UPDATE 29 MAY 2010: I've corrected some mistakes in this chapter and changed a little bit. Hope you don't mind :)

AN: Hey, sorry for the long wait! School has gone crazy here at the end of term :S (I hope it's not going to get worse after this summer 8S)
Well, here's a nice long chappy for you to read :D (Hope that makes up for the long wait. It's 12 pages people! 12 pages! :O 4.798 words in Word. I feel proud of myself LOL :P)

R & R :D

(Remember: Reviews are appreciated! No matter how long or how short. A simple "Good job" works too :D)

OH! And if you find any mistakes please, don't hesitate to tell me. I'd love to correct them. :)

Enjoy!

xx

Minnie

1. Introductions

I OPENED MY EYES AND STARED AMAZED INTO MY ROOM. IT WASN'T TOTALLY LIT AND I KNEW THAT IT WAS EARLY MORNING. CAREFULLY I GRABBED MY ALARM-CLOCK, WHICH WAS LYING UNDER MY PILLOW, AND LOOKED AT IT.

Sigh.

It was half past five in the morning.

There were a little less than six hours until I was flying to the states.

Why was it me who had won that singing competition? I didn't want to go my sophomore year in an American High School, just because my music school had signed the choir up for a singing competition. I had sung a solo and of course there had been talent scouts watching.

Actually, I wanted to go to the states but then it should have been in my freshman year in High School. Now I was a sophomore student! How was I ever going to keep up with the others when I got back home? At least they let me get into a junior class. That would help me catch up faster when I came back, than if I had been in a sophomore class.

And there was another problem. I hadn't told anybody that I was going. Not even my best friends Larah, Tanja, Tina, Julie and M.J. (short for Mary-Jane). I hadn't dared.

Well, actually M.J. was attending another High School too but she would be joining the German class on the tour to Berlin.

Another thing I had looked forward too.

Why did I have to be the luckiest girl in the world? Why couldn't I just be a little unlucky sometimes?

But it would probably not help one bit.

I tried to go to sleep again but I couldn't. Instead I got up and grabbed my notebook. Because of the height of my bed, I have to get up and down with stuff, and it makes a lot of noise. But I got my notebook up safely and wrote a little more of my many stories.

I had somehow been born with a writing-talent. And right now I was writing a story about a girl who was half vampire and half human. I was somehow in a vampire-phase lately.

While I wrote I suddenly heard my father scream in the room next to mine. I guessed that he had one of his nightmares again.

Ever since my father had known that he had cancer, he had had nightmares. And lately he was on some kind of treatment were he wasn't allowed to eat anything. Only drink some juices. Because of that he could get a little crabby sometimes.

Then I heard my mom walking around and put my notebook back down on my desk. I did it as silently as I could but my mom surely heard me. She opened the door to my room just after I had crawled back to bed, and had put my blanket over my head.

"You already awake?" my mother asked in amazement.

"No!" I answered.

My mom laughed a little before she said, "You should get up and pack the last things."

"But mom! There are six hours until the flight!" I looked annoyed at her through the bars of my bed. They were there to protect me from falling down while I slept.

"Just get up," my mother said in a resigned tone. "I don't want more fights between you and your dad before you leave."

"Okay, okay! Just give me five more minutes!"

My mother closed the door and my head flew down on my pillow. Since I couldn't sleep, I could as well think a little about the future.

I sighed, again.

One year in the states, away from my family. Wasn't that what I wanted? Just get a little away from my family? There had been too many confrontations between my father and me through the last year and it was good that I was going for a while. But then I would leave my little brother all alone with my father. I made a face at the thought. But my brother could probably visit me in one of his vacations. I would make sure of that. Except that where I was going to live in the United States, wasn't the sunniest place.

I had expected to live in New York or at least California or Florida. Instead I was going to live in a little town, named after a utensil, Forks in the state of Washington.

To be sure of where I was going I had done a little research on the internet. And I had found out that the city of Forks was one of the wettest and most clouded places in the world. My father had hoped that I would be getting more D-vitamin over there than at home so he got a little angry, when he found out about where I was going.

"That can't be true! You'll have to be taking D-vitamin pills!" he had exclaimed. I had just shaken my head internally. If they could take that little sun over there, then I could too. I was already very pale and I wasn't that much out in the sun. It took me quite some time to get suntanned – which I didn't even really get – so I gave up on it.

