FreshSqueezedLemons

In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.

-Coco Chanel (1883 - 1971)

Chapter one:

Life in a northern town

-Edward's POV-

I fucking hate mornings.

There is abso-fucking-lutely nothing worth getting up at the ass crack of dawn just to go to school with a bunch of idiots that are so completely lackluster and monotonous. I should get paid for this shit. And while I'm collecting my severance, I think I'll punch the dude in the face who decided mornings were an acceptable time to start school. That fucker.

Why do we need school anyway? I'm already smarter than over half of the kids in my class. I'll get into college. Most likely on a scholarship, but whatever works. Anything to get out of lifeless old Forks, Washington.

My family and I moved here a few years back from Seattle. I miss the city to say the least. I hate this stupid place where everyone knows everyone, and it's practically a sin to be different. The first year we were here everyone always watched us. We were the outcasts. We've done well at blending in now, although we’re still not the typical Forks citizens.

I'm not saying we're supernatural creatures or anything, but we live a slightly different lifestyle than the average Forkitizen is used to. My dad is a very successful doctor, and my mother sold off her half of her families' law firm to move here and take up her hobby of photography.

To say we're "well off" would be an understatement. It's just another thing to make the local males envy us and the females desire us. The same goes for the local guys chasing my sister. The Cullens' are irresistible. 

When we moved to Forks, all five of us had to adjust to major "inconveniences" like not having a mall within walking distance, no Starbucks down the block, and no movie theater five minutes away. If we wanted to catch a show, that shit had to be planned ahead of time.

Which is lame.  I mean, really, we've never been the 'Oh, hey, family, let's make Thursday night movie night, mkay?' type of family.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Life isn't about making plans - if you do that you'll miss out on the cool shit. That is just not how Edward Cullen does things.

Not long after the move, Emmett and Alice, my slightly older brother and my twin sister, decided it would be a good idea to pair themselves off. They each fell for the one of the Hale twins. Kind of freaky if you ask me, but whatever. It's their prerogative.

Emmett, my bear of a brother, is dating Rosalie Hale. She suits him though- he's tall, she's tall, they’re both athletic, obnoxiously loud, and into cars. Realistically, Emmett just found a slightly less gross, more fashion savvy, and way hot version of himself in Rose. She takes no shit from anyone, including Em. Which makes her perfect for him. I joke with her a lot and call her a Barbie.

This brings us to Alice, my twin sister. She's a pretty much a pixie-punk ballerina. That's the only term that would accurately describe her. She has black shoulder length hair which is always spiked in layers around her face, dark hazel eyes, a small pointy nose, and a friendly smile.

Alice is always dancing or walking with a gracefulness that would put professional dancers to shame, and she has a big heart. She thinks it's her strength, I say otherwise. Being nice to people only makes you vulnerable and susceptible to getting hurt.

Now don't jump to any conclusions, I haven't had my heart broken before. I know better than to put it out there in the first place.

On to a lighter subject: Alice's boyfriend, Jasper (who also happens to be one of the first people I met upon moving to this crappy place) is a pretty good character. He's nice and treats her well. But he won't always give her what she wants. He has this way of making her see everyone's opinion; I've had to use his lure a few different times to make her come onto my side of an argument.

At first I wasn't thrilled about anybody dating my sister, but after looking at all of the other retards in this joint, I was pretty happy that they found each other.

Over my dead body would she date someone like Mike Newton or Tyler Crowley. No. Thank you, Dickheads.

So my siblings all paired up, and that left me... without anyone. I'm not complaining though; I like being single. No drama, no bullshit. And no whining. I hate it when a girl thinks she's being cute by whining. Some guys who have no testicles might find it attractive, but I don't.

If you ask around, I'd probably be referred to as a player. I hook up and book it. No reason to stick around; half of the time a girl can hardly get it right the first time - why would I stick around for a replay? Some would call me a jackass; I'd say I'm... selective.

I'm not into the hand holding, lip locking bullshit that relationships entail, and I never plan to be. I'm not chauvinistic, I'm realistic. Some men value having one woman. I value one woman at a time, sometimes two. All depends on my evening.

And don't think I'm some pig who doesn't have a heart; I'm a smooth mother fucker. I hold doors, usually pay the tab, and am always courteous when I leave. I like women, but I value independence. Some of you may scoff because I'm just "some dumb punk kid who still lives at home with mama" well guess what fuckers? I should be. I'm only seventeen years old. But I know enough to know that true love isn't always what you find when you enter a relationship, and why try for anything less? Not all relationships turn out like my parents'. I understand that.

