Disclaimer: I pity the fool that thinks I own anything!

I write most of my chapters ahead of time, just so that I'm not scrambling to release something for you guys. I'm kind of slow at writing; I can't just sit and write a whole chapter in one sitting.

AU means Alternate Universe, in case you were wondering. (:

Special thank you to emoTWiLiGHT and twilightcrazy123321 for being my first reviewers! This chapter is dedicated to you!

Ear Candy: Let Go (Frou Frou Cover) – Boys Like Girls
Courage, Robert – Meg & Dia

Learning To Fall
A Twilight fanfic by Starfire Star

Chapter Two: Hello, Stranger

"I-I…" I stuttered, my face hot and bright red, I was sure, as I froze in position on top of this absolutely gorgeous, breath-taking male. This was more embarrassing than the dance recital I had to perform in several years back…. when I was turned down by one of the cutest guys at school in front of the entire student body… when I wore that pumpkin costume for Halloween when I was seven…

His green eyes locked with mine as he gave me a crooked smirk and tilted his head. "You're not the Pizza Delivery Boy." Nothing remotely coherent left my mouth. All I could do was gawk and whisper, "crap, crap, crap!" to myself without making any effort to move, for reasons I didn't know myself.

A warm, friendly smile reached his face. Having the breath knocked out of me, I closed my eyes, trying to count to ten and resurface. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get off this carpet. We've had about 50 visitors and it's not exactly the ideal piece of furniture I'd like to lay on."

"Oh!" I gasped, suddenly able to find my voice. I quickly got up, smoothed my hair and began apologizing. "I'm so, so sorry." Sorry I acted like a complete dork in front of a guy who was a complete stranger. I bit my lip, hoping and at the same time not hoping that he would walk away, and I wouldn't have the chance to embarrass myself further.

No such luck. He merely brushed off his long-sleeved off-white shirt and flashed me that same crooked grin, this time with teeth as he shut the door behind me. "No harm done." I couldn't avoid his gaze any longer as he continued to stare at me without moving. I stood frozen in my own position, and finally looked at him. With another tilt of his head, he asked "Do I know you?"

"I doubt it," I mumbled at this guy's perfect features. He could be a model. "Hmm," was all he said. He seemed to notice a girl staring at us, clearly thinking that I was a klutz, judging by the look on her face. I forgot that we were in a room full of people I didn't know. My cheeks burned, hotter this time.

A display of delayed reaction occurred when a short girl with a sleek black haircut ran from around the corner. She had small, delicate features. "Edward, what the hell happened?" She demanded in her high, soprano voice. Her eyes widened as they darted from him, to me. "That… that's not the Delivery Boy…" she repeated Edward's words. A wide grin spread on her face as she lunged forward, hand outstretched.

"Hi, I'm Alice Brandon," she exclaimed, shaking my hand. "I don't believe we've met!" I dumbly nodded and opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

I was reminded of the boy, whose name I now knew was Edward, as he coughed. "Alice, you're scaring her." Alice stuck her tongue out at him. Edward flashed a grin in my direction and said, "Sorry, she has social problems." Alice gave him a disapproving look.

"I do not!" she protested. "Anyway! Hi, I'm Alice!" She turned back to Edward. "Edward, you didn't tell me you have a new girlfriend," she frowned at him.

"I'm not his girlfriend," I found my voice, my eyes widening at the thought. He was incredibly way out of my league, I almost snorted. Alice looked at me confusedly. "I know pretty much everyone in this town… but not you. So who are you, then?" Edward stared at me intently as well, awaiting my answer.

"I'm… Bella Swan," I told them, trying not to look like a total ice queen by giving them the biggest smile I could muster, which was still small, considering how horribly embarrassed I still was.

Their eyes grew as wide as saucers as they glanced at each other, and back to me. "You're Charlie Swan's kid…" one of Alice's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh my God, all this time I thought he was talking about a boy…" The other hand immediately pointed an accusing finger at Edward. "The party was his idea, I swear!" Edward glared at her.

I furrowed my eyebrow in confusion. Then I realized what she had meant. "I'm not here to bust your party and rat you out on my dad," I told them, surprised. "I came here because I… I thought that… uh, I live here, do I not?" I asked, flustered. I hated embarrassing myself, and I'd done it so many times in this night alone.

Edward looked as confused as I did, but Alice merely sighed and shook her head. "Uh oh. I guess Charlie didn't tell you." She shrugged. "I guess we will. But for now, you look like you could use a drink…" she grabbed my arm. "Wait! My suitcases are out on the front porch…"

"I'll get them," Edward nodded as he dove past us for the door. I gave him a grateful, feeble smile and shyly murmured, "Thanks." He winked at me. "Don't let Alice take advantage of you… refuse the drinks if she pushes them." Alice, still holding onto my arm, led me toward the kitchen. It looked slightly familiar, but it was larger, with a large island in the middle with stools around it, which I guess served as the breakfast area.

Sitting on one stool with a book in his hand and reading glasses on his face was a boy who looked around my age, with blond hair. He was eating an apple. I believe the title of the book was "Architecture for Dummies". He raised an eyebrow as he saw Alice dragging me toward him. We sat on two stools across from him.

Alice flashed him a smile and said, "Hey, Jazz, hit us up with two drinks," I shot her a disbelieving look. She rolled her eyes at me and looked at 'Jazz'. "Coke," she said to him, throwing me a glance. "You know that here in Forks, as long as we don't get into any trouble, no one really cares whether or not we drink."

"Hey, my Dad's the landlord and Police Chief of this town. I don't think he'd be setting a very good example if he just let these kinds of things slip," I replied, daring to remind her that my dad was indeed the landlord. Alice laughed. "Are you of age yet, anyway?" she asked me.

"No," I admitted. "You?" Alice shook her head. I watched Jasper carefully as he got up from his stool.

"Don't worry; he won't spike your drink. Jasper's too interested in reading books and being all Mr. Smarty-Pants to actually get in your pants," Alice chirped, watching me. Jasper frowned. Alice smiled at him sweetly.

"Can't you get your own coke?" he complained.

Alice sighed, leapt off her stool and reached into the cooler.

Jasper didn't pick up his book; instead he looked at me, and then looked at Alice. "Who's this?" he nodded toward me, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"Bella Swan."

"Charlie has a daughter?"

"I seriously thought it was a son."

Alice looked at me apologetically and said, "Sorry, Bella! This is Jasper Whitlock; he lives here… as well…" I stared at Alice in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me," I gasped. Jasper gave Alice a disapproving look. "So Charlie didn't tell his own daughter that he doesn't live here anymore? That this is now a boarding house…" he trailed off as Alice put a finger to her lips, her eyes wide as she watched me, a look of horror on my face.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to make a phone call," I said, trying to make my voice as sweet as possible, seeing as my perplexed expression couldn't leave my face.

I whipped out my cell phone and immediately dialled Charlie's number at the station. No such luck. I tried his cell. It rang four times before he picked up. "Dad, you have some explaining to do!" I hissed as I ran a hand through my hair.

"What's wrong?"

"You didn't tell me that you turned the house into a boarding house!"

"I'm so sorry, Bells! It must've slipped my mind!" I could hear panic in Charlie's voice. I didn't want to stress him out further, so I kept my voice as calm as possible and asked a few questions.

"When did it happen…?" I asked.

"I made the plans during your last visit…" Charlie trailed off. I could hear him tensely awaiting my reaction.

"You made plans while I was here!?" I exclaimed. "And you never told me!" The only thing that Forks had going for it (as far as I was concerned) was Charlie's beautiful house, small yet peaceful with a large yard...

"I didn't think I'd actually follow through with it. That somehow I'd change my mind. But when you left after your last visit, I had the sinking feeling that you didn't want to come back. I mean, you're growing up and you'll be off to University soon. The phone calls we had made me feel like renovating the house and moving was a good decision. Every time I tried to make plans for you to visit you changed the subject…" I knew he was trying to make me not feel badly for what I had done.

"Dad… I'm so, so sorry," I whispered, tears forming in my eyes. "I was so stupid, I made this mistake and I know I'll regret it." The tears started falling freely now. I didn't know what to say. It was clear that I had hurt Charlie.

