A/N: Cue Edward and Alice.

Chapter 3

First Day at Forks High

Bella's POV

"So, Bells, we can come in with you, if you like?" Jacob offered like a sweetheart; obviously picking up on my anxiety over being the "new girl".

I guess I really sucked at pretences.

Jake, Nessie and I were standing in the parking lot of Forks High School—Home Of The Spartans, as it read on the sign. We'd arrived a little earlier so I could get myself organised and pick up my schedule, but as I stared at the building marked 'office', I realised I'd have to pass dozens of pairs of curious eyes that were all staring shamelessly at me.

I was used to getting stared at, but not in this context; I was way out of my comfort zone.

I wanted to agree and hide myself behind the massive form that was my cousin, but I didn't. I didn't fly half way across the world to remain as meek and pathetic as I was in Australia.

Flashing Jake a grateful smile, I shook my head. "No, I'll be fine. You guys go ahead. I'll see you at lunch."

Jacob seemed to debate this with himself for a moment, before he broke into his all too familiar grin. "Okay then, Bells. Take it easy."

He put his arm over Nessie's shoulder, and I watched as they disappeared into the crowds. Nessie looked back once and threw me a broad, encouraging smile, and then I was alone.

With a small sigh, I turned to glance in the direction of the office again. The anticipation I'd once felt over starting a new school, sans my reputation as Renee's daughter, was suddenly waning with each breath I took, and my stomach was a mass of nervousness.

But taking a stiff, determined breath in, while reminding myself once more that no one here knew Renee, I pushed all my reservations aside, and headed toward the main building of the school.

. . .

By the time I left the office with my schedule in hand, class was about to start. Luckily Forks High School wasn't big enough to get hopelessly lost in. It was only fractionally bigger than my old school back home. Though, a lot of it involved walking around in the subzero temperatures; something I was sure I'd never get acclimatised to.

I managed to find my home room without too much drama, but of course, I was the last person to arrive, and as I stumbled very ungraciously through the door, everyone looked up and stared at me with various expressions of curiosity and amusement.

Feeling my face burn neurotically, I put my head down and quickly found a seat; beside a girl who introduced herself as Angela.

"Hi," I murmured, returning her smile awkwardly.

I was in the midst of trying to familiarise myself with my schedule when all of a sudden the whole class stood up … and started reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. It surprised me so much that for a moment I was dumbfounded, before I hastily lurched to my feet and placed my hand over my heart. I had no clue what the words were, but it all sounded oddly familiar.

Surprisingly, it reminded me of all the mornings we were forced to sing the national anthem in the quad at my old school, while the school captain raised the flag. It was a ritual we had to repeat every morning without fail—even in the middle of summer when it was so stinking hot that half the students would collapse. Well … okay, that was mostly me, and usually smack bang in the arms of some letch of a guy. They used to flock near me in summer, knowing my fainting was an inevitability. There wasn't anything flattering about it; they only did it to get a laugh with the boys as they dragged my semi-conscious body to sickbay, while no doubt hoping I'd suddenly turn into my mother and find the prospect of being half conscious in their arms a turn-on.

I liked to think it was the reason why I couldn't tolerate the heat very well, because half of my genes came from this climate.

My first class of the day was Trigonometry.

I was half way across the school grounds when someone fell in step with me, turning to face me with a bright, friendly smile.

"Hi, you're Isabella, aren't you? I thought I'd come and introduce myself. I'm Alice. You're a junior right?"

"Um … yeah. It's just Bella," I mumbled awkwardly, "and what's … a junior?" I felt like an idiot, and more so when Alice's expression quirked in amusement.

"Eleventh grade?"

"Oh—then, yeah, I guess I'm a junior." My face burst into flames, and I berated myself beneath my breath, wishing I'd done more homework regarding American schools before I'd left.

"You look a little lost, Bella. Do you need directions? What's your next class?" she asked. She seemed friendly enough, and her accompanying smile was sincere.

"Trigonometry," I answered with enough uncertainty that it came out almost as a question.

She turned her head, becoming momentarily distracted by a passing blonde boy, and it gave me a moment to properly take her in.

She was shorter than I was by about an inch, and her petite frame was complimented by a pair of jeans and jacket that didn't look like they'd ever graced the interior of 'Kmart' like my clothes had. She was incredibly pretty. Though, despite this, we did have something in common; her complexion was practically as pale as mine was—only it didn't make her look anaemic like it did on me.

With Mr tall, blonde and blue eyed gone from view, she turned back and met my gaze, her face lighting up with enthusiasm. "Cool, me too. C'mon, I'll show you the way."

