Chapter 1

His lips parted in a soundless laugh as he hung on every word. His hair was floppy and her hands itched to touch and feel the texture. She'd never felt a guy's hair before with the exception of Charlie's when she was younger. His eyes were kind an entranced and his features were glowing. He was the perfect guy.

Bella was in love. The only problem was that the guy she was in love with was dating her sister. Those entranced eyes were not following her movements, but Rose Swan's. She was the one carelessly brushing back his hair across the cafeteria. She was the swimsuit model look-alike and Bella was slouched in her hoodie, hair back in a ponytail. She had tried to put effort into herself in her freshman year-makeup, curls, but she soon realized there really wasn't a point. With Rose, her spotlight cast everyone else in the shadows.

But now Rose was dating the only guy Bella had ever wanted. And it burned her to her core. She didn't want to hate her sister, but she wouldn't mind if she graduated sooner rather than in 6 months and went to college. Maybe then, everyone's eyes could adjust and see everything normally when they weren't blinded.

She was stupid. Bella sighed and dropped her head in her hand. He wouldn't want her anyway. She was a blender. You wouldn't notice her blending into the crowd, the lockers, the bus. She hoped , but she knew—it was useless.

"Bella?" She dropped out of her trance and looked at Jessica.

"Yeah?"

"He's coming over here!"

Bella's brow drew in confused, and then she realized he was on his way over.

"Help." She murmured quietly.

"You'll be fine," Jessica said an pushed off her sea to take her tray back.

"Hey, uh Bells?"

Her fingers shook.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Do you think you could give Eric a ride home after school today in your truck if I take Rose?"

Bella swallowed and forced herself to sound normal, repressing dropping excitement and disappointment.

"Sure, no problem."

His eyes seemed to bore into her soul. She was entranced.

"Thanks Bells!"

She watched him walking away, her posture slumping.

Could that have been any more generic?

"Soo …?" Jessica slid back into the seat and took one look at Bella's face. "What did you do?"

"I'm taking Eric home," Bella said miserably, pulling out a loose strand of hair from her ponytail and started twirling it. "I'm being a—"

"Who is that?" Jessica interrupted her breathlessly, elbowing her ribs.

"Ouch! Who?"

Bella turned to see a guy with dark copper hair, and a tiny girl with short black hair walk into the cafeteria with a teacher. New people were always exciting and as such, all eyes were on them as they grabbed trays and then eventually walked over to a table. Still taking in the scene, she noticed her sister was also eagle-eyeing the couple.

Bella's eyes wandered back to them as well and was startled when a pair of intense green eyes were staring into her own. The new guy winked at her mischievously and then turned to the smaller girl, saying something animatedly.

Jessica shook her shoulder excitedly and Bella came back in focus.

"Bella, did you see that? He winked at me!"

Bella opened her mouth and then shut it slowly. It didn't matter, and Jessica had been in the same dry spell as she had been dehydrating in. It wasn't a big deal.

"I wonder who they are," Bella murmured and then turned to focus on the one thing that she always came back to.

Mike Newton.

A/N: Thanks for reading guys! Make sure and stay tuned to find out how Mike reacts to the new guy in school. . . Also, feel free to review, I love getting feedback so let me know your thoughts! Thanks and I'll be back soon!

R