Chapter ONE:
Homecomming and Introductions

I gazed silently at the house, wondering how exactly I was going to explain to Bella what I was doing here.

"Just wing it."

I muttered, and walked up to the door. As I passed by an old red truck, I vaguely wondered who it belonged to. I had just reached the door when it flew open.

"MARY!" I laughed and hugged Bella back. "I heard a car pull up and then leave." She rushed to explain. I smiled then frowned.

"Awww man!"

"What?" She asked, her chocolate eyes concerned.

"You're taller than me!"

Indeed, my five foot two inches proved my shortness. Bella grinned and led me into the house. She was chattering happily as I examined the house. Nothing had changed. Not the yellow cabinets that I glimpsed as I passed the kitchen, not the living room, or even the tiny bathroom. I plopped down on the sofa and smiled to myself.

"Are you hungry?" Bella asked.

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't just get off the plane Bells. My friend paid for my fries and my coke, on the way down from Seattle."

"That's all you're running on?" I nodded.

The phone rang and Bella slowly walked away to answer it, knowing her it was probably because she was worrying about me, again.

'She really needs to stop that.' I thought

"Now's not a good time, Edward. I have someone over."

Bella's voice was nothing but a soft murmur and I vaguely wondered if this was the Edward.

"I don't know. I'll see you at school."

The song of the phone hanging up came to my ears and then Bella walked back into the living room.

"Sorry, that was my boyfriend."

I felt the disbelief on my face. "Boyfriend? And when did this happen?"

I watched as Bella began to explain everything. I was amazed as I watched her features.

She practically glowed as she told me about the Edward I already knew.

I understood something then, she loved him, probably more than even she knew.

'Great. Oh, and by the way I am going to make his life miserable for the first few minuets we meet, for what he did to you.' I thought.

"So, what are you doing here?" Bella had always talked a lot around me, and some how I managed to always keep the conversation about me to a minimum.

I shrugged. "Because we haven't seen each other in years."

'Because Charlie practically begged me to come down.' I recited the truth in my mind.

"Well, not much has changed."

'Except you.' "Bella you are so foolish." I said informatively.

We talked about how things were going with my foster family and what had been going on up until a few months ago. It was obvious we deliberately avoided that topic. We both had so much to say that neither of us noticed it had gotten dark. It was only when Charlie stomped through the door that we realized how late it was.

"Dad, guess whose here!"

Charlie sounded wary as he replied. "Who?"

I stepped into his sight and he grinned. "Marianne!"

I was encased in another hug and round of delight. "How've you been kiddo?"

I grinned openly, "Great." He smiled. "That's good."

People have always said that people want to be around me and open up to me. I always shrugged that off. I'm just capable of talking to people. It always comes as a shocker to others when they find out that I prefer the company of animals over humans.

"Bella, Billy invited us over to his birthday night. Turning fifty-somethin' an' I thought I'd be a good idea."

Bella nodded. "Sure." She turned towards me, "If that's okay with you."

"Sounds nice."

It didn't take long for Charlie to get out of his uniform and drive us down to the Reservation . When we arrived at a brightly lit house, I had to swallow in nervousness. At least four or five cars were parked outside the house already. Bella noticed and squeezed my hand .

"You'll like this, don't worry."

Always worrying about others. "I know."

They walked straight into the house and I followed, at a slightly slower pace.

"What took you so long?" A rich, majestic voice bellowed over the loud din.

I starred around me. A lot of the people there were huge guys.

One especially tall guy turned and grinned, his brown eyes only looking at Bella.

I had seen that look once. 'down boy.' I thought, pretending that he was a dog.

Next thing I knew he was there, talking to Charlie and Bella- mostly Bella.

"Jake this is my friend, Marianne." I jerked away from my thoughts as the boy smiled down at me. I knew what he saw as he looked at me. Brown hair that was slightly wavy, but straight. I was nowhere near as pale as Bella, but nowhere near as tan as this guy. My small height, and fragile looking build, to me looked awful. My gaze met his dark brown and I liked how his widened in shock. My blue-grey eyes were my best feature, and always shocked people.

"Hey, I'm Jacob." I gave his hand a firm shake. "It's Mary to those who're friends."

He grinned, showing white teeth. "Would I be a friend?"

"Sure, if you stop looking at Bella like that."

Chapter Two:

More Introductions

The party was long and eventually I fled, and spent the rest of it outside.

We returned to the house around 10:00 and I promptly fell asleep on the sofa.

Thunder woke me and I blearily sat up. "Wha-?"

"Mary, hurry up and get dressed, you're coming to school right?"

Still half asleep I didn't entirely catch all of what Bella said.

"The keys to my truck are by the door, I'll see you there!"

Bella launched herself out the door, and I looked around, confused.

