AN- hey everyone! Long time, no hear!! Anyways, I have a new story which I have started the second chapter of as well, but I want to know what you think so far!

Disclaimer- I don't own Twilight.

Bella's POV-

I was having the dream again. I was stood in the same meadow as always, in the exact same spot, but something didn't feel right. I looked around with a slight frown, trying to figure out what was wrong. Everything still looked the same. The meadow was still standing in the shape of a perfect circle and it still had the same, lush green grass. The vivid, colourful flowers swayed ever so slightly in the gentle breeze and the air still had the same warm feel to it.

The sky was still the same baby blue with no clouds obstructing the view. And as usual, it wasn't light or dark…it just was.

But something still didn't feel right. After turning a complete circle, I plopped down onto the grass, trying to work out what the problem was.

And then it happened.

A shadow emerged from the trees, which surrounded my private, dream meadow.

I froze, my eyes wide open and my mouth gaping. I snapped my mouth shut so I wouldn't scream as the shadow drifted closer. It didn't seem to notice me so I took this chance to take in its form.

It was about six feet tall and had the shape of a lanky yet muscular man so I decided it had to be a male. He looked as if he had unruly hair – though I couldn't tell from this distance or what colour it was – and by the way he was stood, (towards me) that he had perfectly chiselled jaw and cheek bones.

He still didn't notice me.

I got up and walked towards him slowly, careful not to step on any fragile flowers, and stood a couple of feet away from him.

He was gazing up at the sky, paying no attention to me or anything else.

I was about to take a step closer to him when suddenly, I was thrown backwards as if a barrier had formed between me and the shadow, preventing me from going any closer to him.

I lay there for a moment, and then got up slowly. He was gone.

I sat up, confused and dazed. This had never happened in my dream before. I was always alone. Always. There were never even any birds chirping in the trees around me, or any small, woodland creatures prowling about like there were supposed to be in forests.

But this was a dream. So where had the shadow come from? I lay back down on the slightly damp ground, deciding that Mr. Shadowman was a figment of my imagination.

Questions sizzled around in my head, and I closed my eyes and waited for the meadow to fade.

---

Beep…beep…beep…

I shoved my head under the pillow, punching the snooze button on my alarm clock. I groaned and buried my nose into the mattress, dreading the day ahead.

Why? Why had we moved? Why did I have to my junior year of high school now – in the middle of term? Why did I agree?

With that thought I froze. Then, when I heard shuffling downstairs, I decided to get up; Aunt Esme – or Esme as she insisted we call her – must be awake.

Sighing, I threw myself into the shower and carefully washed out all of my bloody cuts with warm soapy water. Then, when I climbed out, I gently rolled some water proof bandages around the marks for the sole purpose to hide them and then stepped into the shower once more, this time letting the cold water numb my bruises; there were too many to be done by hand.

After I had brushed my teeth and dragged a comb through my mahogany curls, I let my hair air dry while I pulled on a pair of grey leggings and an old checked shirt of my father's.

Thinking about Charlie and Renee always made me tear up so I shoved my parents out of my mind.

I grabbed my backpack and jacket and made my way downstairs to the kitchen where Esme had placed two plates of pancakes on the pine wood table.

Esme looked me over once, before shaking her head and muttering under her breath. "Bella, you have one helluva body and half the money in the world and loom at what you're wearing!" she exclaimed in despair.

I rolled my eyes and replied back firmly, "Esme, you know I'm not the type to around in designer labels, so you're just wasting your time telling me what to wear."

She shook her head again and after an exclamation of "I know!" she left the room hurriedly, just as Jacob slouched in.

I turned away from him abruptly and looked down at my pancakes. Suddenly, I didn't feel so hungry anymore.

After a small moment of awkward silence, Jacob spoke.

"Are you eating those?"

I shoved the plate of pancakes towards him, and without meeting his gaze, I stood up. He didn't say anything as I left the table but I could feel a pair of flat black eyes boring into the back of my head.

In my hurry of leaving the kitchen, I failed to notice a caramel haired bullet zoom towards me until I looked up at the last second, but by then, Esme had already crashed into me.

"Ah, Bella! I have something that will make you look more like the confident, hot girl I know instead of the zombie chick who climbed out of the ground this morning!" beamed Esme as I glared at her.

She held up a wide red belt and a pair of matching red ballet flats.

I quit the glaring because it obviously wasn't working. I sighed and grabbed the items off her. After shoving my size five feet into the flats I pulled the belt around my hips. Esme then proceeded to shriek like a banshee for about five minutes as I stared at her before she took a gasp of air, grabbed the belt off me and looked at it as if it might explode any second now.

