Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or any of the characters involved, they are property of Stephanie Meyer, and always will be. I also do not own the Chapter name (Which comes from the Pendulum's Sounds of Life off the album Hold Your Colour.)

This is my first attempt at writing any sort of fiction, or really anything outside of school. I've already noted some of the mistakes that I've made (Alice is a little less.....Fruity? Than what I'd like) I'll be trying to fix that over the next couple of chapters, as well as provide more detailed descriptions. If you DO like it, then by all means feel free to review or provide any opinions that you have, they are all very welcome, as long as they are constructive. Thanks.

Enjoy!

~Kaia.

Bella:

I walk my broken dreams..

Even as I thought it, I felt like an idiot. What was I even talking about? Obviously I didn't know. Sigh.

I was on my way to Forks, Washington, where I was going to spend two forced years there with Charlie, my dad. It was an agreement we'd made in my family. Two years with my mom, two years with my dad. I can't believe that I had actually agreed on this. It was a stupid idea, and I knew it.

My mother and my father are divorced. They had been since I was a kid, and every summer, I was required to spend at least a month with Charlie in Forks. After Sixth grade, I spent Seventh in Forks and Eighth in Phoenix. Then I traded two years with my mom for two years with my dad.

Because of this, I had no friends. None. Nada. Zip. Whatever word you're supposed to use. It didn't really matter anyway, I didn't even know what to say to people half the time. Connecting with people wasn't one of my strong points. As strange as it was though, somehow I had ended up with some of the 'popular' crowd. My Mom wasn't overly rich, and I don't have a model physique either.

Nobody ever understood it either. The popular girls never took a second thought about it. They paid for half of my clothes, made me go out occasionally, and asked for nothing in return. I guess I paid them back by listening to them rant – apparently I'm a good listener.

When I landed in Forks, I was prepared for the rain. I hated rain. It made everything so…wet. Charlie was waiting for me outside the airport in classic style.

"Hey Dad." I greeted him and gave him a quick hug. Charlie hated physical contact. It was kind of funny in a very odd way.

"Hey Bella, it's really great to see you again!" Charlie was so glad that I was staying in Forks with him again. "Let's get home."

"Okay," I answered, "How have you been Dad?"

This was another line I'd probably crossed too early as well, Charlie despised small talk, a characteristic we often shared. I was just trying to keep the tears from spilling over.

"Just fine, but Bella, you know I hate small talk!" His lips were playing a smile, and I knew it was just a joke, but I was too depressed to make the effort to smile back. He asked me if I remembered anyone, and I said no. Charlie knew that I didn't have any friends here.

"You'll be excited then, two families just moved in, and they've got 5 kids between them. They're all around your age too!" Charlie was ecstatic. Me? I wasn't phased at all, just more people to deal with. Awesome. Could my life suck any more?

We drove from then on in silence. I thought about this family of 5. At least with the other 300 whatever kids at school, they knew who I was, and I could just ignore them, but I never really knew. Once again, I cursed the horrible luck I had.

Charlie pulled the cruiser into the driveway and smiled. "Welcome Home."

Edward:

"Edward! Downstairs! Now!"

Sigh. What could Alice possibly want right now?

Hello, my name is Edward Cullen, and I'm the most cliché person you'll ever meet. Ironic, isn't it? I had to be the definition of cliché. The male model superstar who had a perfect GPA and every girl in the school chasing him, and to boot? A rich father.

Nobody could ask for more than what I had. So then why am I so miserable? I trudged down the stairs, listening for whatever horror Alice had planned for me this evening. All I wanted was to play my piano, but it was fairly obvious that wasn't going to happen.

"What, Alice?" I was more antagonistic than I meant to sound. Damn.

"Be nice Edward, or I'll punch you!" Alice shot right back. It was an empty threat and we both knew it, what with her tiny statuesque body. "I've decided that tomorrow we're all going to have lunch at The Pendulum tomorrow.

"Aw Alice," I groaned, "But tomorrow's Saturday". We still had a week before school started, but I wanted to have the week to myself for once.

"Don't even try to argue this one Edward, all of us are going, including you. I sighed, and looked at the ground. "Edward, listen to me. You're depressed, I know you want to play your piano all weekend, but I'm not going to let it happen!"

I sighed, "Alice, Look.."

"Absolutely not", she took a softer tone "You're unhappy because you need to see people, like date someone, anyone. Ever since you broke up with Jessica."

