Disclaimer: SM owns the wonderful saga known as Twilight. I am just borrowing her characters.

A/N: This is set at modern day. Bella and the Cullens were reborn so they did not know Edward at all. They never met him at this lifetime.

Chapter 1: A Day in the Life of Bella Swan

Bella POV:

Driving my truck to school, I smiled as I enjoyed the final moments of peace where I could just be Bella. Its deliberate slowness allowed me time for myself as I held on to the last vestiges of my identity.

I approached Forks High School—the center of my universe. It was a small school, its edifice already crumbling down as a sign of its age and neglect. Since the school year would start today, I went early so that I had a few more minutes before the entire student body bombarded my peace and solitude. I looked in the mirror and put on the final touch-ups before presenting myself in the world.

"Teeth… Check... Make-up… Check—not too cakey, just smooth enough to blend in. Blouse…. No wrinkles, check," I said to myself as I checked my appearance for the last time.

Once people began to trickle in, I exited my vehicle and flashed my patented winning smile to anyone heading my way as I went over to my two best girl friends. They were sitting and waiting for me in Alice's car. I grimaced as I remembered not going with them for the cruise they went to two weeks ago. I opened the door and slid in the passenger's seat.

"Bella!" Alice hugged. "It was nice to see you!"

"Nice to see you too," I said chuckling. "Come on. We only haven't seen each other for two weeks."

"We would have seen each other for last week if you joined us with our trip," Rose pointed out.

"Well, I got a little busy," I said trying to come up with a plausible excuse.

"What were you busy for? Scrubbing the floors of Newton's Outfitters?" Alice asked.

"Among other things," I said. "I was having a blast at my summer job. I think that they would have to keep me by the time that I was done with them."

"Don't kid yourself, Bella," Rose chastised. "We know how much you 'love' the outdoors."

"Even if you decided to take the summer job, you should have ended it sooner. Rose and I really had a great time," Alice said. She showed me a ton of pictures where both she and Rose were wearing a bikini.

"These are souvenirs," Rose said as she handed some necklaces made of sea shells. "We made it ourselves. We were supposed to buy you memorabilia but decided against it knowing that you hated it when people spend money on you. You should've come with us. We offered to pay for your trip."

"No, it's okay. I'm fine," I said. "Like I said, I don't want to be a burden."

Rosalie chuckled. "You're not a burden to us, Bella. We are happy to spend money on you… especially if you were allergic on spending."

"Don't remind me," I said and then pointed to Alice, "this girl right here spends enough money for my wardrobe on the reasoning that I hated clothes."

"But you do hated clothes," Alice said with a big smile on her face. "As I said, I wanted to be a fashion designer so by allowing me to spend clothes on you, you are investing on my future."

I just shook my head at her reasoning. Should she be spending her money buying me new clothes when she could design her own and build them from scratch? I do not think so. I let her get away with it, since she would continue to fill my wardrobe without my knowledge; it was futile to ask her to stop.

"Bella, What are you doing this Friday?" Alice asked.

"I have to cook dinner. My parents are coming home late," I answered.

"I know you're gonna say that." Alice shook her head. "That is why I asked your parents first before you. You are going straight to our house for a sleepover Friday after school."

"Well, let me pack my things first," I said.

"Nonsense! I went over to your house while you were out yesterday. I asked your parents and actually packed your bags for you. All you have to do is to show up," Alice explained.

I shook my head in disbelief. It was unlike my friends to force me into sleepover.

"Alice maybe taking extreme actions but I agree in her reasoning," Rose asked. "Seriously, you should have fun and we're not taking no for an answer. We would not want you to miss out on our girl time especially since you ditched us in the last one."

Knowing my defeat, I agreed and not made a big deal about it. I realized that I would enjoy myself anyway.

"Girls, I'm touched!" I said, mocking them as I wiped away my imaginary tears.

"Bella, quit being a drama queen," Rosalie said. She looked at me with concern before reasoning, "You should know by now why we would take extreme measures just to keep you relaxed."

I zoned out for a moment and let my mind wander at what would happen on Friday. There would definitely be movie-watching and story-telling, two of my favorite sleepover activities. However, I dreaded the make-over activity in the agenda since I would be a life-size Barbie of Alice and Rose. Those two seemed to enjoy my pain of being their personal make-up and hair product tester.

