You're the kind of girl who can take down a man

And lift him back up again,

You are strong, but you're needy

Humble, but you're greedy

- A Beautiful Mess by Jason Mraz

Chapter 1

Lips of an Angel

After the small plane landed in Port Angeles, I reluctantly endured the awkward, silent, one-hour drive up to Forks with Charlie. It's not that I didn't like him; Charlie was great, even thought I'd only seen him during the summer 'til a few years ago due to the custody arrangement. It was awkward because I hadn't seen my dad, Charlie, in years – and neither one of us was what anyone would call verbose.

I sighed as we passed the Welcome to Forks sign – like my mom before me, I'd never kept my dislike for Forks a secret. I didn't like the cold or the rain, so Charlie was a little skeptical about my decision to move to the rainiest town in the continental US. As if to make my point clear, it started to rain. I sighed - I'd just have to get used to the constant cover of clouds and rain.

"My life is officially over." I muttered under my breath. That was the truest of my statements…I just didn't know it then.

The ride to Charlie's house – I refused to call it mine – was quiet and depressing. Unused to the dark shadow that was the sky here, and the overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia, I slouched in my seat, looking at my hands instead of the outside.

I got absolutely soaked as I made my way out of the Charlie's cruiser. It only took one trip to get all my stuff inside – I didn't have many clothes and most of them were too permeable for the weather in Forks. Once upstairs, he gave me a brief tour of the house and then left me to unpack alone and I was glad for that - I was bound to suffer through my stay here; there was no need for Charlie to suffer along with me – and after all, I was more of a suffer-in-silence-type of girl. I'd simply have to endure it until I graduated. One good thing about Charlie is he doesn't hover.

I skipped dinner, faking a yawn as I gave Charlie my excuse of being tired and getting jetlag – which was a pathetic excuse and wasn't even valid – and Charlie simply nodded and told me to "get some rest, kiddo". I lurched upstairs and got changed into my holey sweats that I called my pajamas and crawled into my bed, pulling the quilt over my head in my attempt to drown the sound of rain falling on the roof. My efforts were in vain, but eventually exhaustion took over and I fell asleep…

I sat up on my bed with sweat rolling off my forehead panting. Just as I managed to get my breathing back to normal, my alarm clock went off. I groaned, leaning over on my side and beating my alarm clock 'til it stopped – and when it didn't stop making that annoying sound, I 'accidently' threw it on the floor. I shook my head, trying to clear it. The dream had been so real, so vivid. It was hard to believe it was just that – a dream.

In my dream, I was surrounded by green. It took me a second to realize that I was actually surrounded by trees. I was deep in a vast forest, with no way out – the dark sky only helped making it feel like a cage. Even thought it was overwhelming, the landscape was beautiful. Being from Phoenix, I was used to the brown and anything else seemed exciting for me. I was only vaguely aware of my surroundings, because something entirely more beautiful had my attention.

A boy.

Not just any boy – that would be an insult. He looked more like an angel, rather than your average boy. He was beautiful, of course. His bronze hair looked like he'd been running his hand through it numerous times and his smoldering emerald eyes stared at me with an intensity I'd never experienced before. His cherry lips stood out, contrasting beautifully with his pale white skin. He took a step forward and I automatically took one back – which got me pressed up against a tree. I felt utterly scared for some reason I couldn't understand. He stepped closer to me and then placed his hands against the tree on either side of my head. Then, slowly, very slowly he leaned in - his beautiful lips parting slightly as he came closer and closer...

And that's when I woke up.

Charlie came in shortly after that, claiming he had to go to work. I was fine with this, Charlie and I had never had the typical father-daughter relationship. Of course, he didn't forget to remind me that school started in an hour before he left. I groaned and went back to bed mumbling something along the lines of five more minutes, mom.

Thirty minutes later, I woke up. I groaned. It was my first day at Forks High and I was going to be late. I threw on the first decent outfit I laid my eyes on and grabbed a PopTart before walking out the door. Charlie and I had already talked about me buying a car and he'd promised we'd go look at some on Friday but until then I was stuck walking two miles to school.

I let my mind wonder and I thought about the worst scenarios - I had no cell phone and no car. What if something happened to me? What was I supposed to do? I didn't even carry the damn pepper spray Renee had insisted I buy.

I reached the high school with five minutes left to spare and headed to the main office. The lady behind the long, overcrowded desk handed me a map, my schedule and a slip to have each teacher sign and return by the end of the day. Oddly enough, it felt like a survival kit.

