This is a little more of a light hearted chapter and I really enjoyed writing it! Especially seeing the Cullen siblings bonding as they all head into high school!

Will it stay light hearted? Who knows...

Hope you enjoy x

Bella closed her copy of Pride & Prejudice when she heard Emmett rap his knuckles against her opened bedroom door.

She turned to find her brother standing in the hall, backpack slung over his shoulder and a grin on his lips.

"You ready to go, Bells?"

Go.

Go to school.

Start going to school in a new town with new faces who didn't know her or her family. She supposed this wasn't anything new to the Cullens. Before she came along, they must have had hundreds of moments like these. Always starting over. Always pretending.

Bella wasn't all that surprised that her turn would come eventually. To play the part all her siblings have before.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

Reaching for the backpack she'd left on the floor next to her desk, she nodded.

Emmett watched her closely but tried to lighten her mood by cracking jokes as he always did, "I guess I'll have to prepare myself for what's about to happen. I have a feeling scaring off all the boys in school will keep my days pretty full."

"Scare them off? Why would you do that?"

They reached the bottoms of the stairs where Bella spotted the rest of her siblings through the glass windows. They were all standing by Rosalie's convertible and Edward's Volvo, waiting for her and Emmett to join them.

"Well, they'll probably take one look at you and gather around like vultures. Just like they do with my Rosie. Though she can scare them all away on her own with that glare of hers."

Clearly able to hear them, they both saw Rosalie send her husband a scowl from over the hood of her car while the others laughed.

Bella grinned as she sat down on the bench to slip into her converse, "Rosalie's beautiful. Don't think you have to worry about me, Em."

"Hey," he nudged her, "you're beautiful too, Bells."

She had to hold back a snort. Unlike everyone in her family, Bella knew she was nothing like them in any way. Including in the looks department. Not that it bothered her, it was just the truth.

It wasn't like the Cullens ever made her feel that way. If anything they've given her nothing but encouragement and unconditional love. Always trying to make her feel confident in herself.

The problem was...her.

She was the problem, and Bella knew it even if none of them ever admitted it out loud.

Emmett crouched in front of her and tapped her forehead to get her to look at him.

He frowned, "You are."

Receiving a compliment from Emmett wasn't anything out of the ordinary, though he mainly stuck to poking fun at her for being a klutz. Seeing him say that she was beautiful without a hint of amusement made her face warm.

"Shut up." She muttered, hating that he could see her blush while she tried to fight off a grin.

He chuckled and rose, "Come on slow poke. We'll be late for your first day of school."

"It's your first day too..."

He ruffled her hair before he turned toward the door, "Not my first time in hell though. I'm sure you'll survive. Eventually."

"Emmett, stop trying to scare your sister." Esme sighed as she and Carlisle joined them.

Esme looked to Bella as she took a seat next to her youngest and brushed back a stray lock of her hair, "Do you have everything you need, love?"

Bella nodded, trying to finish tying her shoes so that she could get out the door as quickly as possible. She knew everyone had overheard her conversation with Jasper a few nights ago. None of them tried to get her to talk about it but she knew her parents would pull her aside to discuss it eventually. She really didn't want to have this conversation today.

To her disappointment, Carlisle told Emmett, "Why don't you give us a moment alone with Bella, son?"

Bella's heart sank in her chest.

It looks like they were having this conversation whether she liked it or not.

Emmett hesitated for a moment, but nodded. He looked over his shoulder as he walked away and mouthed a 'sorry, kid'.

Bella narrowed her eyes at him.

Traitor.

Bella didn't look to either of her parents as she sat on the bench. Waiting for one of them to speak and get this over with. Her anxiety of starting at a new school on top of her fears of getting a seizure for everyone to see only made her feel worse.

Her father took a seat next to her. Carlisle's hand was gentle as he placed it on her back, "Alice and Edward will be in the same grade as you, so they'll have the majority of their classes with you too. Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett will be sophomores but you'll all have lunch at the same time. If you need anything at all or if you don't feel well, they'll all be nearby."

