A/N: The super-beta strikes again! Before any senseless rambling takes place I'll have to thank Ms. Justareaderfan for taking the time to beta this chapter. She's now officially the Stepping Swan Lake beta and we are all very grateful for that, because nobody likes typos and grammatical errors.

Okay so... I may have said that I won't be updating this story much, but I've come to realize that I can't hold my fingers still when it comes to this story. So you'll probably get regular updates- just not impossibly long chapters ;)

This basically means that I do intend to stick with this story (thank you, Virpukka for your review) :D

Alright, I'm done talking. Go on and read- I'll be at the bottom.

Bella Pov

The following days at the academy were pure horror.

Well, maybe not really, but still...Horror.

Apparently, all of the teachers had thought that Madam Cope's idea was brilliant, because I spent every single one of the dancing classes stretching.

By the end of the week I felt like a gummy bear.

I didn't talk much to anyone and ate my meals alone most of the time.

Victoria would join me every now and then, but mostly just for breakfast.

Alice and Rosalie stopped bothering me and ignored me when they sat next to me in Musical History.

They were probably scared of me or something. I didn't care.

I used my free time to leave campus and walk around Forks.

The town was seriously tiny.

I bought myself a pair of Inline skates at Newton's and spent most of my time skating through the streets of Forks.

After skating for hours, I would always return on time to the school campus and get to bed immediately. There wasn't much I could do there anyway.

Victoria asked me to tag along with her a couple of times, but I always declined not wanting to deal with any of the prima ballerinas.

Each morning I would wake up, feeling like shit. The constant stretching and the skating were definitely affecting me.

Nothing eventful actually happened in my first week and the students were already starting to ignore me. Or more accurately, they were starting to avoid me.

I had a feeling that Alice, Rosalie and the rest of the bunch had been talking about me, but I didn't really care.

Felix nearly pissed his pants when I told him that the entire school seemed to be scared of me. He actually thought about coming down here and scaring them even more.

By the time Sunday came around, I was already fed up with this whole thing and couldn't imagine staying here one day longer.

I grabbed my back pack early in the morning and sneaked out without anyone noticing.

I put my skates on again and rolled through the sleepy little town.

Since I had already seen every aspect of Forks, I decided skate a little out of town.

I landed in the 'La Push Reservation'.

The road gave me a wonderful view of the beach and despite the fact that I was used to the traditional sunny beaches, I felt a bit more at home.

The beach was quite empty- apart from a few joggers- and the water seemed to be still asleep as well.

Staring at the seemingly endless blue, I didn't pay any attention to where I was going.

A yelp, a scream and...Crash.

I was on the ground before I even knew it.

Or more like partially on the ground.

I was pretty sure that the soft and warm thing beneath me was a body.

Moving my arms to push myself up, I came to the realization that I was lying on top of a male body.

Or maybe it was a woman with very impressive biceps.

"You scream like a girl," I mumbled and got myself in a seating position.

"So do you," the guy grunted, sitting up as well. He opened his eyes and looked at me. "You're pretty heavy for such a tiny person."

"It's all muscle," I replied and flexed my bicep.

He laughed. His laugh was deep and kind of husky.

I inspected him carefully. His hair was dark, cropped short and went along nicely with his russet coloured skin.

He kind of reminded me of Jacob.

"Oh shit. You hurt yourself," he suddenly exclaimed.

I followed his gaze and noticed that I had scrapped my knee.

Rolling my eyes, I ran my hand over the small injury.

"It's nothing. I've had a lot worse."

"Sure that you don't want a plaster or something?" he inquired.

I sighed. "I'm a dancer, I've had worse."

The look in his eyes changed- he looked a bit more reserved.

"Dancer, huh? I don't suppose you attend the Academy?"

"Sure do," I responded.

He nodded slowly and got to his feet.

Only then I noticed the skateboard a couple of feet away from us.

I guess that explained the crash.

"Need a hand?" the guy asked, holding out his hand to me.

I took it gratefully and slowly got on my feet.

Just when I thought I stood safely on my skates again I lost my balance and stumbled awkwardly.