"No, no, no!!! Arrrggg, I'm going to have to teach you how to use a belt! This wide type goes round your waist!" she said as if she was explaining this to a small child.

I rolled my eyes as she fastened it around my waist.

My father – Charlie – had been quite tall so the shirt actually fit like a dress on me. As I looked in the full length mirror that was leant against the hallway – ready to go in Esme's room – I would never admit this to my Aunt, but I actually looked quite good. Just then, Jacob sauntered out of the kitchen, running his eyes over my form. I suddenly felt very self conscious under his penetrating gaze and turned away from him.

"You look like a tramp," stated Jacob bluntly.

Esme glared at him before snapping, "Leave your sister be, Jacob!"

My so-called brother shrugged dismissively. "Hey, I'm only stating the truth," he said and strutted out of the front door. I bit back the tears and anger bubbling up inside me.

"Take no notice of him, Bells," said Esme gently.

I nodded before dragging my feet out of the large house my wealthy parents had left behind for me and Jacob. My father had been CEO of a security company and my mother had been a famous clothes designer. When they had died – or more precisely murdered – they had left behind all their money for me and Jacob to divide between us. We had both gotten half each – or so he insisted.

Mom's sister, Esme had been left with the responsibility to look after us, but Jacob could leave any time he wanted since he was of legal age. Esme was an energetic young woman who was a great fan of the single life, even though she was very pretty. She loved shopping and did interior decoration and she was the one who had designed this house for us.

The weird thing was though, this house had been made, and my parents' will had been written before they died and it was as though they had expected to be stabbed to death and then stuffed into an overheated airplane compartment while on a business trip abroad.

I wiped my eyes furiously as I climbed down the porch steps; I didn't want to give Jacob the satisfaction of seeing me bawling like a two year old on out first day here in Forks, Washington. I climbed into the passenger side of his red sports car (Ferrari) and shut the door quickly. Unfortunately, it gave a loud crunch so I must've closed it quite harshly. Jacob glared at me and I flinched under his gaze.

"If this car has a single fucking mark on it, then I'm going to give your body – and preferably your face – a few bloody souvenirs," he threatened, still glaring at me.

I knew he was serious when he said that – when wasn't he?

"Sorry," I muttered. "I won't do it again."

He snorted. "Yeah, to fucking right bitch, cause I'm not driving you around like a fucking chauffeur after today."

---

When we finally got to the high school (after several tickets from various cops and then finally a fine), I realized that the school was made up of about ten buildings, all joined together to form one big one.

Because Jacob drove as if he was in Grand Theft Auto, we got to school with plenty of time to spare. I jumped out of my seat and cracked the door open just as Jacob cleared his throat. I froze, then sat back down and shut the door slowly.

"Now, let's just get a few things cleared up, shall we? Don't fucking answer that. You are not to pull the, 'I'm from a broken home because my parents are dead so I expect you all to feel sorry for me' act and if you do, I'll know cause I'll be fucking watching you. And don't you even dare try it cause if you do, you'll never live to see damn daylight again – got it?" said Jacob menacingly.

I nodded tightly. Bad move.

He suddenly pulled me backwards by my hair and hissed in my ear, "I said, got it?!"

"Yes…" I whimpered hoarsely and he let go of me. I scrambled out of the car and stumbled out from under the willow tree he had parked the car under. Several heads turned to stare at me as I walked briskly towards the admin office.

---

I walked into the cafeteria and immediately, everyone in the hall turned to gawp at me. I blushed slightly and joined the end of the lunch queue.

The doors of the cafeteria opened again and a large group of guys walked in, talking and laughing like as if they were having a grand all time walking into a school lunch room. Conversation filled the cafeteria once more and I resisted the urge to sigh. High school teenagers were so predictable.

Suddenly, someone flung their over my shoulders.

"Hey sugar…" came a husky male voice in my ear.

I felt a sudden surge of anger. How dare someone touch me after everything I've been through today? Disgruntled by Jacob's speech and annoyed with the way everyone had stared at me so openly each lesson as if I was a zoo animal made me lash out.

"Excuse me, but although I'm a very anti-violence type of person, I'm afraid that if you do not remove your arm from my shoulder, I shall take great pleasure in tearing it off for you," I said to him calmly and without turning to face whoever it was.

The arm froze on my shoulder before pulling away slowly as my words sunk in.

I heard him back away and from the corner of my eye, watched as the blonde-haired hormonal teenager walked over to his gang of friends. I realized it was the gang that had walked in just moments before. The table they were sat at was draped with several dozen girls all wearing tight clothes and fake tans.

