I knew that I was lucky. I had a face that any guy would kill for, lots of money in the bank, and a nice Volvo that I drove to school in. College wouldn't be hard to afford, and girls were swooning at my feet. My brothers were the stars of the football team, and my sisters could easily take turns winning homecoming and prom queen.

But for the same reasons I was unlucky. I could simply dazzle people into doing what I wanted, simply by accident. And with all of the money that everyone knew my family had, I could imagine what those yearning girls were after. With all of the perks, how could I tell if anyone was being real with me?

I thought that, despite my financial status and good fortune, I had it pretty bad.

I didn't think that after lunch the day that she arrived. The town had been buzzing about the police chief's daughter coming to live with him after seventeen years. I had seen her on occasion during her annual two-week visit, but had never met her. When she walked into the cafeteria, I didn't even have to talk to Isabella Swan to know that she was suffering. For reasons worth complaining about. Just looking at her, I wondered how I had ever thought that my luck had been torture in disguise. This girl was the tortured one.

My sibilings' conversation no longer held my interest. I spent the rest of lunch staring at the new girl, which I knew would probably make her feel even more uncomfortable, but at least I wasn't staring at her in the odd way. I was sure my face was composed into an expression of concern. It didn't seem to make a difference, though. Isabella never took her eyes off of her lunch tray.

What possibly could have happened to someone to make them hurt like that? I wondered why she had finally come to Forks after all this time of living with her mother. Did her mother kick her out? Did she choose to leave? And if she did choose, why move here from somewhere like Phoenix? Why not move in with some other relative?

I looked at my sister, Alice. She was probably the perfect candidate for welcoming Isabella, if Isabella was interested in socializing. Alice never pried. She was cheery and high-spirited. It was amazing that Alice didn't have more friends than she did, but at the same time, that was her choice. My brothers and I were each good-looking and Rosalie and Alice had to deal with girls who tried to be friendly with them to get close to us, and they had devastatingly good looks of their own. Alice chose her life of solitude just as we chose ours. Rosalie almost welcomed it. She loved attention, but none of the guys here were good enough for her.

Isabella caught me staring at her only a couple of times, but unlike most people, I couldn't read her that well, just by looking at her. I couldn't tell if she thought I was a freak, if she was just one of those girls hoping I would ask her out, or if she knew that I was trying to be friendly. No matter how many times she looked in my direction, though. I never let my eyes drift. I knew around me it must have looked rude, but I felt if I stopped watching her for even one moment, it would get worse. That didn't seem possible, but it felt that way.

My spirits were both lifted and lowered at the same time when I discovered that Isabella was in my Biology class. It made me happy that I could attempt to be friendly with her without it being awkward (The only available seat was next to me. What wouldn't be normal about a lab partner being friendly?). But at the same time, it was sad to see anyone look that depressed.

"Hello. I'm Edward Cullen. You must be Isabella," I started when she sat down next to me. I tried to give her the warmest smile I could put on my face. Maybe my ability to dazzle would help in this situation.

"It's Bella," she snapped, without as much as a smile. Wow. She was worse off than I thought. Or maybe she didn't like thinking that I was taking pity on her or something. Either way, no one had ever lashed at me like that, not even my parents when I was in trouble.

I didn't have much time to ask anything else, because right then, Mr. Banner came in.

"I'm sure it is no surprise," he began, "but we have a new student. Everyone, please give a warm welcome to Isabella Swan. Isabella, would you like to tell us about yourself?" he inquired.

"Not particularly. Except that I go by Bella," she announced, more polite than she had with me. At least she could maintain some sort of manners, despite whatever was up her ass.

"And what brings you to Forks, Bella?" Mr. Banner wondered. Couldn't he see that she was bothered? One would think that he would have enough common sense to just leave her alone.

"Oh, the chariot that was supposed to drop me off at hell missed its turn and dropped me off a few layers too soon. Actually, many layers, considering how cold it is here," she commented, almost in a mumble.

She thought that she deserved hell. Even though I had no ties to her whatsoever, I had to watch her. Didn't anyone see how badly she was hurting herself? I knew that I deserved detentions when I got them, but that didn't mean that I didn't try to talk my way out of them. Even if she believed that she deserved hell, wouldn't she try to get out of it anyway?

