Chapter One

It was the 23rd of August, a week before the new school year, and once again I found myself dumped in front of another boarding school's main gate. I had never been at a school for more than a year and Forks College was the thirteenth school on my records. My father was a Hugh Heffner wannabe but without the suave style. Basically he just got married to a lot of different women. My mother was wife number three, Sarah, and my brother's mum, Carrie, was a woman that our father had had an affair with thus resulting in the end of marriage three. So far my father had been married eleven times and counting. Not to mention each of his hussies were younger than the one before. The latest was eighteen years old... only six months older than me. I still don't understand what all those women saw in him. Yeah he was rich, but seriously... he was old and gross... not to mention a total asshole. He cared about his appearance more than his own kids. He was all too happy to get rid of my brother, the shameful lovechild, and he only kept me around because I'm the one that takes care of his weddings. I'm the one that orders the catering, music, tuxes, finds groomsmen; I planned his weddings to wife numbers nine, ten and eleven. Birdie, Constance and Victoria were all sure that they were the ones that would last… they would tame the marital beast that was my father. I was the fabulous step daughter. I made my way from flower girl, to bridesmaid and then I graduated to maid of honour as I got older and his wives got younger. Basically my father swept one young woman after the other off their feet, spent from three months to a year with them and then divorced them, before moving into the next marital disaster. To be honest I don't know why I stayed all those year. I could have left with my brother, I was sure Carrie would have taken me in, but I knew that my father needed me and so I put up with his bullshit because I knew deep down he was grateful and just didn't know how to express it… right?

So as I was saying, I was once again standing in front of another school's main gates and yet again I was surrounded by the unfamiliar faces of students who had grown up together. My father was sitting in the front seat of his shiny red convertible (could he be any more stereotypical?); 'Vicky' the eighteen year old high school dropout was sitting on the passenger seat headrest smiling at the students going by. I kind of felt sorry for her. She thought she'd met the man of her dreams and she'd given up everything for my father and he and I both knew though that he would tire of her within a few months and she would be left with nothing.

"Haha…you know why old men buy themselves shiny red convertibles?" laughed a deep, booming voice from behind me. I turned to see a smallish girl standing beside a tall, handsome man. His face was hidden behind a golf hat but I could just see a mischievous grin from beneath it. I chuckled under my breathe, when I was younger, my brother asked me the same question every time we were forced to sit in the back seat of our Father's car.

"No. But pray, do tell. I'm dying to know" the smallish girl sighed sarcastically

"They buy them to compensate for the fact that they have…" he held his fingers about two inches apart "a really tiny dic-"

"Bye!" I laughed and waved in the direction of the car, knowing I wouldn't get a response. To my surprise Victoria waved back, a big smile on her pretty face, her mane of fiery red hair dancing in the breeze. Dad just glanced in my general direction and then they sped off down the crowded road, his tires squealing on the asphalt. I rolled my eyes and took a step backwards. I collided with someone and spun around to apologise. It was the smallish girl from before.

"Sorry about that" I said apologetically

"It's no problem. I'm Alice by the way". Alice had a small heart shaped face and bouncy brown hair that sat just below her chin. Her fringe was fastened to the side with a sparkly clip, something that on anyone else would have looked childish but complemented her. She was wearing a cute yellow summer dress despite the cold weather. She had a contagious smile and seemed like the sort of girl who was friends with everyone.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Rosalie." I smiled warmly and held out my hand and she shook it enthusiastically.

"You're new to Forks right?" she went on without waiting for an answer "I thought so. You'll love it here. Port Angeles is right nearby here, there's heaps of cute shops there and then there's also La Push, it's the surfing beach around here so it's always full of hot boys… do you have a boyfriend?" she spoke as if she was put on fast forward and it took a few second to register what she had been talking about

"What? Oh… no, I don't have a boyfriend"

"Are you… you know…" she asked, looking embarrassed. I laughed and shook my head

"I'm not a lesbian if that's what you're asking"

"Well you never know… it's a small town… anyway you'll have no trouble finding a boyfriend here, you're cute so you'll have the boys drooling. Speaking of which you should meet my big brother… he was around here somewhere... Over there next to the jeep… he's the tall, muscled guy" I looked to where she was pointing and saw the tall 'funny' guy from before. He grinned when he saw us looking at him and ducked inside the jeep. He pulled out a pink suitcase from the back and then made his way through the students unloading bags and talking loudly.

"Yours?" I asked, nodding to the suitcase. He laughed and took off his hat and I got to see his whole face. He was actually quite cute. He had a dimple in his left cheek and dark brown eyes. His chest and forearms were muscly but in a natural sort of way. He was taller than me which is rare with boys and had cropped brown hair. Altogether he looked about twenty one, way too old to still be in high school so I assumed he was here to drop off Alice.

"You betcha. You have a problem with boys who like pink?" he joked, his head tilted to the side

"Nope… you just don't look the type I guess." I shrugged

"Hey! I may look tough, muscled and highly attractive but I'm actually a really sensitive guy once you get to know me" he said, pretending to be offended

"Shut up Emmett" Alice rolled her eyes at her brother and then proceeded with introductions. "Emmett, Rosalie; Rosalie, Emmett"

"Hey Rosalie, wanna go out with me?" Emmett asked quickly, trying to catch me out

"Sorry but I'm not into that whole 'I'm really a sensitive guy' thing." I shot back. He threw me a wide grin and his dimple flashed

"You'll change your mind once you get to know me" he said, oh so sure of himself.

"Unlikely"

"Hahahahahah… sucked in Emmett." Alice laughed, playfully punching Emmett's arm. "Are you a boarder? Do you know what room you're in yet?"

"What... oh, Yeah, I'm boarding, and no, I don't know what room I'm in… I guess I'll have to go and find out at administration"

"Oh goody! I'm a boarder to, so we can go to admin together" she started to bounce off but I called after her

"Wait! What do I do with my bags?" She paused and thought about it for a second

"I'll take them." Emmett shrugged

"Are you sure? They're heavy" I said, crossing my arms across my chest

"Oh pur-lease." He bent down and picked up both my suitcases, putting one under each arm.

"They do have wheels you know" I said, unimpressed

"Yeah but this way I get to show off me muscles" he flashed me a wide smile and then walked back to his jeep where Alice's bags were waiting.

"Problem solved, let's go" Alice said pulling me beside her and we walked through the gates together.

"You look familiar! Are you sure we haven't met before?" Alice asked loudly. We had been weaving through the students for about five minutes and Alice had pulled me under a staircase out of the way of a kid with a trolley piled with three suitcases, a stereo and topped with a TV balanced precariously on the top.

"Pretty sure yeah." I answered, trying to remember if I had met her before. If I had I didn't remember. Alice suddenly darted from under the staircase and started pushing through the students again.

"Well I seriously felt like I've seen you before… do you have any family here in Forks?" she called back to me. We were speeding through the crowd, Alice in the lead and me following closely behind.

I actually did have family in Forks. My brother Jasper had lived here with his mum, Carrie, since he was fourteen and that was exactly why when my father had told me I had to go to yet another boarding school I told him it had to be Forks Boarding & High School or none at all. He had agreed begrudgingly, not wanting me to get 'mixed up with my brother and his problems'. Jasper had left us because he and my father had gotten into a massive argument right after his marriage to Birdie. Dad kicked him out and so he went to live with his mum, here in her hometown Forks. I hadn't seen my brother in three years and hadn't heard anything from him either. I had hoped that by coming to Forks I would be able to try and put what little family I had left back together.

"Umm actually-" it was quite possible that she knew my brother. I was about to explain the whole I-haven't-seen-him-in-years-have-you thing but she suddenly bounced off, waving frantically to a boy with wavy reddish brown hair and an extremely cocky expression. I noticed that his chiseled features were the subject of many of the surrounding girl's conversations and he obviously he was used to it and enjoyed the attention. Frankly I couldn't stand guys like that.

"EDDIKINS!" Alice screamed and leapt into the arms of the so-called Eddikins. He hugged her tightly and then planted a kiss on each cheek. She blushed and hit his arm playfully. I couldn't help but notice that a lot of the surrounding girls were staring at her jealously.

"Hello, who's this?" his voice was smooth but had an arrogant edge

"Hi. Eddikins is it? I'm Rosalie. I just moved here." I held out my hand but he just raised one perfectly arched eyebrow at me. Bitch, that was my thing. Alice burst out in a bubbling giggle.