We can't all be Carlisle and Esme.

Now back to this morning bullshit.

I'm awake, it's really fucking early, and I'm not happy about it.

I finally beat my alarm clock into submission and walk half blind to my bathroom door. After I'm done with my morning routine of a shower, shave, and throwing some gel through my untamable hair; I head downstairs for breakfast with my family.

Everyone seems chipper and Alice is buzzing about a new kid joining our class. I ignore her and Emmett's conversation as I eat and wash my dishes. I say bye to my parents and head outside to wait in my car.

I turn on my stereo and scroll through my iPod; I mentally decide to kick Alice's ass for fucking with my iTunes.

What the fuck is all of this shit? Pussycat Dolls? Rihanna? Fucking chick shit.

I hit Shuffle and land on The Offspring's "Why don't you get a job". This will do.

I'm jostled when Alice opens the rear passenger door and climbs inside the backseat. Emmett, of course will be riding shotgun, Alice tried stealing it from him once... He slid the seat all the way back and sat on her lap the whole way to school. Between her squeals about her legs falling off and tears of pain and laugher, she never fucked with him for shotgun again. That and the fact that she limped around school for the better part of the day.

Pretty hilarious if you ask me.

Emmett climbs in the car and shuts his door.

Before I pull out of our long drive way, I make it a point to give Alice the stink eye in the rearview mirror.

"Alice, the next time you fuck with my music I'm going to fuck with your closet, and it's going to involve scissors."

Her eyes get huge and her mouth gapes open. Recovering quickly, I hear her huff and focus her hazel eyes on the back of my head.
"I can't help it you asshole! Emmett crashed my computer last week from viruses; all of his porn sites ate my hard drive alive."

I growl under my breath and make a mental note to ask my parents for overnight shipping on Alice's new laptop.

As I back out of my spot I chance a glance at Emmett. "And why again were you using our sister's laptop to look up porn? You have your own computer in your room, Beezuz."

He shrugs his shoulders and smiles wide, "'Cause Mom and Dad said I couldn't look up porn on my computer anymore, and you don't have a laptop."

I can't disagree with his logic. For a dumbass he could be pretty crafty.

Alice sulks in the back all of the way to school.

Due to my morning sibling interrogation, we are running slightly late.

Everyone is already inside when we pull up, and the warning bell has just rung. We have five minutes to get to class. Alice shoots out of my backseat like her ass is on fire, but she still takes the time to effectively slam my door. This doesn't do much to brighten my mood. I grab my iPod, headphones, and school shit and walk inside with Emmett.

Good thing about Emmett? He doesn't give a shit. Not much fazes him. He looks like he'd be a big asshole hot head, but he's really kind of a laid back dude. Sometimes it's nice. He's sort of my opposite. We balance each other well.

As we walk inside everyone is buzzing about the new student. Apparently it's a girl, and it's Chief Swan's daughter. I momentarily wonder if she's hot - it'd be kind of cool to fool around with the Sherriff's daughter. My curiosity leaves as fast as it comes when Emmett's friend Riley tells us that she's “a midget or something.”

His words, not mine.

I wrinkle my nose and look over to Emmett to see him lost in thought, when suddenly he blurts, "Dude, I've seen some awesome midget porn."

I can't help but snort at that as I make my way to our first period classes. Mine is Algebra 3, Emmett's is Algebra 1; our classes are close by each other because they're in the same department.

Emmett was held back in Kindergarten; he's got some issues with school. He's a bit behind me and Alice, but he's got raw talent in sports, so he still ranks well among everyone. 

I take a seat in the back of my classroom, discretely pop my ear buds back in, and scan the room, looking for any new faces. Everyone looks the same. Jessica get-off-my-dick Stanley, Eric pizza-face Yorke, Angela bible-hugger Webber, and about sixteen other losers. No one new.

After a few hours of floating through my morning classes, lunch period arrives. I grab a cheeseburger and a chocolate Oreo blizzard from the ala carte line and a soda from a nearby vending machine and walk to our table. One good thing about Forks is their lunch program. If you don't like the shit they've got planned on the menu, you get to grab some junk food from ala carte. It's the best of both worlds really.

I sit down at our table, noting that everyone is already here. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett are all seated at the octagon table.

Emmett's friend Riley usually skips out on lunch to go smoke one in the parking lot or have sex in the woods with his girlfriend Bree. On the unusual day that he does come to the cafeteria, he usually sits with the jocks.

