My mom is dumb. I've know this for a while. She forgets birthdays, holidays, and other assorted events in my life. When I was a kid, she would always forget to send me back to school after summer vacation, like she was so shocked that I had to go back. Despite her flightiness, I never thought she would just up and leave to follow a man she doesn't even know half way around the world.

My mom has this crazy obsession with this gross old guy band called The Baseballers. Apparently all the members of the band used to play baseball in the minor leagues or something, and when they retired they formed a band with a creative ass name. My mom has always been obsessed with the lead singer Phil.

Personally , lead singers were never my thing. They are too noticeable, too out there. I've always had a thing for the second bass player in groups. Bass players always have a certain anonymity that I'm a sucker for. And the second string bass players? Shit they are basically part of the audience.

So you can imagine my dismay when my mother burst into my room last week and told me that she was going to follow a lead singer on tour in the hopes of meeting him and trapping him into becoming her husband.

The surprising thing about all of this was that when she told me, I wasn't angry that she was going to ,so casually, uproot my life and send me to live with my Father in the elite trenches of Forks and I wasn't sad that I was going to be leaving her. I felt an intense fear for Phil. Whatever my mother wants, she gets, and from experience, its better if my mother doesn't want you. Once she does, you're caught in this crazy life she has, riding her emotional roller coasters for her.

By leaving me, my mother finally gave me a ticket off of her crazy train. One that I would have gladly accepted had it led to anywhere but Forks.

I've only visited Forks enough times to know that I absolutely loathe it. The people in Forks get off on pretention. They drive the fanciest cars, live in the biggest houses, and do absolutely nothing but sit on their rich asses all day.

My father, Charlie used to be a part of them until one young scholarship recipient (i. e. my mother) got the opportunity to enter the elite walls of Forks High. My mother, Renee, didn't hatch from the same golden egg that the rest of the children at Forks High did, but she didn't let that stop her from rubbing elbows with the upper echelon. And everyone hated her for it. Everyone except my father.

Like I said, when Renee wants something, she gets it. And at the time, she wanted my father. He gave up everything to be with her. His parents cut him off. They couldn't stand the sight of him with someone who didn't even have a trust fund. Without the money to go to college and leave Forks, Renee and Charlie married and Charlie became the resident police officer in town.

They lived fairly happily until my mother got tired or bored, and left Charlie, taking me and everything else he had ever loved with her. I haven't seen him since I was a kid.

That's the thing about Renee, she latches onto you and gives you all these good, wonderful moments. Makes you love her. Uses you all up. And then discards you. I'm pretty sure he hates her for it. And me too, by association.

So, I was fairly surprised when he agreed to let me stay with him. Not that he's a bad father or anything. Just kind of oblivious to my life, and everything in it.

Living with him for the past week has been surprisingly easy. He stays out of my way and I stay out of his. I've basically just been sitting in my room counting fucking ceiling tiles for the past week since I refuse to leave this house and mingle with the trust fund kids of Forks.

That is, I refused until Monday morning when Charlie burst into my room to force me to do just that.

"School? Where?" I asked him sleep still crusted in my eyes. The idea of school hadn't even crossed my mind.

"Forks High, where else did you think you'd be going?"

"Am I allowed there? I mean you and Renee didn't exactly leave it on the best of terms."

He bristled at the mention of my mother.

"Doesn't matter. We both went there. You're a legacy. Now get up. Jacob will be here soon to drive you to school," he said turning to go.

"Jacob?"

"He's my friend's son. He offered to give you a ride." And with that Charlie turned and walked back downstairs. He's always been a man of few words.

I sat in my bed staring at the ceiling. Maybe if I just sat here Charlie would forget that I was even there. Maybe I could just wait until Charlie left and then never have to leave my bed.

"Bella, are you up?" Charlie called from the kitchen.

"Yes!" I screamed back. So much for that.

Most of my clothes were still packed away, so I didn't really have a variety of outfits to choose from. I grabbed the first thing I saw from the top of one of the boxes. It was a plain black hoodie. Not the best first impression, but it'd have to do. I threw the hoodie on and picked up an old pair of jeans from the floor.

