Preface

I have never given much thought to how I would die. I feel it is safe to assume that I never would have envisioned it being like this.

I stared into the eyes of the hunter, as he gazed at me. Not just at me, but into me.

I knew that if I had never moved to Forks, if I had never made that one seemingly insignificant choice, I would not be facing death now. But, no matter how terrified I was, I did not regret it. Did not regret one moment of it.

I had to believe that this was the way it was meant to be. I have loved, and been loved back. Which is more than most people can honestly claim.

Not even death can take that from me, now.

The hunter smiled at me in a friendly way, and walked slowly forward, ready to kill me.

~*~

Chapter 1

And So It Begins

Today is the day. Today I am moving away from my crazy mother. Renee is one of those eccentric people. If something catches her eye, she has to have it or do it. Be it a falling apart chair on the side of the road, or skydiving lessons. She is my best friend and I am leaving her.

Renee's husband, Phil, is a minor league baseball player, and she has been staying home with me instead of travelling with him. Feeling bad for causing them to spend so much time apart, I am moving to a tiny town in Washington state, to live with my father. Charlie isn't a bad guy, and I know it will be nice to not have to be the mature one for a while, but I am going to miss Renee. A lot.

So, here I am, piling the rest of my belongings into the back of Phil's station wagon. Preparing to leave sunny Phoenix, for the much greener, much more humid Forks, Washington.

Renee drove me to the airport with the windows down, letting me get one final chance to enjoy the dry heat. The sky was a beautiful blue, spotted with a handful of fluffy clouds that looked like cotton balls. I had spent a long time in my bedroom, deciding what to where today - dress for the warmth of Phoenix, or prepare for the chill of Forks. I had finally settled on my favorite t-shirt, it had a snarky comment across the chest, and my carry-on item was a sandy brown parka that had a red design floating across it.

Forks, Washington exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. I am fairly certain that it is the rainiest place in the country, and this gloomy place is where Renee escaped from with me when I was still a baby. I spent a month in this town every summer, until I was fourteen, and was finally able to put my foot down and demand Charlie vacation in California with me instead.

And now, I was exiling myself to Forks. I almost hated myself for it, too.

Renee tried to convince me to stay one last time, and yet again, I assured her - as best I could - that I wanted to do this. Mom is the exact image of me in 20 or so years, and I felt a sudden wave of panic as I realized that I really was leaving her. She has Phil now, to make sure the bills get paid, but part of me can never trust anyone to take care of her like I can.

She hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I walked away from her.

~*~

The plane ride to Washington is about four hours long. I spent it all, worrying about the car ride home with Charlie. Forks is such a small town that they have no airport of their own. The flight from Phoenix landed in Seattle, then I had to take another - much shorter - flight to Port Angeles, followed by an hour in the car. I stumbled off the plane and easily found Charlie, waiting in front of his police cruiser. Charlie is the chief of police in Forks.

"Hey Bells. How was the flight?" He gave me an awkward one armed hug.

Charlie was really decent about everything, he seemed excited to have me move in with him.

"It was good. Long." I smiled at him.

Charlie and I were very similar in the fact that we weren't really all that social. We can hold a conversation if we want to, but we're not very good at the small talk.

He helped me heave my few bags into the trunk of the cruiser, and we climbed in to head home. 'Home'. Is that what this place is for me now?

The drive from Port Angeles to Forks is about an hour. We filled it with a few small comments about the weather, the growth of my hair, nothing of importance. We pulled up to the house, and I saw a large truck sitting in front of it. I didn't know Charlie had a second car. Why did he drive the cruiser to get me, if something else was available? We climbed out of the car.

"Um, I know you were planning on buying yourself a car when you got here." He started, then paused. I glanced at him. "Well, uh, welcome home." He held out a small key chain to me, with just two keys on it.

"What?" I stared at him, confused.

"I got you this, as a welcome home gift. I hope you don't mind." His arm was still extended with the keys, which I carefully took.

"Thanks, but you didn't have to Dad. I saved up."

