(((Woe is I for Twilight is not mine to shove in the faces of others!)))

"Alice?"

"Yeah, Bella?"

"Can you, um, can you make sure I don't trip on anything?" I asked her. Was this too much to ask of her? Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I should just deal with it if I trip over anything. I wont be able to see them stare at me like I'm a freak. Oh, but I can hear all too well!

"Bella, as long as I'm right hear, I wont let you fall. We are friends, right?" she started out seriously, but that last sentence made her sound worried.

"Of course. In fact, you are my first friend."

"And Jasper?"

"You both are my friends, Alice. My first friends."

"Yay!" she squealed, throwing her little arms around me. She hugged me for a few more seconds before letting me go and pulling me into the classroom.

The bell rang as soon as I stepped through the doorway. "Miss Cullen, just barely making it again, I see," said whom I suppose is the teacher, "and who I your friend?"

"Hellos, Mr. Henope. This is Miss Swan, she's new here."

"Swan? Any relation is the chief?"

"He's my father, Monsieur."

"Oh? Miss Swan, what instrument do you play?"

"Piano," there was a chorus of gasps all around me with a few snickers.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, no one has had the guts to even try and play the piano since Mr. Edward Cullen has come to Forks."

"Well, Monsieur, I suppose there is a first time for everything." I wonder why Alice never mentioned she had a brother who could play.

"Okay, I guess, the piano is right over there. You may go ahead and show us what you're made of." I nodded and grabbed Alice's elbow and she lead me to another side of the room.

"Bella, are you mad that I didn't tell you about my brother?"

"No, Alice, of course not!"

"I'm still sorry I didn't. I just thought you might be intimidated by him or something…."

"From the sounds of it, he's pretty good."

"He is! Esme, my adoptive mother, loves it when he plays at home!"

"Really?"

"Yes. And Carlisle, my adoptive father, enjoys it when he plays, too. Oh, here we are."

"Alice?"

"Yes?"

"Could you, uh, stay over here today?"

"Of course!" I breathed out a sigh of relief, surely no one would pick on me if I had my new friend with me, would they? Well, only one why to find out.

I sat down on the piano bench that Alice had lead me to and placed my hands in the position to begin playing. "Ready?"

"Yep!" She said, so I started. I played something I had written myself when I was depressed. Some girls at my school spent the day tormenting me. They were calling me a fat pig, laughing when I said I wasn't. They told me that my close didn't match and had huge stains on them. Worst of all, they hit me, they kicked me, and they did everything they could think of to hurt me, but still keep me alive. I never told anyone about that, not even my mom. I claimed I fell a lot that day, once down the steps. She didn't buy it, but didn't push it.

The song slowly came to an end and I was fighting the tears that always threatened to fall.

The last note rang though the air and the class remained silent.

"Was it that bad?" I asked Alice. This was the first time I played it in front of people before.

"No, Bell, it was wonderful! But, it was just so sad!"

"So, do you like it?"

"Like it? No. I love it! It beautiful! Who wrote it? I have to get Edward to play it some time! It wont be as good as you playing it, but still!"

"I wrote it. Are you sure it was good? I don't hear anyone's reaction but yours."

"Really? Well, it was still awesome. And you have to wait Bella, they are still wiping the tears from their eyes," I heard heavy footsteps to the right.

"Hello, I'm Mike Newton. Your Isabella Swan, right?" Isabella? Charlie has been talking about me!

"Please, call me Bella," I said. He stood there for a minute before Alice got irritated.

"Is there something you need?" she asked in a much too sweet voice.

"Uh, Bella? Do you need help around the school?"

"No, that job is taken care of."

"Really? By who?"

"Alice and Jasper."

"Oh…how about around town?"

"Sorry, Mike, Jasper and I have that covered, too." She said, sounding not at all sorry.

"What? Is she your girlfriend or something?" Mike screamed at her.

"No, she's my friend. And I wont let my friend hang out with a jerk like you," she answered calmly.

"What have I ever done to you?"

"It's not me, it's the girls that you pretend to like just so you can sleep with them."

"What makes you say that?"

"I'm very good at listening, Mike. I may not be involved in the school as much as some people, but that's because some people in this school I can't stand."

"You're really just a bitch, you know that right?"

"That maybe so, but I really don't care, goodbye."

He let out a huff and stomped off.

"It all that true?"

"That, and much, much more."

"Oh," I said before starting another song, this one I heard on the radio and adapted it to the piano. I was another sad song, but I love it.

It has words to it, so I started singing it.

She walks to school with the lunch she packed
Nobody knows what she's holding back
Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday
She hides the bruises with linen and lace

Alice recognized the song and started singing with me.


The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask
Bearing the burden of a secret storm
Sometimes she wishes she was never born

Through the wind and the rain
She stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she's loved
Concrete angel

Somebody cries in the middle of the night
The neighbors hear, but they turn out the lights
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate
When morning comes it'll be too late

Through the wind and the rain
She stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she's loved
Concrete angel

A statue stands in a shaded place
An angel girl with an upturned face
A name is written on a polished rock
A broken heart that the world forgot

Through the wind and the rain
She stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she's loved
Concrete angel

As the song faded away, the classroom filled with applause.

"When does class end?"

"In about five, four, three, two, one," the bell rang and I gathered my stuff and Alice lead me out of the classroom, or tried to.

"Miss Swan!" The teacher called.

"Yes, Monsieur?"

"That was marvelous playing! And your singing! Can you please sight read these notes on the bored for me?"

"Sorry, Monsieur, but I cannot."

"Miss Swan, I must insist that you try."

"But Monsieur, I cannot see it!"

"Don't be silly, Miss Swan, and sight read these notes."

"Sir?" Alice stepped in.

"Yes, Miss Cullen?"

"Miss Swan really can read them, but if you told her which notes to sing, I assure you she can do so quiet nicely." She grabbed my hand and squeezed it slightly to comfort me.

"Very well, Miss Swan Let's see how you can do."

(((I just had to have Alice and Bella sing together, and that was the first song that popped into my head. It's Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. Remember, each time you review, you get a mini-chapter!)))