Hey! Thank you for all your wonderful reviews for the last chapter. I'm sorry for the long wait, but my updates should be more normal from now on.

Somehow, fanfiction mail was blocked from my e-mail and sent directly to spam, so although I've seen some of them now, others had been automatically deleted a while ago. So, if you PM'ed me with something important and I didn't reply, it's because I didn't get it. Feel free to send it again.

Note: This should be the last major introductory chapter, so it's important! I wouldn't skim over it if I were you, because a lot of hints that will be used later on are dropped.

Also, thanks to my beta Princeps de Invidia for checking this out and correcting my mistakes. She's a fantastic writer...read "Ribbons and Lace" if you get the chance.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight Series or any of it's characters. Stephenie Meyer does.

A Pen Pal?

Edward Cullen

As I drove along the bumpy dirt road, I snuck a sideways glance at my sister, Alice, in the passenger side and was surprised to see her bouncing in her seat. She'd been acting like that all day, but I'd blamed it on the large mug of coffee she'd had before we left for school. Now, as we headed home after a long day, her excitement seemed to have doubled…and that definitely wasn't normal.

I glanced up into the mirror to check on the other passenger who was seated in the backseat of the car. Maybe he knew something about this.

Kenneth, or as he preferred to be called, Ken, was probably the only person I considered a friend around here. Not that I'd tried to be friends with anyone. I knew better than to do that because the turnout was always the same: I befriend someone, we get closer, and before you know it, we're moving to a whole other continent.

But he'd been persistent. Being nice to me when I didn't deserve it and finally, I'd dropped some barriers for him.

He caught my eye in the mirror and amusement was dancing across his eyes. Perhaps he didn't know what was wrong with her either.

I sighed and returned my attention to the windshield, watching the clouds of dust puff into the air as we sped by and the trees whiz through my line of vision.

The amount of trees soon increased and I knew we were almost home. It wasn't long before I took a quick right and drove up the almost hidden road leading to our house. As I drove up the little hill, the trees soon began to decrease once more and I pulled up in front of the Victorian style home, quickly shutting off the engine of my Volvo. All it'd taken was the turn of the key before Alice shot out the car and sprinted towards the front door.

There was definitely something up with her. I knew she was usually perky, but this was a bit much.

I threw a questioning glance at Ken as he got out of the car but he simply shrugged his shoulders and followed me through the door. As soon as we stepped through, we were bombarded by Alice.

"Edward!" she screamed, skidding to a stop in front of me. I saw Ken visibly flinch at the sound of her voice and smirked as I realized he still wasn't used to her, even if we'd been living here for at least 6 months.

"She's going to make me go deaf one of these days…" he muttered quietly, as he took off his shoes and set his bag by the door.

Alice had been pulling me into the living room but as soon as the words left his mouth, she stopped to scowl at him.

"I heard that!" she said, frowning, but he simply threw her an innocent smile and let himself into the room.

"What do you want, Alice?" I asked she pushed me down onto one of the sofas.

"We got our letters!" she squealed. This is what she'd been excited about?

"Letters? What letters?" I asked, confused, as Ken walked over to stand beside her.

"You know, the pen pal assignment we got from Mr. Damien's class?" she asked, holding two envelopes in front of my face.

I searched my brain to recall such an assignment and frowned. "No."

"Well, I think this one is yours because it's addressed to a Mr. MusicallyInclined," she handed me an envelope as Ken burst out laughing over my shoulder.

"Mr. MusicallyInclined? Show-off."

I took a second to shoot him a glare. "I wasn't showing off. I was merely implying that I have talents in the music area," I stated as he gave me an incredulous look.

"And what was your pen name? Since you find mine so hilarious," I added.

"'GuitarHeroGuru,'" he said somewhat proudly. I simply rolled my eyes at the name of his latest obsession. Just a couple of weeks ago it'd been Dance Dance Revolution…the only game he could beat me at. But he'd literally been spending hours practicing guitar hero so he could show me who's "boss" the next time we played.

"I don't know about you, but isn't calling yourself a guru showing-off as well?" I asked with a smirk.

"It's not the same thing," he said, quickly dismissing the comment. "Now, what's yourpen name?" he asked, turning his attention to Alice.

She tried to cover up the name section of the envelope, but I saw it, and frowned. The name was 100 true. I couldn't count how many times Alice had tried to hook me up with someone…and how many times it'd ended up disastrous.

"Are you ready?" Alice asked.

"Ready for what?" I asked wearily.

"We'll open our letters at the same time, silly!" she said, as if stating the obvious.

I rolled my eyes as she counted down from three and ripped her envelope open with me doing the same.

The first thing on the piece of paper that caught my eye was the pen name. And I think Ken saw it the same time I did because I heard his snickers overhead.

"KlutZillA?! Man, you guys were made for each other, with your odd pen names and all," he said.

I ignored him and continued to read the letter. This was really interesting. We had so much in common it wasn't even funny. A slow smile went across my face as I read the reasoning behind her pen name. She's clumsy.

I heard a sigh from in front of me and looked over to see Alice with a dreamy look on her face.

"I can't wait to meet him," she said, ecstatically.

"Meet him?" I asked, once again confused.

"Were you paying any attention when Mr. D. gave us this assignment?" Ken asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Obviously not," I muttered.

"Well my brother, pay close attention. Our pen pals are going to be here in a couple of weeks. They'll be living with us, in our houses, to enjoy the experience. You have to reply to that letter today if you want her to get it before they leave for here," he finished.

"By the way, you guys are lucky. I got some person who calls herself BrunetteBombshell. And all she did was write about some guy named BlondeHairedStud. Of course I plan on changing that. I can guarantee you, by the end of this month; I will be all she'll be talking about."

"You want to bet on that?" I faintly heard Alice ask.