"So Mike, did you get her? Ha, don't answer that cause I know you did!" yelled some random guy at the blonde who had just harassed me.

I could see him glancing at me as he answered back.

"Err…yeah, I said I would, didn't I?" he said confidently, but I could hear a tone of nervousness underneath it.

I didn't even bother hollering back at him because just then, Jacob walked in, already joined by a big group of tall, russet skinned guys who had the same black hair styles.

I quickly looked away, got my lunch and paid. Then I stood by the wall, looking for somewhere to sit.

"Hi!" came a perky bell-like voice.

I looked around – then looked down. A tiny girl, who looked like a pixie with her spiky black hair and bright blue eyes, was staring up at me, beaming.

"Err…hi…?" I replied back, slightly confused.

Who was this girl? Did I know her?

"I was just wondering if you wanted to come and sit with me and my friends over at our table," she explained, still beaming.

"I…okay…" I said nervously.

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree and she dragged me away from the wall and to the far side of the cafeteria. I vaguely noticed that nearly half the cafeteria was gawping at me again but my attention was caught by the three very good looking people sat at the table to which the pixie was dragging me.

She shoved me into an empty seat next to a gorgeous blonde girl who looked as if she just walked off the photo shoot of Vogue. The girl was ignoring me completely and was instead looking down at her salad as if the meaning of life was emblazoned there. Next to her sat a huge 'I'm-on-steroids-so-don't-fucking-mess-with-me' type of guy with dark curly hair and soft brown eyes which sort of cramped the whole steroid look. He gave me a wide toothy grin which was one that seemed to be challenging. I gave him my signature smirk which I wore whenever I was around Jacob so it hid my nervousness and fear. Jacob could smell fear. The last guy was tall, blond and had blue eyes. He wore an expression of boredom but kissed the pixie's head when she sat down next to him gracefully.

"Err…do, not to be rude or anything, but who the hell are you?" I asked expectantly.

"Oh, sorry! Didn't I introduce myself? How rude of me! Anyway, I'm Alice Brandon," started the pixie - Alice Brandon – "and this is my boyfriend Jasper Hale,"- she pointed to the blonde guy who nodded at me – "the blonde girl over there is Jasper's twin sister, Rosalie Hale," – the blonde girl next to me didn't even look up – "and that big guy over there is Rosalie's boyfriend, Emmett Cullen," – the big guy waved at me (I waved back).

Cullen? The name rang a bell but I shoved that aside as Alice suddenly said something and we all fell into easy conversation – apart from Rosalie who sat staring out of the window, and expression of boredom on her flawless face.

My mind wandered and I remembered how I didn't have any friends back in Phoenix, Arizona, which was where we lived before we had to move. I had always been the loner and people called me an emo because of the cuts on my arms and legs, but that had been the time when Jacob – who had been very popular – had been experimenting – on my body. But the abuse from my brother had started after my parents had been murdered – before that, he was just like anybody's annoyingly superior big brother.

After a moment, I realized that everyone – with the exception of Rosalie – was staring at me.

"Did I miss something?" I asked as they stared at me.

"Err...yeah, I just asked if you were eating that?" said Emmett slowly as if he was talking to someone with Special Needs.

I looked down at my plate – pizza – and shoved it towards him. He suddenly reminded me of my brother. Alice was still looking at me.

"Hey Bella, are you okay?" she asked me gently.

Emmett interrupted before I could reply.

"Yeah, she's just day dreaming about what I would look like with no shirt on," he said cockily.

Anger flared up inside me. "Hey Emmett, were you born this stupid or are you just possessed by a retarde3d ghost?!" I snapped back unthinkingly.

I clamped a hand over my mouth as everyone – including Rosalie – turned to stare at me. Then, quite suddenly, Rosalie started laughing hysterically, Jasper smirked wildly, Alice beamed even more (if that was even possible) and Emmett started to grin.

"Oh Em, you just got BURNED!" gasped Rosalie in between giggles.

Then, she wiped a tear off her cheek and turned to look at me.

"excuse me, but I don't think we've been introduced, I'm Rosalie Hale," she said, smiling at me and holding out a hand as the others all stared in astonishment; I don't think Rosalie talks to, or even befriends someone who is not in her group.

I grinned and shook her outstretched hand.

"Bella Swan."

Emmett looked at me then, a face splitting grin plastered to his face.

"Bella Swan, I hereby declare you as a part of the 'Untouchables'!"

AN- yes, I know it's not that good but please leave your thoughts and comments. Also, constructive criticism (keyword; CONSTRUCTIVE) is welcome!

Amethyst