As it turned out—once I let Alice suss out my schedule—I had every class with her except Biology.

. . .

"It sucks being the new girl, huh?" she asked, as she plonked down in a chair beside me in trig class.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"My family have moved around a lot the last five years," she explained with a small, wistful-sounding sigh. "I went to three different middle schools during that time," she added, shrugging as if to say it was no big deal.

Luckily, I listened to my better instincts, and didn't ask her what middle school was.

By mid-day things had gone pretty smoothly. My education in one-horse-town New South Wales was sufficient enough that I understood pretty much everything in my classes. Alice remained beside me; her friendly enthusiastic chatter was a comforting distraction from all the staring and gawking, and just knowing Jake was somewhere inside the building with me gave me comfort.

But just when I was thinking I could get through the day without incident, fourth period Spanish happened. The overly enthusiastic teacher smacked, what she called, the "welcoming sombrero" on my head and made me stand in front of the class to introduce myself. The entire class erupted into snickers.

I was mortified, and convinced she just wanted to torture me, because how many new students could Forks High generate to require a "welcoming" anything?

As I opened my mouth to speak, I heard the word kangaroo whispered amongst the class. This of course only increased my awkwardness, but at the same time I was beginning to feel indignant.

Clearing my throat quickly, I started over, "My name's Bella, and I'm from New South Wales, Australia—and no, I do not own a pet kangaroo."

I'm not sure why I added the bit at the end; maybe because the day before Nessie had been completely serious. Either way, as I took a step to return to my seat the teacher decided to torture me more. "And what did your parents do in Australia, Bella?"

"Sheep ranchers," a voice piped up, followed by more laughter.

"Crocodile hunters!" came another, before the teacher shushed them sharply.

Groaning beneath my breath, and with my face now on fire from the continued humiliation, I wracked my brain for a fabricated response to the idiotic teacher's question. I came up blank, and so, taking a resigned breath, I spoke the truth, "I lived with just my mother … and she –she worked at the pub."

I hastily returned to my seat, being followed by another round of half suppressed snickers, and whether Miss Harper wanted any more information from me or not.

Alice turned to me and flashed me an empathetic smile, and with a sigh—out of relief that it was over, if nothing else—I smiled back. I was sure I was being too sensitive and was overreacting. God knows I'd been through worse, and anything that didn't end with being asked if I gave blowjobs as good as my mother was always a plus.

. . .

As the day continued, it became apparent just how much of a godsend Alice was turning out to be. She never once asked stupid questions about Australia, and even though I suspected she didn't quite understand a lot of what I said—despite all my efforts to not say anything too bogan—she never laughed and brought it to my attention. Her enthusiasm was slightly exhausting, but her sincerity was genuine. She reminded me a lot of Kel, so it was almost impossible for me not to like her. Her presence helped create an optimism I was beginning to feel about coming to Forks for the first time since before I'd arrived. The one thing—the only thing—that made me happy in Australia were my friends. Friends were important to me—since they were all I'd had.

"Thank God it's lunch. I'm starving!" Alice exclaimed, linking her arm through mine as we made our way out of English class.

As everyone headed to lunch, the halls became a sea of students. I was following Alice, having no idea how to get to the cafeteria, when she suddenly stopped, and just as a tall figure stopped in front of us.

"Hey, you little rat, we have practice after school today, so do you mind getting a lift with Rose?" A deep voice spoke to Alice in a warm, teasing tone.

I looked up and completely faltered. My heart, which had initially stalled, quite literally started hammering, leaving me in cynical surprise.

Standing in front of us was a boy with eyes the same shade as Alice's, only he was at least a foot taller than her, and there was something really hazardous about his smile. Was he handsome? Was that the right word? He definitely had the confidence thing going on, but it was ridiculous that I'd even be contemplating it, considering my confession to Jake and Nessie the day before—considering my history with the opposite sex.

But in this country no one knew my mother, and therefore wouldn't have the misguided assumption that I was just as much of a whore as she was.

It suddenly hit me; I was free. Free to start a new life where there'd be no discrimination or judgments that I'd experienced as Renee's daughter. I could talk to boys without having the reasonable suspicion that they expected only one thing from me. The one thing my mother was all too happy to give—over and over.

In Australia, I was Bella Swan, daughter of the town drunk and whore. In Forks, I was…?

As I stood processing all this, while my heart reacted to the very idea of it, I became aware that Alice must have introduced me, because suddenly he was gazing over at me, his eyebrows slightly drawn.

As his eyes locked with mine, something flickered in them, and my first presumption was that he'd recognized who I was—Renee Dwyer's daughter.

She must be just as much of a slut—like mother like daughter, after all!