When we talked about their cruise, I felt envy seeping in my soul as Alice and Rose described the pristine waters of South America. I made up my mind not to let it get to me since I was the one that gave up the trip on my own.

"So, what had you been doing besides fixing the shelves at Newton's Outfitters?" Rose asked.

"Cleaning and keeping everything in order in the house," I said.

"If that's the case, we should've made you into our maid," Alice scoffed. "At least you could've paid your way through the cruise without you feeling the guilt of being a 'freeloader'."

I grimaced at the thought because I honestly did not think of that. Now I missed the cruise that could have been one of the best experiences in my life. We headed toward the quad area where the rest of the student population had gathered for their schedules. Once we had ours, we compared it with one another.

"So, what's your next class?" I asked.

"Spanish," Alice said.

"Me, too," Rosalie agreed.

"What's yours, Bella?" Alice asked.

"English… with Lightfire," I said.

Both of them cringed at the thought; they knew how much I detested Lightfire and her "teaching" methods.

"You might have Emmett with you," Rose said. "Cheer up, it's not that bad."

"Not that bad? Who teaches English by saying that Einstein was just a fictional character?"

"Do your best and don't let it get to you," Alice encouraged. "If you have Emmett, think of all the things you could do to keep yourself from getting bored."

"Thanks," I said. "So, are you guys in the same class?"

Both Alice and Rose looked at their schedule and nodded their heads.

"Good bye then." I waved goodbye to my girls before separating from them.

Alice and Rosalie headed to Building A for Spanish while I went to Building B for English. I chose my favorite spot at the back of the class—the seat next to Emmett.

"Hey, girl!" Emmett said, waving his hand. "I heard you, Alice and my Rosie are having a sleepover."

"More like an 'ambush sleepover'," I corrected.

"Yeah, I heard Alice working with Jasper to figure out your possible excuses," Emmett confirmed. "It was all her idea. She said that you never get to have fun so we would have to force you whether you like it or not. We all agree so we decided to help in."

My mind was racing as I tried to come up with ways to get out of the sleepover. I realized that it would be useless since they knew all my favorite spots. If I ever decided to escape, I was sure that both Emmett and Jasper would be hot on my tail.

"We don't mean any harm," Emmett defended their actions. "After all, you are like a sister to me and we need to force you have fun or you're gonna go cuckoo."

I smiled at Emmett. He certainly knew how to keep the situation light-hearted.

Our English, teacher Ms. Lightfire came in. I sighed as I grabbed a piece of paper and started to doodle knowing that there would be nothing to learn at English. I crumpled a piece of paper into a ball as she said that Shakespeare wrote Wuthering Heights; she told us to compare Wuthering Heights with other works of Shakespeare. I swore that if Bronte heard Lightfire, the former would get up from the grave and drag her by the ear to teach her to get her authors right. When the class was over, I went to Emmett who seemed to be hiding his laughter.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Nothing. I always see a permanent scowl in your face everytime we're in English," Emmett said, chuckling.

"Well, I wouldn't have a permanent scowl on my face if Lightfire gets her facts straight," I pointed out, obvious frustration in my voice.

"Don't say anything unless you're gonna do anything about it," Emmett advised.

I headed to the red bricked building known as the cafeteria where I met Alice and Rosalie for lunch. Alice ordered her usual salad with vinaigrette dressing while Rose got her pizza and Buffalo wings. I chose mashed potato and fried chicken. We took our usual spot which was the middle table at the back of the cafeteria while we waited for Jasper and Emmett.

"Rosalie Hale, I'm amazed at how you maintain your figure ordering those everyday," Alice said, as she grabbed a forkful of her lunch. "I think I'd gain weight just watching you eat."

"I guess that's one of the plus sides of being 5'11''," Rose answered, smiling at her own joke before realizing how insensitive her answer was. She composed herself and did some damage control. "Seriously, how can I? I'm on the swim team, the basketball team, the track team and the cheerleading squad. You only do three things for your extra-curricular activities: shopping, shopping and shopping."

"You forgot to mention the fashion editor of the school paper," Alice added with a smug smile on her face, eating the salad in her fork.

