Chapter 1 - meeting Isabella

Purgatory I thought, my very own purgatory. After I spend the night trying to ignore the perfectly set couples I used to live with and considered as family, the dawns finally broke. But this fact couldn't lighten my mood; it only meant that it was time to get ready for school. School – my personal hell. Much worse than just trying not to listen to the very physical things my family did, but to be confronted with hundred minds of stupid, hormones teenager and their foolish teacher.

I lifted myself of my leather couch, closing my journal and turned the music of. At this very moment I heard my favorite sister Alice grasps. I looked for her mind, which I had tried to ignore all the hours before, but saw nothing. Jasper felt her confusion and was right next to her, as was our whole family within a second.

"What's going on Alice, why can't you see anything?" I asked her, feeling all heads turn to me, to look back to Alice, who seemed to be completely surprised. "I don't get it, I have no idea. Something very important seems to be arising, but I have no plan what it could be. Too many decisions are still to come."

"Something with us, some visitors?" Esme asked worried, "Is anyone suspicious?" Carlisle wanted to know. "Please look out again." Jasper asked his wife, who tried to concentrate hard, but all she could see was a stock-market change, a new girl in school and a bank-robbery in Port Angeles.

"I have no Idea guys, I think we should just move on, like every normal day, there should be plenty of time to cope with a new situation, when it arises, just look out and be warned."

And so we left our parents and drove to school, Alice still trying to catch the future, Jasper feeling his wife's concern, which stressed him as well, me monitoring her thoughts and his reactions, Emmet easy as always and Rosalie thinking about a 26th honeymoon. I couldn't remember if Emmet has ever been worried and as I couldn't forget anything that meant he was never worried about anything. And well Rose was Rose.

Due to our discussion earlier the day we were rather late so my usual parking lot was already occupied. I managed to find a spot next to an old, rusty truck, which must belong to the new girl, as it was an unknown vehicle at the school. I heard Rosalie complaining about the spot, parking next to something which called itself a car, but I tried to ignore her. As if the ancient truck could threaten my Volvo, ridiculous.

Alice and I had nearly the same schedule, as had Rosalie, Emmet and Jasper. They claimed to be in their last year, while Alice and I pretended to be younger. Luckily the teachers stopped asking us questions after a few months, after they realized that there wasn't anything we didn't know and started to ignore us. Some teacher would try us, but in the end it was always and always the same. Hell - like I said.

I was looking forward to lunch, as I heard that Emmet used the time to make up a prank on Jasper. It would be a good one, but as I already knew the outcome, I was slightly interested. Still a distraction. When I opened my mind looking for Jasper I heard everybody thinking about Isabella Swan, the new girl. I internal mourned about the narrow-minded human nature. I couldn't see why everybody was so thrilled about talking to her, as if the addition to the student body would change the emptiness of the world. I heard Jessica Stanley looking at us to fill Isabella in into the rumors about the Cullens. I wondered if Isabella was stupid enough to believe the shit Jessica told her. But I couldn't hear anything next to Jessica, as if she was talking to herself. So I needed to double check it and turned. Just in this moment Jessica told Isabella "These are the Cullens: Emmet and Edward Cullen, Rosalie and Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen." In the second Jessica told her the last name and I turned to look into Isabella's eyes I snatched a shocked look of deep brown eyes, Isabella let the tray she was carrying fall and run out of the cafeteria. Everybody looked around, seeing her leaving, but after a few seconds all collected themselves and began chattering again. Only Jessica stood still in the middle of the cafeteria scolding herself for being nice to Isabella. She just wanted the attention Isabella gained reflecting on herself, but making a fool of herself didn't helped her reputation, time to start spreading rumors of Isabella she decided and I turned off her annoying monologue.

I turned around to my family and looked to a disturbed Alice "She run, because of me" she whispered to our family. "I can't see anything, but it involves her, I need to find out!" And with that unveiling she got up and followed Isabella's scent. The rest of us followed her lead and she led us to one of the girl's bathrooms. We stood there, unsure how to continue, when Alice turned to me, asking me mentally what the girl was thinking. I told her that I wouldn't listen to the girl using a bathroom, but as Alice started to pout, I tried. But still – nothing.

"I can't hear anything." I told my family, "If I couldn't hear her heartbeat I would assume the room was empty. Jasper, can you feel anything?" "Well I feel stress and anxiety, but not like other humans do when they come near us. She feels concerned. I'm not sure, her emotions are quite complex." Jasper whispered so low that only my family could hear. Than we heard a phone number being called and a few seconds later Isabella's voice, she must be calling somebody.

"Anna, hur mår du? Det är Bella" We heard her speaking Swedish with someone on the other end of the phone (Anna, how are you? It's Bella). "Var snäll och hjälpa mig, kan du handla mig Caro's telefonnumret? (Please help me, can you give me the phone number of Caro?) We heard the woman Anna telling her a number and they end the call. After a few seconds we heard Bella breathing and then dialing another number.

"Hallo Caro, ich bin's Bella…. Alice, die Zweite?... Ja genau die, es tut mir Leid, dass ich dich anrufe, ich hoffe ich störe dich nicht…kein Problem, schieß los, es ist ja nicht so als ob du mich aufgeweckt hättest (Caro lachte)…. Ja da hast du wohl Recht (Bella holte tief Luft) da du die Erste warst und am meisten über sie gehört hast… wie sieht Alice Cullen genau aus?"

„Hi Caro, it's Bella…. Alice, the second?... Exactly, I'm sorry for calling, I hope I don't disturb you… No problem, not like waking me up, right (she chuckled)…right (Bella breathed deeply) as you were the first and heard about her the most… what exactly does Alice Cullen look like?"

I heard my whole family gasp, but tried to focus on the call.

"Why are you asking? If you want to end your life be brave and just do it! I won't stop you, are you crazy for asking this question after all?... Please I'm sorry for upsetting you, I'm not asking you for chatting about the good old times… there's a vampire in my school and her name is Alice Cullen, so please tell me that it's not her, tell me that I didn't accidentally run into her! Please tell me that there are dozen Vampires out there named Alice Cullen... Wow! That's crazy. At least it isn't such an unusual name… Can we get over it; I need to go to my next class. Can you please just tell me what she looks like… Ok, let's see. All I know is him talking about her as a little black haired tiny pixie… (Bella moans)… Bella? Are you alright?...Short or long hair?... Bella you know that, really short, due to the treatments… Yes, I remember, thanks Caro. Are you alright? We'll see, don't tell him I called, ok? Ok.

My family seemed to be in shock, Alice couldn't believe what she just witnessed and so are the rest of us. But we hear Bella heading to the door so we run to our classes, not to be caught.

I arrived my next one, Biology, just in time to get settled, ignoring everyone, just thinking about what we just witnessed. The girl didn't only knew about my family being vampires, but has also knowledge of a vampire named Alice Cullen. This couldn't be a coincidence, not as Alice couldn't remember her past and couldn't check her future any longer. This must be because of the girl – Bella.

While I thought about her and her mysterious call and was looking out for the thoughts of my siblings, I heard Mr. Banner (my biology teacher) say my name. "You can sit next to Edward" telling Bella to take the empty seat next to mine.

Great! – I need to know what's going on, I should be nice to her, maybe I get her to talk, I thought to myself. But just in the second I started to breathe in to tell her my name, I caught her scent and the monster inside me surfaced at once.