Disclaimer: the characters are not mine. *Sighs* I'm put them away when I'm through

AN: Okay, so this is a stink'n long chapter but I promised some Edward and a lot had to happen first so I stuck it all in the same chapter. Hope you guys don't mind. J Also I am not sure how often I'll be able to update so I wanted to get as much done as I could tonight. Please read and review. Thanks guys!

School. It's funny really. I used to hate school, simply detest it. But now I saw it as a constant and boy did I cling to those constants. So as I climbed out of the cruiser I was as happy as any person on there first day at a new school has ever been. And it wasn't just because I was finally able to climb out of the cruiser and put some real space between me and Charlie.

Charlie wouldn't hear of me walking this morning.

"What if you get lost?" He'd asked with a real hint of worry in his voice.

I almost reminded him that the town enveloped a three block radius. Almost. Instead I had just shrugged.

"Have a good day." Called Charlie from the open window as I started making my way to the front office.

I looked over my shoulder and waved.

The office was at the very front and I was almost overjoyed to see it. My wonderful shelter from the rain! I shot a look up at the offending clouds.

As I walked into the office a lady with red hair glanced up from some paper work she had been doing and smiled welcomingly.

"Hello dear." She called

I smiled timidly and placed me hands on the counter in front of me, intertwining my fingers together nervously. "Hi. I'm Isabella Swan. It's my first day here."

Her eyes literally lit up at the mention of my name. What did I tell you? Little town, lots of gossip. She has probably heard all about me already.

"Well. Yes, of course." She chirped. "You look like your father."

I nodded my head and continued to stare at the red head. What was I supposed to say?

She grabbed some papers from her desk and handed them over. "Just have all your teachers sign these." She said and then she swung her eyes to a spot directly behind me.

"Hello dear." She said and for a second I thought this red head was losing it but then I followed her gaze and saw she was talking to someone else. I hadn't even heard the girl come in.

"Hi Ms. Cope!" she enthused, bouncing over to the counter. She was short, even shorter then me. And I had many times been called travel size. She had jet black hair in a pixy cut and she was very pretty. But this wasn't what I first realized about her. She was practically radiating enthusiasm and energy as she bounced there beside me, talking to Ms. Cope.

Ms. Cope waved a hand in my direction. "I'm actually very glad to see you Alice. Maybe you could show Isabella around?"

The pixy (Alice?) smiled over at me and her excitement shone threw her face. "First day?" She asked.

I nodded and her smile brightened. She shot her hand out and shook mine. "I'm Alice Brandon. I'll show you around."

I didn't even have to force my returning smile. Her enthusiasm was contagious and I was so thankful that I wasn't going to have to walk around alone. I had been alone enough recently.

"Alice, dear." Interjected Ms. Hope.

Alice's head swung around to the red head with such fervor that I was afraid she was in danger of whip lash.

"What did you need Alice?"

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Alice chirped, her eyes widening. "I was just wondering about school uniforms."

Ms. Cope's eyebrows knit together and she seemed to be trying to word her reply carefully. "We… don't have school uniforms."

Alice tilted her head to the side. "Oh, I know. But if anything changes on that front let me know." She said. "I have ideas."

Then she turned her attention to me. "We should get going Isabella."

"Bella." I told her.

She smiled again. Man. She smiled more then any person I knew. It was kind of a nice change. "Bella." She corrected herself and hooked her arm through mine.

"what's your first class?"

---

"And the buildings are all numbered so it's pretty easy." Alice continued. She hadn't quit her running commentary sense we left Ms. Cope. I was slightly in awe… or just stunned.

"And you have second hour with my cousin, Emmet." She smirked. "Don't let him scare you."

I raised one eyebrow at her questioningly. I didn't like the way that sounded. But she didn't explain herself. She just continued. "And you have third hour, Biology, with my other cousin Edward. He's Emmet's brother."

I wondered idly if he was going to scare me like his brother. "Does your whole family live here?" I asked her. That would just be little town cliché, the whole family tree planted right here in Forks.

She shook her head. "Nope. Just us." She waved at a girl that passed, smiling.

"Hey Angela." She called. The girl smiled shyly and offered a timed "hi." Someone as shy as I was. I hopped I had a class with that Angela girl.

"Actually." Alice continued. "My aunt and uncle just moved down here a couple of years ago from Alaska."

Wow, guess I was off on that one. It was nice to know I wasn't the only new person here. And by the look of Alice, I wasn't the most interesting by any standard.

"this is your first hour." we stopped in front of building 3, American lit. I was looking forward to it even if this was where my guided tour ended. I loved literature. Maybe they would even be going over Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice. We had been doing a unit on Austen when I left.

"Sorry to leave you here but next hour you'll have Emmet looking after you." She smiled reassuringly although I wasn't exactly reassured sense he was supposedly the scary one.

