A/N: This story is dedicated to Sasha, and it's an AU Twilight. I hope people will find this original and interesting enough to keep reading. I haven't seen one like this… although there's one kind of similar that Pirates OWNS you has… and I like it, ahahaha.

So yes, this is for Sasha for being a great friend to me since I've known you and making me laugh and smile and just plain feel good. And, this is done know because of your week that's coming and I really hope everything will be alright.

This title is by Green Day although I don't really like them much anymore and I DETEST this song because it's on in every month that's not September, but it fits.

Chapter One: Wake Me Up When September Ends

I screamed when the truck started, the beautiful truck that was all mine, a welcome home gift from Charlie. I tried to catch my breath, my chest rising and falling heavily with every breath that I took. It was terrifying. The truck was old; it seriously had seen better days. So, when you started it, it roared to life like an old man at a hockey game.

I swallowed the lump that had been forming in my throat; switched into reverse and tumbled out of Charlie's driving, trying to find my way through the mist to school. When I looked out my window at all the green wetness I wondered again why I had even bothered to come here. But there was a good reason to that. My mother.

If you know my mother then you know she loves her new husband, Phil, more than anything. Well… maybe not more than me, but there are times when I wonder.

See, Phil has to travel a lot in an attempt to be signed by a team. Baseball, it's what he plays. He's been looking for a while now and I can tell my mom wanted to be with him pretty badly. So, me being the noble daughter I am (you can roll your eyes here, its okay) I decided it was time to get some real father-daughter bonding done. I had never really lived with my dad, only visited him in the summers. The past few summers he's been staying with us, though. So that's why I've come here, this rainy little town in Washington called 'Forks'. Fancy.

If you know me then you know I love the sunlight and hate the rain more than anything. So, if you put two and two together, throw in that it rains more in Forks than any other town in America, you can probably guess that I'm not too happy being here.

Just about the only good thing is that today is the first day of school. I decided to come here sooner than I might have, if mom hadn't been showing the signs of pining away so soon. Rather than waiting a few months for her to be miserable, not to mention an awkward appearance at school, I decided to come at the end of summer. That means I'm just in time for a new school year with not a single person I know.

In Phoenix I didn't have any friends, but at least I knew who people were. This is a small town with a small school and a small amount of teenagers, so making friends should be easy, right? Unless of course my appearance and strangeness repels them like the plague, which has been the case before.

In Phoenix I was more of an albino. If you looked at a group of kids it wasn't hard to lose me. Every person I knew had a nice, creamy tan. Me, I was a ghost. Everyone I knew of played sports or had some kind of talent. Me? I read in my free time. For 'fun', it was something I loved to do. I'd pick books over people any day. There was no contest. People saw this and I was viewed as a sort of epidemic. If they got too close then they'd catch it and suddenly lose all popularity or normalcy. There would be no clique for them, like there was no clique for me.

Maybe there's someway that I can set my alarm clock to skip over all of this school. It can just wake me up when September, October, November, all of this ends.

In the time it's taken to wallow over my past life I managed to find the high school. It was a funny place, all concrete grass and trees. There was no iron fence or security, just separate buildings with large white numbers on the side, pathways frequented to get from class to class. I parked and after trying to calm myself for a moment I made my way to the building with large words: MAIN OFFICE.

The secretary had to be practically pried away from her novel before she gave me a map of the school and my schedule. I smiled at her as I left, thankful that part of the day was over. The sooner I got home the better, it would be easier to start crying after a terrible day. I looked at a slip of paper she had given me to have all my teachers sign, so skipping was out of the question. Not that I was a type of person to do it at all, it was just nice to have my options open.

I sat in the truck and listened to the radio. More and more students began to arrive and I watched as they formed small groups, like packs of animals. Girls with long black hair, long blonde hair, short brown hair paired with guys with short blonde hair, black curls, short brown and messy bronze-ish hair, all formed one group and then walked away, chatting happily over each other. There was a small part of me that sort of wanted to be like them, have someone to talk to no matter what. Then the other part of me reminded the dreamer that we all didn't fit it.

