A/N I apologize that this chapter took so long to get out. Between finding out that a friend of mine's mom died suddenly and having her service the same night as the Eclipse midnight premiere, and just plan all the running around from state to state visiting family, my life has just been absolutely craziness. But, on a lighter note, just like before, the response for this story has been amazing! I am now up to 11 reviews and I am so proud of them all. Much love goes out to all of you who have favorited/alterted the story and leave me luvins in the form of reviews. You guys all rock! Just so you know, I know who each and every one of you are because I just might have a folder or two in my email that I have all my "fans" and "reviews" saved in. :)

Much luvins and thanks goes out to my beta Dragonfly336. I love you hard and without you, meh story would be absolute crap. So with that, I leave you with this...

I do not own Twilight or the lovely characters in my story. However...I do own the Remember Me DVD now and a film cell key chain to go along with it I won from a Twitter contest. ;)

Chapter 3 New Beginnings

BPOV

I pulled into the parking lot of Forks High and got out of my truck, making sure to keep my face hidden behind my hair. I was really hoping I could make it to my first class without the whole school population stopping me and asking me questions. Whether it was questions school related questions, personal questions about where I was from originally and what brought me here to this small, podunk town, or the worst yet, what happened to you? This was the question I was dreading most of all.

I actually manage to make it to my first class without anybody stopping me. I was so relieved. My first class just happens to be math. Oh joy of joys. I step into the classroom and find the teacher, Mrs. Cope. She tells me that I can have a seat anywhere and with a very friendly smile welcomes me to Forks High. I thank her, find an empty desk and take my seat. The class begins and Mrs. Cope writes some math problems up on the board.

"Ok class. Today we are going to work in pairs. I have written some math problems on the board that you and your partner need to compute. You have the entire class period to work together. Pick your partners now."

Just then I hear a sweet voice to my right. "Hi! You must be Isabella. I'm Alice Cullen. Wanna be my partner?"

"Umm...Hi. Sure, I'll be your partner. You can call me Bella," I say with a shy smile.

Alice squeals, claps her hands together in excitement and pulls her desk towards mine so we can work together better. I realize at this point that we are going to become great friends. She seems like a very sweet girl. Alice has short, spiky brown hair and is on the shorter side, which is fine with me because so am I. She also has these pretty chocolate brown eyes that just pop right out at me. It doesn't take us long to figure out the answers to the math problems, so after we finish, we sit and talk.

"So, where are you originally from?" Alice asks me. Uh oh. Here we go.

"I'm from Phoenix, Arizona. I lived there most of my life with my mother. She recently died in an accident that happened at our house. There was a gas leak in our stove and when I turned on the light in the kitchen there was an explosion. The next thing I knew I found myself lying in a hospital bed with my father next to me, telling me that my mother was dead." Wow. That seemed a little easier to talk about than I thought. "So, here I am."

Just then my hair moved away from the side my face that I was trying to keep covered. Alice reached out and moved the rest of it out of the way and gave me a very sweet smile.

"Why do you feel like you need to hide yourself away from the world, Bella?" she asked me.

"Because nobody should have to look at such an awful disfiguring scar. It scares some people when I walk by them," I tell her as I looked down at my desk.

Alice grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"Your scar does NOT define who you are. I may have just met you a few minutes ago, but I can just tell you are a sweet person, I'm good with reading people. You are a beautiful person, Bella. Inside and out. No matter what type of scar is on your face."

I feel the tears start to pool in my eyes at the sweetest words she could have said to me. I was wrong though. We weren't going to be great friends; we were going to be the best of friends.

"Thank you so much," I say in a strangled voice. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

Mrs. Cope starts collecting our papers and tells us that she will grade them and we will discuss the answers in tomorrow's class. The bell rings and I pack up my things and turn to Alice.

"It was so nice meeting you. Thank you for asking me to be your partner."

Alice gives me a nice warm smile and puts her hand on my shoulder.

"Of course. I hope to see you in another class today."

I giggled. "Me too."

I go to the rest of my morning classes without too many stares and questions. The next thing I know, it's already time for lunch. I decide that since I brought my lunch that I would sit out in my truck and eat. Besides, it was really nice out and it seems that we don't get too many nice days around these parts since it has been raining for the past 5 days.

I finish up my lunch and start gathering up my things. I hear the bell ring meaning I need to go to my next class, Biology.

I jump out of my truck and start walking towards the school. I happen to notice that I am not hiding behind my hair as much as I was earlier this morning. I think the little pep talk that Alice gave me might have been just what I needed to get my confidence up. I will have to remember to thank her later.