Esme took Bella's hands into hers to give them a gentle squeeze.

"My seizures-"

"Your teachers are aware, I've made sure to personally speak to each and every one of them." Carlisle reassured her.

Esme said softly, "It will all be alright, Bella. We're here for you. All you have to do is live your life as you did in Alaska. Make friends and do amazing in school as you do every year. That's all we care about."

"Okay, thanks." Bella smiled despite the nerves that make her stomach roll with nausea. Neither of her parents looked convinced by it but she had to keep trying. They were all doing so much for her - more than she probably deserved - and she needed to show them that it was all fine. She was fine. So she kept that smile on her face as she looked at them, "I'll be fine."

Before either of them could say another word, she stood and grabbed her backpack. If they weren't going to talk about what she'd said before, then she had to take the opening to escape now before they tried it.

They both followed her out onto the porch as she hurried down the steps, where Alice and Rosalie were motioning for her to join them. Much to the boys' dismay when Bella picked her sister's over riding in the Volvo with them. If only to get a rise out of Emmett after he left her so that their parents could talk to her.

When they all climbed in and started their drive into town, Carlisle and Esme looked at one another with nothing but worry in their eyes.

Everyone was staring.

As soon as the Cullens parked, every student making their way over to the main building of Forks High School, stopped in their tracks and stared. Like deer caught in headlights.

Bella couldn't help but notice since it was so obvious. That and Rosalie's red Mercedes stood out like a sore thumb compared to all the more...normal looking vehicles. Edward's car wasn't any better either. It wasn't all that common for high schoolers to drive such expensive vehicles unless their parents had good money. And the Cullens did have money. More than anyone here would probably realize.

"It's going to be okay, Bella." Alice chimed as she turned in the front seat to look at her. "Everyone's going to talk about us for a bit, but after a while it'll be old news."

"Talk? Like in a bad way?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes and pushed her way out of her car before walking over and opening her sister's door. Rosalie was wearing a grey turtle neck, black pleated shorts, and black tights. Her already long legs wore black boots that made her even taller. Alice also opted to wear a cute blue dress, leggings and ballet flats that complimented her pixie-like features and spiky short hair.

Forget the cars, her siblings looked like supermodels - even with Alice's short height - and of course, they would stand out.

"I don't feel good. I think I'm just going to wait here for you guys." Bella deadpanned and tried to close the door, but Rosalie's grip didn't so much as let it budge.

The blonde gave her a wicked grin, "Cold feet already?"

"More like embarrassed by her older siblings," Jasper said as he rounded the car and looked at Bella with nothing but mirth in his eyes. "We told you two that we were coming to school, not a fashion show."

Bella had opted to wear a blue long sleeve beneath an oversized band t-shirt and baggy blue jeans. Unlike her sisters, she wasn't too into fashion though she never disliked how she dressed either. It was simple. Easy. Unnoticeable. Sometimes, Alice even said that her style was cool which used to make Bella happy.

"Oh whatever, a girl has to make a statement every now and then," Alice beamed up at Jasper while Rosalie started wrangling Bella out of the car. Emmett and Edward already amused as they also joined them.

"Who are they?"

Edward heard one of the boys by the steps ask his friends when he spotted the Cullens in the parking lot.

"Who cares who the guys are. I want to know who they are." From the corner of Edward's eye he could see one of the guys pointing at his sisters while Rosalie and Bella seemed to be playing some sort of tug of war with her backpack. Normally, Edward wasn't one to be overprotective of his sisters when they could handle themselves. But the thoughts he heard trickling in from the boys, especially one of them who set his sights on Bella - it made him clench his jaw.

When Bella finally gave up and stepped out of the car, those thoughts only seemed to grow louder. More annoying. A little too interested.

Her long mahogany hair swayed because of the faint breeze as she huffed and slung her backpack over her shoulder, saying through gritted teeth, "Fine. I'll go."

