Disclaimer. All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc., are the property of their respective owners. The original characters, ideas and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I only do this for fun.

A/N: This is an older story that I had wrote last year and I just now am starting to post it. Since it is finished for the most part, it won't interfere with my posting and updating any of my other stories. –B

Chapter 2
(Natalie's POV)

Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning, and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You could never see the sky here; it was like a cage.

Breakfast with Charlie and Bella was a quiet event. He wished us good luck at school and we thanked him, knowing his hope was wasted. Good luck tended to avoid us. Charlie left first, off to the police station that was his wife and family. After he left, we sat at the old square oak table in two of the three unmatching chairs and while Bella finished her cereal, I examined the small kitchen, with its dark paneled walls, bright yellow cabinets, and white linoleum floor.

Nothing was changed. My mother had painted the cabinets eighteen years ago in an attempt to bring some sunshine into the house. Over the small fireplace in the adjoining handkerchief-sized family room was a row of pictures. First a wedding picture of Charlie and my mom in Las Vegas, then one of the four of us in the hospital after Bella and I were born, taken by a helpful nurse, followed by the procession of our school pictures up to last year's. Those were embarrassing to look at – I would have to see what I could do to get Charlie to put them somewhere else, at least while I was living here.

It was impossible, being in this house, not to realize that Charlie had never gotten over my mom. It made me uncomfortable.

I didn't want to be too early to school, but I couldn't stay in the house anymore. I donned my jean jacket and handed Bella her parka and headed out into the rain.

It was just drizzling still, not enough to soak me through immediately as Bella reached for the house key that was always hidden under the eaves by the door, and locked up. The sloshing of my new waterproof boots was unnerving. I missed the normal crunch of gravel as I walked. I couldn't pause and admire our new truck again as I wanted; I was in a hurry to get out of the misty wet that swirled around my head and clung to my hair under my hood that was connected to my zipper-up hoddie that I wore under my jean jacket.

Inside the truck, it was nice and dry. Either Billy or Charlie had obviously cleaned it up, but the tan upholstered seats still smelled faintly of tobacco, gasoline, and peppermint. Bella started the car and the engine started quickly, to my relief, but loudly roaring to life and then idling at top volume. Well, a truck this old was bound to have a flaw. The antique radio worked, a plus that I hadn't expected.

Finding the school wasn't difficult, though we'd never been there before. The school was, like most other things, just off the highway. It was not obvious that it was a school; only the sign, which declared it to be the Forks High School, made us stop. It looked like a collection of matching houses, built with maroon-colored bricks. There were so many trees and shrubs I couldn't see its size at first. Where was the feel of the institution? I wondered nostalgically. Where were the chain-link fences, the metal detectors?

We parked in front of the first building, which had a small sign over the door reading front office. No one else was parked there, so I was sure it was off limits, but we decided that we would get directions inside instead of circling around in the rain like idiots. I stepped unwillingly out of the toasty truck cab and waited for Bella to walk around to my side. We then walked down a little stone path lined with dark hedges. I took a deep breath before opening the door and holding it open for Bella before I entered in behind her.

Inside, it was brightly lit and warmer than I'd hoped. The office was small; a little waiting area with padded folding chairs, orange-flecked commercial carpet, notices and awards cluttering the walls, a big clock ticking loudly. Plants grew everywhere in the large plastic pots, as if there wasn't enough greenery outside. The room was cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored flyers taped to its front. There were three desks behind the counter, one of which was manned by a large, red-haired woman wearing glasses. She was wearing a yellow t-shirt, which had a cougar on the front along with the school's name.

The red-haired woman looked up.

"Can I help you girls?"

"I'm Natalie Swan and this is my sister, Isabella," I informed her, and saw the immediate awareness light her eyes. We were expected, a topic of gossip no doubt. Daughters of the Chief's flighty ex-wife, come home at last.

"Of course," she said. She dug through a precariously stacked pile of documents on her desk till she found the ones she was looking for. "I have your schedules right here, and a map of the school. The highlighted routes are emergency exits and here is a slip that I need you to have all of your teachers sign before returning it at the end of the day." She brought several sheets to the counter show in a row.

She went through our classes for us, highlighting in a different color than the emergency exits all the best routes to each of those classes for us before handing us the rest of our paperwork. She smiled at us and hoped, like Charlie, that we would like it here in Forks. We both smiled back as convincingly as we could.

