Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters. If I owned Edward, however, well let's just say there would be a whole bunch of "Nessies" running around.

.2.

34-12-28. Bella entered the combination and jiggled the lock.

Open, damn it! She roared inside her head. She banged on the locker three times before spinning the dial again. She exhaled slowly and put in the combination. She gently lifted the lock, and…

Fuck! She huffed. She kicked the locker below hers and stomped angrily toward her next class. She'd become familiar with the senior wing of the school yesterday and entered room 139. She was surprisingly early.

She raced to the back, her favorite place to sit. She sat, loving the way the cool chair felt against the backs of her legs. Bella looked down to see that her skirt was so far up; a small gust of wind would have her disciplined for "indecent exposure". Bella hadn't gotten around to buying any new skirts and Bella didn't have the desire nor money to do so. The skirt was comfortable in this unbelievably hot weather, and if Victoria thought it was too short, she could kiss Bella's ass.

She sat tugging helplessly at the skirt when she felt a presence near.

"You keep pulling at that thing, it'll fall off." A short girl with spiky black hair smiled at down at her, mentioning toward her skirt.

"Yeah, well…"Bella trailed off, not really knowing what to say to the pretty stranger.

"Alice Cullen. You?" The girl sat down next to her, pulled a pink binder out of her Coach bag and turned to a fresh page.

"Bella." Feeling a bit disoriented, turned her body toward the front, subtly ending the conversation between the two of them.

"You know, I can really understand where people are coming from when they say you're a frigid bitch." Alice said nonchalantly as she pressed her fluffy pen to her book.

Bella's head snapped up, her stomach bubbling with anger and another emotion she hadn't wanted to recognize – hurt. That's what they were calling her? A frigid bitch? She'd only been here since yesterday and everybody already knew her. Worse, they knew her, and were already judging her. Bella felt pricks at the backs of her eyes and clamped down on her jaw. As if crying would solve anything.

"Really?" Bella said carefully. Her voice was controlled and hard. "Well, if I'm such a bitch, why are you talking to me?"

"It's a mask, Bella. I should know. I did the same exact thing on my first day here." Alice put down her pen and stared at her intently.

Bella felt a wave of unwanted emotions as she held Alice's gaze. The only one she chose to acknowledge was surprise, and even that Bella kept from showing.

"Okay." Bella said briskly before turning back to the front. Kids were pouring in and giving her curious glances. Bella smiled to herself, not really knowing why, but it felt better knowing what they thought of her.

"Okay. It won't be easy today, though." Alice said. She smiled a little before picking up her pen and resuming her earlier task.

Bella sighed. What the hell did that mean? It wouldn't be easy today? She glanced at Alice, but she was already hard at work. Whatever. She didn't have the time to decode the stranger's cryptic messages. She had more pressing matters to deal with. Like lunch.

---

Lunch, without a doubt, was Bella's favorite time of the day. Her mouth watered at the mere thought of what they'd be serving today.

After paying for her lunch, Bella walked over to the "popular table" and prepared herself for an onslaught of dirty looks and inappropriate table discussions.

Bella stopped short when she saw her destination.

The table was completely empty, with a piece of paper sitting on the edge. Her curiosity getting the best of her, Bella snatched it and read.

Sorry Bella.

That was all it said. Sorry Bella. Not an explanation or anything. Just those two words, and Bella felt like dying.

No, she felt like running. Her heart started pumping faster, as if she was back on the school track in Arizona, soles thumping on the asphalt, the wind dancing through her hair. Bella crushed the note with her fist, and dropped it back onto the table. She walked away to find a place to sit, but the varying pitying and mocking stares she was receiving were too much to handle, and Bella made her way out to the school's gardens.

She found a quiet spot away from wandering eyes, guessing that the gardens were off-limits to the students. She felt stinging at the backs of her eyes, and sighed. How had she gotten herself into this predicament on her second day at school? She'd promised herself she wouldn't get close to anyone. Just study, pass her classes, and graduate. All thoughts of having a special senior year, complete with crazy antics and parties, went out the window the second she landed in New York. She knew it was foolish to think she'd make friends, friends that would allow her to believe she'd be able to have a memorable senior year. How wrong she was.

Bella let her mind wander, and soon she was no longer on the private property of Pennington Academy, but at a happier, more welcoming place. Visions of her walking to her locker hand in hand with Eric, her old boyfriend, flitted through her mind, and her heart wrenched again.

"Bella." The soft voice of a girl reached Bella's ears, and her eyes shot open. She hadn't realized she was so deep in her thoughts that she was unaware of her surroundings. She looked up into the concerned face of Alice Cullen, and a pang of sadness hit her. Why? Had she been expecting someone else? Bella didn't want to admit it to herself, but she had. She told herself that she hated the group with a passion, but she knew if one of them had come to apologize, she'd go back to them, like a lost puppy.

