Hey! So here's the first chapter of my new story. I know I have other projects to work on, but I've wanted to do this book since August. I've never done just a simple, teen drama/ romance story without some magical/ dangerous subplot. So this is just an all human story. It's inspired by a song that I became completely obsessed with over the summer called, "White Houses" by Vanessa Carlton. It's really an amazing song and it's so true to teenage life. So I hope you enjoy this story. I will also be updating some of my other stories hopefully.

Chapter One: Forks

"Hurry up, Bella! You're going to miss your flight!" My mother, Renee, yelled at me.

I squished the last of my clothes into my already jammed packed suitcase and, with much difficulty lugged it off my bed and down the stairs of my home in Phoenix, Arizona to where Renee and my step-father, Phil, were waiting for me.

"Okay sweetheart!" Renee buzzed around me checking my things. "You've got everything? Money? Clothes?"

"Yes, Mom! I have everything! Please, I just need to get going!"

Renee held me at arm's length and smiled. "Oh look at my little baby all grown up. Seventeen already." She shook her head sadly, "I'm going to miss you this summer."

"It's not my decision to go you know."

"I know," she pulled me in for a hug, "but your dad wants to see you so badly. You two are going to have a great summer."

"A great summer? In Forks?" I snorted, withholding my "as if".

"Be nice. I know it's not the most…charming of places. But think of this as a life experience; something you can look back on when you're older and be glad that you did."

"Bye Mom. I love you." I murmured into her shoulder.

Phil drove me to the airport alone, seeing as Renee had a yoga class that she just couldn't stand to miss. We drove in an awkward silence. Phil listening to twangy country music up front while I sat in the back trying to drown it out with my iPod.

When we got to the airport, we exchanged a short goodbye before I sprinted off to catch my plane.

…...

Forks was as bleak and rainy as ever. It felt like my mood dropped about ten notches just looking at it. My dad, Charlie, and I rode through the town. He attempted a little bit of small talk, bless his heart, but eventually we just fell into silence.

As we reached his small house, a pretty girl about my age with flowing blonde hair ran up to the car.

"Chief Swan! My dad wanted me to come try and find you! They need you down at the police station!"

"Roger that!" Charlie grabbed his badge from the glove compartment of his car and fastened it to his chest. "Rosalie, this is my daughter Bella. Do you think you could help her unpack? Maybe show her around."

"Sure thing, Chief Swan."

Charlie pressed a key into my hand and set my luggage in the driveway. "I'll see you later, Bells."

"See ya' dad."

As he drove off I dropped my head and clucked my tongue.

"So…shall we?" I picked up one of my bags and Rosalie grabbed the other.

"Have you ever been in Forks before?" She inquired as she heaved my suitcase up the porch.

"Yeah, when I was really little…" I trailed off as I turned the key in the lock and opened the front door to my home for the summer. "It hasn't changed one bit."

"Listen, I know you just moved in and all, but I'm actually headed off to a bonfire; it's just some teenagers from around town. You should come."

"Yeah, sounds great." I didn't really get out much back at home. Maybe trying out being a normal teenager would be a good experience.

"Awesome. Do you need to change or anything?"

I looked down at my white blouse and jean shorts, slightly ruffled from the long trip, but otherwise okay. "No, I think I'm good. I'm just going to go brush my teeth."

"All right, I'll wait here."

The bonfire was being held at some rich kid's house. His parents were out of town all summer on some business venture so he had proclaimed this to be the summer of parties.

We were ambushed by people the second we walked through the host's front gates.

"Hey Rose!"

"Who's she?"

"Rosalie! Who's your friend?"

"I haven't seen you around before." A cute boy with blonde hair greeted me, slipping his arm slyly around my waist. "I'm Mike Newton."

"Bella Swan."

"Whoa! Chief Swan's daughter?"

This revelation brought on a new round of excited chatter.

"Okay, what's all this commotion about?"

I had to bite my lip to keep from letting my thoughts show on my face. Standing in front of me, parting the crowd was literally the hottest boy I'd ever seen. He was tall, with bronze colored hair, and eyes the color of emeralds.

"Who are you?" His eyes fell on me. My heart sunk slightly wondering what he thought about me. My brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. I was certainly not something to look at.