My mother knocked on the door, "Get up Michelle!"

"Okay, okay! I'm coming!" I shouted.

I got up and grabbed one of my favorite T-shirts. It was red and had extraordinary sleeves. I would probably not really be using it in Forks but it was worth bringing for one of the rare sunny days. Or for when I should sing in California after my year in Forks.

Forks, was actually only a test to see if I could live in America, and if my English was good enough. Luckily I had been attending an English class the three last weeks of my summer vacation, so I was very well prepared. And my mom had forced me to speak English to her every day. My dad made me do the same with him; I only had to speak German too. It was the language I had chosen to take in Forks High School. My father didn't want me to forget anything, since I was half Austrian.

The schedules in the American High Schools were the strangest. You attended the same classes' everyday, which would be tough for someone like me. But if I worked hard, I was sure that I would make it.

I slid into my sapphire-blue jeans and went into the kitchen to get some breakfast.

"Wow you're up!" my mother exclaimed and I stubbornly stuck out my tongue.

"Mom! Michelle is sticking out her tongue!" my now 14 year old little brother said.

"Nick, don't talk like that! You sound like such a baby!" I had always called him by his middle name; I couldn't make myself call him Alexander. It was quite strange but I had been calling him Nick for as long as I could remember.

He ran out of the kitchen and into his room, as if he hadn't heard me.

"Alexander you forgot your breakfast!" my mother shouted after him. He came back in and gave her a hug.

"Don't yell! It leaves a bad atmosphere. Why is no one thinking of my condition?" my father said roughly when he entered the kitchen.

I soundlessly sighed. So it would be one of those days...

I glanced one last time at my room. It was so clean that I couldn't believe I had lived here. Most of my books were in one of my trunks with some of my scanty winter clothes. However, I had insisted on bringing some of my summer clothes too. You never knew when the sun would be shining.

Some of my teddies were in one of my trunks too. I couldn't live without them. One of them was even as old as me.

I had packed my favorite movies and CD's and I was bringing three pairs of shoes. And I was of course bringing my notebook. I couldn't bring my stationary computer, my father was afraid of it breaking in my trunk.

When I glanced one last time at my room, I sighed.

"Goodbye room. See you in a year," I said tenderly. Suddenly I got tears in my eyes and started blinking wildly. I didn't want to cry.

Then my mother opened the door. "The taxi is there. We're driving now."

"I'm coming," I said and went out of my room. I would miss it.

My family and I stood at the airport, and my trunks were already on the plane. It would be taking off in an hour, so I had a lot of time saying goodbye to them.

We walked around looking at the stores, and there wasn't really anything else we could do. After 20 minutes we all got an ice-cream.

Your last ice-cream in one year, I thought. Enjoy it.

My brother had insisted on getting a soda too, but there my father had stepped in.

"No you're not getting one! Soda and candy are not natural for the body! No animal in the world eats sugar..." he spoke for about ten minutes. Of course he wasn't eating an ice-cream.

When the time finally approached for me to get on the plane, my mother's eyes got teary.

"Do be careful," she said her voice full of tears. "Take care of yourself." She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"See you Michelle," my brother said, and hugged me.

"We're going to miss you," my father said, and I gave them all another hug.

I was about to cry myself, when I got on board the plane – but mostly because of my mother's weeping. When I stood by the gate, about to get on the plane, I turned around and said, "Goodbye. Going to miss you." I waved at them and tried to concentrate on remembering how they looked.

My mother cried and waved, her long, straight dark brown hair was in a ponytail. My own hair was beginning to look more and more like hers.

My father was close to crying, his gray hair had gotten long lately. And my baby brother just waved – he probably just looked forward to one of his vacations were he could visit me – his hair had the same color as my mothers, dark brown.

I turned around and smiled a little. This year was going to be interesting (And I had no idea how interesting it really would be). Then I went through the gate and into the plane.

The flight to Seattle took ten hours. It was the longest I had ever been sitting in a plane, and it was almost unbearable. The food was okay, but not the best.

The journey itself to Forks took 12 hours, so it would be about 02:40 AM in Denmark while it in Forks would be about 11:40 AM.

It would take some time to get used to the new time zone, but I had been awake all night before in Denmark. Therefore I had brought a good book to read on the plane. I wouldn't want to fall asleep.