Bella was sitting alone at lunch the next day. I had no reason to want to, but I wanted to befriend her. I had no implications, no signs to go off of, but I just knew that there had to be more behind the sad eyes and sunken face. Forks high had gotten a few new students over the past few years, none of which acted like Bella. So it was definitely more than just loneliness.

Alice eyed me suspiciously when I left the table, but I didn't answer the question in her eyes. Instead I walked, without a falter in my step, to the table where Bella sat. Bella looked up at me cautiously.

"What do you want?" she wondered harshly when I put my hand on the back of the seat across from her.

"Is this seat taken?" I asked, gesturing to the chair underneath my hand.

"Just take it and go," she replied. She obviously thought that I meant to carry it to another table. It was as if she wanted to repel people.

"What I meant was 'would it be alright if I sit with you today?'" I rephrased.

"Why would you want to?" she questioned.

"Because I thought you might want someone to talk to," I explained.

"Trust me, there's only one person who I want to talk to right now, and trust me, he's not exactly listening," Bella stated.

"I don't think I understand..."

"Good. It's better that way," she told me, with a sense of finality.

Bella puzzled me. She was definitely the suffer in silence type. But who didn't want to share there hurt? As the phrase goes: shared joy is double joy, shared sorrow is half sorrow. Getting it off of her chest might help her lighten up, but apparently she didn't want that.

"What do you want to talk to him about?" I wondered. "Maybe I can be of at least the slightest assistance."

Bella seemed to think about it for a while. Probably considering the pros and cons of letting any anger out on someone she didn't exactly care as much for, or at least practicing.

"I wanted to ask him a few questions," she finally told me.

"Like what?" I pried, feeling slightly guilty. She was probably really vulnerable right now. I didn't know if she would be telling me this on a more sane day for her. Did this count as taking advantage of her weakness? At that point, I didn't care. The more I knew about her, the more I could help her, and maybe she would thank me for it later. Maybe not, but it was worth a shot.

She paused again, gathering her thoughts, maybe. Figuring out the best way to word the questions in her head.

"If a choice that you made impacted someone else's life greatly, would you discuss it with them first? Shouldn't you? Especially if you care for that person a lot? And what if you knew that that person thought that you cared about them, but you really didn't? Wouldn't it be nice to let them down easy before making a choice that would ruin their life if they thought that you still cared?" she reeled, making less sense the further she went.

I tried and tried, but the last few questions could piece themselves together in my mind. Obviously someone had made a bad decision that impacted her. And it was someone she had cared for. The only other thing that I caught was that there were implications that the person didn't care for her in return. Since that was all that I could pick out, I went back to the first question.

"Well, every choice that you make eventually impacts someone else. My sister, Alice, never shuts up about things like that. Even the slightest change in plans can change the future completely, so it's impossible to know exactly who your choices would effect, at least in the long run, making it impossible to talk to them. But in a way, I guess you would be right. If the person knew who their decision would immediately effect, they should talk to them, especially if it's someone that they care about. And there really shouldn't be a question about it if it effects the other person negatively," I offered. "I don't think I understand what you meant by the last few questions, though," I continued.

"It doesn't matter. It's a moot point, anyway," she replied, letting it go.

"Do you think you'll be ready when you talk to him?" I asked, not wanting the conversation to end. I knew once it did, that her face would fall. Her eyes would lose the intensity that they had gained when she rattled off her questions, desperate for some kind of answer.

"No. Well, even if I was, he wouldn't listen. He's not exactly someone I can easily reach right now. And he never seemed to listen to me before. I mean he would listen, but didn't exactly take it to heart. Why would this be any different?" she asked me. Then things really didn't start making sense. If he didn't pay attention to her, way care about him? It seemed as if, while it wasn't her fault, Bella had let herself get hurt.

"If he never listened to you, why would you care what he did? He obviously didn't care, so he wasn't good enough for you. You shouldn't let what he does bother you. If he doesn't pay attention, he's not worth your time," I assured her. "We'd better get to class before we're late, partner," I reminded her.

I didn't want to be any more creepy by waiting for her, so I went ahead to biology without her. If I had one more tardy in biology, I would get a detention. I had better things to do with my time than sit around with good old Mr. Banner.

"Wait," Bella requested. I turned just about when she caught up with me. "Thanks," she said, with a small smile. "A lot"

Well, it wasn't a guarantee of a friendship, but it was a start.