So Here I Am

'Welcome to your new home'.

She thought to herself as the taxi pulled up in front of the house she would be calling home for the next two years.

She wasn't regretting her decision to leave behind the life she knew and loved in Tree Hill but she had to leave, Tree Hill held a lot of bad memories for her and her decision to leave and move to Forks with her aunt and uncle wasn't hard for her to make, she needed to leave Tree Hill.

She couldn't walk down the hallways of Tree Hill high after what had happened, she hated looking at her best friend and the boy that would never be hers and she hated that she was always alone.

'Peyton, your here'.

She smiled warmly as her aunt Mary who practically ran down the front steps to welcome her niece, while her husband Jim, who Peyton had always called uncle followed behind while his wife embraced her in a warm hug.

'Hi Aunt Mary'.

As she was squeezed tightly by her aunt, before she took a step back and took a proper look at her niece.

'I can't believe what a beautiful young women your becoming, your mum would be so proud'.

'Thank you, Hi uncle Jim'.

She said as he paid the taxi driver who had just unloaded her bags from the back of the car.

'Hello Peyton, welcome to the never sunny forks'.

He said with a smirk and she laughed lightly.

'Let me help you with your bags'.

He started to carry Peyton's bags up the front steps with Mary picking up the two boxes that Peyton had kept in the back seat of the car with her behind him, leaving Peyton with just the last couple of bags which she picked up and then followed them both into the house.

She followed them up two flights of stairs until they reached the top and into what would now be her room.

She looked around the her new living space.

'We thought considering your the artist we would let you decide how you want your room to look, also you have your own bathroom'.

She turned to look at them and smiled.

'Thank you, where is Emily'.

She asked as she put her bags on her bed and sat down, Emily was her cousin she was the same age as Peyton, they had been close as kids but after her mum died, Peyton didn't spend as much time with her as she used to and when Mary met Jim and moved to forks it made staying in contact that much harder.

'She went to school she was hoping to get the day of but we knew you had a long trip and thought you could do with the rest so you'll see her when she comes home'.

'Okay, do you mind if start to unpack'.

'Of course not this is your home now, just to let you know coming from Tree Hill I guess you didn't have a lot of warm clothing so I bought you a few things'.

'That's great'.

Mary smiled at her and then looked at Jim.

'Well we'll leave you to it kiddo but we'll be downstairs if you need anything'.

Jim said to Peyton who had already started unzipping one of her bags and looked over her shoulder and nodded.

They walked out of the room closing the door behind them,leaving her to unpack.

They both walked out of the room, leaving her to unpack.

She took her laptop out of her bag and turned it on, before unpacking the few pictures she had packed and started to hang them on the nails that must have been put up awaiting her memories, before returning to her laptop and opening her music player and letting the music fill the silence.

She must have fallen asleep halfway through packing because the next thing she remembered was opening her eyes and the room was in complete darkness, she reached over and turned on her lamp before walking into the bathroom and splashing her face with cold water, she reached for a towel as her door knocked.

'Come in'.

She called as dried her face and then placed it back on the rack before walking into her room to find Emily standing the doorway with a pizza box in her hand.

She put the box on the bed as she went to hug Peyton who was happy to see her.

'It's so good see you'.

Emily told her as she squeezed her gently and Peyton smiled

'It's good to see you too, I heard you tried to get out of school'.

'Of course I tried but my mum wasn't buying it'.

Peyton laughed as they sat on the bed as Emily opened the pizza box.

'Now don't expect this everyday, we are a dinner at the table family'.

'Wow, I haven't had a dinner at the table since my mum, since then it's been me and my friends eating take out or getting food from Karen's'.

As she spoke her voice was full of sadness as she talked about Tree Hill.

'You miss there don't you'.

Emily asked as she looked at Peyton who was looking over to the desk where a picture of Brooke,Haley and herself was placed and then looked at Emily and nodded.

'Of course I miss it, Tree Hill was my home for 17 years, everything I know is in Tree Hill'.

'Then why ask your dad if you can move here'.

'Because Tree Hill maybe everything I know but it's also the place where I two mums before the age of 17, it's the town I almost died in and it's the place where I realised the thing I wanted most would never really belong to me and then there's the things I learned about myself that still make me wonder about my future.'

She paused as she looked at Emily who seemed to be confused by what she was saying and she felt herself that she may have said to much.

