"Kindergarten—one, two, three, eyes on me!" Mrs. Cope said. "We have a new friend who is going to be joining our class, so I want you all to say "Hello" to Isabella!"

"Hello Isabella!" chanted the class in sing-song unison. Twenty pairs of curious eyes stared at the petite girl with long, brown hair, causing her to blush and drop her head.

"Isabella, honey, you can sit at the green table, okay?" Mrs. Cope gestured to the table beside her. "There's a seat right next to Edward."

Mrs. Cope guided the shy little girl to the empty seat at the end of the kidney-shaped table.

"Isabella, as you can see, we just sat down for our snack. Did your daddy pack one for you?" asked Mrs. Cope.

Isabella shook her head. "Huh-uh. I think he forgot," she answered quietly.

Mrs. Cope patted her on the back and smiled. "That's okay, Isabella, we have plenty of snacks here in the classroom, just in case. Would you like some graham crackers and juice?"

"Yes, please," Isabella said.

While Mrs. Cope was gathering her snack, Isabella peeked at the boy sitting next to her. He looked back at her and smiled widely.

"Hi Isabella! I'm Edward. I'm glad you're gonna sit next to me. Do you want to be my friend?" he asked cheerily.

"Okay," Isabella replied softly.

"Do you like to play tag? I'm a really fast runner, but I'll let you catch me. How about catch? Sometimes, when we go outside for recess, Mrs. Cope lets us play with those round gloves that you put on your hands and then you throw the ball and it sticks to them! Cool, huh? It's really fun," Edward said in a rush between bites of grapes and cheese cubes.

Isabella shrugged. "Uh-huh."

Edward continued. "And I can help you with your coloring. Do you know how to write your letters? I know how, so I can help you if you want. I can show you where we keep our crayons and glue sticks and scissors and all the other stuff."

Mrs. Cope walked over to the table and handed Isabella her snack. "Thank you Edward, it sounds like you're being very helpful," she said, tousling his hair affectionately.

Edward grinned and turned his chair slightly to face Isabella. He noticed that she was picking at her graham crackers as if she wasn't hungry. Maybe she was hungry, he thought, and just didn't like graham crackers. Maybe she liked grapes? Or cheese cubes?

"Hey Isabella? Do you want to share some of my grapes and cheese cubes?" he asked.

Isabella glanced down at Edward's plate. She didn't really like cheese cubes, but the grapes did look pretty good. And she was really hungry…

"Okay," she said. "I'll have some grapes."

"Don't you want to try some cheese? My mom said it's really good for you." Edward emphasized his statement by waving a cheese cube in front of Isabella's face.

Isabella giggled and grabbed the cheese from Edward's hand, making him laugh as well. Without thinking, she popped it in her mouth and was surprised at how good it tasted. Maybe Edward's mom buys special cheese cubes, she thought, because this is way better than the stuff I've had before.

Scooting his chair a little closer, Edward slid his plate next to Isabella's. He grinned satisfactorily when she took a few more samples from his plate. They munched on their snacks in contented silence until the ringing of a bell caught their attention.

"Okay class, snack time is over. Finish up, and when I call your table, throw your trash away, wash your hands and meet me on the carpet for Circle Time," announced Mrs. Cope.

While waiting for their table to be called, Isabella turned to Edward, smiled and said, "Thanks for sharing your snacks, Edward. You're nice. And my daddy calls me Bella and so can you."

Edward flashed a crooked smile and said, "I'm glad you're my friend, Bella."

"Me too, Edward," echoed Bella, smiling and thinking that kindergarten in Forks might not be so bad after all.