EDPOV

"Edward!"

Alice came bounding across the crowded hall way and grabbed my arm. I looked down at the smiling face of my cousin and couldn't help but grin. She was very contagiously enthusiastic.

"Inside voice Alice." I reminded her calmly. Something had certainly gotten her excited even for Alice, who was in a constant state of excitement.

She just rolled her eyes at me and continued bouncing on the soles of her very expensive boots. I chuckled and continued to walk to the biology lab.

"there's a new girl." She told me, falling into step beside me. "And this is her first day. Her name is Bella. I met her in the office this morning while I was there talking to Ms. Cope about my idea to design school uniforms."

I had known her sense birth and yet I was incessantly amazed by her ability to talk without the need to breath. She had said all this with just one big breath and it didn't look like she'd be giving up any time soon.

"That's very nice." I cut in. I needed to stop this soon or I'd end up getting a minute by minute account of her morning. It wouldn't be the first occurrence. I waved my hand in front of me in a way that meant, "Proceed."

"So she seems kind of shy. I told her we'd look after her." She looked up at me and awaited my reply.

I shook my head and sighed. "Alice, you have a very bad habit of volunteering yourself and everyone within a five mile radius." She just blinked a couple of times as if to say, "And your point would be…"

"Why?"

"Come on, Edward." She wined. "Emmet's not complaining. He had last hour with her. Just introduce yourself in Biology."

I could only imagine. He was more likely to scare the poor girl then anything else. Not intentionally of course but Emmet just has that effect on most people.

"Well, if she's already met Emmet I guess you leave me no choice but to say hello. Be nice, do some amount of damage control."

She smiled and jumped up to give me a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks Edward!" she trilled as she skipped down the hallway.

---

There wasn't very many people in the classroom as I walked in the door. Other then Mr. Banner only Jessica Stanley, Angela Webber, and her boyfriend Ben were there. Angela and Ben glanced up and smiled in my direction. They were two of the nicest people you will ever meet. Mr. Banner ignored me rigorously. He wasn't my biggest fan. I had private schooling in Alaska and Mr. Banner wasn't especially pleased that I had already learned everything on his lesson plan for the year.

As I passed Jessica on my way to my seat I inwardly rolled my eyes. She, unlike Mr. Banner, was definitely in the running for my biggest fan. She practically jumped up and down in her seat.

"Hey Edward." She cooed.

"Hello Jessica." I said as I rushed past her to my seat.

I really didn't know why she was so enthralled by myself. I suppose you could call me attractive but she did not know me. What if I was a devoted serial killer? I'm not of course but the rash judgments based on appearance made me cringe.

The room was starting to fill and I started sketching on the outside of my cover. Not even a minute later I was snapped from my sketch. Without even raising my head I knew something had changed. Everyone's voice subdued to absolute silence and their movements stilled. I glanced up and saw a girl had entered the room. She was in a word; beautiful. I couldn't see her very well from the back of the room but she had a certain air about her. She was petite and had curly brown hair, down her back. She also had creamy white skin. Almost as pale as I was. That was a rare occurrence sense I had spent most of my life in Alaska, a place basically free of sunlight.

She must be the new girl, Bella. Everyone had turned to watch her grand entrance. The vultures. I remembered my first day two years ago. With such a small town the gossip boomed and first day was hellish.

She handed Mr. Banner a piece of paper and looked around nervously. Alice was right. She would most definitely need some support. Her cheeks reddened slightly as Mr. Banner said something to her and I changed my first assessment to full fledged body guards.

She pushed a strand of hair out of her face and began to walk to the open seat beside me. Half way up the isle she tripped and caught herself on the edge of Jessica Stanley's desk. I was jumping out of my seat before I knew what I was doing. "nice idea Edward." I chided myself. "You never would have gotten there in time to catch her anyways."

Jessica giggled and I clenched my fists. I knew enough to know Jessica was the head vulture, their leader. I am a fairly good judge of character I believe and I've never really liked Jessica Stanley. I get the feeling there is something irrevocably wrong with that girl.

Although my analysis of Jessica's personality doesn't explain why I wanted to go stand between the girls. I felt oddly protective of the new girl. Perhaps because she was very small and fragile. Almost like a small wind could knock her down. Or maybe because I knew what it was like to be the pivotal conjunction of the gossip mills here in Forks. By the way the red in her cheeks intensified I got the feeling Bella didn't like being the center of attention.

She slumped into the chair beside me and bowed her head. As she did this her array of brown curls shifted around her face. I smiled because she just seemed like the type of person who would use this as a shield from the aforementioned vultures. I realized I was sitting her staring at her like an idiot.

I cleared my throat and said, "Hello. I'm Edward Cullen. You must be Bella."

She looked up and her eyes grew a little bit wider. Now I could see that she had warm brown eyes. They were big and expressive, you could almost peek at her soul through those eyes. They definitely weren't depthless like most brown eyes.

She stared at me in silence. She obviously had made the connection between me and Emmet. I wonder if he had insulted her and she wanted an apology from me. Again, it wouldn't be the first time. But she still wasn't saying anything. This was the same girl Alice was talking about earlier right? I thought I knew everyone else in the school and this was the first time I had seen this girl. Believe me I would have remembered her. But what were the chances of there being two new kids in one day? Maybe someplace else it wouldn't be an oddity but we were in Forks after all. There hadn't been a new kid sense me and Emmet had moved here.

"You are Bella, right?" I asked somewhat confused.

"Yes." she said quietly. Even her voice was small and fragile. It was a nice contrast from the other girls around here. They had no problem with their, shall we say… verbosity. "Yes, I am Bella." she broke eye contact and glanced down at the table top. It wasn't until she broke eye contact that I realized I had been staring at her with a certain… intensity. She must think I am a dominance thriving idiot. I quickly whipped my eyes toward Mr. Banner before she mistook me for another vulture among the crowd.