I Don't Want to be in Love

DISCLAIMER: All things Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer. I do NOT own Twilight.

Summary:

Alice's cousin, Edward, moves to the gangs high school for their final year. Bella and Edward do not get along at all in the beginning. As time passes they begin to understand each other, and become friends. Both are hiding secrets, that none of their friends know about. Bella and Edward find not only friendship in each other, but sanctuary too. Can these two let each other into their pasts and help each other? Normal pairings. Mild swearing and adult themes.

NOTE: I'm Australian, so our school dates are much different to those in the USA. And this is not a song fic.

Chapter One – In the Beginning.

I awoke to the sound of Good Charlotte's 'Dance floor Anthem' I turned to my alarm clock and saw it was only 6:30 am. Inwardly I groaned, but got up, reluctantly, dreading the day ahead of me. It's not like I was a naturally unhappy person, but sometimes, life just gets to me. How cliché, right? Okay, well let me make it clearer, I was definitely not looking forward to my senior year, even with the help of Alice and Rose, my two best friends.

I hopped in the shower and relished the warm water on my body, ridding the stress from me, for now. All too soon, the water started to get cold, and I was forced to get out. I walked into my room, clad only in a towel, and went to my wardrobe to put on the clothes Alice had instructed me to wear the night before. I looked at the outfit and sighed. It wasn't bad - don't get me wrong - it just wasn't…me? I'm the sort of girl that is happy with jeans and a hoodie, much to Alice and Roses dismay. I put on the denim mini skirt, black singlet and blue v-neck jumper, I picked up my brush and turned to look at myself in the mirror on the wardrobe door. I looked okay, but not as beautiful as Rose or Alice. My hair was dull and wavy, my face was pale, and my eyes looked back at me with no emotion. I hated what I saw. I angrily threw my brush at the mirror and it cracked. I inwardly smirked. I traced the crack with my index finger, the sharp glass cut my finger, I relished in the small amount of pain that came with the blood. How sadistic, I thought. Jeez Bella, my reflection said to me, you hate yourself so much you want to destroy your reflection, how noble of you, my obscured reflection taunted me between the cracks. I looked away, not being able to stand the image I saw.

Okay, so I was messed up, in a number of ways, but I would never want my friends to find out. I would not want them to think of me as some emo chick, with these massive mental issues. I couldn't comprehend what they would think, or even do, if they were to find out what was inside my head.

I sucked the small amount of blood off my finger and picked up my brush. I set it on my vanity table and got out my other brush, the one not covered in small shards of glass, and brushed hair. I looked in the vanity mirror and sighed as I put my hair in a high pony. I applied eye-liner and mascara and didn't bother looking at myself as I got my bag and left my room, slamming the door on the way out.

I got downstairs to the kitchen and saw a note of the table from my father, Charlie. It pretty much said what I expected; he had gone to the station early and would be back at 5. Charlie was the towns police chief, and had been for many years. He spent even more time there, at the station, over the past 5 years, after Renee, my mother, had died. I think it was his way of coping, Charlie had never really got over Renee after she died, even if she did leave us 12 years ago.

I finished my cereal quickly, washing my bowl and leaving it to dry on the side. I got my keys and walked out the front door, locking it behind me. I looked at the sky and saw that it was pretty cloudy, I hoped it would rain, and it seemed like it would. I smiled at the thought of a thunder storm. I hoped in my truck, a red, although a very faded red, '53 Chevy and headed for school.

When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was the lack of cars in the parking lot. Shit, I thought, is school even on today? I got out my phone and checked the date. My phone showed the 25th of January 2011, the first day of school, but where the hell was everyone? I was going to put my phone in my pocket again when I saw the time, 7:45am. I was early... extremely early. By 40 minutes. I swore to myself, why didn't I look at the clock before I left the bloody house? I sighed and grabbed my bag to pull out my favourite book, Wuthering Heights. I opened the old and tattered book,to where I had placed my bookmark the night before and started reading.

"Shit!" I screamed as someone knocked, very loudly might I add, on my window. My hand flew to my chest and I could feel my pulse racing beneath the surface. I looked over to the window and glared at the person who had scared me. It was Emmett, Roses boyfriend, with a shit eating grin on his face and waving wildly at me. I looked at my phone again, 30 minutes had passed and I hadn't noticed. I always got so immersed in books. I got out of the truck and put my book away. I walked up to Emmett and smacked him on the shoulder.

"What the hell was that for, Bells?" Emmett whined. I scoffed and walked towards his Jeep, where Rose was waiting. I could hear Emmett's heavy footsteps behind me as I reached Rose and hugged her. She pulled back after a while and looked at with me with a small smile.

Rose was about 5 foot 8 with long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes and a figure to die for. She was the epitome of beautiful, and everyobe knew it. Oddly enough, she was not vain, which many students at school did not believe. Although I believe this was due to our group not really interacting with the rest of the student population.

"Sorry about Emmett, he's overly excited this morning," she explained and looked pointedly at the empty coffee cup in the Jeep. I laughed and she joined in. As did Emmett but his boisterous laughter echoed around the parking lot, and he had no clue what we were laughing at. Idiot.

"What the hell are you laughing at, Emmett?" I deadpanned. He immediately stopped laughing and his eyes widened in fear. He knew how scary I could be when I wanted to be. I smirked and walked up to him, his 6 foot 4 frame towered over me as he looked down at my 5 foot 3 frame. Despite his large figure and massive amounts of muscle, Emmett was really a big cuddly teaddy bear. He scooped me up in a bear hug, my feet didn't even touch the ground. Rose laughed at his antics.

"Emmett," I choked, "Cant. Breathe," I managed to get out. His eyes widened and he dropped me. I regained my breath, slightly panting. I stood up properly and asked where Alice and Jasper were.

"They should be here soon, Alice's cousin is going to attend the school this year. So they shouldn't be late." Cousin? This was the first I had heard of it. Rose looked like she didn't know much about it either as she shrugged it off.

Right on cue, Alice's Porsche 911 turbo sped into the lot and quickly took a parking spot near Emmett's Jeep. Alice quickly hopped out and ran over to us, not waiting for her passengers to exit. She ran up to me and hugged me tightly. She let go and gave Rose and Emmett the same greeting.

"So," Rose started, "where is this oh so lovely cousin of yours that we have heard oh so much about," sarcasm dripped from her voice. Emmett looked confused.

"But Rosie, we haven't heard anything about her cousin…" Emmett trailed off. Oh god, both Rose and I facepalmed at his statement. He could be so clueless sometimes.

"Here that lovely cousin is," said a velvety voice from beside me. I turned and saw a very handsome young man next to Jasper. He was about 6 foot 2, a little shorter than Jasper and Emmett and had dishevelled bronze hair. He smiled at us all. He looked pretty familiar, then I remembered that he was the guy from the store the day before. I inwardly groaned.

"Hi, I'm Edward, Alice's favourite cousin," he introduced himself, Alice snorted in a very unladylike fashion.

"More like only," Alice muttered.

Edward then looked at me, obviously remembering me. I snorted alongside Alice and took a step towards him, when I was less than I foot away from him, I looked up and slapped him. Hard. Then proceeded to walk away. I could hear him cursing and Emmett's laughter as I walked towards the school.

This year was bound to be interesting.

Authors Note:

Well? What do you think so far? Any good?

Oh, and I do not live in the USA, I live in Australia, so our school terms are much different. We start in Mid/Late January.

Read and Review :)