The oldest memory I had was of how I would die. It was so painstakingly vivid that the moment was etched into my soul. The eyes that looked into mine, pleading, begging me to stop. The way her face contorted into an agonized plea that said she couldn't comprehend. But then again, how could she? I lifted the sides of my mouth, smiling to her, trying to get her to understand. 'For you. Always and forever.' And then the pain sets in. It was so blindingly torturous that I couldn't even recognize the fact that my head was falling. And then the blackness set in.

I awoke to violent shaking. "Bella!" Came a mortified voice. I pried my swollen eyes open. They were heavy from crying, but I could make out shapes in the room. My mother, whose shape was evident, was entwined with mine. She was holding me to fiercely to her chest that it was as if she were trying to squeeze the life from me. 'A mother's love knows no bounds.'

"Mom. I'm fine now." I soothed, trying to pry myself from her embrace; petting her hair, knowing that she would eventually calm down. She leaned back, taking my face in her hands, and stared deeply into my eyes. She looked so frail. So broken. Her face was always easy to read, and in this moment it was disparagingly evident: she thought she was a failure of a mother. Another piece of me broke then.

"Baby. Maybe you need to go spend some time with your father. I think you could use some space. Some time away from here." She uttered; the words barely a whisper, slipping from her mouth. She swept the strands of hair out of my face that were coated by my sweat. As I looked into her eyes, she looked distant. More so than she usually did. She had given up.

"Sure thing, Mom. Maybe you're right. Maybe we all need a little space. I'll go see Dad, and you can go with Phil to Florida." I said, knowing I had to keep it together or she would further recede into her hole. She was slowly putting up her walls around me.

"Okay, darling. I'll make some calls. You should try to get some sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." She said flatly. She no longer held the will to be calming.

'You did this.' came the voice I was so used to hearing. 'No wonder you deserve to die.'

I smiled at Mom and pried her hands from my face. "Okay." I retorted, smiling the smile I had become so used to showing. I just needed to keep the facade up until she left. She eyed me like fine china, as she knew in her heart of hearts that the moment she left, I would shatter. And I couldn't with complete confidence say that she was wrong.

"Okay." And with that resolution, she stood weakly, as if standing was akin to finishing a marathon. She staggered to the door and turned to look at me again. Her face was haunted. I kept the smile as she turned and left, closing the door and dividing us once again. I slouched back against my headboard and felt the cold, icy embrace that I was so used to envelope me.

I looked around my room, trying to memorize the layout. My desk in the corner that had been a present, my mirror that I had begged for in a flea market, my nook in the window that I had read so many books in, my shelf of all my trinkets that I'd accumulated over all these years. It was haunting, as no matter where I looked, there was a flurry of emotion tied to some memory. I stuffed it down as I always did. I got up from my bed and made my way to the mirror. I had to face what I'd become.

The person who stared back was so ordinary. They had brown hair that went to their shoulder blades and chocolate eyes that matched. The person wasn't as shapely as other women, no curvy hips, no ample bosom, just very cookie-cutter. Very ordinary in every way.

I moved from the mirror, shifting my gaze from the boring thing in the mirror to the bookshelf. It held so many memories that, to an onlooker, would have been unforgettable, vibrant memories, but to me, they were just reminders of what I was doing to my family. Another deep cut to my soul as I remembered the child who should have been so innocent in the world around her. But that dream had taken that from her.

I knew that I wasn't going to be able to sleep again, so I sauntered over to the antiqued, wooden wardrobe and began to force open the drawers, pulling out a change of clothes. They were just as ordinary as I could manage. Jeans, like everyone else, and a black tee shirt. The undergarments were just as plain, the same black panties and bra that I'd been using for years at this point.

I snuck from my bedroom, forcing my body to slink soundlessly over the old wooden floorboards that would inevitably give notice to my presence. Luckily, I had done this before. I knew which board would give way, sounding my presence. I avoided them and about halfway to the bathroom, I paused. I wasn't sure what had caused me to still, but I knew that I needed to freeze.

"Charlie. I need you to take Bella. I can't do this anymore. You've been gone for most of her life, I need you to step up." She said, placidly as a stilled lake. There was no more reason to stay quiet, so I walked into the bathroom, many floorboards squeaking along the way.