I was caught before I hit the ground and heard a chuckle come from the guy.

"Not very graceful for a ballerina," he noted.

I snorted and regained my posture.

"Could be because I'm not a ballerina."

He gave me a confused look.

"I thought you're a student at the Academy."

"I am."

"The Estelle Étoile Academy?"

"Yes."

"Then you are a ballerina."

"Nope."

His eyebrows rose.

"How does that work?"

"I'm not gonna share my life story with some stranger."

He grinned.

"I'm Sam," he introduced himself and held out his hand again.

I shook it, grinning back at him.

"Bella."

"Alright Bella, want to go and grab a bite to eat? We could get to know each other and you could tell me that story of yours," he proposed.

Looking at him, I thought about that. Seeing that I had nothing better to do anyway I figured that I should take him up on his offer.

At least that way I would get to enjoy the presence of a normal person.

"Good thing that I didn't have anything for breakfast," I told him.

"No breakfast, huh? Some kind of ballerina diet?" he asked with a half-smile.

Sam grabbed his skateboard.

"Yup. It's the I-left-in-a-hurry-this-morning-to-avoid-my-stupid-classmates diet," I informed him as we slowly skated next to each other.

Sam chuckled.

"I don't think that you need to lose any weight, though."

"Aw, aren't you a cute one?"

"Yep, that's what my girlfriend says," he replied.

I looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Girlfriend?"

"What, you thought a guy like me would be single?" He gestured toward himself and smiled cockily.

I pulled a grimace.

"Probably not," I admitted. "Just let it be known that I don't want to be part of any teenage drama because we're hanging out."

Just the thought of the whole stay-away-from-my-boyfriend thing that girls liked to do every now and then made me shudder.

"No need to worry about that. I was actually on my way to have breakfast with Emily and her friend before you tackled me to the ground," Sam reassured me.

"I didn't tackle you," I protested, "You're the one who steamrolled over me."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"I will."

Sam smiled at me and pointed at a small coffee shop that came into sight.

"Race you there." He picked up the speed on his skateboard immediately with a laugh.

I shook my head at him and sped up as well.

It didn't take too much effort to overtake Sam.

Turning around, I waved at him.

Instead of looking annoyed like I had expected, Sam's eyes widened.

"Bella, watch o-"

I stumbled and fell against a door, which immediately opened at the impact.

Falling face first into the room, I briefly wondered if I would continue falling all day.

"Jesus," a startled voice exclaimed and I heard steps hurrying into my direction.

I groaned feeling the pain in my bones and turned unto my back.

Opening my eyes slowly, I saw Sam's face looking down on me.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Sure."

Another face appeared right in front of mine, causing me to flinch.

"Did you hurt yourself? Are you in pain? Should I call an ambulance?"

The girl seemed to be pretty frantic, inspecting me with a worried expression.

"Emily, relax," I heard Sam say, his voice a bit further away.

"Sam, she hurt herself. Did you see the way she fell in here?"

"I'm telling you that she is fine. She's just not able to stay upright for a long amount of time. Just give her some space to breath and get up, and pour me some coffee."

Emily threw a look over her shoulder and then looked back at me.

"Are you really okay?" she asked me.

"Yes, I'm fine," I told her, starting to feel uncomfortable on the floor.

"Alright," she sighed, "But take those things off in here. I don't want to wipe away your blood in case you fall again."

With that said she vanished out of my line of sight.

I rubbed my forehead, feeling that there was a bump forming.

"Maybe you should get her an ice pack or something for her head," I heard someone suggest.

It was a female voice that I hadn't heard before.

I sat up slowly and looked around.

The coffee shop was small, cozy and really empty.

While I quickly got rid of my skates, I heard Emily approach me again.

She handed me an ice pack with a sweet smile.

"You should join us at the counter instead of sitting on the floor," she said and then picked up my skates and took them with her.

I got up, enjoying the feeling of steady ground beneath my feet and sat down on a stool next to Sam.

Pressing the ice pack tightly against the little bump, I sighed contently.

