AN: So here's the new story I've been working on! This is my first attempt at writing vamp/human. I Hope you all enjoy it!

Summary: Bella Swan finds herself in an odd situation after her initiation goes horribly wrong. Now, Bella thinks she's dead once she realizes that no one can see her. But what happens when a strange family moves to town and they actually acknowledge her presence? Can they help her find out what is happening to her, or will it be too late?


Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight.


BPOV

I squinted into the darkness that surrounded us. The wind thrashed my long brown hair around, succeeding in creating a tangled mess. I shivered involuntarily due to the eeriness of our surroundings more than from the cold air. My chocolate brown eyes darted around the area, the darkness of the night effectively creating a sense of paranoia within me.

The dead growth of the area added onto the feeling of dread that was settling in my stomach the longer I stood here. Raindrops began to fall around us and one landed awkwardly on my eyelash when I stared up at the black sky. The only semblance of light being the full moon that shone above us. A sudden flash of lightening suddenly illuminated our surroundings briefly followed by a loud clap of thunder. I jumped at the sudden noise, hearing the chuckles from around me.

"You're not scared, are you Bella?" Lauren sneered.

"She's doing a lot better than you when it was your initiation," Angela snapped. "At least she hasn't cried for her mommy like you did."

Lauren huffed but chose not to respond. If I wasn't so freaked out, I would have found what Angela said funny. But as it was, I had no idea where they were taking me, and I was admittedly frightened of what I was going to have to do tonight.

I shivered as the wind picked up again, causing little goose bumps to erupt all over my arms. The more I thought about it, the more I regretted my decision to pledge for Sigma Theta Mu. If someone had told me in high school that I would be attempting to join a sorority when I got to college, I would have laughed in their face. I was never one for the dresses and parties and manicures. That just wasn't my thing.

Now here I am at age 18, in the woods in the middle of the night beginning my initiation into this sorority. I silently cursed the reason I'm in this mess, and she is currently standing beside me. My best friend Bethany was ecstatic when she received her rush information packet in the mail. She spent hours at my house discussing the different social sororities we would be rushing for. I almost groaned when I remembered that conversation.

Flashback

"—so what do you think?"

"Yeah sure," I said absentmindedly to Beth while I continued to make shapes out of the clouds.

I was currently lying on my back on my front lawn and staring up at the sky. Beth had some kind of packet in front of her that she was studying with incredible intensity. She had been droning on and on for the past couple hours about the pros and cons of each sorority. After the first ten minutes I had started tuning her out. This topic did nothing to hold my interest. Suddenly a highlighter was thrown at my head. I jolted upright and glared at Beth.

"What was that for?" She ignored my question and got up to retrieve the highlighter she had just hurled at me.

"Did you listen to a word I said?" She asked as she plopped back down on the grass. I sighed and lay back down on my back.

"You know I don't want to join a sorority Beth," I said for what felt like the hundredth time.

We had just graduated from Forks High and were enjoying our summer vacation. The two of us would be going away to the University of Washington in two short months and Beth had been talking nonstop about the different sororities we should pledge for.

"Bella please. Please do this for me." I lifted my head and stared at her in shock. She was actually pleading with me. That was new for her.

"You don't need me to do this. You can join without me," I reasoned. I didn't understand why she needed me to come with her. And for the life of me I couldn't understand why she wanted to join one in the first place.

"Bella you're my best friend. I don't want to do this alone! It will be fun! Pleeeaassee?" I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut, dreading what would happen once I conceded.

"Ugh fine!" I groaned. God I'm such a pushover.

"Yay!" Beth squealed while bouncing up and down and clapping her hands. I swear her mom gorged on pixy stix when she was pregnant with Beth. That girl is way too hyper for her own good.

"You owe me," I grumbled, causing Beth to laugh. "Why do you want to join one anyway?" I asked curiously. Beth sighed at my question.

"Doesn't it bother you that we don't hang out with anyone else?" Beth asked me one of her own questions instead.

The two of us had not exactly been popular in high school. My T-shirts and faded jeans and chucks were hardly classified as trendy. I was pretty much classified as a social leper, so most of the other students tended to give me my space. As for Beth, her association with me cast her far away from the popular circle as well. I often wondered if that bothered her and I guess this answered my question. I guess when I think about it, I owe her for sticking by me. Maybe doing this will make it up to Beth and we'll actually have a social life for once.

"It will be fun Bells," Beth tried to reassure me. I snorted before I could stop myself. She ignored me and started flipping through her packet with renewed vigor.

"Okay, so rush week—"

"Wait. What week?" I cut her off confused. Beth sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes.

