A/N:

I'm skimping on some of the intro stuff because I figure that most of you guys are familiar enough with the background to the story, but it felt wrong to skip it entirely. This first chapter doesn't really divert a whole lot from the real story, but Chapter 2 will. I promise.

I'm a psychology student, and I've always been interested in social anxiety disorder (aka social phobia)… so I decided to see what would happen if Bella had S.A.D. In some ways, Bella will be fairly similar, since she already hates the spotlight and is a little reclusive. It kind of felt like it fit.

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I WISH I owned Twilight… particularly Edward… but I don't. Sigh.

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Everyone who knew me could tell I was making a sacrifice. My mom and my dad weren't fooled, but I pretended that they were wrong. It was just easier that way. There was no reason to complain about how cold and wet Forks, Washington was. They already knew that, and they knew I would prefer warm, dry weather any day. It wouldn't help to make this harder for them, too.

My mom deserved some time with her new husband, Phil. He made her happy, and it was as simple as that. She would want to travel with him on his baseball trips, and she wouldn't be able to leave me if I stayed with her in Phoenix. What kind of daughter would I be if I kept her from being with him, especially when I knew it made her so unhappy?

It was only right that I would move to Forks to live with my dad. It made sense. Besides, I wouldn't have to stay more than a couple years.

I was nervous about the whole move, though. I was nervous to have to start over with new friends. I felt like it wasn't as easy for me to relax around people. It was in my nature. I had a bottle of prescribed medication to prove it. I might be better, but I was still far from cured.

Charlie, my dad, was sitting across the table from me, a half-eaten bagel in one hand and the newspaper in his other. He was like me in so many ways. He, like me, preferred the quiet. I've never really asked him before, but I was pretty sure he had the same sorts of problems with anxiety as I had. We rarely discussed that sort of thing. How typical.

I had to give him credit, though. He was doing what he could to make this comfortable. He was welcoming and helpful beyond what I had expected… just a little quiet at times.

"You excited about starting school?" Charlie asked me, dropping the newspaper down on the table. He knew I wasn't. I could tell he was looking for something to say—after all he wasn't any more used to this situation than I was. Maybe he thought it was his obligation to have these sorts of morning chats.

"I'm kind of nervous, actually," I answered, letting my spoon sit idly in my cereal bowl. It was hard to eat when my hands were quivering. I held them in my lap, clasping them together tightly to stop them.

"The kids here are really nice. Great bunch of folks," he said helpfully, trying to ease the anxiety that I knew he could feel in me.

I answered his statement with a non-committal grunt. I felt like it wasn't a matter of whether I liked them or not. That didn't concern me. What concerned me was what they would think of me.

Stop it. You're doing much better now than you were year ago.

That was when I'd started my treatment for social anxiety disorder.

"Bella, you'll be fine. You just might have to give it some time." My dad was trying to encourage me and boost my morale. He wasn't just talking about me adjusting to a new school. I knew he was right. I knew I'd be fine. These first days would be an exception to the progress I'd made… but after a week I'd be able to work on getting better again. I'd expected this much.

"I know," I said softly, unclenching my hands. "Maybe I should get going," I suggested, grabbing my bowl and heading over to the sink to wash it out. School didn't start for forty-five more minutes, but I figured that some quiet time to calm down in my truck would be necessary for my first day of school.

I grabbed my school bag and headed out the door, making dash for the red truck Charlie had gotten for me. The cold air did not agree with my lungs, or my wardrobe. I'd bought a few more sweaters, but I wasn't prepared for this painfully cold morning air.

Forks High School, henceforth my school, was entirely different from any school I'd ever seen before. It more closely resembled a college campus in that it was comprised of a bunch of smaller buildings rather than one large one. It took me a few minutes to figure out which one held the office, but I'd gotten to school early enough that I didn't have to worry about being late. Besides, I'm sure the new girl would be pardoned on her first day if she missed the tardy bell.

I was going to have to get used to that title. New Girl.

The receptionist greeted me enthusiastically, guessing who I was immediately. Forks was small enough that everyone knew everyone else's business, and they probably knew who I was because I was most likely the only unfamiliar face within a ten-mile radius.

After she handed me a map of the school, my schedule, and a form for me to have all my teachers sign I was sent on my way, out to face my first day of school.

In the short amount of time I'd been in the office, the school's campus became quite a bit more populated. I could see groups of people hanging around their cars in the parking lot and gathering around the benches. How could they stand to be in the cold willingly?

It didn't take long for me to realize that I was getting a lot of attention. I could feel eyes following me around as I walked to English, my first class. It was pretty unnerving. I couldn't help but wonder what they saw—what they thought of me. My face flushed a little, but in the cold air I'm sure it went unnoticed. Everyone had rosy cheeks.

Once I reached English, I introduced myself to the teacher, handed him the form to sign, and headed straight for the seat he'd assigned to me. I sat down and pulled a crossword out of my backpack, needing something to focus on. I was never good at initiating conversations with people I didn't know. I was working on it.

Not surprisingly, I felt a pair of eyes on me within minutes of sitting down. I dropped my pencil and turned to see a boy with slick black hair and a bit of an acne problem. He had a very kind smile. "Isabella, right?" he asked me.