"Bells, it's alright. It's actually one of the best investments I've ever made, and I feel that letting the house go was giving me a fresh start…" he said. I was comforted that Charlie wanted to move on from my mother, that he could finally let go. But I still felt horrible as those terrible memories flew into my mind, the reasons why I didn't visit Charlie.

"I don't live far, anyway. I actually live a block away," he said. "You could probably see the house from the roof if you wanted to." I wiped the corners of my eyes with my sleeve. Something dawned on me. "Dad, how did you get the money to renovate the house?" I asked. Being Chief Swan in the small town of Forks wasn't exactly a high income job.

Charlie hesitated. "Well, to tell you the truth Bella, I had been saving up all these years to help pay tuition money. But Renee told me that was something that she and Phil would like to do, considering how Phil has a good, steady job now. So I pooled all of the savings into renovating the house."

I gasped. Renee never told me Charlie wanted to take part in helping with tuition. I was upset again, fresh tears collecting in my eyes. "It's alright, Bell," Charlie spoke to me. "You're here now, and that's all that matters. I know you loved the house, and how much I loved it too," he coughed. "But it's time to move on and let other people live there lives there." I nodded, the last of my tears falling. Breathe, Bella, breathe.

"O-okay, Dad," I hiccupped.

"Listen, do you want to go over to the house?" Charlie asked. "I think I gave Alice a spare key… hey, I was wondering, where are you? At the boarding house? What's going on there?" He didn't seem too suspicious or worried. "I am the landlord, you know."

"Yeah, I'm at the boarding house, and uh, Jasper and Alice are engaged in a… a heated game of… chess," I blurted the last word out. I was surprised I even remembered their names.

Charlie seemed surprised, too. "You met Alice and Jasper, huh?"

"Yes."

I could hear the smile in his voice. "Alice is one of a kind. She's the light of this town, such a friendly and sweet girl. She knows practically everyone, after only a little over a year living here. And Jasper, that boy is going to make something of himself one day…" he coughed, realizing he went off-topic. "As I was saying before, did you want to go over to the house? I think gave Alice a spare key."

"Uh, okay, if she has a key, I'll be at the house," I agreed. "Is my truck there too? I'd love to see it again." Charlie laughed in reply, confirming that my truck was there.

"Alright. I think I'll be real late tonight, we still have to write up the arson report and a couple of others, too," he told me. "By the way, I haven't exactly tidied up the space for your room, but I'm sure you can find it. There not much work to be done."

"Okay. Bye Dad, I love you," I said.

"I love you too, Bells."

I hung up my cell and went back to the kitchen. I found Jasper sitting there with a large, muscular guy with black curly hair joking around with questionable drinks.

Jasper nodded at me. "Emmett, this is Bella. She's Charlie's daughter." Emmett winked at me and said to Jasper, "I never would've guessed."

"Bella, this is Emmett McCarty. He lives here, too," Jasper continued.

"Nice to meet you, Bella," Emmett reached forward to shake my hand.

"Likewise."

"So, are you living here? No, right? Living with your Dad?" he asked, taking a sip of his drink. Before I could respond, Alice danced in, with Edward behind her.

"We got your suitcases up to your room, and I unpacked them Bella," Alice sang, sitting on one of the stools next to me. Edward sat on my other side, eyebrows raised. I raised my eyebrows as well, taking the coke Jasper handed me. "Hi Emmett," she greeted.

"Alice, do you think she's really going to stay here? She'll probably stay with her Dad," Jasper said as Alice chugged down her drink.

"By the way, how do I have a room here?" I asked, confused.

"Well, no one ever thought to choose your room… I mean, I was the first to come and live here, but I kind of thought it was an unspoken rule not to go into your room," Alice said thoughtfully. "You Dad cleared it out, of course, and he did mention that 'my kid used to stay there during visits…" she trailed off, gauging my reaction. Sure enough, I looked down at my hands.

"And yes, you are staying here Bella. And don't bother asking me if I have a key to Charlie's house, because I don't," Alice smiled. "Finally, another girl! Now the ratio is even, boys," she smirked at them. "Charlie will probably tell you to stay with him, but you're always welcome here Bella."

