Oh man! I'm so happy that a lot of you are enjoying this so far! Like I said, this story just wouldn't leave my head! Thanks to the comments that people gave, they are very much appreciated! I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

Warning: Swearing, and mentions of suicide... And some small town, small mindedness.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight Saga or any of the characters in the story.

Chapter 3

When Monday morning rolled around, I had contemplated several different ways to get out of going to school. The first idea had been just ditching, but with Charlie being a cop and all, I decided it wasn't fair to make him look bad just because I was being a whimp. The next few all included various diseases that I thought I would be able to pull off making Charlie think I had them. But then I thought how I would go absolutely crazy being bedridden for a day. So finally I had grudgingly made myself get ready for the day, while also helping Claire.

Dressing myself in a simple pair of jeans, an olive colored sweater, forgoing a bra just because I could with this shirt, and my pair of worn out black chucks. I left my hair down, still messy from sleeping on it, and not bothering to brush it. I got Claire dressed into a little pink tshirt, and a pair of purple and pink striped leggings, and got together all of her school supplies.

At exactly eight o'clock, the yellow bus pulled up to the house and I crouched down in front of Claire.

"You be good today, okay? I don't want any bad reports in that journal," I told her, half serious and half joking. I wasn't sure how Claire was going to react on her first day in a new kindergarten, only a couple of weeks after losing her mother. However, she smiled at me and nodded, her curly blonde hair bouncing around her face. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the head before helping her onto the bus. Waving to her as the bus drove away, I hitched my bag up higher onto my shoulder and turned to get into the cruiser with Charlie.

He was quiet as he drove me to school. The only thing that he said as he pulled up in the parking lot was that we'd have to figure out a car situation for myself, in case I had to get to school earlier than he left. I nodded and said goodbye, trying to ignore the stares I was getting from the kids that had already arrived. They all seemed to be interested in who the new girl was, getting dropped off by her dad no less.

Groaning quietly under my breath I tried to hold my head up higher as I walked into the school. The office was right in the entryway, and as I walked in, a chipper gray haired woman immediately introduced herself as Mrs. Cope. In a flurry of activity she gave me a sheet of paper to has signed by all of my teachers, a schedule for my classes, all the necessary paperwork I needed in case I wanted to get a parking permit, a slip of paper with a locker number and combination on it, and a map of the school. She even directed me towards my first class, which was English.

I thanked her, still in somewhat of a daze because of all the information she had thrown at me as I wandered through the halls. The kids that were still meandering their way towards class staring at me the whole time. I tried hard to ignore them as I found the classroom and slipped inside.

It already seemed filled and there was an older woman standing at the front. I walked up to her, and she looked me in the eye with her own beady blue ones.

"And you are?" she asked rudely.

Eyebrows furrowing, I held out my slip for her to sign, "I'm new here."

Looking over it the woman nodded, then looked back at me, "Isabella Swan?"

"It's Bella, actually. I prefer Bella," I corrected.

"Right, I'm Mrs. Geoff," she said as she signed the paper with a flourish, "Go and find a seat, and then come to me after class for a syllabus and the list of books for this year."

I nodded as she handed me back the paper and sent me towards the desks. Without making eye contact with anyone, I slipped into a seat and distracted myself with shuffling around my papers.

From beside me, someone whispered. Looking over I saw a blonde boy with his hair spiked up and baby blue eyes. He sort of looked like a golden retriever puppy. "Hey, you're new," he stated.

"Very astute of you to notice," I muttered, looking back at my papers. From beside me the boy barked a laugh and I looked back at him, noticing he was now holding out a hand towards me.

"I'm Mike. Michael Newton. My family owns the sporting goods store in town. It's also called Newtons," he rambled off, and I quickly shook his hand, hoping it would shut him up.

"I'm Bella Swan," I supplied, pulling my hand out of his grip and facing the front again. Mrs. Geoff had started teaching, but Mike hadn't seemed to notice as he kept whispering.

"So, can I see you schedule? Maybe we have the same classes together," he said, and I closed my eyes, to avoid rolling them back into my brain at how annoying he was.

