Chapter 1: Vanishing Act

"…Goodbye Sun…" I sighed looking out my window at the sky and clouds. That's about all I was going so miss about the south. Living in Louisiana just wasn't meant for me.

I'm moving to Forks, Washington… Sigh. Couldn't my dad think of a more normal place to live? Who was I kidding? Of course not. It was probably right up his alley. Steven Michaels never seemed to settle for the norm, but the good part is that he was probably the coolest parent alive. My mom Nikki on the other hand was always too up-tight and controlling. I'm ashamed to say that I was kind of glad to be getting away from her.

Ever since she started dating this new guy John, I've felt the need to get away. It wasn't that I didn't like him or anything; it was just a disgusting concept to behold.

"Are you ready?" My mom yelled from the living room.

"Yes ma'am," I said, right behind her.

"Oh! Devin! Where'd you come from?"

"My room?"

She glared at me and then asked, "Ready?"

I sighed and proceeded to put my suitcase into the back of her van. We drove to the airport, said our goodbyes and I boarded my plane.

After I landed in Forks, I was filled with sheer horror as my dad pulled up in a rusty green pickup truck.

"Dad, you don't have a truck…" I said in a sort of stupor.

"Hey kiddo! Have a nice flight?"

"It was fine but why are you dr-"

"It's not mine by the way, it's yours!" He was far too excited about this. At this point my mind was racing. I didn't want to stand out more than I had to, and driving a green truck wasn't going to help.

"Wh –What?" I stammered.

"Like it?" he asked

"It's Green!"

"I Know! It's still your favorite color isn't it?"

"Y-yes, b-but why did you get me a green truck dad? Doesn't that seem a bit…I don't know, weird to you?"

"Get in and I'll explain it to you on the way home." He said ignoring my question.

"Okay?" I muttered wearily.

"So I saw it on the side of the road while I was on the reservation and thought it would be perfect for you.

"I'm surprised that this thing even works! How old is it?!"

He chuckled. It's not that old and it's in great condition. All I need to do is fix the brakes, but they should be fine for a while."

"Oh well, I guess I'm stuck with it now," I sighed.

Once we got home I unpacked all of my stuff in the extra room and looked around. The room wasn't that big, but it wasn't small either. Thanks to my mom there was a computer sitting on a desk in the corner. I'd have to remember to test the internet connection tomorrow. I was exhausted and fell back on my bed, looking at the ceiling.

"Knock Knock"

"If you must…"

"Devin are you still upset about the truck?"

"No, I've gotten over that. I'm dreading the idea of school in the morning."

"Oh, that's what I came to talk to you about. Do you need me to be here when you get ready to go?"

"Dad, I'm sixteen. I think I can handle getting ready and driving two minutes to get to school alone."

"Good, I've got to be at the station early."

"Right Mr. Police Chief"

He closed the door and went back downstairs to watch TV. At this point I wasn't feeling any remorse for being a bitch. I just wanted sleep. I needed to be ready for a whole lot of stares and whispers about the "new kid in town". I was feeling nauseous already. I got up to take my shower, then went to bed and fell into darkness.

I pulled into the parking lot and noticed that I wasn't the only one with an old and rusty car. I parked in an empty space, walked up to the office, took a deep breathe and went in. Sitting behind a counter was a motherly looking brunette woman doing a crossword puzzle.

"Can I help you?" she asked without looking up.

"I'm Devin Michaels, I'm a new student here," I informed her. She looked up and smiled with an expression that said "I already know who you are". Ugh. Adults and their need to talk about their lives…She probably wasn't the only person currently aware of my existence…thanks dad.

"Here's your schedule, and have all of your teachers sign this."

"Thank you," I said looking down at the paper she handed me. She continued doing her crossword so I assumed I was free to go. I turned and slowly walked out of the office still looking at the schedule. My first class was English.

I tentatively walked through the cloud of talking teens and into the classroom marked 103. I walked up to a tall slightly balding man who I assumed to be the teacher. It was five minutes before the bell so I was the only one in class.

"Hi, I'm Mr. Mason, you must be Devin."

"Err, yes," I replied. Goodness! Apparently word spreads fast in small towns.

"I'm your English teacher, and here is your reading list. " He handed me a slip of paper. "The bell is about to ring which means you need a seat. There's an empty seat third from the left in the back row."

Seconds after he said this, the bell rang and students began filing into class. Somehow they all seemed to glance at me a few dozen times before taking a seat. The girl sitting next to me kindly and quietly introduced herself as Angela, and she didn't say much for the rest of the period. She had light brown hair and light brown eyes and seemed nice enough. I sat through English slightly bored with things I had already covered back at home.

Enduring countless stares and whispers, I got through both Trig, and Spanish. In Spanish, a particularly talkative blonde, named Jessica, who basically forced her friendship upon me and decided that I would be sitting with her and her friends at lunch.

I apprehensively walked into the lunch room and quickly spotted my newfound "friend".

"Everyone, this is Devin Michaels. He just moved here from Louisiana," She said taking pride in the fact that she knew the new guy. The five or six people at the table greeted me and I was introduced to Mike, Angela, Eric, and Lauren. The others names I quickly forgot. The over talkative girl seemed to be the queen of gossip at Forks High, which would explain her needing to know me. I was just about to start eating when the cafeteria doors opened.

Suddenly, five of the most beautiful people I had ever seen in my life walked into the cafeteria.

"Who are they?"

"Ah, you've seen the Cullens. The boys are Emmet, Edward, and Jasper," she said looking at them in admiration. "The short one's name is Alice and the one who thinks she's on a runway is Rosalie."

