What if the Cullens weren't the first immortals that Bella met? What if she had an encounter with a more transitory immortal while she was in Phoenix? One that had a history with Caius…

Stephenie Meyer owns the original story of course. I am just playing with the characters.

Chapter 2 – First Day of School

I arrive in Forks and move back into Charlie's house. I used to spend summers here but managed to get out of that when I was fourteen. It seems to rain here all the time. It is undeniably beautiful but there is just one problem with this place. It is just too green. The trees are green, the moss on the trees is green, and the ferns on the ground are green. Compared to the sunny desert of Phoenix, I feel like I have just stepped onto an alien planet.

It is nice to see my dad. He and I were a lot alike. I need space, and he gives it to me. He also gives me an amazing truck on my first day back. It's old and rusty and is like having my own Sherman tank. I get a feeling of security from it.

Dad has already enrolled me in the local high school, and I will be starting school tomorrow. Great, the first day at a new school, and I'll be starting in the middle of the school year. I'll be the star of a freak show.

The next morning comes too quickly. I steel myself and drive to the high school. It is a set of small brick buildings set off of the highway. I would have missed it completely if I hadn't noticed the sign on the 101 proclaiming Forks High School.

I park in front of the building marked Front Office and exit the security of my truck. I walk into the Office where I meet a motherly woman, Mrs. Cope. She gives me my schedule and a map of the small campus. She calls in another student, Eric Yorke, to act as guide on my first day.

Eric is like an overly friendly puppy. I don't like attention, and everyone is staring at me. I feel like I am the heroine of some kind of movie: The Return of Bella Swan, the Police Chief's Daughter. Yeah, that's me.

I barely survive the morning as I am introduced to each new classroom full of students. It is an ordeal every time. Eric waits for me outside each class, and escorts me to the next. "It's my job to be your guide," he explains. "The student council decided to assign mentors to all incoming students for the first week. I'm President of Student Council, and it happens to be my turn to act as escort. Lucky me!" he chuckles.

Finally it's lunch time. Eric shows me the way to the lunch room and then takes me to a table. He introduces me to some girls sitting at the table. At least I won't be eating alone, or worse, eating with only Eric. There is a bubbly Jessica whom I vaguely remember from years ago. She was a brat then, always looking for attention. Now she wears slightly low cut tops, so it appears she's still after attention in a more grown-up way. There is also a quiet girl, Angela. She seems to sense my discomfort with the attention and doesn't ask me many questions.

I sit at their table in the lunchroom surrounded by babble of voices. Then I see a procession of four students come into the lunch room. Now this group could be starring in a movie, they look that perfect.

Jessica notices my stare and turns her head to see what I'm looking at. "I see you've noticed the Cullens," she begins. "They are Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's adoptive children. They just moved here from Alaska two years ago. The big one, Emmett, he's with Rose, the va-va-voom blonde. The blond guy's name is Jasper. He's with Alice, the short one with black hair. Alice is really weird, watch out for her. Not that you have to watch out, really – they keep to themselves. Too good for the likes of us, I guess."

Angela chimes in. "They're all really smart, and they stick together. I guess it must be hard, moving from another town."

I look at them and say, "Yes, it's hard to move to a new school."

Angela pats my hand and nods knowingly. "Everyone here is cool, you'll see."

Just then a fifth guy walks in to the cafeteria. He is also movie star perfect. He has unruly red-brown hair and odd green eyes. His eyes look like he's wearing color contacts. He moves with cat-like grace to the table with the two couples and sits down.

Jessica continues. "That's Edward Cullen. He's obviously good-looking and just as obviously knows it. He's the only one still unattached. The other kids are couples. That's just too weird since they live together. Does your father approve of this? I mean, aren't there laws…"

Angela breaks in. "They're not really related, they're adopted, Jess. For heaven's sake."

Jess continues. "Well, as Emmett and Jasper are taken, Edward is the only one left for me. Just kidding. I'm not interested; they are a little too strange."

Edward gives a small smile and glances over at us. It's almost as if he could hear us, which is impossible. They're on the other side of the room. When he sees me looking at him, he looks back down, and continues to move whatever he has on his plate around with a fork. The smallest girl, Alice, gets up in a smooth, graceful motion, dumps her tray at the nearest trash can, and leaves. The others begin to rise as the bell for the next class rings.

Angela looks at me. "So, what's your next class?"

"Biology," I answer.

"Great," answers Mike a little too quickly. "I have that too, so we'll be in the same class! If you need help catching up, I'll be glad to go over the textbook with you after school."

I nod, thinking to myself that's so not going to happen.

"OK, then," says Mike excitedly. "Bye everyone," he says to the group at the table. He turns to me and says "I'll walk you over to the building. It's across the campus."

Eric quickly interjects, "Escorting Bella is my job, remember?"

I end up walking between them, all the while wishing I could be anywhere else.

I get a sense of foreboding as we approach the building. Odd, it's just Biology Lab. What could go wrong?

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