Author's Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything Twilight (characters, setting, plot, etc.)

Also, I wanted to say my many thanks to Duskwatcher and ElleCC for the beta work they did on this chapter. They were amazing.

beep..beep..beep..

I groaned while rolling over and hitting the button on top of the alarm to turn it off. I lay there on my back, looking up to the ceiling. It was my first day of senior year in high school. One more year and I could leave this place. Don't get me wrong-I loved Forks -and I had a wonderful family that I was really close to, but it seemed like there was something more for me out there.

I sluggishly rolled out of bed and tried to hurry through my morning routine. After dressing, I headed down the stairs towards the kitchen where no doubt my mother, Esme, had prepared an elaborate breakfast. She loved to dote on her family and to cook for us.

Esme was a wonderful mother and a very talented interior designer. She owned her own company, which was headquartered in Seattle. She chose to stay and work from home so she could be here for my siblings and me. She and my father, Carlisle, were married immediately after he completed medical school. He was an ER doctor with Forks Hospital. My dad was a very compassionate, peaceful man. He and Mom were still madly in love with each other. I hoped that one day I could have a relationship with the same depth and unconditional love as they did.

I had two siblings—my twin, Alice, and our older brother, Emmett. Emmett was currently in his freshman year of college at the University of Washington. He was the starting quarterback, so between school and football, we rarely got to see him. Plus, he would much rather spend his free time with his girlfriend, Rosalie Hale. Rosalie was in the same grade as Alice and I. She may have been stunning, but her personality made her ugly in my eyes. All Rose thought about was herself, and if you were not worshipping her, then she had no use for you. I was one of the few that did not shower her with the attention that she so readily craved.

Between my two siblings, I was closest to Alice. Sometimes we could have almost silent conversations with each other. It was a language we had developed between the two of us over the years. I honestly thought that Alice was a seer. She had predicted events that had come to pass. Only the family knew about her psychic ability. She was always fearful that people would think her a freak if they knew she was clairvoyant. She didn't have a boyfriend and had always said that her future man would come to Forks, so it led me to believe that whoever it was did not currently live here but one day would.

I had been dating a girl by the name of Lauren, but over time, her true nature had been revealed, and during this past summer, I had decided to end the relationship. Lauren was actually close friends with Rosalie.

As I made my way into the kitchen, I found that Esme had made my favorite—French toast with powdered sugar on top with a side of bacon. My favorite flavors, sweet and salty, combined together in one meal. After consuming my meal like a starving man, I quickly grabbed my bag and coat and headed off to the garage with Alice on my heels. She usually rode with me to school in my Volvo instead of driving separately.

As we headed toward school, Alice kept bouncing in her seat over her excitement for starting school again and it being our senior year. "I feel so good about this year. Like something good is going to happen. I just feel it. I'm going to finally find my special someone."

I just rolled my eyes and turned the music up and sped all the way to the school. I pulled into the parking lot and realized that we were early. I guessed it was first day jitters that I was feeling that caused me to arrive so early to school this morning. To pass the time, we sat in my car listening to music. Alice removed a mirror from her purse to check her appearance and then extracted her schedule to study it. Afterwards, she asked for mine, and compared them to see if we had any classes together, which we didn't.

While she was handing back my schedule, she said, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you. Rose said that there's a new history teacher, and he has a half-sister that's the same age as us."

"So."

She looked annoyed that I didn't find this information as exciting. "Apparently, they're dropped dead gorgeous, the both of them. All Rose could talk about was their beauty. You should've heard her."

"I'm glad I didn't. Does it honestly surprise you Rose could only notice their looks."

She laughed at his snide remark. "They overheard them talking to someone and found out their names. Of course, Lauren called Jessica to see if she'd heard anything about them, so you know Jessica had all the details."

I snorted at her comment because Jessica and her mom were the town gossips.

"Apparently, their parents are dead or something, but they moved here from Alaska or someplace. She said they're very strange though."

"That's sad. What was so strange about them?"

"She didn't really say. I guess we'll find out later," she said.

"Did you at least get their names?"

"Well, the guy's name is Jasper and his sister's name is Isabella. He's older than her."

We sat in silence for a moment in our own thoughts. "Anyhow, I can't wait to see what Rose was going on about. For her to go on and on about someone else's attractiveness is beyond me since she is the epitome of beauty," Alice said nonchalantly.

I better get used to all the talk about the new arrivals. I was sure that's all anyone would talk about. Outsiders were considered a novelty to this place. Usually people moved away from Forks but never moved into the small town. "Well, Alice, with that much beauty, they're probably just as shallow as Rose," I said.

She shrugged while opening her door and said, "I'll see you at lunch then." I nodded to let her know that I would join her, and she ran off to her first class. As I was heading toward the school, from the student parking lot, I saw a sweet car. It was an Audi A4, windows tinted heavily, black with sick looking wheels. I would have to wait and see until the end of the day about the lucky driver—even though I had my suspicions.

My first several classes went by in a blur. I could already tell that just because it was senior year didn't mean my classes were going to be any easier. When I entered my fourth period class, American History, I finally got to meet Jasper, or Mr. Whitlock. I walked to the back of the room where there was an empty seat, hoping to never be called on.

When class started, I began to notice some peculiarities about him. His voice sounded very smooth and silky. I would bet that every girl in the class was having wet fantasies about him the entire time, with the glazed over looks they all had, I was sure of it. He was incredibly pale and at times seemed eerily still during the lesson. Finally, lunchtime, I was famished even after the massive amount of breakfast.

I went through the lunch line, and headed to the table with all my friends. I plopped down right between Ben and Alice.

"Hey, man," I said to Ben.

"Hey-"

Before he could get another word in, Alice interrupted him. "Did you guys see the new history teacher? He's hot." I looked over at Alice, and oddly, her eyes seemed to sparkle.

Overhearing her remark, Rose sat down beside Alice and joined in the conversation. "Well, have you seen the new girl?" I could detect bitterness in her tone.

"No, I haven't. Is she in the lunchroom yet?" she asked.

Rose looked around, and a sneer formed on her face. "There she is," she said with venom in her voice. All of a sudden, I was overcome with a strong urge to hit Rose for her attitude toward Isabella—that was strange. I don't know what came over me because regardless of my feelings for Rose, she was Emmett's girl. Plus, I didn't even know the chick.

Everyone followed her gaze in the direction of the new girl. I choked on my food because there sat the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. She was sitting there, reading and pushing food around on her plate.

She looked nothing like her brother, and yet there were similarities. She had extremely pale skin like him, but her hair was a gorgeous shade of mahogany and long with soft curls. Maybe each took after a different parent.

I couldn't stop staring at her. I was dazed by her beauty, and overwhelmed by the sight of her. My stomach tightened, and my heart was pounding in my chest. I heard people speaking in the background but there words weren't making any sense. I was enthralled by her.

Finally returning to the conversation, I overheard Rose saying something about how plain she was, and couldn't see what all the hype was about. "Whatever—she's freakish in my opinion," Rose spewed.

All of a sudden, she looked in our direction, and glared at Rose. Rose never flinched from her icy stare. Everyone at the table stopped talking about her and turned around. How odd, I pondered; it was as if she had heard our conversation.

She glanced at me, my heart began beating frantically in my chest and my breathing accelerated. Her eyes widened; she quickly went back to reading her book.

Her lips seemed to move but didn't. Maybe my imagination was running wild. She closed her book and fluidly rose from her chair to empty her tray. Again, I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I watched her leave the cafeteria, her hips swaying as she went. My eyes roamed the length of her body, memorizing every curve. Suddenly, the front of my pants was too tight from my growing problem. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, trying to rid my thoughts of her luscious body, so as to eliminate the hard on I was sporting at the moment.