"Maybe later, I'm trying to listen," I said simply, not sparing him another glance. It was then that Mike huffed a breath, as though I had offended him, and he flopped back into his seat.

For the rest of the class he didn't speak to me, which was fine with me. When the bell rang he quickly snatched my bag off of the desk.

"I figure I can walk you to your next class," he spoke, as though I had asked him. I reached for my bag, but he stepped away slightly. Glaring at him, I kept my tone quiet so that the other students wouldn't overhear.

"I have to go speak to the teacher, Mike Newton," I nearly spat at him.

"Oh, well, I can wait for you," he said.

"No, you won't. Now give me my fucking bag, and leave me alone," I snapped at him, grabbing the bag out of his hands forcefully, as he looked at me with the face of a puppy who had just been thoroughly kicked. Without another word, I turned and went up to the front desk. I hoped, that he had left, as I spoke to Mrs. Geoff.

Afterwards, I was pleased to see that Mike was not waiting for me, and I made my way towards my next class.

The day followed a monotonous pattern as I walked from class to class, got signatures, met new students who were all so interested by the new girl, and gathered up syllabuses.

Finally by the time it was lunch, I was near dog tired. I was at the end of my rope with students looking at me as if I was a zoo animal, and if I had to read one more god damned syllabus I was going to kill someone.

Thankfully, the lunch line wasn't long and I grabbed a slice of pizza and a carton of milk. Looking around the cafeteria, I found myself panic for a moment that I'd have nowhere to sit, however I saw that the girl from the grocery store, Jessica, was waving at me from a few tables over. Walking over, I saw she was sitting in a small group of kids. I stifled a groan when I saw that one of them was Mike.

"Hey there Bella! I'm so happy you're joining us!" Jessica said exuberantly. I merely nodded and hoped that my smile looked genuine, "Let me introduce you to everyone."

"We've already met! We have English together with Mrs. Geoff in first period," Mike spoke up quickly, his blue eyes looking at me. I ignored him and looked at Jessica for her to continue.

"Right… So you've met Mike. That's Erik, Lauren, Tyler, Angela and Ben. And obviously, I'm Jessica," she giggled and snapped her pink bubblegum again. I looked around at the other faces.

Erik was looking at me curiously, but Lauren seemed to be concerned with the salad she was pretending to eat and Tyler looked more interested with looking down Lauren's shirt than at me. Meanwhile, the girl Angela smiled at me pleasantly, and the boy beside her, Ben was holding her hand on the table.

"It's nice to meet you Bella," Angela said softly.

"Thanks," I said, as I sat between her and Jessica. I took a bite out of my pizza, and started opening my milk.

"So where'd you move from?" asked Ben.

"Phoenix," I replied, swallowing down my pizza.

"Shouldn't you be, like, tan?" Jessica asked quickly and I tried not to snort.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just albino or something," I tried to joke, to which she giggled again.

"You're just so funny, Bella," Jess stated, and I tried not to exude sarcasm and look as though I believed her compliment when the girl Lauren butted in.

"Don't look now. Here comes the freak," she said in a nasally voice. I looked around slowly and saw that a boy had just walked into the cafeteria from the outside courtyard. His face was cast downward, and his body was lanky dressed in black slacks and a white button up shirt. Hardly the kind of clothes for a normal school day. And on top of his head was a shock of copper hair.

"Who's that?" I asked quietly, so that he wouldn't hear as he passed the table and made his way towards the food line.

"That's Edward Masen," Jessica started.

"Also known as the freak," Mike pointed out, as though I hadn't already heard the insult from Lauren.

"Yeah, he's like, super weird. Never talks to anyone except his imaginary friends. I heard his family's loaded though… He's like, a super nerd. Always reading books and stuff. I've never seen him at a football game either," Jessica said. As if it were the greatest crime in the world to have not attended the dazzling spectacle of a Forks high football game.

"So why call him a freak? Seems like he just bit quirky and likes to read. What's wrong with that?" I asked, taking another bite of my pizza.

"The problem, Bella, is that he's fucking weird. He talks to himself all the time. He even tried to kill himself a few months back. Probably because he's too stupid to even save his own mother," Lauren snapped, eyeing me like a hunter might look at a potential prey. However I barely noticed her look. I was more focused on her words.