"Bella?" The now tentative voice pulled Bella out of her thoughts yet again. She should really learn how to be more attentive. She couldn't be in her thoughts all the time, no matter how easy it would make her life.

Bella flew up from her sitting position, and smoothed the nonexistent wrinkles from her uniform.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm not supposed to be here. I was just leaving. Please don't tell anyone." Bella quickly apologized, for more than just trespassing. She felt disgusted at her cold behavior she'd showed Alice that morning, and felt an apology was in order.

"I'm not gonna report you," she said, a smile tugging on her lips. "I was looking for you, actually. I wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping with me. I need some new outfits and my mom just put money in my credit card. I didn't know who to ask, and I certainly wasn't gonna ask my brother." She smirked at this, but continued. "So, how about it?"

Speechless was an understatement. Bella was baffled. How had she acted so maliciously towards Alice, only to have her offer a free shopping spree?

"Um, sure. Why not?" Bella said, shrugging. She appeared nonchalant on the surface, but underneath she was reeling. Half her mind was screaming with happiness and delight at the prospect of a new friend, but the other half was skeptical and wary of Alice's actions. She stared straight in Alice's face and eyes, looking for a glint in her eye or a twitch, anything to prove that she was insincere. However, her face was open and trusting. This girl was dead serious.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Bella said with a little more conviction, now that she knew Alice's intentions were good ones. In turn, the pixie smiled brightly, and Bella felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, her senior year would turn out the way it was supposed to.

---

Things weren't getting any better at home. Victoria was still avoiding Bella like the plague, and if she didn't know any better, she'd think her father was giving her the cold shoulder.

This was Bella's home, yet it felt as impersonal as a public bathroom. Sure, there were pictures of Victoria and her father adorning the walls, but that was all. There were no trophies or plaques, no report cards, no calendars, no A+ essays on the refrigerator. There was a plasma television in the living room, her father's room, and her sister's room. She, however, had to find scraps of money so she could buy her own.

Dinner was terrible. They'd sit around the table, and eat as if they were complete strangers. Bella, of course, was stuck with making dinner, so after she prepared that, she sat in the kitchen, waiting for the rest of her family to come home. They'd sit down at the table and eat in complete silence. The only noise was the sound of metal scraping against plates, which sickened Bella.

Bella would take their plates into the kitchen, and the two of them would vanish from the table. From there, Bella would spend the rest of her night in her room either doing homework or watching television.

She was alone, and she hated it.

She'd been here for a month, and was already living in a rut. Wake up, go to school, have lunch with Alice and her friends, go home, do homework, prepare dinner, suffer through said dinner with awkward silences and glances, do more homework, watch TV, go to sleep. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Bella was sick of it. She was so desperate for a change, that she even considered going to one of those teenage "the parents are away" parties, filled with alcohol, vulgar dancing, and sex. She'd been to a few in Arizona, and didn't particularly like them, so the fact that she was willing to go to one was really saying something.

Bella walked inside the school that morning, and was immediately accosted by a hyper Alice. It was routine for Alice to burst upon Bella without warning, but she'd yet to get used to it.

"Guess what?" She said, slipping her arm around Bella's. They didn't have first period together, but she never failed to walk with Bella to hers. Bella, at first, protested to this. She didn't want Alice getting in trouble for being late, but she'd insisted it wasn't a problem.

"What? You overdosed on coffee again? Newsflash, Alice, but that isn't exactly big news. You do it every morning."

"Oh, hush. And I so did not overdose on coffee," She claimed, but the empty extra large cup with the Starbucks label in her hand was a dead giveaway.

"Sure, you didn't," Bella rolled her eyes. "You just carry around ginormous empty cups of coffee for the fun of it."

"Hmm? Oh, this?" Alice asked, lifting up the cup. She chucked it over her shoulder, and it hit the ground with a soft thud. "Anyway, back to my big news."

Bella gaped at Alice's behavior, but didn't interrupt. It wasn't her problem if she wanted to litter. She nodded at Alice to continue.

"Even though you didn't guess, I'll tell you anyway. So you know Mike, right?" Bella bit back an exasperated groan. Of course she knew Mike. He was one of Alice's friends that followed them to Toni's, the Italian restaurant they usually went to for lunch. He followed them, or more specifically, followed Bella around like a stray puppy. He was always complimenting her and holding doors open for her. The crush he had on her was obvious, but he didn't have to do it in such a childish way. He was cute, so Bella didn't have such a problem with it. If only he wasn't so damn annoying, Bella would seriously consider dating him.

"Ugh, do I want to know?"

Alice only smiled at her friend's irritation. She knew of Mike's infatuation with Bella, and thought it was sweet. "Ha, ha. But yes, you do wanna know. He's having a party this weekend and –"

Bella interrupted Alice with a hand. There was no way she'd be going to one of those ridiculous parties. Sure, she'd been more than willing before, but she'd dubbed that as a momentary lapse in sanity. "No."