I shuddered. If I was the generic popular guy, then Jessica Stanley was the generic popular girl. Our relationship lasted 4 days; it was the worst experience of my life.

"Okay Alice I'll go, but I'm not going to check out girls, I'm going to simply have lunch with you guys.

Alice stuck out her tongue at me.

Bella:

Charlie helped me get all my stuff up into my room. I wasn't sure if he was doing it to be polite or because he wanted to tell me something. As I quickly found out, it was the latter.

"Bella, I know you're not one to go out a lot, but I've made reservations at The Pendulum tomorrow, we're going out to eat there, okay?"

"Sure thing Dad!" I worked to make my voice enthusiastic. It was difficult, because I really didn't want to go out. "Can I have a minute to rest? I'm really tired."

Charlie smiled that crinkly smile that I loved to see and said "Alright Bells, I'll be downstairs if you need me." The one thing that was going to be nice was that Charlie didn't really care what I did. Well, as long it was on the right side of the law.

Fuck my life.

I was dreading this, and I was probably making this worse than it could have been. I just wanted to get through this imposed hell, and I could go wherever I wanted. I was free. At least I had a week before school started.

I didn't even eat dinner, just went to bed early, crying for a good portion of the night.

When I woke up in the morning, I wasn't absolutely sure I was ready to face the world. I looked at the clock. 8:38. I had a couple hours before I had to be ready for lunch, so I went and got Wuthering Heights out of my bag. It was one of my favorite books, and I read it for a good hour before I started getting ready for the nightmare that was going to be lunch.

Edward:

"10:30! You have five minutes to be ready mister!"

Alice was like a buzzing bee in a hive. Schedule? Check. Annoying? Check. Tiny? Check. Hmm, I was a riot no doubt. I really should stop insulting her, she was my twin after all. Then there was Emmett, our older brother, crazy guy, I tell you. Biggest softy I knew though, and man, was he easy to provoke. Our best friends were the Hales, Alice's boyfriend Jasper and his Sister Rosalie, and Emmett's girlfriend. Why couldn't they have had a third sibling? Was that too much to ask for?

"Whatever Alice, I'm not going." Oh, smart answer Edward, now she's going to bring Emmett up here.

Sure enough, about ten seconds later, I heard the crash as Emmett came barreling up the stairs. Why, why did I have to say that?

You could almost hear the smile in their voices. "Edward, you have five seconds before I blow down this door and drag you to the goddamn restaurant!"

"Patience is a virtue Emmett, shut up and give me a minute." God, couldn't they see I didn't want to this? With a resigned sigh, I got up and opened the door, where I was immediately dragged downstairs and into Alice's Porsche. Lunchtime.

Bella:

The Pendulum is this really cool restaurant about thirty minutes outside of town. I wasn't all that jazzed about it, but Charlie was digging it, so I let it go and tried not to spiral down in misery. When we arrived, I had pulled myself together somewhat, so I was actually a bit excited to go inside.

"So Bella, are you excited for your first day of school?" Charlie seemed in an unusually good mood, it was odd. We were waiting for our table to become available.

"Yeah, I guess," I answered in a small voice. Charlie laughed at that, he could tell just by looking at me that I wasn't ready for school, and especially this new group I was going to have to deal with.

"You'll be fine Bella, you're a strong girl." Oh yeah? Then why did I cry all night?

"Thanks dad, it means a lot." I shuddered internally at what I was going to face next Monday. "What can you tell me about the new people?"

Charlie sighed. "There's five of them, they're all juniors and seniors, and…" He trailed off as our host approached us.

"Your table is ready, sir." He looked like some idiot who thought he was cool. I really hoped this wasn't all Forks had to offer, not that I had any dating opportunities in Phoenix, I was too awkward. He flashed a grin at me, and I just looked past him, and he looked disappointed when he was walking us to our table.

Because I knew Murphy's Law so well, I knew we were bound to see the people in question. God damn.

Edward:

I really didn't think today couldn't get any worse. Even though it hadn't been that bad so far, I really wanted to hate it, but it was working so far.

"Oh look!" Alice was ecstatic about something. I looked up and turned my head to see what she was pointing at.

Time froze.

I meant it literally. The world was frozen for a second as I took in the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She was perfect. Exquisite. Her body was soft, but thin, and she was wearing what looked like borderline designer clothing. That wasn't what froze time, though.