"What do you mean, save his mother?" I asked in a slow voice.

"Well… The word around town was that Mrs. Masen was having an affair with the local doctor, Carlisle Cullen. Everyone says that she got knocked up by him, but when she had a miscarriage about a year ago, she drove down to the reservation and threw herself off the cliff. They never found her body either." Jessica replied and before I knew what was happening I found myself standing up at the table. My chair was knocked backward, and for a second my vision was blurry.

"Are you all fucking crazy? You're going to sit here and call that boy a freak and a weirdo after he's just lost his fucking mom? What kind of human beings are you?" I snarled at them, looking them all in the eyes. Jessica seemed to be speechless from what had just happened, but Lauren seemed to take it in stride.

"Oh, I guess we should have known that you'd stick up for him, huh? Didn't your mom kill herself too?" she asked.

I felt stunned. The world around me seemed to blur together. My stomach had dropped down out of my body, and I felt as though I might be sick. However instead of puking, I walked around the table until I was in front of Lauren. She looked up at me and opened her mouth, her eyes flashing dangerously with the knowledge that she'd hit a nerve inside of me. But I didn't give her a chance to speak.

Instead, my fist slammed straight into her nose, and then again into her cheek. Everyone at the table had stood up, and I wound my fist backwards again to try and punch Lauren in the face one more time, when I was grabbed around the middle and dragged backwards. Struggling slightly I turned around, only to have my wrist gripped tightly and have my body dragged out of the cafeteria and out into the misty afternoon.

Once the fresh air had cleared my head a bit of the fury I had felt I realized who it was that was dragging me along outside.

None other, than Edward Masen himself.

I still couldn't see his face since he faced forward as he pulled me along until we were walking across the football field and were behind the bleachers near the edge of the forest. It was here that he let go of my wrist and dropped my bag onto the soggy ground. Still facing away from me he threw his hands into his penny colored hair and tugged angrily.

Finally he turned around and I saw that he had the sharpest green eyes I'd ever seen. His skin was so pale it looked as though he was almost sick. Dark rings were around his eyes, and his hand tugged on his hair.

"Why did you do that? Why?" he growled out, his eyes flashing.

"Uh… Well… I don't know, maybe because she was being a bitch?" I shrugged at him, planting a hand on my hip and staring straight back at him.

"You don't even know me," he said in the same tight voice.

"Well excuse me for knowing when it's wrong to talk about someone like that. You should be thanking me! Now she will know better than to talk about people like that," I ground out at him. This boy was being infuriating. Couldn't he just say thank you and get on with it?

"Doesn't matter. I'll still just be the freak with the dead mom," he sighed and tugged his hands through his hair, turning away from me again. I didn't think he meant for me to hear that, but I responded anyway.

"Yeah, well, join the club." I muttered under my breath as I leaned down to scoop up my bag. As I moved down I noticed that there were dark spots of blood on my sweater. For a second my mind flashed back to the pool of dark, sticky blood and those lifeless cloudy eyes.

"Whoa, you okay?" Edward's voice floated through my thoughts and I felt his hand on my arm, apparently steadying me from falling over. Putting a hand to my head I straightened myself out.

"Yeah, sorry," I murmured and slung my bag over my shoulder. Edward let go of me as if he'd been burned and then looked me over carefully.

"You don't seem like the other girls at Forks," he said finally.

"I'd hope not. They seem like a bunch of psychos here," I laughed humorlessly. I could have sworn that I'd seen a tug on the corner of his lips, but instead he looked back down at his feet.

"Look… Thanks for sticking up for me back there. But just… don't do it again, alright? Just, if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from me, and have nothing to do with me, okay?" he said, resuming his angry voice and stomping away from me. Back across the football field towards the school.

"You're welcome," I called at his back, but he did nothing to acknowledge the words. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion at his behavior and his words. He was warning me away from him, and yet I felt compelled to ignore it. How could I, after just finding out that this boy was also grieving for a lost mother?