"Bella Swan."

"I told her she could come, Edward." Rosalie chimed in. "She's Chief Swan's daughter."

"Hey! The more the merrier. Welcome to Forks, Bella Swan." Edward said with a wink.

"Who was that?" I whispered to Rosalie as the kids followed Edward back into his backyard.

"Edward Cullen. He's the host of our little get together. Completely gorgeous right?"

I didn't answer, but I'm sure even in the dim light of the evening she could see me blush.

"Well, he's not my type." Rosalie continued, "That's my man over there!" She pointed to another guy, built like a football player with dark curly hair. Rosalie ran over to him and they proceeded to make out as the kids cheered and hollered inappropriate comments.

I stood back, away from the crowd, kicking around some dirt.

"Hey, Bella Swan!" Edward called to me. "Why don't you come sit over here?"

I paused for a second; stunned that he wanted anything to do with me. He beckoned enthusiastically.

"Come on! I won't bite!" He laughed.

I took the seat next to him, receiving some evil glares from the other girls.

"So Bella…I haven't seen you around before."

"I haven't been here since I was six so…" I winced. Why was I so socially awkward? I wished I could flip my hair and giggle like normal teenage girls.

"Hmm…are you staying for long?"

"Just the summer."

"Well then we'd better make the most of it." Edward leaned in uncomfortably close to me and brushed his lips against my neck.

Everyone was staring. I fake laughed and pushed Edward off of me.

"Sorry, I'm not interested." I smiled sweetly at him. Sure he was hot, but I wasn't like the sluts he was obviously used to hanging out with.

Edward's eyes widened. I was sure he wasn't used to getting rejection.

"Ouch!" yelled Emmett from across the fire.

"No problem…Lauren?" Edward summoned his next victim, a girl with ultra-blonde hair and pale eyes. He stood up and took her hand, leading her to his house. "Catch you later Swan."

I sat in shock for what felt like quite some time. I knew my face was blushing bright red. Never in my life had I ever met someone who was such an outright asshole.

Rosalie gave me an apologetic look, but Emmett- who had grown bored with the drama- pulled her mouth back to his.

"Don't let Edward bother you. He puts on a great show, but he's harmless really." A boy spoke from the seat on the other side of where Edward was sitting. He held out his hand. "Jasper Whitlock."

"Bella."

"Edward, Emmett, and I have been best friends since kindergarten." He assured me softly. "He only just started acting like that in the past year or so. Ever since he escaped the clutches of puberty."

I laughed and poked at a burning ember with a stick. "So was I the first girl to reject him?"

"Yeah, but watch out. He'll be determined to have you now."

"What about that Lauren girl?"

"Oh her? She's just a booty call. Along with Tanya and Jessica." He flicked his head towards two girls huddled together with sour looks on their faces. "Trust me, they mean nothing to him. But you…he'll obsess over you."

"Why? What's so special about me?"

"Well firstly, you rejected him. That's going to make any guy like Edward go crazy. And secondly, you're pretty hot. Maybe even hotter than Rosalie and she's model material."

Here comes the blush again, I thought in exasperation. No one had ever told me I was attractive before. Other than my family of course.

A vibration in my pocket brought me back to reality. Charlie had sent me the dreaded, "It's almost midnight. Where are you?" text.

Sighing, I stood up to leave.

Rosalie pulled herself off Emmett long enough to say "Bye Bella. Hey, I'll swing by and pick you up tomorrow and we can hang, kay?"

After promising to be ready to leave with her by eleven, I said my farewells to the rest of the party goers and left the yard.

"Going so soon, Swan?"

Crap.

Edward was sitting on his front porch, a red plastic cup in his hand and a smirk on his gorgeous face.

"Done with your ho so soon?" I was slightly taken aback by my own cutting words.

"She bores me. All the girls in this town do. I tell them to jump, they say 'how high?' Nothing new, nothing different. Except you."

Edward started to make his way towards me. "Why did you reject me, Bella Swan?"

"Because you're an ass."

Edward's face was dangerously close to mine. I could smell a sweet kind of liquor on his breath. "But you're attracted to me, right?"

