Chapter One: Beginnings

Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will. -A. W. Tozer

Bella POV

I slipped on my sneakers, preparing to leave the house. It was already almost noon. The weather was relatively good today, just a light mist, no rain. The seemingly ever-gray clouds hung low in the sky, warning the ones below to enjoy the (somewhat) dryness while we had the chance, because rain was not far away.

My name is Isabella Swan. Bella, please. Isabella takes too long to say and, when you're like me, you should try to save as much time as you can.

Because, you see, I have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Basically, it meant I have a weak heart. It was a lot worse when I was younger, so I suppose I should be glad I haven't died.

You know, just yet.

I sighed. I didn't like to think about most of the time. When Charlie tells people, most have the same reactions.

'Oh! I'm so sorry!' They'd say in insincere voices.

'I hope you recover soon!' I could see the pity plain in their eyes.

I didn't want to be pitied. I wanted not to be restrained by the illness, but to make the best of the time I had. After all, I have the illness. It did not have me.

I've been home schooled because of my condition, since I had to stay at the hospitals most of the time. I was officially 'released' last month, and I'd returned to live with my father, Charlie, in a small town called Forks. Today would be my first day at Forks High.

As I climbed out of my truck, walking as swiftly as I could without tripping on my own two feet, hoping to stay one step ahead of the rain, I wondered vaguely what high school life would be like. My only references were from unrealistic movies and books, or from Him.

"What a high school like?" The girl asked, leaning over her bed.

"It's quite boring, actually." He chuckled, smiling down at the little girl. "The teacher teaches us thing, mostly things you'd probably already know."

The girl giggled. "That's silly. Why teach me something I already know?"

The boy just smiled.

"Do you have any friends at school?"

"Hmm. Well, there's Rosie, and Emmett.."

"But that's your family!"

"Well, there's you." He touched his fingers to he nose .The girl smiled giggled again and took his hand, playing with his fingers.

"Edward?"

"Mmhmm?""

"Will I get to go to high school?"

Edward's smile faded. He looked at her with a sadness she did not understand at the time.

"Of course." He reassured her, and then pulled her tiny body into a hug.

I smiled at the memory. He might've doubted this day would come. But here I was, walking fearlessly into my first day of public school education.

I turned upward towards the sky, talking to him like I always did.

"Just watch me, Edward."

---

Edward POV

The day was the same as always. There was no reason for it to be special in anyway. In a town as small as Forks, someone's cat getting run over would probably make the front page. Today, all the minds in the cafeteria were consumed with the matter of a new student, although nobody even knew her name or what she looked like.

I wondered fleetingly about the new addition, but didn't dwell on it. I didn't waste my time over such trivial matters. In the long run, it's not like this'll make much of a difference in my life. If you could call what I had a life, of course.

I heard a name in someone's thoughts. Apparently, someone had found out the name of the new girl from a teacher.

Isabella. What a common name.

The name, just the name, sent such a feeling of nostalgia it surprised even me. Memories, flashed, came back to me at the mere mentioning of her name. And it was a common name.

The girl, head in her hands, gazed intently at Edward. He loved it when she was like this. She would ask him a question, because she always had questions, and he would answer them as best he could. Sometimes he didn't know the answer. Imagine that, a 7-yearold stumping a 90-yearold who had degrees in almost every science possible! But it didn't matter if he didn't know, or he had to make things up. It was fine. Because, as long as she would look at him as admiringly as she did and have her hanging on to his every word, nothing else in the world mattered.

I closed my eyes and smiled, and I heard the curiosity in my siblings' minds about my expression. Alice was about to question me when the minds of almost everyone of the hundred of minds in the room broke into restless chatter.

The cafeteria's doors had opened, and the new girl walked in. She stopped and scanned the room.

Our eyes met.

A.N. Not really a cliffy, is it? xD;; So, starting next chapter (I think.) I'll start writing the story of how Edward and Bella met at the hospital along with the present time story.

Review, please! Review make me want to write more. D: