A/N: You guys are the best! Thank you all so much for the kind reviews. Thanks for letting me know what you thought about the whole Cullens coming into the story business.

I want to take a moment and thank my wonderful beta, Silvereyed Queen.

I'm posting a few images on my blog, for you guys to check out.

Chapter 6:

I stared at it and it stared back. It didn't take it's eyes off of me. I blinked and continued staring at it. It did not move.

Should I be scared? Most people consider crows to be a bad omen. They think of crows as a symbol of death.

A few months back, I had read somewhere that in many cultures, it was considered that crows were the keepers of knowledge, because nothing escaped their keen sight.

So as this crow stared at me, I wondered, how much did it know? Did it know me? Did it know that I kept a secret within me that I could not share with anyone, because no one would ever understand? Did it know that I felt as if someone had drained the color out of my life?

How much did it see when it stared at me from outside my window? Did it see how sad I was? How my soul had been shattered into a million little pieces?

A single tear slid down my eye and slowly made its way across my cheek, hitting the pillow I was hugging tightly.

I remembered the article clearly. It described how crows were known to build false nests way up high in treetops, only to confuse their predators and use the height of their nests to watch everything that was going on around them. They are adaptable to any type of environment, and can survive in any situation. Their caws have different meanings; they are very wise and mischievous.

But the part of the article that stuck with me was this one; it said that if a crow flew into your life, you should get out of your familiar nest, open your eyes and look beyond your present range of vision, listen to its caw and act accordingly.

As I remembered this, I wiped the salty trail the tear had left on my cheek. And looking at the crow, just like I had been doing for the past few minutes, my eyes never leaving his and his never leaving mine; our looks locked on each other, I decided I would embrace the last part of that article.

I would leave my familiar nest.

I would open my eyes and look beyond my present range of vision.

I would listen to this crow's caw and act accordingly.

This was a promise I was making to myself, and unlike any other promise I had ever made, I intended to keep it, no matter what.

Nest, vision, caw.

Those were the three words I repeated in my head over and over before drifting to sleep.

I spent Sunday in with Charlie fixing up the house. We had a bunch of stuff still left to unpack. I cleaned up the house while he took care of a few things that needed fixing and that needed to be stored up in the attic. By the time the day ended we had pretty much taken care of everything. We ordered a pizza and sat on the living room couch watching some movie on the flat screen. The doorbell rang and Charlie answered the door.

"Hi Elena," Charlie said, "How are you?"

"I'm doing great Mr. Swan," Elena answered.

"Mr. Swan? Seriously? Mr. Swan was my father, call me Charlie, please," He insisted in between chuckles.

"Okay sure," Elena said, and then asked, "is Bella around?"

"Yeah, let me get her for you. Come in," Charlie said gesturing her to come in side.

I stood from the couch and wiped my hands on a napkin.

"Hey Elena," I said to her.

"Hey Bella," she answered while coming into the living room.

"Do you want a piece?" I asked her pointing at the pizza.

She shook her head no and said, "No that's okay, I just ate."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yep. I actually came by to offer you a ride to school tomorrow. I know that it's your first day and it'll be awkward. I thought maybe you would want some company through it all."

"Wow, thanks. That would be really great." I said nodding my head. "What time should I come over?" I asked.

"I leave at seven thirty, so you could come over right around that time," Elena answered.

"Okay, I'll come over around seven thirty then," I told her.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," Elena said with a smile, backing away to the door again.

I went with her and showed her out.

I closed the door and went back to the living room, I sat on the couch next to Charlie.

He had his mouth full with a pizza and said, "I like Elena, she's a very nice girl."

I nodded and grabbed another piece of pizza.

After finishing our meal, I threw the box into the trashcan and cleaned up the living room before saying goodnight to Charlie and heading upstairs for bed.

I changed into my white tank top and pajama shorts and jumped into bed. Once again I made my wall of pillows and rested my head there. I closed my eyes, and then I heard it. A caw.

I opened my eyes and saw the crow from last night sitting there on my window.

"Hey, you're back," I said quietly to the crow. It stared at me.

"I'm not scared of you, you know? So you can stop staring now." I told it.

"Night" I said to him as a yawn escaped my mouth.

I was definitely going crazy. I was talking to a crow.

I turned over and gave my back to him. I decided it was a him. If he came back tomorrow I'd have to give him a name.

I closed my eyes and started repeating in my head the phrases I had been repeating for a few night now.

"I am invisible, the cannot see me. Nest, vision, caw."

Caw!.

I opened my eyes again and turned over.

The crow had jumped from the tree to my window. Please don't start tapping on it! I thought.