Alice brought down Bella's hand and put on a pouting face. "Why? You wouldn't want me to go alone, would you?" She whined.

Bella continued walking. There were more students pouring in, letting Bella know school would be starting soon. She looked at her watch. 7:57. Alice had three minutes to plead her case.

"Bella!" Alice exclaimed as she caught up to her friend. "Please, please, please come with me! It's gonna be so much fun, I promise you. Mike personally told me to invite you, because usually these things are done by word of mouth, but nuh uh, no way, he told me to specifically tell you to come, and you know how much it'll mean to him if you show up! You don't even have to stay! Just show up, say hello to Mike, and he'll die from happine-"

Bella couldn't take it anymore. She'd rather be groped by drunken bastards at that party than listen to her friend babble. "I'll come! Just shut the hell up, please. You're killing me here."

Alice stared, uncomprehending, until her entire face lit up, and she threw her tiny arms around Bella. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret it, I swear it!" She exclaimed, turning down the corridor to get to her own class.

Bella shook her head, but sighed happily. She didn't really want to go, but Alice promised she'd have fun, and in their month of friendship, she knew never to bet against Alice.

Slipping into her seat, she played with her pen, waiting for the rest of her classmates to arrive. Soon enough, the bell rang, and the class was bustling with excited students. She caught tidbits of their chatter, and sure enough, it was about Mike's party this Saturday.

The teacher calmed them down, and the class soon fell into a silence, with only sounds of pens scraping against paper filling the room.

"Mr. Stokes transferred me here." A melodic voice broke the silence, and Bella looked towards the offender. Her eyes widened as she bit back a startled gasp. Edward.

He was standing at the front of the classroom, looking gorgeous as ever in his pressed school uniform, speaking to their Global Studies teacher, Mr. Newman.

They finished speaking in hushed tones, and Edward turned towards the class. Bella bit her cheek and crossed her legs. His overwhelming beauty was intimidating, but she wanted to show she wasn't the least bit affected by it. Which was a complete lie. In the month she'd been at Pennington Academy, she was ashamed to admit that her mind had been plagued by thoughts of Edward. She had dreams about him, saw him in magazines and TV; it seemed that his very image was burned into her retinas. And in that same month, she realized she had a small crush on him.

It was completely foolish, she knew. She was ashamed even to admit it to herself, but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't true. Although he'd been nothing but cruel and distant, she knew he wasn't like that. He was just…guarded, she deemed. She knew his walls were a way to keep people out; to stop anyone from knowing him. She didn't know why, but that was what she intended to find out.

He walked towards her, well, towards the only empty desk in the room, which of course happened to be next to her. He hadn't even spared her a glance, for which Bella was grateful. She didn't know if she'd be able to keep up the cool façade if he directed his chilly green eyes at her.

He sat down, and Bella immediately smelled a delightful scent. It was cologne, she knew, but what was it? She'd never smelled anything so delectable in her 17 years. She inconspicuously leaned closer to him, and took a silent whiff. Dear God, her knees were weak at the mere smell of him.

She didn't need his distraction. Nope, no way. He'd be the death of her. She decided to tune the world out; Mr. Newman wasn't saying anything she hadn't heard before, and with Edward in such close proximity to her, she was sure she'd melt. She pulled her iPod's earbuds from her pocket and pushed them in her ears, and placed her head in her arms. Maybe if she pretended he wasn't there, she'd be able to get through the next 52 minutes.

Bella woke up when she felt a light tapping on her arm. Startled, she woke up, and started apologizing, thinking she was caught by the teacher, but it was only Edward. Wait, Edward? He was actually acknowledging her?

"The teacher assigned us questions from the book and we're supposed to work with a partner," He clarified. She tugged the buds from her ears and looked around, and sure enough, the class was scurrying around to pair up with their friends. So why had he chosen her?

Probably because she was the last resort, Bella deduced. The only reason Edward would voluntarily talk to her was because he liked her, and Bella was sure he didn't.

They'd be sharing a desk, so he grabbed the nearest chair and placed it to the left of Bella. He stared at her closed book, then up at Bella's faced, and spoke.

"Shall we begin?" He inquired. Bella, her throat feeling inexplicably dry at the moment, simply nodded, and opened the book, flipping through the pages when she realized she didn't know what page they were on.

"489," he said, staring at the book. Bella scowled, but turned to the page. They worked in silence, but Bella took note of when Edward's hand stopped moving across the page. What the hell? It'd only been 10 minutes! They were supposed to answer 16 short answer questions, and Bella was still having trouble with the fourth one. But she rolled her eyes when the answer dawned on her. He was perfect.