"Oh good," Rosalie said with mock sweetness, "you say that as if I was going to give you another choice, sweet Bella."

If there was one thing about Rosalie, she wasn't one to coddle. Not even if she had a soft spot for Bella and loved her dearly. Rosalie also didn't have a lot of patience when it came to self-doubt. Something she'd been planning on slowly bleeding out of Bella, if only for the human to have more confidence in herself.

Going to high school wouldn't make those feelings go away either. They'd only serve to amplify them.

This attention they were all getting already however, wouldn't help Bella all that much.

"Damn, wonder if one of them is her boyfriend. Not that it matters. I'm sure I could change her mind." He heard one of the boys think with confidence that made the mind reader make a face of disgust. More so when he couldn't shut out the less than appropriate thoughts coming from him with Bella in mind.

This time he did look. Looked straight at the moron who was staring at his little sister with a cocky smirk. He was a simple guy with nothing special to him. Blonde, small blue eyes, and a baby face. His thoughts however, were what made Edward think about him in such a critical manner in the first place. If he'd been nice and his intentions had been pure, then Edward wouldn't have given him a second thought.

When he noticed Edward was staring daggers at him, the boy straightened. He heard him swallow nervously before averting his eyes and hurrying away, making his friends follow after him like loyal dogs.

Jasper's thoughts reached him then, "You're not going to kill him, are you?"

"If you'd heard what he was thinking about Bella, you'd be the one hunting him down." Edward said under his breath as they all started heading for the main building.

"Is he going to be a problem?" Jasper's serious question betrayed the indifferent look on his face as he kept his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"If he's smart, he won't be."

"Good." Jasper said out loud this time as he looked over his shoulder to see Bella trying to keep Emmett from ruffling her hair, only to have Rosalie wrap an arm around her shoulders to jostle her playfully. "Because that's the last thing she needs."

"Why do you think I scared him off?" Edward asked with a predatory grin.

The time came for everyone to part ways before first period started. Except for Alice and Bella who had English together.

While Bella and the others didn't look too thrilled to be going to school, Alice was skipping gracefully down the hall with Bella's arm looped through hers. She greeted pretty much everyone in passing as if they were all good friends. Bella scolded her as she tugged Alice's arm to get her to stop skipping.

"If you don't give people something to talk about, then they won't!" Alice said as they reached the classroom and were greeted by their English teacher, Mr. Mason.

Of course, Mr. Mason had to introduce them to the whole class much to Bella's dismay. Still, she reminded herself that the sooner their class started, the sooner she could go home.

Two boys who were seated at the front of the class kept staring at Bella and she ignored them, putting on a look of disinterest on her face while Alice kept on dazzling everyone with her smile. One of the boys with shaggy black hair waved at her while the other boy with blonde hair...he just kept staring at her. When he grinned and leaned back into his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him, Bella suddenly hoped they wouldn't have more classes together.

Luckily, Alice and Bella were assigned seats in the back of the class. When they sat down, Bella released a quiet sigh. Alice leaned forward to catch her attention and nodded encouragingly, as if to say, "You're okay."

She was.

She had to be.

Bella's next two classes went by faster than she thought they would.

During Spanish, a nice girl named Angela sat next to her. She was introverted too and didn't try to ask Bella too many questions like another classmate named Jessica did. Angela even asked Bella if she wanted to sit together during lunch, but she kindly declined since she was sitting with her siblings. For a moment, Bella wondered if they'd met before.

Before she'd left Forks all those years ago.

Without Alice around she was sure she'd feel like she would slowly have the life drained out of her. The two sisters would only have two classes together this semester, but she and Edward were supposed to have History and Biology which was comforting. She told herself these nerves would go away after today and she'd be okay without her siblings eventually.

For now, she'd enjoy having classes with Edward and Alice. It was her first time going to school with all of them after all. It wasn't so bad knowing that they'd be close by in case anything happened. In case she had another seizure.

Going to school has managed to get her mind off of it for a while. That, and other things like...Flynn and how he hasn't texted her back since she'd left Alaska. It was probably for the best anyway. The sooner he forgot about her, the better it would be for him. Because he'd be safe.