When we went back out to our truck, other students were starting to arrive. We drove around the school, following the line of traffic. I was glad to see that most of the cars were older, like ours, nothing too flashy. At home, we'd lived in one of the few lower-income neighborhoods that were included in the Paradise Valley District. It was a common thing to see a new Mercedes or Porsche in the student lot. The nicest car here was a shiny Volvo, and it still stood out. Still, Bella cut the engine as soon as we were in a spot, so that the thunderous volume wouldn't draw attention to us. Bella was a lot like me in that aspect, never wanting to be in the spot light, happy to see others get the attention instead.

I held the map in between the two of us, trying to memorize it now; hopefully I wouldn't have to walk around with it stuck in front of my nose all day. I stuffed everything in my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder, and sucked in a huge breath. I can do this, I lied to myself feebly. No one was going to bite me. I finally exhaled and stepped out of the truck.

I pulled my hood down off my head and walked to the sidewalk, crowded with teenagers. I figured that I would let them get their look now so that I wouldn't have to put up with the staring all day as they tried to get a look at the new girls. Bella, however, didn't think the same way, because she kept her face pulled back into her hood as she walked. My light jean jacket didn't stand out, nor did Bella's black parka, I noticed with relief. The last thing we needed was a big sign on our backs that said 'look at me'!.

We stopped in the middle of the court yard and pulled out our schedules to compare our classes and noticed that we had a lot of the same classes, except for some of the AP classes that I was taking rather than the honors courses that Bella was signed up for.

We were both relieved that we had the same first class and began to make our way around the canteen. Once we were there, building three was easy to spot. A large black "3" was painted on a white square on the east corner. I could hear Bella's breathing gradually creeping toward hyperventilation as we approached the door. I casually bumped her shoulder to get her attention and smiled reassuringly at her. She returned the smile and seemed to calm down as she tried holding her breath as we followed two unisex raincoats through the door.

The classroom was small. The people in front of us stopped just inside the door to hang up their coats on a long row of hooks. We copied them and straightened out our clothes before making our way into the class.

We took our slips up to the teacher, a tall, balding man whose desk had a nameplate identifying him as Mr. Mason. He gawked at us when he saw our names – not an encouraging response – and of course, both of our cheeks began to flush at the attention. But at least he sent us to some empty seats at the back without introducing us to the class. It was harder for our new classmates to stare at us in the back, but somehow, they managed. I busied myself with getting my desk organized while Bella kept her eyes down on the reading list the teacher had given us. I had looked over it on my way to my desk and noticed that it was fairly basic: Bronte, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner. Bella and I both already read everything. That was comforting… and boring. I wondered if my mom would send us our folders of old essays, or if she would think that was cheating. I assumed that it would be the latter and I went through different arguments with her in my head while the teacher droned on.

When the bell rang, a nasal buzzing sound, a gangly boy with skin problems and hair black as an old slick leaned across the aisle to talk to me.

"You're Natalie or Isabella, right?" He looked like the overly helpful, chess club type.

"I'm Natalie and this is my sister, Bella." I corrected. Everyone within a three-seat radius turned to look at us.

"Oh, ok. Well, where's your next class?" he asked.

I had to check in my bag. "Um, I have AP history next with Mr. Garner in building five. Bella?"

"Government with Jefferson, in building six."

There was nowhere to look without meeting curious eyes.

"I'm headed toward building four, I could show you ladies the way…" Definitely over-helpful. "I'm Eric," he added.

I smiled tentatively.

"Thanks," Bella said.

We got our jackets and headed out into the rain, which had picked up. I could have sworn several people behind us were walking close enough to eavesdrop. I hoped I wasn't getting paranoid.

"So, this is a lot different than Phoenix, huh?" He asked us.

"Very," I nodded.

"It doesn't rain much there, does it?"

"Three of four times a year." Bella answered.

"Wow, what that much be like?" he wondered.

"Sunny," I told him.

"You girls don't look very tan."

"My mother is part albino." Bella answered.

"Bella!" I smacked her arm. "No, she's not. We're just naturally pale." I clarified.

He studied Bella's face apprehensively, and she sighed. It looked like clouds and a sense of humor didn't mix.

We walked back around the cafeteria, to the south building by the gym. Eric and Bella walked me right to my door, though it was clearly marked.

"Well, good luck," he said as I touched the handle. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together." He sounded hopeful.

I smiled at him vaguely and waved at Bella before I went inside.

I went over to Mr. Garner and handed him my slip. He looked up at me and smiled before signing the slip and handing it back to me. He handed me a text book and got the class's attention. Dread filled me as I knew what was going to happen next.