"Rush week is the week all of the girls pledging for the sororities will be going from one to the next. You decide which ones you want to pledge for after rush week is over. It's pretty much to get a feel for which sororities you like the best."

"You mean they're not all the same?" I asked, as my eyebrows shot up.

"No Bells. They're not all the same," Beth said exasperatedly. "Okay so anyway, rush week will be from August 16th to August 22nd. After rush week when you get a bid—"

"Wait. What?" I cut her off again. It's not my fault that I don't know the sorority lingo. Beth sighed again.

"If the girls at one of the sororities like you, then they give you a bid. If you accept a bid, then you become a pledge for that sorority. Then you need to go through this whole process to become an active member." This sounded complicated.

"Process?" I asked for clarification.

"Yeah. You pretty much learn about the sorority at that time. Then, near the end of the semester, you have to go through some kind of initiation to be welcomed into sisterhood and you become an active."

"Initiation?" I swallowed thickly. I definitely did not like the sound of that.

"Uh-huh. Each sorority is different. The initiation is kept secret from everyone except for the actives so the pledges don't know what is going to happen."

"Oh great," I gulped. "How do you know all of this anyway?" She blushed and scratched the back of her neck.

"Google," she muttered. I laughed at her answer. Of course she did her research. I should have known.

"Wait, you said the girls will give you a bid if they LIKE you. What makes you think they will give ME a bid?" I asked, remembering the snide remarks people always made about me in high school.

"Well you'll definitely need new outfits. I mean look at this." She thrust the packet in front of me. My eyebrows shot up and my jaw dropped as I stared in horror at the information I was reading.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I screeched. "Pretty in pink Monday, sundress Tuesday? They're actually telling us what to wear on these days?" I asked incredulously. Beth shrugged as if them dictating what we wear was no big deal.

"Beth, I don't own anything pink!" I yelled. I took a deep breath to calm down. "What am I getting myself into?" I groaned.

"Don't worry so much. It will be fun. Trust me!" I rolled my eyes and threw the packet back at her.

"Fine. What next?" I asked, dreading what else she would tell me. She grinned at me.

"Alright. Now as for shoes—"

End of Flashback

Needless to say, after rush week was over, we both got a bid to Sigma Theta Mu. The first semester of our freshman year at the University of Washington consisted of learning the sorority's songs and dances, taking part in community service and sisterhood events, and being dragged around to parties at the fraternity houses.

I didn't particularly enjoy these parties. Being hit on by drunken frat boys, watching people puke their guts out in the trash cans, and stepping over the hundreds of empty beer cans littering the floors at the frat houses is definitely not on my list of fun things to do.

Before I knew it, initiation was a day away. All of the pledges had been instructed to bring a sleeping bag, pillow, and something to sleep in to the sorority house where we were all going to have to spend the night. None of the actives told us why we needed to do this, which gave me a bad feeling about this whole thing.

I kept thinking this had something to do with the initiation process. After all, initiation was the following night. The fact that UW was a hazing free campus did little to calm my nerves. I knew that the sororities and fraternities still hazed their pledges. They just had to be secretive about it so that the school board wouldn't find out about it. I knew that if they were found out, they would risk losing their chapter.

All thirty-four of us pledges were crammed into one room for the night. It was such a tight fit, that we were all sleeping shoulder to shoulder. It was nearly impossible for me to get comfortable enough to get to sleep. I was finally able to get to sleep after an hour of lying there, only to be woken up after what seemed like twenty minutes by Lauren's loud, nasally voice.

Flashback

"Pledges, Get up!" I groaned along with the other girls as the room was suddenly flooded with light.

I opened my eyes sleepily and sat up, not knowing what was going on. None of the actives could give us any information because it was all some "secret" ritual or something. I kept picturing something happening like in the movie "The Initiation of Sarah" where the main character was sacrificed at some altar. Knowing me, that would be just my luck.

"Grab your shoes. Don't bother getting dressed!" The president of the sorority, Lauren, barked orders at us.

I glanced out the window to see it was pitch black outside. It was probably two or three in the morning. I can't believe I let Beth talk me into this! Beth and I exchanged a nervous glance before we followed Lauren outside with the rest of the pledges. When we got outside, we saw a bunch of the actives congregated in front of the sorority house. I saw that a lot of the girls were holding pieces of cloth in their hands.

I saw Angela who smiled and waved at me. I gave her a tentative smile in return. Angela Weber is a junior who is the active assigned as my big sis. I thought it was funny when someone explained what a big sis was to me. Apparently, each pledge was assigned a big sis who is an active. The "big sis" is supposed to help their "little sis" get acclimated to the sorority and be there for them. I was lucky to get Angela. She is probably the nicest girl here.