"Are we ever going to hear who that is?"

I looked up and noticed a girl sitting on Sam's other side.

My eyes searched for Emily, but she appeared behind the counter saving me the effort.

Sam shook his head.

"No way. I'm not going to tell you guys anything until I get my coffee."

Emily sighed and quickly placed a coffee mug in front of him, filling it with coffee.

"There," she said," Now do the introductions."

"Bella, this is my girlfriend Emily and this annoying little creature over here is—"

"-pretty damn awesome," the girl barged in and leaned forward so I could see her better.

"I'm Leah," she then added with a large grin.

Sam rolled his eyes at her.

"It's nice to meet you, Bella," Emily said pleasantly and I nodded at her before I turned my gaze back at Leah.

"Your hair is..."

"I know, I know. It's the coolest ever," she said and started playing with her hair strands.

"Most definitely," I agreed.

"No need to stroke her ego, Bella," Sam warned me.

I ignored him.

Normally, I wasn't one to compliment another girl's hair, but Leah's hair was dyed in a purple gradient going from black to a slightly glowing purple in the tips.

"I don't think her ego can get any bigger than it already is," Emily commented. "But Leah's ego aside- don't you guys want to tell us how and where you met? I don't think I have ever seen you around or even heard of you, Bella."

"She's at the Academy," Sam blurted out right after Emily finished speaking.

It was like he had been waiting to say this all along.

Emily looked at me with a surprised expression, while I heard a yelp come from Leah.

"You're a stick dancer?" Leah asked me.

"Stick dancer?"

"Dancer with a stick up your ass," she clarified.

I giggled. Demetri and Leah would probably get along pretty well.

"No, I'm not," I responded and then looked at Emily. "Can I have some coffee as well?"

She nodded and poured me some as well.

"She says she is not a ballerina but still attends the Academy," Sam informed them.

"How does that work?" Emily asked.

I took a sip from my coffee and felt immediately better. All that I was missing in this moment was a cigarette and I would truly feel at home.

"Oh, it works alright. With enough money and time they can make a Ballet dancer out of you. Just take Super-Blondie, for instance. When she arrived there she was just a dress-up doll. Now after the teachers have given up every ounce of patience with her, drilling her over the last two years, she's Barbie in the nutcracker," Leah said.

"Who's Super-Blondie? Tanya Denali?" I asked curiously.

Leah snorted. "No, no. Miss Denali has been put into pointe shoes before she could even walk. That's why her feet look so deformed," Leah giggled, "I'm talking about Rosalie Hale. She and her twin brother had been taking Ballet classes since they were little. At some point though, Rosalie had decided that the whole tutu business was too much for her and stopped. Jasper attended the summer workshop of the Academy for a couple of years and when Rosalie seemed to have gotten in some kind of trouble at home, her parents sent both of them in for the first year as Petites."

"What the hell are Petites?" I asked incredulous.

Leah quirked an eyebrow at me.

"There are four classes in the Academy. The senior class, the junior class, the sophomores and the petites. Most dancers start there as sophomores, but some are starting earlier to work a bit more on their basics," she explained.

I just stared at her for a moment before I opened my mouth to ask, "Why the hell do you know this much about the Academy and their students?"

Sam let out a mean little cackle, resulting in Leah hitting him.

"Oh Leah is a student there herself," Emily answered my question.

Taking a sip of my coffee had definitely been a bad idea. I sprayed the contents of my mouth over the entire surface in front of me.

Sam laughed while Emily quickly cleaned up the mess.

"Can't you hold your liquor, woman?" Leah asked me in slight annoyance.

"There is no way that you are a student there," I shouted in disbelief.

Leah rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Sorry to tell you this, but I really am in this school. Always have been. Well, for the last three years."

"You're a senior?"

"Yup."

"How come I haven't seen you there?"

Leah held up her leg. A cast covered her right foot and half of her leg.

"Oh," I said, "I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry. I really enjoy the freedom."

"You know, with your hair and the cast I really think that you would have been hard to miss."

"I don't live in the school," Leah told me.

"You don't?"