As we all settle in and start eating, I'm momentarily distracted by Rosalie's bisexual commentary on someone in the cafeteria.

"Hey, she's actually really cute. I don't know why everyone seems to be so freaked out by her. I'd do her if I were into girls." I look up to see who she's talking about, knowing it must be the new girl.

When I follow Rose's line of sight I am not quite prepared for what I see. The girl sitting at a corner table by herself is surrounded by a notebook, sketching pencil, and a bottle of water. Her porcelain skin has a tint of red in the cheeks, her eyes are downcast as she concentrates on her notebook, and I can see ear bud strings poking out from underneath her thick auburn hair and hoodie. She dresses well - from what I can tell she's wearing some kind of gray hoodie with an orange sweater underneath, with minimal jewelry, fitted jeans, and a pair of sneakers. Nice, but not over doing it.

I've heard a lot of girls call her plain today, but I'd have to disagree. Her trendy eye glasses tell me all I need to know about her. She's smart, she's proud of it, and she doesn't care what people think. See, in a small town like Forks, if you're trying to make an 'impression' on the in crowd, most people who have money wear contacts. It's clear this girl isn't poor, but she isn't flaunting her money like most would at her age.

I'm suddenly interrupted in my musings as Alice's hand flashes in front of my face. "Hello? Earth to Edward. It's not polite to stare!" I scowl in Alice's direction and ask her want she wants.

Using her most exasperated voice she continues. "I was just saying the new girl is in my 4th period art class. Her name is Isabella Swan, but she prefers to be called Bella. She seems really nice, but doesn't say much. Jessica was a total bitch to her, not surprising." I ignore Alice's continued rambling and proceed to eat my lunch.

Who cares who's mean to this new girl? Jessica is probably jealous because everyone's paying more attention to the new girl as opposed to her. Oh well, she'll get over it and things will be back to normal in no time.

"What'd she say to her?" Of course, Rose has to hear the latest gossip. She hates Jessica, and usually tries to take her poor victims under her wing.

"Uhm, I didn't catch the entire altercation. But what I do know is for some reason the kiln must have been running during class period or something, because it was super hot in our classroom, and Bella took off her sweatshirt. She had this really cute orange sweater on underneath, which is see through a little and had a black tank top on underneath.... anyway… what was I saying? Oh right! So, Bella took off her hoodie, and Jess immediately started ripping on her choice of clothes. The whole orange and black thing. Jess made some bitchy comment that went something like, 'I didn't know today was Halloween, it seems they've let the munchkins come out to play.' and Bella said, 'It'd have to be, with a mask as ugly as yours.'" Alice finished.

Our entire table got a good laugh out of that. "Who would've thought, Little Miss has a backbone!" Emmett chortled.

"Little Miss?" I ask him humorously.

"Yeah, it's better than calling her New Girl."

Alice interrupts Emmett's reply, "But what I was going to say earlier is - could everyone please be nice to her if she's in your class? I mean, Emmett, Edward, and I know what it's like to be the new kid in Forks. I feel really bad for her, and her being a little different kinda makes the whole new kid thing even tougher, ya know?"

I roll my eyes and everyone else agrees with her.

I resolve to not do anything. I won't go out of my way to help someone who can clearly help themselves, but I'll try to discourage any more negative attention from coming her way. For Alice's sake. I know it's important to her, for whatever reason.

After the bell rings, releasing us from lunch, my siblings and I make our way off towards our afternoon classes. My next class is on the other end of the school in the science department.

Biology with Mr. Banner.

This is a class that I really do not enjoy. None of my siblings are in it, so I went out of my way to make sure I didn't have a lab partner. Unfortunately, due to my stubbornness, I've had to do all of the lab work alone.

Little did I know when I started the course that Mr. Banner loves diagrams. On every lab we do he wants little pictures of each step we take during the process. And I cannot draw for shit. He and I have argued numerous times about the fact that I've signed up for Biology, not art, and yet he still refuses to give me an A.

Luckily, I've gotten him to take some pity on me because I'm on my own, so he's stuck me with a high B for the most part. He can't argue my brains; he can, however, argue my drawing capabilities.

Roughly a minute before class is scheduled to start, I look up as Isabella is walking into the classroom, looking a little worse for the wear. I can tell lugging her books all the way across school is seriously wearing her out, but she's trying hard not to show it. Half of her hair is pinned on top of her head, but the sides look a little windblown and her cheeks are flushed.