---

English lit. didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. I ended up sitting by a boy named Mike. He starred at me the entire class and it kind of freaked me out. I kept wanting to check to see if I had leftover breakfast in my teeth or something. And as luck would have it we weren't reading Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice. They had just started Dracula. Ugh, I hate vampire stories. (AN: don't light the torches. This is not my personal opinion. I just couldn't help myself.)

"What's your next class Isabella?" Asked mike as soon as the bell had rung.

"Bella." I corrected automatically. " And Math…" I said carefully. I had a feeling sudden movements weren't a good thing around Mike.

"I can show you the building!" He flashed me a very wide grin and grabbed my books off my desk before I could answer him. Okay then….

"Thanks." I said but it came out sounding more like a question then a statement. All the same the boys face lit up. If he wasn't careful I was going to think he liked me or some ridiculous thing like that.

He chatted all the way to the office. He had a "friend of his second cousin's girlfriend" living in Arizona and this fueled the conversation all the way to the math class.

He looked slightly defeated when we arrived. He handed me my books and smiled sheepishly.

"Maybe we'll have another class together?" He asked almost…hopefully?

I edged my way towards the door. I felt like I was on one of those shows that follows wild animals. "it's a small school." I told him. "I'm sure we will."

He seemed content with this and he waved enthusiastically before walking away. I couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief. Unlike the enthusiastic Alice I had met earlier Mike didn't make me feel comfortable. He made me feel edgy.

"You must be Bella." Boomed a voice from behind me.

Turning around I saw one of the biggest guys I had ever seen and I automatically knew this was Emmet, Alice's cousin, because he definitely had the potential to scare.

"Yeah." I said sheepishly.

"Alice caught me before class and gave me strict instructions to watch over you."

I had to grin because the thought of little Alice giving this guy "Strict instructions" was hilarious.

"So what did you do to poor Mike?" he asked, laughing. And if I thought his voice was big, his laugh was bigger then big.

"I sat by him in English lit."

Emmet shook his head. "Well that was your first mistake." he smirked. "He is now a life long member of your fan club."

I cringed. I didn't like the sound of a life long membership. Emmet just laughed at me some more. "Well come on." He waved me into the classroom. "You don't want me to get in trouble with Alice."

---

My walk to the biology was much more enjoyable then my walk to math. Emmet said he was under "strict instructions" to make sure I made it to biology where if I understood correctly I was to be "handed off to Edward."

"Alice sure takes this body guard stuff seriously." I commented.

Emmet laughed his booming laughter and I saw more then one student passing by duck slightly. "Alice is Alice." he stated plainly. "Very protective and very…" he trailed off, thinking what other adjective best fit his cousin.

"Enthusiastic?" I supplied.

"OCD." He smirked. "But she has good intentions."

He left me by the door to the biology lab with a wave over his shoulder and I smiled. This was going much better then I had expected. I was definitely going to have to give Emmet a good review when Alice asked, and Emmet had ensured me she would be double checking.

"Could you please sign these?" I asked the biology teacher. He smiled and took the slip from me.

As he signed I took the opportunity to make a quick survey of the room. It was only fair. They had all been watching me all morning.

"Have a seat next to Mr. Cullen please." The teacher instructed me, handing me the slip back.

I panicked slightly because I had no idea who "Mr. Cullen" was and I really didn't want to draw more attention to myself by having to ask. But upon another inspection of the room I noticed there was only one open seat in the room so it was a pretty safe guess.

I made me way down the isle to my assigned seat and tripped on my own feet. Crap. I had almost gone a whole morning without falling down or tripping. The girl in the seat I was passing giggled and I shot her death rays for drawing more attention to my blunder.

My cheeks were already red. I just knew, I could feel all the blood rushing to my face the rest of the way to my seat. I plopped down in the chair and bowed my head infinitesimally, letting my hair fall, creating a shield between me and the rest of the gawking student body.

"Hello. I'm Edward Cullen. You must be Bella."

I sat back up at the sound of the most musical voice I had ever heard. I looked over at my neighbor and felt my jaw drop. If his voice was good his appearance was that of Adonis. He had bronze colored hair that fell in messy perfection over his forehead. I felt my eyes widen because under that forehead was a pair of the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen.

The Greek god in question blinked and it only drew my attention to the longest, thickest black lashes in existence. A part of my brain was wondering what kind of sick twisted sense of humor the universe had, to have given him those eyes and lashes and me mine. The other half of my brain was saying, "Oh my god. He's talking. Snap out of it! What did he just say?"

I felt my blush deepen and Edwards eyebrows creased together, his lips forming a small pout. Oh. My. God. His lips.

"You are Bella, right?" He seemed confused by the slightly retarded girl sitting beside him.

"Yes." I said, mentally slapping myself. "Yes, I am Bella." I glanced down at the desk with much effort. It was like I was hypnotized by his gaze. "Sorry." I mumbled but I don't think he heard me because the teacher began talking and he turned his attention back to the front of the classroom.

(AN: Should I continue? 5 reviews and I'll put Edwards perspective next chapter. I could really use the advice because this is only my second fanfic. Let me know what you think. Thanks!)