"The point is you need to be more physically active if you don't want to gain weight. Take Bella for example," Rose lectured. "On second thought, don't do things out of obligation or you'll end up like the ice queen sitting right next to you."

"Poor Mike Newton. He's rejected without any consideration," Alice said.

"Better add Tyler Crowley to the list," Rosalie added.

"Well, I'd rather stop talking to them by leading them on than have them follow me like a dog convincing me to reconsider my rejection," I defended myself.

"Bella! That's so cold," Rose chastised.

"It doesn't matter. I told you, none of these guys caught my eyes." I sighed in frustration.

Emmett joined us at our table and sat next to Rose. "So, what have we missed?"

"The guys at Forks High seemed to hold no interest to our dear Bella," Rosalie explained. She looked at me and then shook her head.

"Maybe we should put her on a blind date," Jasper jumped in when he approached our table. He was still smiling when he took the empty spot next to Alice.

"Absolutely not," I said as I pointed my fork filled with mashed potato to Jasper. "I would not put myself into humiliation of such activities as finding myself a date."

"Relax, Bella. I was just kidding." Jasper held both his hands high to show that he surrendered. "Lighten up."

We ate and talked to one another, my earlier outburst forgotten. I enjoyed eating with my friends since they knew to let go of topics I would rather avoid and kept everything light-hearted. They were almost perfect. Almost.

I headed to my last class of the day—Physical Education—where we would be playing badminton. Receiving my racket, I held it with grace of a dancer. I was thankful that I was not as clumsy as I used to since I managed to hit the shuttlecock almost everytime my opponents threw it at me. Although I was good, my partner was not; Mike Newton sent the shuttlecock backwards making me work hard for it. He was only good at hitting it and making it go anywhere except across the net.

"That was a good workout," Mike beamed.

"You think so?" I asked, trying my best to be civil. It was one of the worst badminton games I had ever played.

"I know so," he answered, grinning wide from ear to ear. "Listen, let's partner up again sometime."

"We'll see," I replied, not wanting to promise anything. In truth, I did not want to be his badminton partner again since he was horrible.

"So, Bella, would you like to go to the movie, sometime?" Mike asked as we headed toward the locker rooms.

"I told you, Mike. I am not interested," I said. I shook my head at the absolute cluelessness of my badminton partner.

I reached the girls' locker room and changed into my Alice-approved outfit of the day. As I held up my outfit, I found myself growling at the piece of fabric that showed too much skin for my taste. When I was done changing, I headed to the parking lot where I found Tyler Crowley waiting at my car.

"Let me help you with that," he said.

"Thanks but no thanks," I answered. "I think I could manage."

Tyler looked at me hesitantly, his nervousness palpable as the beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

"So, I was wondering if we can go to the movie sometime," he tried to ask me out on a date for the third time this week.

"I would think about it," I said.

"Think as long as you need," Tyler stated with sadness in his eyes. He stared at me, shook his head and left.

Finally, I climbed to my truck, started my engine, turned on the radio, and left the parking lot as I reflected on my empty existence. Absent-mindedly, I drove myself home and made it in one piece.

When I got home, I went upstairs to change to my workout clothes. I had always worked out an hour a day, three times a week. Once I finished, I changed to my sweatpants and t-shirt before heading downstairs to cook for dinner. Once the lasagna was in the oven and the ingredients for the vinaigrette salad dressing were ready, I did my homework at the dining table as I waited for dinner to be ready.

Both my parents came home from work as scheduled. My mother arrived from the hospital at around five and my father came home at six. They both greeted me with a kiss and a hug before heading upstairs to change. I removed my homework from the dining room table and set it ready for dinner. We always had it everyday no matter how different our schedules were.

"So, Bella, I heard from Alice that you are going at her house for a sleepover," my mother started. She grabbed a forkful of lasagna as she waited for me to answer.

"That's what she said," I told her before chewing on a bite myself. "You know that I love Alice, right? I just hate the sleepover. Imagine spending the whole night being pricked, plucked and prodded."

Both my parents laughed.

"Do me a favor," Mom said laughing, pointing the fork at me. "Please tell Alice to give me a picture of your makeovers. I really like how she does your hair and clothes. That girl has got talent."

I grimaced at her statement. Knowing my mother, she spoke before thinking. When she finally realized what she has said, she apologized about her makeover comment.