"Hahaha… Isn't she the best? Emmett is completely smitten…" Alice laughed but then she caught sight of 'Eddikins' expression. "Rosalie, this is Edward Mason" Alice said. She suddenly gasped and threw a death glare at Edward "you cocky bastard! You've been gone for three months and I haven't heard a word from you! I didn't even know you were back! How was it? Italy I mean. I missed you so much! I hate you!" she blurted out in the space of three seconds. I moved closer to them because people were pushing behind me and stood next to Alice. A boy with brown spiky hair brushed my ass with his hand as he passed and as I turned to tell him where he could shove his hand he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively before being swallowed by the crowd. I rolled my eyes... because of my long blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, I often got the attention of pig-headed, can't-touch-this boys.

I turned back to Alice and Edward to find her abusing him about his lack of contact over the summer break.

"You're a buttface. No you're worse than a buttface. You're a butt-monkey. I'm never talking to you again! We're over you hear me! Let's go Rosalie"

"Is he your boyfriend?" I asked her quietly. They both made faces of disgust and instantly stepped away from each other.

"My... Eww... no way, he's my best friend! We've known each other foreeever. Emmett, Edward and I are like the three musketeers well four, including Jazz... Well until now because I'm leaving the trio- errr Quattro… whatever, I'm leaving. I'll make my own super group with Rosalie… and… and… we'll find a third wheel won't we Rosie."

"Definitely… anyway I'm sure if I asked Emmett would join our side"

"Damn straight!" Emmett popped up beside me throwing me a wink

"And my boyfriend will join our team." She smiled and then said to me "… you'll like my boyfriend… absolutely everyone likes him because he's a real sweetie" Edward snorted and Alice elbowed him in the ribs. "Shut up. He's nicer than you"

"So Rosalie… do you have a boyfriend?" Edward asked 'casually'.

"Nope" I shook my head

"Want one?" Edward asked, earning a glare from Emmett

"Sorry but I play for the other team" Emmett looked at me with confused expression. Edward leant over and whispered something in his ear. Emmett's eyes widened.

"Ohh" Emmett said. "Hot" he wiggled his eyebrows. Alice burst out laughing

"Anyway… we gotta go find out our room numbers… see ya later Edward. By the way I'm still not talking to you" she stuck her tongue out at him and he stuck his out back.

"Bye Emmett. Nice meeting you Eddikins" I flashed him a smile and ran after Alice as she bounced her way through the crowd.

Admin was at the front of the main building and when we arrived there was a line of people waiting to find out their room numbers as well. Alice said that usually the room numbers are mailed out with the rest of the info but this year the staff member whose job that was got hit by a car and their replacement forgot to send half of them. We stood in line behind a girl with long wavy blonde hair and a round face. She was gossiping with her brunette friend about how Emmett Cullen, Forks' local hottie had met some hot babe on his summer break.

"So have you always been a boarder?" I asked

"Nope. This is my first year. My parents are on a yearlong worldwide tour, so they enrolled us as boarders because they didn't trust that Emmett could look after me responsibly without supervision." I was surprised at this. Emmett seemed like a joker but I figured he be pretty good with his sister considering his age and everything "Emmett whined about it at first but then Edward explained that it meant he would be living with a hundred girls and he couldn't pack fast enough." Wait… what? Emmett was in high school as well?

"How old is Emmett?" I asked, trying not to show my underlying curiosity

"He's seventeen. Why?" Alice asked. Seventeen? He looks way older…

"Are you serious? I thought he was twenty one!" I exclaimed. There was no way he was the same age as me…

"Haha… yeah… a lot of people get that impression because of his size." She laughed and shook her head "when he's not being a goofball he can be very grown up. It just doesn't happen very often."

"So, how old are you? Are you're not twins surely…?

"Haha hell no. I'm only fifteen." she smiled and I could tell she was happy I had thought she was older than she actually was. This was too weird. Everyone was younger than they looked. Maybe there was something in the water.

"Seriously?" she nodded "then how could you possibly be in senior year?"

"I skipped a couple grades." She shrugged. "Apparently I'm a prodigy."

"You sure you're fifteen?" I looked at her again. She seriously looked around seventeen… she nodded and I smiled. "There is definitely something in the water."