'Look there's just a lot of darkness in Tree Hill that I needed to escape from and what better choice of escape than a few thousand miles between me and there and now here I am ready to start my school new tomorrow, meet new people and put the past behind me'.

'You'll never really be able to put the past behind you though, the people you know and love in Tree Hill, did you even say goodbye'.

'I left Brooke and Haley letters but I didn't tell them where I've gone I just let them know that I loved them and that I needed to get away, I know I should have said bye in person but I couldn't do it'.

She wiped her eyes as tears started to develop and Emily gave her a sympathetic look.

'It will get better'.

'I know, you know what's so funny about all of this is I used to say people always leave, I never guessed I'd be the one that was leaving'.

The next few hours the girls spent there time catching up, really Peyton let Emily fill her in on what was going on in her life as to stop her talking more about Tree Hill because thinking about her home-town was upsetting her more than she wanted and she just wanted to shove her life there into the back of her mind and throw away the key but she couldn't every time she tried it was pushed right back into the forefront of her mind and she hated it.

She listened as Emily told her life in Forks, she was surprised by academic Emily was she had already planned where she wanted to go to college in two years and what career path she wanted to take and Peyton was honestly impressed and a little bit jealous that Emily knew what she wanted, while she hadn't even decided if she even wanted to go to college let alone what she wanted to do when she got older.

The room was full of darkness as Peyton lay in her bed with her headphones in her ears, her Ipod resting on her pillow as she tried to settle into some sort of slumber but sleep wasn't on her side as every-time she closed her eyes his face popped into her mind and she had to keep her eyes open from seeing his face and she knew she couldn't think about him without consequences and that was something she hated most not being able to really talk to anyone about what was happening to her.

So she just lay there with her eyes open focusing on the moonlight that filled her room as the sound of Lavina filled her head.

The sound of her alarm filled her room and she reached out blindly as she tried to turn it off, her hand hit the button.

She lifted the duvet from above her head as she sat up and placed her feet on the floor as she walked over to the window and opened the curtains and was shocked at what she saw, there in front of her very eyes was a car not any car, it was her car.

She opened the door and ran down the stairs and out of the front door just to make sure she wasn't seeing things but she wasn't it was her car, she peered into the windows and there under the back-seat was the box of CD's she always kept there and then she turned around as she heard someone cough and she spun round and looked at Jim.

'Well Emily has her own car and I know you loved this car'.

'It was my mums first car'.

She said as she touched the glossy black paint work.

'We know that's why we spoke to your dad and he agreed that you deserved to have the a part of her with you, so he had it delivered here and it arrived yesterday just before you the plan was to surprise you but fell asleep'.

She looked at her car and then at him.

'Thank you'.

'Your welcome'.

He replied as he handed her the car keys which she held tightly to her palm.

45 minutes later she was ready for her first day at her new high school, she was sitting at the vanity table just staring at her reflection, she had smoothed her normally wild and curly hair into loose curls that hung just under her shoulders, she was wearing the ring that Brooke had given her for her birthday back when everything was normal, she twirled the ring on her finger as she sat there and then took a deep breath to calm herself as she stood up and picked up her jacket and headed downstairs to where Emily was standing in the hallway applying her lip gloss.

Mary and Jim had already headed out to work, Emily smiled at Peyton as she came down the stairs.

'Mum and Dad hope you have a good first day'.

Peyton raised her eyebrow

'We'll see what happens, I've been the new girl before'.

Emily walked over to her as she stood near the front door and smiled at her.

'It will be great, trust me the kids in Forks High are perfectly safe'.

Peyton smiled in her mind she had a really strange feeling about how the day was going to go, maybe it was the nerves of the first day or maybe it was because she was thinking of her friends in Tree Hill going to class and wondering where there good friend Peyton Sawyer had disappeared too.

'You ready to go'.

Emily asked her as she picked up her bag from the floor and she just nodded.

'Yeah I'm ready.

The school was only a 30 minute drive away from the house and Peyton found the route pretty simple as she followed Emily's car into the parking lot, while Emily found a spot easily Peyton found herself parking far away from her.

She pulled up next to a Silver Volvo and turned of radio as she took the keys out of the ignition, reached into the back-seat for her bag and then stepped out of the car, to face the eyes of many curious students, she tried to ignore the whispers and stares, a few of the male students made some remarks about her that they thought she couldn't hear but when she turned and glared at them with a cold stare they quickly turned and headed into the school building.

