Chapter One: Indescribable Beauty.

"Edward?" I said, confused. I looked across the lunchroom at the perfect family, each with a pairing, except the smallest; a beautiful girl with curly, copper-brown hair, like the boy, Edward. The slender girl beside me, Fay, nodded. Fay had been my best friend since eighth grade. Now we are in eleventh, and we have never been greater of friends than we were now.

"And the girl he's going out with," said Fay, chewing through a bagel, "Is that one; Isabella. She's the sister of the blondes." She pointed at the beautiful girl with long brown hair sitting beside Edward.

"And," continued Fay, "The one with the same colored hair as Edward is his sister, Renesmee. But everyone calls her Nessie. I think she's dating outside of school, though. And the one with the short black hair is Alice; she's going out with the slender blonde guy, Jasper. His sister, Rosalie, that blonde, is going out with Emmett, the really big guy who looks like he could take us all out."

"So," I said, trying to absorb their beauty, "Rosalie, Isabella, and Jasper Hale, the blondes and brunette, and Emmett, Alice, Edward, and Renesmee/Nessie Cullen? And they're all adopted?" Fay nodded. I sighed. Renesmee turned in our direction to look out the window above our table, and I saw that she, unlike the others who had beautiful golden eyes, had dark, chocolate brown eyes. They all also had very fair skin, but unlike my own, which made me look sick, made them look like airbrushed models without makeup.

Just then the black haired one, Alice, gracefully glided up to throw away her uneaten lunch. I opened my mouth to ask, but Fay responded first. "They don't eat," she said, thoughtfully chewing on a pickle. Any dancer would be jealous of Alice. As an aspiring dancer herself, I wondered what Fay thought.

I looked back at Isabella, who sat, staring at a slice of pizza. The steam flowing towards her, making her look like she was modeling for a photo shoot. I twirled a strand of my own very dark, brown hair around my index finger. It contrasted with my pale skin more than it should; the only good thing about me were my eyes. They were blue-green, hinting a bit more to the greener side as I got older, and they were big and shaped like almonds. I really like them.

Ever since I've lived in New York, never have I thought I would ever see anyone so beautiful set foot in Fainnett. Sure, many were fairly pretty and handsome, but I have never seen anyone so beautiful before.

"I heard their parents are gorgeous, too," Fay said. I felt easily readable as I stared at the Cullens and Hales. "I have math with Jasper and gym with Emmett. I also have Global with Alice and Edward." Fay said, ignoring my embarrassment, "Emmett is a major jock. He likes to show off, which is really funny when half the guys there would die for his physique." I nodded, smiling at the thought.

"Do you have any classes with them?" Fay asked me. I had just come back from a one-year program in Italy, and they had moved here before I got back. Today was my first day back from a five-day weekend, and also my first day back at school.

It was raining, and hard to get around campus. We had an outdoor campus, with buildings spread around California-style. When it was sunny or snowed, it was beautiful and fun to go from class to class; the only trouble was when it rained, and it was no light California rain. Sometimes the outdoor walkways flooded, and unless you wore rain boots, you were most likely going to have water logged shoes.

"I think I may have had gym with Renesmee," I said, "But today Mrs. O'Connor split us in half, and I didn't get a good look at who was in my class. I also have the rest of the day."

Fay nodded and said, "Same with the split. Mrs. O'Connor loves to do that."

The bell rang for lunch to end, and everyone scrambled to clean up their lunch. Fay and I figured out that we both now had Global Studies, which is like American History, except it is other countries. Fay told me we are starting a unit on China, where they are in the Han dynasty. The Xiongnu are a rival civilization, referred to as the Hun, who attacked the Hans to get food, land, and livestock.

I sat down in a corner in the back, hating to draw attention to myself, although my backpack was a faded light green that used to be almost highlighter colored.

I realized that next to me sat Edward, his hair so naturally messy it made me smile. I had heard gossip about him and his hair, where many girls had said it was his main "hotness" factor. Although it was cute, it definitely was not his only good feature. In front of him sat Alice. Fay, who smiled as she saw the arrangement, sat in front of me.

"Everyone!" sang our teacher, Mrs. Sanders, whacking a gong bigger than my head. We all froze; it was very loud. Seeming pleased, Mrs. Sanders said, "All right, is everyone here? That means we have an even number of kids. Good. Partner up." Alice slid her desk over to Fay's, a grin on Fay's face. I turned to see that Edward had already pushed his desk silently next to mine.

He looked bored as he said in a musical voice, "I guess you're new? I'm Edward."

"Oh," I said, dazed, "Actually, I just got back from a school supported exchange trip to Italy. I've gone here for, like, forever. I'm Alina." He thought about that, and I raised my hand for him to shake, but he ignored it completely. Embarrassed, I bit my lip, hoping I didn't blush. I usually didn't, but I could feel my face growing warm.