I felt a nudge and saw Alice grinning at me. I gave her a puzzled. She just shook her head. I returned my attention to the people at the table.

Alice resumed her prior conversation with Rose. "She's gorgeous."

"Whatever. She's not that pretty. I mean look at her, she's chalky white. Hello, has she ever heard of the sun?" Lauren spat while glaring daggers at me. I glared right back at her.

"I agree with Alice. She's pretty, has a natural look, not over done like some people," Angela stated.

I couldn't believe what she had just said and coughed to cover my laugh.

Lauren huffed, knowing that Angela was indirectly referring to her.

"I feel bad she sat alone, with no one to talk to," Angela quietly said.

I sat there and listened to them go on and on about her. Finally, tired of their banter, I turned to Ben, and we talked about the upcoming year and college. The bell rang, ending lunch so I stood, said goodbye to everyone and headed off to English lit.

I stopped by the restroom and my locker on the way and didn't realize I was running late until I got in the room and saw that everyone had already taken a seat. The teacher gave me a warning look.

I looked around the room and suddenly froze. The only seat was beside Isabella. As I made my way to the seat, she raised her eyes to meet mine. When our eyes locked, I couldn't move. I was so glad that she couldn't hear my heartbeat because it was pounding in my chest. Mr. Berty cleared his throat to get my attention, and when I looked back at him, he gave me a pointed look and motioned me with his hand to hurry to my seat.

I took the chair beside her, and when I sat down, I could smell her, my head began to spin. She smelled of the freesias in my Mom's garden. I felt drunk from the scent but just as quickly as the smell assaulted my senses, it suddenly disappeared.

I saw out of the corner of my eye her body stiffen and her hands formed into fists. I turned to look at her, our eyes met again, and her eyes were black as coal. Our gaze held firm until I realized I wasn't breathing and took a deep breath. My breath must have broken the spell because her eyes moved forward.

Mr. Berty began walking around the room, handing out our reading list. "Welcome, everyone, to English literature. I know this is the beginning of the year for all, but we have a new student to Forks. Please welcome Isabella Swan." He gestured toward the mysterious girl sitting beside of me. She didn't respond to his introduction but just sat there. He waited for a response, and when she didn't provide one, he started to outline his plans for the class.

"I want everyone to see where they are sitting because this will be your assigned seat for the remainder of the year." He began roll call and wrote down everyone's assigned seat.

After class introductions, he began his lesson for the day. I desperately tried to focus on what he was saying but couldn't concentrate on anything other than the goddess sitting beside me. For the remainder of the class, we both sat with our eyes facing the front. Occasionally, I stole glances of her from the corner of my eye. The tension surged between us like an electrical current. I felt pulled to her, somehow, and had a desperate need to touch her. When the bell rang, she quickly shot up from her seat and almost ran out of the classroom. I sat there stunned, staring at the back of her, curious as to what just happened

The rest of the day went by in a haze because all of my thoughts were centered on one person—Isabella. As I was walking to my car, I saw the Audi from earlier this morning rushing out of the parking lot with Isabella in the driver seat. I got in my car to wait for Alice. I thought I would listen to some music to soothe me while sitting there.

Alice opened the door and hopped in the car. "So, how was your day?" she asked with a huge smirk.

"Fine," I said nonchalantly.

"You don't fool me. I saw the way you were looking at Isabella."

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I'm not talking about it." I had been consumed by her all day and just wanted to try and shake my feelings. Which brought me to the question—what was I really feeling? I would have to ponder that later when I had more time to analyze them.

We pulled into the driveway, and I parked the car in the garage. When we walked into the kitchen, our mom had a snack waiting for us. "Hey, kids, how was school today?"

"Good," we replied.

Mom handed us our snacks, while saying, "I'm glad to hear it." She went back to the kitchen table working on her computer. "Oh, before I forget, I have a design show in Seattle this coming weekend so I won't be here."

