Assimilation into the human culture is rather intriguing. I am already capable of acting human, having learned to do so centuries ago. Charlie had given me a room of my own, which was where I was supposed to "sleep". That first night I became jaded within an hour of sitting on my bed, but decided to take the night to hunt, to get ready for the never-ending temptation of my first day at high school. The next morning I was amused to find out that it had actually been the weekend, a time where schools were closed and most people had off work and thus a useless act. Now, I know the days of the week; they were around when I still had to pay attention. But years of it not mattering makes one forget which day it is.

So, that Sunday we spent the day getting everything legalized, as in making sure I had a legitimate birth certificate, courtesy of a friend of the family, Charlie managed to convince the school administration of my story and I was accepted to attend, and all other possible records were forged. I also memorized certain aspects of human society, including holidays, slang, the Presidents that the average teenager would remember, modern music and literature, and technology. Of all of them, I find that I really struggle with technology. Last I paid attention, the car, telephone and light bulb had been invented. Oh, and the first color tv. Laptops, Ipods, plasma tvs, and cell phones? They were way over my head, but by the end of the day, I was beginning to get the hang of them.

Next on my list was shopping for supplies. Charlie went with me so that I was not entirely lost, but then we seemed lost together. With the useless fortune I have collected over the years, I purchased clothes, school materials, a cell phone, books and CDs, just everything you could imagine. Charlie showed me his credit card, just another piece of technology that escaped me (apparently we would convert my fortune into credit to pay him back or something like that). I almost felt exhausted by the time night came around. We spent hours going over my story, get the details drilled into each other's head. That night I spent mastering the internet and my Ipod, while listening to my new collection of CDs, mainly Lady Gaga, reading the Harry Potter series, watching part of the first Season of LOST and the movie Titanic. Charlie had said that those were the things I should know about, but it was a very scattered collection. I knew I would have many nights to come learning all about various "in" things.

The next morning came all too quickly. I was in the middle of memorizing the positions of keys on a keyboard when Charlie's alarm went off. Glancing at the digital clock that had been placed on my nightstand, I noticed that it was 6:01. I had just under an hour and a half to get to school. I glanced over the screen, skimming over my recollection of everything from where my coven was killed to when Charlie accepted me into his home. It was satisfactory and left off at a good spot, I felt. Sighing, I placed the laptop aside, making my way to my closet. The entire thing smelled of cotton because people, especially teenagers, do not seem to appreciate the quality of silk or fur. I shook my head and retrieved the most appealing shirt and pants. They were surprisingly tight fitting and oddly alluring. I felt almost narcissistic as I stared at myself in the mirror for minutes.

The smell of human food brought me out of my trance and I flew down the stairs, sitting myself at the kitchen table. "Morning Charlie." When I got my desired yelp, I grinned, unable to resist. "Bella, you shouldn't be doing that. I am not a little kid anymore. My heart might give out." He was panting, his heart-rate quite elevated. "Your heart sounds fine. You still have a lot of fright-ability left in you." He turned to me, a glower on his face and raised his eyebrow in question. "Fright-ability?" He chuckled and turned back to his breakfast, shaking his head. "That is not even a real word," he grumbled.

I continued to smirk behind his back, but did change the subject. "So, dear great-nephew of mine who clearly knows the English language better than I, how am I getting to school today?" Charlie stiffened noticeably and clearly had not thought about it. "I could just run there, you know." Silence filled the room for a moment but was finally broken by a sigh from Charlie. "No, I will bring you there in my cruiser. We will have to get you a car of your own soon." I nodded, even though he could not see me. "You better hurry then; would not want to be late." I paused, sniffed the air and cringed. "And don't drink that milk."

With that I went back upstairs, gathering together my backpack and slipped my brand new Converse sneakers on. Was I ready? Physically, mentally and emotionally, yes. Socially, I was lost. Humans are interested in things that don't matter. I swear, I have no idea how they survive, but none of them think of the future or anything aside from looking good, the latest gossip, getting in with their crush or what other people thought of them. Trivial things. Useless things. When I was human, I did not go to a school house; my mother schooled me, with the help of a local scholar who took an interest in me. I strived to be educated, to get a leg up in life. I was not prepared for the teenagers of the present.

The instant Charlie's cruiser pulled up in front of the school, whispers were already circulating. It started as "what are the police doing here?" but soon evolved to "who is the babe?" or "who is the girl?" depending on the gender of the speaker and to whom the question was directed. I also heard an assortment of ideas disseminate; everything from me being a convict who needed to be forced to go to school to me being a rich kid who could be targeted and needed an escort to school. It was fascinating, listening to it all, hearing their imaginations at work.