They all sat down at the farthest table to the back and all began staring off as if in deep thought. The one named Rosalie was tall, and blonde and breathtakingly beautiful. The one named Alice was short and small with black spiky hair. Then there were three of the most beautiful men I had ever se-One of the boys was staring at me with a look of sheer horror written on his angelic face. He was probably the youngest and had a cute boyish face. His hair was messy, yet neat and honey blonde…sigh. I was frozen. Both our eyes were wide in alarm. After a second I saw the one named Alice lean over and say something to him. After a few seconds, I managed to pull my gaze away from his.

"Tell me more about…them," I said to Jessica.

"That's Emmet," she said pointing to a muscular boy with beautiful dark wavy curls. "That's Edward," she said pointing to the more slender boy with a strange reddish-brown tint to his hair and looked about the same age as the other one (probably seniors).

"The short one, Alice is dating Edward and Emmet is with Rosalie, her twin brother Jasper is the only single one…" I noticed a bitter edge to her words. "…I don't know much about them except that Dr. Cullen and his wife adopted them all and the twins are related to Mrs. Cullen somehow. They all live together and they're all taken except Jasper," she sighed.

Jasper…He was the one who looked at me like I was the ghost that ate Casper…

"Wow, they're beautiful," I said to keep the conversation rolling.

"Yeah, they moved here from California a few years ago, I don't know why they're so pale though…"

I took another look at them. They all looked completely unrelated, yet all were really pale, and seemed to have light bruises under their eyes that didn't take away from their beauty. Then they all got up in perfect synchronization and walked towards the cafeteria exit. Just before walking out the bronze haired boy glared at me. It was possibly the most beautiful expression I had ever seen, even if it was a glare…But what had I done to him!?

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and Angela kindly reminded me that we had Biology II together. There was a definite contrast between her and Jessica. She never felt the need to waste oxygen with unnecessary talk.

Once we got to class, Angela went to sit next to her lab partner and I noticed that the only person in the class without a partner was…him. I gave the teacher, Mr. Banner, the slip he needed to sign and tentatively went to take my seat. Suddenly he froze. He seemed to be made of stone. I sat down, my heart racing faster than it ever had in my life, and he suddenly got up and briskly walked to the front of the room.

"Mr. Banner, I'm not feeling very well and I think I may need to see the nurse," he said with an urgent tone to his voice.

"Okay, just make sure to get your notes from your partner next class," Mr. Banner replied, but Jasper was already out of the room.

I stared blankly at the doorway. This was the second time that Jasper kid saw me and then disappeared like that…that was what happened in the lunch room right? No, I'm just being paranoid….

I sat through the rest of biology barely aware of the lesson being taught around me. The bell rang and I gathered my things to leave.

"Hey Dev, you need help finding your next class?" a vaguely familiar voice asked.

"I prefer Devin." I corrected him politely.

"Sorry, I'm Mike by the way." He said with a friendly smile. Mike had bright blue eyes, a cute boyish face, and meticulously perfect hair.

"I think I can manage finding the gym on my own." I joked.

"That's my next class too! C'mon, let's go." He said enthusiastically. I walked with him to the gym at a pace that was a tad bit slower than I would have liked. He talked most of the time, asking a few questions in the process. I think I remember him from my English class but I wasn't sure.

Once we got to the gym he asked, "So how was your first day with Mr. Banner?"

"Fine I guess, I think it would have been better if I had a lab partner."

"Yeah, it was weird how Jasper ran out. I've never seen any of the Cullens get sick before, probably because their dad is a doctor, but I don't know."

So maybe I did scare him off. What about me could he hate so much that he had to leave class? A crowded cafeteria even? Maybe he just wasn't feeling well and needed to go throw up or something. I was just overreacting.

"Oh well," Mike said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Yeah, doesn't matter," I said, more to myself than to Mike.

The gym teacher told me that I didn't have to dress out for class, so I just sat in the bleachers and watched. They played volleyball, which I was pretty okay at. Mike on the other hand was amazing, he never seemed to lose control of the ball and his team just relaxed and let him do most of the work.

Finally, Gym was over and I was done for the day. I walked up to the office to return my signature slip. I walked in and chills ran from the top of my head, all the way down to my toes. There he was, leaning over the counter talking to the receptionist. He seemed to be negotiating his schedule. He looked pretty healthy to me…aside from the extremely pale complexion that he and his non-related siblings seemed to share…

"I'll be with you in a second, you can have a seat." The receptionist told me politely. I nodded and turned to take a seat.

"Never mind." I heard him say hastily as he turned and quickly strode toward the door. He stopped and looked at me as if he were considering something, then left.

I walked up to the desk and handed the lady my slip.

"So how did you like Forks High so far?"

What was that about?! This was creepy! Jasper is officially creepy! Hot, or not!

"Hello? Anyone home?" the receptionist said.

"Oh, sorry, it's fine. The people here are really friendly."

"You don't sound so sure," she said sounding skeptical.

"I am," I lied, and flashed a quick smile.

I walked back out to the parking lot. I noticed all of the Cullens standing around a shiny silver Volvo, except Jasper. Then I noticed him sitting in the back seat of the Volvo with his head in his lap. The others seemed to be arguing at a fast pace. Edward turned and glared at me. I stumbled, and hastened my walk to my truck. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Rosalie roll her eyes in my direction and Alice sigh.

I quickly started the car and hurried out of the parking lot, making sure not to run over any students. I pulled into my driveway and just sat there dazed. After a minute or two, I noticed my eyes were watering. What did I do to them?! And why did I care so much?!