After brushing my teeth and running a brush through my hair, I trudged down the stairs.

"Bella? I'm Jacob."

I looked up to find one of the best looking human specimens I had ever seen in my entire life. His skin was a dark mahogany color and his deep black hair cascaded down to his shoulders.

"You look delicious," I said before I got the chance to stop myself. I've never been good at controlling what comes out of my mouth.

"Thanks I guess. Are you ready?"

"Sure." I looked down, hoping to hide the ridiculous blush that I knew was creeping up on my face.

"So Bella, what do you think of Forks?" he asked once the car was started and we were on the road.

"I don't know, I haven't really seen much of it."

"Then you don't hate it yet?"

"Yet?"

"You will. That is unless you're one of them."

"Them?"

"The crème de la crème. God's gifts to humanity. The rest of the kids at Forks High."

"Oh well I don't have a black card if that's what you're asking."

"Then you're definitely not one of them," he smiled.

"Fine by me."

"Me too. I'd have to hate you if you were."

"How do you know you don't hate me now?"

"I can just tell. Besides, us regular people have got to band together," he said nudging me with his shoulder.

"Band together? You make it sound like we are in some kind of war," I replied looking up at him.

He just smirked in response.

We didn't talk much the rest of the way, but it was a comfortable silence. And I respected that.

"Alright kiddo, I'll see you at the end of the day," Jacob said leaning over to open my door once we had pulled up to the massive school that I would be attending. His muscular arm brushed my chest in the process and I tried rather unsuccessfully not to let it distract me.

"Wait, you're not going?"

"Hell no. I wouldn't go here even if they let me. I go to school on the Indian reserve across town."

"What! So you're just gonna leave me? What happened to all that 'sticking together' shit you were just talking?" I blanched.

"We will stick together. Before and after school. Now out you go." He used his ridiculously large arm to scoop my butt out of the seat.

I stumbled out of the car and stuck my tongue out at him as he drove off.

Once he was gone, I couldn't help but be a little sad. I'm not usually a clingy person, but Jacob was starting to provide me a sense of normalcy around here. When he left, it hit me that now it was just me and the richies.

Great.

I trudged up the enormous set of stairs in front of the school. Forks High was more like a museum than an actual place of learning. It had big columns all around it and gave off an air of importance. Rich kids milled all around the outside of the school, standing in random groups peppering the front court yard.

Every eye outside was glued to me as I walked up to the building. Had they never seen a new person before?

Now that I thought about it, they probably hadn't. These kids were all old money and from what Renee told me, the occasional scholarship student never lasted very long.

The walk to the building seemed to last a depressingly long time. Everyone outside stared me down. I looked up and looked them all in the eye one by one.

I wasn't about to let them think they were better than me. If they were going to stare, I was going to stare right back.

Most of the kids, apparently, weren't used to new people looking them in the eye, and quickly looked away pretending to not give a damn as I stared back at them. All of them, except five.

There were five kids at the center of everything. As I started to get closer to them, everyone switched their gazes from me to them. From their positioning, it almost looked as if they were orchestrating the whole scene.

They each stared at me, with a certain air of boredom. As I stared back, none of them looked down or away.

There was a tall blonde standing in the center of them. She was one of those gorgeous girls that it literally hurts to stare too long at. She was completely expressionless as her gaze fell upon me.

She was standing between the legs of a huge burly kid. Despite his size, he managed to actually be quite adorable. His stare was a little warmer than the blondes, but not exactly inviting.

To the blonde girls left, a tiny girl was perched on another boys lap. She was the only one that outright smiled at me. The smile I gave her in return was small. I didn't want this group, whoever they were, to think that I wanted or cared to get to know them.

The last boy to the other side of the group was the one that caught my eye. He had auburn hair that blew in the wind and from where I was standing, looked like he had just stepped out of some sort of GQ men's magazine. He wasn't smiling at me or looking on rudely. He merely looked amused. Like I was some kind of new toy or something.

