Introduction:

What if Bella and Edward found themselves at the right place at the wrong time? Bella dreads high school and hates Biology. She even loves to hate her lab partner, the impossibly gorgeous and filthy rich Edward Cullen. Bella's only comfort is the company of her good friend Jacob, always looking for a new source of adventure. Bella's hatred for Edward slowly shifts towards an inexplicable attraction but she finds herself tangled in the middle of a complicated web of secrets, misunderstandings and doubt.

We all know Stephenie Meyer was inspired by classics such as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Romeo & Juliet. This Fic has hints of Othello, dashes of Much Ado About Nothing mixed in with our favorite characters and stories from The Twilight Saga.

Rated M for mature. Some strong language, sexual content and mild violence.

Disclaimer: Based on the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of Stephenie Meyer. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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THE STORY IS IN PROGRESS AND YOUR OPINION MAY INFLUENCE GREATLY ON THE QUALITY OF THIS FIC! ENJOY!



Chapter 1 – Back to School

Hey mom,
Sorry it took so long for me to write. Charlie finally agreed to get internet at home so I'm only now hooking up the laptop to my bedroom. Welcome to the 21st Century, Charlie!:)
How's Florida? Have you guys found a house yet?
Today's the last day of Spring Break so I'm back to school tomorrow. Yay.
It's finally getting a little warmer here and I've been hanging out with Billy Black's kid a lot lately. Remember them? Jacob's younger than me but I guess Billy and Charlie forced the boy to show me around Forks and keep me busy. I think Charlie's afraid I might slit my wrists or something if I'm alone too much (!). He's been showing me how to fish. I guess World of Warcraft hasn't arrived in Forks just yet... Don't worry mom, I'm not gonna become an outdoorsy person.
Anyway, gotta go. Got some homework to finish. I hate Biology, mom. There, I said it.
Tell Phil I said hi.
Love ya,
Bella.

As I hit the "send" button I sighed in relief to be crossing one thing off my long to-do list. I almost felt like writing things down that I've already done, just so I can cross them off and feel better about myself. As I stared blankly at my textbook, I mentally counted how many months until graduation. Until I never had to look at another Biology, Physics or Chemistry assignment again. I still had a good year and change to go. High School was painful. They were not joking about that.

Hopping into bed was my favorite part of the day. Letting my mind drift away, picturing myself far from the small town of Forks, from the rain. Starting fresh, but in a place where everyone is a stranger. Not just me. Not just the new girl from the big city, who was "supposed to have a tan".

I woke up on Monday five minutes before the alarm went off. Charlie was finishing breakfast and getting ready to head out.

"You want some coffee, Bells?"

"I'm good Charlie, I'll just grab a muffin, thanks". Maybe I didn't want to be wide awake for first period Biology. Sleeping through it sounded like a good plan.

"See you later, Bells" As he walked out the door.

"Later." I repeated, mostly to myself.

I couldn't imagine what it must be like for Charlie. Having a teenager living in his house all of a sudden after years of solitude. A loner myself, I tried to stay out of Charlie's hair as much as I could. It mostly felt like we were roommates, rather than father and daughter.

As I began to approach my usual seat in Biology class I was greeted by a frolicking Jessica. She seemed abnormally happier than usual, so bubbly she could burst in fruit flavor.

"Bella! Hi! How was Spring Break? Oh my God, you will not believe who called me, inviting me to Emmett's house party this Saturday! You're going, right? You have to go! Oh my God I need to go shopping in -" I had to interrupt her rant.

"Well, good morning, Jessica!" Maybe I shouldn't have skipped coffee. "Geez, slow down, too much energy for such an early hour! What did you say? Who called? What?"
"Mike!" She whispered, yet still as excited as before. She glanced around carefully before taking a deep breath, eager to continue. But once again, I interrupted.

"That's great! You guys are perfect for each other!" I faked the excitement.

"Oh that party is gonna be awesome! Emmett's family, they throw the best parties. His sister should like, plan parties for a living. Seriously." Her eyes brilliant with enthusiasm.

"That sounds like a profitable career." I trailed, while reaching for the textbook in my backpack.

"Okay, so, we gotta find you a date and we have to go shopping some time this week. I cannot let Mike slip through my fingers this time!"

"Oh no, Jessica. Please do not set me up with anyone. Please don't! I'll figure something out. Just don't set me up, promise." I begged.

"Fine. I gotta go, talk to you at lunch!" she whispered after the bell finally rang and the teacher arrived.

Mrs. Cope quickly browsed through attendance and lifted her eyes from the paper she held.

"Isabella Swan? Could you come here for a second?" She asked.

I blushed with a mixture of embarrassment and fear. I knew I wasn't the smartest cookie in the jar when it came to Biology but I hadn't missed any assignments yet. All the possible scenarios for this call ran through my head in flashes while I made my way to her desk.
"Yes...?" I murmured.

"Hello, Bella. There has been a situation. Tyler Crowley, your lab partner, had some kind of family emergency. He won't be coming back for the rest of the semester." She whispered in a careful tone.

"Oh," I paused. "Is everything okay?" I was worried. But relieved.

"I'm not sure, but you will need a lab partner for your final project in this class. I was wondering if you could switch to fourth period Biology for the rest of the semester? I believe you had that period vacant." It wasn't a question.