"No, my parents live up here in the reservation so I don't have to stay in the school for the duration of my bench time."

"Oh god. You're lucky. I wish my home was that close."

I sighed. It would actually be enough if my friends were nearby. They were my home.

"Where are you from?" Emily asked then.

"Phoenix," I answered curtly.

"Whoa, that's the exact opposite of Forks," Sam noted and then put an arm around my shoulder. "I'm really sorry for your loss."

I looked up at him, startled.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, my heart beating a bit faster.

"Well, you had to give up the sun. Here in Forks the sun shines maybe twice a year and then only for five minutes. Solar energy is definitely not being used here," he said with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

I exhaled in relief. I should have known that it was something along those lines.

How in the world would he have known anything about my mother?

"Hey, let's get back on track here," Leah complained. "I want to know how you managed to get in so late with absolutely no experience."

Looking at her, I saw the expectant expression on her face.

"Who said that I don't have any experience?" I asked coyly.

Leah rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about dancing here. Get your mind out of gutter."

"I was talking about dancing as well."

"Okay," Leah said slowly, pulling a grimace. "I'm lost."

"I don't get it either," Sam admitted and Emily nodded in agreement.

Letting out a sigh, I said, "It's a long story."

"Psh, I bet it's not. People usually say that so they don't have to tell their story," Leah remarked.

"No fair," Sam wailed," You promised you would tell me if we got to know each other better."

"Well, have we gotten to know each other much?"

"Yes, I introduced you to my girlfriend and one of my closest friends."

I rolled my eyes and decided to give in. The reason of my being here wasn't really a secret anyway.

"Okay, okay. There isn't really much to tell-"

"Ha, I knew it," Leah trumpeted.

I ignored her.

"My father just sent me off to the Academy as a punishment. End of story."

The three of them looked at me.

"He just sent you off to a Ballet Academy? Couldn't he have just gone for a traditional boarding school? Some catholic school, maybe," Emily wondered.

"Stop promoting catholic schools, Emily," Leah scowled and then said to me," She used to go to a catholic school before she moved here with her family."

I looked at Emily. "Where did you live before?"

"Oh, not too far away. We used to live in Seattle, but my Dad decided then he wanted to be closer to his family again."

There was certain sadness in her eyes as she said that and I wondered if there was more to the story than she let on.

I wanted to ask but decided against it. After all, I never told my full story either.

"Anyway, why did your Dad sent you to Estelle Étoile?"

I grimaced.

"I used to dance Ballet, so he probably thought it was a good idea to throw me back into it."

"Used to?" Leah's voice was a bit muffled, which probably had to do with the fact that she just shoved a cupcake into her mouth.

"Yeah, I kind of changed my route toward Hip Hop and I even have a crew back at home-"

"Hold on," Leah cut me off," Are you trying to tell us that you have been taking Ballet classes sometime in the past, probably as a kid, and then moved on to Hip Hop which is what you have been doing the whole time until your Dad decided to ship you off to a Ballet school?"

"Err... yes."

"How the hell did he convince Madam Esme to take you in?"

Leah sounded really curious, while Sam and Emily snickered and repeated 'Madam Esme' with high pitched voices.

I shook my head at them, but couldn't help the smile that crept unto my lips.

"I don't know," I shrugged in answer to Leah's question. "Maybe she felt like she needed to help me. After all, it was either the Academy or juvi."

Sam and Emily fell silent instantly.

"Juvi? What did you do? Destroy the props in a prestigious school theater?" Sam joked.

Leah kicked him.

"I know you have a crush on Channing Tatum, but this is an important matter." She turned her attention back to me, while Emily was giggling hysterically. "What the hell did you do that almost got you into juvi?"

"Nothing," I immediately defended myself, not liking her accusing tone.

Leah just quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Okay, so maybe I have done something but mainly it was just my father overreacting. He's a cop, so obviously he expects me to respect the law."

"Ugh, your Dad's a cop? In that case you'd only have to be caught with a smoke in your mouth once and he would put handcuffs on you."

As if to underline her words, she pulled out a box with cigarettes.