"Ok," said Mrs. Sanders, "Write a peace treaty. One of you is the Xiongnu, the other, the Han. The Han want the Xiongnu to stop attacking you, but the Xiongnu want something better… GET TO WORK!" She hit the gong, and after a second of silence, the room started buzzing with talk.

"Who do you want to be?" I asked, looking up at his dark golden eyes.

For a brief moment they met mine, but he looked away and said, "Whoever you don't choose." My heart raced. He really was more beautiful than most, and close up you could see how his features complimented his expressions. I almost started to examine him, but the he looked at me again. I realized I had to pick the side.

"Xiongnu," I breathed, hoping he heard. If I were Xiongnu, he would have to do most of the talking. He looked confused for a moment, but quickly the same expression of boredom ran across his face.

"Fine then," he said, "How about I give you a fair amount of the land you terrorize, and then you agree not to attack us. Deal?" He smiled, and my heart stopped. I nodded, breathless, as he wrote out the contract. His hand moved gracefully across the page, the pen was moved effortlessly. He didn't seem to concentrate too hard on writing the actual document. I wondered what he was thinking about. Isabella, probably. They were dating, and it only seemed natural that she would be on his mind. She was so amazingly beautiful. If I were a guy she'd be on my mind, too.

"Sign here." Edward said, and a small smile spread across his face. I glanced at the contract. It looked legitimate, and his handwriting was magnificent, even when he wasn't focused on it. I didn't want my chicken scratch on the official looking document, so I quickly read it over.

"Wait," I said, my breath returned, "You wrote here that I was to stop everything with you, hand over half my produce from herding and what came from it, that I give you some of my land, and that a fourth of my people convert to your civilization." He raised an eyebrow, his smile spreading a bit more, and this time looking mischievous.

"And?" He asked innocently, looking god-like.

"Uh," I said, smiling and trying to blink, "I believe you just tried to dupe me."

Mrs. Sanders, who came over at this point, laughed as she heard my last words. "Good girl, Alina," she said, a hint of laughter still dotted her voice, "Always read your documents before you sign them." She gave us a new piece of paper, and Edward wrote out what he said earlier, with me watching every word. He moved his pen with such grace that I felt like a mule.

Finally, after reading the document over, I signed it and so did he. We still had five minutes, and I could hear Fay arguing with Alice about who would convert to what.

"So," I said, hoping to break the silence, "Where did you move from?"

"Alaska." He said. I nodded, trying to keep an even heartbeat.

"Did you see a lot of snow?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Do you like snow?"

He shrugged. "It's ok," he said, "I like grass better."

I nodded, twirling my hair again.

"Do you?" he asked.

I looked up at him, and I lost my train of thought. "What?" I said, dazed again.

"Do you like the snow?" He said patiently.

"I wish snow were warmer," I blurted out truthfully, "Then my mom would have played with me in it. And, you could go in it, and it wouldn't be as cold as some things." He looked almost sad for a moment, and I added, "But I like the cold." Then he smiled at me, and I forgot we were in school.

"You said-" He started to ask, but the bell for next period rang.

"Wait!" I said loudly, and he froze, midway out of his seat. I could tell how he wanted to glide out of the room, to be rid of my presence or be in someone else's, but I could also tell my "wait" had held him in his place. He stood fully, and I realized how tall he was. I am 5' 1'', but he must have been at the very least 5' 11''.

"Yes?" he said.

"Uh," I said, biting my lip so I wouldn't blush, "What do you have next?" "English with Ms. Havaz."

"Me too," I almost squeaked, delighted like a kid who just got a Wii for Christmas. He sighed, and politely and patiently waited until my backpack was packed. I rushed, so once a few of my papers fell, but he got them for me a second from when I thought they fell. We were walking from the D Building to the A Building, so we had a good walk together. We headed for the nearest overhang. Now, I knew I was blushing.

He looked away, hands clenched into fists. "Um," I started, but then he looked at me, and I forgot what I was going to say. He looked so perfect.

He sighed, then said, "Do you know Bella?"

"Bella?" I asked, not sure who he was talking about, my mind fogged with his face and voice.

"My adopted sister," he pressed.

"Oh," I said, suddenly remembering the girl I watched in lunch. "My friend told me her name was Isabella. Oh, well, uh, that's a nickname for it…" That was a stupid thing to say. He smiled, and I looked down a moment to clear my head, just to have it fogged again when I looked up.

"She and I," Edward said, looking out into space, talking much, much quieter, "It feels like we just got together, and Renesmee… She looks just like me. It's quite amazing the… similarities. She's so different. God, is she great. She has Bella's beautiful eyes…" His last words were extremely quiet, and I would bet you that he forgot he was talking to me. Wait, what the heck did he just say?

"Excuse me?" I choked out. He glanced toward me, and his eyes widened into horror.