He shrugged, and moved to the trunk to grab my stuff. I didn't have much, so it only took one trip for both of us to carry everything up to my room. It was like stepping back in time. The only thing that had changed in my room, was that in the place of my crib, now sat a bed. And a computer. That was one of Renee's requests, a computer with Internet hooked up. She expected regular e-mails from me. Everything else in the room was the same though. Same wall paper, same rocking chair in the corner, same slightly yellowed lace curtains on the window. It was, oddly, both comforting and a little creepy.

One great thing about Charlie, is that he doesn't hover. After setting my stuff on the bed, he shuffled his feet a little, as if unsure of what to say to me, then retreated. I sat on the bed and looked around me. A small voice in my head asked if I had made a mistake in coming here. I pushed that aside and started unpacking.

~*~

When I was done putting my things away, I took a little tour of the house. Since I was upstairs already, I started there. There was one small hallway up here. Across the hall from my room was the one and only bathroom, and down the hall was Charlie's room. After setting my tooth and hair brushes in the bathroom, I made my way downstairs. The house was pretty small, so it did not take long to see it all. The stairs ended in front of the front door, with the living room connected to it. There was a single couch - which Charlie now occupied, watching baseball - a worn in chair, a fireplace and a television set.

"I ordered a pizza. Figured I'd give you your first night here off of kitchen duty." Charlie grunted, not moving from his spot.

I nodded, then moved to the kitchen. It was all still the same. Yellow cabinets Renee had painted years ago to 'bring in a little sunshine.' She hated Forks and its constant overcast skies. The table was surrounded by mismatched chairs, and I sat in one. Unsure of what to do now. My tour was over.

When the pizza came, Charlie and I dug in. Then, I moved back to my new/old room. I pulled out my copy of Wuthering Heights. It was battered and bruised, and my most prized possession. I read until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

~*~

Breakfast with Charlie was... quiet. He read the newspaper while he ate, and I didn't mind the silence. Renee was always big on talking during meals. 'Family Bonding' or something like that. I suppose if this weren't my first full day in Forks, Charlie might be the same way.

After finishing his food, Charlie clomped his way out the front door, leaving me to find my way to school alone. I was happy to not have to ride in the cruiser for my first day at school. I made my way out to my new truck and it came to life with a loud, angry sounding growl.

I had decided to pull out one of my other sarcastic t-shirts again; they are my comfort clothes. Sarcasm is my default, it is my way of getting through awkward situations, and I am fairly certain today is going to be full of those.

It wasn't hard to find the school, right off the highway. The only thing that made me even realize it was a school was the large sign in front of it that held its name. Forks High School. It wasn't like the schools I was used to back in Phoenix. It wasn't one large building, instead, it was several smaller buildings built closely together. It almost looked like just another part of the neighborhood. I parked in front of what appeared to be the administration building and climbed out of the truck.

Inside of the building was brightly lit. There was a small waiting area with a handful of chairs, a few notices and awards on the walls, and a large clock ticking the time away. There was a large, red-haired woman sitting at the front desk, shifting through some paperwork. I stopped in front of her and waited for her to look up.

"Hi, uh, I am Isabella Swan." I watched the recognition flash in her eyes. Great, Charlie has talked about me.

She pulled out my schedule, a paper for all of my teachers to sign and a school map. After quickly going over everything with her, I was able to make my escape. By the time I made it back out to my truck, other students were milling around. In Phoenix, we lived in a somewhat rich neighborhood. It was pretty commonplace to see fancy cars in the parking lot at school. Luckily, here in Forks, my truck fit in just fine. Well, except for the one shiny Volvo.

I turned off the truck when I found a free spot, and took out my map. I wanted to get it memorized so I wouldn't be that new kid who walked around the first week with the school map infront of their face. I threw it and my course schedule in the front pocket of my nearly empty backpack, and climbed out of the truck.

I kept the hood of my jacket up securely around my head as I walked through the crowds of teenagers. It was easy to spot the building my first period was in, with the large three painted on a square in the top corner of it. I kept my pace even, trying not to draw any attention to myself as I moved towards it.