"Now, each pledge needs to find their big sis," Lauren started barking orders and waited for everyone to do as she said. I made my way over to Angela who gave me another smile before turning her attention back to Lauren. Once everyone found their big sis, Lauren continued telling us what to do.

"Big sisters blindfold your little sisters!" I started panicking as my sight was cut off from me. Angela finished tying the blindfold in place so that I couldn't see anything. I guess that answers my question about what the pieces of cloth were for…

"Now, big sisters take your little sister's hand! We're going on a little trip." I could just picture the smirk on Lauren's face as she said this.

I gulped as I felt Angela take my hand. She started leading me in some direction after the others. It was a bit frightening being blindfolded and taken somewhere, especially at night. What made this situation worse was the fact that I was still wearing my panda bear printed pajama bottoms and the white tank top I had worn to bed. Considering the fact that it was November, I was freezing my ass off.

We had been walking for what felt like hours before we started slowing down. Suddenly, my sight was returned to me as Angela took off my blindfold. I blinked and looked around at my surroundings, feeling my stomach drop as I realized I was in the middle of the woods. It had just started raining too. This couldn't be good…

End of Flashback

After all of us had our blindfolds taken off, we were told to gather around in a circle. Lauren and Jessica made their way into the center of the circle so that Lauren could address all of us.

"Pledges!" Lauren called all of our attention back to her. She looked almost smug at the sight of all of our frightened faces. "Your goal tonight is simple. You have five hours to make it back to the sorority house. If you aren't back by then, you might as well not return at all. Only those that return will be accepted into sisterhood. Consider this the beginning of your initiation." She paused when quite a few girls gasped.

This had to be some sick joke! They couldn't just leave us in the middle of the woods in winter of all times. We didn't even know where we were! How were we supposed to find our way back?

"Do any of you have a problem with that?" Lauren asked dangerously. She narrowed her eyes at us as if challenging us to object to what she was making us do. All of us remained silent.

"Good. Now all of you will be split up. You are not allowed to make any contact with the others. If we find out that you talked or even looked at one of the others, you will automatically be forced to leave and won't be accepted into Sigma Theta Mu." She narrowed her eyes at all of us as if warning us with just a look to follow her rules.

I saw Jessica Stanley grinning next to Lauren. Jessica is the vice president of this sorority. I could just picture the satisfaction she is getting out of scaring the shit out of all of us. This must be some kind of thrill for her. That's just how she is, taking pleasure out of other people's misery.

"Now, a bunch of you may be wondering how you are supposed to get back when you don't even know where you are," a few girls nodded in agreement to this. "There are clues dispersed throughout the area. Your task is to find these clues and figure out the riddles. If you do this correctly, it will lead you back to the sorority house with no problem. Once you uncover the clues, you must return them back to where you found them so the others can have a chance to find them also." She paused and looked around at all of us.

"Big sisters, blind fold your little sisters again," Lauren commanded. I saw Beth give me another nervous look before Angela secured the blindfold once more around my eyes. I almost groaned as my sight was cut off from me again.

"All of you pledges will be taken to your designated spot in the woods. You will be alone as soon as your big sister takes the blind fold off of you again. Remember, no contact is allowed," Lauren stressed. "See you back at the house," she addressed us all as I felt Angela start to lead me in a different direction from the others. After a few more minutes, we stopped walking again. Angela finally took off the blindfold and gave me a reassuring smile once I could see.

"You'll be fine Bella," she said calmly. "We all had to do this at some point," she tried to reassure me. I gulped but nodded to what she said. I shivered again as the cold air hit my exposed arms.

"I'll see you when you get back," she winked at me before turning and walking away. I wanted to scream at her to come back. This was like some bad horror movie waiting to happen with all the girls alone in the woods at night...

I can't believe I got myself into this. Actually, I can't believe I let Beth get me into this. Well, at least this is the last step until I'll be in Sigma Theta Mu officially. That is if I don't freeze to death first. I shivered again as I started walking in a direction I hoped would lead me to one of the clues. It's going to be a long night.


AN: I chose to use Sigma Theta Mu as the sorority Bella tries to rush for. I didn't want to use an existing sorority in case I would offend someone who is in it or knows someone in it. I'm pretty sure Sigma Theta Mu doesn't exist but I'm not 100% sure about that. If it exists, I'm sorry. I tried. lol

I bet a lot of you can tell that things aren't going to go so well in the next chapter… I'll try to have it out as soon as possible!

Please review and let me know what you think! :)