When I finally landed in Seattle I saw the first rain. I was actually used to rain, but I wasn't prepared for rain almost all the time. Another thing I had to get used to.

My luggage got carried into a smaller plane, where there were only sitting about 20 people. I only had a one hour flight left to Port Angeles – where the family I would be living with waited – before a one hour drive to Forks.

I felt extremely exhausted, but I had promised myself to stay awake until 08:00 PM over here. I had a whole week to get used to the time zone before I started school, but it was good to start getting used to it as early as possible.

One week late for school, I thought sarcastically, while I made a face.

Forks High Schools first day of school was today and I had not been able to travel earlier, therefore I had gotten permission to start school one week later.

How lucky, the sarcastic voice in my head continued.

I shook the thoughts away and returned to reading my book, but my eyes wouldn't stop closing. I gave up on trying to read; there were 10 minutes until the plane landed anyway.

While I tried to keep myself awake I looked out the window of the plane. It wasn't raining but the only thing I could see were clouds, fog and a green landscape. It was very pretty and I hadn't been expecting that. I had always thought that plants needed a lot of sunshine, but I had apparently been wrong.

Finally the plane started diving a little and I started smiling. I already knew the daughter of my hosting family. Her name was Nicole Evans and she had been in Denmark for three months before she went back to the states. Her family had then moved to Forks to start a new life. And while she was in Denmark she went to my High School.

I smiled wider at the thought. To begin with the blondes in my class had tried getting Nicole over on their side, but she had stuck with me – mostly because her personality didn't look like the one of a blonde, and because she mostly wanted to stick to me to learn something. I respected that about her. She would rather learn and get educated than party.

The plane landed and I started getting nervous. I knew that Nicole had been talking about my arrival at school – and the town had probably been gossiping too – so I would probably be the center of attention. A little uncomfortable, but I hoped it would stop just a little. I didn't want to be center of attention all the time.

I could imagine it, boys coming over to me to ask about all sorts of things. I shook my head internally. I had said my goodbyes to boys and love forever.

Not all love, a voice in my head corrected me.

Okay, I hadn't given up love in movies and books. But real love, the love for boys, was definitive out of the picture.

I got off the plane and saw a sign with the words: 'Michelle Fairytale'. I blushed a little, thinking about that people I didn't know could see my name.

I walked towards the people standing with the sign.

"Michelle?" a little red-haired lady with pigtails looked at me with interest.

"Um...yeah that's me..." I answered her.

"Oh my, you're even prettier than on pictures!" she looked like she had just won the lottery or something.

Next to the red-haired lady stood a tall and skinny blonde man. He looked like he was in his mid-thirties or under. It actually looked quite funny, since I knew that Nicole looked like her father but had her mother's eyes and hair. But I hadn't expected it to be so clear on her parent's faces.

I looked for Nicole too but she wasn't standing with her parents. It was quite odd, since she had extra excused herself from class to come pick me up at the airport.

"So you're Michelle?" Mr. Evans asked me.

"Err yeah..." I nervously put my hair back my right ear.

"No need to be shy. You're just so pretty! I can see why you won that competition," Mrs. Evans said. "My name is Judith by the way." We shook hands.

"And my name is Erik. But I'm sure Nicole's already told you that." We shook hands too.

Yes, I knew his name was Erik. His daughter Nicole had told me everything about her family when she had been in Denmark. We had been writing letters and e-mails to each other after that, and when she found out that I had 'won' a year in Forks, Washington, she had almost gone berserk in her next letter. I had to be living with her family. Then she could show me around at school and such, just like I had done with her when she had been in Denmark.

I was grateful for the fact that I at least knew one person at the tiny High School I would attend.

"Where is Nicole actually?" I asked, forcing myself to talk. I had to be polite.

"Oh, she's here. But she has a surprise for you," Judith answered, her eyes sparkling.

"And she's, by the way, terrified of planes," Erik added in a serious yet funny voice. They were probably trying to make me forget my shyness.

How sweet of them actually, I couldn't help myself from thinking. And I couldn't help myself from laughing a bit too.

Nicole was actually terrified of planes, but of course I had forgotten that.

"Right, I had totally forgotten. But I'm looking forward to her surprise," I said. And I was actually a little excited about what Nicole was planning for me.

I loved gifts, but not too many at a time. I didn't have that big a wish-list after all.

Erik then asked me, "Should we get your bags?"

"Um sure," I said.

