Chapter 1:
I walked through the doors of Forks High School on the first day of my Junior year. I had moved to the tiny town of Forks, Washington from Phoenix, Arizona over the summer. That's where I used to live with my mother, Renee, who was now remarried to Phil. So, I forced myself to move to Forks, where my dad, Charlie, lives. He's been alone for seventeen years, since I was born. And I felt like I needed a change of scenery, no matter how much I hated Forks and loved Arizona. I had always detested Forks.
As soon as I walked into the school, it felt like all eyes were on me. I could feel the heat creeping up into my face and ears, and I'm sure I was blushing. I could hear chatter all around me, and it sounded like most people were talking about me. To make it even worse, I tripped on the doorjamb of my first class, English. I did a faceplant onto the floor and all my things went flying everywhere. I pushed myself up off the floor and was about to gather my stuff up when I noticed a pair of hands reaching down to help me.
I was absolutely stunned when I looked up. A boy with reddish-brown, casually tousled hair and butterscotch-colored eyes was staring right at me, a smile plastered on his face. His facial features were perfectly chisled and I felt like I was looking at a Greek god rather than one of my new classmates. I tucked a strand of my long, brown hair behind my ear and politely shook the hand that he was holding out to me.
"I'm Edward Cullen," he said. His voice was like music to my ears. "You must be Isabella Swan."
"Uh... Bella, actually. Nice to meet you," I replied. I started to pick up my things and Edward helped me. When everything was gathered up, he helped me stand up and I walked to the teacher's desk. There was a big nameplate sitting on the top that read, "Mr. Varner." He looked up from the papers he was shuffling when he heard me approach.
"Can I help you?" he asked ith an annoyed expression on his face.
"Um... I'm Bella Swan... the new girl." I can't believe I just labeled myself that.
"Great. Now go sit down over there," he said as he pointed to the same table that Edward was now seated at, staring at something in his notebook.
I walked to the table slowly and set my things down on the top before sitting in the chair next to him. I looked down at the table, suddenly 'interested' in my binder. I saw him turn torwards me slightly out of the corner of my eye. I let my hair fall over my left shoulder, creating a cutain between us.
"Bella?" he asked.
I looked up so fast that I almost got whiplash. "Yes?" I asked.
He seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking, "can I see your schedule... to see if we have any more classes together?"
I mechanically handed him the flimsy yellow paper that had all my classes on it. He scanned over it with his eyes before looking back at up me. "It looks like we have fourth hour free period and sixth hour Biology together. And English, of course."
"Great," I replied with a smile. He gave my schedule back to me and I tucked it away somewhere I could reach it for later if I needed to. Mr. Varner decided to finally start class then, so we both turned towards the blackbaord, unwillingly, and listened to his lecture on Shakespeare and how we would be writing an essay on Romeo and Juliet. How original, I thought. As the class droned on, I was aware of every motion Edward made beside me. And I suddenly couldn't wait for fourth hour to come.