Emily walked towards and linked arms with her as they headed into the building.

'So far so good'.

She said and Peyton smiled even though she knew that the looks and the whispers where just going to get worse as the day went on.

As they approached the office, Emily stopped and looked at her.

'Well this is as far as I go have fun and I'll see you at lunch'.

'Sure'.

They shared a quick hug before Emily turned to walk away in another direction leaving Peyton to go into the office as she went to push open the door, she turned round quickly as she felt someone looking at her but as she turned around there was nobody there.

'Hold it together'.

She said to herself as she pushed open the door and walked into the office.

'Name'.

Peyton looked at the receptionist who was going through a stack of papers.

'Peyton Sawyer'.

The receptionist looked up at her and then back at the papers.

'Sawyer, here we are'.

She placed a few sheets of paper in front of her and then stood up.

'Welcome to Forks High School, Miss Sawyer, here is a map of the school, your timetables and a list of books you need for each of your classes, now we've made sure that you've got most of the class that where available to in your old school so that you feel comfortable in your new environment and this is for you to give to each of your teachers at the end of the class and then at the end of the day return it to us here, is that okay'.

Peyton looked up from her timetable and nodded.

'Yeah, I'll do that'.

'Good well have a good first day'.

Yet again Peyton found herself just nodding as she picked up the papers and walked back out of the room, she looked down at her timetable her first class was English and she was already five minutes late, she ran up the flight of stairs up to the English department and into the class-room where she was met with the stares of her classmates and her teacher who smiled at her as she walked into the room.

'You must be Peyton Sawyer'.

She said to Peyton as she stepped fully into the classroom.

'Yeah, sorry I'm late I had to pick up my schedule'.

'It's fine, class we have a new student joining us today everyone say hello to Peyton Sawyer'.

The whole class said hello to but as she went to sit down the teacher stopped her.

'Why don't you tell us about yourself Peyton'.

She looked at the teacher and then at the sea of eyes that was looking at her and smiled her best fake smile.

That was how the first half of her first day went, she was forced to tell students about her life and she wasn't very giving with the details she kept things very simple telling them where she came from and her interest but nothing more than that there where something's that she didn't need the entire student body to know. She found herself being quite sarcastic which many students thought of as humour which annoyed her but not as much as when she was heading to her French class and she was approached by boy who introduced himself to her as Eric and told her that she was front page news on the school paper and handed her a copy and there on the front was a picture of her in here Ravens uniform with Brooke.

When she asked him where he got the photo he informed her that she was a cheerleader for the Ravens and a picture of her wasn't so hard to find.

She looked at him and then at the paper and walked away throwing the paper in the bin as she walked into her next class.

Lunch time couldn't have come at a worse time for her as she walked out of her class and into the sea of students heading to the cafeteria and as she made her way through the student she spotted the paper in many of there hands and held her down as she looked at her map and headed to the cafeteria , where Emily was standing outside waiting for her with a a group of her friends including Eric who waved at her and Peyton looked at him as she walked over.

Emily smiled widely at her and then looked at her friends.

'Peyton, come meet my amazing friends'.

Emily said as she pulled Peyton into the group who all looked at her.

'Actually Emily, I just realised I forgot something in my last class, I'll meet you in there'.

She practically turned on her heels and ran back in the direction she came from, she ducked into a classroom and found herself struggling to breath.

'Come on Peyton, your better than this, it will get better'.

She heard herself saying over and over again before looking back out into the deserted hallway and heading into the cafeteria.

She walked in avoiding the eyes again as she picked up a tray and went to pick out her lunch as she was walking she accidentally walked into another student.

She looked at them briefly to say sorry and then went to join the rest of the students who where collecting there lunch.

As soon as she sat down at Emily's table, she was unprepared for the bombardment of questions that awaited her.

'Do you know who that boy was?'.

A girl who was called Jessica asked her and she shrugged

'No I just walked into him and I've only been at this school for a couple of hours, I don't know anybody'.

She stated as she played around with the sandwich in front of her

'Well that was Edward Cullen'.

'Good for him'.

She replied, Jessica seemed to be confused by her complete lack of interest in Edward and looked at Emily.

'How could you not tell her about Edward Cullen'.

Emily looked at her.

'I forgot it's not like I thought she was going to walk into him now did I'.