He then walked with me to the plane. We got my trunks and drove them back to Judith.

"I guess you brought a little of everything, right?" he asked me while we were walking towards his car.

"Yeah… I'm going to be here for some time anyway," my voice wasn't very loud, but just high enough for him to hear.

"Then it's good that we have extra space for luggage," Precisely after that Nicole suddenly got out of a sapphire blue Citroen 2CV6. Normally I didn't speak "Car and Driver" but Nicole had specifically told me that she owned such a vehicle.

"You probably thought I was going to ditch you, didn't ya?" she said with a teasing smile. I had probably looked surprised to her.

"Something like that." I was smiling too.

"You very tired?" she asked me while she almost ran towards me to give me a hug. I couldn't help but smile at her personality. I had missed it.

"I'm fine as always," I answered her. "And I'm not that tired at a–" I suddenly yawned before I could continue.

Nicole laughed at my attempted lie but then said, with a sudden glimpse in her eyes, "Can you stay awake for a little longer?"

"Sure?" I hoped she heard that I was confused.

When she didn't say anything further I headed for what I believed to be Erik's dark green Alfa Romeo, when she suddenly grabbed my wrist.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked me.

"Err… I'm getting into the car. We're going home to you," I insecurely answered her. She had some kind of plan, but I wasn't sure of what it was.

"You're heading for the wrong car, you know. We're not going home to me, quite yet," she smiled teasingly.

Oh no!

"Nicole, be reasonable!" I pleaded. I knew exactly what she was up to.

"Nope! You are going to see the school. You can't go around in my house all day,"

But then Judith interrupted, "Nicole, be nice. It's our house not yours." She wasn't being harsh, just informative.

I tried to hide a smile, but Nicole must have seen it because she scowled at me.

We stood like that for some time until Nicole again said something, "Come on! We haven't got all day! Lunch begins at a quarter to one!" and then she dragged me into her Citroen.

"See you later Michelle," both Judith and Erik said to me. If they continued being this nice I could easily get used to living in Forks – if it wasn't for the fact that it rained almost constantly. I was happy that it wasn't raining today. Actually, I didn't have anything against the rain – I even loved it when it only drizzled or didn't make me soaking wet in seconds.

Nicole hurried to the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Nicole, please. You don't need to do this," I pleaded.

"Yes I do. You simply have to see the school before you go to sleep," she had a glimpse in the eye. I was going to see something important, I was sure.

I sighed. "Okay, you win. I was planning on going to bed at eight tonight anyway," I said resigned.

"Eight!" her eyes got wide. I looked harshly at her. "Okay! You've been flying for 12 hours," I still looked harshly at her. "And I'm not going to disturb your beauty sleep," she teased. "You'll be staying in the guest room."

"Thank you."

After that we drove in silence for a while. Nicole kept her eyes on the road ahead of us, and I thought about the past. It was quite funny thinking about how quickly Nicole and I had become friends. When you thought of how it all began. I had actually got to know her on a fan site for "Harry Potter". We had been writing for a while, when she said that she was going to be an exchange student in Denmark. And, miraculously, she was going to attend my school.

What are the odds for something like that?

Nicole had almost gone into chock when she found out that she was going to my school. She had insisted upon me showing her around and letting her know everything there was to know. I had to assure her at least 30 times that there wasn't really much to show. When she finally arrived I had learned that she stayed at Tina's and was attending my class. And on her first day of school she had almost squeezed me in a hug.

I had been a freshman in High School for half a year back then. Nicole was only staying for about three months and she had had a great time with Larah, Tanja, Tina and me. Nicole wasn't really hanging that much out with M.J, since she was attending the science class, while where in the linguistic class.

And after Nicole returned home, I'm sure she told everyone she knew about her little "trip" to Denmark. When she was excited she couldn't stop talking. That well I knew her.

And now, I was sitting in a car in Forks, Washington waiting for humiliation. I didn't want to be looked at before I actually started in a week.

I felt how my eyes began to close and I almost fell asleep a couple of times. But Nicole always managed to pinch me in the arm when I did. She knew how soundly I could sleep, after a sleepover at my place in Denmark. So, I decided to look out the window, instead of having her pinch me until my arm was bruised. It was actually quite pretty outside. The whole place was green. I loved the color green and it fit well in this place. But a little sunshine would have done this place good. It was almost like looking out the window of the plane. Only it looked greener on the ground than from the sky.