I smiled at her. This was going better than I thought. I couldn't believe they actually wanted to get to know me. Hopefully it wasn't on account that I was the landlord's daughter.

"By the way, Edward, Tanya didn't come," Emmett said in a teasing voice. "Guess she had a hot date or something."

"Shut up," Edward muttered, setting down his drink. "I don't like her anymore."

"Of course not, considering you've liked her since you moved here," Jasper chimed in, laughing with Emmett.

"Don't worry, Edward. I'll help you get the girl of your dreams. You're just too much of a gentleman for Tanya Kent… you're not wild enough. Tanya loves bad boys," Alice told him. I took another swig of the coke, wondering who Tanya Kent was.

"It's fine, Alice," Edward said, shaking his head. I looked at him. He caught my eye and smiled. I immediately felt my pulse quicken. Despite this, I managed a feeble smiled back.

"Hey, does anyone know where Rose is?" Emmett asked, setting down his empty glass. "I haven't seen her all day."

Everyone else shook their heads. "Rose is another tenant," Alice informed me, swirling around the ice cubes in her glass. At that moment, we heard a key unlock the door and open. Immediately I heard a few people call, "Hey Rosalie." There was even one guy who had the nerve to whistle and yell, "Ros-alie Hale!" A tall, beautiful, model-esque blond came waltzing into the room, her eyes sparkling.

"I just came from the greatest date ever…" she said, sighing. She was dressed in quite the sophisticated outfit, a navy blue low-cut cocktail dress. Her hair was in soft curls that framed her face. She set her purse on the counter. Everyone looked at each other.

"Rose…" Alice began hesitatingly. Rose's eyes fluttered open, looking at her. "What?" her eyes immediately flickered to me. "Oh. Hello... I'm Rosalie Hale, who are you?"

"Bella Swan," I nodded, amazed at how sophisticated she was.

"Nice to meet you. Are you a new tenant?" Rosalie asked conversationally. I suppose she couldn't remember Charlie's last name? Before I could respond, Alice chimed in. "Yes."

"Alice predicted that this summer would be the best one, and it is, so far," Rosalie sighed. "I'm glad I came here." Jasper poured another drink and slid it toward her. She gratefully nodded. "Thanks."

The guys glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. Alice smirked. "My predictions are always right."

Rosalie, still in her dreamy state, asked, "How was everyone's day? Bella, when did you get here?"

I bit my lip and recounted my boring, uneventful plane trip. When I mentioned I came from Phoenix, Arizona, surprise was evident on every one of their faces. "I guess I don't look like I'm from Phoenix," I admitted shyly. Alice shook her head. "There's a lot of stuff that we don't know about you and Charlie, which is a surprise considering it's a small town." I shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "I don't visit very often."

"How long are you staying here?" Edward spoke, his voice casual. I stared at his face, his features still amazing me. "The whole summer," I replied, taking my chances and giving him a smile. Alice coughed. Emmett immediately slapped the book that Jasper was reading out of his hand as he reached for it. "Architecture for dummies? Look, bro, you're not a dummy, but this architecture studying crap is getting on my nerves." Jasper glared at him.

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Take a break, buddy." He slapped him on the back. "What is wrong with you? There are plenty of nice girls here…"

Jasper let it go. He and Emmett didn't look like the type that fought often. I wondered how they were all related, if they even were. I watched as Jasper shrugged and refilled all of our glasses. "Let's have a toast, shall we?"

Alice clapped her hands. "Yes! To my brilliant idea of throwing this party!" Everyone laughed.

"To meeting new people," Rosalie said. "I second that," Edward agreed. Was it just my imagination or did he look my way?

"To shopping."

"To roommates."

"To being young and carefree!"

"To us."

"To your mom." Emmett grinned. Everyone rolled their eyes. "Real mature, Emmett," Edward said. Emmett chuckled. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

We raised our glasses, clinked them together, and drank.

-

Reviews appreciated (: Hope you enjoyed!

POLL IN PROFILE: This chapter was quite long. So I was wondering, do you guys like reading long chapters, or do you want me to shorten them? Reading sometimes gets tiring (for me, at least) and I like being able to stop and take a break then continue on to the next chapter. So, short or long? The choice is yours!