"Attention class," He said quieting the class down. "We have a new student joining us today. This is Natalie Swan," he gestured at me, "and she moved here all the way from Phoenix, Arizona." He turned his attention to me. "Natalie, why don't you tell us something about yourself?"

I hesitantly stepped forward, playing with a ring on my right hand as I held my books and spoke.

"Hi, I'm Natalie Swan. Like Mr. Garner said, I moved here from Phoenix, Arizona to live with my Dad. I have a twin sister that is also starting here today named Bella. Um, that's really it, I guess." I shrugged.

"Alright, Natalie, why don't you take that open seat in the back next to Jasper Hale. Jasper, can you raise your hand please?" Mr. Garner instructed.

I looked out over the classroom and saw a guy raise his hand. I immediately walked across the room to the empty desk next to him on his right. I placed my books on the desk top and put my bag down on the floor behind me and pulled out my black pen.

Mr. Garner started his lesson and I copied the notes from the board. About half way through the lesson, I felt like someone was staring at me. I looked around, only to end up at the guy that was seated next to me and found that he was indeed watching me with such an intense look in his eyes that I couldn't look away even if I wanted to.

He was the most handsome guy I had ever seen in my life. He had curly honey-blonde hair that fell in to his intense golden eyes. He was pale and had a well-defined body with a mouth that looked oh so tempting. As we looked in to each other's eyes, I felt like there was no one else around us except for the two of us. It was like something was pulling us together, almost like magnets. I had no recollection of time, no notice of the lesson that was being taught at the front of the class.

Suddenly, the bell rang, causing me to nearly jump out of my seat. I gathered my books and left the class room and made my way to my next two classes, Spanish and Trig. The guy, Jasper, was in my Trig class and ironically, we were seated next to each other again. Bella was in my Spanish class along with a girl that we had met, who walked with us to the canteen for lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than Bella and I's five feet four inches, but her wild curly dark hair made up a lot of the difference between our heights. I couldn't remember her name, so I smiled and nodded as she prattled about teachers and classes to Bella and I. I didn't try to keep up and it didn't appear that Bella was trying to either.

We sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced us to. I forgot all their names as soon as she spoke them. They seemed impressed by her bravery in speaking to us. The boy from English, Eric, waved at me from across the room.

It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers that I first saw them.

They were sitting in the corner of the canteen, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were five of them. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't gawking at me, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting excessively interested pair of eyes. But it was none of these things that caught and held my attention.

Jasper was sitting with them along with two other boys and girls. Of the three boys, one was big – muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, curly hair. The other was lanky, less bulky with untidy bronze-colored hair. And then there was Jasper, who was bulkier than the bronze haired boy but not as bulky as the dark, curly haired one. They all looked like they could be in college, or even teachers here rather than students.

The girls were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, the kind that made very girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back. The short girl was pixie-like, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black color and cropped short and pointed in every direction.

And yet, they were all exactly alike. Every one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the students living in this sunless town; paler than me and my sister. They all had varying shades of gold eyes despite the range of hair tones. All their noses, all their features were straight, perfect, angular. They were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expect to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful – maybe the perfect blond girl, or the honey-haired boy.

They were all looking away – away from each other, away from the other students, away from anything in particular as far as I could tell. As I watched, the small girl rose with her tray – unopened soda, unbitten apple – and walked away with a quick, graceful lope that belonged on a runway. I watched, amazed at her lithe dancer's step, till she dumped her tray and glided through the back door, faster than I would have thought possible. My eyes darted back to the others, who sat unchanging.

"Who are they?" Bella asked the girl from our Spanish class when she saw what I was staring at.

As she looked up to see who she meant – though already knowing probably from her tone – suddenly one of the boys looked at her, the thinner one, the boyish one, the youngest perhaps. He looked at the girl, I think her name was Jessica, for just a fraction of a second, and his dark eyes flickered to Bella. He looked away quickly, more quickly than Bella could, though in a flush of embarrassment she dropped her eyes at once. In that brief flash of a glance, his face held nothing of interest – it was as if Jessica had called his name, and he'd looked up in involuntary response, already having decided not to answer.

Jessica giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table like we did.

"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She said this under her breath.

I glanced sideways at Jasper, who was looking at his tray, picking a bagel to pieces with his long, pale fingers. His mouth was moving very quickly. His perfect lips barely opening. Two of them still looked away, while Edward seemed to be listening to Jasper.

Strange, unpopular names, I thought. The kinds of names grandparents had. But maybe that was in vogue here – small town names? Jessica was a perfectly common name. There were two girls named Jessica in my History class back home.

