Disclaimer: Twilight and all likeness shown in this story is the property of Stephenie Meyer. I don't own anything.


First Meeting.

She always knew she was different. Not in the physical sense, as she stood at 5`2"; or even the mental because she was sane as the next person.

Sleep evaded Astoria as she continued to lay in bed.

She was different because she felt like something was missing, something vital, and she often felt like she would never fit in until she found the missing piece.

Astoria was gifted in her family. A stern Father who came from a wealthy family and a loving American Mother who stayed at home. Astoria was also a student at a prestigious all-girls school in the middle of Paris, France.

Never in her wildiest fantasy did she imagine it crashing all around her.

"STOP!"

Jumping out of bed, Astoria stumbled as she ran towards the screams of her distraught mother.

"Claude, please," she heard her mother beg.

Banging open the door, she rushed through as she yelled, "Mumma?"

Seeing her motherweeping on her bedroom floor, Astoria fell down beside her mother, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her close."Jesus, Josie, why are you acting like this? You must have seen this coming. We haven`t been together in years. I want a divorce, Josie." Claude says harshly

Astoria looked at her father in shock. "Papa? I don`t understnad." She had no idea her parents were so unhappy.

Claude looked at his only daughter with grim sadness, "I know this is coming as a shock, but this is for the best. I`ve been seeing another woman and we are wanting to start a family-"

Mother interupted him, "Really, Claude. We don`t wish to hear about your whore."

Astoria was dumbfounded. She couldn`t understand her parents` lack of emotion towards each other as they shattered the only life she knew.

"Please, Claude, reconsider for your daughters sake," her mother begged.

"I`m sorry, Josie. This wasn`t how I planned to tell you or Astoria, but I can`t change it." He sunded sincere as he collapsed on the bed, "Analise gave me an ultimatum, and I choose her."

Tears fell down Astoria`s porcelain face; except, she wasn`t sad or hurt at her father`s words. Only the pain that he was causing her mother.

Holding her mother, she asked, "What are we to do?" She knew she would follow her mother where ever she wished to go.

Josie steels herself and leaves her daughter`s warm embrace, she stood, "I want half of everything, we own Claude," she demanded, "We`ll go back to my home in America, and you`ll never hear from us again."

Nodding, Claude informed them, "The lawyers are already drafting the divorce papers. I also plan to sell the house, so whenever that happens I`ll forward you your half."

Astoria stood beside her mother, giving her what support she could.

"One more thing, Josie. I would like for you both to change your last name to your maiden name; we would like a fresh start."

'Sure, kick us while we`re down,' Astoria thought angrily.

"You`re a bastard, I`m glad that I no longer call myself your daughter. I hope you`re happy with your whore." Astoria screamed.

Her mother snapped, "Watch your langauge yound lady!"

"i hope you`re happy Claude, losing your only child, and I pray that Astoria never forgives you and that one day you wake up and realize what you`re done." Josie says as she digs her claws into him.

Josie takes her daughter`s hand and leads her away, "Come on sweetie, let`s stay in your room and tomorrow we`ll start planning our future."

Together the laid on Astoria`s bed as she listen to her mother crying herself to sleep. Astoria prays that America will be the saving grace her mother need to rebuild her life, she also wonders if she`d ever find her missing piece of her heart.


After and agonzing five weeks of lawyer visits and packing their life away, Astoria and her mother were finally ready to move across the ocean to the United States of America.

Astoria was glad to be leaving after the emotional last few days. She bid goodbye to her friends, only to realize that they weren`t really friends. She may have been surrounded by people all the time but she wasn`t really apart of their lives, and it became clear that they weren`t about to start missing her.

It hit her that maybe she was unlovable; if her father could stop loving her and the friends she`s had for fifteen years could so easily forget about her, then maybe she wasn`t worthy enough to be loved.

Standing on the threshold of the Airport, it really hit Astoria that she was leaving her beloved France, as tears started leaking down her face.

Josie stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her crying daughter. "Oh sweetie, I promiseit`ll get easier, once we`re settled and you`re in school, you`ll forget all about here."

Pretending to be comforted by her mother, she wiped her tears dry, shouldred her bag, and stepped into the Airport.

Before she knew it, they were boarding their plane for an eight hour flight from Paris, France to Astoria, Oregon in America.


Slumping against the car door, as her mother sang extremely off-key aling with the radio, Astoria felt glad to have her mother, who was still able to be happy and make her daughter smile.

"We`re nearly there, wait till you see the house, honey. It`s beautiful. I just know you`ll love it." Her mother beamed

Groaning tiredly, Astoria closed her eyes and drifted off.

Twenty odd minutes later she was being shaken, "Wake up, Sweetie."

She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a beautiful, tow storey colonial house, with a wrap around porch and a small private balcony that looked attached to a bedroom.

"Wow, mum, this is gorgeous," she gasped.

While the house could use some general maintance, it still looked beautiful.