The two girls in front of voices rose and I overheard a snippet of their conversation. The brunette was talking to the blonde who had her hand over her mouth as if in shock.

"But didn't you hear? He apparently dumped Michelle for her fifteen year old cousin!"

"No way!" the blonde gasped. Alice leant forward and tapped her on her shoulder. Good on you Alice, sticking up for your brother…

"Actually it was her forty year old mother that he dumped her for!" or not...she turned back shaking her head solemnly. The blonde gasped again and she and her friend immediately put their heads together and started whispering frantically.

"Is that true?" I asked

"God no… last year Emmett told the whole soccer team I had eleven toes… this is payback."

We had slowly moved up the line and finally made it to the desk. A plump woman in a bright yellow cardigan was sitting at the computer cleaning her round glasses with the hem of her skirt.

"Yes?" she barked impatiently

"I'm a boarder and I don't know what room I'm in" I said glancing at Alice unsurely

"Name" she said angrily

"Rosalie Hale" I replied. Alice frowned as if trying to remember something

"Hale… you're in room 203, second floor, east wing." She said in a bored voice. She reached behind her to a wall of keys. She pulled one with a label saying 203 off and flung it at me. "Next!" I picked the key up off the counter and stepped to the side out of Alice's way

"Same problem as her." She said quickly as she moved up to the desk.

"Name" the woman repeated impatiently

"Alice Cullen" she replied slowly

"Room 205, second floor, east wing. NEXT!" she said, she threw Alice's key at her and them impatiently shooed us out of the way.

We quickly walked out of admin pocketing our keys as we went. Once outside we moved into the shade underneath a massive oak tree.

"So… your room is two doors down from mine! That's cool." I said once I had sat down. Alice smiled and nodded. "Do you know how many girls it is to a room?"

"I think it's about two or three." Alice said, scratching her head. "Hmm… I dunno… we should take our stuff up to our rooms though and meet our roommates." She pulled out her phone and pressed speed dial. "Hey it's me… where are you... we're under Oakie… ok… see you in five" she hung up the phone and slipped it back into her pocket. "Emmett's going to bring our stuff here"

"What's Oakie?" I asked under a few seconds

"It's the tree. See…" she pointed to about two metres up the trunk. Someone had carved 'hi my name is Oakie" into the wood. They named the tree… okay then…

After a few minutes I spotted Emmett walking towards us, suitcase in each hand. I pointed him out to Alice and she jumped to her feet waving frantically. Emmett stopped when he reached and put down the suitcases.

"Hey… where's mine?" Alice asked, looking behind him as if he was hiding them. I noticed both the cases were mine.

"It's coming. I only have two hands in case you didn't realise… so I asked Newton for help." Emmett replied. Alice pulled a face and shuddered

"Who's Newton?" I asked Alice

"Mike Newton is this prick that thinks he's top gun. He spent the whole of last year following Emmett around, trying to get him to let him onto the soccer team. He can't play to save his life but he thought it would impress the ladies." She grimaced and Emmett laughed.

"He's not that bad. You've just got to give him a chance" Emmett said. The guy with spiky hair from before came up behind Emmett carrying Alice's pink suitcase. I shuddered as he dropped Alice's bag on the ground beside him

"Hey!" Alice complained.

"Well hello again." He said in what I think he meant to be a sexy voice

"Eww…" I groaned and turned away from him.

"You've met before?" Emmett said looking between Mike and me

"Not officially" Mike said grinning like an idiot "our eyes met through the crowd earlier"

"Our eyes didn't meet... I was looking for the person who I was going to bash the crap out of for touching my ass" I retorted angrily

"You… what? You touched Rosalie's ass!" Emmett asked angrily. Mike shrunk to half his height and made his excuses before rushing off and disappearing around the corner of the nearest building. "I never liked that guy…" he mumbled under his breath angrily.

"You were sticking up for him before…" Alice stated as she picked up her case from where Mike had dropped it.

"That was before I knew he was a pervert." Emmett grumbled and put his hands in his pockets

"Suuuuure it was. Come on. We're on the second floor of the east wing." Alice said. I grabbed one of my suitcases and Emmett took the other.