I'd stopped paying attention to what he'd been saying after he'd mentioned our pen pals would be here in a couple of weeks. But when he'd said a month, my mind immediately snapped back to attention.

"A month?!" I asked. They both looked at me, seeming confused at my outburst. I was a little confused as well at it and I tried again.

"They're staying here for a month?" I questioned, quietly.

Alice quickly nodded her head. "Yes. Your pen pal will hang with you and mine with me."

I paused to process that for a minute. What had I been so caught up in that I'd missed all this information?

"Kids! Dinner!" Esme's voice floated from the kitchen.

I snapped out of my reverie and looked up at my friend.

"You staying?" I asked as I stood up and walked towards the door.

"Nah. I've got to go reply to the letter so my mom can mail it tomorrow."

I was a little surprised at his answer. He always stayed for dinner, eating up almost everything Esme prepared.

"All right," I nodded at him as he walked out the front door and I followed Alice to the dining room.

--x--

Throughout dinner I was a little distracted as I thought about this girl who would be coming to live with us. She'd seemed pretty open and I began to wonder what she looked like. I was barely aware of what was going on around me as I conjured up images of my pen pal, but I knew that Alice was filling Esme in on our assignment.

"Edward."

At the sound of my name, I returned my attention to the table.

"What?"

"You'll be sharing your room with your new friend," Esme said.

My eyes widened at her statement.

"Why? What about the spare room?"

"You very well know that it's filled with junk right now. There's no way we'd get it cleaned up in time for her, considering how busy we all are."

"What about Alice? Does she have to share a room with her guy? Why doesn't my pen pal sleep in her room and hers in mine? That way…"

I stopped short as Alice shot a glare my way. What was wrong with her? But mostly, what was wrong with me? It's like I was afraid of having this person coming here, but I knew that wasn't true. I didn't have a problem with it. In fact, if anything, I was a little excited.

"Actually I think it's best we share rooms with the people we were assigned to because it will enable us to get to know them better," Alice said, still looking at me.

"You have a point there," Esme said, thoughtfully. "I'll talk it over with Carlisle when he gets home."

Carlisle. What would he think about this?

"But I'm sure he'll agree," Esme continued. "Edward, you'll take the sofa in your room and we'll buy an air mattress for now for your friend, Alice. I don't think we'll be able to get anything out of the spare room."

Alice quickly nodded while I remained thoughtful. All this information that had just been handed down to me had me confused.

"Edward, you'll need to be polite." The warning tone in Esme's voice immediately made me realize what she was talking about. Sure I hadn't been very sociable this past year after a certain incident, but it was for the best.

"I'm going for a jog," I said, abruptly standing up and pushing my chair in.

Esme looked at me meaningfully for a minute before replying. "Okay. But no wandering farther than you need to."

I nodded, glad at her sudden agreement. She knew I needed to think and running always helped to clear my mind.

I jogged up to my room and quickly pulled on a pair of sweats, a t-shirt and tennis shoes before heading out. When I walked out the front door, I stopped to look around.

We practically lived in the middle of nowhere. The closest house was Ken's and he lived at least a mile away. But that didn't stop him from running over and getting comfortable at our house. The school was at least a half hour drive down the dirt road from here. But with the way Alice and I drove, it was at least ten minutes less.

Even with the feeling of isolation surrounding us in every corner, the place was still beautiful. The grass surrounding the house was lush and green, but it was the expanse of trees located about a mile from here I was headed for.

As I stepped down from the porch and began to jog along the grass, my mind drifted back to the letter I'd received today.

It'd been short, sweet, and to the point. But it'd been enough to make me count down the days until she arrived. This anticipation I felt for meeting someone was a bit familiar and that frightened me. I could feel a conflict of emotions whirl within me. Excitement at meeting someone new, but fear at allowing myself to become too close, only to have them leave.

But I wasn't going to dwell too much on that. I was thinking too far ahead. I hadn't even met this person yet, but there was still the possibility that they would be here just to get their work done and not to socialize.

I brought myself out of my thoughts as I realized how dark it was getting. The trees around me were still dense, but as I looked farther ahead, I could see them gradually becoming thicker. So thick, you'd really have to know your way around to make it out.

These days, I never ventured out farther than my current location, but I'd promised myself that one day, before we had a chance to move again, I would explore this forest. It would take time and planning, but maybe I would be able to venture deeper and not care about being lost or hurt. Just like maybe I would be able to put myself out there again someday. But as for now, I wasn't ready to take any chances, just like I wasn't ready to go into the woods just yet.

I think this may have been the reason for my reaction to having someone live with us. Just the thought of meeting new people was enough to make me sour at times because I'd definitely learned my lesson about getting attached. But Ken had changed that a bit, so hopefully things would be different. And my normally indifferent reaction to meeting someone new would be hidden when I met my new "pen pal."

I slowly turned around and began the walk back to the house. I had not taken more than a few steps forward before I heard the ominous hoot of the night owl, which caused me to freeze.

I remembered what Ken had told me. In these parts of the country, the hoot of an owl was a bad omen. I wasn't a very superstitious person, but some of the stories he'd told me were enough to make me cautious.

Now, as I headed back to the house to reply to that letter, I wondered what event was going to occur which I had just been forewarned about.

--x--

Preview of Ch. 3: "This way." He said, turning stiffly on his heels and walking out the door, leaving me frozen in place, staring after him. Did I just imagine the mood swing?

Short...I know, but I'm making up for it with the next chapter. I've been working on it and it's already passed 10pages. I should be finished with it soon and you'll have it in a couple of days.

So...the next chapter, Bella and Edward will meet, as you can tell from the quote there. And then finally, the story can be set in motion.

Please review and tell me what you thought. :D

jojoStarr