I hurried to my first class, AP English and sat down in the first empty seat. It happened to be next to a boyish blonde who smiled up at me with blue eyes. Gah. What was with LA and eyes, every person I had met had striking eyes of a different colour. Two very distinct ones came to mind – green and gold.

After walking into the office like a true klutz the Cullen twins grabbed some paper and breezed out leaving me with old lady – Mrs. Cope. She gave everything I needed and a motherly pat on the hand, as if she foresaw a disastrous day for me. Well I didn't exactly start it well.

"Hi I'm Mike," the blonde said, grinning broadly at me.

"Hey, I'm Bella."

"Yeah the new girl hey?" I looked at him in surprise and he shrugged, "I work on the school newspaper, we hear these things."

Satisfied he wasn't I stalker I asked, "You guys have a school paper?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

"Need any help?" I asked. I loved writing, hell if it wasn't such a shaky career I'd probably become a writer myself. Anyway, the paper was a way to write and meet new people.

"Yeah we do! We just lost our sports column writer. You interested?"

I shrugged, "Yeah I know sports well enough, I just can't play them."

He laughed loudly, "You'll be perfect for the job!" He said, touching my forearm.

I smiled tightly and shifted forward, the last thing I needed in this place was a clingy mama's boy.

Class went by pretty fast, I zoned out because we had already covered this section in Forks. I sighed slightly, I missed Forks. I missed my friends, I missed Jacob. Jake and I always had a rather, unclear relationship. We met when we were both twelve, Renee was reconnecting with Billy, Jake's dad. Well, we just clicked. We did everything together that summer and even though we went to different schools I saw Jake on the weekends more than I saw any of my Forks' friends. Then when we were 16 Jake kissed me. We had been roaming First Beach for sand glass and I was tired, we sat down for a while cuddling against the cold and the next thing I know we were kissing. We were kind of together until I found out I was moving. I mean the whole thing was casual, we kissed and fondled now and then but there were never any labels, so when I found out I was moving we just kind of stopped. I figured we were still friends and even if we were in a relationship it wouldn't work with me being halfway across the country.

The bell rang loudly, bringing me back into reality. As I packed up my books Mike shoved his phone under my nose.

"Could I... Maybe have your number... um for contacting you – you know for the... the paper?"

I suppressed a groan and entered my number into Mike's phone, purely for the paper. He smiled widely and giggled, "Thanks Bella."

I walked out of class, my head buried in a very confusing map of the school. I heard the warning bell go off and picked up speed – until I ran into something very hard. Glancing up I blushed bright red, of course I had run into twin sex god number one.

The one with gold eyes looked down at me, holding my forearms. "I'm so sorry," I stammered. "I should've known where I was going – I just – uhm... I'm new and the school is confusing, plus this bloody map-"

"Is upside down," said Gold Eyes in a deep voice. He chuckled and turned it the right way round.

Blushing again I murmured a thank you. "So you must be Isabella?" he asked, his lips still pulled up in a grin.

I looked up, "What? How did you know?"

He chuckled again, a very deep and rich sound, "I live next door to you."

My eyes widened, play it cool, "Oh, are you a Cullen?"

"The one and only," he said.

"But don't you have a twin?" I asked, confused.

"What? How did you know?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow and throwing my words back at me. It took me a second to realise he was joking with me.

"I...My mom was upset you guys couldn't come to dinner," I spluttered out. Fuck! What did I just say! Seems like Stutterbell is out to play.

He winked, "Oh really," he teased, "Well I guess we'll have to make it up to her."

I nodded my head slowly, "Yeah... I guess." The bell for class rang again and I groaned, "I'm so sorry, I've made you late!"

"No don't worry about it, my mother would be shocked if I had just left you alone, a damsel in distress."

I giggled, "Well thank you for coming to my rescue. Should I even head to Spanish?"

Then he laughed loudly, "You needed to go to Spanish?"

"Yeah," I said, confused.

"It's right next door to English," He chuckled.

Once again I blushed, "Oh great..."

He rubbed my shoulder, "It's fine, and the Spanish teachers are always late." He grinned, "Good thing too, because we can both still make it to class."

