I hadn't realized that one of my oldest friends had been sitting in my history class for half of the school semester until our professor had us each individually go up to grab our graded papers. Her hair had been cut in a short pixie-like style and her head remained down the entire time she went up front to retrieve her paper in front of all of our classmates.

Alice had always been a vibrant person. She was bubbly, outgoing, and always one of the better friends. Now, this person who I was staring at in shock had little emotion. She stretched out her hand and took her paper from our professor with a timid grab and rushed back to her seat in the back of the classroom. After better observation, I noticed that her eyes had black circles under them and she looked as if she hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in weeks. Her body looked frail, but that wasn't what caught my attention when the sunlight streaming in from outside hit her. It was the strange necklace she had on, if I could even call it that. It was a simple, choker-like band made of black leather that was tight on her pale skin. In the middle of it, at the hollow of her neck, hung a plain O ring that dangled and reflected off the sunlight. It wasn't anything I had ever seen before, and almost looked like...

“Swan.” I heard my name called and it brought me out of my daze. Alice looked over at me but when she caught me staring at her, her eyes went straight back to her paper. I stood up, walked to the front of the class and grabbed my paper. As I walked back to my seat, I stole another glance at Alice, who looked like a marble statue instead of a human being.

Through the rest of class, Alice remained completely still, never opening up her notebook to take notes and never even picking up her pencil. I was distracted for most of class, watching her out of the corner of my eye. We had been as close as sisters all throughout grade school. I even remember her standing up for me when a bully tried attacking me on the playground. We had practically lived at each others house each weekend of our last summer together before her parents had decided to move out of California. Like most long distant friendships, we lost contact with one another around the time we both started high school. That had been almost five years ago. This was our first year of college, and I was happy to see her back in Los Angeles and in my class.

Perhaps she didn't have many friends here, since moving back. I knew coming to college that it was a bit overwhelming even for me, and I had stayed in Los Angeles my entire life. Most of my friends had felt it was time to leave LA. But I didn't want to go far. There was so much here, what was the point of leaving?

Class was dismissed before I knew it, and the other students began filing out. Alice scooped up her belongings and was one of the first to leave. I weaved my way around the other students who were taking their time in packing up. I stepped outside and saw that she was practically rushing to the parking lot, still with her head down, never looking up.

“Alice!” I called out to her. I saw her flinch when she heard her name and stop in her tracks. Hesitantly, she turned her head and looked over at me. Her fearful glance made me stop heading towards her and I almost felt that she was giving me a silent warning that I shouldn't have tried getting her attention.

A slick black Mercedes appeared in front of my changed friend, and the engine purred beautifully when it came to a stop at the curb. The glass was almost completely tinted, and the only thing I could see inside was a large shadowy figure in the driver's seat. Alice closed her eyes and took in a breath before turning and opening the passenger door. The car's door lifted up, instead of out like most car doors did. The man inside had a large build and wore a dark suit that hugged his body perfectly. He was dressed impeccably. The way you would expect the owner of such an expensive car to dress. His right hand was firmly gripping the gear shift in the middle of the car and his other hand had the steering wheel grasped firmly on top. There was a dark, large ring on his fourth finger and when my eyes traveled further up his body, I heard myself gasp quietly. His blond hair was parted to one side and stood perfectly still on the top of his head. Not one part of him was out of place.

The man's face was angelic, yet with a hint of something sinister. His jaw line trailed down the side of his cheek, and his eyes, whose color I couldn't discern since the car was so dark, were on me the entire time. I suddenly felt as if he was challenging me in a way, controlling me with his gaze and pressuring me to back down and look away. But I didn't. I just kept staring at him the entire time it took for Alice to slide into the car and close the door over her. In the shadow of the darkened window, I saw his head finally turn back towards the road and he shifted the car into gear and sped off. What ever had happened to Alice, I had a feeling that that man driving had something to do with her dramatic change of personality.

***

On Wednesday, Alice didn't show up to class. I knew a lot of students skipped random class days. But after seeing that man waiting for her in the car, the feeling in my stomach was unsettling. Was she alright? Was it something I did? I'd only called out for her attention, but was there something else that I was missing?

I knew it was none of my business what others did, as long as it didn't involve me. But something was itching at my brain and telling me that there was definitely something wrong with my old friend. After class let out, I jumped into my car and headed back onto the freeway to deal with the grueling gridlock traffic that comes during almost every hour of the day in Los Angeles. This was the only time I could really exercise my brain away from any form of school, so I began thinking back to everything I knew about Alice.