I heard the bell ring and wiped at a small pool of tears before falling out of the truck and studying the damp map to find my way to my first period class.

The first two periods passed quietly, and I started to recognize a few faces in each class, listening for their names in the attendance. My English teacher, Mr. Mason had made no nonsense about introductions, neither had Mr. Jefferson in Government. Of course, then came Trigonometry, which I hated with a passion. By the time I managed to stumble to the classroom Almost all of the other students were there. This was the one class where I was forced to introduce myself.

Then stammer and trip as I made my way back to my seat. There was a girl next to me with big black curls, the one I had seen in the group of friends at the beginning of the day. She giggled but tried to hide it. It didn't work.

She was in my Spanish class afterwards too, although I still couldn't remember her name. She sat to my right, while a boy with bronze hair sat to me left. I remembered vaguely that he was in her group of friends but I never got to see his face, he was writing in his notebook most of the class.

When the lunch bell rang the girl walked with me to the cafeteria talking happily about Forks, asking me politely if I liked it here so far. I answered as nicely as I could, a lot of people had talked to me about this today. I could tell I was getting better at lying because of it.

The cafeteria was crowded, shoving all of the students into the small building. We automatically made our way into the lunch line, waiting to get to our food. The girl (whose name I still couldn't remember) talked about something or another with her friends (kids from the clique) while I stared at my cuticles, shuffling forward with the line. She waited for me after we got our trays of food and made our way to a table crowded with people I barely recognized.

"So, Isabella," the girl began.

"Bella," I interrupted. She smiled and nodded.

"This is Mike," she began, motioning to the boy with icicles for hair. He had a cute, baby face and smiled at me happily. "These are Angela and Lauren, Ben and Tyler, and that's Edward." The kids were all the ones I had seen in the group this morning and I smiled at them all. I followed her hand as she pointed at each one, memorizing faces to names. Too bad I still didn't know hers.

Edward was the last she introduced. He was sitting right next to me and I hadn't even noticed. He looked up when his name was called and met my eyes right away. He paused when he looked at me, rather than returning to his lunch. He smiled, crookedly but it was still attractive. I studied his face. He was the bronze haired boy I had been seeing all day. That was the only way to describe it. His hair had a certain sheen to it that was unlike anyone else's. It was messy, but it still looked attractive on him. His features were strong, but there was still a softness to it. His skin was as pale as mine which made his gorgeous green eyes stand out even more.

"Hi," he said. His voice matched his face. It was gorgeous, strong but still soft. "I'm Edward Mason." I smiled despite myself and felt my cheeks grow a little hot.

"I'm Bella Swan," I said quietly. "It's nice to meet you." He smiled again and began asking me questions about why I had come here, how I liked it. The usual, polite things. Only this time, with him, I told him the truth. I told him about my mom and Phil, the baseball and only coming to live with Charlie so that she could be with him. I told him how much I hated the rain and wet and he laughed, but couldn't understand how I'd make a sacrifice like that.

"I love her," I told him. "It was easy. Besides, it's only two years here, right? Then I can go where ever I want." My gaze fell from him to my hands around my drink.

"I kind of know what you mean," he said quietly and I found myself looking up at him again. "My family moved here from Chicago a few years ago. My father is a lawyer and does work all around the area and it's been hard to try and get used to this place, but it gets easy after a while." He chuckled a little. "You get used to all the green pretty soon." I laughed with him and the rest of the people at the table looked at us strangely.

I turned to look at who had thrown their lunch into the garbage by her table and I saw a small girl with short black hair. She smiled at me and winked before dancing back to her table to sit with three more gorgeous people.

"Who are they…" I whispered to myself. Edward followed my gaze and smiled.