Alice bounded up the stairs two at a time, her suitcase swinging behind her. Emmett and I walked in silence behind her as she babbled incessantly all the way from the tree, to the east wing and up to the second floor. She ranted about the boring teachers and then about the fact that the school was too cheap to get elevators installed and how you had to climb six flights of stairs just to get to maths.

"This one's yours Rosie!" Alice called from further up the corridor. When Emmett and I reached her she was bouncing from foot to foot. The door had a sign that said 'Rosalie Hale'

"Hey! Like the record company!" Emmett said when he read my name. I ignored him and read the name underneath my own. 'Isabella Swan'. "Quick! Open the door! I wanna see!" Alice said excitedly as I pulled the key out of my pocket and unlocked the door. The room was small and symmetrical. There was a single bed against both of the walls at the sides and then two desks side by side on the wall opposite the door. I walked into the room, followed by Alice and Emmett. On either side of the door were two wardrobes. On the door of the left wardrobe there was a piece of paper. I walked over and read it.

Hi roomie.

You can pick whichever side you want. I don't care which one I get.

I've just put my bags behind the door for now.

I'll see you next week.

Ciao, Bella swan

"Huh… cool… you get dibsies." Alice had read the note over my shoulder and was now pacing around the room. "I think you should pick the right." She decided

"Why?" Emmett asked skeptically

"Well because she put the note on the left door so obviously she has an inclination to the left side therefore I think you should take the right side." Alice replied decisively

"Meh… you're the prodigy. Right it is!" I dumped my bag onto the right bed. Emmett rolled his eyes and put my other bag on the bed. "Let's go take a look at your room Alice"

"Oh goody!" she cried as she ran from my room into the hall. She rushed down to her door and then waited for us to catch up. "My roomie's are called Tanya Denali and Jane Paine" Alice said, reading the sign on the door.

"Haha… It rhymes." Emmett chuckled. Alice and I stopped and looked at him. "Well it does…" he said shrugging. Alice shook her head at her brother and then whipped her room key out of her pocket and put it in the lock, turning it at an unbearably slow pace. She turned and nodded at each of us before she finally pushed the door and it swung open with a creak.

Alice's room was set out differently to mine. As you walked in there was the base of a bed immediately on the right. Next to the head of the bed, there was a desk, beside that was a wardrobe, then another desk and then another side bed against the far wall. Against the left wall was another wardrobe, another bed, a desk and then against the far wall was yet another wardrobe. On the bed furthest away from the door was a girl. She was crouched in the corner of the bed reading a book. She had long dark hair that was fastened in two high pigtails and extremely pale skin. She kind of reminded me of a young Abby from NCIS. As we walked in she looked up. She had dark eyes with dark bags underneath them. After glancing over each of our faces she returned to her book.

"Hello, I'm Alice Cullen. You must be my roomie" Alice said enthusiastically. "Well one of them anyway". The girl looked up again and stared intensely at Alice.

"Jane." The girl said finally, her gaze never leaving Alice's face.

"It's nice to meet you!" Alice replied happily." I'm sure we'll soon be great friends." Emmett and I exchanged looks. This Jane girl was a bit too weird for the likes of us. I suddenly worried what Isabella Swan would be like. God I hope she isn't like Jane... Alice continued talking in an excited voice; apparently oblivious to the holes this girl was burning into her with her eyes. "Have you met the other girl yet? Tanya?"

"No." She finally blinked and glanced at Emmett and me again before returning her scarily creepy eyes to her book.

"This is going to be so much fun! Which bed do you think is better?" Alice asked nodding to the other beds. Jane didn't reply but Alice didn't seem to notice "I think I like the one nearest the door... oh but then people would be able to see in." she thought for a few seconds and then walked over to the middle bed and put her bag on it.

"I'll take this one" she exclaimed to no one in particular. She glanced over at Jane curiously. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen" she replied in a dead voice

"Really? So am I! Maybe they've put the senior prodigies together! Now I can't wait to meet Tanya!" Alice said excitedly. She bounced over to Jane's bed "what are you reading?" Alice asked curiously. The girl held the book up so Alice could read the title on the front. "The art of murder… is it any good?" Jane nodded once, an evil sort of smile flickered at the corners of her mouth. She placed the book against her knees again. The art of murder? This girl was insane. Alice was going to be murdered in her sleep... I glanced at Emmett and I knew from his facial expression that he was thinking the same thing. "Well, I'll leave you to your book… I'll see you next week…" she bounced back to us and pushed us through the door. "She seems like a nice girl." Alice said as we walked down the corridor again.

