I walked up the small flight of stairs and into my old bedroom. It smelled a bit musty and the walls were plain since it had been so long since my last visit, but I couldn't help but smile to myself. It was nearly exactly the way I left it. I threw my suitcase on the twin-sized bed and began to settle in. After about a half hour's work, my clothes were neatly folded in the dresser drawers and hung up in the closet. The shelves were dusted and the mirror was freshly wiped down so I could actually see myself in its reflection. The last step to making this room truly look like home would be to add pictures and posters, but I needed to invest in a decent camera before I could jump on that bandwagon.

"You haven't even been here for more than two hours and you're already settled in? You really don't like to waste time." Bella said as she gazed around my room in astonishment. She smiled to herself as she moved her hand along the clothes hanging in the closet. "Awesome, I get to steal some of your wardrobe now, too."

"Oh please, YOU wear something COLORFUL? As if that would ever happen!" I said as I threw a shoe in her direction. She glared at me but shrugged it off.

"Just for a heads up I'm going to be driving us tomorrow in my trusty red monster you see parked in the driveway." Bella said. I looked out the window and saw it sitting there, covered in wet raindrops. I smiled at her.

"I would love nothing more than to be seen with that metal monster. You know I've never been one for flashy cars." I said. We smiled at each other once more before we heard Charlie holler for us downstairs.

"Hey, I've just been called down to the station, stay here and don't do anything reckless. I repeat: DO NOT DO ANYTHING STUPID." He yelled. His voice was more stern than usual, he figured the dynamic duo would probably get ourselves killed somehow…he probably wasn't too far off the mark either.

"We'll be fine!" Bella and I yelled in unison. As the front door shut, Bella turned to me and smiled nervously.

"I should uh…probably throw you a heads up about tomorrow. I plan on introducing you to my boyfriend, Edward, and his family during school tomorrow. You might be a bit taken aback at first—they're all really beautiful when you first look at them—but it's alright, you'll get used to it. Just…don't be nervous. And try your best not to blush, I know that's kind of your thing…" she trailed off. If it were possible, steam would have been rushing out of my ears; if there's one thing I really can't stand, it's when people point out how easily I turn red.

"Yeah, well sorry that's out of my control. If they're all good looking and are going to be staring at me, that's kind of a given." I said angrily. She just shrugged again and went to go downstairs. "Wait, Bella," I said, "is there anything else I should know about school tomorrow? I'm kind of nervous." I said while moving my side-bang over my eyes. I could see her smile through my hair and she just shook her head.

"Nope, you're probably going to be the talk of the town for a while though." She said. I sighed deeply, I wasn't ready for this.


The red-metal monster pulled into the nearest parking spot and Bella stared at me as I deep-breathed in the passenger seat.

"ALRIGHT! I GOT THIS! IT'S JUST HIGH SCHOOL RIGHT? NO BIG DEAL! I CAN DO THIS!" I yelled triumphantly more-so to myself than anyone else. Bella stared at me like I was psychotic and I just stuck my tongue out at her. "Hey, you would be giving yourself a pep-talk too if this was the first time you were going to a new school…and actually staying at it." I said. She shrugged yet again, that was also us Swans loved to do—it was the easiest way to respond to anything.

We stepped out of the truck and luckily for us, it wasn't quite raining yet. It was a little misty, but a hood wasn't necessary. I let my long, blonde hair trail behind me as I followed Bella into the administration office. People had already begun staring at me so I kept my head down and my eyes on the ground to avoid blushing as much as possible. We walked right up to the desk and I cleared my throat lightly to get the stocky woman's attention.

"Hello, dear. What can I do for you?" she asked with a fake smile plastered to her face. How transparent could you be?

"Hi, my name is Demetria Swan…I'm new here and I was wondering if I could get my schedule and whatever else I need to start the year out." I said with a genuine smile on my face. Unlike Bella, I was naturally a people person.

The woman ruffled through a couple of desk drawers for a couple of seconds before handing me a manila envelope full of paperwork.

"Get your teachers to sign this slip and hand it back to me at the end of the day. Have a great day, and best of luck!" she said. I smiled at her again and exited the building with Bella close on my heels.

"So, what do you have? Is there anything with me? I finished most of my necessary credits last year, but we might have things together still." Bella said. I checked the paper and sighed, I really hated the subjects people forced us to take. I didn't feel like saying it all out loud so I just handed the paper over to her. She looked pleased and handed it back.

"We have fifth period English and then sixth period lunch together. That's good, I eat lunch with Edward and his siblings everyday—you'll be able to meet them then. Though you're probably going to have classes with some of them beforehand, and they may not introduce themselves at first…they were a bit skeptical when I was new too…don't take it personally. She said with her brow furrowed. I just sighed deeply and nodded.

"Alright, no problem. I'm trying this thing where I let everything roll off my shoulders and I don't let literally everything bother me. It's pretty cool, you should try it sometime." I said with a smirk. She just smacked my shoulder and stalked away to whatever her first class was of the day. As soon as she was out of eye-sight, I began to panic…I was left on my own! My first class was biology…wait a minute…WHO HAS BIOLOGY FIRST PERIOD? Ugh, I really, really hated science, and I had to start my day out like that? That sucked.

I angrily stalked to first period biology and handed the slip to my teacher, Mr. Christiansen.

"Ah, you're new here? Demetria Swan? You wouldn't happen to be related to Bella Swan, would you?" he asked. I nodded my head and smiled. He looked happy about that, I guess Bella was a good biology student. Too bad I'd be breaking his hopes. "Alright, there are two empty seats available for your liking. You can choose whichever you want."

I walked through the rows of tables and noticed one seat was next to a girl who appeared to be friendly (or so I hoped) and the other was next to an empty seat. I, being a nervous Nellie and incredibly anti-social before you really got to know me, chose to sit next to the empty seat. I threw my bag on the floor and took out a notebook and placed it in front of me. I hoped we took a lot of notes; I loved filling the pages of a composition notebook with neatly thought-out notes. As the final bell rang, I noticed the empty seat next to me…wasn't so empty anymore. I jumped out of shock and almost fell out of my seat but quickly regained composure. The person next to me stared at me like I was insane and their eyes bugged out of their head.

"Ah, sorry about that—you scared me! My name is Demetria Swan; I guess I'll be your new lab partner." I said with a smile. The person just shook their head and inched their seat a little further away from me. Did I offend? Did I scare them that much? My eyes grazed my notebook page, I was going to just let it slide but…I was determined to make at least one friend! "What's your name?" I asked. The student's eyes shifted to the right and then the left as their fingernails grazed the desk.

"Jasper Hale."