Chapter 1: Different

Chloe POV:

I pulled a brush through my long blonde hair. Tomorrow was going to be my first day of school, in Hamilton, Montana. I was definitely not looking forward to it. For one thing, it was the middle of the school year, and everyone would already know each other, and where their classes were, and I'd be the new girl.

For another, I just don't even want to be here. I don't get why my mom had to move. We were perfectly happy back home, in Miami, Florida, where I'm from. Where my friends are. Where my home is. Where my life is. But no. My mom decided that we should move some where new, because I guess she thinks that a smaller town will be better for my little sister, Olivia, and the baby that's on the way. I guess she thinks that she didn't do good enough with me. Maybe by moving here she'll get it right this time. But the two of them already have it better than me. They have a dad. I didn't.

I didn't have a dad until I was almost 10 years old, almost 6 years ago now. My real dad died a couple months after I was born, leaving my mother alone with a 2 month old baby, and no way to support herself. She somehow managed to make things work for us though, and then she met Brian.

Brian's a doctor, he has money (but he's not rich), and he's an okay guy, I guess. He's taken me in as his own child, and I that's more than a lot of people would do, and he loves my mom. But he's not my dad, and nothing will ever change that. I feel like I've missed out on something, like I was cheated out of something in life by losing my dad. Even though I don't even remember him, I still miss him.

I have a picture of him and my mom on their wedding night that I always keep under my pillow. My mom gave it to me when I was around 8 or 9, because she caught me in her room looking at it, all the time. I look at it, and wonder what he would've looked like if he were still around, and how my life would've been different.

And I probably wouldn't be starting a new school tomorrow either. I growled, and threw my brush across the room, and then sighed, crossing the room and picking up. I was being immature and I knew it - but I couldn't help it. I didn't want to be here! I blamed Brian for having to move. It just wasn't fair! I was almost 16. High school's hard enough without moving around all the time.

Of course, this has been my first move - out of Miami, at least. We've moved to a different house a couple times, but at least I didn't have to change schools.

I glared out the window. It was snowing outside - snowing! I couldn't believe it. At first it had been kind of cool. I'd never seen snow before, except on TV. I'd have a white Christmas! But then I got out of the car, and it's all cold, and wet, and yucky. I was starting to miss Florida.

And the mountains! They're gorgeous, but… I miss the ocean. I grew up with the ocean, and I love it. I spent almost every day in the summer last year on the beach. It was so amazing. I got a great tan, too. I sighed and looked out the window again. I doubted I would ever get that good of a tan here.

"Chloe!" My mom called up the stairs. "Supper's ready, if you're hungry!" I tossed my brush onto the bed and made my way downstairs, avoiding the many still unpacked boxes, and little 2 year-old Olivia. My mom had just made a pizza, because she didn't have all of her cooking things unpacked. I sighed.

"Why do I have to start school tomorrow?" I complained. "Why can't I start next week?"

"Don't worry about it, sweetie, it'll be fine," My mom assured me, kissing my forehead. I sighed, and Olivia came into the room. She bumped into a box and fell onto her butt. She looked up at me, her lower lip sticking out.

"Uh-oh," My mom said.

"I'll get it," I told her.

"You sure?" She asked.

"It's fine," I assured her. Sometimes even my mom needed a break from her, and after putting up with her in the car on the long ride over, I decided to give her one.

She was crying by the time I crossed the room and picked her up. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, just like me, and just like my mom. I walked around with her for awhile - she liked that - and then she stopped crying, and wanted to be put on the floor. I set her down, planted a kiss on her forehead, and went to finish eating.

"Chloe," My mom called from the living room.

"Yeah?" I stuck my head in the room.

"Could you put your sister to bed for me, please?" She asked. I sighed.

"Sure."

"Thank you, sweetie."

"We appreciate it," Brian added. I nodded, and went to get Olivia.

Finally, I got her to go to sleep. I went into the upstairs bathroom (which, currently, only I use, but eventually so will Olivia, but by the time she's old enough to even fight with me for it, I'll probably be off at college - hopefully in Florida) and took a warm shower; it helped to relax me, and then, tired after a long day of driving, I went to sleep.

{(~ - ~)}

The next morning, I woke up at 6:30, Florida time, which means it was 4:30 here. I groaned and rolled over, attempting, and failing to go back to sleep. The one time I actually get a chance to sleep in on a weekday (sort of), and I can't. Finally, I decided to get up, and work on unpacking while I waited until a decent time to get ready for school.