But he didn't know Renee…

I realised what he probably did recognize me as, was the new girl who apparently kept a kangaroo in her backyard—who was presently staring at him mouth agape, and expression of a lunatic.

How could it be anything else? The epiphany I was having was so enormous that I had no way of properly processing it at just that moment.

But I felt so unburdened all of a sudden that I found myself smiling brightly up at him—which immediately broadened his, revealing a set of pearly white teeth.

"Nice to meet you, Bella. I'm Edward." His voice was warm and resonating.

He has a nice shade of brown hair, I was thinking, almost completely forgetting to respond to him.

"Hi," I blurted out, and feeling immediately awkward, I broke off eye contact with him.

He cleared his throat and when I peeked up at him again, he looked … uncomfortable. He had opened his mouth to respond, but shut it hastily, before mumbling a hurried goodbye and walking off rather quickly.

I was used to boys acting disappointed when they realised I wasn't like my mother at all and they were wasting their time on me, but they never appeared uncomfortable.

That was usually my response.

It was so ironic; the first boy that made me feel something other than distrust, had reacted exactly how I normally would have.

I shook my head to myself slowly in a second attempt to wrap my mind around it all, and what it all meant, but I only felt ridiculous and bewildered, and wholly out of my comfort zone

"My twin brother," Alice said, almost rolling her eyes and smiling slightly to herself.

Her twin brother? Well I knew he wasn't her boyfriend; she'd chatted nonstop about her boyfriend, Jazz, all morning.

I only nodded, not trusting myself with a reply at that moment, because despite my present inner struggle, I was mortifyingly on the verge of enquiring further about him.

"Are you okay, Bella?" Alice asked me, her eyebrows pulling together.

"Um … yeah, I'm fine. Just hungry, I guess," I mumbled a reply, grateful that she'd broken me from thoughts that were threatening to mock me with this new found revelation.

Thankfully Alice was suddenly distracted. "Oh hey, there's Rose. Come and meet her," she said with a burst of enthusiasm, pulling me along once again.

We approached a group of three girls. They were standing against the wall out of the one way traffic, chatting; presumably waiting for Alice.

"Hey, guys!" Alice greeted them brightly.

They looked over to her and smiled before turning to me, their expression curious, but then … not. In fact, there was something very pretentious about them; something very unlike Alice.

"So, Alice, I see you've taken the new girl under your wing," one of the girls spoke up and my first impression of her wasn't a positive one, but then she smiled at Alice in a way that made me reconsider.

"This is Rosalie. Take no notice of her," Alice said to me good-naturedly, rolling her eyes. She turned back to Rosalie. "Rose, this is Bella."

"Hi, Rose-alie," I stammered.

Idiot!

She was tall, blond and incredibly attractive, but her posture almost suggested that it was irrelevant to her.

She looked me up and down, arching an eyebrow to herself, bringing to my attention the fact that my clothes stood out. If her intention was to make me feel self-conscious, she had succeeded.

Okay, yes, I was wearing jeans, riding boots, and was the only person inside the school still wearing a coat, but despite my previous presumptions, kids in small town USA, did not dress like rural Australian kids.

"Hello, Bella," she said simply, and I couldn't work her out. She was standoffish, but not unfriendly.

"This is Lauren," Alice continued with her introductions, turning me towards another blond girl.

"So … you're from Australia, huh? Cool." That was Lauren's greeting. She seemed to be bending herself over backwards to imitate Rosalie—as if it wasn't blindingly obvious.

"Uhm … yeah," I replied lightly, but this time I wanted to snort.

Finally, Alice turned me toward the third girl, whose name was Jessica and who was already glaring at me with an intensity that didn't really surprised me. My first thought was, Oh great, another girl's father my mother has screwed, and was forced to remind myself where I was.

She openly ignored Alice's introductions; instead, her eyes focused past me, as a scowl began to penetrate her face. I turned and followed her gaze curiously, but seen only crowds of students. No one seemed to be paying much attention.

When I turned back to Jessica, her expression remained hard, her eyes beginning to narrow with irritation, and I was beginning to feel bloody paranoid. I had to keep reminding myself that my mother couldn't possibly have slept with any of her male family members.

I was no longer in Australia.

She suddenly replaced her glare, with a rather patronising smile that reflected in her tone. "Hello, Bella."

"Hi," I replied, a frown etching in my forehead while I rued that Rach wasn't with me—only to immediately feel like the coward I was.

Smirking to herself in a condescending way, she blatantly looked me up and down. "That's an interesting outfit, Bella. Where'd you get it? From the Brokeback Mountain store?"