"Yeah. Bella, actually," I explained, smiling back at him weakly.

"Cool. I'm Eric."

"Hey," I greated.

"So, how're you liking Forks so far?"

I raised my eyebrows a little. I didn't really want to answer him truthfully. I had a feeling that badmouthing his hometown might be a little rude. "I don't know, I just got here yesterday." At least it wasn't an entire lie.

"Man, I'd hate to jump right into school like that." Eric seemed a little bit on the eager side to me, but at that point I was just thrilled that someone seemed to want to get to know me. I would have talked to anyone who was willing to talk to me first.

Eric continued on to tell me a little bit about what Forks was like, offering to show me around sometime if I wanted. This was when I got a little uncomfortable. It felt… like he was trying a bit too hard, and I didn't want to give him the wrong impression about me.

"Oh… Well, maybe," I answered vaguely. It kept him happy enough, but was pretty sure that he got that I wasn't accepting his offer.

At this point, the teacher walked to the front of the classroom and started class.

The first half of the day kept up a similar pattern. A person or two would greet me when I took my assigned seat in class and introduce themselves. I would tell them I preferred to be called Bella, and they would ask me what I thought of Forks. It was all so repetitive. Charlie was right, though. Everyone was really friendly.

By the time lunch came around, I was very much ready for a break from class. My stomach had clenched at first when the lunch bell rang because I was uncertain if I would have anyone to sit with, but one of the girls I'd met, Angela Webber, graciously invited me to sit at her table.

We sat at a lunch table with a few other faces that I'd recognized from a few of my previous classes. Among them were Eric, a kid named Mike Newton, a girl named Jessica, and a girl named Lauren. They seemed happy enough that I was joining them, but I felt out of place nonetheless. They were talking school gossip… and considering the fact that I didn't know the names of anyone who wasn't at the table with me, I couldn't exactly participate.

My eyes roamed the cafeteria for a lack of something better to do. This place wasn't too different from Phoenix, actually… at least it wasn't if you were inside, away from the weather. It was nice to know that teenagers seemed the same here as they did in Arizona…

Except for the people at one table.

My eyes were drawn to them immediately. The five students at that table were all gorgeous with perfect face structures and oddly pale skin, but that wasn't why I noticed them. It was the inactivity that caught my attention. They weren't eating. They weren't talking. They weren't even really looking at each other. They just sat there.

Jessica turned to follow my eyes to the table on the other side of the room, then to me. Right at that second, one of the pale kids lifted his head and looked straight at me. He had rusty colored hair and piercingly dark eyes that took me by surprise.

"Don't even bother, they keep to themselves," Jessica said.

I tore my eyes away from the boy and looked over at Jessica, confused. "Who are they?"

"They're one big happy family," she answered, rolling her eyes. "They think they're better than everyone else or something. I don't know. They're all adopted."

I caught a trace of what sounded like resentment in her voice. I wasn't sure what she had against them. In most schools, a group of people who looked as flawlessly perfect as them would be in the very center of attention. It didn't really make sense.

Angela and Jessica explained the family to me, telling me that two of them, Rosalie and Emmet, were dating, as were the two they said were named Alice and Jasper. The other one, the one who had looked up at me, was named Edward. They had been taken in by a man named Carlisle Cullen and his wife, Esme.

I glanced over at them again a few moments later. Edward had turned back away, looking at nothing in particular but wearing a strained expression on his face. He was concentrating on something. He looked puzzled.

Lunch was coming to a close, and most of the people in the cafeteria were finishing up their conversations… except for the Cullens. As nonconformist as ever, they sat, exchanging only a few occasional words.

Mike told me he had biology next with me, and so offered to go with me to my next class, only once I'd left the cafeteria I realized I'd left my wallet at our lunch table.

Hoping my wallet would still be there, I pushed my way back though the door to the cafeteria, where a few groups of students—the Cullens included—were packing up their bags for their next class.

The wind blew in with me, sending shivers down my spine. It seemed unfair to me that the cold weather from outside followed me constantly. It was like the weather was mocking me. I pulled my coat tighter to my body and then immediately sighed, relieved, as I spotted my wallet sitting exactly where I'd left it. Thank goodness for that.

Turning to leave, the table where the Cullens were sitting caught my attention once again. This time they weren't gazing around randomly. All of their eyes were fixed on Edward, whose eyes bore into me. To say that he was glaring at me would be an understatement. He was absolutely glowering at me. I could feel the hate radiating off his body.

I stopped where I was, a deer in headlights. Had I done something? That was impossible, I hadn't even talked to the guy, and yet he was writhing in his chair, his hands gripping the table in front of him. I heard a snap followed by the dull thud of a chunk of plastic hitting the floor. A bit of shiny white bounced off the floor and landed again, rolling to the side. My eyes widened as I realized a chunk of the table had just fallen to the floor. The eyes focused around him became pleading and angry, as though his adopted family were demanding him to do something.

More than a little freaked out, I backed away, glad to leave the scene behind me and join Mike in biology.