I smiled, "Yeah I wouldn't want to start a new school being caught bunking."

He walked ahead, grabbing my hand, "Come on let's get to class."

"Okay, slow down," I giggled, almost tripping over my feet, "Hey wait, what is your name?"

He guided me through the door into the classroom, devoid of a teacher but full of loud teenagers, who all stopped to stare at our entry. "It's Masen," he said.

I nodded, blushing brightly at all the stares. We sat down, I in the middle row and him in the row behind me.

I leant back in my chair, turning slightly to talk to him, "It's just Bella."

He touched a lock of my hair and nodded, "Okay, just Bella."

On my way to lunch I was assaulted by Mike Newton. "Bella come and sit with us!"

I shrugged, "Sure thing." I headed over to the table; Mike introduced me to Angela, head of the newspaper. She was a sweet, small girl who just smiled and told me the times for the newspaper's next meeting. I was then introduced to Lauren and Jessica, both of which ran the gossip column. I could see Jessica was a little put off by the attention I was receiving. A boy named Tyler also said hello while leering at my breasts.

"So Bella, why'd you move all the way here?" Jessica asked loudly.

I shrugged as everyone looked my way, "Uhm... Well my mom wanted a change of scenery."

They all nodded as if they understood completely. Just then Masen walked past the table. I smiled at him and he tugged my hair, "Just Bella," he said as he walked past.

Giggling I turned back to the table to see all eyes on me. "What?"

Jessica shook her head, "Nothing, just didn't know you knew the Cullens. They are a bit of royalty over here." She pointed at the table Masen sat at, "That is the Cullen table, it's the two of them and the very few who are deemed worthy enough to sit with them."

I looked over at the table and noticed how fill it was, there were many boys in lettermen jackets and tall, skinny girls milling around. "Well I live next to the Cullens and Masen seem sweet enough."

Lauren giggled, "Yeah Masen is the sweet one, but Edward..." she trailed off and bit her lip.

"Edward is a bit of a James Dean, he's got the whole rebel without a cause tortured soul going on," Jessica finished.

Filing that piece of information away I got up as the bell rang, "What class do you have now?" Angela asked.

"Biology."

"Well I've got it too, I'll walk you," she offered.

"Thanks," I replied, Angela seemed like a sincere girl.

We walked in silence to Biology. As we entered I walked up to the teacher and he proceeded to fill out the paperwork while Angela took a seat. She waved over once he was done but as I walked over a shy looking boy slid into the seat, blushing when Angela looked his way. He liked her.

Angela gave me an irritated frown but I just waved her off and sat down at an empty table. The warning bell rung and more people filtered in, just as Mr. Banner was about to close the door in breezed Cullen Number Two.

Glancing around he realised the only empty seat was next to me, huffing loudly he dropped his bags and sat down heavily. Sorry Mr. Grumpy Pants.

"Okay class; let's get ready to start of Biology! The people sitting next to you will be your lab partner for the year, please remember to always bring your textbooks with you and feel free to ask if you have any questions. Okay? Great."

I looked over at Edward, my lab partner, I'm not even going to try hide the fact that I was just a teeny bit excited to be doing something with one of the sexy gods. Smiling I whispered, "Hey, I'm Bel-"

"Yeah, I know Bella Swan," said a deep, velvet voice. His eyes were facing forward and his entire body tense, the tone of his voice was the most shocking – in comparison to Masen is was laced with irritation and superiority.

Raising my eyebrows I turned in my seat and paid attention to Mr. Banner, if this was how Edward was going to act my Biology marks would be sky high – yeah, because that's what I was worried about, my Biology marks.

I had to admit that I spent a lot of the class trying to sneak peeks at Edward. He looked so much like Masen it was a little unnerving, but you could definitely see a difference. Besides their striking eye colour difference Edward looked older than Masen. No that wasn't right... He looked more troubled, as if he was carrying around a heavy burden. I could see it in the way he sat, thinking back, even to the way he moved. Jessica was right, he was angry with life.

I glanced at the clock and noticed we had a few more minutes, once this lesson was over we had school assembly, specifically for the first day back, and then it was home time baby.