"I thought you had quit smoking?" Emily voiced, when Leah exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"When did I ever say that?"

"Didn't your Mom tell you to quit?"

"She did, but she also told me to dye my hair black again and she wanted me to lose three pounds."

"Well, the last point is indeed ridiculous."

"How the hell did your parents convince Madam Esme to take you into the school?" I asked, turning her earlier words back at her.

She looked at me with a grin. "Didn't need to. I've been living here since I was little and when I was six my mother paid Madam Esme to give me private lessons. I've been dancing ever since."

Looking at Leah really made me wonder why in the world she was so different from anybody else I had seen so far at the school.

"You know, I just recently dyed my hair. It hadn't been like this before. Nobody at the academy has even seen it. Not that it matters, they all already know that I'm not into the whole thing as much as they are."

"You don't like to dance?"

"Oh, I love to dance. But it's just dancing. There is no need to act all weird because of it. I understand that there has to be a certain seriousness and all, but I don't get why some people start acting totally arrogant just because of Ballet."

I could only nod in agreement.

Leah continued, "You know, you should totally show me some of your moves as soon as I'm back on both of my feet. Paul taught me a few things, but he's not really patient so he stopped doing that."

"Who is Paul?"

Leah pulled a grimace.

"He's my boyfriend," she answered.

I didn't know why that would make her scrunch up her face, but I didn't say anything about that.

"Leah, go and continue smoking outside. We're opening in thirty minutes and I don't want the smell of smoke in here," Emily complained.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Leah replied and got up. She looked at me. "Wanna join me?"

Smiling, I got up as well.

"Sure."

We step outside, where she threw her smoke away only to light a new one. She offered to me.

"You smoke?"

I took one and shrugged. "Occasionally."

"Psh and here I thought you were responsible."

"As if...there is a reason why my Dad sent me off."

"Oh yeah, you still really didn't tell what you did to deserve this." She waved her hands around.

I shrugged again.

"Nothing worth mentioning. It's mostly just under aged drinking and vandalism. Although, most of the times I didn't have anything to do with it. In our crew, I'm actually more the quite one, but when we all get drunk together sometimes stupid stuff happens. We got caught a couple of times and I should have done community service hundreds of times, but I didn't. That's why my Dad sent me off."

Leah looked at me disbelievingly.

"That's it? Because of under aged drinking?"

"Well, he thinks I'm also violent because the last time he was the one who caught me and I had this guy next to me, who had gotten beaten up by my friends a-"

"What kind of friends are they?"

"They're not as bad as it may sound. They are all really great people. Almost like my family."

I smiled softly.

"Sure, my family gets me into jail all the time as well," Leah commented.

"I didn't go to jail yet," I remarked.

"Of course you did. You're at the Academy now. The only difference is the food."

I snorted at that. She had voiced my exact thoughts.

We sat on the porch in silence for a few minutes, watching people passing by.

"So how long did you dance Ballet?" Leah asked, catching me off guard.

"A while," I answered vaguely.

Leah didn't look at me.

"I'm guessing that it was a long while."

She was making it sound like a question.

I hesitated, not sure if I wanted to answer this.

"It's okay; you don't have to tell me. I just figured that you must have a lot more dancing experience than you let on, otherwise you wouldn't have been accepted at the Academy."

I stayed silent.

"Why did you stop dancing?"

Biting my lip, I still stayed silent.

Instead of answering I took a long drag from my cig.

It calmed my nerves, which had just started to make themselves known. That was basically the only reason why I even started smoking.

My Mom had been telling me over and over again how important my body was and that I needed to make sure to be healthy at all times. It was the core of our whole training. No matter what I did, I had to make sure not to endanger my health in any way. It was the thing she was scared of the most and the reason why she had been teaching me Ballet.

But now, it didn't matter anymore and I needed something calming every now and then. Sometimes, I felt guilty for ignoring my mother's wishes like that, but I had learned to ignore that feeling.

"Something bad, huh?" Leah questioned, taking my silence as an answer.

I shrugged.