What froze time was her eyes. Chocolate brown, but they had incredible depth. Mirrored in them was the same things I saw in my own eyes. Depression, despair, and pain. Also abnormal perception and maturity, but who was I kidding. This perfect girl surely had a boyfriend, and I was certainly too depressing to ever have a chance with her.

"That must be Chief Swan's daughter!" You could already tell Alice had a new best friend, whether or not this girl wanted it. They were set to walk by our table, and it was a guarantee that she was going to introduce us.

"Chief Swan! Hi! It's Alice Cullen!" Alice was almost shouting now.

Chief Swan had a huge grin on his face as he walked by our booth. "Well hello there Alice, how are you?"

"I'm doing great! Thanks for helping fix Esme's car a few weeks ago." I was amazed she hadn't jumped out of the seat.

"Well now you're welcome! Let me introduce you to my daugh…" He was cut off by his phone vibrating. "Sorry, let me take this call, if you don't mind." Everyone quickly got the gist of the call. He was being called into work on Saturday, there was a car wreck and he had to be present at the scene.

"I'm so sorry," he said turning to us, "But can my daughter join you for lunch? I have to go into work."

I almost burst out laughing. The look the girl had given her father was priceless. I couldn't believe how lucky I was, though. Maybe I could find out something about this girl.

Bella:

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

How could Charlie do this to me?! I was almost in tears. Making me eat lunch with this unfamiliar group? There's just no way that this could be happening to me. I wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

A girl with spiky black hair and designer clothing, with a smile that could have lit up the moon nearly squealed when Charlie threw out the question.

"Of course she can! Oh my god! We'll take great care of her Chief Swan!" I could see Charlie thought this was a riot. He was so going to get it when I got home. Charlie handed me a twenty and gave me a look that said Be nice…or else, and walked out of the restaurant.

The girl named Alice slid farther into the booth so I could sit down. I stared down at my hands, too nervous to say anything.

"So, what's your name?" I was surprised Alice hadn't asked me this, and I looked up expectantly, trying to find out who it was.

It was one of those guys. You know. The one's that could be gods. This guy was beyond perfect. Green eyes, Perfect body, perfect skin. There's no way he was single. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. There was something about his eyes though…that made me unable to look away from him. I couldn't put my finger on it, but he stared right back.

After a few seconds, I snapped out of it. Instantly I could feel myself blushing. Great job, so much for not being a social wannabe. It took me a second to find my voice. "I'm Bella…Bella Swan." Of course they know your last name.

Alice grinned. "I'm Alice Cullen," she pointed to the god, "That's my twin brother, Edward," She waved her hand across the rest, "And that's Emmett, my older brother, Jasper, my boyfriend, and his older sister Rosalie, who also happens to be Emmett's girlfriend.

I was trying to smash my hopes that instantly rose up. His girlfriend must not have been able to come. Or maybe, he doesn't have a girlfri- no! He's got a girlfriend! I must have looked like an idiot sitting there.

Eventually, I recovered. "It's nice to meet you all." Never mind the fact that I'm retarded.

Rosalie smiled and said "Welcome to Forks Bella, we just moved down from Vancouver, so it's a bit of a change for us."

They quickly started bombarding me with questions. Everyone except Edward, who looked like he had been hit with a taser.

Edward:

She's seeing someone.

Maybe not!

Stop getting your hopes up, idiot, she's not interested!

I might have a chance.

Why, why was I sitting here like an idiot, struggling to find something to say? Probably because I was an idiot, someone who obviously did not deserve this amazing girl. I tried to form a question, but every time I tried, it was like someone grabbed my tongue, and I couldn't bring myself to say anything.

Alice was the one asking the most questions, and the poor girl looked like she was being tortured. She didn't seem to like anything social, but with her looks and clothing, I could reach no other conclusion except that she obviously didn't like us.

At one point, Alice started with her love life.

"Bella, do you have a boyfriend?" the question was so outright, I wasn't surprised when her eyes dilated and she looked away.

"No…umm, I've never had a boyfriend…Someone like me usually doesn't date, especially with my looks.

"But you're really pretty!" Alice was confused. Bella gave her a skeptical look and she said it in earnest again, "Seriously, you're really pretty! Every guy in the school is going to be after you!"