"Hey! Mr. Crow, I have to sleep. I've got school in the morning, and it's my first day here. I really need to get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be hard already and I don't want to be sleepy."

I told him while I sat up.

"Now, could you please fly away?" I asked him.

The crow turned it's head to the side and jumped back to the tree.

"You can stay there then, but don't come tapping on my window. Goodnight."

I laid down again and covered my head with my blanket.

Note to self : Tell Charlie in the morning that I had to get some curtains, ASAP.

The next morning, I woke up and ran into the bathroom to take my shower. I took my time, I was feeling a little nervous. After all, this was the second time I was starting a new school in a year, and in the middle of the semester. What made it worse was that I was a senior.

The only thing that relaxed me a bit was that this time I would actually know someone. I finished my shower and stood in front of the mirror in my towel, with my hand I wiped the steam from the mirror and looked at myself.

I didn't look as sad as I had in the past few months. I was feeling comfortable with myself. I wanted to look nice. I did not want people taking pity on me. I wouldn't the heartbroken Bella that went to back to school last fall. People would not look at me with sad eyes. They would not think, "There goes the girl that was left by her boyfriend."

No, not this time. I grabbed my brush and plugged in my hair drier. I blow dried my hair, and decided to wear a little bit of make up. Just a little powder, blush, and a thin line of eyeliner. I didn't want to over do it. Once I was done I checked myself out - and I didn't look half bad.

I chuckled and said, "You finally rubbed off on me Alice. Only this time, I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing this for me."

I slipped into a pair of skinny jeans, a white top that had a small grey detail on the border, and an open blue cardigan. I decided that until I was comfortable here, and until I had completely gotten over them, I didn't want to see my scar everyday. Since it was still a little chilly out, I would wear long sleeves.

I went downstairs, and found Charlie making breakfast. He was nervous. I could tell.

"Morning Dad," I said as I came into the kitchen.

"Good morning Bella," he said as he took his eyes off of the pan and looked at me. He was a little shocked when he saw me.

"You look good kiddo," he said smiling.

"Thanks Dad. Do you need some help with that?" I asked walking towards him.

"I'm already done. Grab some plates will ya?" He told me. He had made some slightly crispy pancakes, from scratch. Yep, Charlie was nervous. He never cooked, and when he did, he always had something on his mind.

I grabbed some plates and set them on the kitchen table. I grabbed the juice that was in the fridge and poured it into two cups.

Charlie served our pancakes and then we both sat down to eat our breakfast. He was quiet, as usual, his forehead was wrinkled, I could tell he was thinking.

"You're going to do great Dad." I told him. He looked at me and smiled.

"So are you Bella, so are you." He answered nodding, and then added "You should finish up. it's almost seven thirty, and you probably don't want to make Elena wait."

I took the plates to the sink and looked at my watch. I was running a little late.

"Don't worry about the plates, I'll take care of them," Charlie told me.

I went up stairs, brushed my teeth and grabbed my book bag. I went downstairs again, said goodbye to Charlie and walked out the door.

I crossed the street and just as I was going to ring the doorbell, Jeremy opened the door. He started me.

"Whoa! Hi there!" He said as we bumped into each other.

"Hi Jeremy, sorry about that, I'm a bit of a klutz," I said, with my hand on my chest. I ran my hand through my head and bit my lip.

"It's okay, relax." He said smiling at me. He looked back in side and called out for Elena, "Elena! Bella's here, we've got to get moving!"

"I'm coming!" Elena said as she ran downstairs. "Bye Aunt Jenna!" she yelled as she walked out the door.

"Hi Bella! Good morning! You look really pretty today!" she said smiling. The three of us walked over to her car, she opened the driver's seat and said, "Bella's riding shotgun, so you go in the back Jer."

He shrugged, opened the door to the backseat, got in and put his ipod on. I jumped in the passenger's seat and looked back at Jeremy smiling. He smiled back.

We drove to school quietly, once we pulled into the school parking lot, Jeremy got out quickly and Elena smiled happily. "It's going to be alright Bella, I've got your back."

I smiled back and said, "Thanks."

We got out of the car and as soon as we were walking towards the school I felt it. Everyone was staring at me. I breathed in and out, and followed Elena while looking at my feet.

"Look up, don't look down. Don't let them intimidate you. You look great Bella," Elena whispered.

I looked at her grinned. 'I am invisible, they cannot see me', I said in my head over and over.

"Good morning love," Stefan said as he come over to us and gave Elena a kiss on her forehead. He looked at me and gave me a quick smile. "Hi Bella, are you nervous?" he asked.

"A bit," I said and let out a sigh.

