Yo! This is already my fifth fanfic, but this is still my first Twilight fic. I usually stick to the Mediator, but I just read the Twilight Saga, and I'm hooked. It is so awesome! So, please read my story. They're seniors, in high school, btw.

Disclaimer: I, unfortunately do not own the Twilight Saga. How sad...

Starlight – Chapter One: The Newbies

Bella's POV:

"Hey, Bella, did you like, see the new kid? Apparently, he's an exchange student. From Forks, of all places. Isn't that the really little town in whats-it-name?" my best friend Rosalie asked me. She is a tall blonde who is really smart. She's really friendly and outgoing. Did I mention she's a shopaholic? My other best friend is Jasper. He's Rosalie's twin. He's a big goofball.

"Really? I grew up there, you know," I told her, not really paying attention to what she was saying.

"Oh yeah, you did mention that before…" she mused. "So, wanna go meet him?"

"Sure," I shrugged. "Why not? I mean, we do have all the time in the world…"

Rosalie laughed gaily. "Well, we do. Until later, anyway. Come on, let's go! Up, up, up! It's not everyday a new kid arrives, you know. He's in the main lobby."

I stood up from the chair I was sitting on as we made our way out of the library. We were sitting at a very secluded area, where nobody really paid attention to.

We walked out from the library to the main lobby. During that short period, a lot of other kids greeted us. Hey, we were pretty popular. (A/N: Oops. Almost came out as poopular. Hehehe…) Only we aren't like Lauren and her posse, who are all dumb airheads who constantly try to make my life a living hell. So, I also try to make their lives hell, too.

We finally reached the main lobby, but… Huh? Where was everybody? There was nobody there. Well, this period is free time for all seniors. Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, I was searching for him when Rosalie suddenly grabbed my hand and pointed to a couch in the far end of the wall.

There, sat not one person, but three! Who were staring right back at us! I looked Rosalie. She looked confused. I looked back at them and I studied them carefully. There were two guys, and a girl. She was really little and pixie-like, with jet black hair. Really cute. I looked at the first guy, and my first impression was, Whoa. He's huge! Like, totally enormous!

Then the last one. Bronze haired, he was smaller than the other guy. He looked uncomfortable and shy, but his eyes! They were a deep emerald green that looked so vibrant…

All in all, they looked stunning.

The huge guy stood up, and man, was he tall! He must tower over me!

"Hello! I'm Emmett Cullen. We're new here, from Forks. This is Alice, my sister," he said as he indicated to the little girl. She gave us this cold glare. Unfriendly much?

"This little guy here is my brother Edward," Emmett laughed.

"Hey! Who are you calling little?" Edward stood up. Whoa. He was the same height as Emmett!

"OK, sorry!" Emmett grinned. "This shy guy here is Edward."

"Hmph!" he mumbled.

"So, who are you?" Alice stood up.

"Hi! I'm Rosalie Hale! This is Bella, Bella Swan!" Rose chirped.

"Hi!" I mumbled, trying to sound enthusiastic.

Alice's cold glare broke into a huge smile. "Oh, good. You're friendly. Sorry for the unfriendliness. I was just being cautious, in case you were snobs," she apologized.

I smiled. "Do we look like snobs? Anyway, don't worry about us. Who you should worry about, is Lauren and her posse."

"Thanks for the heads up," Edward said shyly.

"Just say he got into trouble with kids like Lauren in our old school," Alice explained.

"That's why we transferred here," Emmett finished.

"Guys, shut UP!" Edward groaned.

"Want us to guide you today? You know, to get familiar with the area," I offered.

"Sure! Thanks a lot!" Emmett grinned.

"You are all seniors, right?" I asked.

"Yup," Alice answered.

"Then you get this period for yourselves!" I told them.

"Really? That's great!" Edward smiled shyly.

I smiled back at him, and he blushed. That was weird… guys do not blush when you smile at them.

"Come on! Let's go to the cafeteria. It's usually empty by now. We can get to know each other better," I said.

"Sure," Emmett shrugged.

While we reached there, we immediately started chatting. I noticed Edward didn't really say much unless he was asked a question. He had this weird confused look on his face.

I was answering a question of Emmett's, when Edward suddenly interrupted me.

"Are you seeing anybody?" he blurted, immediately clamping his hands over his mouth after asking and turning a bright shade of red.