Edward suddenly shifted in his chair, his eyes sought mine and I was momentarily immersed in them. I felt like I was looking at art, constructed so carefully that every millimetre looked new and unique. He cleared his throat and refocused on him.

"I'm Edward Cullen."

The bell rang out loudly and before I could even open my mouth he was gone, striding out the door. Shaking my head I joined Angela in the walk towards the school auditorium, today needed to end.

I smiled when I closed the front door, entering the warm space only an interior designer could pull off.

"Mom! I'm home!" I called.

When I got no response I meandered over tot kitchen, pulling out an apple I read the bright orange sticky note on the fridge.

Gone out for some shopping, love you – Renee.

Shaking my head I walked to my room, I glanced over to the Cullen's backyard and saw that the silver Volvo was parked neatly in the driveway but there was no other visible movement. I put on some music, loud enough to drown out my thoughts and checked my e-mail.

Angela had e-mailed me all the events I was to attend; this included the school's first football match of the season this Friday.

Jake had also e-mailed, filling me in on all the gossip and stupid shit happening back home. Well I guess it wasn't home anymore, this huge city with its beautiful people and a warm weather was my new home.

My mom got back just as I finished off the last bit of my homework, laden with shopping bags she asked me to help. Taking the groceries Renee proceeded to inquire about school.

"So how was it? Are the people nice? The teachers? Any cute boys?" she asked, trying hard as ever to be hip.

I shrugged, "It was fine, I met the Cullens."

Renee gasped loudly, "Oh gosh! Aren't they just hot hey."

I raised my eye brow at her, "Mom, please don't talk like that."

She had the decency to blush before careening on about the people she met today and all the new recipes she was going to make. I blanched a bit at that thought, Renee and the kitchen didn't have a very good relationship. Back home I would have Jake sneak me pizza after she went to bed just so I ate something that wasn't burnt or swimming in some kind of sauce.

"Hey Mom, you look tired. How about I prepare dinner tonight?"

"Ah, darling that would be perfect. Thanks, I'm going to shower."

After cooking a simple dinner, Renee and I went our separate ways. As much as my Mom tried to be the friend, it became exhausting and I soon learnt the art of deflection. I mean she was a great Mom, she wanted the best for me and always made sure I had what I needed, but I couldn't help but feel that she didn't really hear me or see me. She was always on her own mission, whether it involved me or not. I learnt a long time ago that living with Renee meant looking after Renee.

It was Friday and after the long week I had the weekend was welcome, after the six hours of school of course. The week had been fairly okay. I was constantly being hit on by Mike that I even contemplated moving places in AP English, actually thinking about it I don't know how Mike even got into AP English.

Anyways as Mike's flirting escalated so did my interaction with Masen. I mean I smile when I think about it. I see him quite often, he's in my Spanish and Gym class and while we just smile at each other at Gym we chat quite a lot in Spanish. He was right when he said the teacher comes late because Masen and I spoke for least twenty minutes every day, and those were probably the funniest parts of my day! He took to calling me Just Bella and it felt nice to have friendly face in the hallways. It's odd, I feel so entirely comfortable with Masen, as if we had been friends for ages. We talk about everything and anything, unlike the other Cullen.

Gah, I now understood exactly what Jessica meant! Edward Cullen was so... so... so frustrating! Unlike his sweet and friendly brother, Edward was stoic whenever I saw him. During Biology he didn't utter a word to me unless the task demanded it and has never said anything remotely polite since he introduced himself. He is so tortured and so silent and so infuriating! He's got under my skin and made me itch, I want it draw some kind of reaction from his stupid, beautiful pink lips that remain so still in my presence. He makes me doubt myself, I'm constantly watching him and seeing how he interacts with other people and if I am the only one that isn't deemed important enough to talk to.

The bell rang signalling the last lesson of the day, Gym. I walked with Jessica to gym and changed into the ridiculously small grey and blue gym clothes the school provided. Walking outside it was sunny and I squinted my eyes, I still wasn't used to the constant sunshine. I kinda missed the rain a little... just a little.