"Damn early-birds." I got up and jumped into the shower. Not really caring about my wet hair I ran a brush through it and pulled on a black tank top, then a grey, long-sleeved off the shoulders shirt over the tank top. I jerked on a pair of black jeans and then some socks and lastly, my black shoes. Yes, I like black, but it's not the only color I wear. I grabbed my messenger bag and stuff three composition books into it. Grabbing an apple I walked calmly out the door, and to the truck. It literally ROARED to life, and I jumped, and proceeded to swear as I had hit my head on the roof.

Forks High School was tiny. I don't mean like tiny just physically I mean tiny in size and in population. I plugged my ipod head phones into my ears, turning off the car and turning on Evanesance. Getting out was the easy part, getting to the school through all these people… That was something else entirely. It seemed as though the entire population of Forks High School, was all outside, teachers, students, everyone. They ignored the roar of the truck, which was much to my relief. As I got out, though people started to point.

"Who's that?" An annoyingly squawky voice said behind me. "Shh, she'll hear you Lauren." Tons of other whispers I caught but I paid them no mind. I don't care what other people think about me. I had stopped caring a long time ago. Walking through the office door, I quickly got my schedule and began to wander around, searching for the one familiar face in the sea of unfamiliar faces.

Finally I spotted her. "Bella!"

I started walking and then stopped when I realized that she was with someone. Well, five someones. All of them were amazing and familiar. My mind flashed back to my trip to Italy. While Bella had been here in Forks without Edward, I had been there as an exchange student.

'Sigh later.' I thought. I looked up feeling eyes on me. At boy's, the one I assumed was Edward, after hearing Bell's description.

Ignoring him and the others who were also beginning to look I walked calmly over to Bella. "Hi!" She said, the inner glow appearing. I mentally sighed. 'Don't give in, don't give in. Remembering this morning made it easier, I scowled at Bella.

"You want to tell me why?"

She smiled sheepishly.

"Umm, I had a ride."

"So you leave your sister, to fare by herself?"

"Sorry." Her shoulders had hunched up, and she looked at me with guilt.

I relaxed and grinned. "Geez Bells, you are too gullible."

She grimaced. "Why does everybody keep on telling me that?"

"'Cause it's true." I told her flicking her forehead playfully.

"Anyhow I will be seeing you later."

"Oh, no you don't" Bella growled pulling on my shirt. She addressed the people that she stood with. "Sorry, she's shy when it comes to meeting people." I glared at my insulting friend. "Mary, I want you to meet Edward." I had turned and looked at the boy. I just nodded. "This is Alice." She informed me, pointing to a small girl with spiky, black hair. "This is her boyfriend, Jasper Hale." The guy indicated was blonde, tall, and muscular. "And this is Rosalie Hale and Emmett Cullen." She indicted towards a beautiful girl, who was elegant and blonde and a tall, extremely muscular dark haired guy. "Nice to meet you." Bella sighed exasperated. "This is Marianne; she's been my friend since she was born." I glared at her for I quick moment.

"Are you named after Marianne Dashwood?" The little girl asked, excitedly. I smiled at her. "Unfortunately, my mom was a little wobbly due to drugs and she named me that because that was her favorite character." I said. I had told this same story to so many people that it wasn't completely a lie anymore. Though it was a half-truth in reality. "Later Bells." I said and walked off.

I wanted to scream by the time lunch came around. Too many people wanted to know who I was, why I was here, and other personal details that I wasn't anywhere near willing to tell. Of course, I was very careful to change the topic and not offend anybody.

'You had better appreciate this Charlie.' I thought as I walked into the cafeteria. People stared and pointed and whispered.

Looking around I saw Edward and family, but no Bella. I walked over when Alice waved me over. "Where's Bella?" I asked when I had taken a seat. "Her class is being held in late." Alice said. I rolled my eyes and began to eat my apple. "Hmm, Verona sounds like a good idea." Rosalie murmured to her brother. I perked up. "You're going to Italy?" They looked at me in surprise. "Yes, why?" "If you go to Verona you'll want to try to avoid the lower portion of the city, the water levels have risen recently." There was and awkward silence and I flushed. "Sorry."

"Don't be. Where would you go if you had to pick?" Edward asked conversationally. My eyes narrowed, something was wrong. Shrugging I looked at the map that Rosalie held. "There's a beautiful city called Voltera. High walls surround the entire city, and a canal runs through it. There architecture is old but suits it perfectly. My favorite times of day would be the dawn and twilight." I sighed, zoneing out. "When the sun comes up it paints the sky in brilliant hues of pink and orange, and red. Like the fire of a phoenix. And as the sun goes down," I paused to sigh. "It's almost like a dream…and then you wake up."