Hearing miss-blond-and-up-herself-wannabe snicker from beside me, I exhaled into an almost sarcastic scoff. "Um … yeah, that's really funny." I sounded passive and full of uncertainty, and the irritation I should have been feeling at Jessica was directed at myself.

"Bella, lighten up. I was just joking," was Jessica's reply, complete with snotty eye roll that made my back stiffen.

I opened my mouth to reply, but closed it. Despite this girl, Jessica, having some kind of chemical imbalance, on top of her obvious insecurities, I preferred to avoid confrontations.

Get through the day as smoothly as possible, and don't attract attention. That was always the motto I lived by. As Renee's daughter I had no defences.

Deciding to ignore Jessica, I turned to Alice; she only threw me an awkward smile.

The moment we walked inside the cafeteria, I spotted Jake and Nessie and immediately felt a surge of relief. Smiling over at me brightly, they motioned for me to join them. I took a step in their direction then stopped myself, hesitating. Alice had been incredible to me all day, and I knew it'd be rude if I didn't sit with her. Even if it meant sitting with screwy Jessica as well.

Smiling back at them apologetically, I motioned that I was sitting with Alice; noticing an emotion flicker across Jake's face that looked almost like hostility. He eventually grinned back, almost begrudgingly, and shrugged his shoulders, nodding in a way that said, it's cool.

After selecting my lunch, I sat beside Alice and placed my tray of food in front of me, while attempting to remain indifferent to the fact that most of the school was packed into the small lunch room, and the attention on me was suddenly concentrated.

Alice tried to draw me into her conversation with Rosalie, but they were talking about the upcoming prom, and it only made me feel more subconscious. So, in an attempt to distract myself, I watched Jessica. She kept scanning the room, her eyebrows bunched in evident frustration, as she steadily glowered to herself. And every so often she'd turn to look at me again with narrowed eyes; I only stared back feeling my forehead crease with confusion.

Did I run over her cat in my last life?

After several repeats she suddenly directed her attention firmly on me, and when she spoke her tone was patronizing. "So tell us, Bella, why'd you move from Australia?"

My heart stonewalled, before it immediately picked up pace. That was not something I was prepared to discuss with anyone, and I suspected Jessica was well aware of it.

"To live with my father's family," I mumbled, feeling my cheeks flush, before moving my gaze away from her, hoping she'd let it go.

"Oh? Why?" The tone of her snotty voice rose.

Shifting uncomfortably in my chair, and silently praying someone would sway the conversation away from me, I glanced at Alice. She seemed to be having some kind of hushed conversation with Jessica; who was looking from her to me with a smug grin on her face.

"No reason—can we please talk about something else," I said softly, trying to keep my voice even, when Jessica turned an arched, questioning eyebrow in my direction.

I was not going to mention Renee, just so this bitch could ridicule me, but at the same time, I was in the midst of a growing panic attack. What did this town know about me and Renee? I knew small towns—I knew how secrets had a way of getting out.

"I'm just curious, Bella," Jessica said with a mocking smile.

"Why do you care?" I demanded, suddenly defensive.

"I don't," she answered simply, before raising her voice just short of the entire cafeteria hearing her, "but people around Forks are saying that your parents abandoned you. Didn't they want you?"

My heart froze.

"Jessica—shut the fuck up!" I heard Rosalie speak up from beside me, as I felt the colour drain slowly from my face.

I was keenly aware that every pair of eyes in the room were centred on me, making my face burn so deeply that it almost felt chilled.

Clearing my throat softly past the gathering of emotion, I again met Jessica's gaze.

She had a look of self-satisfaction on her face.

Angry, humiliated tears began to well in my eyes, when all of a sudden it dawned on me. I had walked straight into it. This was all some kind of game, joke—initiation to laugh at the new girl. And Alice—Alice had set me up from the very beginning.

When I whipped my head around to confront Alice, she was already staring at me, her eyes wide and incomprehensible, but her face was one of pure guilt.

I was suddenly so rigid with anger I was beginning to tremble.

She made some movement to shake her head and speak, but I cut her off.

"Fuck you, Alice!" I spat, jumping up from the table and clumsily knocking over my lunch tray.

I had to get out of there—away from every single pair of eyes that were all staring shamelessly at Renee Dwyer's daughter.

Outside it was raining, as it seemed to do permanently, and the cold hit me like a wall of ice. Wrapping my arms around myself, I only paced for a moment, trying to catch my breath, and prevent the tears from over flowing, while angry at myself for falling spectacularly apart.

It was then that Jacob and Nessie came around the corner. Jacob was gazing at me with the sweetest expression of concern that I felt myself immediately crumbled.

