A/N A great big thanks to all who have reviewed and favourited this story. It's wonderful to get feedback and I'm sorry I don't get around to messaging more of you!

10

Charlie was pleased as punch that Bella already had friends in town. He knew Dr. Cullen in a professional capacity, and no matter what Billy Black said against the family the kids had never caused trouble since they arrived.

It would also help when Charlie worked weekends if Bella had some company. He knew Jacob had offered to spend time with her, but Charlie wasn't going to make the mistake of forcing people onto his rather introverted daughter. If she made friends with them, fine, but he felt she was old enough to make this kind of decision herself. After all there was no real 'bad' element in Forks. The worst that the kids of the area got into was an occasional party with limited underage drinking.

Bella had mentioned her friend Alice a few times over the years, though Charlie had had the impression that she was quite a bit older than Bella, he was rather surprised when she turned out to be Dr. Cullen's youngest, and the same age as his daughter. But that made it all the better. He had even bought her a computer and got a dial-up internet connection for her so she could keep in touch with her friend… what a happy coincidence that they should have moved into Forks last year! He was also glad that she had decided to move here rather than go to college early, which she certainly could have given her grades and the fact that she graduated the year before. He would start putting more money into her college fund, as he no longer had to pay Renée anything. By the time she graduated again she should be able to go to college comfortably!

(In the Cullen house Alice groaned, she knew trouble was coming. Charlie would be at the bank the second it opened in the morning, he never left things after he had decided, he had to do them as soon as possible. He would find out about Renée using Bella's funds, and there wasn't a thing Alice could do to stop it! Even if she tried to electronically transfer the money he would see, as he would be asking for a statement on the account as soon as he got to a teller. It would have to just play out naturally, after all Renée shouldn't have taken it in the first place!

Alice sighed, turned and nodded her head. Jasper picked up the phone and speed dialled Jenks.

"Tell him it's over." Was all he said, he put the phone down and they both sighed. The worst of the secrets they held from Bella was soon going to come to light, Alice just hoped she would forgive them or everything was in vain.)

Bella ate the pizza that Charlie ordered and, as he settled in to watch a game on the TV, she said goodnight and went to her room. She frowned as she saw the bag with clothes in on her bed, a post-it sticker on the window that faced the side of the house, from Alice read, 'You forgot these!' Ahh well, at least she put her foot down!

She opened the bag. The couple of pairs of jeans had turned into five, all designer labels of course. The sweaters, were now also five, the extra coat, the one that was for cold weather rather than for arctic expeditions, was the only one in the bag, thank God, but there were also four tops, three sets of underwear and a skirt! How had Alice got all this into the bag without her seeing?

She picked up the package in the bottom and smiled slightly. She hoped this would work! She put the baseball uniform in the bottom of her wardrobe. One day short of two weeks… and counting.

Charlie woke her early the next morning; she was annoyed to see that snow lay rather thick on the ground, but was pleased to note that sometime over the weekend Charlie had sealed the window frame, so the room was warmer than on Saturday when the temperature outside was higher. She looked at the front of the house, the road running past was white and compressed already by the few tyres that had run along it. A car went past and lost its back end momentarily. Oh this was just asking for trouble! At least she already knew the local ER doctor! Through the other window she could see the trees in the back garden, they looked like something on a Christmas card, pretty but COLD. She had never personally witnessed snow before, only in pictures and on TV, but she already knew she didn't like it at all!

Charlie shouted for her to dress quickly, she looked in the wardrobe and saw the clothes Alice had given her. Charlie shouted again and she picked up her own Walmart jeans and slipped them on. An old T-shirt and her plaid winter shirt went on top and she ran down the stairs. Freezing air hit her like a wall as she saw her father standing at the open door waiting for her.

"What's up?" she asked, she looked past him but could not see any reason out there for him to be shouting her. She stepped gingerly out onto the front step as he walked towards her truck.

"I've put snow chains on your truck," he told her, "you have to know how to take them off if the snow lets up and melts, they tear the road up otherwise and it's against the law to use them when there's no snow or ice on the ground."