"Those are the Cullens and Hales," he told me. "The dark ones are Emmett and Alice Cullen, and the blondes are twins, Rosalie and Jasper. They don't look like they're related, I know. They're all adoptive kids of Dr. Cullen at the hospital here."

"They're all together too," Jessica (that's her name!) chimed in. "Alice and Jasper, and Rosalie and Emmett." She made it sound like it was so strange, it was sweet to me. Everyone else agreed with her, saying it was weird, except for Edward. I looked at him and he shrugged. He smiled at me warmly just as the bell rang, signaling the end of the period. We all stood up and picked up our bags, melting into the stream of kids heading out of the cafeteria.

"What class do you have next, Bella?" Mike said from somewhere behind me.

"Biology, I think," I called back. When there was enough space he jogged up next to me and I saw his wide smile.

"That's what I have next, I can bring you there!" I smiled at him. At least I haven't had to use the map all day. I saw Edward ahead of the crowd, moving quickly through them and turning towards a building. Before he passed a corner I saw him look back and meet my eyes. He looked forward again, a smile clear on his lips.

Mike and I managed to get to the Biology room after a few minutes. When we got inside he headed for his desks, taking a lingering glance at me while I went to Mr. Banner at his chair. I watched as more people filed into the classroom. They found their seats easily and sat next to all of their partners. I began to worry if I would even have a partner or not.

The teacher signed my sheet and told me to sit in the second desk from the back, middle row. I looked down and smiled when I saw who was sitting there, by himself.

Edward looked up from his notebook when he heard me approaching. He smiled at me, showing a set of pearly whites as I sat down.

"Fancy seeing you here!" I said happily as I sat down. He laughed and turned back up front to see what Mr. Banner was doing before turning his chair towards me. We talked back and forth about small things, weather and out classes. Then Mr. Banner stood up front, calling us to attention.

He explained our objectives for the upcoming unit. We went over what we had learned last year (stuff I had covered in detail in the advanced program). Every time I tried to sneak a glance at Edward I found him looking at me already. This only made me blush and turn away, making him laugh. Once when I had been staring at him he went to look at me and it was his turn to blush. I laughed lightly.

In the last fifteen minutes of class there was nothing to do as the first day was only an introduction. Everyone moved to different tables and began chatting happily. Mike and a few other girls came up and began talking with us. I was happy that I was actually included in this conversation. I looked at Edward after Mike had said something funny about the teacher. He was smiling brightly and looking at me as well.

"What have you got next, Bella?" Mike asked. I thought back to my schedule.

"Gym!" I said, happy after everything that had happened today. If I had to visit my own personal hell in a classroom, at least it was last period so I didn't look awful for the rest of the day. Mike grinned widely. Please don't make him ask to walk me to the gym. It's big, I can find it.

"Me and Edward have gym next period, too! We can bring you there, if you like?" I hesitated. Looking at Edward I saw him studying me carefully. I smiled weakly and turned back to Mike.

"Sure," I said just as the bell rang. The boys took their places on either side of me, both chatting back and forth. I got a word in here and there. Mostly it was smiling and nodding.

Coach Clapp reminded me of the guy on Seinfeld who was once Elaine's boyfriend. With the Christian music programmed on his radio? He also did voice acting… like Kronk in the Emperor's New Groove. We all sat on the bleachers and listened to his beginning of the year speech. As he spoke he threw uniforms at each of us. I noticed everyone else just stuff them into their bags so I did the same.

"Now you're all a fine group of ladies and gentlemen. I expect you all to work hard this year; show up prepared for class with uniforms or… a note if you've been sick. This course requires complete attendance. If it gets to a point where you're skipping more classes than you should be, you will not pass. I hope you keep that in mind. Now!" Edward was trying to hold back his laughter next to me. I looked at him and he turned to me. I noticed how close we were when his green eyes twinkled with life. They were gorgeous. This was going to be bad. Gym with someone like him? I was definitely going to make a fool of myself.