Mr. Banner signs her "new kid" slip and escorts her back to my lab table. He kindly sets her books up on the table, but clearly looks uncomfortable at the room's set up, as far as her short stature is concerned.  After all, our lab seats are right around the height of her shoulders. But Isabella surprises us all and handles it like a champ. She approaches the back of the square backless stool, steps up onto the foot rail, swings one leg over, and quickly mounts her stool.

She does it so quickly I'm almost taken back by how lithely she moves.

Mr. Banner fusses over her for a couple of minutes until she finally looks up at him and gives him what can only be referred to as the stink eye. He quickly makes his way back to the front of the classroom.

I look over at her, trying to gauge her mood, but Isabella doesn't look at me. She hasn't looked at me once; as far as I can tell she doesn't even notice me. Or she's pretending I don't exist.

On one hand I'm glad, because this is exactly what I want in a lab partner; someone who pretends I'm not here.

On the other hand, I'm kind of irritated. Any other girl would be throwing themselves at me, or at least smiling in my general direction.

And the thing that pisses me off the most is... I can't read her expression at all. She looks completely aloof.

Mr. Banner informs us that we'll be working on a lab today. The whole class practically does a little happy dance. Everyone is excited to work with their lab partners. I chance another glance in Isabella's direction and see that she looks terribly uncomfortable.

She reaches for her books, pulls a pen out of her hoodie pocket and flips her book open. Mr. Banner places our worksheet on our table and hesitantly slides it in my general direction. Isabella scowls at the paper and finally looks up at me as he walks away.

Finally looking at her close up, I realize how pretty she is. Not in a flashy way, but in the classic girl next door way. She has deep chocolate brown eyes, flawless skin, and a practically perfect smile. I'm a little uncomfortable at my reaction to her. I clear my throat and look back down to the worksheet for a second. When I look back up she's tapping her pen on the table and tapping her foot against the foot rest.

"So... are we going to do this thing or what?" She nods towards the worksheet and looks back up at me.

"Uh... yeah..." I clear my throat. "Sorry, uhm, I'm Edward, Edward Cullen. I guess we'll be lab partners for the year." I wince at the coldness of my voice, knowing she probably thinks I'm dreading the fact.

I hear her sigh and she nods. "I'm Bella Swan. Nice to meet you." Her gaze fixes back on the worksheet. I can tell she's getting impatient with me.

I'm beginning to get nervous around her, I don't know what all she is capable of doing and I've never had to walk on eggshells before. I don't want to be outright rude to her, but I'm kind of sick of her attitude, or lack thereof.

Eventually she gets sick of my lack of response and leans over to pull the worksheet out of my hand. She sets it down in front of her and starts to answer the questions.

"Uhm..." God, why do I sound like such a pussy all of the sudden. "Uh... Bella? We're supposed to use the microscope for this lab... to uh.. identify the different types of cells..." I'm babbling, and she hasn't even looked up at me. When she does I'm surprised to see a little hostility in her eyes.

"Look, Edward? I've taken this same exact class in Arizona. I know what I'm doing - feel free to check my work when I'm done. I'm not slow. And I don't expect you to carry me through this class. You look through the microscope, and I'll write. I just want to get this done and over with. No need for small talk." She waves her hand for me to look at the microscope, adjusts her reading glasses, and continues to fill out the worksheet, even drawing the little diagrams for us.

I'm slightly thankful for her drawing capabilities, but peeved at her bitchy attitude. I was being nice for fuck's sake, and she's just dismissing me like a dog.

I growl under my breath and snatch the microscope, sliding it towards myself. It makes an awful screeching noise as I slide it over, but it doesn't even faze Bella. Finally, I lose my cool and slightly slam my hand down on the table between us. She jumps slightly, but continues on like I haven't done it.

I turn on my seat, facing her.

"Excuse me, but what the fuck is your problem?" I hiss quietly.

She sighs, sets her pen down and turns her upper body towards me. When we make eye contact I can tell she isn't mad, just really tired.

"Listen Edward, I'm not trying to be a bitch. I just want to get this over with. I don't want a pity party, I just want to get through the next two years and get out of here. I'm sick of being treated like I have the fucking plague. I'm doing everything I can to not be stomped on, and my locker is on the other end of the school. I'm fucking tired, and I hate it here. It's cold, wet, and close-minded. Please, for the love of whatever it is you worship, can we just get this assignment done and stop talking? I'm sure you're a really nice guy. But I'm not here to make friends, not that I think you're interested in speaking to me outside of this classroom, but still. I'm here, serving my sentence, and I'd like to do it on clear terms. Comprende?" After she finishes her rant, turns away from me to face the table and completes our worksheet in silence. I just continue to stare at her, completely taken aback.