The classes all blurred together as the morning progressed. The kids, all very nice, treated me like a curiosity. A freak. I had expected this. I didn't fit in. I didn't relate well to people, period. Everything seemed to go in one ear, and out the other. That is, until I reached the Biology class room.

Unaware of my surroundings, I walked up to the teacher, Mr. Banner, and handed him the slip. He said no nonsense about unneeded introductions and assigned me the only empty spot in the room. As I was accustomed to, I kept my eyes on the ground – trying not to trip – so it wasn't until I was midway there that I noticed the person who had gotten stuck with me as their lab partner. My feet stopped walking when my eyes locked on a pair of curious eyes. Beautiful topaz colored eyes. Apart from his eyes, his face looked utterly familiar.

It was the boy that had starred in my dream last night. Mr. Banner cleared his throat for the first time – or was it the fourth? I felt the heat flooding my face as my signature blush took over. I hurried to my seat, my heartbeat going a hundred miles an hour. Since I was so conscious of him, it didn't escape my notice that as I sat down next to him, the boy besides me stiffened, angling his chair away from me. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye only to catch him staring intently at me.

I was this close to confront him when Mr. Banner started speaking. Apparently, he had a surprise for the class – we were doing a lab. Blood Typing. I gulped. He went on, explaining how to do it, and then walking over towards a blonde baby-faced boy to demonstrate. He took the boy's hand and made a tiny small cut on the tip of his fingertip.

That was it for me. The ringing in my ears grew louder as each second passed and the room wouldn't stop spinning. All the way across the room, I smelled the sickening scent of blood – salt and rust. Clammy moisture broke out across my forehead and I laid my head on the black-topped table. Although the nausea hit me like a tsunami wave, I was still electrically aware of the bronze haired boy sitting next to me. He stood perfectly still, his chest unmoving, as if he too had an aversion to blood and was trying not to breathe. When Mr. Banner finally reached our table, he looked genuinely concerned – maybe I looked as bad as I felt.

"Are you feeling alright, Isabella?" The teacher's voice was alarmed.

"It's Bella." The bronze-haired god next to me chuckled at my response. Even though I felt horrible, I could not stand my full name.

"Edward, could you please escort Bella to the nurse's office?" He asked. "Don't forget the pass, Mr. Cullen."

Edward. So that was his name. Edward Cullen.

He stood up gracefully and waited for me to get up. How embarrassing. Going to the nurse's office on my first day. It didn't escape my notice that he was quite tall and was more muscular than I'd imagined.

"Can you walk?" Edward interrupted my ogling. I could tell he struggled to make his soft voice – yet it still sounded like velvet.

"I'm fine." I muttered as I tried to stand up. I leaned a little bit on the table to help my balancing problems and when I felt I could stand on my own, I let go. I still felt a little woozy but I was too damn stubborn to admit it – especially to the Greek god whose name was Edward.

The silence was most definitely awkward as he walked next to me – a safe arm's distance next to me. It was really quiet and with me being the most uncoordinated person alive, I tripped over my own two feet. In that fraction of a second, I was prepared to hit the cold, hard floor, so it surprised me when I felt something else cold, and surprisingly hard catch me. Edward had his arms wrapped around me and helped me get on my feet. I automatically felt my cheeks heat up and mumbled a thank you.

The nurse's office was still far away and I hadn't gotten any better. I stopped when we reached the sidewalk. Ignoring his curious stare, I laid my cheek against the cold pavement. That seemed to help stop my head from spinning.

"Bella?" His voice was filled with concern. Concern he shouldn't feel at the moment.

I couldn't respond, I was too busy trying to keep my lunch down.

"Bella? Can you hear me?" He sounded so much closer to me than he was just a second ago.

I was about to nod when the sidewalk disappeared from below me. Edward Cullen had lifted me up in his arm as easily as if I weighed 10 pounds.

"No." I tried to get him to put me down. "Put me down!" He wasn't giving in, that much was obvious. "Please, the cold helps the nausea." I pleaded.

He sighed – his breath fanning over my face, temporarily dazzling me – and I thought he was sighing in defeat. But all he did was pull me close to his chest. His really hard, sculpted chest. I was about to protest, but then I realized why he was doing this. His skin was unbelievably cold. A little too cold – like ice. I shut up and laid my head down on his chest, the cold giving me instant relief. He smirked.

