Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They all belong to the amazingly talented Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 2: Set Up

"I had the feeling that I wasn't alone."

I could hear Charlie downstairs unpacking, so this feeling could not have been brought on by him. And besides, he wasn't one to hover if he knew that I was busy with something. No, this was something else. What it was, however, I couldn't tell. Just brush it off, I thought to myself. It's nothing. As I continued unpacking, I heard the doorbell ring, and a few minutes later, Charlie called up to me.

"Hey Bells, c'mon down here."

I took another quick glance around the room then headed downstairs. As I was walking down the stairs, I noticed Charlie by the front door with a pizza box in his hands, chatting with the delivery guy. When I approached them, Charlie gave me a big grin and a wink. Oh god—this wasn't some lame attempt at trying to find me a man, was it? Because as much as he'd hate to admit it, I'm a big girl. I can find a guy on my own. Though admittedly, I haven't really had a boyfriend. No guy had ever expressed much of an interest in me that way. I felt a blush creep up into my cheeks as I made my way over to Charlie. But I was slightly comforted by the fact that the guy at the door seemed just as embarrassed as me.

"Bella, I want you to meet Jasper Hale. He and his sister, Rosalie, are your age, and live just a block down."

Jasper gave me a timid smile and raised his hand up. "Hey," he said.

"Hi, Jasper," I said shyly.

Charlie looked at the two of us and cleared his throat. "Well, how about I let you kids get acquainted. Bells, I'll, um, get dinner put together." And with that, he very awkwardly backed out of the room.

Jasper and I didn't exactly know what to say. So we just kind of stared at each other. Though he was pretty good looking—tall and blonde—I wasn't really drawn to him in a romantic way. But we couldn't just stand here staring like a couple of immature little kids, so I decided to break the silence.

"Um, Jasper—I'm sorry."

He looked at me with a surprised expression. "About what?"

"That my dad shanghai-d you and forced you into what is very obviously a set up."

He smiled. "Oh, that. Well, it's not really your fault."

"But still," I said, "You're in the middle of working and you get pulled into a house by some crazy guy. That's not exactly normal you know."

This time, he laughed—a very calming sound. "Well then, if it makes you feel better, I accept your apology. And besides, this was my last delivery of the night, so your dad didn't really interfere with my job."

"Ok." I let out a sigh of relief. "That's good. So my dad said you're going to be starting your senior year of high school, too?"

"Yeah, me and my twin sister, Rosalie. We're so excited! Are you?"

"Well, before I get excited about anything, I really need to get myself situated here," I said, gesturing to the area around me.

Jasper chuckled. "I suppose you do have a point there. But hey, I have tomorrow off. Why don't Rose and I come by in the afternoon? We could show you around the city a little."

"Alright, that'd be cool. And I'm sure it'd be more than ok with my dad, so no worries there," I added with a roll of my eyes.

We laughed together. "You're probably right about that," he said.

"Why don't you give me a call tomorrow before you come over? I'll be unpacking some more while my dad's at work, so I'll need to know when I should start getting ready."

"Sure, Bella. Living with a sister has given me much knowledge about a girl's need to match her shoes with her purse," he said with a wicked smile.

"Ugh—whatever, Jasper! It's not like that with me. I just meant having enough time to get all the dust and cobwebs off of my clothes."

"I know, Bella. I was just messing with you! Though for my sister, getting accessories to match is truly a big deal."

I laughed. "Well, I should probably be getting inside. It was nice to talk to you, Jasper."

"You too, Bella. I'll see you tomorrow. And don't worry—I'll call first," he teased with a wink.

"Ha, ha," I said sarcastically. "See you tomorrow."

I stood on the porch and waved to Jasper, then went inside. I thought to myself how nice it was to have found a friend so early in the game—and one that seemed pretty decent at that. I took that as a good omen. So maybe this move to Chicago would actually turn out to be a positive thing.

Hola, everyone! I was super excited after the release of my first chapter. And I was getting such nice feedback from everyone, so I decided to release Chapter two early! But this is the only time I'm putting out three chapters a week. School is starting to gear up now. But no worries, I'll be putting out Chapter 3 on Thursday. Be prepared for an interesting occurence in that one! And like I said, if I feel like I'm at a good place with my writings, I'll put out another chapter on Sundays. But don't come to expect twice a week. I only know that Thursdays for sure are release days. As for this chapter, I don't really know why I decided that Jasper would be the delivery guy. I suppose because next to Edward and Alice, Jasper's probably my favorite! Anyways, please read and review. I appreciate it!