She must realize it because she mumbles, "Keep staring - I might do a trick."

I turn back around and finish looking through the scope. I start double-checking her answers over her shoulder, and I can tell by her body language that she probably wants to drive her ball point pen through my eye, so I back off. Finally she finishes it and slides it over to me.

Her drawing is really, really good. As I begin to thank her she holds her hand up, cutting me off. Then she tosses all of her books and stuff to the floor with a loud thump. People look over at us. I'm trying to figure out what the hell she's doing. All of her books are now laying on the floor in a stack at the side of her stool.

Bella turns, facing the aisle, and swiftly slips off of her stool, landing on her books then swiftly bouncing down to the floor. She is again very graceful in her movements, and I can't help but watch her.

After collecting her things she looks up at me, "What?" she asks.

I shake my head. "Nothing."

With that, the bell rings, and she walks out of the class.

Everyone is staring at her, and I finally begin to understand exactly why she's so bitchy. People have been doing this to her all day. She can't very well snap at people, but at the same time they're treating her like some side show freak.

I immediately feel sorry for her, and I kick myself because I know that my pity would piss her off.

After pissing around for a few minutes in the halls, I make my way to my Chamber Singers classroom. It's similar to Choir, but our songs are more advanced and the class is only offered to Juniors and Seniors. I'm taking it because my siblings and the Hales are in it too, and it's an easy A. It turns out that I'm very musically talented. Singing and playing the piano are my forte.

When I walk in, I notice Bella has this class with me too. From the looks of it she's been cornered by Angela Webber. It's probably a good thing. Angela is a goody-goody, and she'll be nice to Bella. Probably too nice, it might rub her the wrong way. I can't help but smirk at what it would be like to hear little Bella ripping Angela a new asshole for throwing her a "pity party".

I sit down in my usual chair in the back of the room. Emmett is on one side of me and Jasper sits down on my other. The seating chart sucks in this class; it's guys on one side and girls on the other.  Bella is sitting in the front row on the far end of the row. Angela is next to her; behind them Alice and Rosalie are seated, and next to them sit Jessica Stanley, and Lauren Mallory.

Great... hopefully Jess doesn't run her mouth again. Rose might cut a bitch.

Shit, at this point, I'd pay big money to see a cat fight in the middle of this class.

When class starts we all sing our warm ups together and then start working on a few new songs for our fall concert. Miss Denali informs us that we'll be allowed to mix up our seating arrangement soon instead of sitting in our vocally sorted sound groups, Emmett, Jasper, and I are considered baritones.

Our voices aren't quite low enough to be considered a full bass, but not high enough to be a tenor 1. We are usually picked to do the lead male solos. Jasper and Emmett are great with harmonies, but don't enjoy singing half as much as I do, which is why I'm usually offered the solos first out of the males; my range doesn't hurt either.

That and I'm a pretty fan-fucking-tastic singer if I may say so myself.

The period is almost over when Miss Denali dismisses us to talk amongst ourselves, and us guys go sit in the vacant seats behind Alice and Rose. When we approach Bella looks like she wants to rip her ears off. Jessica and Lauren are talking so fucking loud, and Alice and Rosalie are just sitting quietly, gauging Bella's reaction.

Suddenly I hear Jessica say to Lauren, even though she's speaking loud enough for everyone to hear, "Hey Lauren, why can't midgets wear tampons?" She snickers at the beginning of what is promising to be a lame joke.

Immediately Bella's posture stiffens. I can see the side of her face get bright red, and she cocks her head to one side. She's taken their bait.

"Why Jess?" Lauren giggles back.

"Because they trip over their strings!" They both bust out into loud peals of laughter, and I see Bella turn in her seat ever so slightly. 

Bella's voice is so low it's almost scary.

"Hey pig face and super slut! If you don't shut your big fucking mouths I'm going to show you just how cool midgets really are and cunt punch you both so hard your mothers will need a hysterectomy."

Many things happen after this...

Angela sits back like she's been burned.

Bella gives Lauren and Jess the most intimidating stink eye I have ever seen in my entire life... and I live with Alice!

Lauren wails, "I am not a slut!" Which amuses us, but offends Jessica.

Jessica's jaw drops as Rosalie and Alice burst out laughing, as do most of the people who are fortunate enough to have heard the entire conversation.