Without a word he wrapped his huge arms around me, engulfing me to his chest. "I'm so sorry, Bells. I should have warned you."

Warned me?

With a burst of angry energy, I immediately pulled myself together, before releasing myself from Jake's arms and stubbornly wiping away my tears.

Renee was out of my life—I was not that Bella anymore, and I wouldn't let anyone make me believe otherwise!

Alice was one cunning actress; she'd completely fooled me.

"What happened, Bella? What did they say to you?" Nessie asked tentatively.

"Yeah, Bells, 'cause your face went ten shades of red white and grey," Jacob quipped, though his eyes were still glistening with angry concern, and despite myself I laughed humourlessly.

I had no doubt it did.

I explained it as best I could without mentioning any reference to my mother. As I reflected over it, my chest restricted with equal amounts of both anger and mortification. Bringing up Renee, having the whole school know about her? I shuddered at the prospect.

"Those Cullens! I should have warned you about them, Bells. They're fuckers," Jake sneered suddenly between clenched teeth.

I paused. He had such a look of anger on his face that for a moment he was almost unrecognisable.

"I don't understand Alice. She's usually really nice … usually, but, Jake and Edward have a lot of bad blood," Nessie explained to me delicately. "You should have seen Jake inside just now. He was going to rip his limbs off."

"I would have too, if it wasn't for Nessie pulling me away to look for you, Bells." Jacob grinned wryly.

"Why would you—" I breached the subject, confused, wondering what any of this had to do with Edward, but Jacob interjected.

"I was going to sort both those Cullens out, then and there!" The sudden rage had ingrained itself in back in his expression, so much so that it made him appear very un-Jacob like again.

I only shook my head in growing confusion. "Don't worry about it, Jake. It's not worth it," I said, taking a heavy breath, before turning back in the direction of the cafeteria.

"You don't have to go back in, Bella," Nessie spoke up gently.

"Yes I do. Bugger if I'm going to run away," I spoke more or less to myself with quiet resolve.

Run and hide; lock myself in the girl's toilets like I used to, while praying that I could escape to somewhere where no one knew me. Where I could start over.

I had escaped, and I wasn't going to let the poison of my mother continue to infect me.

Pausing at the entrance to the cafeteria, I peered in. With a huge feeling of relief, I noticed Alice's table was empty. I was so completely wrong about her that I was surprised at myself. I was usually a good judge of character, and I was completely convinced of Alice's sincerity.

With Jake and Nessie following, I stepped back into the room, and of course as soon as I entered, half the cafeteria turned to stare at me. Looking awkwardly at my feet, I hurried to the table Jake and Nessie had been sitting at, but after I sat down, I realised they weren't with me.

I turned around quickly in confusion. They'd barely moved from the entrance, while the cafeteria of students stared with curious anticipation from Jake to Edward Cullen; who was standing in the middle of the room glaring at him.

I glanced at Edward before back to Jacob; observing with a nervous thud in my chest as they stood in a silent standoff, fuming at each other. Jake's eyes blazed angrily while Edward's face was cold and completely hostile; his hands balled into fists.

I drew in my breath, fearful for a moment by the animosity behind it, when Edward slowly broke his gaze from Jake's and locked the intensity of it to mine. His eyes at first were wide and surprised before they slowly narrowed as a deep scowl transfixed his expression.

I only blinked in self-conscious confusion, before hastily severing his gaze, just as Jake and Nessie sat beside me at the table.

"Cullen is really asking for it," Jake mumbled angrily.

Nessie sighed exasperated. "Oh, Jake, just ignore him."

I sat in silence, flustered and bewildered by what was just happening, but determined to pull myself together ahead of my next class.

Lunch breaks at Forks High were considerably shorter than what I'd expected, but in truth I couldn't wait to escape the torture chamber that the cafeteria had become. I was also overwhelmingly relieved that the only class I didn't have with Alice, Biology, was next.

I was late; Nessie had dragged me into the girl's bathroom to fix up my appearance—not that there was much I could do about it. I couldn't hide the fact that I'd been crying—something that made me feel more awkward—and I hated to draw more attention to myself.

When I walked into the classroom, I was met with the same agitating stares; only now they burned with even more curiosity than before. I noticed with some quiet thanks that none of Alice's friends were in my class, but it wasn't that which stopped my breath short and caused my pulse to start racing.

Alice's brother Edward was in my class.

He, like everyone else in the room, looked over at me as I entered. But as my gaze met his, he very openly groaned to himself and rolled his eyes. Then slowly, with very deliberate movements, he moved the empty stool that was beside him out for me and motioned for me to sit down.

It was far from a warm gesture.

