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Getting dressed was a new kind of challenge since the accident, but at the same time it allowed me to dress however I wanted to in the name of comfort. I didn't see Alice being cruel enough to try and force me into a pair of heels. Although, I thought sardonically that I would trade a life time with high heels than have to continue to wear the giant boot as I prepared to strap it on resentfully.

Alice was a friend that I had not anticipated making when I came to Forks. From the first day she was very kind to me, of course in a very over bearing Alice sort of way. She had genuinely been interested in finding out the person that I was from the beginning. She morphed into almost a caretaker and confidant when my luck turned that January afternoon.

I would later admit to myself that I had at first decided to befriend her to figure out her brother. He seemed like such a strange mystery to me. It made sense to be friends with Alice, and if I could find out more about Edward than that was just a bonus I would tell myself.

I chuckled as I sat down thinking of my stupid ideas to get close to him at the beginning, and slowly started to put on my sweatpants. I put my left leg through and then my walking boot over the material of the pants. I put my right foot in as well. I then steadied myself on my right leg, my good leg, as I stood to pull them up. I remember the first time I was able to dress myself after the accident. I would have done a dance if it was physically possible. I tried to not let the sad thought carry on depressing me further, but it still lingered.

'I wonder what else will always be physically difficult from now on.'

I pushed it away as I pulled my shirt over my head. I started the journey down the stairs. Charlie had already left for work earlier in the morning. I had for awhile been trying to wake up before he left so he could help walk me down stairs, but I had been lazy this morning. I had been starting to get lazier lately. Or maybe I was getting more depressed? I wasn't sure, and didn't feel like gaining any insight into it.

I took each stair slow and gripped the railing on one side as I used the cane to steady my other side. When I made it to the bottom I took a deep breath feeling the burn from that exercise on my weak muscles.

I made my way to the kitchen to the magic cabinet of breakfast cereal. Since I had been injured Alice had helped me with the shopping, sometimes doing it all on her own on my worst days. I had been dealing with pretty bad pain days that week so she had picked up the groceries all by herself. Sometimes this really unnerved me because she felt it her duty to over buy or switch out brands of things I had requested, and she always made sure to get Charlie and me something special. When I was with her I could dissuade her from spending any extra money on us, but when she was by herself it was a free for all.

All though it bothered me that she was buying these unneeded and unasked for items, it still warmed my heart. Despite my hatred of charity towards me, I still recognized a good friend that was embodied in Alice. It also didn't hurt that she always seemed to get every kind of cereal that I adored when she went by herself. I hadn't checked the treasure this week, but my excitement took me over when I opened the cabinet.

"Holy God!" I exclaimed as I ran down the names: Cocoa Krispies, Capn' Crunch, Blueberry Morning, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Honey Comb, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Waffle Crisp, and the elusive Oh's.

"Ooooo." I grabbed the box of Oh's and hugged it shamelessly. It was very rare to catch this certain cereal in Forks. It was hard to come by in Phoenix, and to find it in Forks was like finding an oasis in the desert. I laughed out at my ironic metaphor. Forks was far from a desert.

I had only caught Oh's once here, and the fact that Alice had managed to find it when she was by herself meant only one thing. I was absolutely sure she had bought out the supply. Inquisitive if it was true, I started moving the cereal on the shelf to see the back of the cabinet lined with four more boxes of Oh's. I giggled at the plunder. I wanted to be upset with her for spending money on me. Even though I gave her a budget I would have to give her a little more money this week because of this. I tried to push the annoyed feeling away, and I settled for feeling loved by my best friend. Alice never had a problem with showing affection for me, even from the first day.

She had waited until everyone had fulfilled their curiosity of me at lunch. She stopped me in the cafeteria when the bell rang to make introductions.

"Hi, I'm Alice Cullen. Bella, right?" She held out her hand courteously.

"Yeah." I touched my hand to hers and she nearly bounced at the contact.

"Nice to meet you." She smiled as if she was a kid on Christmas day. I had laughed at her enthusiasm.

"You too." I replied feeling oddly relaxed with this girl like I hadn't been with anyone else in a long time.

"If you need any help or anything, you got a friend right here. I know how overwhelming the first day here can be. I had to deal with the same thing a few years ago." She explained to me quickly her family moving here from Chicago. She described many of the same feelings I had felt entering the spotlight that was small town high school. She also told me about her brothers Emmett and Edward, and how she so looked forward to us being friends.

Regardless of the ease I felt with Alice, I was starting to feel very overwhelmed by that point in the day so I was trying my best to pay attention to her and be cordial. I'm sure she noticed my burgeoning discomfort because she stopped abruptly, bid me goodbye, and allowed me to continue to my next class with a smile just as bright as before.