"So you faint at the sight of blood?" He asked, obviously entertained by this fact, but I swear I saw a hint of struggle in his eyes.

I shook my head. "It's the smell." I wrinkled my nose.

He looked at me like I had just grown a third arm but apparently decided to drop the subject.

"Unbelievable." He muttered under his breath – I wasn't sure if I was supposed to hear that.

:):):):):)

The rest of the day passed without incident, and by that I meant that it was a no show for Edward. It was pathetic that after 45 minutes with him I was already head over heels for him. So stupidly infatuated. He was in my head almost every second after Biology and it scared me how much I was attracted to this strange boy.

I walked out of the gym in a daze. School was finally over. All I had to do was head down to the office and return the signed slip so I could finally head home. I should have seen where I was walking but I didn't. I was too busy looking in my bag for the paper I was supposed to return to the office, when I tripped. Out of nowhere, a pair of cold, white hands reached out and grabbed me before I fell flat on my face. I'd recognized the feeling immediately. It was the object of my hopeless infatuation.

Edward Cullen.

"I seem to be doing that a lot today." He said as a heartbreaking crooked smile appeared on his angel face. I was momentarily dazed by his utter beauty. It took me a while to clear my head and form a coherent answer.

"Yeah, sorry about that." I smiled tentatively.

"I don't mind," He winked. Holy crow. Did he just wink at me? My heartbeat skipped a beat and it seemed like he heard it because he chuckled at my body's response. Talk about embarrassing. And right on cue, I felt the familiar blush rush to my cheeks.

I didn't say anything. What exactly was I supposed to respond to that? Thanks?

I tried to keep myself busy, continuing my search for the little white slip I was supposed to return. I looked in my backpack as we both kept walking. He smiled a beautiful crooked smile and we walked down the hallway of the now empty building as I continued looking for the piece of paper. I found it and stared fiddling with it to keep my hands busy. He looked at me curiously, with a frustrated look in his eyes as if waiting for me to say something, but different. That's when it happened.

I would have never noticed if it wasn't for the fact that the smell of salt and rust reached my nose for the second time that day.

I would have never noticed if he hadn't been staring at the small paper cut on my finger hungrily.

And I would have never noticed if Edward Cullen hadn't thrown me over his shoulder and ran at inhuman speed towards the vast forest.

A second or two later, he stopped very suddenly and my feet touched the ground again. I was in a state of shock – my brain trying to figure out how he managed to get us miles deep into the forest in a matter of seconds. Was he even human? A feeling of déjà vu took over me.

A low oath from his lips brought my eyes back to him. To say I wasn't scared would be a lie. What made me scared wasn't the inhuman strength and speed he'd just demonstrated – it was his eyes. I didn't know if it was the lighting or I was simply going insane but his eyes weren't the beautiful butterscotch color they were this morning. They were black – coal black. It was easy to see that he was past reason – that what he was going through was in control, not him.

I thought of running, but I had nowhere to go – and even if I did, I would trip and it would only make things worse. I thought about screaming even though a voice in the back of my head said it would be useless, that no one had the slightest chance of hearing. I tried to scream, but my throat was suddenly dry and my voice was nowhere to be found.

Edward took a step toward me and I took one back, cornering myself against a tree. He walked closer to me, his hands clenched into tight fists as if he was trying to stop this. Stop himself. Still, he took one step more and was face to face with me. His unbearably beautiful angel face inches away from mine, and even though I was most likely going to die, I couldn't help being distracted. He was heartbreakingly beautiful and I got lost in his eyes. He placed his hands on either side of my face and leaned closer.

"I'm so sorry, Bella." He whispered, his sweet, intoxicating breath fanning over my face. I had no idea what he was going to do or what he was apologizing for, but I was not prepared for what he did next. He sighed in surrender as he closed his eyes and leaned in – his beautiful lips parting slightly as he pressed them to my neck.

A/N: Hello lovelies :) This is my first fanfic ever so be nice :) This chapter has been rewritten so I hope you guys like it! What'd you think?

Disclaimer: I own what?!. Twilight, you say? Nope. New Moon? Nope. Eclipse? Nope. Breaking Dawn? Nope.

Please review:) Everyone who reviews gets Edward (Or your favorite twilight character) with ice cream on top! I know, I'm random. :)

Good or Bad? Hit or Miss? Love or Hate it? You get the point :) REVIEW :)

Love, Alex (no worries, I'm a girl :)

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