My first period was English, my favorite subject. At least I got to start each day on a good note. Unfortunately, though, all of the things on the list of reading material for the semester, I had already read. I wondered idly if I would be able to convince Renee to send me my folder of old essays. I sighed, realizing she would probably consider that cheating.

When class ended, a boy who hadn't quite reached his full potential - a bit gangly, some skin problems, and slightly greasy black hair - leaned over from the seat next to me.

"Hi. You're Isabella Swan, right?" He asked.

"Bella." I instantly corrected him. Speaking apparently was the wrong response, because everyone nearby suddenly pivoted in their seats to look at me.

"Where's your next class?"

I quickly pulled out my schedule to double check. "Uh, Government, in building six. With Jefferson."

Everyone was still watching me... kind of creepy.

"I'm Eric. I am headed over to building four, I could show you the way." He smiled, looking hopeful.

He seemed like the overly helpful kind of person. I gave him a careful smile in return and mumbled a thanks.

He led the way outside, into the rain. Either I am getting paranoid, or there were several people who were walking a little too closely behind us.

Eric made some chit chat, which I tried to tune out, giving minimal responses. I threw in a sarcastic remark, and it seemed lost on him. Awesome.

He was sure to walk me right up to the door of the building, even though, like building three, it was marked with a clear six. He wished me luck, hoping we had more classes together before turning and walking away.

The rest of the morning passed pretty much the same way. I was starting to recognize some faces, and each class there was at least one person who was brave enough to introduce themselves to the new girl. At least I never needed the map. One girl sat next to me in both Trigonometry and Spanish, and she walked with me to lunch. She was another one of those people that just kept talking and talking, so I was able to get by with just nodding and laughing occasionally.

I followed her to a table full of people, and she introduced them each. I forgot their names immediately, not really caring. Eric was across the room, and he made sure to send me a big wave and smile.

I spent my lunch hour people watching. The place was clearly divided, like most high schools. There were drama kids, music geeks(their tables were next to each other and the students seemed interchangeable), jocks, popular kids, outcasts. Each group had their own designated tables. Except two of them. One table - the one I was at - seemed to be full of students who didn't fit into any one clique, but associated with everyone. And the other table, was filled with the most beautiful people I had ever seen. They were in the middle of the cafeteria, able to communicate with anyone at any given time. I watched them the most. There were three guys and two girls. All pale, and all looked like they could be models.

The girl's seemed to be complete opposites. One was tall, curvy and blond. The other was tiny, with black spiky hair. Everything about her was tiny, and she was constantly moving. Always playing with her hair, or moving things, like she just could not control all of the energy she had.

Then, there were the boys. I really feel like I should say men. One was huge. And, I mean, HUGE. Even sitting down he looked like he was around six feet tall. And he was covered in muscles. He had dark curly hair, and a smile that made him look so innocent. The next was standing behind the tiny girl. He was easily over six feet, but leaner than the first. He had long blond hair, and while you could see his muscles, they weren't as obvious as the other guy. Lastly, there was obviously the youngest. He was a bit lanky, not so muscular, and had gorgeous, bronze, untidy hair. I wanted to run my hands through it.

They were all talking and laughing with each other, and occasionally with a table nearby. They looked like a fun group. Suddenly, the tiny girl stood up. I watched as she walked gracefully towards our table. Her eyes were trained on me. I felt the familiar blush creep into my cheeks, embarassed I had been caught staring. At the last second, her eyes flitted to look at the girl next to me. Whom I still could not remember her name.

"Hey Jess." She said in a soprano voice.

"Ali! Have you met Bella yet?" The girl - Jess - I walked to lunch with asked.

"No, I have not. Hi Bella. It's so nice to meet you." Ali gave me a small wave and a smile.

"Hi." I gave her a small smile in response.

"I love your shirt." She said, barely glancing at it.