"Since today is your first day I won't go too hard on you all. We're not going to start with Flag football today; you can have a free-day. Do whatever sport you like, sit around talk. No wait, don't talk. Do homework, if you've gotten any." All the kids stood up and made their way to the equipment room, pulling out various items. I stayed where I was seated.

"Aren't you going to get anything to play?" Edward asked softly. I turned to look at him and smiled.

"No… I'm not a fan of sports. I think I'll just stay here and watch." He nodded and pushed his book bag to one side.

"I'll stay up here with you then," he said with a smile. My heart went out of control. Why was it doing that?! I knew it must be audible, but he never made any signs of having heard it.

"That's very nice of you, Edward. But, I don't mind if you want to go have a game with your friends." He smiled again and shook his head.

"I like getting to know you, you seem like a very interesting person." I couldn't help but smile again. Edward laughed when he saw the blush forming on my cheeks. We talked animatedly about different things; our lives in Phoenix and Chicago, what we did for fun. And, we watched as our classmates played various sports, pointing out funny flaws in each of them.

"Why did they have school on a Friday?" I asked with a laugh as I realized we wouldn't have to come tomorrow. Edward laughed too and shrugged.

"I think the teachers were in before, but this is just how things worked out. It's pretty strange I'll admit." I nodded and smiled widely. I seemed to be doing that a lot today. "Did you have any plans for the weekend?" Edward asked quietly. I saw him look down and play with the hem of his shirt nervously.

Was he trying to ask me out? This was too strange. Here he was, a gorgeous young boy, asking me, the plain jane of the century out? "Um, no… I was just going to stay home and get used to things." Edward looked up and smiled nervously.

"Maybe tonight," he began and I could feel my cheeks getting warm, my stomach racing. "Uh, maybe tonight…" he stammered. How cute… "We're all going to go out to Port Angeles for a movie a little bit after school, so maybe, if you want, you could come with us? I mean, that has to be better than staying at home." I nodded and smiled. The bell rang.

"That sounds great," I said as we gathered our things and left the gym before anyone else. We headed out towards the parking lot.

"I'll come with the others and pick you up at like… six?" I smiled and nodded at him. He grinned from ear to ear. When was he so tall? He was looking down on me, but I liked the feeling.

"Sure, I'll be ready." I pulled out my keys and headed towards my truck. Edward looked at it, nodded in approval before heading to a shiny silver Volvo. It was close to mine and I couldn't help but smile as I watched him go.

He pulled out in front of me and drove away quickly. I followed in my horribly loud truck. I got home and finished packing away my things. I started a fast supper for Charlie and found nothing else to do. To waste away the time I pulled out a novel and began to read.

When Charlie came home I pulled out his dinner and tried to break it to him that I'd be leaving soon.

"Dad," I began. "I'm going to go out to a movie with some friends at school, I'll be back later, okay?" He nodded as he shoveled food into his mouth.

"Which kids?" he asked.

"Umm… Mike, Jessica, Angela, Edward, that crowd." Charlie smiled.

"They're good kids, especially Edward. His parents are very nice too, maybe we could go over to their place some evening." I nodded, my blush returning.

"Sure. I think they're going to be here soon, though." Charlie nodded and I ran upstairs to clean myself up. I was wearing dark jeans and a grey shirt. It had baggy sleeves and the neckline revealed my shoulders and black bra straps. I thought it was nice, even if the style made its first appearance in the seventies. I left my hair down, the wavy curls falling over my shoulder. There was a horn beeping outside. I looked out my window and saw the silver Volvo, Jessica's head sticking out of the back seat and waving up at me.

I hurried downstairs, kissed Charlie goodbye and then went outside. The front seat was the only one left, so I took it, smiling at Edward as I climbed in. Mike was squashed in between Jessica and Tyler in the back and I couldn't help but laugh at them.

This certainly was not what I was expecting to be doing on my first night in Forks. It seemed reasonable. With someone like Edward Mason asking you to a movie it was hard to say no, he seemed too good to be true, and there he was, paying attention to only you.