…

"I'm hungry. It's lunch time." Emmett and Alice had been showing me around the school. I glanced at my watch and was surprised to see that it was already 12:30.

"Let's go home for lunch then. Rosalie, do you want to come?" Alice asked. Emmett nodded enthusiastically so I agreed. Alice said that their house was only fifteen minutes away so we started walking.

Alice's house was a large white, Victorian style mansion. It wasn't as big as the one my father owned but it was prettier and had a homier feel. As we walked up the front path a woman walked out onto the porch holding a large box. A man's voice called from inside the house, I couldn't understand what he said but the woman dropped the box at the top of the stairs and then called back in a frustrated voice

"Carlisle, you do not need fifteen pairs of pants. If you need more we can buy some while we're away but you only need to take six as a maximum." The woman, I guessed that this was Alice's mother, had long shiny caramel coloured hair and a slender waist. We reached the stairs and she turned to greet us.

"Oh good, you're home, Alice go talk some sense into your father…" she said in an exasperated tone "oh, hello…" she added as she noticed me standing beside Emmett.

"Mum, this is my friend Rosalie" Emmett said. Emmett's mother gave him a pointed look but he shrugged it off.

"Rosalie's new to Forks... she's also a boarder, her room is two doors down from mine. I have this great roommate as well... She seems really nice-" Esme held up her hand and Alice fell silent

"It's nice to meet you Rosalie, I'm Esme." Her smile was warm and gentle. "Emmett, why don't you take Rosalie through to the kitchen? I'll come and make you lunch in a moment. Alice can you please go talk to your father? Thank you!" Alice and Esme walked inside the house, leaving me on the porch beside Emmett.

"Mademoiselle" Emmett walked forward and opened the door signalling for me to go inside

"Thanks Emmett" I said as I passed him

"No problemo." He closed the door behind me and then walked off through a door on the right. "This way" he led me through a dining room. There were boxes and suitcases piled on the table "my parents are leaving for a worldwide trip on the first." Emmett explained

"Yeah, Alice mentioned. They're pretty lucky…"

"Well they work pretty hard so this is kind of their reward…" Emmett shrugged

"What do they do?" I asked curiously.

"My Dad, Carlisle, he's a surgeon and Mum's an interior designer." Emmett said as he led me out of the dining room and into a hallway. "What about you? What do your parents do?" I knew it was coming I had just hoped it would be a bit later. My father was the creator of a prestigious recording company called Hale Records. It is a worldwide company and many top recording artists are signed with it. When I was little I was proud to have a famous dad but as I got older I realised that he wasn't someone to be proud of. I didn't even know what my mother did. I hadn't seen her since I was two and I didn't remember her at all.

"Umm. My father owns a recording company…" I replied slowly.

"Really? The kitchen's through here" he pushed the door at the end of the hall and it opened into a large kitchen. There was a long bench and an island surrounded by stools. Emmett made his way to one of the stools and plonked himself down, he motioned that I should do the same. He grabbed an apple from the bowl in front of him "help yourself" he said before taking a bite of his apple. We sat in silence for a few seconds before he asked "Which recording company does your dad own?"

"Umm… well I don't think you would have heard of it." I mumbled incoherently

"I probably have heard of it. Edward is kind of a music buff and he insists on teaching me everything he knows. And I have a friend whose Dad or something has a record company. Maybe your Dad knows him?" Emmett replied, rolling his eyes "try me"

"My Dad owns Hale records." I already knew that Emmett had heard of it before his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Who hadn't heard of the famous worldwide recording company owned by the wealthy Hale family?

"Wait… so that must mean you're… Jesus… I know your br-" Emmett started but was interrupted by Alice bouncing into the kitchen pulling a boy by the hand

"Look who I found!" Alice smiled at the boy as she pulled him into the room. He had longish, wavy blonde hair that covered his face. Alice bounced to a stool and the boy took the one next to her.

"Hello who's this?" the blonde boy pulled his hair back from his face as he spoke. His eyes... no... It can't be... my knees went weak and my vision blurred as tears started to stream down my cheeks. My brother…