That shower was the longest stretch of time that I could remember. I was hesitant to come out. Clearly, I wasn't the only one. A soft knock rumbled from the door into the bathroom. 'You earned this.'

"Bella?" Came the faint voice of my mother.

"Yeah, Mom?" I echoed as I always had.

"Baby, I talked with Charlie."

"What did he say?"

"He says he's missed you. He said that he would be elated to see you again… Are you sure that this is what you want?" Her voice wavered for a second, but she quickly recomposed herself.

"Yes, Mom. I haven't seen Dad in so long. I'm sure that is what yo-we need. I'll be fine. There's no need to worry."

"Okay, baby. I'll start packing. Take your time. You can join me when you get ready."

I heard her remove her body from the doorframe and amble down the hall. I turned the water hotter. The sting from the water calmed me, pulling me from my head and allowing me a moment of respite. I couldn't scrub away my feelings of detest with the loofah and eventually gave up after my skin was bright pink, clearly upset with my self-destructive ways. I eventually relented and turned the water off, stifling a gasp at the cold air outside the curtain as it relentlessly poured into the shower.

I dried off my body, wrapped my hair in the towel, and began preparing for the day. The charcoal in the toothpaste tasted more bitter than usual. The cucumber smell in my deodorant smelled more fruity than usual, momentarily setting me off. I closed my eyes, breathing heavily, trying desperately to calm myself with the meditative techniques that my psychiatrist had recommended.

Like "all girls should," I began painting my face on. I was never one for makeup, much to my mother's dismay, but I still knew enough not to look outside of the ordinary. With a little eyeliner, a little blush, and some faint lipstick, I looked like all the others. I eventually gathered enough courage to leave the bathroom and began the trek to my room.

I paused outside my bedroom and pressed my ear to the door. Renee was crying; she was trying hard to stifle the noise, but it was clearly evident. I knocked briskly and heard her take a breath. I paused for a moment, then turned the door handle and entered. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve as quickly as possible and gave me a faint smile. I smiled back and tried to ignore her swollen, puffy eyes.

"I think I have packed most of what you'll need. I think you should leave some things in case you decide to come back. Might make it feel more like home." She wanted me to leave some traces of myself before the dream. I knew it was likely that she was going to cry herself to sleep in this room, viciously holding whatever fragment was left of her daughter. That realization hurt more than if she'd reached out and smacked me, telling me how she was so disappointed in what her daughter had turned out to be.

"Yeah, okay, Mom. I think that's a good idea." I smiled an grabbed a box that was already packed and sealed shut. "I'll take these down to the van. Where's Phil? You want me to grab him?"

"No honey, he's not here right now. Something came up with one of his baseball trainees, and he said he had to go take care of it."

'Some husband.' I seethed. Of course, he'd leave her here alone again to deal with my mess. What a pathetic disgrace of a husband. I kept my face straight and turned towards the door. "Okay, I'll go drop this off and be back." I had to escape this suffocating place, or it would be the end of me. I knew it in every fabric of my being.

The following hours sped by at breakneck speed. I was whisped away from my home, dropped off at an airport, and shuttled across a good portion of the country. I'm sure that some might think the flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to Seatle, Washington, contended no trials nor tribulations, but to a teenager, it was life-changing. The change from the sun, bearing down on you, stealing your breath when you leave a building, to the overcast, dreary state of Washington that seemingly grabbed your ankle and dragged you beneath the waves, drowning everything in blue.

But there was a weird beauty in being pulled beneath the waves—a calming sense of serenity. As I pried my myself from my mind, a familiar face approached me. His face was less the cartoonish fantasy of a superhero that I'd imagined all these years and more a worn, battered human who had seen too much. It was almost laughable how I'd held him on a pedestal as if he were God incarnate. But he was just a human after all.

"Hey, Bells." He said. He looked me in the eyes, gauging how he should proceed—ever the police officer. 'Police Chief.' came the voice I was worried about. I smiled, however, completely unlike my usual self.

"Hey, Dad. I missed you." For the first time in a while, I truly was happy to be in general proximity of someone else. I smiled genuinely for the first time in such a long time. A little piece of me wanted to be completely at peace for just a second. I knew it would never last.