She shivered at the reminder of the roads being icy. "Let me get my coat," she ran back into the house and up to her room. She pulled on the parka that was the thickest of the two coats and ran downstairs again, as she put her hands into the pockets she felt something wrapped up, pulling it out she discovered a woolly hat and a pair of thermal gloves all wrapped into a small ball. She smiled guiltily, and silently thanked Alice.

Pulling the gloves on, she made her way gingerly to the truck. Charlie glanced up at her, "I thought you didn't have a winter coat?" he said, "I was going to nip to Newton's this morning for you to get one."

"Alice… and I went shopping yesterday." She lied, making sure she didn't meet his gaze. She had never been a very good liar and she was sure her guilt was written all over her face. Luckily he seemed to have other thoughts in his head and he didn't notice the blush that covered her face with her untruth.

"Do you owe her anything?" he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.

"I bought it with my own money," she didn't want Charlie to offer to pay for them any more than she wanted to accept them from Alice.

"What money?" he asked.

"I had saved some for a car, but you bought me the truck, I used some of that." She lied again quickly, blushing even more. That was the problem with lies, they didn't stop at just one. Her father looked at her closely, no she really wasn't a very good liar… she again reminded herself to go find the bank and get out some money as soon as possible to pay for her own things. Charlie pulled the last note out of his wallet, a fifty. "Here, you shouldn't spend your own money on essential clothing." He said. Bella groaned internally.

"It's fine dad, honest."

"Bella, take the money." He seemed rather annoyed with her so she did as she was told. Oh Alice was going to hear about this! "Is that enough?" he asked.

"More than enough, you want change." She told him.

"Keep it." He said, "I'm heading to the bank this morning anyway," bending down to the wheels of the truck he proceeded to show her how to hook and unhook the chains if she needed to.

He had just finished hooking the chains back on when his radio and the cruiser started beeping at the same time. He clicked the button and said "Swan" into the small mic.

Bella never worked out how they could understand what people were saying over the police radio. It was all hisses and squawks to her. But her father gave an affirmative and strode over to the cruiser.

"Have to go Bells. You will be OK?"

"Of course I will, Dad," she smiled at him. "I have to leave for school in an hour; I'll just have a shower and some breakfast and go."

"Remember to lock the door as you go in." He said. "Can't be too careful." He got into the cruiser and pulled out. The blue lights flashed as he drove away.

Bella smiled, and then frowned. The fifty dollar note was still in her hand. ALICE! Well Alice would just have to take the money. Bella didn't want it. She would rather accept money from Charlie if she had to accept it from anyone.

She went into the house to get her breakfast and opened the cupboards and groaned. Alice had also brought the shopping; the $60 that Charlie had given her on Saturday was still in her other pair of jeans upstairs. She ran up and got the clothes out of the laundry basket and recovered the money she had forgotten about. She would give Alice it first thing! She reckoned it wouldn't even cover half of what she owed the family, but it was a start.

Bella arrived at school and managed to park in one of the few spots close to the buildings that wasn't reserved for teachers, as she got out of the truck her legs slid from under her and she stiffened up expecting the impact of her rear against the frozen hard floor. A pair of cold hands caught her under her armpits and abruptly stopped her descent.

"Thanks." She gasped.

Rose smiled as she held onto her to make sure she didn't lose her balance again. "No problems, you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah I got it." Bella said, and immediately slipped again. Alice grabbed her arm and hooked it into her own to help her keep her feet. Rose took the other side.

"Where to?" Rose asked.

"The office?" Bella made it a question rather than a statement. The boys fell in behind as they made their way to the edge of the car park. A set of concrete steps climbed the embankment, to Bella that was just asking for trouble. Steep steps, snow, ice and Bella Swan? That was an invitation to the ER right there. The girls hung onto her tightly though and she traversed the death-trap without injury.

A noise made her look around. A tractor and trailer entered the car park and a man got out of the cab and started shovelling sand and salt onto the car park. Bella frowned, why the hell wasn't he gritting the steps first? Her question was answered as a large blue van slid into the school grounds. The driver had obviously not taken the time to put snow chains on his wheels as he slid perilously close to the man shovelling from the back of the trailer. At the last second the caretaker seemed to sense he was in danger and dodged the oncoming vehicle. The van slid sideways until it almost hit Bella's truck, when it shuddered to a halt it was inches from her rear bumper.