I quickly scanned the class for another seat, only to discover there wasn't any. The only spare stool was beside him.

With the rate of my heart no doubt increasing the colour of my face, I walked over reluctantly, with my eyes down turned, and sat stiffly on the stool beside him.

He didn't look in my direction as I sat down. In fact, he turned his head even further from me as he sat with his arms folded on the table; completely and blatantly ignoring me. I glanced at him for a moment and the complete arrogance of his stance pissed me off.

What was his problem? I wondered. Did he have an issue with me simply because I was related to Jacob?

Bloody child! I fumed to myself silently, rolling my eyes.

The class that day was doing a pop quiz, and although I was new, the teacher, Mr Banner, suggested I do it as well to see where my level of education was. After, he went down the middle of the room handing out two test sheets to the students sitting next to the aisle, to then give a paper to their partner. I slid a sheet to Edward, who took it, very careful not to touch me while keeping his eyes completely averted from me.

I wanted to tell him to grow up; instead, I huffed out my breath brashly and turned my attention to the quiz.

My old school had already covered the topic of cells and organisms, so I knew most of the answers; only half way through, my stupid pen decided to run out of ink.

"Great," I muttered to myself, sighing shortly.

I shook the pen softly at first. No ink. Then with more vigour—still no ink. Attempting a new strategy, I began tapping it on the desk before I was soon thumping it with rising frustration. I didn't have another pen, because of the idiot that I was, I'd left my case of pens in the kitchen at home this morning. Alice had given me this one—which was clearly only useful for stabbing rude, arrogant Bio partners with.

Something I wouldn't have minded doing right then, and at the prospect of it, I broke into a small inward smile.

It was then I became aware that Edward was very discreetly watching me. His head was tilted fractionally in my direction while a smile was ghosting over his lips.

Noticing that I'd caught him, he quickly concealed it by placing his hand over his mouth, clearing his throat, but when he took his hand away, a hint of it was still there.

My pulse quickened, while the idea that he'd been watching me take my frustration out on my pen embarrassed me.

This only made me want to scoff to myself. What did I care what this blowhard thought of me?

I glanced at him again quickly; his face was softer and the hostility he was emanating toward me seemed to have eased. I began to consider the possibility that maybe I had over analysed his behaviour; maybe his mood had nothing to do with me at all.

Feeling more confident about it, I turned back towards him, hesitating a fraction, before I cleared my throat softly to gain his attention.

He glanced at me, his blue-green eyes catching mine momentarily before he looked away again and back to his paper. The expression on his face was blank, apart from a mild curiosity.

"Yeah?" he asked me, his eyes not leaving his test sheet.

I immediately felt uncertain, but swallowed stubbornly past it. "Do you have a spare pen I could borrow?" I asked, sounding timid.

He turned his head slightly in my direction, without looking at me squarely. "No, sorry, I don't," he answered shortly, before going back to ignoring me; the hostility back in his posture.

With my skin prickling with humiliation, I tore my gaze from him, feeling my expression turn stormy.

His eyes didn't deviate from his paper again, and he went back to being very careful to not touch me; even accidentally with his elbows as he wrote.

I scoffed almost openly, feeling ridiculous that I'd ever thought he could be different. This was how the boys treated me in Australia, as though I had a disease—at least once they'd discovered I wasn't like my mother.

Well fuck you, Alice's brother. You're no different!

Raising my hand, I asked the teacher if I could borrow a pen, then before I continued my quiz, I stole another glance at Edward. He had his eyes on his test, oblivious to my existence.

I finished the quiz and waited, uncomfortable and impatient for the bell to ring. I didn't say another word to him, but pathetically attempted to rationalise why Edward Cullen seemed to hate me, worried that somehow he knew who I was—that my past and who my mother was had got out around Forks.

Obviously, Jake was right about the Cullens.

When the lesson was over, I was one of the first people out the door. I couldn't get away from Edward Cullen quick enough, and I'd put up with some pretty shitty behaviour from guys in the past. But I was angry at myself; angry that I ever expected people to treat me differently.

. . .

My last class for the day was Phys Ed, but since I was new and didn't have any gym clothes, I got to sit it out.

With a huge sigh of relief, I grabbed a book out of my bag and headed up the bleachers. It was also my plan to avoid Alice. I felt her eyes on me constantly; she was acting strange. The one time I accidentally met her gaze, her face was remorseful, but I shrugged it off cynically.

Maybe she realised her little scheme had gone too far and felt bad about it, I wondered, before pushing all thoughts of Alice and her brother from my mind, I kept my face stuck behind the pages of my book.