I sat down to eat my bowl of cereal trying my damnedest to focus on Alice. She was very important in my life, more important than he was. I kept trying to convince myself that, but the truth was that I couldn't put Edward in a category of important and more important. He was his own entity, one that I couldn't seem to understand or ultimately effect. Was it just my wounded pride over that fact that prevented me from wanting to think about him?

I, at the very least, didn't want to remember the first time I met him but for some reason I couldn't stop myself. My strength had been failing when I tried to ignore the fact that I even knew Edward. Each day it waned and now I was willingly recalling one of the moments that were not our finest just because I wanted to remember him.

Biology hadn't ever been a favorite subject mine and I had a feeling I would not like it much in Forks. I was good at Biology, but I felt disconnected to the subject matter most of the time. I needed something interesting to hold my attention, and cells and proteins didn't exactly whip me into an educational frenzy. Biology felt more like a chore than an adventure in learning. Of course it was this class that already inspired aggravation that I would first meet him.

I sat down in the seat that the teacher had pointed out with a very dramatic sigh, and I wondered to myself if this day could get any longer. I had been introduced to Mike, Angela, Jessica, Tyler, Eric, and Lauren. I was surprised with myself that I had even remembered all the names. I must be bored already.

As I brought out a notebook to take any notes that I might have to jot down, I saw Mike Newton staring at me from the door. I tried not to make direct eye contact, and instead allowed my hair to fall in my face. I didn't want Mike to think that I cared about any attention he bestowed on me because honestly I wasn't looking for it. This situation was already so awkward I really couldn't imagine being pursued by someone like Mike or really anyone at the moment.

"Hey Bella." When he greeted me I had to contain the eye roll that threatened to make a move. He acted as if we hadn't just talked for an hour at lunch. I looked up to him feeling rude that I was delaying the action, and gave a very small if not annoyed smile.

"Hey Mike. What's up?" I replied as kindly as I could.

"Uh, I see Mr. Banner sat you here with Cullen. Are you okay with that?" He asked as if he was nervous or something.

"Cullen? Why wouldn't I be okay with that?" If he meant Alice Cullen then I didn't have a problem with that at all.

Even though Alice seemed thoroughly consuming, she had also checked herself when she started to cross boundaries that people like Mike and Jessica had wantonly crossed constantly since I had met them this morning.

"Well, I mean he's not all that stable. He has a pretty sharp temper." Mike said as he leaned over the desk and into my personal space. Was he looking to be a protector for me?

"He?" I asked dumbly.

I then remembered that Alice had said she attended school with her brothers. I immediately wanted to defend this brother I had only had knowledge of for a grand total of fifteen minutes because I had a good first impression with his sister.

"Yeah, Edward Cullen. You haven't heard about him yet?" Mike said with a conspiratorial smile.

I shook my head unsure if I felt curious or annoyed that Mike was turning into an unexpected gossip monger before my eyes. Was it so much to ask for me to form my own opinion about the people around here? I then sadly realized that everyone probably had assumed the person I was.

Before I could form the frown at the thought of reputation and impressions, I saw behind a still talking Mike one of the best looking guys I had ever seen. This mysterious boy had green eyes that were blazing and a mouth set in a menacing, grim line. His bronze hair was wild and his face was beautiful, but his whole demeanor seemed to scream dangerous. He looked thoroughly pissed. I could only guess that this was in fact the same Edward Cullen he was talking about.

"Um, Mike." I tried to warn the unsuspecting gossip, but he continued with the Cullen bashing.

"Oh, man! Cullen…he's a trip. Has been since he got here. He thinks he's God's gift to women walking around here as if he owns the place. Another thing is he can't seem to find a comb or something because his hair always looks like he rolled out of bed. I mean personal hygiene much?" When he took a breath I tried to stop him again.

"Mike." I said with a little more force, but ended up closing my eyes in defeat when he continued. I looked to Edward trying to apologize with my eyes, but I couldn't read the look he returned to see if he understood or not.

"His sister is kinda weird but sweet, but him…I swear to God one day you are going to see him on America's Most…" Mike stopped his rant when Edward walked past him and took his seat beside me. He glared over to Mike and then to me as if we had been skinning puppies on the desk. I wondered to myself why he would look at me like that, but then realized that he didn't know that I wasn't contributing to the verbal insulting.

"Mike." I turned to him. "I think class is ready to start." As if on cue Mr. Banner called the class to order sending Mike to his desk.

I breathed out as if I had been held under water. The tension I felt was still very evident, but with Mike gone I felt some of it dissipate. I really didn't feel like being between two teenage boys while they fought on my first day, even though I had only now just seen Edward I was pretty sure he could kick Mike's ass. I wouldn't say that Mike didn't deserve it.