"So how did classes go for you then?"

I let out a humorless snort. "Incredible. I spent the whole week stretching after I made them all understand that I would not be dancing."

"Ewe. Your muscles must ache like crazy."

"Meh, it's not so bad when I'm moving around. I'm just really fucked up when I get up in the mornings."

Leah giggled.

"So who are your roommates?"

"Victoria Carter and Irina Sullivan."

Leah made an unimpressed sound.

"I thought you would have gotten someone more interesting."

"In that school?"

"They are not all that bad, but I get your point." She suddenly started scowling at her cast. "If it weren't for this stupid thing, I would totally hang out with you at school."

"Ah, I guess I'll just have to manage without you."

"Yeah, but you can visit me after a school and give me the dirty details about what's going on while I'm gone."

Leah rubbed her hands together and wore a mean grin.

I wasn't sure if I should approve of this kind of behaviour.

"I could try, but I'm not really a social butterfly over there."

"What? How does that work? You're a hottie, you have to be a 'social butterfly'," Leah said, looking truly disturbed by this information.

A hottie? Now I don't know about that...

"Well, I kind of stand out with my way of dressing," I started.

Leah looked at me.

I wore a pair of jeans hot pants today and a wide shirt that definitely didn't compliment me in any way. But it looked alright to me and it was comfortable.

"Yeah, I guess that must have made you stand out on the first day. But it's no big deal. Lots of people dress a bit differently than the majority. Take me for instance."

"I also mentioned the whole juvi thing, but didn't get to explain it any further. That added to the fact that I got into an argument with that Edward kid kind of led to my current social status, I think. It could also be my disrespectful behaviour on my first day towards Madam Justins or that I'm not taking part in any dancing activities. I don't know and I most certainly don't care."

I took one last drag and threw the smoke away.

Leah gaped at me for a few moments before she spoke.

"It sounds like you've made an awesome first impression," she stated slowly, "But I kind of have a feeling that you are just radiating 'Back off' waves, so it doesn't surprise me that people leave you alone. Okay, and maybe the whole juvi thing is also kind of... unsettling. And you got into a fight with...Edward Cullen?"

"Is his name Cullen?"

"Well, if he is that gorgeous guy with the greenest eyes ever and this crazy, tousled and bronze coloured hair- then, yes his name is Cullen."

I sent Leah a pointed look.

"I thought you had a boyfriend?"

"I do and he values my good taste."

I was just about to respond something to that when I made a sudden realization.

"Wait...you said his name is Edward Cullen?"

"Yeah."

"Is he related to Madam Esme?"

Now it was Leah's turn to look at me pointedly.

"Uhh...yeah. He's her son."

"Oh shit," I cursed.

"Ah, no need to worry. He's probably not going to his Mom to complain about you," Leah reassured me.

"Probably? What is that supposed to tell me?"

"Well, I don't really know him all that well and I know that he once reported James, but that was at the workshop three years ago."

I let out a deep breath.

"I don't even care if he reports me. I haven't done anything wrong, for once."

"What was the fight about?"

"Nothing interesting really. I was just pissed because he said that street trash cannot just be put into a dancing studio."

Leah looked surprised. "He really said that?"

"He did."

"What a prick."

I nodded in agreement.

"Jeez, and here I always thought he was such a nice guy."

A growl from my stomach followed her words.

Leah laughed.

"I guess we should get back in there and ask Emily if we can get some pancakes or something."

I jumped up immediately at the sound of this, grinning almost wide enough to split my face.

"I can see that you are just as crazy about pancakes as I am. Seeing that you are quite interesting and entertaining so far, I'd say that we are going to have a long friendship," she stated and hooked her arm though mine.

Seeing that she was one of the few normal persons I had met so far, I decided to agree with her.

"Long and beautiful, my friend," I corrected her, "Long and beautiful."

A/N: So Bella has made some new friends. Aren't we all happy for her?

What do you think of Leah, Sam and Emily?

Tell me everything that went on in your head whilst reading this chapter :) I'll be waiting for those reviews

Lot's of love to all of you

xoxo