Gym ended, as did the school day. I had to make one final stop in at the office before I could leave. I was eager for it, as much as I was to continue avoiding Alice. As much as I tried ignoring her, she kept trying to grab my attention, and when class was over, she caught my gaze and gestured to me to talk.

I had no intention of it.

Since I didn't have to dress out of gym clothes like the rest of the class, I was well ahead of Alice. I was hoping there would be no chance I'd run into her again, but the stopover in the office set us even. As I was walking to the parking lot, I noticed her a few feet away walking in the same direction. I stepped up my pace; a stupid thing to do under the circumstances, because when I was just a few metres from my car, I stumbled and dropped everything I was carrying.

With an impatient huff, I kneeled down to pick up the books and paperwork that were scattered around me.

Alice was instantly beside me, helping.

I turned to her, filling with irritation.

Her expression was sombre and apologetic. "Bella, I'm te—" she attempted to blurt out, but I cut her off angrily.

"Leave me alone, Alice. Or haven't you made enough of a fool of me today?" I snapped, snatching the book that she held out for me, before getting to my feet and continuing toward my car. This is when I noticed Jacob, striding over from where he'd been waiting for me beside the Jeep, his glare fixed behind me, on Alice.

When he reached her—towering over her—he pointed a long, accusing finger at her. "Stay away from Bella, Cullen," he spat her name, "and keep those bitches of yours on a leash!"

I groaned internally. "Jake..." I sighed to myself aloud, when suddenly Edward was in front of him, facing off with him and looking incredibly threatening.

"Why don't you watch your mouth and who you're talking to, Swan!" he growled at Jake lowly, the muscles in his arms tensing at his sides.

My breath immediately caught. Jacob was taller than Edward by a couple of inches, but it was Edward who looked more dangerous.

Jake didn't back away; instead, he straightened himself to his full height, balling his hands into fists. "Why don't you make me, princess?"

And Edward looked like he was going to.

"Oh crap!" I muttered, fighting the urge to cover my ears with my hands as if I was five.

"Edward, don't!" Alice said sternly, but her voice was strained.

Her eyes flickered to mine. I glared at her angrily.

See what you've done? I wanted to yell at her, but didn't. There was a dejected look in her eyes that distracted me for a moment, and I was worried about Jacob. He was not going to get into a fight with Edward because of me

"Jake, no!" I called out pleadingly.

It was Edward and not Jake who turned and glanced over at me, but he turned back to Jake before I could read the expression on his face.

A crowd was beginning to gather, when Nessie shoved her way through them and ran toward Jake.

"Jake, just let it go—please," she pleaded with him, grabbing his hand and anxiously trying to pull him away.

I had Jake by the other arm tugging him, with no hope of being able to move him if he didn't want to be.

"Jake, please don't. It's not worth it!" I begged him.

Alice was doing the same thing with Edward, but unlike Jake, Edward relented. He seemed to sigh to himself in a resigned way before allowing Alice to pull him away, but not before turning back to Jacob and growling, "Next time, you won't have Daddy to save you, Swan."

"Next time you won't have your sister to hide behind, Cullen," Jacob shot back furiously, dragging Nessie and I with him as he took a step closer; closing the distance again between him and Edward.

Edward turned to completely face him again. I only groaned—along with Alice, when Jasper, Alice's boyfriend, suddenly grabbed Edward by the back of his jacked.

"Come on, dude, let it go," he said quietly, shooting a guarded glance at Jake.. Again, Edward conceded, brushing off Jasper and glaring at Jake one last time before he turned around and walked away.

Jacob allowed Nessie and me to drag him away at this point, and before I reached my car, I turned back preparing to throw Edward Cullen the most ever-come-near-me-again-and-I'll-knee-your-balls-through-your-mouth glare I could manage, but he was already gazing back at me over his shoulder, and the look on his face surprised me. As his eyes reached mine, his expression, although still dark from anger, was … disheartened…?

But then, what the hell did I know! He obviously had some kind of personality disorder, I thought, distracted, as I climbed into the jeep.

. . .

It took all Nessie's powers of persuasion and a bit more to calm Jake down as we drove home. He was furious.

"The nerve of them!" he fumed. "They're the ones who start all this crap today, and they act as if they're totally innocent!"

"Jake, please just forget about it." I sighed, rubbing my forehead with the tips of my fingers, feeling increasingly on edge.

My first day of school in a new country and I practically unleashed world war three on the place. Maybe I just brought out this reaction in people. Maybe, like Renee, it'd be just a matter of time before Billy and Jacob tired of me. Maybe it was futile moving here in the first place.