I glanced over to Edward sitting next to me, but his eyes were fixed on the desk. I took the moment to observe him a little better. He seemed absolutely furious. His jaw was clenched as if he was restraining himself from doing something, and I could see red creeping up the skin on his neck. I was going to look away, but I found myself transfixed with him. I wanted nothing more than to find out why he was so upset and to fix it.

I couldn't figure out why I needed to make sure that this stranger knew that I didn't think the things that Mike was talking about. Well, at least that I didn't think them yet. I would make my own observations on this subject before I judged.

Never had I wanted to be accepted by some random person in my life before, and this completely irritated me. Who was Edward Cullen to me at the moment? He was a just a guy that had walked in on a conversation about how unstable he was while I listened. Why did I feel so guilty over an offense that I hadn't implemented against a person I really didn't know?

As tried to decipher what I was thinking, his eyes suddenly flinted away from the desk top and stared straight into mine. I wanted to slap myself as I noted that he had flecks of gold in his green eyes. When did I become so strangely superficial? At least that's what I thought it was at first, but then I felt like I was looking at something more than just his gorgeous eyes. As cliché as it sounds, it was like I was peering into his soul. He looked curiously vulnerable and hurt as well as infuriated, all at the same time.

I felt like a butterfly pinned down by him. Every time I tried to flutter away, I failed under his gaze. I couldn't look away or formulate any thought in my head. He just glared at me with what seemed to be unbridled hatred.

I was horrified to think that perhaps he thought I was agreeing with Mike. I couldn't know what kind of person Edward was. I had only met him this minute, but it wasn't going as well as I would have hoped. I tried not to have Mike's opinions overcome any impression that Edward could give me on his own, but I had to admit that a small shock of fear threatened to cause me to instantly judge him. The saying don't judge a book by its cover radiated through my mind. At the same time I sardonically thought, "What if the cover looks beautiful yet dangerous and enraged?"

Perhaps he decided to have mercy on me because he moved his disgusted glower back to the top of the desk. Most of the class went this way as the teacher droned on with his lecture. I would try and catch a glimpse of Edward to see if he was still angry, but my fear would win out and I would fail to look beyond the curtain of my hair.

I thought I could feel his eyes on me more than once. When I tried to divert my attention elsewhere I caught Mike Newton looking over at the desk I shared with Edward. He watched us, but would often duck his head behind his text book to seem inconspicuous I suppose. This led me to believe that Edward had looked at me a few times in the duration of the class.

There was a knock at the door, and what appeared to be an administrator poked her head in. She held a walkie-talkie in her hand, and asked if Mr. Banner could join her in the hallway. He warned us to keep our seats and to keep quiet, but the moment he left the class erupted with loud conversations. I took the opportunity to try and look at Edward again, but he was looking at his cell phone as if he was impatiently waiting for something. I turned away from him and looked around the room wishing I had a distraction.

Mike stayed in his seat, but he smiled over to me many times while he talked to Tyler. I tried not to look at Mike again lest he think I wanted him to become a rescuer from Edward.

I spotted Jessica at the other end of the room talking animatedly with other girls. They pulled out a magazine and huddled over it giggling to each other. I already surmised that Jessica and I had little in common, and therefore probably wouldn't forge a deep friendship. Watching her enjoy relationships with other girls made me feel strangely resentful and perhaps envious. Sometimes I wondered why I couldn't just be like everyone else.

I stopped looking around the room of new faces, and kept my eyes down. I doodled aimlessly in my notebook feeling more forlorn than I had since leaving Phoenix.

I sighed out frustrated that the day had not only featured me sitting uncomfortable next to a fuming stranger, but it was also more boring than I could have anticipated. It was then that I heard Edward's hand slam on the table making me jump in surprise and turn to him. I looked at him and then to his hand splayed across the table.

No one had seemed to notice his fury in action but me in the loud room. He glanced down at his hand and then slowly reeled it back as if sorry he had hit the table. He looked even more livid than before, but his eyes didn't seem as hard against me. They looked almost apologetic. I chanced it, and tried to talk to him. Perhaps his remorse would make him a little kinder towards me.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly hoping he would hear me. He eyed me for a long moment.

"What do you care?" He scoffed picking his phone up and texting quickly on it. Perhaps he had reacted to something he had received on his phone?

"I...I…just wanted to make sure you were okay. You seem really upset." I stuttered pathetically.

He looked back up to me. He seemed to be examining my sincerity. I tried not to feel any more uncomfortable than I felt already when his eyes looked me up and down. Was he checking me out? Why would he do that? And why didn't that freak me out? Why the hell had I derived some form of satisfaction from it?