The man threw down his shovel and hurried to the van, he could be heard shouting at the unfortunate youth driving it right to the office doors. Bella took note; do not piss off the caretaker.

She pushed open the door and a blast of too warm air hit her, humid and musty but strangely pleasant she looked around the room. Dense foliage covered every surface; some of the plants were even flowering!

"Excuse me?" A woman appeared through the jungle, she was in her forties, plump with bright red hair and a purple t-shirt that was definitely at least two sizes too small for her ample frame and made even Bella feel as if she was overdressed.

"Can I help you?" she asked, looking over the rim of the huge round glasses on the end of her nose.

"Bella Swan?"

"Oh! Yes, of course, I should have recognised you!" Bella almost groaned aloud. She knew she looked slightly like her mother, enough people over the years had told her so. But she knew Renée didn't leave a great impression on the town and Bella would rather be known for her father than her mother.

"This is your schedule and map," the woman said pushing an A4 sheet towards her, "most of your classes are advanced," she looked closer at Bella which made her blush, "not Spanish though… hmmm… this is your attendance slip, you need to get each teacher to sign you in and then bring it back here at the end of the day. Each day has the same lessons, and you switch lessons every semester." Bella nodded. "Do you need any help to find your first class?"

"I've got it Mrs. Cope," Alice said, making the woman jump as she was almost totally hidden behind the biggest aspidistra that Bella had ever seen. Alice hummed a tune as she stroked the leaves of the proto-triffid she was hiding behind and Bella smiled as she recognised the song. Mrs. Middleton had loved the English singer Gracie Fields and Bella joined in humming the song, much to Alice's obvious delight and the confusion of the secretary.

Before they left the office Bella gave Alice the money she owed her. She was pleased to note that even though she didn't look happy about it, she did take it, she guessed that was because Alice had seen that there was no use arguing, Bella was determined she was going to clear her debts.

They exited the office and cold air slammed into Bella. She shivered and pulled the parka tighter around her. She would have frozen to death in her other coat. She squeezed Alice's arm as the pixie wrapped it around her own again as soon as they were outside to help her balance. Alice grinned smugly but said nothing.

"Here, give me that." Rose held out her hand for the time table. Bella handed it over and in seconds she had it back. Rose had written in each box, Bella was pleased to note that she was with at least one Cullen each lesson, which was surprising considering that the elder three were supposedly a year ahead of her. It must be because there were only three hundred and fifty seven students in the entire school (and that was for four years! Her old school in Phoenix had more than seven hundred in her year alone), and only fifteen full time faculty members.

She would not complain though, because this would make it far pleasanter than if she was alone. She wouldn't have to depend on anyone to help her find her way, usually there was at least one over-friendly sort, ready to help the newbie and dying to be their best friend, until they realised she was a rather anti-social and boring person and gave up.

Suddenly Bella noticed the rest of the student body seemed to be stood in the passage between buildings watching her. She blushed as she saw groups whispering rather unsubtly about her.

"Don't worry about them, it's not you, it's us." Alice said. "We have kept to ourselves since we arrived and it's annoying some folk that we have made friends with YOU rather than THEM." Bella could well understand this. After all she was nothing much to look at, and the Cullen's/Hale's were all so good looking and obviously rich. What could they possibly see in her?

The whispers followed them as they went into a building with a huge 3 stuck above the door.

"Stop it Bella!" Rose said, Bella looked at her quizzically. "If we want to make friends with you we can. I'd rather talk to you than this lot any day," she gestured derogatorily to the other pupils, who quickly dispersed to their classrooms. "Come on, English Lit first!" She almost dragged Bella down the hallway. Jasper peeled off shortly but Emmett and Alice stuck by them. As they entered the class Bella could see just 2 tables at the back with no one sat at them. She handed the slip that Mrs. Cope had given her to the teacher. He signed it and grunted at her slightly.

"Find a place to sit." the teacher growled. Alice grinned and dragged Bella to one of the tables at the back. Emmett and Rose took the other table. Bella blushed when she noticed that all the other pupils had turned and were watching her.

The teacher turned and opened the door and pulled a large screen TV into the room. "Today we are going to start watching the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice. I want a 3 page essay by Friday on the way this film differs from the book." He started the video player, turned off the light and dragged his chair to the rear of the class. Marvellous, her favourite lesson ruined by a teacher who obviously couldn't be bothered to actually teach!