"Hey, I'm sorry, Bella," Jake said, remorsefully as he sat forward in the back seat and punched me playfully in the arm.

"Don't be a dag, Jake," I mumbled, breaking into a knowing grin.

Satisfied with my reaction, he chuckled before turning back to Nessie.

. . .

Nessie came back to Uncle Billy's with Jake and me.

Jake and Nessie's public, and not so public, displays of affection were fast becoming notorious. Because of this, they were forbidden by Nessie's father, as well as Billy, from being in the house alone together.

But since I lived there too now, they weren't technically alone anymore.

I didn't mind it at all—not that I'd minded it the day before—I was grateful for Nessie's presence; she kept the mood light. Her and Jake's antics were so distracting it kept my mind from my rather volatile emotions that I was sure were going to burst all over the place the minute I was alone.

But still, there was only so much I could tolerate, and after an hour in their company, I moved to the kitchen table to start my homework.

Five minutes into it there was a knock on the front door.

Jake answered it.

"What the hell do you want now, Cullen?" I heard him growl, and my heart caught in my throat.

"Can I speak to Bella, Jacob, please," a small voice spoke beseechingly.

Alice.

I hurried to the door, worried about what Jake might do that would bring Edward Cullen boring down on him again.

Alice stood on the door step looking remorseful and awkward, and as I gazed back at her, I felt all the anger and humiliation from earlier that day rise to the surface again.

Folding my arms across my chest, I was about to tell her to bugger off and not come back, when she quickly blurted, "Bella, please, just hear me out, then I'll leave you alone—for good if you want me to."

Her eyes were pleading—they were the same colour eyes as her brother's, only vastly different in their likeness, and at the moment they were glistening with regret.

I sighed. "Okay, fine."

"Bella—I'm so terribly sorry for what Jessica said to you at lunch today. Despite what you think, I had absolutely no idea she would do such a thing—"

I interrupted, despite my promise not to, "Well, why didn't you tell her to shut the hell up, like a decent person would have done?"

She nodded in understanding. "I was trying to tell her discreetly, Bella. I…" she paused for a moment and sighed to herself, before her tone turned bitter. "I just didn't want you to know about the rumours going around."

My stomach clenched tightly, before Alice quickly explained, "I was trying to tell her to shut the hell up, without making it obvious to you that something was up—if that makes any sense."

"What are the rumours?" I asked finally, feeling suddenly tense, and not sure if I really wanted to know.

"Just … just what Jessica said," Alice admitted reluctantly.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead with the palm of my hand, unsure if I was satisfied about it or not.

"I can't believe what Jessica said to you, Bella. It was awful. I was so angry at her and so embarrassed for you," Alice added, her voice soft yet impassioned, and she really did sound sincere.

I only nodded, not really wanting to go into it and run the risk of having to elaborate on anything.

"I'm sorry," she repeated gently.

I looked up at her and took a deep breath. The anger was already fading from me; something I was happy to let go of.

I believed her.

"Okay, I guess I was a bit hasty in blaming it on you," I admitted, my eyes breaking from hers, self-consciously.

"I completely understand why you did," her voice was warm, and when I met her gaze again, the warmth spread to her smile.

I returned it; albeit somewhat awkwardly.

"I'm so over Jessica—and she's only been hanging out with me to get to my brother!" Her face suddenly turned stormy.

I only blinked, suddenly recalling her brother, and the shitty way he'd treated me that afternoon. I felt the frown knot my forehead, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that my pulse also quickened.

It was bothering the hell out of me.

Tugging on my lower lip, my thoughts raced ahead, processing everything that had happened that day. I wasn't sure I really wanted to delve into it any deeper, and so releasing my breath, I forced my focus back to Alice.

"I'm sorry I blamed you for it, Alice," I mumbled.

She'd been gazing at me dubiously, when her expression relaxed. "It's okay, Bella. I don't blame you at all."

Tightening my arms across my chest to shield myself from the cold, I fixed my gaze at my feet, sighing again. Only this time it was out of relief. Relief that Alice, at least, wasn't who I thought she was.

When I raised my eyes back to hers again, it was with a conceding smile. "Wanna come in?" I offered.

"Sure," she replied brightly.

"Also, I'm sorry about what happened in the parking lot with Edward and Jacob," she explained as I led her upstairs to my room. "I feel so responsible for it all."

I turned to her; her forehead creased with the sudden onset of irritation before she rolled her eyes slightly.

I wanted to tell her that her brother was a wanker and he needed to leave my cousin alone, but I didn't. I wasn't sure why.

Perhaps I was more like my mother than I thought.

A/N: Thanks for reading. The next chapter is from Edward's POV to explain his assholey attitude.