The time passed quicker then I expected, and I grabbed the outfit I'd decided on last night. It was a pair of dark wash jeans, and a light blue scoop necked long sleeved shirt layered over a white tank top, with a dangly silver chain necklace with heart shaped locks and keys and a matching pair of earrings. I combed through my hair, and decided to leave it straight. I clipped some of my hair back on one side only, making sure that just enough bangs fell in front of my face, and then applied my make up - some light pink eye shadow, a little bit of eyeliner, just on the bottom of my eyes, some mascara, and a little lip gloss. I took a step back, and looked in the mirror. I looked okay. The pink eye shadow seemed to really bring out my blue eyes, from some reason.

I went back into my room and searched for my shoes - black and grey plaid converse. They were my favorite shoes. I went downstairs, and grabbed an apple, and bit down on it.

"There you are," My mom said, lifting Olivia out of her high chair and setting her down on the ground.

"Is Brian at work already?" I asked, searching through the cabinets for a cup. Finally, I found one, and filled it up.

"No, he doesn't start until tomorrow. He ran to the store to get some groceries and things."

"You're really trusting him to get groceries?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at her.

"I gave him a list - a very precise list. And don't worry, I made sure he got you plenty of fruits and veggies," She assured me. As of my 14th birthday, I am a vegetarian. I'm definitely a big animal person, even though I don't really look like it, but that's only part of why I'm a vegetarian; for some reason, the thought of eating meat just started making me nauseous. I tried to just, you know, deal with it, but it didn't work, and so I just decided to become a vegetarian. I won't eat meat, but I'll still drink milk, and eat eggs, and stuff (I couldn't give up milk, no ice cream!), and that's a lot healthier then only eating like foods that are from plant origins, or whatever.

"Are you going to give me a ride to school?" I asked.

"Yeah, do you want to leave, now?" She asked. I glanced at the clock.

"Sure," I sighed. Might as well get this over with now.

I grabbed my backpack, and then headed out to the car. My mom was buckling Olivia into her car seat. I got in the front seat, and turned and smiled at my baby sister. She smiled back, and then covered her face with her hands. I laughed. She was so cute (when she wasn't keeping me up at night with her screaming).

The ride to the school was quiet.

"Do you want me to come in with you?" My mom asked.

"No, Mom, I think I can handle this," I said, a little exasperated. I wasn't a little girl anymore.

"Okay," She smiled at me. "Just making sure. Do you want a ride home?" She offered.

"Sure," I said, after a moment's hesitation. I got out of the car and closed the door before she could say anything else. I headed inside, nervous as hell, but I ignored it, and found my way to the office, and asked for my schedule. I walked out and searched for my locker. Finally, I found it, and I shoved my things inside, starting to walk around and look for my classes before school started. If I hadn't been staring at my paper as I walked, like a dummy, then maybe I wouldn't have run into the gorgeous guy in front of me - of course, he hadn't been looking where he was going either, so it wasn't entirely my fault.

I tripped backwards, and hit my head on the lockers behind me.

"Oh, hey, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," The guy said, grabbing my arm to balance me.

"Well, maybe if you would look where you were going," I snapped at him, without thinking. Back in Miami, I would've never said something like that to a guy as hot as him. He was tall, muscular (from what I could tell), with tanned skin, dark, dark hair, and brown eyes.

"I said sorry," He said, frowning at me. I glared at him.

"Whatever," I said pushing past him, walking in the direction I had been going, as if I actually knew where I was going. I could feel his eyes on me (literally, I can actually feel when people are watching me, and sometimes, if we're really close, I can even tell when they're thinking about me, and occasionally, what they're thinking about just in general - it's weird), but I refused to turn and look at him.

The day passed slowly. I was introduced by every teacher, and got asked where I was from at least a million times, but I did make a couple friends. There was Resa (short for Theresa), a pretty girl with dirty blonde medium length hair, and hazel eyes, and then Nicole, who, despite her height (around 5"1'), had a don't mess with me attitude, even though she was also totally sweet. She had really tan skin, and dark, almost black hair. I thought her attitude was kind of funny, and she was really nice to me - I just wouldn't want to get on her bad side. They both seemed to be semi-popular. I mean, not super popular or anything, but not the people that no one likes.

At my old school, I was pretty popular. I could've had almost all of the single guys at my school - and probably quite a few of the taken ones, too. Despite that, though, I've only ever had 1 boyfriend. We went out for about 2 ½ months, freshman year, but I broke up with him because it just felt wrong. It hurt like hell, and to this day, I still miss him. It's kind of sad, actually. That's one good thing about moving here. I don't have to see him and his new girlfriend every single day.

Things didn't get real interesting until my U.S History class, 8th hour. I was so glad that the day was finally almost over, and I walked into the room, to see the guy I'd run into this morning, sitting at a desk in the back of the room. To my dismay, I had to sit in the empty seat beside him.

"So, Florida, huh?" He said to me. "Is everyone there as bitchy as you?"

I bit my lip and blinked to keep the angry tears from flooding my eyes. I stared straight ahead, and didn't bother giving him an answer. I concentrated on the teacher.

He was actually a really good teacher - easily the best history teacher I've ever had. The way he taught, it just made it seem like it was all so real, like it was happening right now, instead of a hundred years ago. I don't really know how else to explain it.

I tried to ignore the guy sitting next to me, but I saw every movement he made out of the corner of my eye, and I could feel it every time he looked at me. As soon as the bell rang, I was up out of my seat and heading towards the door.

"What's the rush?" Nicole, who was suddenly next to me, asked.

"Nothing," I said, glancing back at the guy. "I'm just glad the day's finally over."

"The first day's the worst," She sympathized. "Do you want a ride home from school?" She offered.

"My mom's picking me up today," I said, a little embarrassed.

"Oh, okay, well tomorrow then?" She offered.

"Sure thanks," I smiled.

"No problem," She said, skipping off to her locker.

I went out to the parking lot, and found my mom's SUV easily enough. I quickly got in and hoped no one saw me. I glanced in the back, a habit of mine ever since Olivia was born.

"Livy at home with Brian?" I asked.

"Yeah," My mom said, glancing in the rearview mirror. "So how was your first day?" She asked.

"Good," I replied, truthfully - well, mostly.

"Did you make any friends?" She asked.

"Yeah," I said, and then went into a little more detail to make her happy.

{(~ - ~)}

The next day passed similarly. History had always been my favorite subject, and I soon realized that it was about to become my least favorite subject as well. I couldn't stand sitting next to that boy (I really need to figure out his name, because I can't keep calling him the boy-I-ran-into-on-my-first-day, it just isn't working for me), but I didn't even know why, it's not like I knew him. I've never disliked (hate is too strong of a word for me) anyone this much before in my life, not that I can think of. Finally, history was over, and I met up with Nicole outside the classroom.

"So is that offer for a ride home still available?" I asked.

"Of course!" She said, with her usual amount of energy. "You'll have to put up with my little brother, though," She wrinkled her nose. "Oh, hey, you should come over to my house tonight!" She exclaimed. "I just got a couple new movies that we could watch! Would your mom let you?"

Since it was a Friday night, I figured she would, and so I agreed, and then called my mom as we stood at the doors and waited for Nicole's brother. She said yes, as I'd expected, and then I saw the boy walking over to us. I gritted my teeth and looked away.

"Hey, Nicki," He said, dropping his arm around her.

"Ew, Jake, since when do you hug me," She shoved against his chest but given the fact that he was almost a foot taller than her and definitely more muscular, it didn't work out so well.

"Since when do you hang out with Florida chicks?" He retorted.

"Since when is it your business who I hang out with?" She said, narrowing her eyes at him, and putting her hand on her hip. Oh no, I thought. They were fighting like they were… brother and sister. But Nicole kind of fights with everything, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"Whatever. Are you taking her home?" He asked, starting out the door.

"She's spending the night," Nicole replied as we followed him.

"What?" He snapped, turning.

"We should probably stop at your place so you can get some clothes," Nicole said, completely ignoring the boy - Jake, I guess. I followed her out to the parking lot.

"Sorry, you'll have to sit in the middle," She said, when we got to an old beat up pick up truck - it was cute, in it's own little way. I kind of liked it. "My car kind of died last week, so I have to drive Jacob's truck." Oh. It was his. I briefly wondered if maybe him and Nicole were going out - but then I remembered that she'd pushed him away when he hugged her, so probably not.

"It's fine," I said, sliding in. Jacob got in the truck after me. I had to sit with my legs kind of angled towards me, so that Nicole could move the gearshift. I tried to sit as far from him as I could, but our shoulders still brushed.