Exiting the car, as a gust of wind whipped around Astoria causing her long blonde hair to fyl around her face. A large furniture truck pulled up just behind them and two of the grottiest men she`s ever seen stepped out. They were over wight, with food stains down their dirty shirts and, unfortunately, Astoria and her mother were down wind of them and they smelled digusting.

Josie approached them as she breathed through her mouth, "Hey, fellas. If you could start unloading straight away that would be lovely. Just put everything in the main rooms and I`ll sort them out later." She instructed.

Except things didn`t turn out that way they wanted. The two slobs emptied the truck onto the front lawn and left there.

The main driver waddled over to them, "Here`s the bill sugar."

"Hey, you can`t just leave everything here!" Astoria argued as her mother looked at the bill in shock.

"Sure we can," he laughed as he got back into his truck and drove off.

"Fucking assholes." Josie swore.

Ignoring her, Astoria just picked up a box of her clothes and headed inside, choosing the bedroom with the balcony so her mother could have the room with the adjoining bathroom.

Going back outside, Astoria realized that her mother hadn`t moved an inch, "Mom?"

Josie turned around, "Honey, I`m gonna head into town and see if anyone can help us. Why don`t you move the light boxes, and I`ll be back as quickly as I can."

Not even waiting for a comfirmation, she jumped into her navy Mazda and drove off.

Over an hour passed as Astoria moved all the boxes she could of clothes, towels, and cushions, before heading back into her new room, dreaming of what colours to paint the walls. Her room was a medium size with large glass double doors letting in the natural afternoon sun. Slumping down on the floor in exhaustion as jet lag finally kicked in, yet knowing that the day was far from over. Finally, she heard the sound of a car pulling up, "About time," she muttered.

"Astoria, hun, come downstairs." Her mother yelled.

Groaning she got up and went downstairs, surprised that there were two men standing in the foyer. "Mum?"

"Oh, sweetheart, this is Jason and his brother Colin; they`ve agreed to help us move in. Isn`t that nice?" Josie replied as she smiles at Jason.

Jason looked approximently thirty maybe thirty-five, big buff guy who obviously loves the gym, were as his brother was the oppitsite, late twenties, pale and skinny also gangly.

Being thankful, Astoria nodded to the two men. "Hey. Thank you for helping. There`s no way we can do this by ourselves."

Coling smirks, looking her up and down, which made Astoria uneasy.

Jason, pulling his brother`s attention, prodded, "Lil Bro, why don`t you help the lil filly with her stuff and then move on to the rest."

Together Jason and Josie moved over to her mother`s things as Colin leaned against the wall, "Come on Sweetheart, point out what I need to do. I haven`t got all day."

Swallowing her unease, Astoria directed Colin to the large bedroom furniture and for the next several hours they moved everything into their rightful place.

Suddenly, Jason hollered, "Come on, bro, we`re running late."

Glancing towards his older brother, Colin took another look at Astoria before going outside to their truck as Jason hands Josie a scrap of paper.

"What do I owe you?" Josie asks as she opens her purse.

"Nothing, babe, just the promise you`ll accept a date with me this Friday night," he said flirting with her.

Blushing Josie agrees, and she checks Jason out as he walks away.

"Call me babe!" Jason calls out.

'Oh my god,' Astoria thought as she rolls her eyes.


The next week went by extremely fast as they painted and refurnished the entire house, and by Sunday they were both exhausted.

Having finally sat down for their first home cooked meal of pasta and a salad, Astoria realized something, "I never asked how your date went."

Josie blushed, as a goofy smile spread across her face, "Oh Astoria, I can`t explain it, but it`s like I`m twenty again and falling in love all over again, I really like him and he`s a complete oppitsite of your father." Josie frowned then, thinking about that bastard.

Astoria reached across the table, grabbing er mother`s hand. "Mum, as long as you`re happy, don`t worry about me, I can take care of myself." She reasures her dark haired mother.

Josie smiled as she carassed her daughter`s face. "When did you grow up, huh? One minute, you`re my precious baby girl, the next you`re giving me advice and being so you, darling. I know how much you love Paris, and I can only hope that one day you`ll love it here, too." She says fondly.

Smiling "You must have blinked...and I hope so, too, Mumma."

Finishing up dinner and washing up, Astoria yawned, "I`m gonna go check my bag for tomorrow and then go to bed. What time are you leaving tomorrow?"

"I need to be out of here by 7:45am to beat the traffic; the bus is at 8:15am right?" Her mother asks.

"Yeah, I`ll be up before you leave."

Josie tut-tutted "This weekend we`ll head into the city and look around at some cars for you. I`d rather you have your own car, should you need anything and I`m at work."

"It`s fine, Mum, It`s not urgent, alright? I`m off. G`night."

"Night, sweetheart."


Groaning as she rolls over and mutters, "Worse night sleep ever," Astoria glanced at the clock, seeing 7:25am. "May as well get up and shower."