We were then told today was volley ball day, yay. I was put in a team with Masen and a whole bunch of people I didn't know. I'm pretty sure most of my gym class knew to avoid my general vicinity after I kicked Mike in the nuts with a soccer ball. But, apparently Edward Cullen liked to win, because every single one of his fucking serves was straight to me. Masen, ever the brave boy, became my personal body guard, hitting back every ball. Again the different between the two of them was astounding. I glanced down at my watch as Edward stood back, ready to serve again. There were only 10 minutes left of school and then my bed and laptop awaited me. Yeah I hadn't quite entered the social scene in LA, although I did have to attend the football game tonight for the paper.

All of a sudden I heard Masen shout my name as a hard, fast volley ball connected with my face. I fell to the floor, hitting my head hard and let out a loose, "Fuck!"

I felt people surround me and someone knelt dozen beside me, pulling away my hands that currently covered my head. "Bella, Bella can you hear me? Are you okay?" I heard Masen asking, sounding very frantic.

"Fuck Edward, why did you do that!"

"Hey! It's not my fault girl can't hit the ball."

I felt Masen tenderly checking my head and I winced, "Let me check," I heard Edward say.

Masen lifted my up slowly till I was sitting and chuckled darkly, "Fuck off Edward."

I finally opened my eyes to see the entire gym class standing around me staring at the faceoff between Edward and Masen. The coach was walking over, shouting for someone to call the nurse.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I said quickly, not wanting to cause a scene, let alone a fight between the two brothers.

Masen glanced down, "I'm taking you to the Nurse."

"I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Go to the Nurse, Bella," Edward interjected. I turned to him, raising my eyebrows. Gritting my teeth I took a deep breath and pushed Masen off me as I tried to stand up. Tried being the operative word. I had just reached full height when I swayed and fell straight onto Edward, just my luck.

He caught me gracefully and held me waist, his hands hot and rough, "Come one I'll take you."

I shook my head, "No, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you," I snarked. I felt him tense and take in a deep breath but before he could say anything the Coach intervened.

"Okay someone needs to take you to the Nurse!"

Before anyone could say anything a sweet voice rang out, "I'll take her!" A small girl, barely five feet four stepped forward and smiled. She was pale with black hair that was in a layered bob. She wore the mandatory uniform but actually seemed to pull it off.

"Okay Alice," the Coach said, "Everyone else, you can go get changed."

Alice stepped forward, taking my elbow when Edward spoke, "I've got her Alice."

Instead of backing down like I expected she turned to him, eyebrow raised, "Well Edward I don't care if you've got her because she doesn't want you to have her at this particular moment and you can go on and brood your away out of here." I liked Alice.

Edward let go of my gently as he scowled at Alice and I kind of missed the contact. "Alice, it's okay I'll take Bella."

I sighed, hating that everyone was speaking for me. "Masen, thanks for the offer but I think I'll just go with Alice."

Masen glanced down and I thought I saw a flicker of hurt there before he smiled, "Okay, well just let me know how you're feeling okay? I'll see you that the football game later."

Edward seemed smug as he walked away, both of them very tense and separate, hopefully they would get over it.

Alice beamed at me, trying to take some of my weight, which was physically impossible for someone so tiny. "Sorry about those two, they have issues."

I smiled, "Yeah I've begun to realise. Thanks for, you know, doing this."

"Of course Bella! In fact I've been wanting to introduce myself forever! I'm Alice Brandon."

"Bella Swan," I said.

"Yeah, I've heard all about you," She giggled.

"All good things I hope," I had never been much for having girlfriends but Alice made me feel so girly.

"Yes yes, if Masen can't stop talking about you."

I blushed, Masen spoke about me!

We arrived at the Nurse and after she gave me a couple Panado and the clear for tonight's game it was three fifteen. Interrupting Alice's one sided speech on how we should go out sometime, the girl could talk, I said, "Alice, thanks for staying. You didn't have to."

"No problem Bella! I have a feeling we are going to be such good friends!"

Grinning I walked into the sunshine, I could get used to not having any rain.

A/N: So sorry for the late of page breaks in chapter one. Reviews are better than Edward hitting you in the head with a volleyball.