I turned to look straight ahead and saw a sign with the words Forks High School. This was the place I during the year was going to attend. How nice.

"How big is the school actually?" I asked Nicole as I saw the sign.

"Wait and see," she said with a glimpse in her eye.

"Nicole, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean I'm not actually attending until next week. And it's probably lunch break right now," I was desperately trying to talk her out of it. I knew that lunch didn't start until 12:45 PM but I didn't want to interrupt any classes.

"Lunch isn't until a quarter to one and I'm excused from this lesson too. We don't need to disturb anyone," she said as if she had read my mind. And normally my thoughts weren't written all over my face, unless I really wanted people to know my thoughts. Which I rarely wanted anyone to.

I didn't tell just anybody what I thought or felt. Actually I told almost no one about my deepest thoughts and feelings. I never felt that I was on the same level with anyone. Not even my closest friends. I somehow felt like my mind was older than theirs. Like it was the one of a 35 year-old, while my body looked like it was the one of a sixteen year-old.

"I simply meant that we wouldn't be disturbing anyone if we left now. Walking in the hallways can disturb lessons too," I said after an awkward silence. I had been lost in my thoughts.

"I know how you are Michelle. You have such a noble heart. It makes you don't want to interrupt people or be late for class," I was glad she had remembered that side of me.

She parked the car and we got out.

I looked at the buildings in astonishment, when I opened the door of the car. It didn't look like a school at all; closer to a bunch of old buildings actually.

"You never seen a school before?" Nicole asked me.

"Sure I have. But it doesn't even look like a school," I objected.

"I know. But you haven't seen anything yet."

"What are you actually going to show me?" I asked her, just to be prepared.

"Probably the cafeteria and afterwards some of the hallways and the gym... I think that's it."

Oh no. Not the gym! People are going to see me!

I made sure to hide my fear of getting caught and seen. I had never in my life been "the new girl" so I was really nervous. But Nicole knew me too well. She was one of those who got a rare glimpse of my soul.

"There's no reason to panic. We're just going to spy a little," she winked at me.

"Okay. And that's it! And you'll promise to drive me home after that," I firmly said.

"But then you'll not be able to experience lunch!" Nicole was playing upset.

My eyes widened. Normally I would have laughed at her lacking acting abilities but I knew she was serious about lunch.

I swallowed. People would notice me and ask questions – which would probably make me feel uncomfortable. I normally didn't hate attention I just hated being center of attention without a reason – attention towards me had to be because of a reason I liked.

"Get a hold of yourself Michelle! It's not that bad," Nicole strictly said and pulled me with her.

At first we looked at the cafeteria where some students were sitting, doing homework or ditching class. Or at least that's what Nicole told me. After that we walked in the hallways, and she showed me some of the empty classes that we passed. As there were fifteen minutes left until lunch break, Nicole was suddenly insisting on that we hurried to the gym. She didn't look like herself at all – she was almost over-exited.

Strange, was my only thought.

"Um, are we going to see something extra special or what? Since you're almost running away from me?" I asked her bewildered.

She lowered her pace and mumbled something like, "Of course she can't know yet."

What was it that I didn't know?

Nicole was being very cryptic. It was almost like she was someone else in that moment.

We reached the gym and Nicole quickly walked towards a bench and stood on it so that she could look inside the windows.

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?" I asked her. She was acting like some kind of mad fan stalking a movie star.

"Take a look yourself," she said to me, without moving her head from the window.

"No I won't. It's called spying and I'm not into that," the irony was clear in my voice. I was almost dying to find out what Nicole found so damn interesting that it was worth stalking.

"Of course not," she turned her head towards me, closed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at me.

I just laughed, stood up on a bench and looked in the window. At first I couldn't really see anything else but people running around inside. When they all stopped to listen to the teacher, I couldn't see anything special either.

"What was so fascinating? I can't see anything," I looked a moment at Nicole.

"You just have to look," was her only answer.

When I looked in the window again, I got myself quite a shock.

Someone was staring back at me!

AN: Sorry for the cliffy! (Reviews might make the next chapter update itself faster "hint hint" LOL :P)
Well, hope you like it so far :D Please tell me what you think :)

(Reviews are the sunshine for us writers! YOU inspire us to write more :D Yes, I mean every single one of you out there :D)

xx

Minnie :D