"Don't be. Just ignore them," he said putting a hand on my shoulder. He took Elena's hand and the three of us walked into school. They accompanied me to the office to get my schedule. The secretary handed me a map of the school, with a paper slip each of my teachers had to sign. She told me I had to bring it back in at the end of the day. I nodded and told her I would. I knew the routine pretty well; I had done this last year after all.

Elena took my schedule from my hands and looked at it with Stefan.

"This is great," she said smiling, "we have most of our classes together, and the ones that we don't you have with Stefan," she said handing me the schedule over.

A wave of relief ran through me.

We headed to our first class, History, which the three of us had together. We walked into the classroom and I handed the paper slip to the teacher. People hadn't come in yet, the classroom was almost empty. He smiled at me and looked at Elena.

"Isabella Swan. You're Elena's new neighbor," he said.

"It's Bella, and yes I live across the street from Elena," I said with a confused look. How did he know that?

"Alaric, or Mr. Saltzman as we have to call him here, is my aunt Jenna's boyfriend," Elena explained. He smiled at me.

"Oh… I see," I said, comprehending now why he knew.

"Sit down, I'm pretty sure Elena will introduce you to everyone," he said pointing to a seat.

Elena and Stefan sat next to each other, while I sat on the chair to Elena's right.

People started walking into the classroom, they looked at me before going to their seats.

A pretty blond girl walked in and came over to say hello to Elena.

"Caroline this is Bella, she just moved here," Elena said introducing us.

"Hi, I'm Bella." I said extending my hand. She took it and shook it. She looked me over, from head to toe.

"Hi Bella, I'm Caroline. Nice cardigan," she said looking at it. I couldn't really tell if she meant it. I got this Jessica vibe from her. She looked at my hand as she shook it.

"I love your bracelet, where did you get it?" She asked.

"I got it while I was on the road on the way here. Me dad gave it to me." I said. I was proud of my bracelet; it was pure silver, and had little charms hanging off it.

"It's pretty," she said.

As people walked in, Elena would introduce them to me. I eventually met Caroline, the blond that reminded me of Jessica; Tyler, the angry looking jock and Matt, the cute blond jock that looked like a nice person. Matt was apparently dating that Caroline girl.

The morning went by in a blur. I tried to escape the glances of everyone that I bumped into. I managed to trip less than three times in between classes. Which was some kind of world record for me. The first time, I tripped entering the math classroom; Stefan quickly grabbed my arm before I could even tell that I was falling. The second time I tripped, we were walking towards the cafeteria for lunch and I was distracted as Elena called our names and I turned around to see her and I slipped. Stefan again took a hold of me and grabbed the books I had in my hands before they came crashing down to the ground.

"Oh my God Bella! Are you okay?" Elena asked in between chuckles as she ran to us.

"I'm okay, I just slipped. It's a very common occurrence for me." I told her as I regained my posture.

Stefan smiled. "This is the second time today she's almost fallen."

"Yeah, I'm a klutz that way." I said, "Thanks for making sure my face doesn't hit the ground."

"No problem, I've got quick reflexes. I might as well put them to use," he said shrugging.

"I'm starving. Let's grab our food and eat outside, it's sunny," Elena said.

We went in, we bought our food and took the trays outside. We sat on one of the empty tables and ate our lunch. I was enjoying the sunlight. It had been months since I saw at least three days of sun in a row. I liked it here already.

I was thinking about this when I hear Elena say, "Bonnie, come I want to introduce you to someone!"

I turned around and saw a girl with olive skin and emerald green eyes walking towards us. She had a small smile on her face, but I could tell that she didn't really want it there. She was pretending. Her eyes were sad, but at the same time they were angry.

"Bonnie this is Bella, she just moved across the street from me. Her dad is the new sheriff," Elena said and then said "Bella this is Bonnie, my best friend."

I stood from the table and shook her hand. Then out of nowhere, the weirdest thing happened. She stood stock still, her eyes wide open staring at nothing in particular, holding her breath. And then just like that she began breathing normally and her eyes looked at me with bewilderment. She wrinkled her forehead and shook my hand.

"Hi Bella, I'm Bonnie," she said a worried look on her face.

"Hi, it's… nice to meet you, Elena has told me so much about you," I said.

Bonnie looked at Elena and then gave a cold look to Stefan before looking back at me.

"I gotta go. It was nice meeting you," she said and then leaned closer to me and spoke in almost a whisper, "Take care of yourself."

Chills went down my spine. Standing there I watched as she walked away from us. I couldn't help but wonder, what was this girl? What had happened when she grabbed my hand? Why on earth did she have that look that Alice got when she was having a vision? But most importantly, if she had a vision, then what did she see that got her so scared?

Why did she warn me?

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