Stretching before gathering up her clean clothes, and wandered to the bathroom.

Turning on the shower and letting the water heat up, she striped off her thick winter jammies and stepped into the steaming shower.

"Hmmm," Astoria sighs as the hot water ran over her pale body.

She took a minute to simply enjoy the water, before shampooing and conditioning her long locks, she scrubbed her skin clean with her vanilla-scented body wash before rinsing and getting out and drying off.

She pulled on a pair of tight black jeans and a dark red, off the shoulder shirt after pulling on underwear, of course, and socks, before she headed back to her room while towel drying her hair.

"Morning, Darling." she heard her mother call.

"Morning."

Turning aorund to see her mother standing in her door-way drinking her coffee, Astoria smiled, "All ready for your first day at work?"

"Of course. You look tired, sweetie, didn`t you sleep well?" Josie asked concerned.

Sitting down on the edge of her bed, Astoria sighed. "I reckon I saw ever hour on that bloody clock. You know I don`t do well in new places, and being the new girl isn`t high on mmy to-do list." She moaned as she brushed her hair smoothe.

Josie smiled in sympathy. "I`m sorry baby, Well I got to go. Love ya, and I`ll see you about five. Did you want me to cook or bring something home?"

"I`ll cook, as I`m so over take-away," she answered.

"Okay, see ya tonight."

"Bye!"

Astoria headed downstairs to make a quick breakfast of toast, and, pouring herself a glass of orange juice, swearing, "Fuck."

She burnt her toast, she still smothering them in honey before sitting down and snatching up her IPhone, checking the time - 7:41am - before logging on to Facebook.

"Bugger, nothing interesting on." She logged off before putting her dishes in the sink and going back upstairs to put her boots on and grabbing her Walking Dead angel shoulder bag and pulling on her black denim jacket.

Time: 7:55am.

She quickly brushed her teeth and put on a black lace headband before she picked up her bag again and went downstairs, locking the door, and walking to the bus-stop.

Being on the bus was a nightmare as everyone stared and yet no-one said anything to her. Entering the Attendence Office and after a quick chat to the sectary and the Principal she was shown to her first period classroom. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her nerves and entered her English class.

"Excuse me Mrs. Peterson?"

A middle-aged women looked up and Astoria immediately notice that this woman was kind, caring, and smiled easily.

"You must be Astoria O`Riley, a pleasure to met you. How have you been settling in?" She inquired.

"Thank you, and so far so good. My Mother is happy to be home. Is there anything I should know about today`s class or?"

"Oh of course silly me, we have just started reading The Hobbit by J.R. , so you`ll need to get a copy and we have a partner assignment due in two weeks based on anything History related. Most have choosen one of the wars or even the English Royalty... Really, the sky is the limit although your partner will have already chosen a topic. Now the bell is going to ring any minute; did you want me to introduce you, or would you like to stand up and say something about yourself?"

"NO, please don`t make me do that," Astoria panicked.

Mrs. Peterson laughed, "Don`t worry, dear. I`m not that cruel. You`ll have to wait in the front, though. And, let`s see... I`ll have you partnered with Jasper Hale. He doesn`t have a partner and he is an excellent student, so you`ll be fine with him.

DING DONG DING DONG

The bell rang and Astoria waited at the front as twenty odd students walked in and sat dowan in their assign seats.

"Good morning, class. We have a new student joining us today, please make a welcome to Astoria O`Riley. I hope everyone will help her out until she is accustomed to our school. Now, why don`t you have a seat by Mr Hale - raise your hand please Jasper - and we can get started on today`s lesson.

A golden haired, pale boy raised his hand and automaticially a feeling settled on her, a feeling that she had met him before. Ignoring everybody as they continued to stare at each other, she sat down beside the stunning blonde boy.

"Hi," she greeted, and tired to smile, thought it came out as a grimace.

"Hey, don`t worry. It gets easier." He smiled back, discreetly nodding his head to the side towards the crowd of watches.

"Thanks."

Unfortunately not everyone wasn`t so discreet, as the class went on, both of them could hear them whisper.

"Who name`s their kid after a town?"

"God, she looks stuck-up."

"She doesn`t have a chance with Jasper, even if she is pretty."

Astoria tried her best to ignore the gossiping bitches as she tuned back into the teacher`s lecture as she instructed. "Please take out your books and read from chapter five to nine, then we`ll get started on the questions. In silence, please."

Realizing that she had nothing to do, since she didn`t have a book, she frowned before seeing Jasper psuh his copy towards her.

"For me?" she whispered.

He nodded. "I`ve finished it so you can borrow it until you get a copy," he offered.

"Thank you, Jasper."

Within minutes she was sucked into the world of Middle-Earth and the journey of Bilbo Baggins, never realizing that Jasper, too, was puzzled by a feeling of knowing her, a feeling of fondness that he couldn`t yet explain.

ThE eNd...

I hope you enjoy this Edit-ted first chapter.