"How are you, Bella?" His musical voice questioned. Bella looked up at him; he was sitting with him arms crossed, but that wasn't what surprised her. His eyes. They were bright and…dazzling. She was sure his eyes were not that light the last time she'd seen him. Maybe those were contacts. These light eyes made him look friendly, so he'd gotten dark contacts to add to his dark demeanor.

Bella looked back down and continued to write, pointedly ignoring him. She thought she heard a chuckle, but it was too soft to tell.

"Still not speaking to me?" He asked again, and Bella's ears pained at the beautiful sound. She didn't understand his question. Were they ever even speaking in the first place?

She placed her pen on her book, deciding she was finished. She'd reached number 13; that was good enough. "No, not really. We were never even speaking to begin with."

Edward's face remained blank, and Bella desperately wished she could see inside his mind. "I see. Why's that?"

Because you acted like a fucking jerk the first time you saw me, she wanted to say, but she bit her tongue. Instead, she whispered furiously, "Because you and your stupid friends ditched me last month!"

Bella was surprised at how quickly his eyes darkened. His jaw clenched, and defiance was rolling off him in waves. "It was Rosalie. She suggested we move since to a new table since our old one was too small. We all knew that was bull, but went along with it anyway."

Again, Bella was surprised at his behavior. She half expected him to just glare at her before shifting his chair away, but he'd actually responded. Wow.

"So? Rosalie's not the Queen of England; you guys don't have to do whatever she wants. I doubt she really made all of you move; she's just one person."

Edward closed his eyes, sighed, and when his eyes opened, they were a darker color, but instead of being full of anger and irritation, they were weary.

"Look. Rosalie is dating Emmett, and Leah's dating Jacob. So if they want to do something, the guys are going to go along with it, because they don't want to upset their girlfriends. Since Rosalie is basically the leader of the girls, what she says, goes. Lauren, the other girl, would follow her friends, along with their boyfriends, leaving me and Jasper by ourselves. Not really much of a crowd, don't you think?"

Bella marveled at the fact that Rosalie went through so much trouble just to get away from her. But that wasn't what upset her. What really hurt her was the fact that everyone knew the motive behind Rosalie's suggestion to move, and nobody had done a damn thing about it. The girls, she expected, but the guys? She thought they genuinely liked her. She shook her head internally at how ridiculous she was being. Why in the world would they side with her, a stranger, over their friends? They didn't really care about her. Not at all.

"But why? I hadn't done anything to Rosalie. She's acting as if I killed her dog. She could've just gone on ignoring me, but she went above and beyond. Why?"

Edward's eyebrows raised slightly, his expression one of surprise. "Bella, you're one of the prettiest girls in our school. Obviously she sees you as a threat. Rosalie's a bit dramatic, so the thought of anyone's beauty rivaling hers is blasphemy in her eyes." He rolled his eyes at the end of his comment, but Bella's heart was beating an unhealthy rate.

Her? Pretty? Bella knew that she wasn't ugly, but the idea of her being one of the prettiest girls in their grade, let alone the school, was absurd. But that wasn't the real reason she felt as if her knees were going to give out. It was because Edward thought so. He thought she was attractive, and her heart soared.

Clearing her throat, she answered. "You're crazy." She wanted to say more, but her throat felt dry, and it would end up sounding incredibly hoarse.

He looked at her for a moment longer, and Bella felt her face flaming. She turned back towards her book and attempted to answer the remaining questions, when she felt cool fingertips on her hand which was currently in her lap.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said. Bella looked up into his face, a mistake on her part, and saw nothing but remorse. His eyes were still their intense, dark color, but they weren't hostile anymore. And they weren't glaring at her either, she realized. Just simply looking.

Bella swallowed. She opened her mouth to reply, but the teacher made an announcement, cutting her off.

"The bell will ring shortly, so hurry up and turn in your papers. I will be here after school to accept late papers if you don't finish before the bell rings."

The moment was gone. Bella so desperately wanted to say something, anything to him, but his fingers were no longer on her hand, and his face was a mask again.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. But really, all she wanted was to be friends with Edward.

And if she was lucky, maybe they'd be more.

Thanks for the response last chapter…3 reviews…God, my writing can't be THAT bad, can it? Well I'm only 14, I guess I can suck for now. :-) but seriously? thanks so much; even the smallest feedback made my day. Just to let you know, next chapter will be an Edward chapter, so get ready for that. I don't know how to get inside a guy's head, so if it seems too girly, I'm terribly sorry. Lol, I'll try my best, though. Later, taters! Ooh wait; if I didn't already say this, I'm saying it now. EVERYONE IS HUMAN. And some are way OOC, like Bella. Confident and fierce Bella? Psshh, please. And, and, and…if you're upset that Rosalie is such a bitch or that I'm exaggerating her meanness, HAVE PATIENCE. She will not be such a biotch throughout the whole story; its just for the beginning. I would say more but I don't wanna give away too much. So byee!