Random people are making fun of Jessica and Lauren as they gather their things and hastily make their way to the hallway. Bella's gaze doesn't waver from them until they slam the door behind themselves.

After all of the excitement dies down she leans back in her chair and runs her fingers through her hair. She looks exhausted and pissed off. I briefly contemplate approaching her again and thanking her for doing our entire science lab on her own, but I'm kind of afraid she'll make me look as stupid as she just did with Jessica and Lauren.

I waver in my decision for about five seconds before Bella pops her ear buds back in, effectively telling people to leave her the fuck alone, without actually saying the worlds.

Quickly Alice leans forward and plucks one of the ear buds out of Bella's ear. She then places it in her own and listens to Bella's music. Bella just tilts her head back and gives her an "Excuse me?" look, with one eyebrow raised. I'm surprised that Bella looks fairly amused at my sister's casual manner.

Rose leans in close to Alice's ear to hear what song is playing and nods appreciatively while Alice quickly pulls the bud out, handing it to Rose.

"Hi, Bella. I'm Alice Cullen, this is Rosalie Hale. Welcome to Forks High!" Bella bites her lip and looks back and forth between my sister and Rose.

Finally Bella turns sideways in her chair and decides to answer, "Uhm, hi? Thanks." It's obvious that she is taken off guard and is not very comfortable with positive peer to peer interaction.

Alice takes this as all the invitation she needs, and starts the welcoming committee. "How are you liking Washington so far?"

Bella grimaces, looking even more uncomfortable. "Uh, I kind of hate it. Too cold and wet..." she trails off as she shakes her head absentmindedly "...I'm from Arizona, so it's a big transition for me. I've never really spent more than a week here at a time."

"Really? I've never seen you around. You've visited Forks before? Well, we've only lived here for a few years, my brothers and I, that is. Oh shoot! I forgot to introduce you to the boys. How rude of me."  Alice swings around in her seat looking us in our other seats and jumps when she notices we're behind her.

"What are you guys doing? Eavesdropping?" Alice jokes playfully, she and swings back around to face Bella.

"Bella, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Jasper Hale, who also happens to be Rosalie's brother, and my brothers Edward and Emmett. Emmett and Rose are dating." She states this all so matter of factly.

Bella nods at each of us as she introduces us; Jasper and Emmett give her a little wave as they're introduced. I make eye contact with her, but don't do anything else. Emmett thinks I'm being rude and shoves one of his meaty elbows into my side which irritates me, causing my voice to sound harsher than I intend it to.

"We've met."

Luckily the bell rings and cuts off further conversation on my part. I stand and exit the room without my siblings. I don't feel like answering their questions in front of the new girl, and I don't need to answer to them for my attitude or decisions.

Gym passes without incident.

Bella just so happens to be in this class too. However, she gets to sit out today because she doesn't have a gym uniform. I'm sure it's more because Coach Clapp doesn't know what to do with her. She's too short to play most of the rough contact sports, and putting her in any contact sport involving Emmett would be disastrous.

She spends the entire hour listening to her iPod as she watches us sweat our asses off.

Lucky bitch.

After class, I rinse off quick in the showers and dress quickly. As I'm getting my shit together to leave the locker room, Emmett and Jasper approach me.

"Dude, what was up with you and Little Miss in Choir?" Emmett's never really been one to beat around the bush.

"She's my lab partner in bio, and she chewed my ass for trying to be nice to her." I snap, not really knowing why I'm feeling so defensive.

Maybe I feel a little guilt for the way I acted in class, but she still had no reason to treat me the way she did.

"It seems like she's had a pretty rough day. Alice and Rose really want to get to know her, so could you at least be a little supportive, or at least not so damn growly next time?" Jasper tries to reason with me.

"Sure sure, no problem." I walk away, ending the conversation.

I'd rather wait in the car alone than deal with this bullshit right now.

Alice and Emmett decide to make me wait for over twenty-five minutes before making their way out to the parking lot. When they approach the car and don't get in, I roll the window down to see what the holdup is. They both inform me that they're going over to the Hale's for a while and let me know I'm more than welcome to join them.

I decline, telling them I've got homework and I'm tired.

I pull out of the parking lot. As I drive down the street a few blocks I notice a very small familiar form walking down the street. She looks really tired, and I feel a twinge of guilt again for acting like such an ass before, so I decide to pull over to see if she needs a ride. I know her dad's house is on the other side of town. Forks isn't a big town, but it's still quite a walk in this cold weather.

Speaking of her father, where the hell is he? He should be picking her up. Not making her walk all this way by herself. Asshole.