"They are… very nice-looking." Bella struggled with the conspicuous understatement.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all together though, or they were – Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice just split up last week. And they live together." Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town, I thought critically. But if I was being honest, I had to admit that even in Phoenix, it would cause gossip.

"Which ones are the Cullens?" Bella asked. "They don't look related…"

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, twins – the blondes – and they're foster children."

"They look a little old for foster children." Bella mentioned.

"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they're both in separate grades. They were both supposed to be juniors, but Rosalie took a bunch of summer classes for extra credits so that she can graduate with Emmett. They've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that."

"That's really kind of nice – for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything." I said with a small smile.

"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly, and I got the impression that she didn't like the doctor and his wife for some reason. With the glances she was throwing at their adopted children, I would presume the reason was jealousy. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," she added, as if that lessened their kindness.

Throughout all this conversation, my eyes flickered again and again to the table where the strange family sat. I noticed that Bella would do the same thing, but they continued to look at the walls and not eat.

"Have they always lived in Forks?" I asked. Surely I would have noticed them on one of my summers here.

"No," she said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."

I felt a surge of pity, and relief. Pity because, as beautiful as they were, they were outsiders, clearly not accepted. Relief that Bella and I weren't the only newcomers here, and certainly not the most interesting by any standard. As I examined them, the youngest, one of the Cullens, looked up and met my gaze, this time with evident curiosity and longing in his expression. I couldn't look away even if I wanted to.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I heard Bella ask.

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." She sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes.

"Either does Jasper," I heard another girl with a nasal voice say. Jasper broke our staring contest to look at one of my neighbors – I'm guessing whoever it was that spoke, which I found very odd since we were too far away for him to hear her.

I turned to look at the girl that spoke with the nasal voice and saw that she was a blonde girl with long straight hair. I think I remember Jessica introducing her to us as Lauren.

"I thought he just broke up with that Alice girl?" I asked confused.

"Oh, he did, but since they broke up, almost every girl in school has asked him out only for him to turn them down. So I wouldn't waste your time on him either." She said snidely.

Another girl with glasses, who I was almost positive was named Angela and was in my Trig class leaned in towards me a whispered, "They're just mad because both of them turned them down; and not just once either. Lauren's had a long time crush on him, even when he was dating Alice."

I bit my lip to hide my smile and then glanced up at him again. His face was turned away, but I thought his cheek appeared to be lifted, as if he were smiling too.

After a few more minutes, the four of them left the table together. On their way out, I noticed Jasper look of her shoulder at me and gave me a small smile, but had that same intense longing in his eyes that begged me to get up and follow after him. I almost had to hold on to my seat in order for me to stay put. They all were noticeably graceful too – even the big brawny one. It was unsettling to watch.

We sat at the table with Jessica and her friends longer than I would have if Bella and I had been sitting by ourselves. I was anxious not to be late for class on my first day. Bella, Angela and I left the canteen together with Jessica and the rest of the table trailing behind and made our way to our last two classes for the day, anxious to see if Jasper would be in either of those classes as well.

A/N: So, what does everyone think? The next chapter is going to be more focused on the Cullen's POV. Definitely Jasper…maybe Edward. I didn't need to put Bella's POV, because Natalie was with her for the major parts. It's mostly going to be in Natalie and Jasper with a little bit of Edward and Bella's POV. I think that it's important to see Bella's reaction to some of the things that happens with Natalie and Edward would be the best Cullen besides Jasper to use, because he can read minds so we can get a reading on the other Cullen's through him.

If you have any questions or comments, post them in my reviews and I will answer them in my next Author's Note!

Check out my other stories!

'Attempting to Covet'
'Dhampir' COMPLETED!
'Far Fetched Realities'
'Mirror Image'
'Other Worldly Beauty'
'Dhampir: Broken Moonlight' (SEQUEL) NEW!
'Perplexing Revelations'
'Unimaginable Outcomes' NEW!
'Pretexting'
'The Heart's Desire'
'Intricate Beauty' NEW!
'The Major'
'Twilight ReVAMPed'

If you enjoyed this story so far, check out some of my other stories on my FanFiction page! Also, I am still accepting Twilight stories that involve Jasper/any female leads or Bella/selected male leads
if anyone is looking for a Beta Reader. I will make exceptions on the characters depending on the plot.
I am also now accepting Phantom of the Opera FanFictions that include Erik! I will also
be accepting Titanic FanFictions featuring Jack, The Ghost Whisperer that feature Melinda and
Law and Order SVU that feature Elliot. PM me for details!
- Bella'Xo