls, Virginia.

I had never heard of It before. So it must be a small town. I immediately pictured Gilmore Girls, and the idea of a Luke's diner hiding somewhere in this town. Sadly, though, my mind was extremely unimaginative, so all it served for was making me hungry. I stopped at this place called Mystic Grill. It seemed it was where people came to hang out. I jumped out of the car Jake had gotten me when my truck broke down, before his drinking days, and made my way inside.

As I entered, it was like the town all decided to turn at that moment to stare at me, like no new people had ever come to town before. This didn't seem too hard to believe, yet with their perfectly choreographed looks of expectancy, I didn't think that was true. Their looks seemed to say, "We're waiting for you to trip up and make us hate you."

Almost as quickly though, they started to resume their positions and they went back to what they were doing. I, with my awesome, always-be-on-the-lookout-because-you're-a-danger-magnet-senses, turned in the direction of a group of people who were still staring, sizing me up, almost.

I walked over to the pool table that they were at and got the strange urge to introduce myself. "Hi, my name is Isabella. I'm new to town."

Then a girl with brown hair, sort of like mine, except straight, walked up to me and smiled. "Hi, I'm Elena. I was wondering who you were. I haven't seen you around."

I smiled slightly, very slightly. "Well, I would hope we haven't met before. Unless, you've been on the other side of the country some time ago?"

The entire group looked shocked, like they couldn't believe anyone had opened up to something like this so quickly.

"Well, then, why are you here? On the other side of the country, I mean," asked a girl with wavy blonde hair.

"Umm… I was just sick of being at…" I was going to say home, but the apartment that I had with Jacob was just a … living residence. It was not a home.

They looked at me expectantly. "I was just sick of being at…the place…I was in." Oh dear God, I sounded pathetic. The place I was in. Could you try to sound any more obvious, Swan?

It didn't knock them down, though. They just nodded, like it was nothing. Oh, if they new what I had to go through…

"So, "I said, breaking the silence. "Do I get to know your names?"

The blonde spoke up again, "Well, my name is Caroline, Caroline Forbes. My mother is the sheriff here." I smiled and shook her hand.

A guy with *gulp* bronze hair stood up and also shook my hand, with a thoughtful look on his face. It looked like he did that face a lot. "Nice to meet you. I'm Stefan. I'm Elena's boyfriend, and his brother, "he said, pointing to a guy with really dark hair- who was just a little bit more handsome than his brother, too.

He barely said anything. All I heard him say was, "Damon's my name. Just don't get on my bad side, and you should be fine in this town," and then he walked out of Mystic Grill. Weird. On the other hand though, there had been weirder.

A short girl with brown hair came up to me and smiled. "Hi, I'm Bonnie. If you'll believe it, I'm actually the one with the most normal life here. That isn't much reassurance, though." I laughed with her before I heard a guy come forward.

"No, that would be me. Hey, I'm Jeremy," he also shook my hand. They seemed nice enough.

Jeremy took his seat again. "Now it's time to get back to studying, "he sighed, lowering his head. I looked at him quizzically. "It's a Friday!" "And that's how important this test is!" he replied.

I suddenly came to a conclusion. Oh no, I had forgotten about school.

I really hoped I wouldn't have to go through that again. But, I hadn't graduated. Sigh. I would sign up for the local school tomorrow.

"Hey, umm… speaking of that. Could one of you give me the directions to the high school? I need to sign up." I said, not bothering to meet their eyes.

Caroline then spoke up, "Yea, sure. Once you get to school, though, you stay away from Matt. He's mine, "she said with her eyes narrowed. I just smiled. No way was I going for anybody anytime soon.

"Don't worry. I won't try anything." She seemed to relax and I took that as a good sign.

I noticed Stefan and Elena arguing quietly from the corner of my eye. I had just turned away, though, when Elena asked, "Bella? Is it okay if I call you Bella?" I nodded, "It's all okay as long as you don't call me Bells. It brings back some bad memories." *cough* Jacob *cought* She nodded and then proceeded to ask me if I had a place to stay. I came to the realization that I didn't, and she offered that I could stay at her house. I smiled and said my thanks. I know it's stupid to go home with a stranger, but anything was better than going back to Jacob or sleeping in my car.

The rest of the night, I got to know these people more and more, and I found myself trusting them, almost as much as I trusted the Cullen's. Maybe I did the right thing by coming here.

The Next Day:

I woke up to see that Elena was already gone. I showered, using the guest towel she and Jenna gave me when I got here. Jenna seemed really nice, and quickly agreed on letting me stay.

After I got registered at the school, I wandered town, then ended up meeting the gang back at Mystic Grill. It was Saturday, and yet again, I found Jeremy studying.

I sat down next to him, "Oh my gosh! To think that I just signed up voluntarily for that!" I said, pointing to his textbook.

He chuckled. "That's life, my friend."

"Is it still a pain in the ass, like I remember it being?" I asked. "Of course it is." He said. I had forgotten about that.

Not to mention, I had forgotten Charlie. I suddenly panicked. He was probably worried sick, and who knows what Jake must have told him. He probably had the entire state of Washington looking for his Bella.

I groaned and everyone, even Mr. Study A Lot, looked at me. I noticed that the gang, including Damon, had gotten here already. At the moment, I didn't really care. They watched me quickly pull out my phone and I dialed the one number I knew I could always count on.

"Alice? Can you please just tell me if Charlie's going to be alright?" I asked. "Bella? What do you mean by that? Bella, please, I haven't gotten a read on you in days," Alice stated, clearly distraught at my tone of voice and her lack of visions.

I still wanted to keep quiet about my past around everyone, no matter how safe I felt here, so I just said, "I'm not going back, Alice. I got sick of it."

"Oh, Bella!" I heard her squeal. "What happened? What did that mutt do? Did he hurt you? I swear I will-" I cut her off. "Alice, Alice, Alice! Don't worry. I'm fine. But I need to know that Charlie will be, too." "Okay, Bella." She stayed silent a few moments and I heard her say, "He'll be fine and understanding if you were to give him a call."

I let out a sigh I hadn't known I had been holding, and opened the eyes that I didn't realize were shut closed in anticipation.

My friends stared at me, probably waiting for an explanation.

"Umm… Alice…" she cut me off then and said, "No worries, you've already had enough conversation for me to track your call." And then she hung up. Great. This was just great.

"Sorry about that," I told them. "I left some loose ends back at," gulp, "home."

They nodded, but looked like they were worried for a second. I was touched but we all shook it off. We had played some games of pool (I won twice. YAY!), and started to eat...

When all of the sudden…

The pixie walked in with her mate.

So… there it is. How was I? You know? For my first fan-fiction?… which is kinda cliché but… still.

Please REVIEW!

Sending you the Best of Smiley faces for actually sticking to my story - :D

-Melissa 3