"Bella. Bella? Are you okay?"

A rather large hairy hand swung in and out of my vision, bringing me sharply back to reality. My eyes travelled towards the owner of the hand. There I found the kind, caring but now worried face of my dad, Charlie.

"You feeling okay Bells?" the tone of his voice mirrored his face.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm grand dad…just got lost in my train of thought." I had been staring out the car window, at what was now my new school. A structure, tiny in comparison to my former school. It was red brick with wide green spaces around it and cement paving linking each section of the building to each other and the main office. The building itself seemed relatively harmless, I was more worried about the students inside.

"Well dad, I better get going. Don't want to be late on my first day." I forced what I hoped what was a convincing smile onto my face and leaned over to give Charlie a quick peck on the cheek .

"Okay, hunny. Good luck. I'll pick you up straight after school."

I flung the door open and was just about to get out when he spoke again.

" And Bells? Try to have a good day. You could be very happy here" He smiled encouragingly and I tried to share his optimism. I really did.

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As I exited the car and made my way across the car park I could feel dozens of eyes watching me. In a town as small as Forks, a new kid could obviously be spotted a mile off. I kept my head down and focused on the loud, trashy music being emitted from my headphones. I scurried onwards to the school's office to retrieve my brand new time table.

Oh crap! Double art history first thing in the morning?!?.. Ah well… at least no more Irish

I made it through the first five classes without bashing into anything, tripping up or colliding with anyone. I was beginning to think that this was going to be an alright day. I kept to myself in most of the classes. Too restrained by my initial shyness to make much conversation with those whom I shared a desk with. Still I was fairly upbeat…Until lunchtime that is.

Shite…

Where was I going to sit? I didn't want to sit on my own and seem like a loner but I also didn't want to intrude on anyone else's table.

Crap!

When the bell rung out for lunch, I slowly made my way to the cafeteria. As each step took me closer the wave of profanities surging though my mind became more and more intense as panic started to set in. I joined the lunch queue, hoping the answer to my dilemma would emerge from the blue. Five minutes…..Ten minutes went by..… I was getting closer and closer to the register but no closer to a solution.

Shite! Bollocks! Fuck!

It was then that my saviour bounced forward to solve my predicament. She was a small beautiful, pixyish looking girl with raven spiky hair. She grabbed my hand and begun to pump it up and down enthusiastically .

"Hi! I'm Alice!" She exclaimed. Her voice was like tinkling wind chimes.

"I know you're new here so I though you might like to come and sit over with me and my friends." She beamed at me, gesturing towards a table filled with rowdy, laughing teens my age.

Ah sure why not!

"That would be awesome! Cheers!" . As soon as the words left my mouth, her face brightened even more so. Something I had not thought possible.

"You're Irish?!?" Her voice reached octaves I knew mine could never reach and her eyes sparkled. My accent had obviously revealed my origins. I had never thought of my accent being that strong, but obviously here it was about as inconspicuous as a flying brick.

"Yup. From Dublin. "

"Wow! That's so awesome! The guys are just gonna LOVE you!" she squealed. She was so loud and bubbly that her excitement became contagious and soon I was almost actually skipping along with her back to the table at which her friends were sitting. When we reached it Alice began calling out the names of each of the people and pointing to them in turn. All of them seemed friendly enough. A mix of girls and boys, most fitting into the rocker or emo stereotype. Two people stood out for me. Both for bad reasons. One girl Lauren, a blond who was pretty until she opened her mouth, looked me up and down and glared hostilely at me. I had become centre of attention. Everyone was more interested in talking to the new girl rather than her whine on about some guy she had met at the weekend. She seemed especially the annoyed that Mike's attention was no longer on her. Mike on the other hand liked me too much and did little to hide this fact. His eyes roamed my body and made me feel self conscious.

I now wish my top wasn't so low cut…

He had a cute baby face and boyish charm but he really wasn't my type. I liked my guys tough and manly, not puppy dog cute. Not that I was in any way, shape or form, mentally ready to be in a relationship of any degree. My trust in guys had been completely shattered.

Despite Lauren and Mike conversation flowed easily and I was starting to feel at ease. These were my kind of people. Crazy, but in the best way possible. All too soon it was time for classes again.

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Finally my last two classes was a double Chemistry

Woo Chemistry! Awesome!

Again as was routine since the start of the day, when I entered the classroom I approached the teacher and stood awkwardly at the front of the room until the teacher was kind enough to assign me a seat.

"Welcome Bella. Okay. Well the only free seat is beside Mr. Cullen there by the window."

My gaze followed the direction of Mr O'Neil's arm and my eyes landed on a rather exquisite creature. "Mr. Cullen" looked up at me upon hearing his name. His bronze hair was perfectly dishevelled and his emerald gaze was striking. His face was nice too. I stumbled over to my new desk with a lack of grace that only I seem to posses and my cheeks started to heat up as his stare never left me. I unceremoniously plonked my butt down on the chair and almost broke some expensive lab equipment when swinging my bag off my shoulder.

Smooth Bella. Real Smooth.

I glanced over at him and saw that he was suppressing a smile.

"Hey, I'm Edward, Edward Cullen. I guess you're my new Chem buddy." A crooked grin graced his face and my stomach did summersaults in response.

"Bella" I said, extending my hand in greeting. "And yeah it would seem so." I smiled in reply but somehow I didn't think mine had the same affect as his had on me. Our attention was soon snapped back to Mr. O'Neil at the front of the room as he began a lively lecture on the Mole. Though engrossed in the Mole and its extensive uses I was hyper aware of my breathing and even the smallest of movements I made because of the Greek God sitting beside me. Dear god this was going to be a long double.

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"Hey Bells! So how was your first day? Hell, borderline torture?" This was the question with which Charlie greeted me with as I entered the car after my long first day. I thought for a moment before answering the simple question. I had made new friends, Alice especially, who had invited me to stay over tomorrow evening in her's, most of my new teachers seemed decent enough, and then of course there was my rather dashing new Chemistry partner Edward Cullen . All in all it had been a good day. Maybe this whole fresh start could really work. Maybe I would be able to put the past where it belonged and move on with my life. I was finally feeling hopeful that I could leave my lurking shadows and demons back in Ireland. That a bright positive future was ahead of me here in the small town of rainy Forks.

"Yeah , the hot poker, scalding water kind of torture" I joked letting a broad smile envelope my face.