"Dad, how's work?" I asked trying to change the topic.

"Pretty good," he answered.

I nodded in understanding. The small town of Forks, Washington was one of the crimeless towns in the country. Its biggest offenders: teenagers who decided to get "creative." They were your typical vandals—the ones who toilet paper trees and write graffiti on the walls.

"So, anything exciting about work, dear?" my mother prodded.

"Nothing really… unless you consider sending some of our police officers to L.A. for eight weeks to train them exciting," he replied. He smiled at the thought before looking down feeling defeated.

"I didn't know about that," my mother stated. "Why don't you go? It might be a good experience."

"It would be nice but Forks needs a chief of police," Dad pointed out.

My father was very adamant at the subject. He did not think anybody would do a better job than he.

"True, but can't you leave for those eight weeks? Let your potential successor get a taste of what it's like to be a chief of police," Mom suggested.

"Since when have you been so encouraging about this?" Dad asked.

"Since I realize that this is a good opportunity for you to grow as a police officer. Don't worry about Bella and me for eight weeks," Mom said.

"Mom's right, Dad. I am the one taking care of both of you anyway," I added with a smile, thinking about my normal routine—cooking, cleaning and doing the laundry. "Don't worry, the house will survive."

"Thanks. So, I guess I should go then." My father smiled. His face instantly lit up at the thought of going to Los Angeles.

We continued eating dinner while discussing the details of the training. It turned out that it was an exchange program between the Los Angeles and Forks police. He explained that the "trainees" would be briefed with the LAPD (he said it stands for Los Angeles Police District) procedure for one week. Then, they would spend seven weeks trying to work with the L.A. police.

Once the dinner was over, mom helped me clean up. She wiped the table while I operated the dishwasher. Afterwards, we settled on the couch to watch some television. I stayed for thirty minutes before heading upstairs to study.

I truly did not need to study as hard as I had. I usually got good grades since I had one of the highest GPA's in Forks High School. Yet I studied as hard as I could in order to maintain my GPA.

I felt tired after two hours of burying my nose under my books. I put my things inside my school bag and did my nightly rituals. I brushed my teeth, washed my face and combed my hair. Afterwards, I changed into my pajamas before lying on my bed and turning off the lamp on my night stand. Once I was in my bed, I pulled the blanket up to my shoulder and said my nightly prayers. Soon I found myself dreaming of my lover—the one I had never met.

I was in the forest holding a fishing rod when I reached the beautiful waterfall. The sun was casting a beautiful light at the panorama in front of me.

I placed the hook at the front end of the string of my makeshift fishing rod before adding the bait. Once it was ready, I casted it to the water. I waited patiently and quietly as I enjoyed the beauty of the scenery in front of me.

The waterfall looked like it was part of the Garden of Eden. It was clear and reflected the sunlight like the rain producing rainbow. At the bottom of the waterfall, I clearly saw hundreds of fishes swimming. Lying on the verdant grass, I took in the beauty of the landscape around the waterfall. The view was divine. Everywhere I looked, there were small plants with green leaves and budding flowers. It might be early spring; there were flower buds waiting to bloom everywhere.

Closing my eyes, I got some rest as I waited for a fish or two to take the bait. Suddenly, it felt like someone was watching me. Looking around, I did not see anything so I went back to what I was doing when I heard a twig snapped. I turned to the direction of the sound and was shocked to find a huge brown bear that seemed to be very irritable. I was frozen in place.

The bear came toward me as I moved away from it. I realized that resistance was futile since it would only take about two to three strides for the bear to grab hold of me. I decided I would not give up without a fight even though it was hopeless. Taking a deep breath, I gathered as much air as I could before letting out the most powerful scream I could muster.

Seeing me as its prey, the bear lunged at me. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see my end. I knew that I was about to die but deep within my heart; I hoped that someone would save me.

Out of nowhere, there was a slashing sound of an arrow. Suddenly, the bear fell backwards. I did not know if the bear was dead but I knew that I was very lucky to be breathing. Still shaken from what happened, I dared not to move. Suddenly, a man approached me. I could not see his face but judging from his clothes, he seemed to be a very important person.

"Don't worry," he said. "You are safe now."

Trembling from fear, I hugged him in relief. He patted my back as he soothed me with his velvet voice.