I looked down, trying to remember which shirt I had put on this morning. It was a little tight, and had writing going down the middle, like one of those eye charts doctors use to check your vision. Only, instead of random letters, this one said "If you can read this you have no idea that I am laughing at you loser!" I blushed, and then tuned them out as they gossiped. My eyes kept darting back to the beautiful boy with the bronze hair. At one point, he was mid-laugh and his eyes turned to me suddenly. I watched as his laughter died and he looked confused. I looked away then, blushing a deep red.

When Ali left, I leaned in towards Jess.

"Hey, who are they?" I gave a pointed look to the table Ali walked back to.

"Oh, that is the Cullen's and Hale's. Alice Cullen is who was just over here. She is a bit weird, but really sweet. She is dating Jasper Hale, that's the tall blond one who looks like he is in pain a lot. The big guy, that is Emmett Cullen. He is dating the blond goddess, Rosalie Hale. She and Jasper are twins. The last one is Edward Cullen. He seems to be too good for anyone here, though, so don't even think about going after him." She sounded a little bitter, and I raised an eyebrow at her. She just shook her head and continued. "They are all adopted by Dr. Cullen and his wife. It is kind of weird that they all live together and are dating, but whatever." She shrugged.

When the bell rang, everyone stood to go to their classes. One of the other girl's at the table - she considerately reminded me that her name was Angela - had Biology with me after lunch, so she walked with me. She seemed a bit shy, too, so the walk was silent.

I was happy to see that the plain black topped desks I had had back in Phoenix were the same ones used here. Angela quickly left my side to take her spot at one of the desks. I realized then, that all the desks had two occupants. All except one. Edward Cullen sat at that table by himself. I noticed his unusual bronze colored hair first.

I had to walk through the classroom in order to get to the teachers desk. Keeping an eye on Edward as I moved, I noted that he was animatedly talking to a couple other students. Until I passed. As I passed, he suddenly stopped talking. He stared at me again, and I felt a pang of fear rush through me. He looked angry for some reason. I blushed deeply, again, and stumbled over a book in the walkway. This caused a couple girls to giggle.

The teacher gave me a text book, and sent me back to the only open seat. I kept my eyes down as I made my way back to the table, and sat quickly. I chanced another glance at him, and saw that his eyes were coal black as he glared at me. I noticed his posture - he was leaning away from me, sitting as far away from me as possible at the table. I wondered briefly if I smelled. I took a quick sniff of my hair, and could only smell the strawberry shampoo that I love. It seemed like an innocent enough scent, but maybe he hates strawberries. I shook my hair over my shoulder to create a curtain between us to hide behind, and tried to pay attention to the teacher.

The world was against me, though, because the lecture was about something I had already studied. I took noted, and tried to force myself to not look at Edward. I kept control for most of the period, but every now and then, my eyes would shift on their own, and I would look through my hair at him. He never relaxed, his back was rigid and his hands balled into fists. He made sure he was as far away from me as the desktop allowed. The sleeves of his white shirt were pushed up, and it showed the muscles in his arms. I was surprised to see just how strong he looked up close, still not nearly as beefy as his oldest brother, but he could hold his own in a fight.

The class seemed to be never ending, and it made me wonder if it was simply because the day was almost over, or due to the fact that I was waiting for Edward to relax. The stiffness of his body made it look like he wasn't even breathing. Is this how he always is? It made me rethink the bitterness I had thought I heard in Jess's voice at lunch. I kept telling myself that he couldn't be upset with me for any reason; he didn't know me at all.

I risked a peek at him again, and instantly regretted it as the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. His black eyes were staring at me as though I were the most disgusting piece of trash he had ever seen. I flinched away from him, and inched my seat towards the other end of the table quickly.

The bell rang suddenly, and before I could even blink, Edward Cullen was out of his seat and halfway across the room. I noted how much taller he was than I had originally thought, and then he was gone, before anyone else had stood up.

I was frozen in my seat, watching the doorway where he had been a split second ago. As they usually did when I was angry, my eyes pricked with tears. It was humiliating, but I couldn't help it. How could he hate me without knowing me? There was no mistaking the look on his face when he had looked at me.