However, to my surprise, I was pulled into his strong embrace. He completely set aside his stature and place in this town, let all of his walls down, and hugged me. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt such warmth given freely with nothing requested in return. His warmth enveloped me, swallowing me whole, and refused to let up. After too long a second, he pulled away from me and cleared his throat, clearly ashamed of his act of love. I could get used to this.

He took my bags from me and informed me that the rest of my things would be coming this weekend. He turned and started walking towards the parking garage. I followed complacently, still wrapped up in the warmth of his hug. I was on cloud nine; nothing could bring me down. Or so I thought.

The hour long ride in his police cruiser back to his house was… drowning. I tried very hard to keep up a conversation, but it was clear that Charlie had not been in a mutual conversation in a long time. He was almost interviewing me. He would ask a question, and after an answer, he would move on to another question, not even giving time to receive a question in return.

"Dad!" I snapped. "I'm not a perp! Calm down. Breathe. Maybe I have some questions for you." I said, trying hard to reign in my temper and sound as calm as possible. He flashed a look or hurt at me, then completely reigned it in and formed a stoic, emotionless face as me before turning back to the road.

"You're right. And I think I'm due some questions." He said resolutely. His breath hitched, and he tried his hardest to seem like an impenetrable fortress to me.

"I called you. Many times. You know? It would have been amazing if you had picked up. Even once. Why did you not answer?" The thoughts I'd repressed countlessly times came pouring out of my mouth, flowing like venom out of me, lashing out at my father.

"You're right." He said, more dejected than I'm sure he had wanted to let on. "I didn't answer your call." A vast, violent pause in the conversation initiated itself, causing us both to feel the tangible awkwardness. "Bella. I have no excuses. I was young and dumb and made horrible choices. Choices that caused your mother to leave. But I promise you. I will do right by you. I know that you were struggling back home. I only hope that, in time, you will begin to let me in and that this place can eventually become a part of your home. I would never dream of replacing your mother, but I would genuinely like to have some place in your world." He looked from the road to me. He stared me in my eyes. He was sincere.

"I think I would like that too." His hitched breath let out, and he turned back to the road. He was clearly thinking through many eventualities where he would be forced to deal with his daughter rather than Isabella. I let it give me the slightest bit of hope. Maybe here it would be different.

He passed the town sign and again turned to look at me. "Welcome to Forx, Bells." One thing was for sure: this was going to be quite the experience.

As the police cruiser pulled up to the house, I took in the sights. The house itself showed its age. It also showed it hadn't felt a woman's touch in some time. It was worn and faded from the outside. I could only imagine what it was like on the inside.

"Welcome home, Bells." The man next to me said. He pulled into the driveway, slowly letting the car squeak to a halt. The brakes on the car hadn't been changed in a while. I tried earnestly to ignore how the car was poorly kept, but as Charlie pulled the handbrake, it was hard to ignore.

"Jesus, Dad. You do know how to maintain a car, right?" I said, quarterly joking. His look soured.

"Of course I do! Do you know how to maintain a car?" He said hostilely, quickly realizing the hostility in his voice, his face turned sour. "Sorry, Bells. I didn't mean that."

"No. Don't be sorry. I knew going into this that this was going to take some work. We just need to work out our barriers." I smiled, assuring him. I put my hand on his shoulder and firmly gripped it, making him aware of my presence. He reaffirmed my presence by putting his hand over mine while smiling a genuine smile at me. It was a shocking revelation to be seen. I felt my eyes begin to water, and his face became one of abject horror. I quickly wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my hoodie that I'd dawned. "I'm good. Don't worry."

"Bella. You don't have to lie to me." Charlie said red beginning to form in his eyes. I wouldn't let it turn out like at home.

"I'm good. Promise. It's just been a long day, Dad." I reaffirmed, gently putting my hand on his shoulder and squeezing slightly. He refocused, and I could tell he was calm again. We both silently nodded and began to get out of the police cruiser. It was beginning to get dark, and I was completely wiped out from the journey of uprooting my whole life and trying to begin to settle somewhere else. Charlie noticed and slightly let out a chortle.