After fourth period ended, Bella made her way to the cafeteria where Alice had said they'd all be waiting for her.

She was about to reach the last few steps down the stairwell, when she suddenly felt a hard tug on the back of her head. With a gasp, she paused before she could lose her footing and looked over her shoulder to see that the blonde boy from English was grinning down at her, a lock of her long hair wrapped around his index finger.

"Hey, you're Isabella right?"

Bella frowned and pulled her hair away from his reach, "Bella."

He raised his hands up in the air, "Sorry, I tried to catch your attention but you didn't hear me. I'm Mike Newton."

Mike Newton...

Why did that name sound familiar?

"Hi..." Bella turned and continued heading down the stairs. Mike, however, wasn't done.

"So, Alaska. What made you want to come all the way to another cold, dreary place like Forks?"

Bella tucked her hands into the pockets of her jeans, if only to have something to do with her hands.

"My parents moved for work."

Mike asked her question after question the whole time she walked toward the cafeteria over in the other building. When he started asking her about Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie she was starting to feel overwhelmed.

They weren't nice questions either. They made Bella feel like she had no choice but to answer them, except she didn't like talking about her family in the way Mike wanted her to. She didn't like exposing them because someone was simply curious.

If she could run without seeming rude, she would.

He walked too close to her and wouldn't stop staring at her. Normally, she's only shy when someone pays too much attention to her. But this...

It was annoying.

Not in the way her siblings annoyed her - because she secretly liked it when they tried to get her to smile - but actually annoying.

Bella felt guilty for feeling that way since he hadn't really done much to get that sort of reaction from her.

Other than tug on her hair and hover. And smile at her a little too much.

"So Bella, you got a boyfriend?" Mike asked.

Suddenly, she was reminded of Flynn. His dimpled smile, his red hair and glasses, and the way he always talked to her. How he simply knew what was wrong by taking one look at her. Compared to Mike, Flynn never made her uncomfortable.

"No, I don't." She said quietly as she reached the double doors. Before she could yank them open and hurry inside to put as much distance between her and this boy as possible, a hand shot out and shut the door.

She startled and felt Mike lean in, close enough that she felt his breath on her ear as he said, "Then, what do you say about the two of us hanging out?"

"If you don't want me to break that hand, you'll get away from my sister." A voice drawled from behind them.

A breath escaped her as Bella's eyes found Jasper walking straight towards them with an intimidating look on his face. Mike immediately shoved away from the door - away from her - and wisely took two steps back.

Jasper didn't tear his eyes away from the boy as he came to stand next to Bella.

Mike muttered an apology but Jasper ignored him as he opened the door for Bella and let her walk in ahead of him.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, mindful of the curious eyes and ears paying close attention to them as they stood in line to get their food.

Bella nodded but kept close to Jasper's side.

Her heart, which had started jumping around in her chest because of Mike's little stunt, slowly started to slow back down again. Jasper could hear as much but given the way his entire expression gave off how pissed he was, he'd probably pay close attention to her for the rest of lunch.

"Thanks for that." She told him.

"That's not something you need to be thanking me for." Jasper murmured.

Bella nudged him with her elbow playfully. He looked down at her and some of the tension radiating off him seemed to melt away.

They didn't speak through the use of words this time. Instead, she sent him a tendril of gratitude to reassure him.

Apart from Carlisle and Esme, Jasper was always worried about her. Always aware of her feelings, and her words. What they truly meant.

Losing Flynn was a blow. He was her best friend for so long. She still cared for him despite him not wanting to answer her texts.

But having Jasper by her side - her person - was irreplaceable. She wanted him to know that.

Jasper's eyes seemed to shine and when she felt a warm blanket of affection wrap around her heart, she knew that he understood her.

It was enough.

Maybe high school wouldn't be so bad, so long as he and the others were around.

Thanks for reading x

Next chapter will be in Peter's POV!