I arrive to my Biology class and Mr. Banner tells me to have a seat next to Edward. Edward? Who is this Edward? Doesn't he remember that I am the new kid in town? It's then that I realize why he said it. This Edward has the only empty chair next to him in the classroom. I look over at him and my confidence I had earlier just got shot right down the toilet. He has to be the most gorgeous being I have ever seen. I start walking over, head down, and my hair covering my face. There is no way a guy like him would look at me, let alone want to talk to me.

I sit down and he introduces himself to me. I introduce myself and class begins. About halfway through class, I drop my pen. I go to pick it up and bump heads with Edward and as we grab for the pen at the exact same time our hands touch. I feel this jolt of electricity go through my arm. I pull back at the same time he does. Did he just feel that too?

"Sorry for bumping your head," I tell him.

"Oh, it's OK. I tend to get in the way a lot," he says. I chuckle to myself when he says this.

Just then, the bell rings and I pick up my stuff and fly for the door. As I am speed walking to my next class, I hit a brick wall and fall to the ground. I realize that I didn't actually hit a wall, but rather I ran into a very tall blonde girl who is giving me the evil eye. Oh shit.

"What the fuck...Bella is it? Watch where you're go..." She stops mid sentence and I see what she is looking at. Oh no...she sees the scar. What was about to come out of her mouth couldn't have been more cruel or more harsh.

"Oh my God! What's up with your face? I don't even think plastic surgery would help your ugly face. Bella, you need to stay out of my face because I can't even stand to look at you."

All of a sudden my knight in shining armor comes to my rescue, bearing the name Edward Cullen.

"What the fuck is your problem, Rose?" Ah...so the evil blonde bitch has a name. Edward continues to yell and scream at her and even shoves her away from me. I can't bare to look at him. I don't understand why he was sticking up for me. I just want to crawl under a rock and stay there. There was a crowd of people gathered around, so I just looked down at the floor.

Next thing I know, Edward is gently trying to lift my chin up so I will look at him. He takes his other hand and puts my hair behind my ear and I hear him gasp. My eyes close briefly because I know he just discovered my secret. My eyes start to fill with tears because I am so embarrassed. Embarrassed about Edward sticking up for me, but most of all because of my scar. As I look into his eyes, I notice that his eyes are also starting to fill with tears and I hear his strangled whisper saying "Oh my God." I can't take this anymore.

"OK...You all can stop gawking at me now. Don't you all have a class to get to?" I say to the crowd that gathered around us as I stand up. The crowd finally starts to disperse. I turn to Edward who is also standing up, but still looking at me with those sad green pools for eyes.

"As for you, you did your good deed for the day. You can leave as well."

Edward blinks a couple of times obviously in shock at the harsh words I had just said.

"Well...Go on! Get out of here and away from me! I promise you that I will stay away from you and ask Mr. Banner to put me someplace else..." He grabs me by my arms and holds me there.

"Why do you think I want you to move away from me in Biology?" He asks me with the most hurt filled face I have ever seen.

"Because I saw your tears. You are afraid of me. You are horrified by the way I look!" I couldn't keep back the sobs. I was just so mortified.

Edward just stares at me in what looked like complete shock. He blinked a few more times, still trying to take in all I just said to him. I see the tears that were pooling in his eyes finally fall down his cheeks and I couldn't believe it. Edward was crying.

"I can't believe you would think so low of yourself," he says in a whisper as more tears fall down his cheeks. It was the most heartbreaking thing I had ever seen.

"I'm not crying because I'm horrified by you. I'm crying because I can't believe that Rose said those horrible things to you. And because you are breaking my heart that you think so low of yourself. I may have only just met you an hour ago in Biology, but for some reason, I feel a connection with you. Almost like, I need to protect you."

I just stood there in shock. I didn't know what to say. I feel more tears fall as I took in what he said. That had to be the most beautiful thing anybody has said to me. There is just something about this guy that is drawing me to him. I don't know what it is, but I think I would love to find out why.

A/N Just to let you guys know...I will be on vacation from July 14-21st. I am going out to Phoenix, Arizona to visit with meh sisters, the bro in laws, and my new niece and a niece I haven't seen in almost 3 years! I am ever so excited so I am sorry to say that you probably wont get another update for at least another week. I do however plan on taking things old school and actually will try to do some writing on my down time with paper and a pen. *gasp* I know right...who does this anymore...lol. Well...me when it comes down to it.

And as always, make sure to press the little button at the bottom and give me some luvins...cause we all know that reviews are like having Edward Cullen swooping in to sweep you off your feet.