"You know, if you're really tired, we don't have to do much for dinner. I can just order us a pizza and we can watch a movie."

"I'd really like that, Dad. I'm beat." I said, trying quite hard to stifle my yawn. However, being a sheriff, he noticed instantly.

"Well, suppose we should get you settled then." He stated. He turned and walked to the trunk and forced the trunk open with a heave. He was just as Mom made him out to be. I giggled slightly and went to help him unload my scant boxes. After moving so many times, I eventually noticed that my entire life could fit into so few boxes.

There was another vehicle in the driveway, and Charlie kept looking from it to me, almost signaling that I should ask about it.

"Do you remember Billy? From La Push?" he questioned. La Push was a tiny Indian reservation on the coast. I had remembered the place, but not the people.

"No."

"He used to go fishing with us during the summers you'd visit." That explained why I didn't remember. "He's in a wheelchair now."

"Oh. Is he okay?" I prompted.

"Yeah. Well, mostly. Anyway. He sold me his truck." Charlie said, giving the old rust bucket a slap like a car dealer. I turned and inspected the truck. It was in need of some serious love. Charlie continued, " Jake's done a lot of work on the engine; It's not as bad as it seems."

"So it's a fixer-upper? Cool." I stated, distressed at the coming proclamation.

"It's for you. I figure you don't want to be shuttled around by me, and I know it'd be embarrassing to be the daughter of a police chief publicly." he lamented.

"Just a bit, yeah," I said half-jokingly. "Thanks, Dad. Really." We made our way into the house.

The house - surprisingly - was not in total disarray. It was staged, however, made to look like the stereotypical home. Nothing too shabby. It reeked of Renee's touch as if the house was a memorial of her time here.

"I haven't touched your room since you left. We can go to the store tomorrow and get some more stuff to make it more you."

I was distressed at the thought of having to go see my old room. I hadn't really been in it since I was a young, young child, and I knew that it was going to be just as I'd remembered it being. I was correct.

The light blue walls, the yellowed lace curtains that were once white, the same dresser I'd had since birth. For the most part, everything was the same. However, not everything could remain the same, Renee had nagged at Charlie to get me a computer and a phone line so she could monitor my condition or "stay in touch easily," as she'd so eloquently put it.

One of Charlie's best qualities was that he wouldn't hover. He was constantly on go. He dropped my boxes down and promptly turned to high-tail it out.

"Hey, Bells, I got you a cactus. I'm not sure how it'll do in this weather, but I thought it would remind you of home. You can get rid of it if you don't like it." The thought was sweet, and I almost let my facade crack for a second.

"Thanks, Dad. I love you." I genuinely remarked. He was taken aback by the sudden onslaught of affection and blushed hard, turning around and leaving the room. Leaving me alone to pack would have been impossible for my mother, who was constantly on the edge of me exploding into a fit, and I respected him for that. In a way, it was nice to be alone, it allowed me to really take in that I was in this gloomy place because of myself. I looked out the window at the sheeting rain and let a few tears escape—the reality of my circumstances setting in.

Forks was a tiny town, with the high school only having around two hundred students. There was triple that in my junior class alone back home. 'But you're not home. You're here.' I chided myself. I also remarked on the fact that everyone knew everyone here. I was going to be the new, shiny object of everyone's attention tomorrow. 'If only you looked like you were from the valley of the sun.'

I knew that I was no model; more soft than anything else, but not obese in the slightest. I was just willowy and boring. I'm sure it would be interesting to see how the students of Forx High School would respond to me being so bland, even though I should be quite alluring, being from Arizona and all. However, I had no blonde hair, no tan skin, no athletic coordination, and no signs of being from a sunny place. My skin was almost translucent, to add insult to injury.

I finished settling in and decided to shower away the results of the day. The house only had one bathroom, and while I wasn't the most pleased about having to share the bathroom with Charlie, It felt oddly quaint in a good way. Like I was forced to have interaction with him, making him unable to hide like Renee always did.

Sleep did not come easy. I was used to the peaceful quietness of the desert, and the constant rain and wind did nothing to lull me into slumber. In fact, they did quite the opposite. The sandman did eventually come to visit me well past midnight, and I knew that tomorrow was going to be taxing.