"Face front you lot!" he threw a pencil at one boy who kept turning around to view Bella and then sat down and ignored the class for the rest of the lesson.

The end of lesson bell eventually rang through the classes, but the teacher was actually asleep at the rear of the class!

Rose balled up a scrap of paper and with deadly accuracy landed it in his open mouth. After he stopped choking he stopped the video. "Right, part two tomorrow, you should have enough idea already to start your essay. Class dismissed."

Next on the timetable was Government, oh great, she was always bored during this class, however things were looking up as she realised that the Cullen she was with was Emmett. Alice and Jasper were also in the class, but of course they sat together on the next table.

It was lucky the Cullen's were at the back of the class as Bella almost choked several times when Jasper whispered nasty opinions about the lesson the teacher was teaching. He was covering 'Constitutional Amendments due to the American Civil War' evidently he had a few of his 'facts' wrong and Jasper was itching to correct him. Emmett didn't help as he was constantly trying to bait Jasper by offering alternate, stupid, and just as incorrect 'facts' to the mix and making the Civil War Veteran angrier.

Bella wasn't sure how accurate Emmett was with his additions, but he was funny, almost as funny as the glares of sheer disgust Jasper was sending the oblivious teacher. She was able to ignore the curious looks she received during class from the other pupils and actually enjoyed the lesson, even though she had done the entire subject before (of course).

There was a ten minute break between Gov. and Trig. She had to admit, school wasn't half as bad as she had been dreading.

Emmett wandered off as Rose appeared to join them. Bella told them to go ahead as the lesson was in the next building and just down the corridor. Even she couldn't get lost on the way. She ducked into the bathroom to use the facilities as the Cullen's headed off.

She had just finished and was about to exit the stall when two girls came into the room; it was obvious that they were talking about her straight away.

"I heard her mother was no better than a whore, and Mom says that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Did you see how she was making eyes at Mike?"

"She better not be trying to steal my boyfriend!" the other girl said. "Have you seen the way she sucks up to the Cullen's? It's a pity they don't have better taste. I mean, have you seen what she is wearing? Talk about street people style! She obviously has no sense of fashion and…"

The door to the bathroom opened and the girls fell silent as Alice called out.

"Bella?" Bella flushed the chain and exited the stall. Her face was bright red with anger and embarrassment as she washed her hands. "Oh Bella. I'm so glad you moved to Forks. I missed you!" Alice said. It was obvious that she knew what had been said before. The two girls busied themselves fixing the large amount of makeup on their faces and listened without any pretence of anything else. "It must be almost 9 years since we went to school together, and it's nice having someone at school who we know. Someone worth talking to, instead of this bunch of morons with more hair than brains. I can't tell you how boring some of the girls are here." Alice glared pointedly at the two. One of them looked like she was going to say something in reply but Alice stared her down and they left the bathroom quickly.

"I'm sorry; they decided to come in here at the last second." She apologised.

"They said nothing I haven't heard before." Bella said in a low voice, trying to hide the fact that she was doing her best to keep the tears of anger from spilling out of her eyes. She hated the fact that her temper was directly linked to her tear ducts.

It wasn't just the words the girls had said that was familiar, the tone of voice they used was too. As one of the few poor students in her old school she had frequently been picked on, the difference this time was that they had prejudged her because of her mother. Something that was ultimately unfair. She didn't acknowledge that the trouble at her old school was also predominantly her mother's fault too; if she had spent less on herself and more on her daughter then Bella probably wouldn't have stood out so much and therefore had such a hard time.

"I…"

"Leave it Alice. It doesn't matter." Bella grabbed her bag off the side. She walked into the classroom and took the seat next to Rose. However she had to stand again almost immediately as the teacher made his way into the class.

"You have something for me to sign?" he asked rather nastily. Bella blushed as she got to her feet; she could hear Alice saying something to the others as she moved to the front, 'probably filling them in on the bitches in the bathroom,' Bella thought.

"Well introduce yourself!" The teacher gestured to the class. Bella blushed even brighter.