"Dude! Are you serious? Man, was that bothering you the whole time? Don't even think about it, I'm sure somebody like Bella is seeing someone," Emmett guffawed. Alice and Rosalie grinned at me.

I cleared my throat as I blushed. "Actually, I'm not seeing anyone." Edward looked relieved.

"And what do you mean by someone like me?" I glared at Emmett.

"You know, hot. And popular, from what I'm hearing," he shrugged carelessly.

Hot? He thinks I'm hot!?

I gaped at him.

"It is true, Bella. You are extremely beautiful," Alice said.

"Me. Extremely beautiful." I repeated. She nodded.

"Are you guys on crack?" I demanded. "Attractive, maybe. But extremely beautiful?"

"I can't blame Edward for asking you. I would have too, you're just not my type," Emmett said as he pretended to gasp in pain as I whacked him on his head.

"I'm sorry, I should have never asked that," Edward murmured.

"It's alright Edward. At least it's not bothering you anymore," I winked as he blushed scarlet again.

Rosalie suddenly gasped. "Oh, no! It's almost time! Come on, we're gonna be late!"

We looked at their schedules and found that we had the same classes with at least one of them all the time. I had the next class with Emmett and Rosalie, and the one after with Edward. We all had the same lunch period.

"Hey Em! You should really go meet Jasper, our friend. I think you'd go along great," I told him on the way.

"So Alice isn't taken?" he said brightly. I promptly smacked his arm and he jumped around, pretending to be in pain.

The period passed by quickly, and before I knew it, I had Biology with Edward. I sat down on an unoccupied table in the second row. No one dared to sit next to me or make casual attempts to hit on me, because they knew that the results would not be pretty.

The last one in class was Edward, and the only available space was my table, so he had no choice but to sit next to me.

"Hi," he said shyly.

I decided to play with him. "Hi! Nice to see you again! Anymore questions?"

I was instantly sorry when he blushed scarlet and clammed up.

Our teacher arrived and made Edward go in front and introduce himself. Poor guy. He looked scared to death.

"Um, hi. I'm Edward Cullen. I just arrived here from Forks," he mumbled.

"What? Speak up!" Lauren, who was in the back row seat yelled coyly.

Edward blushed yet again, so I decided to save him.

"He said his name is Edward and he came from Forks," I repeated slowly, pronouncing each word loudly and clearly. "Get it?"

"Shut up, Swan. No one asked for your opinion," she scowled angrily.

"Right…" I mused.

"That's it! Edward, go back to your place. Lauren, I don't want to hear another word from you," our teacher, Mr. Walden, interrupted angrily.

"But she started it," Lauren whined.

"Ms. Mallory, you get detention today. Say another word and you'll get detention for a week," Mr. Walden retorted, clearly fed-up with her.

"B- but," she stammered.

"One week detention. Now, would you please keep quiet so I can proceed with our lessons?" he asked angrily.

"Hmph!" she muttered quietly.

"Hey, Bella. Thanks for sticking up to me," Edward whispered beside me.

"It's OK," I smiled affectionally, squeezing his hand, making him smile shyly and blush.

Mr. Walden started discussing about some stuff, and I tuned him out. Beside me, I saw Edward writing down notes while occasionally glancing at me, and blushing scarlet when I would catch his eye. I started thinking of him. In the short time I had known him, I already felt extremely attached to him. He is really sweet. Once he gets past his shyness, he was a whole different person. Plus, he is really smart, not to mention cute…

As I broke out of my trance, I realized I was staring at him in this love-struck way. Thankfully, he didn't see it, cause if he did… Yikes!

The rest of the day passed by quickly, no more Lauren incidents. At the end of the day, the Cullens invited me, Rosalie, and Jasper to their house. (Jasper and Emmett became good friends right away.) We quickly accepted.

As I entered their house, my jaw dropped. I'm pretty sure Rose and Jasper's did too. Their house was amazing. Really huge and stylishly furnished…

"Whoa. You guys care to mention how you this one little detail?" Jasper asked mildly. "That you're filthy rich?"

They shared an embarrassed look.

"Not really. It's our dad. He's a very famous doctor. Have you heard of Dr. Carlisle Cullen?" Edward asked.

Jasper stared at them. "Dr. Carlisle Cullen? Dr. Carlisle Cullen is your dad!?" he exclaimed.

Dr. Carlisle is a very well-respected doctor here. Guess that explains all the money.