"I'm fine." He finally said as if bored with me. He turned back to his phone, but didn't seem to be actually doing anything with it. I felt frozen still turned to him watching as he tried to ignore me.

"Okay." I let out slowly as I moved myself to face the front.

When I turned my attention away from him, he set his phone on the desk between us. I wanted to take off one of my boots and start hitting it. I was unsure why I was suddenly incited to resort to violence, but I couldn't stand being in this situation anymore.

I figured I could not hurt Edward Cullen due to my weakness, but his phone could suffer. If I was as heartless as I imagined in my strange daydreams in that moment, then he would be mourning over many broken pieces of plastic that once resembled his damn phone.

He did something that seemed very strange to me then. He laid his head down on his forearms turning away from me and let out a shudder. What was wrong with him? And why the hell did I give a crap?

Right then I decided that I hated Edward. I hated him for making me care for this insolent boy who obviously was as unstable as I had been warned about. I even started considering talking to Mr. Banner after class to get my seat switched. I would sit by myself if that's what it took. I would suffer though projects without a lab partner for the rest of the year. I probably had done all the labs already back in Phoenix for god's sake anyway.

But then I couldn't even stay angry at him. I realized I really hated myself. I hated myself for my self-imposed exile to make my mother happy. I hated myself for sacrificing once more for her fickle needs, and I hoped that this time my sacrifice would actually amount to something. She was newly married to man so much younger than her, and I could only believe her when she tried to assure me like some Beetle that "love was all you need." I scoffed as I thought to myself, "And an absent teenage daughter apparently."

But most of all I hated myself for being so lonely that I was attaching myself to Edward Cullen's feelings and needs already because I, at first, thought him to be the misunderstood underdog.

I couldn't stop staring at his figure. He looked so…defeated. I had the startlingly inclination to reach out and touch him. Maybe pat his shoulder. Perhaps say something comforting like "Its okay." or "You're not alone." But I didn't know if he was alone. He could be as alone as I felt, and would he even want reassurance from me? What would I say? Probably something corny like, "Want to be alone together?" It sounded like a really forward pick up line.

"I'm sorry you're upset." I almost covered my mouth realizing I had blurted it out to him. He turned his head around to face me as it still rested on his forearms.

"Why are you sorry?" He asked quietly. I could see him resisting an eye roll. It was as if he was questioning himself why he was even addressing me again.

"I don't want you to think that I was agreeing with Mike. I'm new here and I don't know you..."

"You're right. You don't know me. So don't be sorry." He cut me off as if it was a reprimand.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but decided not to and slammed it shut. He furrowed his brow as if sorry he had said anything at all, but he didn't turn away from me yet. I found myself releasing an unbelieving chuckle, and I nodded up and down. I could take a hint, or more like a bunch of hints. Really rude hints.

I wished I wasn't as speechless as I was. I wish I had the guts to say something back defending myself. Even better I wished I had gone to those psych classes my mom had audited on a whim last fall from the university. Maybe I could have responded smartly and been able to figure out what the hell his problem was. And then as if to prove that I might benefit myself from those psych classes, I actually apologized again.

"Sorry." I muttered as if it was an uncontrollable tick.

He chuckled then with a humorless smile. He watched me intently for a little while longer before he sighed and turned away again.

I finished the last bite of cereal and lifted my bowl sipping the left over milk. When I brought the bowl down Alice was standing in the kitchen in front of me with a huge smile startling me.

"Jesus!" I cried out. The bowl clattered on the table before it fell to the ground. She moved to pick up the bowl.

"Wow. I'm glad you are pig and drank all your milk because that would have been a real mess." She held the bowl waving in front of my face, and then tossed into the sink.

"How did you get in here?" I said still breathless. She held up a single key.

"Key. You know the one you gave me six months ago." She shrugged as if she was talking to a five year old.

"Yes, I see that. I mean how did you get in here so quietly?" I replied perturbed that she had surprised me so ruthlessly. She sat down across from me.

"Oh." She lifted her foot up in the air. "Ballet shoes. They're in style this summer, but I find them very practical. Apparently they are very effective in being sneaky too." Alice smiled deviously at me. I gave her a look to show I was not impressed, but she continued being bubbly and guiltless.

"Well if you are thinking practical perhaps I should thank my lucky stars." I countered back sarcastically.

Alice was a makeover queen, and I had slipped through her vice like grasp many times. I feared now though as I started to make true progress in my recovery that she would glue stilettos to my feet.

"Yes, you should be happy because I bought you some. They are in the front room. Come on." Yes, some things never change. Alice Cullen is one of those things.