Bella

The shrill beeping of my alarm woke me from a dead sleep. The light streamed through the mesh curtains that hung over the window, reminding me that I wasn't in Arizona anymore. I sat up and threw the blankets off of me and brushed my hair away from my face before moving off down the hall to the bathroom.

The shower was hot, washing away all of the unpurified filth built up on me since my last shower. I scrubbed until I was clean and hopped out. By this time, Charlie was up. I could hear the gentle roar of the coffee maker and the shuffling of the morning paper as I moved back down to my bedroom to get dressed.

Today is my first day at Forks High School and I can't wait for the day to be over. My first day's wardrobe was dark wash jeans, a black tank top and a dark green V-neck sweater. I head quietly down the stairs and into the kitchen where Charlie sits, sipping his black coffee.

"Morning," he says, not looking up from the sports section.

"Mhmm," I reply as I pull on my black converse and lace them.

"You excited for your first day?" It was nice to know that Charlie cared enough to try and make conversation, but we both knew that it was useless. My dad and I haven't really been close. Up until last week when I moved to Forks, I hadn't seen him since my thirteenth birthday.

After I stopped talking, Mom didn't know what else to do with me other than to ship me off here to Charlie's thinking that my sudden silence was some rebellion from not having a father present in my life. It was a stupid rationalization, really, but I was seventeen and had no choice.

Instead of answering Charlie, I grabbed my backpack and headed out the door to my rusty '53 Chevy. The engine groaned in protest as I pulled out of the drive and headed down the road to the high school.

I used to spend every summer here as a kid and have the layout of the town memorized. I drive down past the old general store, take a left at the stop light and keep going over the railroad tracks. It isn't long before the school comes into view.

My truck batters into the parking lot and I pull into the first empty space I see. Students scatter the junior parking lot, laughing and talking. Already, I know that I'm out of place here. I shut my truck off and slam the door behind me. A group of students lean against a nice Toyota in front of me and snicker.

"Nice truck," one of the guys say.

I don't reply, instead I scurry up to the school, keeping my eyes on my feet as I walk. I navigate my way down the halls and toward the office to get my semester's schedule.

The older woman behind the desk and smiles at me as I walk through the doors.

"Isabella Swan?" she asked. I shifted my weight uncomfortably and nodded. "Here you go, hun." The woman handed me my schedule and I tried my best to muster a gracious smile.

People bumped into me as I walked against traffic to try and find my first class. By the time I do find it, I'm seven minutes late and I get my first demerit.

Note to self: Stay away from the gym teacher.

As I open the door to my Biology class, every eye in the room shifts to me. I dart my eyes quickly away from their gazes and hand my schedule to my teacher. Heat rises up my spine and closes around my windpipe as I feel everyone's retinas bore into the side of my head.

"Ah, class, this is Isabella Swan," he said as he handed my schedule back. "Isabella, you can sit next to Mr. Cullen." He gestured to a reddish-brown haired boy sitting at the lab table in the front. I nodded in acknowledgement and went to sit next to the boy.

I sat uncomfortably in my seat and pulled out my notebook, not taking my eyes off of it. I could feel eyes on me as I scribbled on the pages. We're studying Mitosis. This should be simple. We studied that last year back in Arizona.

"I'm going to give each of you slides and in your lab books, write down which stage of Mitosis you have," said our teacher as he began passing out the slides.

The boy beside be pulled the microscope to the middle of the table and fixed the first slide.

"Hello," he said. "My name is Edward Cullen, welcome to Forks," My body tensed at the sound of his voice and I looked stiffly over to him. He smirked and looked into the scope.

"Prophase," he said as he slid the microscope over to me. "See what you think."

I broke his gaze and looked for myself. He was right. I looked shyly back to him and nodded.

"So, what brings you here to Forks, Isabella?" he asked as he fixed the next slide.

Is he actually talking to me? Why? Why can't he just be normal and ignore me like everyone else? When I don't reply, he doesn't pry.

"Anaphase," he said. Again, he pushed the microscope to me to get my opinion and again, he was right. I nodded and pushed the scope back to him. He smirked and wrote the analysis down in his lab book.

I couldn't help but notice his gorgeous topaz eyes. They were like nothing I had ever seen before. His gaze was so warm and inviting, I couldn't help but get lost in the shades of brown and gold. His hair was choffed perfectly into reddish-brown waves on his head and his perfectly chiseled arms flexed from under his light grey V-neck.

"Metaphase," he said, snapping me out of my daze. As usual he was right and I nodded back at him.

The bell signaled for the end of the period and everyone stood up to gather their books.

"It was great to meet you, Isabella," he said with a smile. I mustered a smile back and scurried out of there as fast as I could.

What happened back there? How could I let myself get so caught up in him? I'm such an idiot. I can't let that happen again. Don't be stupid, Bella.

My next few classes are as follows:

2nd period English III AP

3rd period French II

4th period World History AP

Finally, lunch comes and I know that signals that this nightmare is almost over. Eating isn't an option, so I sit by myself at a table in the corner and pull out my tattered copy of Anna Karenina. I am lost in the pages and nearly jump out of my skin when the chair beside of me scrapes the floor. I look up to see that Edward kid sitting down beside of me.

"Hi," he says with a smile as he starts to munch on his pizza.

I know I look like an idiot just sitting here gaping at him, but I can't help it. I can't believe he is sitting here right now. I look around the cafeteria to make sure that every other seat was taken and that he had no choice but to sit here. No, I count at least thirteen free seats.

I look back at him, shocked. I watch him as he inhales his pizza and he catches my gaze. I quickly look away, hoping that he didn't notice me staring at him. I feel the rush of heat flood my cheeks and I stick my nose back into my book.

"Tolstoy? You read Tolstoy?" he asked almost shocked. I nodded quietly, not looking up from my book. "Wow, it's not every day you find someone who still reads classic literature."

I peeked up from my book at him and his topaz eyes caught mine. Heat rushed through my whole body and I knew that I needed to get out of here.

"Hey, Edward!" a bubbly voice came from behind him. I looked up to see a short dark haired girl standing there smiling.

"Oh, hey Alice," Edward replied with a smile. "Alice, this is Isabella Swan. Isabella, this is my sister Alice."

"Hi!" she said quirkily with a smile. I nodded to her in acknowledgement and gathered my things.

"Isabella, you don't have to leave," Edward said as he gently grabbed my arm.

A surge of electricity ran through my nerves at his touch and my heart raced, I was certain that everyone in the cafeteria could hear. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes. Edward, I think, saw them and released my arm, a look of concern draped over his face.

"Bella," I spat as I turned quickly and raced out of the cafeteria.

Good going, Bella. He thinks you're a freak.