Maybe it was just the idea of a common bond, or maybe it was something else drawing me towards him. But watching him disappear back into the school, I had already made up my mind to get to know who Edward Masen really was.

xXx

The walk home from the school was excruciating.

I had decided to ditch for the last two classes of the day, and as luck would have it, it had started to rain on my way back. Silently fuming, I trudged through the rain on the nine mile walk back to the house. By the time I was shoving open the front door, my book bag felt like a lead weight on my shoulder. Thoughts of a hot shower and finally getting out of my wet clothes were immediately scourged from my mind when I was met with a purple faced Charlie in the front entryway.

"You punched Lauren Mallory?" he asked in a strained voice. Sighing, I dropped my bag on the ground and closed my eyes.

"Look, I'll apologize tomorrow. She was just saying some awful shit about some other kid. I was doing everyone a favor by shutting her up," I said calmly, hoping that some of it would rub off on Charlie. Unfortunately, I had no such luck.

"On your first day, Bella? Really? Couldn't just go with the flow today, make a few friends. Instead I'm getting calls from Walter Mallory, screaming at me to control my daughter who apparently mauled his daughters face! What am I supposed to do with that, Bella?" he yelled finally. His face was turning extremely red and I wondered if I should have him sit down, but my own angry words left my mouth instead.

"Just go with the flow? This coming from a cop? Shouldn't you be happy that I fucking stood up for someone? She was being a complete bitch to this boy who hadn't even done anything to her. And from the sound of it, nobody else was going to say anything! Sorry for being a good fucking person!" I yelled back at him.

His mouth opened, and his mustache twitched above his lips, but no sound came out. Pushing around him I made my way towards the kitchen to get a glass of water, hoping to calm myself down.

"I am not done speaking with you yet, Isabella!" Charlie growled from behind me. I looked back at him over my shoulder, then walked into the tiny kitchen, rolling my eyes at him. Turning back around I faced the cabinets, and my entire body froze in fear.

Standing in my kitchen, crowding the ceiling and looking extremely intimidating was the tall native man that had walked into the general store the other day. This time he was wearing a pair of dark jeans that surprisingly seemed to fit him, as well as a white, slightly grease stained tshirt. His long ebony hair was now pulled back into a braid, making his incredibly handsome facial features stand out. High cheekbones, a sharp square jaw with a hint of stubble on it, a slightly crooked nose, as if he'd had it broken more than once, and those deep, dark eyes trained directly on my own.

Suppressing a frightened squeak I stepped backwards and plastered myself against the opposite wall, looking down at my feet immediately. The eye contact felt like a tidal wave threatening to suck me under, and I couldn't bear to meet his gaze again.

"Tomorrow you're going to apologize to that girl, as well as Principal Green. He did me a real favor taking you in for classes even after the term started. I'm all for standing up for kids, but when violence is involved I sure as hell don't want my daughter being the instigator. Now, I don't want to hear about any more fights, got it?" Charlie asked, his voice slightly less angry, and more tense.

I didn't reply, my voice seeming to have gotten stuck in my throat with this strange man standing in my kitchen. Not to mention how my eyes were downcast. Charlie seemed to take this as an agreement on my part because he sighed and I could see him shuffle around to face the other formidable man in the kitchen.

"Sorry about that, this is my daughter Bella," he began, "Bella, this is Jacob Black. He owns a contracting business up on the reservation and has promised to build us a table for the kitchen. He's Billy Black's son. Remember him?" Charlie asked.

I could barely restrain the urge to keep my eyes on the ground, as I slowly forced myself to look up at the enormous man still staring straight back at me.

"N-not really. No," I whispered. I hoped that Charlie would just take it as me being thoroughly chastised from his speech rather than scared out of my mind and feeling like I was about to shit myself.

Just the other day I had watched this man pin another boy up against the wall by the throat, and growl at him like some kind of animal. What if he had killed that other boy in the shop? Oh Jesus, should I have stayed there? What if he thought I was now a threat because I had witnessed the entire thing? Was he only pretending to be making a table in order to spy on me and eventually kill me.

My thoughts had both my mind and my stomach in a jumble.