I roll down my window and lean over towards the passenger seat to see her better.

"Hi, Bella, would you like a ride?"

She hesitates, clearly shivering from the cold and wavering on the fine line between her independence and knowing she should accept the ride. She bites her bottom lip and furrows her brow glancing down the sidewalk and back towards my car.

I'm only slightly annoyed that she hasn't answered me when she nods minutely and opens the car door. "That's very nice of you. Thank you, Edward."

Something about the way she says my name gives me a funny feeling in my gut. I do my best to ignore it, and hit the button to roll her window up as I flick the heater on full blast and turn her seat warmer on.

Bella rubs her hands together in front of the heat vent in an attempt to warm them.

"Seat belt?" I ask, wondering if she's going to put it on or not. Or if she even can. She reaches back for it but it gets stuck, she tries a few more times to get the belt to lower and can't.

Eventually she gives up with a huff and drops her hands in her lap. I try not to laugh because she looks so fucking cute when she's mad, but I don't want to piss her off. I unclick my seatbelt and lean over her in an attempt to grab her belt.

I've caught her off guard. She leans all the way back and turns her face towards my seat in an attempt to give me more room. My face is so close to the inside of her neck, and her smell is unlike anything I've ever experienced before.

I want to kiss her and throw her out of the car at the same time. She smells so sweet and tempting, but I know I'll never act on these impulses.

I lean back towards my side of the car slightly as her belt finally releases and begins to slide across her shoulder then to her chest, stomach, and finally I get it clasped at her hip. I take a second to look at her face and it is bright red. I don't know if she's embarrassed or feeling the same chemistry I am.

It's totally ridiculous for me to even give her the time of day.

For one thing I don't date, and I'm pretty sure Bella isn't the hit it and quit it kind of girl.

For two, she's different. I don't even know her, and I can barely act like a decent human being around her, let alone try to put any moves on her.

It'd only end up badly for her. I'd end up breaking her heart if she got attached. Who am I kidding? They always get attached, and she's probably a virgin, so then I'd never get rid of her.

Shit, she might not even be able to have sex. I don't know how little people, or midgets, or dwarves, or whatever the fuck she is, work.

I close my eyes and shake my head at my internal musings. God, I can be such a fucking moron sometimes. I'm letting a little perfume cloud my fucking mind. I need to get laid, soon. But it's not going to be Bella. That is for sure.

I put my seatbelt back on and pull away from the curb, driving in the direction of her house.

"Do you know where I live?" She seems a little surprised that I'm driving in the right direction without any instructions on where to go.

"Yep. It's Forks; everyone knows where everyone lives." I smirk at her.

She cringes and shifts in her seat a bit.

"Nice. Well, in that case... where do you live?" She smirks back at me as the tables have turned slightly.

"Out in the forest a ways. We don't actually live in town." She nods and begins strumming her fingers against her pant leg.

As we pull up to her house I notice her father's police car isn't in the driveway.

I finally decide to ask her what's been bothering me for the last ten minutes. "Hey, why were you walking home from school?"

She turns her head in my direction and then glances back at her father's house.

"Charlie- I mean my Dad has to work, and my car isn't here yet, so I'm walking to and from school for now. Jacob Black offered to give me a ride, but it's out of his way so I told him no. I really don't mind; I got a ride today with Charlie, because he went in to work late. And it gave me time to get my schedule straightened out after school, so it's really not a big deal." She shrugs and reaches for the door handle.

"Wait." I find myself stopping her from leaving. I still want to talk to her - I find her interesting. "You drive? Sorry, that's rude; you're a junior in high school. Of course you drive. I've uh, just never met a person of your stature before." I stammer the sentence. I'm usually never nervous, but I'm trying my best not to offend her.

"Yeah, I've got pedal modifications on my car in Arizona. I really miss it actually. Renee and Phil promised it'd be here within the month, so I guess I'll see."

"Renee and Phil?" I turn to face her more, and lean my back against my door.

"My mom and step dad. He plays pro baseball, and he's just been signed by the Florida Marlins. They're moving to Jacksonville for a while but will be on the road a lot, and I guess they - and Charlie - thought it would be a bad idea to leave me to take care of myself. Not like I haven't done that before, but whatever. So now I'm here in high school hell, which happens to be located on the coldest, wettest, greenest piece of the Pacific Northwest. Yay me." She gestures like she's waving a flag with her hand and shrugs.