I gave directions to my house as Nicole drove. She pulled to a jerky stop in front of my house.

"Sorry," She said. "I'm not used to a stick shift," She giggled.

"That's exactly why you shouldn't be driving my truck," Jacob grumbled.

"Shut up, Jake, you're not even old enough to have your license yet," Nicole frowned.

"Could you please let me out?" I said to Jacob, impatiently. He glared at me, and grudgingly got out.

"I'll be back in just a couple minutes I said, going inside and tossing my school bag into my room, grabbing a different bag and throwing my toothbrush, pajamas, deodorant, a change of cloths, and my cell phone charger in quickly, before rushing back downstairs.

"Hey, Olli," I said, picking up my sister, and giving her a big kiss. She laughed, and hugged me tight. I set her back down. She followed me as I tried to go outside.

"No, Olivia," I set my bag down on the front steps. "You have to stay inside," I said, picking her up. She clung to me and started sobbing. I groaned inwardly.

"Mom," I called inside. "Come get Livy!"

She appeared from the kitchen, and took her from my arms. Olivia tried to hold on to me - she wasn't dumb, she knew I was leaving.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll be back tomorrow," I promised her, kissing her forehead again. "Sorry," I mouthed to my mom, as I closed the door behind me and grabbed my back.

"Was that your sister?" Nicole asked, as she pulled out of my driveway.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"She's cute," Nicole said. Jacob snorted. "I love little kids," She said, totally ignoring Jacob, once again.

"Yeah, she's adorable. Annoying as hell at times, but adorable."

Nicole laughed.

"Wonder where she gets it from," Jacob said, sarcastically.

"Jake, shut up," Nicole said.

"Whatever," He said, reaching over and flipping the radio station.

"Stop it!" Nicole flipped it back.

"It's my truck!"

"I'm driving!"

I reached in between the two of them and made them both shut up by turning the volume on the obviously-new stereo down completely.

"That works, too," Jacob said, after a short pause, and Nicole pulled up in front of a house. It looked nice from the outside. We went inside.

"Hi, daddy," Nicole went over to a man in a wheelchair in the living room and kissed his cheeks. "This is Chloe," She said, introducing me.

"Hello," He smiled warmly at me. "I'm Billy Black," He said, reaching out his hand; I shook it.

"Nice to meet you," I smiled at him.

"You too."

"Chloe's staying the night tonight, okay?" Nicole said, heading into the kitchen. She started getting some meat out of the fridge, and then saw my face.

"Oh, that's right, you're vegetarian!" She exclaimed, and put it back. "I'll find something else to make."

"No, it's fine -" I began, but was cut off by her brother.

"Vegetarian?" He sounded surprised. I turned to face him. "No wonder you're so skinny."

"That has nothing to do with what I eat," I said, instantly on the defensive.

"I don't know how to make any vegetarian foods, Chloe," Nicole said, apologetically, interupting whatever rude comment Jacob had been about to make.

"It's fine, just make whatever you normally make, I'll have a salad or something," I assured her.

"Okay, well, if you want you can just go watch TV while I make this," She suggested.

"Okay," I said, and walked into the other room. Jacob followed me, I could sense it. For some reason, I seemed to be able to sense him even more than other people. I sat down on the couch, and Jacob sat on the other end. The phone rang in the other room, and Jacob started to stand up.

"I'll get it," Billy said, and disappeared down the hallway.

"Chloe, why are you a vegetarian?" Jacob asked. I think it was the first thing that was somewhat nice to me all day - he didn't even sound like he was trying to insult me.

"Because I am."

"You're different, aren't you?" He said, softly, so that Nicole wouldn't hear him. I looked at him, startled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied. I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I had no idea how he knew about it - or how I knew he was talking about it, for that matter! He was talking about the whole being able to feel people's eyes, and almost read their thoughts.

"Don't lie to me," He said, those dark brown eyes piercing right through mine; it was almost as if he could see right through me, to my soul, as dumb as that may sound.

"I'm not," I said, shakily, but I knew he didn't believe me, and I also knew something else.

I wasn't alone. Jacob Black was 'different', too.

A/N: Alright, so I hoped you like it! As you can probably tell this is completely different from Twilight! So far, Jacob's the only Twilight character in it, but I might have some of the other characters come in later, I'm not sure!

Please review, I appreciate your opinions!

Oh, and thanks for reading! :)

xoxox