Emmett nodded. "Please, do not tell anyone. Then they would befriend us just because of our wealth."

Oh.

"I understand. Your secret's safe with me," I nodded.

"And me," Rose repeated.

"Me too," echoed Jasper.

"See? I told you we could trust them," Emmett nudged Alice.

"I'm sorry guys. I was just being overcautious, I guess. You would not believe he number of times kids pretended to like us, just to get our money," she said apologetically.

"It's OK," I said.

"Hey! Why don't we each play a game that would help us know more about each other?" Alice asked. "Our parents aren't going to arrive yet soon; we can have some fun!"

"Yeah! What about 20 questions?" Rosalie suggested.

"Nah, too easy. What about Truth or Dare?" Emmett said, his eyes twinkling.

"No," I said firmly. When they all stared at me, I blushed.

"Uh, what I meant was, why don't we play 20 questions now, Truth or Dare some other time?" I hurriedly said.

"Fine by me," Edward spoke up, and soon, they all agreed.

"You're lucky this time, Bella. But next time, we are so going to play Truth or Dare," Emmett growled playfully.

"Yeah, whatever," I said in this mock- snobby voice, making all of them laugh.

"Hey, I have an idea," Alice said. "Why don't we choose a category, and take turns telling something about our experience in that area?"

"I like it!" Rosalie exclaimed. "Our first topic shall be about… past relationships."

Boy, does she get straight to the catch, or what? Great. I'm gonna have to talk about something painful, and something I haven't talked to anybody about yet, not even Rosalie.

We sat down on some comfy chairs and started.

"Ooh, me! I'll start! I was a sophomore when I dated this guy named Seth. He was really sweet and caring. He was all over me, but I wasn't so crazy about him. Soon, I got really tired of him, and we broke up," Alice shrugged.

"Not so interesting, but close enough," Rosalie said. "Now, it's my turn. I dated this guy. Name was Mike Newton. We just went out for a month when I learned he was cheating on me. I immediately dumped him during dinner. I still remember his face when I dumped my drink on his head," she giggled, obviously over him.

It was now Emmett's turn. "I don't know. Five, Six? I dated a lot of girls; I never had a serious relationship. But I hope I will soon," he said, while sneaking a glance at Rosalie, making her smile.

"I was kinda serious with this girl named Joanna, when she suddenly dumped me for this guy she met. I was all sour from it," he said, sneaking a quick look at Alice.

Wait. Rosalie and Emmett. Alice and Jasper. Does that make it me and Edward?...

"I once had a girlfriend- though I'm not sure if that's the right word- named Jessica. She showed to everyone she knew, like I was this prized possession. She became whiny and dependent later on. Guess it took me too long to realize she was using me," Edward scowled.

I realized everyone was staring at me. Oops. It's my turn. I took a deep breath and began.

"Last year, I dated this guy, Jacob Black. Some girls warned me that he was a real player and he wasn't the greatest guy, but I ignored them, too head over heels for him. Later in or relationship, he began to abuse me. He would get mad and slap me, kick me, or worse, punch my face. I also realized that he went out with other girls the whole time. I broke up with him, and he didn't care at all. The next day, I saw him kissing another girl in public. Another poor victim. I really should have listened to the girls," I ended sadly.

It took me a moment to realize they were all staring at me.

"Is that true, Bella? He was he reason I saw a big black bruise on your cheek? And that sometimes, you would be limping?" Rose asked. When I nodded, she immediately wailed, "Why did you never tell me that? Whenever I would ask you, you would say something about an accident. I should have known what was bothering you! Oh, I am such a horrible friend!"

"It's OK, Rose," I said ruefully, seeing that she was on the verge of tears.

"Bella, we're sorry. We would have never asked you to tell us if we knew it was that painful," Edward apologized.

"Well, what's done is done," I answered simply.

When Edward suddenly hugged me comfortingly, I was so shocked I almost broke away. But after a moment, I hugged back, enjoying the feel of his hard muscles, his warmth, his smell…

I smiled. Me and Edward didn't sound so bad after all. I could get used to this.

You like it? You better, because I had to edit everything! Turned out I had a mistake or two. Oh yeah, I just wrote the ending of this story in advance, and it is very emotional. It gave me this weird fuzzy-tingling feeling… (Don't worry- this story has a happy ending) Be sure NOT to miss it. You won't regret it; trust me. Now go review so I'll be inspired to update… Please?

Jen