Before I could think about what I was doing, I waved at him. It was a small wave, but it was still there. I don't know what brought me to do it, but once it was done I knew this was not something that new students usually did. The boy cocked his head to the side gave me an amused half smile.

When the blonde girl saw this, she turned to slap the boy on the back of the head. He turned and caught her hand, bringing her to him, making her giggle.

For some reason seeing her practically in his lap made me walk to the door even faster. Once inside I leaned back on the door and sucked in two deep breaths. I had barely spent any time here, but it already felt like any time spent here was too much.

I made my way down some long winding hallways to what I hoped was the front office. The lady behind the front desk didn't even look up as I walked in.

"Um excuse me," I said lightly once I reached the desk.

She didn't look up.

"Hey, I'm Bella Swan. I'm supposed to start here today."

Still no answer.

"Helllooooo." I said waving my hand in front of the lady's head.

She still didn't look up.

Fine then bitch. I brought my hand back and was about to knock a fairly large assortment of shit off of her desk to get her attention, when someone grabbed my hand.

"Now now, new girl, why would you want to go and do that?"

Behind me, holding my arm was, for lack of better words, a mother fucking angel. Like seriously this kid was so beautiful. He was even more beautiful up close than he had been when I had seen him smirking at me a few minutes ago.

"Edward darling, what brings you to the office?" the lady at the desk finally looks up and beams at him.

"Are you serious?" I asked looking at her, raising my free hand in the air in my most exasperated gesture.

"Tanya, you know I just like to come in and see you from time to time," Edward cooed grabbing my other hand out of the air. I guess he thought I was about to hit her with it or something. Which I'm not entirely sure wasn't true.

"Oh I do love it when you come in to see me darling," Tanya almost drooled over herself.

"As do I. Do you think that it wouldn't be too much trouble for you to write me a late slip?" he let go of my hands and leaned over her desk.

"Of course honey," She looked in her desk and pulled out a tardy slip.

"And if you wouldn't mind, could you please give me my friend here's schedule. I'm going to take her to class so she doesn't get lost." He said pointing to me and giving her a sad face like I was some kind of lost puppy.

"You are such a nice boy Eddy," Tanya drooled as she handed him my schedule.

Edward cringed the nickname she gave him.

I grabbed the paper out of his hand and stormed out of the door.

"Now is that any way to treat you're knight in shining armor?" Edward asked coming up behind me and grabbing my schedule back.

"Knight in shining armor?" I whipped around to face him.

"You wouldn't have gotten your schedule without me. Tanya doesn't speak to anyone who doesn't have at least two million sitting in the bank."

"And how do you know I don't have that?"

Edward stopped looking at my schedule to give me a once over.

"Do we really need to go there?"

Point taken.

I needed to change the subject.

"Why do you need a late slip anyway? The bell hasn't even rung yet."

"I forgot you were new here. Here's something to always keep in mind. Edward Cullen never goes anywhere on time."

"Oh he doesn't? So what are you gonna do until the bell rings?" I really hate when people refer to themselves in the third person.

"Now now Bella you ask too many questions." He said not giving any more of an answer.

I looked away from him and for the second time today, everyone I passed was staring at me. But this time, it wasn't because of me. It was because of him. Everywhere he walked, people's eyes followed. Edward was doing absolutely nothing, but people were staring at him as if he were the messiah.

All the girls that we passed glared at me and all the guys looked as if they couldn't figure out why Edward would waste his time walking with someone wearing a hoodie and jeans.

"So here we are. English with Mrs. Kachins," Edward said as he waved his hand towards the classroom.

"Thanks, I guess. You really didn't have to walk me here though."

"Believe me, I do nothing that I have to. Anyway, I'll see you in about fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes?"

"Yea I'm in this class too."

"Then why don't you just come in now?"

He looked at me as if I was completely dense.

"Oh right. You can't be on time."

"My you learn fast," Edward said backing away from the door.

"Hey Edward?" I called as he started to walk away.