"I wouldn't expect you too. You were just an infant when Jake was going into first grade. Isn't that about right?" Charlie seemed to be asking Jake the maybe serial killer, and I took the opportunity to drop my gaze straight back to the floor. I felt much safer with my eyes on the ground, as though my eye contact would provoke him into grabbing my own throat.

"Yes. I was five years old when Bella was born," Jake's voice flowed into the room like liquid smoke. His voice rumbled deep from within his chest, holding some kind of power that even I could not identify. The sound made my lower belly pool with warmth and a shiver rolled down my spine before I could stop it. I couldn't tell if it was out of fear or pleasure though. In all honesty, I still felt as though I might hurl onto the ground between us.

It was silent in the kitchen for a long moment before Charlie finally spoke again. "Why don't you head upstairs and get changed out of those clothes? You're probably freezing. I'll order a pizza for dinner soon. What time does Claire get off the bus?"

"Soon… The driver said three-thirty this morning," I replied in a near whisper as I edged my way to the door in the hallway. I wasn't going to turn my back on this psycho for even a second.

When I made it to the hallway, I slipped down and grabbed my water logged bag and then sprinted up the stairs to the tiny bedroom I shared with Claire.

Shucking off my chucks into a heap I then shed the rest of my soaking wet clothes and threw them into the hamper. I shivered standing naked in the room for a few seconds before I got on some new underwear and pulled on a pair of ratty old gray sweatpants, a white tank top and my red hoodie. Leaving my wet hair down to dry, I opened up my backpack and pulled out the soaked notebooks to dry out on the desk. There was no way I would be able to do any homework until they were dried off.

I briefly wondered if I should go down again and see if Mr. Jacob Black had left the premises or not yet. After recalling just how large his body was and how much room he had taken up in the kitchen, not to mention the memory of the terrifying snarling noise he'd produced yesterday, I quickly decided against it.

Checking the time on my watch I saw that it was 3:25. The bus with Claire would be here soon. And there was no fucking way I was going to let her spend time alone with that gigantic lunatic.

Throwing on my still squishy chucks I plodded downstairs and could hear Charlie mumbling in the kitchen, probably to sasquatch.

Ducking out the door, I made it to the street just as the little yellow bus pulled up with several screaming children on it. I thanked the bus driver as Claire jumped off of the steps and wrapped her arms around my legs so tightly I wondered if I'd lose circulation.

"Hey baby girl, what's wrong?" I asked slowly, but Claire didn't respond. Finally ungluing her arms from my legs I crouched down to her level and saw her wide blue eyes.

"I don't want to go back to school tomorrow," she said in a little whisper. I searched her eyes for any sign of tears, but she didn't seem to be about to cry.

"Why? What happened?" I asked carefully, hoping not to set off a tantrum.

"Some of the kids were mean," she replied and I sighed.

"I know exactly what you mean. Now, let's go back inside before we get too wet."

Standing back up, I grabbed Claire under her arms and hoisted her onto my hip. Walking back into the house I shucked off my shoes once again, leaving them to dry near the door, then finagled Claire's sneakers off as well and dropped her backpack to the floor.

"Did you eat snack at school?" I asked, and felt a nod against my neck, "Are you hungry now, or no? We're having pizza for dinner," I murmured back to her, crossing my fingers that she didn't make me go into the kitchen again.

"Extra cheese pizza?" Claire asked quietly.

I breathed out a laugh and nodded, "I'll ask for extra cheese."

"Hey Charlie, mind ordering a pizza with extra cheese on it for dinner?" I called down the hallway, stepping up onto the stairs.

"Sure, Bella. Hey, can you bring Claire in here for a second? I want to introduce her to Jacob. He'll be around the house and I don't want her to be worried that he's a stranger," Charlie called and I dropped my head forward with a silent groan.

"Don't worry Claire, I'll be around the house too. You won't have to be alone with him," I tried to reassure her, but I wondered if I was trying to calm myself down instead.

Walking down the hall towards the kitchen, I could feel my pulse speeding up. It felt more like I was walking towards a firing squad instead of just a normal guy. That's all he was, right? Just a normal guy… A freakishly tall, muscular guy who has a weird growling thing he does… but still just a normal guy.

Everything was going to be fine.

