Nov 25 2014: Chapter rewritten from original**

Chapter 1:

Bumping into Strangers

"Bells." Someone shook me awake. I groaned, pulling the covers over my head. "Come on, Bells, get your backside out of bed, it's your first day at school."

I groaned even louder. As if that was a reason to get up, if anything it made me want to hide under the covers even longer. Charlie chuckled as he pulled the covers from me. "Come on, kiddo, don't make me throw you out of bed," he said tickling my feet.

"Dad!" I drew the word out childishly, but I was fully awake.

I stretched while I sat up and peeled myself from the bed while Charlie disappeared from the room. To get himself coffee no doubt. I sauntered over to the window and looked out to see what the weather would be on my first day of Forks High.

Rain.

Of course, what else? I rolled my eyes, keeping my complaints to myself, and then stumbled my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

Charlie had gone by the time I was ready. He stuck his head around my door to say goodbye, then he was out the door to go back to work for the first time in a month. His Deputy was acting Chief while he was away, but Charlie had been itching to get back to the small police station to return to his duties.

After I cleared up the kitchen and had something to eat, I plucked my parka jacket off the peg by the door and stepped out into the fresh air. A chill blew over my face and I shivered. I instantly longed for the sun as I stared at the darkening sky. Back home this would be the first sign of a gale force storm, but for Forks the grey draping the sky was a natural everyday occurrence.

I tried not to dwell on that fact. That I may only see the sun perhaps once a year. Twice, if I were lucky.

Pulling up my hood to shield me from the elements, I eyed my new truck in the drive way. Charlie had arranged a welcome home gift for me. It was older than time itself, but the truck stood proud in the drive way. Orange and red flecking paint aside, it was study and I was grateful to have something to drive around in. Even if it looked like it may break down half way to school. I was still grateful to Charlie that he thought so far ahead while we were in Phoenix clearing up my mother's estate.

Slipping inside the truck, I familiarized with the inside. I was pleasantly surprised to find a brand new CD played installed and that the heater actually blew warm air. It was a bonus I didn't expect with such an ancient piece of metal.

Although I had never driven to Forks High school before, I knew roughly where I was to head. It was just outside town, on the only main road that the town offers. Driving in Forks was different than driving in Phoenix. I could count on my fingers the number of times I had driven in the rain in Phoenix and navigating such a large truck slowly through the sodden roads, with fog swirling the edges of the road, was out of my comfort zone. The only plus was that unlike Phoenix, there was less traffic around. Less people to kill, if I were to crash.

"I need your help!" A voice suddenly called out of know where. Panic caused me to jolt, the truck swerved as I geared left onto the opposite lane. Cursing furiously, I spun the wheel back to the right and tried to control my heartbeat into a more calm rhythm. I didn't even look to where or to whom the voice belonged. I was used to people making a surprise entrance out of literal thin air, but never had they been so rude as to scare the living day lights out of me while driving.

"Just because you are dead, doesn't mean I want to join you," I said after taking a breath. I glanced to my new passenger for the first time and regretted my tone.

. She was very pretty, but even for a ghost she was very pale. Spirits always resembled the way they did in death, right to the moment they decided they were ready to crossover, and I quickly noted that the woman had died violently with half of her face and neck smeared with bright red blood, which had dripped onto her once white blouse before she had passed. Her dark hair was in slight disarray, draping down her shoulders.

Looking past her physical appearance, I eyed her attire. She was dressed smartly; with her long sleeved pearl white blouse and dark pencil skirt. I wondered if she had died on to the way to or from work, maybe she was a lawyer or a business woman when she was alive.

"I'll help you," I said, cutting out the usual bullshit that I used to come up with. I used to pretend that I didn't know they were dead. Or that I couldn't or simply wouldn't help them for reasons I didn't explain. I learned through experience that it was better to help them, find out what they wanted or needed and let them pass over so I could move on to the next poor soul who was wondering around looking for someone like me to help them.

"You have to tell her," the woman began; almost so quiet that I could barely hear her over the engine.

"Tell who?" Turning my head away from the road for a moment, I gazed straight into her eyes. Dark brown, like my own, they were etched with a sense of urgency, but marred deeply with pain. She drew me in, my eyes frozen, unable to blink for a long moment.

"Her! She has to know," the woman whispered, breaking our connection. "She doesn't know, she doesn't know anything and it's not right, it's not fair!"

Her cryptic pleas weren't unusual. I was very used to all sorts from spirits, but usually they were evasive, leaving me to work out what they meant on my own. Ghosts asked for my help, but they didn't like helping me work out what they wanted. It was too much for them to spell things out for me.

"I want to help you, but I can't if you don't tell me who you mean and what you want me to do for them," I told her, just as I slowed down to drive through the school parking lot. It was later than I thought, but I gathered from the students still lingering in the lot that the bell had not gone yet.

I turned to the woman to ask her again, but she was gone. I sighed. I knew she would be back, but how long would it be before she got to the actual point? I liked helping them, I didn't even mind when they sent me on wild goose chases, trying to figure out what they are wanting, but today I had my own problems, I just wanted to have a day off so I could try to fit in without looking like a freak that talked to herself.

I parked the truck in a free space and hurried to the main office to get my schedule. The office was pretty small; it was manned by one woman with red hair and glasses. I waited at the desk and she looked up from the computer.