She cringed and said "I really hope not." Poor girl, I felt bad for her when she was going to have people like Mike Newton after her. Filthy man-whore.

She surprised me, and everyone else at the table then by saying "Umm, do you have a boyfriend…Edward?" She said my name like a question. Great Job, she doesn't even know your name.

I was so angry with myself that I got up from the table and muttered "I'll be right back."

Bella:

Why did you ask him that? Now he's angry with me. Fan-fucking-tabulus.

Edward got up and very nearly ran toward the exit. Alice stared at him like he had ruined Christmas. Nice. You're so smooth Bella.

"Don't mind Edward, he's just being a party pooper" Alice finally said after a few awkward seconds. "He's probably just sulking about something that he can't play his piano or something."

"I'm pretty sure it was what I said. I'm not very good in social situations, I just figured…" I was trying not to cry now.

"No, no! Bella don't worry, Edward has always been a little weird. Just punch him in the face the next time you see him ." She laughed.

I couldn't shake the feeling that I was the reason why Edward had ran away, but Alice moved on in her questioning. I'd never talked so much in my life. I didn't really like answering all these questions, but her and her family really seemed to enjoy it. Emmett seemed to think I was a riot, so maybe Edward was a little strange.

"Alright, well it's time to go guys. Bella, do you need a ride home?" Emmett was laughing already, no doubt at what Edward's reaction would be when we got in the car.

"…Actually, if you don't mind, I would like to take Bella home." I instantly froze. Could it be?

Edward was standing behind us.

Wait, did he just ask…to drive me home? Seriously? Edward grinned and said "Please Alice? I've got the Volvo and everything.

Alice giggled. "Sure Edward. I can't believe you drove home and back just to drive her home, but more power to you!"

My eyes got a little wider, did he really do that for me?

"S-Sure…" I stuttered. Edward looked at me skeptically.

"If you don't want to, you don't have to, you know." His eyes seemed to hold me there and I couldn't look away.

I flushed. "No…I want to go. Thank you very much."

Emmett and Jasper had huge smiles on their faces. "Yeah Edward, have fun with the ride," Emmett said. Jasper started laughing too.

I was missing something here, obviously.

Edward:

"Hey Emmett, you ever heard of the phrase 'looks could kill?'" Jasper said while trying not to laugh.

I'm sure that's probably the look I was giving Jasper. I didn't care though. I just wanted to get to know Bella better, and they weren't helping.

"Die in a Fire, Emmett." I snapped. Bella slapped my arm.

"Be nice!" I was surprised, although she seemed to be socially awkward, she also seemed to connect with people in a different way. She already seemed like one of us. I had no doubt Bella would fall in with us at school.

Alice grabbed her cell phone and handed it to Bella. "Here, give me your phone, and we can trade numbers. We'll get together tomorrow too so you can meet Carlisle and Esme!"

Bella fumbled with her purse and gave Alice her phone. After they traded numbers, Alice finally let me go. We walked to my car in total silence. Bella looked like she was very, very afraid about whatever it was I seemed to have planned for her.

I opened the door for her and she seemed startled "Thanks…" Oh man Edward, could you have screwed this up any more?

I got in the drivers side, and started the car. After I had backed up and we were on the highway, I turned to look at her for a second.

"I'm really sorry for what happened back there…" She started and I cut her off.

"Don't worry, it was my fault. Let's just put it behind us, okay?" I hoped that would placate her.

She smiled a beautiful smile. "Are you sure? I really didn't mean to upset you like that."

I grinned back. "I'm fine." I waited a few seconds for her to say something, and when she didn't, I prompted her…"Friends?"

"As long as you're not holding a grudge against me." I rolled my eyes, this girl was insane, for sure.

"To answer your question though…" Now it was her turn to cut me off.

"It's okay, you don't have to answer."

"I don't." I managed to finish. I glanced over at her. She seemed to be wrestling with a problem.

"Okay. Thanks for answering," somehow, it seemed I had upset her again. Wow Edward, ruin people's lives' for a living, why don't you?

"Can I ask you something else?" She continued.

"Sure. Ask me anything."

[Author's Note] And there you have it. I hope you didn't think it was terrible, and I'm sure most will agree Alice is a liitttle too...dreary, I guess, for my tastes. I'll be working on that, as it was by far the thing that bothered me most. I'll try to update the story whenever possible. Again, anything you'd like to share is awesome.

Thanks again,

~Kaia.