The early morning was indistinguishable from the night, with the same thick fog and slight drizzle blotting out the sun. You could never see the sky; it was like a cage.

I dressed in my most comfortable clothing, trying effortlessly to avoid any conspicuous clothing that would draw any more attention to the new toy at school. I ended up with faded, fitted jeans and a black and white striped shirt that I could hide my hands in. I went to the bathroom to get my face set and put on some deodorant, then began the arduous task of taming my lion's mane. My hair was usually very unkempt, but I didn't need another reason to call attention to myself, so I brushed out all the matting.

Leaving the bathroom and making my way downstairs, Charlie was already sitting at the dining room table. He was sipping his coffee and reading the paper. Upon my entrance to the kitchen, he set the paper down and gave a slight smile. "Mornin' Bells."

"Good Morning, Dad."

"Sleep well?"

"Slept fine. You?"

"No complaints."

The rest of the morning was a quiet event. Charlie went back to his daily routine and mostly ignored me. After finishing his coffee, he set the paper down and got up to put his cup in the dishwasher. He came back over and gave me a quick kiss on the head, then wished me luck and told me not to be late for my first day. I gave the same pleasantries a daughter would give, 'have a good day,' 'be safe,' 'don't get into trouble.'

After I heard the cruiser leave the driveway and begin heading down the road, I made my way to the living room and stared at the mantle over the fireplace. It was filled with old, embarrassing pictures of me. I would have to talk to Charlie to get them removed. The rest of the room clearly reminded me that Charlie had never gotten over Mom. From the chairs she had found at a market to the cabinets she had painted, it was like a memorial to her.

I couldn't stay in the house any longer and made my way to the mud room and put on my Converse. I slinked the rain jacket on and exited the house, turning to grab the key that was hidden in the metal turtle that stayed in the bushes by the front door. 'Still here.' I locked up, remembering to put the key back, and quickly moved to the car, not wanting to get soaked by the misting drizzle of my new environment.

Someone had tried to cover up the fact that the truck was used and abused, which I greatly appreciated, and found the mix of tobacco and mint settling. It reminded me that this was mine now. I turned the key in the ignition and prayed the engine would turn over. To my shock, it did. The engine roared to life loudly, then settled into its idle purr. I fiddled with the old radio for a bit, wanting to test and see if it worked. Turns out, It did, too. I blasted the heat, waiting on the truck to get up to temps before backing out of the driveway and making my way down the road.

Everything in Forx could be found by listening to the one thing residents said, "It's just off the highway." The same could be said of the High School. Unlike most other High Schools this one didn't have the feel of an institution like the other's she'd seen in person and in movies. There was no chain link fences to keep them cooped up inside, no metal detectors, no huge cinder blocks, just a regular building one might mistake for a rec center if there wasn't the sign alerting me to the fact that yes, this was the right place.

I parked in the faculty parking lot, which was closer to the doors since it was still some time until classes started. I didn't want to leave the warm, dry shelter that was my truck, but duty calls, as Charlie would say. I removed the key and opened the door only to be viciously assaulted by the cold, damp air. I scurried with much haste to the front doors and went inside.

Luckily, the inside was much warmer than I'd planned on it being. It was also well-lit, which was a plus as it made it less likely for my terrible sense of equilibrium to cause me any problems. I made my way directly to the right, from the entranceway to the office, and pushed open the glass door. There was a slight chime from a bell on the door handle, and a larger woman appeared from one of the offices on the other side of the huge reception desk that divided the room in half.

"Can I help you, Dear?" The woman basically sang, the vibrato of her alto voice ringing throughout the office. She was dressed excessively casually as well. Nothing too fancy, but still enough to be respectable. Her huge green eyes peered into mine with an intensity I wasn't used to. She brushed the curly, red hair that fell into her eyes out of her face and shifted her glasses up on her face.

"Um… Hi. I'm Chief Swan's daughter, Bella." I replied as boldly as I could.

Her eyes glazed over for a moment before going wide. I was clearly the hot topic of conversation. "Ah! Isabella! It's good to finally meet you. You've been the topic of everyone's conversation!" 'See?' I nodded but corrected her on my name.

"It's actually Bella. Isabella makes me feel old."