'Well we need to fill her in on the boy that is Edward Cullen'.

Peyton looked up from her sandwich and at Jessica

'Say his name again I don't think the other side of the room has heard you, yet'.

Jessica looked at Peyton and laughed not understand sarcasm, so Peyton decided to ask her considering she seemed like all she wanted to do was talk about this Edward.

'So who is Edward Cullen'.

She asked mockingly and Emily gave a glance as tried not to laugh.

'Before we get to Edward, you need to know about the cullens'.

Peyton looked in the direction that Jessica pointed, there in the corner of the room where Edward sat with four other people.

'Those are the Cullen's,Rosalie,Emmett,Jasper,Alice and Edward, they are all together like together together well all of them expect for Edward. Rosalie the blonde is with Emmett and Jasper the weird one who looks like he's being tortured is with the shorter girl Alice, she's really weird'.

'Is she really weird or have you just never considered getting to know her?'. Peyton asked as she looked over at Alice who gave a quick smile before going back to talk to the others at her table. 'I would get to know her but it's weird how they are all dating each other, don't you think it's strange how they are adopted and are involved with each it's like something out of a TV show'.

''It's now weird Jess they are not related, Doctor Cullen and his wife adopted them they moved down her from Alaska like two years ago Emmett,Rosalie and Jasper are seniors. Alice and Edward are Juniors like us'. Emily said looking at Jessica who shrugged

'Anyway Edward is the loner out of all of them, he is totally gorgeous but apparently nobody in this school is good enough for him'. She said with a bitter tone in her voice.

'Well maybe if the girls in this school weren't such gossips you may have a chance with him'. Peyton thought to herself as she looked over to the Cullen table to find Edward looking straight at her with a smirk on his lips and she stared back at him.

'Don't waste your time'.

She looked at Jessica who was looking in Edwards direction who was now talking to Alice, she wasn't really paying attention to what Jessica was saying she was thinking how gossip could ruin people's lives as the thought crossed her mind she noticed Edward looking at her again but this time he wasn't smirking he was looking at her with a curious yet annoyed expression.

After the excitement of Edward and The Cullen's, the rest of the lunch conversation went back to being focused on her but soon the lunch break was over much to Peyton's joy as she had three classes left for the day calculus,Art and Biology.

She was looking forward to her Art class so much that she paid attention in calculus so that the time would fly by and then a hour late she was walking into her art class and went to sit at a empty desk, she pulled out her sketch book and started to flick through her drawings as a slow stream of students walked into the room and took there seats a few looked at her as they sat down but she ignored them. She turned her book to a blank page as the chair next to her moved and she looked up to find Alice Cullen taking the seat next to her, she smiled at her as she sat down and placed a book on the table and looked at the teacher, who didn't introduce Peyton much to her delight and Alice looked at her and then back at the teacher who explained the lesson for the day telling him that he wanted them to draw there own interpretation of life, that was the reason Peyton loved art class, it was the only lesson where you got to express yourself creatively without constraint.

'Hi'. Peyton looked up from the her page and turned to look at Alice who was smiling at her with a vibrant smile it almost reminded her of Brooke and she felt herself feel at ease with Alice even though she didn't know her. 'Peyton, right'. Peyton nodded and smiled. 'Yeah I am, your the first student to actually ask me my name without getting it from a article about me'.

Alice laughed 'Well I thought I'd be more direct and if it makes you feel better I haven't read the article'.

Peyton chuckled

'Thanks but you might as well everyone else has'.

Alice shrugged

'I prefer getting to know a person and not reading about them, so how are you liking forks so far?'.

Peyton shrugged

'It's different, it's no North Carolina that's for sure, I miss my friends, the life I had but I guess it I can make new friends and a new life here but I miss by best friends Brooke and Haley, I wish they where here with me it would make things a little easier, I mean you must find it really easy having your family at school with you'.

Alice smiled

'So you heard the story of my 'weird' family'.

She said with a laugh.

'Yeah, I don't find it weird by the way none of you are related so what happens between you is your own business nobody else's, but I guess in a small town like this people would find it weird but not me, trust me where I come from this wouldn't have been so strange'.

'Well that's nice to know and yeah I guess it's easier for me having my brothers, Emmett's like the big older brother anyone would want, Edward is great, I can talk to him about most things,Me and Rosalie don't always see eye to eye but we love shopping together and I have Jasper and he's perfect, the way we live maybe unconventional but it works for us'.