Good family. Good grades. Always kind to others. Where did that man come into play? I got as far as the exit towards the Marina freeway when I realized something that played over in my head when I thought back to Alice getting into the car.

There had been a parking tag that was hanging off of the rear view mirror inside the man's car. It was the same one I'd seen in some of the other faculty and staff cars on campus. So whoever this man was, he either worked for the school or the hospital. And UCLA had many professors who also were doctors on campus. Teaching was more of a side job for them, but a necessary one. I was just a history major, and I was making an assumption that Alice was as well, since we were both in an upper division class together.

I got to my apartment and threw my belongings on the ground. I jumped into the shower and relaxed a few moments, just letting the hot water hit my body. While I stood there, I began stewing up a plan. After drying off, I turned on my laptop and set to work. I started with the main UCLA hospital website and checked out the hospital inside the school. I had never gone inside the hospital, though I knew that most of the students used it as their main source of medical attention, but I hadn't had an excuse to ever go inside. I clicked on the directory and cringed at all of the options I was given. There were departments for everything. Geriatrics, urology, pediatrics... I took a breath and began going down the list of options, hoping that my efforts would at least produce an open door of opportunity.

After the department of neurology, I started to give up hope. Some of the doctors had all of their information up on their web page, but not many. There was a long list of education and affiliation that listed every piece of information I could ever need, except for a photo I could link to the man in the Mercedes. I got to the department of gynecology and chuckled softly to myself. I'd always had a female doctor as my gynecologist. Probably coming from a bit of a sheltered life, I never could have imagined having a male doctor checking me. But I knew I couldn't gloss over this particular department, and so I clicked the link that sent me to the page for the doctor's information.

I scrolled past the entire list of doctors, luckily they all had had their photo taken and placed on the website. My confidence was just about to seal the deal that my research was going to go unchanged when the last doctor's photo stopped my finger from escaping the web page.

It was the same man that had been in the Mercedes.

He was staring back at me with a calm and collective grin to his face. It was hard for me to look away from him, because I felt that I was once again challenging him in some way, even though it was just a photo I was looking at now, and not the man himself.

His name was Carlisle Cullen, and he had been a resident doctor at one other hospital than UCLA, in a place called Forks, Washington. He had been here in Los Angeles for over a year now. Dr. Cullen, the website read, specialized in Prolapse, Vaginal and Pelvic Support, and Vaginal Reconstruction. I felt a deep blush come to my already heated face. Seeing the word 'Vaginal' next to his photo was making me more than embarrassed. I quickly slammed my laptop closed and bit my thumbnail. Unfortunately, I had accidentally memorized the number for the gynecology department, and my brain was doing everything it could to make me realize that I was indeed due for a check up.

I shook my head and got up from my seat. I needed to find out more about Alice first, and not contemplate going in for an exam by some mysterious doctor. I walked over to the couch and flipped on the news, doing my best to keep myself occupied by anything besides my school and personal concerns.

On Wednesday, I decided that I wouldn't bother with trying to speak to Alice again. It was clear that she didn't want to talk to me, so what would be the point in pushing a conversation on her? Class was dismissed and I took my time gathering my things, knowing already that Alice was quick in leaving the room. I gave her a few minutes and then turned around to find her desk empty.

I made it out side and took in a deep breath. The air was perfect; crisp but comfortably warm. My walk to my car would at least give me time to think about things. I guess I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings because when I stepped into the pedestrian walk way, I heard a screech of tires. My head shot up and I looked to see a car coming to a abrupt halt before it could crash into me.

With a gasp, I jumped back a few steps before the grill of the car could clip my knees. It took me a moment to register that this car had a very expensive look to it. Almost like...

The blond doctor I had been secretly compiling information on opened the driver's side door and placed one foot on the ground. He leaned his arm against the raise side of the car door and narrowed his eyes at me.

“You should be more careful next time,” he warned me with a smirk. My lips parted and I knew I looked like I was in complete shock.

“Uh, sorry,” I apologized.

I saw Alice in the passenger's seat, but her eyes were down. She wasn't even glancing up to see who her boyfriend had hit. But it did look like she was worried. Finally, she looked up and her eyes widened in shock.

“Bella!” she yelled, and then covered her mouth in dear.

I didn't reply, since I could fathom words correctly.

Dr. Cullen's head snapped towards the sound she had made, and I saw his jaw tick.

“Are you going to continue walking? Or just stand there?” I heard him ask me.

Mentally I shook myself out of my trance and straightened up before getting out of the road. Behind me, I heard his car drive off smoothly.

Poor Alice. Whoever this guy was, it was clear that he was controlling her.