Bella:

I'm coming out of my cage

And I've been doing just fine

Gotta gotta be down

Because I want it all

This morning, I'm not so sure that my vomiting is entirely down to morning sickness.

It's my first day at Forks High today and I don't want to go.

Maybe I can tell Esme and Carlisle I have severe morning sickness? No, Carlisle's a doctor, that wouldn't work.

"Bella? You finished throwing up?" Rosalie asks, banging on the door.

Ever since Alice said I should be called Bella the first time I met her, it's sort of stuck. I kind of like it, since Iz or Izzy just remind me of Seattle, which isn't a particularly nice place to be reminded of.

"Uh, yeah, sorry," I mutter, hastily brushing my teeth and allowing her entrance to the bathroom.

"If anyone says anything to you, just tell me, ok?" Rosalie says.

"Why are you so…nice to me?" I frown, making her pause as she enters the bathroom.

"I…I guess I feel protective of you," she shrugs, trying to act as though this isn't a big deal. The emotion on her face gives her away, though. "It was – sorry, this isn't going to help your nerves – but it was hard for me in the beginning. Add to that pregnancy hormones, and suddenly I want to protect you."

Without giving me any chance to reply, she suddenly goes into our shared bathroom and shuts the door.

Still feeling a bit bemused, I head downstairs to the kitchen. I rub my stomach, wondering if the school know about my situation.

"Mum, do we have any milk?" Edward shouts from the kitchen. "Oh, uh, hi," he mumbles as I walk in.

"Hey. I guess I shouldn't have cereal, then?" I joke.

"Unless you like it without milk," he replies, picking up his own bowl. He makes a move to sit at the breakfast bar, but accidentally walks into the counter, trips, and almost drops his bowl.

Blushing fiercely, he finally sits down and becomes so engrossed in his cereal that he doesn't look at me.

"Did you call for something?" Esme asks as she walks into the kitchen. "Oh, hello, Bella, how are you feeling?" she adds when she spots me hovering by the counter.

"I'm alright. Do, um, do the school know about my pregnancy?" I ask her.

"Yes, the teachers know, but the pupils don't. They won't know for a while as you're not showing," Esme tells me, smiling kindly. "Did you say we hadn't got any milk, Edward?"

"No, I had to have plain cereal," Edward mutters, showing her his bowl.

I grab a pop tart and sit down next to Edward, eating it and trying to refrain from vomiting it back up.

"Do you want me to, uh, drive you to school?" Edward suddenly offers, not looking at me still.

"That'd be great, thanks." I hadn't actually thought about getting to school before.

*******SML*******

The drive to Forks High was remarkably short, as, it seems, is the journey to anywhere in Forks. Rosalie sat in the front, claiming it was reserved for the heavily pregnant. I sat in the back with Angela and Jacob, who seem friendly enough.

Edward, Alice, Jacob and Angela are all in the same year as me, which is quite a relief as I'm bound to have at least a couple of lessons with familiar faces.

I make my way to the office to pick up my timetable and a map of the place. The map hardly seems necessary with how small the school is.

"Ah, Isabella Swan, the new student," Mrs Cope, the receptionist, grins.

"It's Bella," I quickly interject.

"Right, well, all the teachers know about your situation, so if you ever need to leave for certain reasons, it's ok," Mrs Cope tells me.

I take my timetable and map from her, mutter an annoyed 'thanks' and hurry off.

How much do they know about my 'situation', as Mrs Cope so nicely put it?

I make my way to my first lesson, English, and try to avoid the other pupils as much as possible.

"Yo, you the new kid?" A boy asks as I'm walking to English.

"Uh, yeah," I mutter, trying to speed up.

"I'm Eric, you're Isabella, right?" Eric says.

"Bella," I tell him, though he still doesn't get the hint that I don't want to talk.

"What lesson do you have first?" Eric asks.

"English." Another short reply still doesn't hint to him that I don't want to talk to him right now.

"Hey, Bella, did you say you had English first? Me too! How awesome is this?! Mrs Harper, the English teacher, is so nice! I just know you'll love her," Alice suddenly appears out of nowhere, saving me from Eric.

I cast the boy a not too apologetic look and follow Alice off in the other direction.

"Thanks," I mutter to her as we reach the classroom. She leads us inside, and I sit next to her in the row at the back of the classroom.

"No problem. We live together now; it's my duty to protect you!" Alice exclaims happily.

"How are you always so happy?" I ask her, bemused.

"I have lots of things to be happy about!" Alice squeals. The room slowly fills with more people, but no one glances round when Alice squeals particularly loudly. I guess they're used to it by now. "Oh, I'm going to show you Jasper later!" she adds as an afterthought.

"Jasper?" I frown, not having heard his name before.

"Yeah, he's just the dreamiest," Alice sighs, gazing out of the window. "He just moved from Texas and he's in the year above and his accent is the best," she continues.

I just nod along with her.

Thankfully, the teacher enters the room, quieting Alice's dreamy murmurs about Jasper. It doesn't quite stop her, though.

"Right, I believe we have a new student in the class? Isabella Swan?" Mrs Harper announces from the front of the class.

"Uh, just Bella," I speak up quickly.

"Bella, hello, welcome to Forks," Mrs Harper smiles.

Each class passes with the same fashion, most teachers not forcing me to come to the front of the classroom. Lunch time is probably the worst, though.

Alice leads me into the cafeteria, over to a table where I see quite a few of the others from the Cullen house sitting. I sit next to Rosalie, who's looking pretty stressed.

"How's the first day going?" Rosalie asks me.

"Good," I reply, slowly opening the sandwich, but then just picking at it.

"You need to eat, Bella," Rosalie tells me.

"I know what I fucking need to do, I'm not five!" I snap, making everyone at the table look up at me. "I'm just going for a…" I trail off, but that doesn't stop me from getting up and rushing out of the cafeteria.

I end up sat on a small patch of grass by the parking lot, glancing over at the cars.

My hands are on my stomach, protectively holding my baby. Back then, in the cafeteria…I almost said I was heading out for a fag. I'm just so used to smoking at lunch and I haven't had a cigarette in so long…

Dammit, I need to think of something else!

I lie back on the grass and close my eyes, trying to forget everything.

"Here. You still need to eat." Opening my eyes, I see Rosalie standing, looking down at me and holding out the sandwich.

"Sorry. About before…I…" I don't know what to say to her. I'm too ashamed to admit I want a cigarette.

I take the sandwich from her and expect her to leave, but instead she sits down next to me on the grass.

"You don't need to watch me eat," I tell her, taking a bite out of the sandwich.

"I didn't come here to watch you eat. I came here to talk to you," Rosalie says.

"About what?" I huff, not looking at her.

"Stop closing me out! I know what you're doing because I've done it myself!" I turn to Rosalie and frown at her.

"What?" I question, unable to stop myself.

"When I first moved in with the Cullen's, I was like you," Rosalie says remorsefully.

"What do you mean? Why did you move in?" I blurt out.

Rosalie takes a deep breathe, looking like she's trying to find the courage to tell me. "Ok, I'll tell you. Everything."


A/N: Thoughts on Bella's first day at school?

Review please! :D

Lyrics: Mr Brightside by The Killers