She laughed heartily and wiped a tear from her eye. "Okay, Bella. I understand." She then turned a bit and reached for a file that was on a desk behind her. She pulled some paperwork from it and had me fill out many files and forms. Eventually, after being processed like an inmate, she gave me a map of the school building and my class schedule. She went over where the classes were on the map, where my locker was, the code for it, and a myriad of other things that I would need to know. I just smiled and nodded. She eventually gave me a warm smile and told me I'd need to move my truck before school started. I did that.

Amber, as her name turned out to be, gave me a slip that I'd need to have signed by all of my teachers. I wasn't sure what it was for, but I could guess that it was to make sure I introduced myself to my teachers and didn't just skip going altogether. I made my way from the building and moved my truck to a spot closer to my first-period class, taking note of the cars around me. While I hadn't grown up in the most luxurious neighborhoods and gone to the most posh schools, seeing some expensive cars in the parking lot wasn't that out of the ordinary. Here, it was staggeringly different. Here, everyone just had something to get them from one destination to another. The most expensive car here was a nice Volvo, which said something and stood out like a sore thumb.

My class was around the cafeteria and tucked in a corner of the building. I tried to hide in the shadows of two other students entering the small, quaint room but was quickly noticed by the tall, balding teacher. I hung my rain jacket up on the peg by the entrance and made my way over to him. 'Better rip the bandage off now.' I mused to myself.

As if my anxiety at the situation of being the new girl who transferred in during the middle of the school year wasn't palpable enough, when I gave the teacher my slip of paper, he balked at the name on it. His eyes widened, and she quickly signed his initials on the line provided and pointed me to the back of the classroom to an unattended seat.

The whole class, I kept my head down, reading the syllabus and trying to avoid the fixed stares of the other classmates. I knew all of the books on the reading list. In fact, I owned all of them. I made a mental note to get Mom to send them to me, maybe even try and persuade her to send me my papers on them. She would probably think that was cheating, though. Worth a shot, though.

The rest of the class was a fever dream, it went by in the blink of an eye. When the bell rang out, an oily, gangly boy with skin problems leaned over to try and address me. At first, I went to ignore him, but his persistence was petulant. After packing my bag, I looked over, and he smiled a huge, goofy smile. "Hi! I'm Eric." He blubbered out. He was clearly the overly helpful nerd type that got looked over in every story.

"Hi, Eric. I'm Bella." I retorted, trying to hide the disdain in my voice. He beamed even harder.

"Do you know where you're going?"

"Yes, the receptionist was quite skilled at helping me understand where to go and how to get there."

"Oh… Well, where are you going next?"

"American History."

"That's cool. I'm going to Government. It's over in that direction. Want to walk there together?"

I didn't. But better the demon you know than the one you don't. "Sure."

As we walked to the next class he rambled on with questions like he was a journalist for a newspaper who had just met his idle. I noted that several people were behind us, trying their best to not be so open in their attempt to eavesdrop.

"So, Forx is quite different from Pheonix isn't it?"

"Yep."

"Lot of sun there I hear."

"There sure is."

"Does it rain a lot there?"

"Maybe six times a year if we're lucky."

"So, then why aren't you tan?"

"My mother is part-ablino. I guess I inherited her genes." I joked. Eric didn't seem to get the joke and just stared at me harder. "It's a joke. I've just always been really pale."

"Oh. Haha. Yeah. That's cool." He said.

We made our way around the school from one side to another and eventually, he stopped outside a door. I knew that this was my class. He wished me good luck and quickly quipped that he wished we'd have some more classes together. I nodded and turned to enter the classroom, ready to repeat the same process as before. After a few more classes I got used to seeing some recurring characters, and they were usually the ones who were braver than the rest and would try and ask me questions that everyone was thinking. It was mostly about Phoenix, but sometimes there'd be an interesting question.

A small, mousy girl eventually became like my sidekick, as I had roughly half my classes with her. I had forgotten her name multiple times, and every time, she would squeak and remind me. She was way shorter than five foot four and had bushy hair, which hardly did anything to help her height disadvantage. She would prattle on about the school and teachers and other bullshit that I hardly had the time to listen to, much less care about.