Entering the kitchen I saw that Jake was now leaning against the counter with his hip, making his body slouch a bit. But he definitely didn't look any less intimidating. His arms were crossed making his tshirt stretch tight across his broad shoulders and muscular chest. His eyes trained on me again as I came to a stop in the entry from the hall to the kitchen. My feet felt like they had been cemented to the ground. Had it gotten hotter in here?

"Claire, I'd like you to meet Jake. He's going to be building us a new table for the kitchen. How about that?" Charlie asked with a smile on his face. At least he had trust in this man… Although he probably knew where the guns were so he had no reason to worry.

"Claire, say hello please. It's rude not to," I whispered to her, bouncing her on my hip a bit.

Slowly, Claire uncovered her face from my shoulder and looked over at the big man leaning against the counter.

I wasn't too sure what I had expected her to do. Maybe cry or hide her face again. Maybe even stick out her tongue at him. But I sure as hell did not expect her to wiggle out of my arms and walk straight over to him, holding her hands out for him to pick her up.

"Oh my god, Claire," I was about to chastise her when Jake's onyx eyes met mine and the words slipped off of my tongue. Leaning down, Jake carefully took Claire into his thickly muscled arms and let her nestle her head on his shoulder. I looked over at Charlie who seemed just as surprised as I did, but he too had refrained from saying anything.

My eyes shifted back to Jake and I could've sworn that his lips were moving slowly, next to Claire's ear, but I couldn't hear any words.

"So, how about that pizza, Bells? Jake would you like to stay for dinner?" Charlie asked. I could feel my heart seizing in my chest. This guy was holding my little sister, looked as if he could snap her in half with absolutely no trouble at all, and Charlie wanted him to stay for dinner?

"I don't know about tha-" I started to speak in a hoarse voice, my pulse thundering.

"That's alright, Chief. I have to get back to the rez soon, otherwise the boys will have my head. Thank you, though," Jake rumbled in his voice honey rich voice, "I should be all set with these measurements and I'll be back soon to take care of it."

Charlie nodded in reply and picked up the phone to dial.

I could only stare as Jake pushed away from the counter and walked towards me. As his eyes met mine I dropped my gaze to the floor, unable to resist the impulse to do so. It didn't feel right, staring at this man directly in the eyes.

"I believe this belongs to you," Jake's voice was quiet and thick like melted chocolate. Before I knew what was happening, Jake had transferred Claire's tiny body back into my arms. I could physically feel the warmth that radiated off of his body, like a blazing fire. It took me a moment to realize that Claire was dead asleep in my arms. But before I could wonder how he'd managed to do that so quickly, I felt his large, burning hand cup my jaw and pull my face upwards so that I had no choice but to look into his eyes.

They were dark, flaming onyx. So dark that I almost couldn't see his pupil, and they looked like twin black holes, ready to obliterate me.

Jake's hand seemed to be searing my skin with it's heat, although I felt that I could not pull away no matter what happened around me. It was almost as if he was looking for something.

Then after seconds, minutes, maybe even hours, hell I wasn't sure, he seemed to find what he was looking for. A smile graced his lips, though it was the faintest thing I'd ever seen on someone before. He nodded in a small downward movement, like he was approving of something, and then he straightened up to his full height again. My head tipped back to keep the eye contact from my five foot four height, and I felt his hand slide from my jaw, back into my hair. It stayed there for not even a second, but the touch felt intimate and scorched every nerve in my body.

And then he was gone.

He might have called out something to Charlie, who had been speaking on the phone through the entire ordeal I had just gone through.

Blinking dazedly I turned in time to see the door close, and heard Charlie hang up the phone behind me.

"Pizza should be here in twenty… Bella? You okay?" Charlie asked.

"Uh… Yeah, I'll be fine," I muttered, "Call me when dinner's here."

I didn't wait for a reply as I marched up the stairs towards the tiny shared bedroom.

I had some sorting out to do.

Yes, Bella... Go and sort things out... So school was interesting. It's unfortunate that people like Lauren actually exist in this world and aren't just fictional. And what do we think about Jake's intro? Leave a comment if you would like to, and thank you so much for reading!