"I'm Bella Swan, formally of Phoenix Arizona and I've come to live with my dad." She said hurriedly and walked back to the desk and sat down again. The teacher frowned at her and gestured her back to her feet.

"I'm sure there's more to you than that." He said, obviously delighting in her discomfort.

"Not really," she said and stood silently, looking at her feet and trying to stop blushing violently.

Jasper raised his hand.

"Yes Mr. Hale?" The teacher turned his baleful stare on Jasper.

"May I be excused, I don't feel very well." He said, the teacher frowned and nodded. Jasper hurried out of the classroom.

"Well, sit down then, if you have nothing more to tell us!" he said at last, tired of tormenting her.

"Anyone would think you've never seen a new pupil." A pencil flew out of the teacher's hand and hit the back of the head of one of the pupils, "The front is THIS WAY Mr. Newton!" the boy turned sullenly and faced the teacher. It was the same boy that Mr. Mason, the English Lit teacher had thrown a pencil at. Bella almost giggled at the vision she suddenly had of the boy with pencils sticking out all over his head.

A couple of the boys in class hid laughs too but Bella noticed that one girl in particular was glaring at her. Bella realised she was one of the two in the bathroom. The other girl was nowhere to be seen in the class. Rose glared at the girl until she turned away.

Suddenly a note appeared on the desk in front of her. She had not seen anyone move to put it there, but there it was. The handwriting was an immaculate copperplate.

'That is Lauren Mallory, she and Jessica Stanley are the local Bikes, nasty pieces of work steer clear! R'

'As if she had to tell me that after what I have heard!' Bella had no intention of making herself likable in the town. After all if things did go according to plan she wouldn't be there for very long. She realised as she looked at her text book that even in Trig, a subject she hated, she knew all the answers. This would just be unendurable for 2 years!

She would help the Cullens and then think again about College.

She would regret leaving Charlie again so soon after moving in with him. It was obvious to her that he was thrilled to have her 'home' at last, even if he was not the most demonstrative person. As she also was rather closed about her emotions she could read behind the mask. It had been evident right from the start that Charlie was quite a lonely man. He had never started another family, and there were no hints of females in his house, except the few photos of Bella through the years and a couple of Renée.

However she knew that he would adapt, he had before. Only the presence of Alice in Forks had persuaded her to move to Washington in the first place.

'Boooring… by the way I think Newton the Newt fancies you… yuck! R'

The note said. Bella didn't know whether to smile or frown at the note, which one was Newton? Oh yes the one the teacher threw a pencil at. He was a chubby faced blond boy; even if Bella hadn't just made up her mind she was leaving, she wouldn't be interested in him. He looked too young. Not the way the Cullen's looked young, but it was more a lack of character in his face that put her off.

However Rose was right about one thing, he did keep turning around and trying to catch her eye. She shielded her face from him by allowing her hair to fall straight down. And tried to look busy with her work.

Another note appeared, 'if he keeps swinging on his chair like that trying to see you he may have an accident. A'

Bella had no sooner read the note when suddenly a crash resounded through the room. "How many times do I have to tell you not to swing on your chair like that Newton? FACE FRONT!" the teacher shouted at the unfortunate boy. Alice sniggered under her breath. Jasper chose that second to come back into the room.

'Thanks! B' Bella wrote, not certain how she was to pass the message on, but it disappeared before she could risk being caught and 'think nothing of it, A' appeared on her desk.

She had never had anyone in class to talk to before and even though the lesson itself was boring she still enjoyed it. As soon as the bell rang they made their way to Spanish. This was a subject that Bella was quite poor at compared to all the others as her previous high school had had French as the major second language for some inexplicable reason. It didn't make sense, learning French while close to Mexico and Spanish near Canada, someone on the education boards needed Geography lessons!

She wasn't surprised when she found that Alice was the only Cullen with her. As she wasn't in the AP group she couldn't expect the 'seniors' to be in the class. They sat together again, but this class, unlike the last, wasn't as strictly governed. The teacher seemed to be a nice enough woman, and she was very patient when Bella gave a French answer rather than Spanish, but she seemed to be the type of teacher that couldn't make the students concentrate and so a lot of the time Bella could feel the eyes of the other pupils on her. It made her very uncomfortable, but she put her head down and tried to ignore everyone.