"Why did you really walk me here?"

"Let's just say I have a thing for charity cases." He said before turning and walking away.

And that's how Edward Cullen breezed into my life. And I didn't know if I hated him or wanted to take him to my bedroom and jump him.

I took a seat in the back of the classroom and proceeded to ignore the teacher and the stares that everyone was giving me.

"Oh Mr. Cullen, nice of you to join us," Mrs. Kachin's said actually sounding pleased when Edward came into the room.

"It is, isn't it," Edward stated waltzing into the room like he was on time.

Everyone in the classroom watched Edward as he practically glided across the room.

This whole everyone staring thing was starting to get old. I mean ,yea, he was unfairly gorgeous, but haven't these people been going to school with him forever? Shouldn't they be used to it by now?

As Edward walked by to take the empty seat directly behind me, I got a better look at him. He was all cheekbones and hair and eyes that shouldn't be allowed to be that green.

I understood why everyone stared. He had a beauty that was impossible to get over.

As the class went on, I could feel Edward's eyes boring into the back of my head. He didn't speak to me, but I could feel him watching my every movement.

It made me nervous as fuck. I didn't move for the entire hour of class.

Once the bell rang, I stayed seating thinking that he was going to talk to me or something.

He didn't.

He got up and walked out of the room without saying a word.

Whatever, he didn't have to talk to me. I guess.

After I had gathered myself, I got up to search for my next class.

Nothing of interest happened before my lunch period. Everyone besides the teachers dutifully pretended like I didn't exist. Which was fine with me because, frankly, I had nothing to say to them either.

Once I got my food from the lunch line, I turned to face the cafeteria. Everyone looked up from their conversation to see where I was going to sit.

The people in this school honestly needed to get a life.

My feet started moving on their own accord. I started to make my way to a random lunch table.

Of course in the center of the cafeteria was Edward and Co. I stopped walking for a second.

I don't know what I was hoping. Maybe for him to ask me to sit with them or something. Not that I wanted to sit with them.

Just him.

He didn't though. Edward looked right through me, as did the rest of their beautiful group.

The girl who had smiled at me earlier that morning gave me an almost imperceptible shake of her head. Willing me to just go away.

I don't like to be told what to do.

I looked around. Everyone was still staring.

I wasn't going to actually sit with this group, but I might as well give my audience a little show while I decided where to actually sit.

"Hey," I said looking directly at Edward and walking to face him at the table.

"Hello Bella," he gave. He didn't exactly invite me to sit down, but he didn't say not to either.

An audible gasp went through the room as I set my tray down.

The blonde girl's eyes snapped up as soon as my tray hit the table.

"May we help you?" her voice was like ice.

"No I don't really think you can. I was talking to Edward."

"Were you now? What would ever make you do that?" the blonde girl smiled showing her perfect white teeth.

I glared back at her. I could speak to whoever the fuck I wanted to.

"Maybe she was just being nice, Rose" the pixie said trying to diffuse the situation.

Rose? How could someone so bitchy have such a soft name?

Rose directed her hard glance at the pixie.

"I mean maybe we should get to know the new girl, it could be….beneficial" the pixie said, realizing she was in shaky territory with the blonde.

The blonde thought for a minute and then she got a look of determination in her eyes and her face broke into a beautiful smile.

"You are right Alice. Where have my manners gone? You should definitely sit with us….um I didn't catch your name."

"Bella." This came from Edward. The whole table turned to look at him.

Rose's façade of niceness dropped for half a second before she regained her composer.

"Well Bella, why don't you sit with us?" She pointed to the open seat at the table.

"Thanks, but no thanks," I said picking up my tray.

"She's probably just not hungry Rosalie" Alice piped up.

"No, I'm hungry. Just not interested," I smiled.

Rosalie's smile dropped and she had this feral look in her eyes that I had never seen on anyone besides an animal.

As I turned around, I knew I had made a mistake.

Rosalie did not look like the type of girl that got turned down often.

And from the look on her face, it was apparent she wasn't going to take it easily.