Eventually, we made our way to the cafeteria for lunch break, and she led us down the line, still going on and on about whatever came to her mind. She could easily talk to a wall. She made her way to a cafeteria table and introduced me to her friends. I remembered the oily kid Eric and a few others at the table. Mike was this oddly charming boy who looked to be the stereotypical boy who was always the best friend of the female protagonist who would clearly be let down hard when she didn't reciprocate his feelings.

And then *they* entered. Everyone at the table was used to it, most likely, but for me it was as if I'd died and were being greeted by angels. Four beings entered the cafeteria and made their way down the isle, loading their trays with a modest amount of food before going over to a table and sitting.

One was a massive boy, dwarfing all the others with his immense height. He had short curly brown hair and was massively jacked. The other was more modest in his stature. He had honey hair and an almost pained look on his face. There was a third boy, who was seemingly statuesque. I couldn't put my finger on it, but he seemed sculpted. There was a woman who sat with them as well. She was beyond beautiful, the model that you fantasized about being when you grew up but knew you never would. Her just being in the room caused most women to take a hit to their self-esteem. Weirdly though, they were all incredibly pale, even paler than me. They all had these honey-colored, amber eyes.

Finally, she entered. The woman from my dreams. My goddess. She was what could only be described as pixielike, thin to the extreme, with elegant sharp, small features. Her hair was a deep black, cut in a crazy short layered messy bob. She had pieces going in every direction, but they were all styled perfectly. She dressed so eloquently that she would stand out on Broadway without trying. She looked at me. I audibly gasped and dropped my tray.

I realized at this point that I still hadn't sat down. I blushed way harder than I ever had. I could feel my toes beginning to redden. She appeared to look through me for a second, then returned to staring at me and let a slight smile creep onto her face. She dropped her tray at the table and then made her way to the doors leading to the hallway. Before leaving, she looked back at me as if she were expecting me to follow her. I noticed the looks directed at me from the table the others had just sat at and couldn't help but notice that the third boy was staring at me hard. He seemed peeved about something and then huffed and turned away.

Disregarding the looks and quips from the table I was at, I cleaned up my spilled salad and threw it away, following after the goddess that had just left the room. I saw her turn down a hallway and followed after her hurriedly, not wanting to let her out of my sight. She eventually paused in the middle of the hallway. She still hadn't turned to look at me and it pained me for some reason.

"Hello?" I called out, desperately wanting her to look at me.

"Hello." came the most sing-songy voice I'd ever heard. It resonated in my core and I realized in that moment that I'd do anything to have her keep talking. I needed to have her keep talking.

"Um… This is going to sound strange, but I think I've dreamed of you since I was really young. Do I know you?" I asked, throwing caution to the wind. In an instant, she was inches away from my face. Her golden eyes were staring so intently into mine. I was captivated, completely forgetting to even breathe, not wanting to pull my eyes away from her for fear of opening them and her not being there.

"Breathe, Bella." She sang. I let out the breath that I'd been holding in.

"How do you know my name?"

"You're the new girl here. Of course, I'd know your name." 'Way to go dumbass.' I was pretty sure she could tell what I was thinking and she laughed. God her laugh. I would literally drag my body over hot coals to hear her laugh again. She stared at me intently. Then, she did the unexpected. She stood on her tippy-toes and kissed me. There were no words for the indescribable, excruciating bliss that I felt at that moment. Her lips were electric, cold beyond comprehension and it sent a shiver down my spine. My mind completely blanked out. The heat in my stomach was so intense, then the burning moved lower as well.

"I'm Alice. It's nice to meet you, Bella." She said after pulling away from the kiss. I whimpered at the distance between us and she beamed at me. I was making a fool of myself. I needed to pull it together. "And no, Bella. I don't think that sounds strange. I also feel like I've known you for a hundred years." She uttered, the same smirk splaying across her face. "But sadly, we've got class now. I'll see you later."

I stared quizzically at the pixie. There was no way she would know when the bell was going to ring with no clocks around. Then the bell rang. I turned my head momentarily to see the sea of bodies spill from the cafeteria and turned back to look at Alice. She was gone. Nowhere in sight, as if she'd never been there. I felt pain in my body that I was unaccustomed to. I felt empty.