"What about dad?" Alice asked.

"I've asked him to come with me, but I'm not sure if he'll be able to come or not."

"Why not?"

"Well, it depends on if he can get this weekend off. He's supposed to know tonight, so I'll let you know for sure tomorrow. Either way, I expect you to behave, and no parties."

We nodded in understanding, clearing away our leftovers, and both of us headed to our room. For the rest of the evening, I went about my normal routine—homework and having dinner with my family. Later that night, while lying in bed with my eyes closed, trying to succumb to sleep, I saw black eyes, plump lips, begging to be tasted, and creamy skin and mahogany hair, screaming at me to touch. Fuck! I stormed off to the bathroom to take a shower in hopes of easing the tension in the lower part of my body.

I woke up the next day with her face engraved in my memory. I couldn't understand why she had affected me like she had. After another wonderful breakfast, Alice and I headed off to school.

The morning went by slowly. I was anxious to see Isabella at lunch. When I walked into history, I had a sensation of someone watching me, but without a glance, hurried to my seat. Mr. Whitlock brought out the TV, and popped in a video. While the lights were off, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, my heart rate increased, and I began hyperventilating. I looked around the room to see who or what the cause was but couldn't see that clearly. Finally, I looked at Mr. Whitlock, and he was blatantly staring at me. He didn't even seem to blink. He had an expression of curiosity on his face, like he was trying to figure me out.

When I got to lunch, I looked around for Isabella but never saw her. I wondered where she was.

I felt someone nudge me and looked to see that it was Alice. She leaned in and whispered, "Are you looking for someone in particular?"

I just shrugged and told her, "I was just looking around."

"Sure you were," she answered smugly.

I got back to my lunch and tuned everyone's voices out until Mike Newton spoke up. "Edward? Damn man, where were you? I've been trying to get your attention."

"What?"

"Did you not hear what I was telling everyone?"

"No."

"The rents will be gone this weekend. I'm planning a back to school party, Saturday at my place. Alice said she was game to come. You in?"

"Yeah sure, if Alice is going, I'll go." I really didn't want to go but felt like being the overprotective brother that I was.

After lunch, I left for English, wondering if Isabella would show up since she wasn't in lunch. I sat down and gathered my books and materials I'd need for the class. When I placed them on the desk, I heard the chair beside me pulled out from the table. I casually glanced in her direction and made the mistake of looking in her eyes. Her eyes were a different shade today. They were the same honey color as her brother's'. I wondered if they wore contacts because I had never seen that eye color before.

She gracefully sat down, turned towards me and said, "Hi, I'm Bella."

I sat there stunned that she had spoken to me. Some time passed before I muttered, "Um…Hi, I'm Edward." I extended my hand to shake her hand, and she just stared at it for a moment. I saw that she was rubbing her palm on her pants leg, maybe to wipe off her sweaty palms or something. She extended her hand and then shook mine. We both jumped at the electric shock that went through us, and we just stared at each other. I don't know how long we stayed sitting there, holding hands, while our eyes were held by the other's, but eventually she released my hand, and our trance was broken. Her hand had felt cool. I wondered if she was just trying to warm her hands earlier.

"Edward, I'm sorry if I seemed rude yesterday. It's just being in a new place and being the new kid can be rather uncomfortable."

My heart stuttered and swelled when she said Edward. I stared at her lips, mesmerized, by the sound of my name coming from those lips. I realized that there was an unusual gap between her remark and my staring, so I lifted my eyes back to hers and stuttered, "You…You weren't rude."

She smirked, "Well, you may not have thought I was rude, but I could've at least introduced myself since we're going to be sitting beside each other in class."

"You didn't have time to say anything to me because I was late for class, so you're forgiven."

She smiled and her entire face lit up with that one smile. I was lost in her smile when I just blurted out, "Are you going to Newton's party this weekend?"

I don't know where that came from or the fact that I had the nerve to ask her but I did. She looked down at her hands, and her hair fell around her face. I was waiting for her to blush because she seemed embarrassed but she never did.

"I wasn't invited but probably shouldn't go anyway. Are you going?"

"Yeah. It's usually not my scene…" I stammered. "But my sister's going and I just wanted to go to watch out for her."

"I understand about the overprotective brother types. Jasper's the same way. Always thinking I need protection when I can protect myself."

I nodded my head in understanding and then focused my eyes toward the front of the classroom. "Well, consider yourself invited. I'm sure Newton won't mind. He probably would've invited you himself, but was too scared."

We were then interrupted by Mr. Berty calling the class to attention. I could see her lean toward me and I leaned in as well. "I'll think about it," she whispered. Her face seemed awed by something, but I couldn't figure out what.

Mr. Berty began class, and apparently we would first focus on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I heard a snort beside me, and I turned my head in her direction and raised an eyebrow. She just looked at me and shook her head.

We reviewed what we were supposed to read the night before, and he called on various students to read certain passages of the play. I became extremely aware when Bella was called on to read parts of the play. Her voice was musical and sensual. Many feelings were stirring within me at just the sound of it.

Later that night at dinner, Alice started going on and on about Mr. Whitlock and Bella, how she felt so sorry for them since their parents died and how no one sat with Bella during lunch. I knew she was trying to prey on Mom's motherly nature and wouldn't quit until she got what she wanted—which turned out to be a dinner invitation for Mr. Whitlock and Bella. My mother finally caved and agreed to host dinner for them the next night.

The plan was for Alice to strike a conversation with Bella during lunch and invite her then. She wanted me to walk over to Bella's table with her. The next day of school again brought great anxiety, because all I wanted to do was see Bella. I wondered why she didn't correct the teacher the first day of school if she preferred to be called Bella.

When lunch came, Alice was waiting for me outside the cafeteria.

"Hey, you ready?" she asked, a grin spreading the length of her face.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said.

We pushed through the doors and went through the lunch line to grab our food. After filling our trays, I followed Alice to Bella's table. I could feel everyone's eyes on us. I was sure they were all wondering what we were doing.

When we approached her table, Bella was looking at us with a perplexed expression.

"Hi, Isabella. I'm Alice, and I know you've already met my brother, Edward. We were wondering if we could have lunch with you today?"

Bella appeared baffled that we wanted to sit with her, but she nodded her head while saying, "Sure."

As we took our seats, Alice said excitedly, "It's so nice to meet you. I just know we're going to be best friends."

Bella laughed, "Well, since we're going to be best friends, just call me Bella."

"All right, Bella it is!" Alice exclaimed.

We were sitting there in awkward silence while only Alice and I ate our food, when Alice finally asked her if she and Mr. Whitlock would have dinner with us tomorrow night.

Bella snickered and said, "I'm not sure if you want to invite Jasper and me for dinner."

"Why not? You guys are new in town, and Edward and I would love to have you both over for dinner. Please… don't say no." She gave her the sad look that never failed her when she wanted to get her way. I gazed at Bella, drinking her in. I hoped Alice could convince her to come.

Bella turned her eyes to mine and seemed to be searching for something when she finally said, "Yeah, we'll come."

Alice started bouncing in her seat, clapping her hands together, saying, "Thank you!" Alice proceeded to give her our address and told her the time to be there. The entire time, I could have sworn that I saw Bella occasionally looking at me. The bell finally rang, and I asked Bella if she would mind if I walked her to class. She smiled radiantly at me and nodded. We walked silently but it was a comfortable silence. We sat in our English class quietly but with the familiar electricity still flowing between us. At the end of class, she turned to me and said, "I look forward to tomorrow night," and then hurried out of the room. I sat there stunned, thinking the exact same thing—I couldn't wait for tomorrow night either.