Greetings, people of earth! This is the next installment of our story. I hope its acceptable. Yeah.

Disclaimer: We don't own anything you recognize.

Before last summer, my life was awesome. I was the captain of the soccer team and the most popular girl at Forks High School. My life was devoted entirely to shopping and soccer. I was happy and carefree.

I had the most perfect life, ever. My family was rich, so I could shop as much as I wanted. My parents didn't care too much about grades, so I was allowed to get any passing grade, which I would have done anyway to stay on the soccer team. Nothing could go wrong, right?

Wrong.

This year, a guy named Edward Cullen is in my biology class. And he likes me. A lot. Now normally, this would be great, except he's kind of creepy. And he won't take no for an answer.

Now I have an insane, madly-in-love, creepy stalker. Fun.

"Okay, red or blue?" one of my best friends, Taylor, asked, holding up two shirts.

"Well, red brings out your lips, but blue highlights your eyes… blue. Most definitely blue." I decided.

Taylor squealed. "I know right! The blue is so gorgeous!"

I smiled. "Totally. Okay, gold or silver?" I asked, holding the two sweaters up.

Taylor crinkled her nose as she looked them over. "Both."

"Tay, you know I can't wear two sweaters."

Taylor's face colored. "I know that, silly. I meant get both."

I shrugged and added the sweaters to the rapidly growing pile of stuff.

"You're gonna be the prettiest girl in school, Bell!" Tay squealed.

I laughed. "Come one, you flatter me."I glanced at my watch. "Hey, Tay, it's getting a little late. We should get home, or Dad's gonna limit my card. He might even give me a curfew!" Charlie wouldn't do that, not really. I just say so because shopping will go on forever if I don't. Which wouldn't really be too bad, but Taylor once got us locked inside a mall because she stayed too long.

"Not a curfew!" Taylor gasped. "C'mon, Bell, let's get you home. Go!"

"Tay, I'm the one that drives!" I laughed as Taylor pushed me to the cashier.

I smiled and handed the guy my credit card. His eyes widened at the name on the card.

"H-hello Ms. Swan," he stuttered. He then rang us up, stuffed that clothes in a bag, and wished us a good day.

Taylor giggled as we walked out of the store. "Who says good day?"

I smiled as we walked up to my Ferrari F430 Spider. "I know right?" I asked, unlocking the door. "That guy is like, archaic. Get in."

"The sunset is nice today." Taylor commented, staring out the window.

I glanced at it. "Yeah, it's not bad. Really… Colorful. Hey, this is your house."

Taylor shook her head a bit. "Yeah. I'm gonna go now." She smiled cheerfully. "I'll see you in a week, when school starts, 'kay Bell?"

"Yeah, sounds cool. See you later!"

I pulled up to the Swan family mansion, having dropped Taylor off at her house five minutes ago. I frowned. When had it gotten so dark? The sun was setting a few minutes ago.

Oh well. I didn't crash or get pulled over or anything.

I parked the car in the spacious driveway and stepped out, grabbing my bags. I struggled for a minute, trying to open the door with my overloaded hands and arms, but I got it eventually.

"I'm home!" I yelled.

"Great! You're just in time for dinner!" One of my dad's closest colleagues, Janelle, yelled back.

I groaned as I made my way to the kitchen, dropping the bags off at the foot of the staircase. Dinners with Charlie and Janelle were always awkward.

Tonight's dinner: spaghetti with meatballs. Oh joy.

I could hear the conversation as I walked to the kitchen.

"So, do you have any ideas as to new designs or characters for Gore of the Worlds, II?" Father asked. "After all, this dinner is… purely business."

"But of course, Mr. Swan. What else would it be?"

Dad was laughing quietly as I walked in. He twirled a few strands of spaghetti on his fork and ate. "Wow! Janelle, this is great."

Janelle laughed. "Are you saying my cooking is usually bad, Charlie?"

"Of course not," he purred. "It's always perfect, just like you."

"Charlie, you flatterer!" Janelle smiled. "I'm going to use the restroom. I'll be back!" She stood and walked out of the room.

"Hello, Bella." My father said, putting his fork down. "How was your day?"

"Great," I replied tersely, spearing a meatball.

"Oh. Well, um, that's good." He stuttered, picking up his fork, twirling it in his spaghetti and coming up with nothing. He blushed crimson and quickly stuffed a meatball in his mouth.

There was a minute of awkward silence as we both ate. In silence.

There was the sound of the toilet flushing, and Janelle walked back, heels clicking. She quickly reclaimed her place next to Father.

"Why, Janelle!" Father exclaimed. "Your shirt collar is sticking up." He smiled and began folding it down, brushing her neck every so often.

"And you, Charlie, have spaghetti sauce on your mouth. Here, let me help." When she showed no sign of reaching for a napkin, I stood up.

"I'm full. I'm gonna go to my room now," I stated, trying to avoid any and all eye contact with Charlie.

I grabbed the bags and made my way to my room. At least Dinners with Dad were over for the next few months.

The next few days were kind of a blur. Wake up, change, eat breakfast, hang out with friends, come home, eat dinner, and go to bed.

Nothing really noteworthy ever happened just before school started. I bought some more makeup, and tried to avoid my father and Janelle as best as I could. I think I camped out in the mall a few times. Just a few. Without Taylor.

Finally, the first day of school came. At five thirty I woke up, put on a black shirt, the silver sweater and a pair of white jeans, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and was out the door by six.

The drive to school was uneventful. No traffic, no car crashes, just a dead squirrel on the road. It wasn't even bloody or anything gross like that.

I got to school and parked my car in my space. Technically, it's not mine, but hey, popular girl. If I like it, I claim it, and it's mine.

I walked into school and tried to ignore all the guys staring at me. Not unusual.

First period of the day: biology. That wasn't too bad. I actually really like science. The problem is, none of my friends had biology. And yes, I checked. Don't judge me.

As I walked into the classroom, I made a beeline for the first empty desk I saw. I like attention, don't get me wrong, but I really don't need to sit next to leering guys or nerd girls. That's just so not my style.

I was getting my books out when suddenly, a sort of hush fell over the classroom. I looked up, and sitting next to me, was a guy.

He had the pastiest skin I've ever seen. It was almost blinding. His hair was all spiked up, so he was either trying to be cool, emo, or was just plain weird. Probably a combination of all three. He also had the biggest bags I've ever seen under his eyes.

"Hi there." I said. "Any particular reason you chose to sit here?"

He glanced up, golden eyes bleary. "Huh? Uh… It was… um…It was the first empty seat I saw."

I rolled my eyes. "You could have at least done the common courtesy of asking before you sat down."

"Sorry," he muttered, not looking up from his… whatever he was playing on. "So… uh… what's your name?"

"Bella. Bella Swan." I replied, cracking open my book.

His head jerked up almost faster than humanly possible. It was kind of weird. "Swan? As in, Charlie Swan?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Nothing. He just, uh, made one of my favorite video games."

I sighed. Another nerd. A pasty nerd without glasses, braces, or acne.

"Hello, class," the teacher said, strolling in. "I'm Dr. Banner, your biology teacher. I hope you like where you're sitting, because these are going to be your seats for the rest of the semester."

Oh no.