"Well, that's not really fair is it? I mean, did you get a choice in the matter?" I don't know why I'm asking her this; even more importantly, I'm uncomfortable with my own realization, that I want to know more about this girl. Is it my curiosity about her physical abilities or is it something else... is there a wonky chemistry that is encouraging my mind to delve deeper into the mind of Isabella Swan?   

"Life has never been fair, why should it start now?" With that she unhooks her seatbelt, opens the car door, and steps out.

"See you tomorrow, Edward." She shuts the door gently and walks up to her front door.

After taking a minute to unlock it, she steps inside and glances back at me. I start my car; my head is in a daze as I pull away from the curb, heading home.

I'm lounging around in our basement's media room, watching TV on our flat screen when my mom comes down with a load of laundry and asks me how my day went. I mumble something to her that passes for an answer and she goes on her way.

After loading the washing machine, she carries a basket of freshly dried clothes out and sits down beside me.

"Here, help me fold." She smiles warmly at me.

I roll my eyes but sit up to start sorting through the heap at my feet.

"So, Alice tells me you and the new girl are in a few classes together. I hear she's nice." I know my mother is just trying to be polite and make conversation, but I really don't want to discuss Bella with anyone. I've just finally gotten my mind off of her.

"Yeah we have afternoon classes together. She is nice." I'm hoping this answer is sufficient enough for her, but I know she doesn't change topics easily.

"Is she pretty?" Of course, why would today be any different?

"Ma! No... She's... little. I don't know. She's cute I guess, if you like that sort of thing."

Mom furrows her brow, and I see a hint of a smile on her lips, then it quickly changes to a bit of a scowl and her face goes stony.

"You had better be nice to her, Edward. That girl is going through a lot right now. While I love the peace and tranquility that comes with a small town, sometimes it's outweighed by the gossip and close-mindedness. I pray I've raised you and your siblings better than that. It sounds like Alice really likes her, and Emmett says she's nice from what he's seen of her. I sure hope you're being welcoming as well." She scolds in a motherly tone.

"I am, Ma. I gave her a ride home today. I know she's going through a lot. Her mom and step-dad practically dumped her off here with her dad so they could travel around while her step-dad plays ball. I'm not that big of a jerk, Mom. I know I have a reputation for being one, but I'm not going to pick on her because of things she can't help. And I know she's nice." Or at least can be if she wants to be. I've seen her around Alice… a little bit.

Mom quirks a brow at me. "Edward, be careful with her. She's not only different from you, she's also the police chief's daughter. If you're thinking about playing games with her, don't."

"Trust me, Mom, I'm not interested in Bella like that."

I pick up the piles of folded clothes from the couch cushions. Before she can continue on I pick up the basket and carry it upstairs. I leave it for her at the top of the stairs on the second floor and walk up another flight to my room where I close my door and lock myself in for a while.

As I lay on my bed, I can't get Bella off of my mind. I roll over and think back to this afternoon when I arrived home from dropping her off. I had been just about to step out of the car when I looked down and noticed Bella's sketchbook sitting on the floorboard. Bringing it inside, I quickly tucked it away in my room and decided to wait until later to look at it.

Now is later, I decide, I slide it out from under my pillow and I thumb through pages of very detailed sketches. Some are landscapes; palm trees, exotic flowers, the usual things artists would draw, I suppose. It's obvious Bella is a visual person; she notices the most intimate details of her subjects.

As I continue to study her work, I come across a rough sketch of a male. The date on the page lets me know she drew it a few months back. I know she drew it before she ever came to Forks, but the person in the picture looks very familiar. If he didn't look so ethereal, I'd say it was... me.

I know it's not the most logical thought I've ever had. Maybe Bella knows someone who looks like me, or maybe she imagined this person and it just looks strikingly similar? This person doesn't exactly look like an actual person; his eyes have been colored in a creepy yellow color, his skin looks shimmery - like it's been coated in diamond dust - and he also looks like he's never seen the sun before... pale as a ghost.

I page through the book further and notice there isn't another human sketch in it. The rest are animals or abstract sketches. When I'm finished, I slide the book into my book bag and go downstairs to see what we're having for supper.

When I sit down at the dining room table I quickly realize my mom has ratted me out to my siblings about driving Bella home from school today, and now Alice is begging me to pick her up in the morning.

The only reason I agree is because I have her sketchbook, and I'd like to have my siblings around when I give it back to her - so she doesn't punch me in the junk or something.

After supper I decide to turn in for the night. I've got a massive migraine, and I'm already sick of talking and thinking about Little Miss Isabella Swan.