Peyton smiled at her, even though there family was unconventional Peyton felt a little jealous that she didn't have anyone that she was that close to in Forks, she had Emily but Emily had her own friends and her own life and Peyton knew she didn't belong with her friends especially Jessica she couldn't stand her.

She looked back at her page and as her hand danced around the page as she started to draw, Alice looked at what Peyton was drawing and then went to doing her own work.

The bell rang loudly signalling the end of the lesson and Peyton sighed to herself as she started to pack up her bag.

'Hey I know it's hard being the new girl, so here's my number'.

She tore of a piece of paper and handed it Peyton who took it.

'If you ever want to do something, let me know'.

'Thanks, I may take you up on that, you remind me of best friend Brooke, she would really like you'.

Alice smiled a dazzling smile

'It's no problem I have a feeling we are going to be good friends'

Peyton smiled at her as she put her bag on her shoulder.

'Bye Alice'.

She said before walking past Alice and out of the class-room, Alice walked out of the class-room a few seconds after but her path was blocked and she looked at brother.

'So'

Alice looked at him as they walked

'So, I've already told you what I've seen, she's hurting more than I realised from what I saw but I saw me and her becoming great friends, look she has her secrets I don't need my visions to tell me that'.

'Are you sure you should be reaching out to her like that, it's not safe'.

'Yes it is safe, I know what I saw and nothing is changing that, she's here now and I can't change that as much as you want me to so just trust my vision'.

He looked at her before slipping into the sea of students on the way to there next class.

She sat by the window and just started as a drop of rain rolled down the window, her class had already begun but she wasn't interested in biology at that right moment, she was thinking about Brooke and when she thought about Brooke she thought about him.

So she focused on the rain but her attention was diverted when the classroom door opened and Edward walked in, the teacher looked at him as he closed the classroom door.

'Mr Cullen, you finally have a lab partner'.

He pointed over to the desk where Peyton was sitting and Edward nodded at the teacher before going to sit next to her as he got closer to her, she noticed that his expression was sombre, he must have just come from outside as his hair seemed to be slightly damp.

He sat next to her and she smiled before looking back out of the window. Her hair felt tight in the ponytail she had put in during her calculus class and she loosened it, shaking her hair out as she did she noticed him look at her and then shift in his seat as his expression changed as he if was about to be sick and this was the first time she noticed how dark his eyes where not even dark, they where pitch black as if he knew she was looking at him, he looked at her and she diverted her gaze back to the grey sky.

The lesson was on cellular anatomy a subject Peyton was already well aware of she glanced around the room most of the students seemed to be confused by what the teacher was saying everyone that was expect for Edward who was already looking at his textbook, she didn't know what it was but she found herself studying him as he started to write down what the teacher was saying, his skin was pale, paler than most of the students she had encountered that day but then as she thought Alice was pale just like him in fact his whole family had the same pale skin but there paleness only added to there beauty but Edward remind her of marble statue in Italy as she thought about the comparisons between them her mind wander and she didn't notice that Edward was now looking at her with curiosity.

Before she realised the class was over and the bell was ringing loudly as she gathered up her things she noticed Edward gracefully rise from his chair and then disappear out of the door.

She didn't think anything of it as she slung her bag over her shoulder and found herself lost in the sea of students that where heading towards the school exit, she walked into the office and was greeted by the receptionist, she handed in her slip and smiled at the receptionist as she left and headed to her car, she was planning to wait for Emily but she had Drama club until 6 so there was no point in Peyton waiting for so she walked towards her car, she opened the back door and threw her bag into the back-seat before getting into the drivers side, she was searching for a CD to play when there was a tap at her car window and there was Alice, she rolled down her window and smiled at her.

'What's up?'. She asked her as she put a CD into the CD player and Alice handed her a book.

'You left this behind after class I thought you might want it back'.

'My Sketch book, I didn't even realise I left it thanks Alice'.

'It's okay, I'll see you tomorrow'.

'Yeah, have a nice evening'.

'You too'.

Alice smiled at her before walking round the Silver Volvo and Peyton found herself looking right at Edward who still looked like he was going to be sick, she smiled at him slightly before she turned her key in the ignition and backed out of her parking space. Not looking back as she joined the traffic of leaving students.