I stepped out of the car, effortlessly swinging my backpack over my shoulder despite the array of textbooks and notebooks Charlie had retrieved for me. "Remember," Charlie called from the front seat, ducking down so he could see me passed the frame of the door, "you are related to me, so you are a bit of a klutz." I chuckled. "Brilliant. Way to make my life simple," I ridiculed, not unkindly. "Bye now," I said, giving him a small wave before turning towards the school building.

As I entered the building, I noticed the office that had the sign "Main Office" hung on the door. As Charlie had instructed, I went there first. The lady at the desk did not appear to like she wanted to talk to me, but called me over all the same. "What can I do for you?" she asked in a snooty tone. She gave me a one over, eyebrow raised as if she disliked something about me. I had to contain a growl as I responded. "Hi, yes, um…" I began, repeating the words Charlie had fed me. "I am the new student, uh, Bella Swan." The woman did a double take. "Oh, Officer Swan's new move-in! Such a sweet man he is. Here is your class schedule. The times for lunch are on it, if you need anything, people are real friendly." She handed me a page with my classes on it. "Thank you, ma'am."

Although I knew there was someone behind me, practically breathing down my neck, I acted like I didn't, turning and bumping into them. The girl and I exchanged our apologies but then I was assaulted by a whirlwind of questions. "So, you are new here? Bella Swan, right?" Two nods from me. "Well, what classes do you have? Do you want me to show you around?" I handed over my sheet, nodding once again, in response to her fourth question. "I could use a tour, yes." That received a wide grin from the girl. "Cool. My name is Jessica, by the way."

Jessica led me out into the hall, where her barrage of inquiries continued. I listed off my practiced answers while following her through the halls and into the cafeteria, where our tour seemed to end. She had us sit at a table in the center of the room, where absolutely everyone could see us. We were soon joined by Mike, whom Jessica clearly had a thing for, but who clearly within twenty seconds had a thing for me. I was forced to repeat my story, for Mike, and then a few minutes later for Eric and Angela. We had grouped up and I could hear the people around us whisper.

While I paid attention to the conversation which had digressed to being about CSI, which did not fall into the topics I knew, I began to assess my temptation status. At that moment it seemed I was doing fairly well, no one being extra appearing, but I found myself getting comfortable a moment too early. In one big blast, a mess of extremely appetizing scents washed over me. I turned to locate the source of the fragrance, my gaze stopping on five particular humans.

This group of humans were tantalizing, moving together, magnifying the scents as they combined together. I watched them as they sat themselves at a secluded table, silently. Behind me, Mike sighed. "Those are the Cullens. They were all adopted by Dr. Cullen and his wife." Carlisle? I could not help but chuckle. To think I would run into Carlisle in a tiny town like Forks and with adopted humans, especially ones that smelled so scrumptious. "Emmett is the hulking one. Jasper is the blonde one. Rosalie is his blood sister. They were adopted together. Alice is the small one. And the other one is Edward." Mike practically spat Edward's name. I scanned over them. They were all gorgeous, but I could not figure out why Carlisle would adopt them. I know he is a caring soul, but to adopt humans? They had to know about him and Esme.

A bell rang and everyone began to rise from the tables, scattering to different areas of the building, some even going to another building. I looked down at my schedule. "Anyone want to tell me how to get to Calculus?" Jessica pointed me in the right direction and I was on my way, finding myself heading in the same direction as the human Mike had called Alice. Figuring I would get to know Carlisle's humans, I approached her.

Alice was definitely small, pixie-like, her hair cropped short in wild disarray. As I got close I got a good whiff of her and was sent reeling. She was intoxicating, forcing me to not breathe so that I did not kill her. Readying myself, I called out to her. "Hey, um, do you- do you know where Mrs. Coolidge's room is?" She glanced my way, pointing at herself questioningly. I nodded. "Uh, yeah, I have that class now," she chirped. "You are new?" I nodded again. "Well, come on."

We reached the classroom and I introduced myself to the teacher, explaining my situation. "Welcome, Bella. You can sit-" she scanned for open desks. It appeared that luck was on my side. "There." She pointed to the one open seat, which happened to be paired with Alice's seat. I took my seat, dropping my bag beneath my chair and pulling out my books.

I held my hand out to the human, for a moment forgetting that it would be colder than hers. "Hello again. My name is Bella. And you are?" She took my hand, gasping at its feel, making me pull away. "Alice. Nice to meet you." Silence fell between us. I was never one for small talk and by the looks of it, her family stayed away from others, by their doing or everyone else's. So, having little knowledge of what calculus was, I flipped through the pages of the text book, taking in what I could.

I made it through class with no hitches and as I packed up I got a "goodbye" from Alice. The next classes followed the same basic pattern, but it seemed I only had class with Alice and Edward. I had biology with him, but did not manage to sit next to him. When school ended, I called Charlie, informing him that I would not be in need of a ride and that I would see him that night. I tracked the Cullens' cars to their home. I planned on paying Carlisle a long overdue visit.