I threw my books into my shoulder bag with enough force to send it flying to the ground. I sighed and before I could reach for it, another hand was picking it up.

"Aren't you Isabella Swan?" Asked the male voice attached to my bag.

I looked up to his face, and saw a cute, baby-faced boy. His hair was gelled heavily, but carefully into neat spikes, and he smiled at me. It was a relief to not see the anger on his face.

"Just Bella." I corrected, reaching out to take my things from him with a smile. "Thanks."

"I'm Mike."

"Hi, Mike."

"Need any help finding your next class?"

I informed him that I had gym next, and could probably find it on my own, but he had seemed thrilled as he responded with a "That's my next class, too!" I'm not sure why, though, because in a school this small, it can't be that big of a coincidence.

We walked to class together, and it was easy for me again. Like with Jess, Mike was a talker. He'd moved here from California when he was ten, so he knew all-too-well how I felt about leaving the sun. I found out he was in my English class, too, and he was easily the nicest person I had met today.

But as we were entering the gym, he asked a question that made my stop walking.

"So, did you stab Edward Cullen under the table or something? He is never like that!"

He laughed a little as I cringed. I decided to try and play dumb, not wanting to think about the fact that that meant that Edward didn't usually act that way.

"Was that who I was sitting next to in Bio? I never even talked to him." I attempted to shrug, as if it didn't matter.

"He looked like he was in pain or something." Mike paused before going into the changing room. "If I had been lucky enough to sit next to you, I would have talked to you."

I smiled at him before retreating into the girls' locker room. Mike was nice, but, I was still upset about Edward's obvious dislike of me.

Luckily, I didn't have to dress for class today. Back in Phoenix, gym was only needed for two years, but here, it was forced upon the unwilling students all four years. Making Forks my own personal hell.

I felt a little sick as I watched the class playing volleyball. It brought back flashes of all the injuries I had sustained, and caused, before.

When the day finally ended, I walked back to my truck and drove around to the office again. The wind was blowing hard, and it was colder than it had been this morning, so I wrapped my arms around myself.

I froze when I stepped into the office. Edward Cullen stood at the desk ahead of me. I instantly recognized his amazing, bronze hair. He tensed for a second when the door first opened, but then relaxed and continued his conversation with the receptionist. I stood back against the wall, and waited my turn.

I quickly picked up the topic of his conversation, as his smooth voice floated back towards me. He was trying to change out of Biology.

My mind went blank as I tried to comprehend this. There had to be another reason; he could not be trying to change his schedule just to get away from me! It was impossible that he could have taken such a strong disliking for someone who was a total stranger to him.

The door opened again, and the freezing wind rushed inside with the girl who quickly dropped a paper in a basket, then she was gone again. A shiver ran up my spine, both from the chill of the wind, and the look as Edward froze again, then turned slowly to glare at me with hate-filled eyes. The hairs on my arms raised suddenly, and the fear his gaze had caused, raced through me.

He quickly ended his conversation, and disappeared out the door.

I bit my lip to stop the welling of tears in my eyes as I stepped forward to hand over the slip of paper.

"How did your first day go?" The receptionist asked, looking genuinely interested.

I nodded and gave her the best smile I could muster, but she didn't look convinced. When I got back to my truck, I climbed in and just stared out the windshield. I could see a few people standing around, talking and laughing. Before long, the cold was too much to handle, so I turned the key in the ignition. The truck roared to life, and I backed out of my parking space. As I headed back to Charlie's house, I continued to fight the tears that were trying to take over.

A/N: This story is being written chapter by chapter, page by page alongside Twilight. Obviously, since there is a bit of OOCness, I will have to change up how some things happen. We will see how these things work out as I come to them. It will probably take a while between chapters - since I basically read a paragraph, then write one - so, don't hate me if you have to wait! Also, this story will only continue if I keep getting reviews, because I am more worried about my other stories. So, review! Thanks!

~AP