Disclaimer: These people aren't mine. They're Stephenie Meyer's. I'm just putting them in a situation much different than she did. But yeah, Twilight, it's just not mine.

A/N: This is my second fanfic. I have another one in progress. I'm not sure how good either is, so I really need you guys to review and let me know. They were both just ideas that came to me, so I had to try. I won't continue this unless it's received well, and you want to know what happens. I've read a lot of fanfics, I don't think I've seen any like this, but if the plot's too old, let me know. Just to clear it up if you're wondering, yes, the Cullens are vampires. And no, Bella isn't. And I know you guys probably don't like Mike Newton; I don't either, but the way the story idea came to me, they just had to be together. But yeah, just R&R, please. )

"Hey, Bella, you gonna eat that cinnamon roll?" Mike Newton asked, reaching over me to grab it. I laughed.

"Well, I guess not."

He grinned and broke it in half. "I'll be nice. Here."

I smiled and accepted half—the small half, of course—of the cinnamon roll that had originally been all mine. I really didn't mind sharing with Mike, though. Our eyes met between bites and I couldn't bring myself to look away.

I loved his eyes. After sixteen months of looking into them as often as I wanted, I still never tired of them.

"Bella, did you hear about the new family in Forks?" Jessica Stanley asked in a hushed tone, leaning over to me.

"No, Jess. What about them?" I sighed, pulling my eyes away from Mike.

"Well, they just got here yesterday, and I think the kids are starting school tomorrow."

"Oh." I didn't see the big deal in that. I mean, sure, a new family in Forks was pretty rare. Especially if it meant new kids at school. But I didn't see why they would make a big deal out of it. I'd never really been into gossip, I guess. Also, I knew it didn't ease your new-school nerves to walk into a room and know everyone had just been talking about you.

In fact, I knew that firsthand, since I'd been the new girl here in Forks just two years ago. I started my freshman year here after moving from Phoenix, where I'd lived with my mom. I came here to live with my dad. It was the talk of the whole town, for awhile. But eventually I made friends at Forks High, and now, two months into my junior year, I felt like I really belonged here.

"No, Bella, you didn't let me explain!"

"Please go on, Jess," I said dryly. I loved Jessica, but the one thing I didn't love was her gossip.

She rolled her eyes and chose to ignore my sarcasm. "Well, the man is the new doctor at the hospital."

"Oh!" I was interested now. I'd heard Charlie, my father, and the chief of police, talking about how the hospital had been short ever since Dr. Rodriguez moved to Los Angeles.

Jessica grinned, glad that I was actually interested. The volume of her voice increased and the excitement was more pronounced as she continued.

"Yeah! He's only twenty-seven. Isn't that insane? He's one of the best, supposedly. He's worked all over the country! And he's twenty-seven!"

My eyes were wide with disbelief. "Jess, that's impossible. Are you sure?" I was sure my skepticism was blatant.

"Yes, I'm positive!" she squealed. I glanced over at Angela, who was nodding enthusiastically.

"Yeah, Bella, I heard it, too! I mean, my mom told me." Angela was usually very quiet, but she seemed excited, too.

"And guess what else, the lady's just a housewife. No special job or anything," Jessica said.

"Well, if you're married to a hot young doctor who's all that, you don't need a job of your own," Mike threw in, grinning. I looked at him and rolled my eyes. I couldn't help but grin, though. His hand found mine under the table as Jessica continued.

"Yeah, well, anyway. They're really young, you know? But guess what, they have five kids. Not just five kids, five teenagers."

I glimpsed at Mike, whose puzzled expression matched mine. Angela, Ben, Tyler, Conner, and Lauren all wore similar expressions. They were all leaning in, eyes fixed on Jessica, waiting to hear the rest. I returned my eyes to her, which she took as her cue to go on.

"Yes, five teenagers. You're wondering how that's possible, but don't worry, they're adopted. I guess the woman's sister died ten years ago, and she had twins, out of wedlock of course, so her parents had to take care of them; they were, like, eight then.

But then a couple years later they both died, too, so the lady decided she'd take care of the kids, even though she was only nineteen or whatever. And then I guess she met that doctor, and they got together even though she was taking care of these kids, and I guess they actually kind of liked it, because they adopted three more kids, so that's how they have five teenagers."

Everyone was silent. Finally, Conner spoke up.

"That's kind of cool, them adopting those kids even though they're young."

"I wouldn't marry a lady taking care of kids," Tyler said, causing the girls to glare at him. He shrugged.

"I think it's sweet," Angela said softly.

"Yeah," Ben agreed, "I do, too." They smiled at each other.

"Well, I think it's messed up," Lauren countered. "I mean, it's sweet enough, but almost creepy."

"I bet the kids are grateful," I threw in.

"Yeah," Angela agreed.

"They must be really nice people, to do something like that," Conner pointed out.

"Yeah," I said with a nod. "I mean, it can't be easy raising five teenagers. Especially since they had no clue what kind of background the other three came from, and they already knew the twins had a rough past."

"Well, I also heard that the lady can't have kids," Jessica said smugly, as if that made it less noble.

Later, after lunch, while Mike was walking me to biology, I brought up the family again.

"Can you imagine how hard it's going to be for those kids, coming here with everyone talking about them and their family?"

"That would suck," Mike agreed.

"I think we should invite them to sit with us at lunch tomorrow."

He stopped walking, dropped my hand, and looked at me as if I'd lost my mind.

"What? You just said that would suck. Don't you feel sorry for them?"

"Yeah, but…"

"But?"

"But, we haven't even met them yet. What if they're, like, druggies? Or what if they're violent and mean? You never know with kids from orphanages. Those adopted kids could be scary. Maybe we should wait before jumping to any decisions about befriending them. Besides, there's five of them. That's enough for a lunch table," he tried to reason.

I frowned, but shrugged. "Okay, I guess you're right."

He smiled and gave me a quick peck.

"We better hurry if we want to be on time."

I smiled and nodded. "Okay, let's go."

He put a muscular arm around me and we walked together into our biology classroom. As I sat down, though, I couldn't help but wonder just what kind of lives these kids had. I felt bad for them, and, despite what Mike said, I wanted to help them out.

After all, I was the only one who knew from experience what it was like to be the new kid at Forks High.