As promised, chapter one!

Disclaimer: Still own nothing.

Chapter 1

2001, Spring

I stared at the person in the mirror. Another year had passed, yet I could not see any difference. The same thick, dull brown hair hung loose over my shoulders, hiding my face. The contrast between my hair and skin making me seem even paler than I was. I pinched my cheek to try to get some colour in them, to no avail. I was doomed to look like a corpse, whether I liked it or not.

I searched through my bag to find the tube of lipgloss Alice had stashed there. Alice saw it as her goal in life to try to make me more like a girl. Being my best friend and all, I let her go through with it, though in 99 cases out of 100, they would mean pure torture. This, however, was not one of those. I applied a thin layer (meaning I used about a third as much as Alice would have) before exiting the bathroom.

If I had not changed much the last year, Forks High had not changed much the last twenty. The walls were painted in the same sterile white colour that had been there when my parents graduated. Even the staff hadn’t changed much since then.

Not that the little town of Forks was any different. Top modern in Forks meant that something was less than ten years old. Go figure.

I was woken from my sullen thoughts by the little pixie, also known as my best friend. She waved at me from her table. “Bella!” she called.

As if I could not have spotted her easily. No one else at school would ever wear the violently pink ensemble she was wearing. Not to mention look good in it. Jessica, a girl I neither liked nor disliked sat next to her. “What took you so long?” Alice asked as I sat down in the chair next to her. She scrutinized my face for a second before gasping and pointing at me. “It’s happened! I knew my struggles weren’t in vain! You’re wearing lipgloss!”

I could feel my face flush. Ah well, at least I’m not deadly pale anymore. “Why this sudden change, Bella? Seen any cute boys lately?” Jessica asked. I mentally rolled my eyes at her before asking the question she wanted me to ask.

“No, actually not. Have you?” Jessica let go of a high pitched shriek before launching into her story.

“I was walking down to Spanish, thinking about how best to give Mike a payback for ditching me last term,” Mike and Jessica had dated a couple of times last spring. But it seemed like Jessica took things a bit more serious than Mike did. Jessica had spent a good percentage of the summer coming up with a plan of revenge, to get Mike to see what he had given up on.

“And I must have been really concentrating or something, because I accidentally bumped into this amazing guy.” Her eyes got all big and dreamy like at the end. It was as if she was mentally drooling over the sheer memory of him. While she continued describing every aspect of his appearance, I zooned out. My mind could only handle that many synonyms to perfect.

“Did you catch his name?” How Alice could keep focus during Jessica’s rants, I could never understand. I continued trying to replay the end scene of “Wuthering Heights” in my head.

But Heathcliff wasn‘t enough to keep Jessica‘s voice out. “I’m getting to that. Anyway, I got to Spanish, and I asked Lauren if she knew who it was. And she thinks it must be one of the new kids. She thought their last name was Cullen. Apparently they have their own house outside of town. Lauren said that she would try to find out more about them. I’m so gonna ask him to Prom!”

Even Alice raised her eyebrows at that. “That’s three months from now. And you haven’t even spoken to him.”

Jessica crossed her arms, and added, a little cooly. “Have to! I said “sorry” and he said “no harm done”. And I could feel we had this instant connection.” Her eyes got all dreamy again. I mentally rolled my eyes again. Like I hadn’t heard that “connection” crap before.

It’s not that I didn’t believe in love. And it wasn’t as if I didn’t appreciate a good love story. Heck, my favourite authors are Austen and Brontë, how could I not like love? It was just that the idea of finding your other half sounded too much like some sappy crap you mixed into fairytales to somehow remedy the fact that the prince and princess had known each other exactly five minutes before they got married. And lived happily ever after. No, I believed in soul mates about as much as I believed in the tooth fairy.

Alice, on the other hand suddenly got excited. She dived through her bag, and pulled out a black notebook, and one of those pens with multicoloured ink and laid them on the table before us. She clapped her hands excitedly. “We’re going to have to put the new guys in the Book!” She patted the cover and squeeked.

“The Book” was Alice way of finding people worthy enough to date. In it, you could find information on every boy at Forks High. We had yet to find a perfect match to our desires, but something told me that the selection wasn’t that good to begin with.

Jessica immediately began reciting every bit of gossip she’d uncovered so far, with Alice writing it down with inhuman speed while I finished my salad. The bell rang not a moment too soon. Alice and I grabbed our bags and hurried to the science building.

Just as we were saying goodbye to Jessica, she poked me hard and stared down to the end of the hallway. A tall blonde guy came walking towards us, hands in his pocket. I realized why Jessica had wanted to take the detour on her way to Government. “Oh my god, that’s one of them! Okay, how to I look?” She added a small pout to her already full lips, and sucked in her cheeks, which made it look like she was in pain or something. Not attractive.

“You look fine.” Alice said without looking. Just then the blonde guy walked by, making me feel like her statement might have been directed elsewhere. I think he must have heard her, because he stopped walking. He turned and his eyes were glued to Alice. Not to sound like a cliché, but he looked like he’d been hit by lightening. “Hi,” she said, offering her hand. “I’m Alice.” I admired Alice courage sometimes.

“Hello ma’m” He answered, with a hint of a southern accent. “Jasper Hale, at your service.” He bowed and kissed her hand, which made Jessica giggle. Not that they noticed, they were to busy staring at each other. After a few moments they broke apart, and Alice remembered that they weren’t alone.

“Oh, this is Jessica” The guy nodded and turned to me. He offered me his hand, and I stuck out my hand, but, being me, the movement made me drop my bag, and it’s entire content to the floor. I dropped to the floor to shuffle it all back in. But, when I stood up again I, being me again, collided with someone. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” I began, but all words left me when my eyes caught hold of a pair of emerald eyes. I felt my cheeks flush and I ran into the safety of the classroom.

I was panting hard. Alice joined me a few moments later, seconds before the final bell. “He wanted my number.” She whispered smiling. I smiled back. I was glad for her, I really was. But I was beginning to feel a bit strange. “Are you alright? You look pale, did you hit your head colliding with Edward?”

“Edward?” I asked. My stomach squirmed. Had there been something wrong with my salad?

“Yes, the guy you ran into. Jasper’s brother, Edward Cullen.”

Edward Cullen. My heart raced, if possible, faster than before. Edward Cullen.

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