Prologue:

All my life I had been a little different. I had always been shy and reserved around strangers. Making friends was nearly impossible. I was such an introvert that I was immediately labeled as a nobody in middle school. Now, in my junior year of high school, I was always on the edge of society.

I had gotten so good at being invisible that people only saw me in their peripherals; I didn't hold enough attention to make someone look my way. People that I had been going to school with for years didn't even know my name. I was an outsider.

I have nothing noticeable about my appearance. I am so completely average that if I were standing by myself I would simply be part of the scenery to anyone walking by. I am small and pale. I stand nearly five feet, five inches tall and I am slim. I keep my figure by dancing ballet everyday in the basement of my house. I have plain brown hair that has waves. I have one feature that is slightly different. My eyes are blue, and so pale that I could have been mistaken as a blind girl.

That would only happen if someone noticed my eyes.

Chapter 1:

Watch Where You're Going

I woke up to the incessant beeping of my alarm clock. Without bothering to look I swung my arm out from under the covers and hit the snooze button. After years of practice I managed to avoid sending the clock crashing to the floor. I laid in bed for a few minutes to come to terms with the fact that I was facing yet another school year. Eventually I heaved myself out of bed and dragged my feet to the little bathroom at the end of the short second floor hallway of the house that I shared with my dad.

The hot water woke me up enough to form coherent thought. After I was clean I returned to my room in a towel. I quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and a plain slim fit T-shirt from my closet and changed into the clean clothing. I grabbed my backpack and trudged downstairs. Once I reached the kitchen I dropped my bag on my way to the pantry. I searched the pantry and found our last box of pop tarts on the top shelf. I could barely reach them. I put two in the toaster and started a pot of coffee.

Once the pop tarts were ready I quickly ate and poured myself a cup of straight black coffee. I left the mug of the hot drink on the counter and grabbed my navy blue jacket off a peg by the door. I shrugged it on and slung my backpack over my shoulder before grabbing my keys and the cup off the counter. I opened the door and I was immediately greeted with a gust of wind blowing in my face and sending a torrent of rain into the kitchen. Nonetheless, I made my way out to the driveway and threw my bag into the passenger seat of my vintage black Mustang.

My status as a nobody was so complete that my car had never attracted the attention of my classmates. I was glad. I have never liked the attention of anyone. Once I reached the school I parked in the first empty space I saw and I carefully opened the door of my car. I definitely didn't want a scratch on the first day.

I quickly grabbed my things and made my way to the main building. I kept my head down as a habit. I wasn't bothered with happy reunions with friends that had been away all summer. As I reached the dryness of the building I wasn't acknowledged – as always.

I quietly worked my way to English. I weaved through the crowded hallways that pulsed with exclamations of "You look so different!" and, "I haven't seen you in ages!" I avoided stray feet and elbows from classmates who didn't notice that I was trying to get through. Eventually I found myself in front of room 207, Mr. Donnelly's English class.

I quietly pushed open the door with my shoulder and walked to a desk in the back. I let my backpack fall from my shoulder to land on the floor by my chair. As the time passed, students trickled into the room in groups and pairs. The room filled with idle conversation for the short period of time before the teacher arrived. I spent my time extracting my English binder from my bag.

Mr. Donnelly arrived and quickly put an end to all talking. He was a heavyset man with thinning brown hair and a thick mustache. He quickly introduced himself and handed out the class syllabus. He told us in a slightly disgusted tone that he "wouldn't be surprised if we had never even heard of the classics that would be read that year."

I scanned the list and realized that I had read every single title, including plays by Shakespeare. I looked around the room at the annoyed faces of the other students as they read the syllabus. It seemed like I would be the only one enjoying the class.

English was just an introduction to the year and Mr. Donnelly talking at us. Though it was a little tedious the class still passed quickly. The bell rang a lot sooner than I expected. I gathered up my things and left the room along with everybody else.

Second period Spanish passed fairly quickly and soon I was heading toward the cafeteria. I paid for an apple and a bottle of water and started scanning the room for an empty table. I found one near the doors leading outside and I dropped my things on the seat beside me. Every time someone went in or out of the cafeteria I was hit with a chilling breeze that numbed my face and fingers.

With five minutes left of lunch I gathered my things and started walking toward my Math Analysis class with Mrs. Richardson. It was in a trailer on the opposite side of the campus from the cafeteria. It was in the parking lot behind the main office. By now the rain had picked up even more than this morning and I was forced to sprint through sheets of freezing precipitation.

I finally made it and I sat, dripping, at one of the empty desks. I quickly put my wet hair into a loose bun to keep it from sticking to my face and neck. Eventually the class was filled and the teacher arrived. She walked in leading a tall blond boy. She introduced him as Jasper Whitlock. He smiled and took the only empty seat in the room, which happened to be next to mine.

Once he had sat down he looked up at me and smiled again. His smile faltered for a second and I assumed that he had noticed my eyes. I was just surprised that he noticed me at all. After a split second he reverted his gaze back to Mrs. Richardson who was rambling away.

After the class we both stood up at the same time. Once again he looked at me, but this time he held out his hand. "Hi there, I'm Jasper. This is my first year here and I don't know anyone yet." He had a bit of a Southern drawl, but it was really subtle.

I liked him already. He seemed like genuinely nice guy. I shook his hand tentatively. "It's really nice to meet you Jasper. My name's Bella Swan." I forced myself to be polite and make eye contact. Jasper grinned.

"Well, Bella Swan, it is a pleasure to meet you, but I have to meet my girlfriend in," he checked the clock, "about thirty seconds." With that he slung his backpack over his shoulder and strode out of the room. I collected my stuff and left shortly after him.

I gently shouldered my way through the throngs of people flooding the hallways. I kept my eyes on my feet to make sure that I didn't step on anyone. Suddenly, I collided with something and was knocked off my feet to end up sitting on the floor. My bag went sliding away from me.

"Watch where you're going," a voice sneered. I looked up and was met with a pair of eyes that I had never seen before. I assumed that he was new.

I immediately looked down and stood up slowly. "I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't watching where I was going," I said quietly. With that I collected my backpack from the floor and walked, faster than before, towards the science wing.

That is why it is so hard to make friends…so many other people care for no one but themselves. He didn't even help me up. He just sneered in my direction.