Everyone filed out of the room, there was just one more class before lunch. Bella looked at her timetable. ART? She didn't remember art being on her chosen list of classes.

"Compulsory," Alice told her before she asked. "Well, there is a choice at the start of the year, but they have shoved you in art as it's the one with the least pupils." The only Cullen on the paper was Emmett. She smiled at the thought of the huge man in an art studio. Maybe in a smock with a French beret?

"What do you all have?" she asked.

"I have fashion design and sewing, Jasper has graphic design and Rose has auto maintenance." Bella looked at the immaculate Rose. She remembered Alice and Carlisle saying that she had been fixing a car the day Edward left but hadn't made the connection. She realised she had stereotyped Rose as 'typical' beautiful female, well as typical as a vampire can be, and hadn't expected her to be doing something so… dirty.

Emmett bounced up to her and grabbed her into a hug, the other three moved off to their classes.

"Just me and you squirt!" he said swinging her around. Bella couldn't help but laugh at his antics, even though she was still uncomfortable with his forever grabbing her. It was at this point that Lauren exited the classroom, being the last out. She scowled at them and tried to 'accidently' bump into Bella, but Emmett still had hold of her and swung her out of the way. Emmett was obviously filled in on what the girls had said in the bathroom. "Good grief, does she have to wear so much perfume?" Emmett asked in a loud voice as the two of them followed her down the corridor as they headed to the art studio, "if she got that little problem seen to she wouldn't need to cover the smell up."

Several students laughed or choked trying not to. Lauren turned, a vicious scowl on her face. She was obviously about to say something cutting when Rose arrived back at their side. She stood and stared down Lauren once more. It was obvious that there was history of some type between them. And Lauren definitely was intimidated by the beautiful blonde.

She huffed and turned, storming away down the corridor. Rose slapped Emmett on the back of the head.

"What was that for?" he asked aggrieved. "She was giving Bella grief earlier!"

"Did you ask Bella if she wanted your help?" Rose asked. They both looked at Bella, but she had no idea what to say. She would rather they didn't cause any problems over her, she could cope with the nasty bitches, she had her whole life, but on the other hand it felt… good, warm, nice… to be protected by someone who did it because they cared for you, even if they only cared because they wanted something.

"Any time today Mr. Cullen!" The art teacher, Miss Russell was stood in the corridor, a pile of art folders in her arms.

"Sorry Miss." Emmett dragged Bella to the classroom and Rose walked off in the opposite direction. "This is the new student, Bella Swan." He introduced her.

"Get along inside then you two." The teacher said, inclining her head to the door. Emmett held it open for the teacher to pass and after she had put the folders down she held out her hand for the attendance slip. She signed it using one of the several pens that she had stuck in the messy bun on the back of her head and looked at Bella rather closely. "Do you want to introduce yourself?" she asked in an almost whisper.

Bella blushed bright red and shook her head frantically. The teacher nodded. "Go sit down then." She said kindly. Bella moved to the desk with Emmett.

"Why is she sitting next to the Cullen freak?" she heard someone say from behind her. "There's loads of space, she doesn't have to sit with any of them if she doesn't want. I think it's disgusting, sucking up to them just because they are rich!"

"Leave her alone, if she wants to make friends with the Cullens, let her, I think it's nice that someone does."

"Lots of us TRIED, if you remember Angela! They wanted nothing to do with us." The bitterness in the voice surprised Bella. She could see Emmett smile as he looked forward to the teacher, still sorting the files on her desk.

"Well I think it's nice of the Cullens to look out for her, it must be hard changing school so late, and they know the feeling, after all they have only been here a while themselves."

"Well I don't see what all the fuss is about with the new girl anyway." The first girl said. "It isn't as if she is pretty or anything, but look at the boys, all drooling." The voice was sharper now and Bella recognised it as the person who was talking to Lauren in the bathrooms earlier. Didn't Rose say she was called Jessica or something?

"I think she is pretty," Angela stated almost too quietly for Bella to hear. Emmett nodded and grinned to himself. Bella blushed again and at that second the teacher turned to the class and from seemingly nowhere produced the most horrid, ugly, twisted vase.

"Shade, light and dark, contrast! This is today's subject…"