"No. I'm not. And I need to get going. My dad wants me home."

"Fine. But we'll see each other again."

"Whatever Cullen."

…...

I wondered what it was about Edward Cullen that kept me up all that night. Or why, come the next morning when Rosalie showed up at my door, I was hoping she'd take me somewhere he was.

I wasn't disappointed.

Rosalie pulled into a diner, saying we were meeting some people.

He was sitting in a corner booth, sipping water, along with Jasper, Emmett, and a girl with short, dark hair who I didn't recognize. Rosalie pulled me into the booth so that Edward and I were across from each other.

"Hey guys!" She trilled.

Edward winced and grabbed his forehead. "Stop yelling." He moaned. Then his eyes found me. "Swan." He acknowledged.

"You must be Bella!" The new girl said with a smile. "I'm Alice, Jasper's girlfriend. I was grounded last night so I didn't get to go to the party. I heard it was awesome though."

"Yeah it was…awesome." I agreed hesitantly.

"Hey Bella? Can I talk to you for a second?" Edward said suddenly.

"Um…sure." I got up and followed him outside.

"I blame you for this hangover." He winced again and sunk down onto a wooden bench.

"Why? I didn't force you to drink whatever you drank." I sat next to him trying to decode what he was saying.

"Oh but you did. You rejected me when I wanted you. Most girls don't do that to me."

"I'm not most girls."

"Then, because of that rejection, I had to take Lauren up to my room."

"Once again, not my fault."

"And then I couldn't get in the mood with Lauren because I was too busy thinking about you down in my backyard not wanting to get with me."

"Wow. You are unbelievable." I shook my head in disbelief. This guy's idiocy was remarkable.

"I'm not a bad guy. You'll see that soon enough."

I stood up and made my way back to the diner, but Edward grabbed my arm before I could open the door.

"I'm sorry for forcing myself on you."

"It's okay. We're cool. I'm fine. Now let's just go back inside and act normal."

Edward nodded in agreement. He opened the door and held it for me just like a gentleman. Good thing I knew better.

Rosalie looked slightly suspicious as Edward and I regained our places at the table, but thankfully everyone else seemed to busy stuffing their faces with fries to notice Edward and my absence.

"So since this is the summer of parties, I am throwing an all-nighter tomorrow. Who's in?" Edward announced.

"Hell yeah!" Emmett held his glass up in cheers, sloshing soda everywhere.

"I'm totally in, since I missed the last one." Alice clapped her hands together gleefully.

"Bella?" Rosalie asked, putting the spotlight on me.

Part of me wanted to go. If I didn't who knew if this group would invite me out again? And I couldn't be a nobody for forever. But the other part felt like an all-nighter with Edward Cullen sounded like a bad idea.

"What do I tell my dad?" I knew I sounded like a nerd, but it was a legit concern.

"Oh easy, I'm telling mine I'm going to Alice's. You can tell Chief Swan the same thing." Rosalie gleamed.

"Alright I'll go."

"Great." Edward's eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement.

I felt almost bad thinking anything spiteful about him. He did seem like a generally nice guy. A little pervy, but nice all the same. Maybe I just needed to give him a chance, like Jasper had said.

…...

"Hey Dad?"

It was the night of the party and Charlie sat at the dinner table, finishing up some enchiladas I had made him as I started on washing dishes. I hoped he'd be buttered up enough by now to let me go to my fake sleepover.

"Yeah Bells?"

"I'm going to a sleepover with Rosalie at Alice's house tomorrow. That's okay right?"

"Rosalie and Alice?" Charlie's eyebrows rose. "Huh…nice girls. It's nice to see that you're making friends. Your mother always said you were so shy in Phoenix."

I shrugged. "So I can go?"

"Yeah, knock yourself out."

"Thank you so much, Dad!"

Up in my room, as I threw things into my beat up backpack for the party I began to feel bad about lying to Charlie. I mean I'd only been living with him for two days.

My guilt eased the next evening though when Rosalie picked me up. Edward's big, white house stood intimidatingly over us. It looked as though every light in the house was on and I could feel the pounding of the music already.

"Great you're here!" Edward exclaimed from the front porch. "Let the party begin!"