"Uh, sure." Great. Starting over. All over again.

"Very well. There's a spot waiting for you. Mr. Banner will assign you a lab partner and you're good to go. You can take the rest of this period off." She smiled, trying to make me feel better.

"Cool." I calmly collected my books and left class without looking up once. I didn't care to witness my classmate's speculative glances.

As I unplugged my headphones from my ears, I wondered if 's class would be any better. Wished on my lucky stars for a lab partner who would happily agree to do all the work for me. I walked into fourth period Biology, handed the paper slip to and shyly greeted my new teacher.

"Welcome, Isabella. I have a seat here for you. Your lab partner is Edward Cullen but he won't be back to school for another couple of days."

Great. Must be nice. My new lab partner is M.I.A. Just my luck.

The fourth period bell rang and as I hurried to gym class, I saw Jessica again. This time she seemed more collected. The adrenaline high must have worn off.

"Hey! They changed me to fourth period Biology. Now I gotta hurry to make it here on time." I panted.

"That's crazy. I heard something happened to Tyler's mom. Weird, huh?" She conversed, while we made our way to the locker room.

"I know. My new lab partner is this Edward Cullen person who's not even here this week. Do you know him?" Trying to fish for information on the loser I already disliked for bailing on me.

"Oh." Pause. "Edward." She raised an eyebrow, enjoying what seemed a private joke with herself. "The infamous Edward Cullen. He's in 'Italy' right now," She continued, enhancing the word as she bobbled her head with light sarcasm.

"Yeah, I got that much."

"He's Emmett and Alice's brother. They're all adopted, though. The Cullen's are filthy rich. They travel a lot, have one gazillion houses all over the world and throw the most incredible parties." She continued.

"Hm mm." I sighed. What was so special about these kids anyway? Jessica continued without my needing to ask that out loud.

"But Edward and Alice are kind of quiet. Well, Alice is... weird, and Edward thinks he's better than everybody." Jessica almost smirked.

I wondered if one of the most popular girls in Forks High School had been rejected by this Edward Cullen character.

"Well, don't worry Bella. Edward is douche but gets straight A's. You will pass that class!" She assured me. Now for that, I felt real relief.

I went home that day thinking about the Cullen's. I had seen Emmett before, the typical jock. Parading through the school campus with his blond supermodel slash cheerleader girlfriend, Rosalie, who everybody knew and worshiped. Now, Alice and Edward, I had never noticed. But then again, I avoided social interaction with most people in that place. I welcomed those who approached me in a friendly way. But most of the time, they were just interested in staring at the new girl like she was a creature from another planet. This was indeed, a very small, uneventful town.

That afternoon I called Jacob up. I had planned to drive to La Push and meet him at his place. Jacob had a new project for us. He was fixing an old dirt bike and promised to teach me how to ride it. I was never one to enjoy getting hurt. I know my uncoordinated self better than to purposely attract an accident. Here in this town, however, I figured one had to make its own fun. So I would take what I could get and Jacob at least kept me company while Charlie spent long hours at work. I was running out of books to read, and watching TV was just too depressing.

I stopped at the gas station to fill up my tank and made my way to the Quileute Reservation. I was actually excited to see how much progress Jake had made into that dirty old bike. Auto mechanics seemed like rocket science to me. I had to give the kid props for such talent.

"Jake? I'm here!" I called from outside of the barn that served as a garage.

"Come on in, Bella. My hands are full of grease!" A voice shouted from the very back of the room.

I made my way in, trying not to stumble over the scattered pieces of random car parts and tools, glancing around like walking into a foreign country for the first time. Not that I had ever been outside of the States.

"So what are you working on now?"

"The break lights. It's almost ready. I just gotta fix the tang in the sidestand and a couple of things in the engine and we're good to go!"

I had to chuckle. "You don't need to get all technical on me, Jake. You know I have no idea what you're talking about anyway..."

He shook his head and smiled. Jacob Black had the whitest of teeth, that almost glistened through his tanned skin and dark long hair. Jacob should always smile.
I sat by a big tire next to his old truck and watched him work on my future disaster. If I didn't find a good bookstore soon, I would probably have to take on skydiving next.

****

Three days went by and still no sign of my lab partner. I wondered how long I was going to be able to keep pretending I had any clue on what our final project was about. Pondered if I was born with some type of mental block for science, in general. The Arts seemed like second nature to me. Reading, painting, cooking and listening to music always relaxed me. Science on the other hand...

On Friday, as I walked through the hallway towards my way to 's class, I was decisive. Enough was enough. This kid was either showing up for class or I was dropping out of Biology. I straightened my back, put on my hardest face, and marched towards Room 213. Taking a deep breath while rehearsing my dialogue in my head, I was ready to confront my teacher with an ultimatum.

It only took me a couple of seconds upon arrival to notice the usually empty seat next to mine had been taken this morning. A statuesque, tall, impossibly gorgeous figure staring in my direction. I could feel my face growing warm and had to look down to bring myself back to Earth. As I rose back up, his curious eyes quietly wondering who the hell I was and what planet I had to be coming from. God, help this pathetic person standing here, clueless. Help me remember why I hate Edward Cullen.