"Hello dear, can I help you?" the woman asked, smiling at me.

"Yes, my name is Bella Swan," I said. "It's my first day today."

The woman nodded knowingly. Charlie arranged to enroll me while we were in Phoenix; papers were emailed to us. I was grateful; I didn't feel like filling out a million forms before the first bell. The receptionist ruffled through some papers. "Here you go dear, this is your schedule, a map and a list of after school activities. Would you like me to go through them with you? I could highlight the best routes to your classes if you like?"

I took the papers from her, shaking my head. "No, that's okay, I am sure I will manage. Thanks anyway."

The bell rang at that moment, my eyes drawing to my new schedule in a bubble of panic. I didn't feel like being late on my first day. I was going to draw enough attention as it was. The paper read that my first hour was English with Mr Mason.

"English is in the building directly next door," the receptionist told me, gazing over my shoulder. She nodded to the map in my other hand and I followed her gaze. The map was full of several marked buildings coded with numbers. What each meant was keyed on the right of the paper. English was number two.

After I left the office, I joined the other students making their way to class. I spotted the building that the receptionist had pointed to and hurried forwards. I entered the building just as the rain stated to get heavy. I followed the students through the slippery corridors, but in my haste to hurry to class before the final bell, I ran into something solid. My breath was knocked right out my lungs as I dizzily stumbled back, trying to regain my vision. Before I ended up on my backside, something grabbed me, holding up right as I swayed on my feet.

"Sorry," I said in a dazed rush, blinking up to put a face to the person who saved me falling in a heap. At first I was confused. My savior was pale, so pale I thought it was a ghost at first. I blinked, a hysterical laugh bubbling my lips at the foolish thought.

"Are you okay?" A soft velvet voice ran through me, giving me shivers that had nothing to do with the cold. The pale ghost like boy suddenly became aware that he still had a grip of my arm, and slowly, as if he expected me to tumble at any moment, gently let go of me. He gazed at me, with an air of concern, but realizing I was fine, he relaxed.

I opened my mouth to apologize and take the blame where it lay, but my words got caught in my throat as I took in his whole presence. And there was a lot to take in. He was tall, but that was the least of his features that drew the eye. He was breath taking. His face looked like it was sculpted to stand next to Greek statures. Perfectly angled with a winning white smile, he looked out of place in such a dimly lit corridor in a dull town such as Forks.

But it was his eyes that held my attention. Bright gold and shimmering in the light, they hypnotized me into a trace as I stared at him wordlessly. He waited patiently for me to say something, an amused smile playing on his perfectly smooth pink lips. I flushed, clearing my throat and head alike.

"Excuse my clumsiness," I said trying to look away from his gaze. "I'm forever walking into things. I should come with a bell."

At my rambling comment he laughed. "I wasn't paying much attention, either," he said, his smile fading into a frown. A look of frustration ebbed into his brows.

The second bell rang to signal the final warning before class. We both looked around us at the now almost empty hall. Only a few stragglers like us left. I doubled checked the room number on my schedule and prayed I didn't have far to go.

"Mason's class is right there," the boy said nodding to the classroom three doors down.

"Thanks," I said just as a second ghostly person glided into the space between us to the right.

"Are we skipping class today?" she said with an easy smile, looking between the boy and myself. She was a few inches shorter than me and was as equally as beautiful as the strange boy with bronze hair standing in front of me. They looked so similar, yet nothing alike. The girl had an equally striking face, with just as perfect features like she had been sculpted by the person who had carved out him. Her teeth were just as impeccably white and straight, but it was the eyes that made me conclude they had to somehow be related. Golden, like his.

"Wishful thinking, Alice," the boy said coolly. He looked down at me, still with frustration pulled in his eyes. "I was showing…?"

"Bella," I offered quickly.

"Bella," the boy said nodding as if to confirm something, "Where her first class is."

The reminder made me flush again. Crap, now I was so late that even on my first day I may get a tardy. "Speaking of which, I better go. Thanks again and…sorry." I smiled at the beautiful pair and hurried to the door the boy had pointed out without a backward glance.

As my fingers touched the door handle to my first class, I suddenly froze when the hallway filled with a loud banging sound.

I turned, but I was alone. Alice and what I assumed was her brother had disappeared leaving me the last one to linger the hall. I was used to odd and random noises which couldn't be explained by eyes that couldn't see through the beyond, but I was determined to get through the day in peace.

Eyeing the hallway with narrowed eyes I saw nothing. The laughter got louder, closer. A child's laughter.

The hallway was getting colder as I stood routed on the spot, waiting for something to happen. Or in most cases, someone to make their selves known. Before I could lose interest, something pulled at my coat. At first it was slight, then as I scanned around me, a young boy, maybe five, blinked in front me.

He was wearing a light blue onzie, his eyes surveying me, curious.

"Hi," I said softly.

"You're the one with magic eyes?" he asked.

I nodded. "You could put it that way, yeah. Do you need my help?"

The boy smiled at me, but before I could blink he was gone.

"Great, another one of those days. Ghost hide and seek - my favourite kind of game," I whispered to myself as I entered the classroom.

Hope you have enjoyed it so far, please let me know - press the magical button down there that say's review! (: