What's this EbJ? Another fic you've started? But you haven't finished the other mess of crap you've been working on!

No, I haven't, but I still plan on it. In the mean time, try this...

Chapter 1

-Oblivious

There were lots of things I didn't know before I moved to Forks. I never would have admitted it before, but I have since been enlightened and I'm no longer ashamed. Illumination was a riot.

But before all the light bulbs clicked on I lived a happily benign existence. I was just a girl, a rather plain and unimpressive one at that. Sure, I got good grades and took care of Renee, but I really didn't know jack. I thought coming to Forks was a good thing. It was time to bond with Charlie and time for the newlyweds to get acquainted so they'd lose interest already. I figured once they really got to know each other, Renee and Phil would realize they were completely incompatible and I would be back in time to go to Arizona State just like we'd always planned. It hadn't taken long to realize the flaw in my reasoning. Turns out, Phil actually likes mom's annoying little quirks and inability to settle on any one task. And the decade that separated their ages seemingly meant nothing. I couldn't believe how the whole relationship turned out.

Only a few days after I arrived in Washington, Renee would tell me she and Phil were moving to Florida. I was welcome to "visit" any time I wanted. That's when I actually had to start assessing life around me. It's when I began to absorb everything, the people, the places and the…green. It was beautiful in its own right, but to me, Forks would always be cold, dark and hopeless. I wanted my harsh desert browns again. Forks was a blip on the radar, but I would have to endure it for a year, sidewalks or no. After that…well, I knew where I was heading, back to the big skies and brown landscapes of the American Southwest.

Charlie met me at the airport in full uniform, but the hat was thankfully tucked beneath his arm. He was drawing enough attention as it was. He reached down to give me an awkward pat on the back, along with a gruff, "I missed you, Bells," and we were on our way.

I made one sided conversation with a grunting and mostly unresponsive Charlie. I have to admit, he was a bit of an enigma to me. We hadn't spent much time together when I was growing up. A couple weeks in the summer and once or twice he braved the drive to come visit me on my birthdays. I didn't know him at all. But he was still my dad and I owed him something for that. Conversation was always forced and stilted between us, but it was both our natures to be quiet and reserved, the opposite of my flighty and overtly social mother. Sometimes, genetics were a slippery slope.

I had a whole week to kill before school started and my senior year at Forks High would begin. I wasn't worried about that. I would do as I always did, blend in and stay focused. School was the easy part. It was the people I feared. Phoenix was huge. Nobody noticed anyone. I liked that, could handle that, but Forks was something else.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the tiny little town. Of course, I only had Renee to prep me for it and that left me more nervous than ever. Her graduating class had only thirty six seniors. Charles Swan had been the best looking which is how my mom got her clutches in him. Stealing a glance at the straight backed man next to me, mustache twitching as he drove exactly the speed limit down the highway, my mind boggled.

The little white house surrounded by towering pines looked the same as it always had. On the outside, the paint peeled a little, revealing the wood beneath and the inside was unchanged. Charlie had purchased the purple bedspread when I was eight and it still covered the tiny twin mattress. The frame squeaked familiarly when I dropped into it, but familiarity did nothing to soothe me. I was homesick. The air was thick and wet, inviting me to lose control of the stinging tears. Somehow, I swallowed them back and fell asleep.

I dreamed that first night of desert heat.

It took less time acclimating myself to Charlie than the weather. The next morning I woke up too early and realized there was no cereal or pancake mix or oatmeal or milk or anything aside from some Folgers and a few trout carcasses in the freezer. Charlie was not one for the grocery store, evidently. Luckily, he was an early riser, so I measured out some coffee and waited for him to stumble down the stairs.

Charlie pulled the cruiser to the front door of the Forks Supermarket, handed me a few twenties and told me to call when I was finished. He would wait at the station a block down Main. The good news is that no matter where you are in the United States, grocery stores are set up in pretty much the same layout and it was easy to navigate through fresh territory. I paid close attention as I pushed the squeaky cart down each aisle, looking for the labels I recognized.

The girl at the checkout was tall, but very slender. She was drowning in the brown store vest, but still managed to look very pretty. "Hi," she greeted, before her eyes widened. "Oh, Isabella, right? I didn't think I'd see you until school started."

I raised a brow as she started scanning items without taking her eyes from mine. She had long dark hair that was braided neatly and lightly tanned skin. I wondered if it was natural or if she'd been vacationing over the summer. Her eyes looked through purple framed glasses and her smile was shy.

"Sorry, I forget you don't know anyone. I'm Angela. We'll probably be in some of the AP classes together." I knew she was trying to be friendly, but it was a little spooky that she seemed to know so much about me. Like the fact I'd be taking almost a full schedule of honors classes.

I was saved from answering when my cell started ringing. With an apologetic look that Angela waved off I pulled it from my pocket.

"Hey Bells," came Charlie's muffled voice.

"Hey, Charlie."

"You remember Billy Black, right?" How could I forget? Billy was Charlie's oldest friend. I had accompanied the two of them on many a fishing excursion before finally refusing to go entirely. "There was an accident out on the one-oh-one and I asked him to give you a ride home. I won't be able to make it until late."

"Oh," I said dumbly. My mind was picturing old Billy. He had been confined to a wheelchair since the accident that took his wife. I don't recall seeing him behind the wheel of a car in my life.

"Alright, Bells. I'll try and call you later."

"Sure."

I finished the checkout with Angela as quietly as considered polite and pushed my fully stocked cart out the automatic door. My eyes swept the parking lot. I didn't even know what kind of car Billy might roll up in and it was starting to rain.

Five soaked minutes later a little red car pulled up in front of me. A giant arm reached over and unrolled the window. "Bella!" a smiling, dark face greeted me.

I bent and looked at him. Recognition swirled at the edge of my mind but wasn't coming easily. Before I could say anything he was out of the little car, opening the hatch and grabbing a few of the groceries. I stood there stupidly in the rain watching him load everything before it dawned on me who I was looking at. "Jake?" I hadn't seen Billy's youngest in forever but he wasn't the same scrawny, bother I'd known. Oh no. Little Jacob Black had grown up.

"I wasn't sure you'd remember." His smile was so wide, so warm I couldn't help but return it.

"I didn't."

"Come on," he said, ignoring my admission and opening the passenger door. "You look like you're freezing."

I gratefully slid into the seat as Jacob ran around the car and got in. He shot me one more smile and cranked up the radio. The screech of a hard rock guitar blared from the speakers and we were off. Jake and I fell into easy conversation. He was bright and funny and I couldn't help but laugh. It felt good. There'd really only been me and Renee. Connecting with a peer was indescribable. It was only later, after, I realized that I made my first friend on that afternoon.

I made Grandma Swan's stroganoff for dinner that night. And despite an obviously hard afternoon with the accident, Charlie smiled and actually thanked me. I was elated.

All too soon, school started and I was finally introduced to the special dynamic that is small town high school. While any normal high school would have obvious, segregated groups, Forks High knew no such limitation. Band geeks hung out with cheerleaders and the shop boys fraternized with the debaters. There were no lines in the sand, no room to blend into the background. And as the new girl, I was a rarity that no one ignored.

Two weeks into my stay in Forks I was experiencing something I'd never been prepared for: popularity. Yeah, go figure, plain and unimpressive and popular. Luckily, Angela kept me from being overwhelmed during school hours and Jake afterward. It wouldn't have been so bad if not for one extremely irritating problem. While I may have been the top of the pyramid as far as most of the high school was concerned, I lacked the attention from the one place I desired.

His name was Edward Cullen and other than the first day in Biology when he looked ready to tear my head off, he paid me zero attention. It might not have been so noticeable, but he was my lab partner, a little communication might have been nice. Then, there was the fact he had no trouble chatting it up with anyone else in the school. It was just me he despised.

I tried not to care, but it was impossible sitting next to him day after day, especially when he looked like that. The bronze hair and pale skin just made those crazy intense eyes more beautiful. He smelled so good, like soap and lemons and sexy boy. He sat stoically, eyes narrowed and forward at all times, except when I caught him gazing at me out of the corner of my eye.

Everything changed on my eighteenth birthday. No one knew except Charlie who was planning to take me to the Lodge for dinner. I hadn't heard from Renee, but she would remember within the week. And I was sure not to tell Angela. I still wasn't used to be put on display and birthdays tended to be big affairs at Forks High.

That's why, when at the end of class I felt a cool hand wrap around my wrist, my heart stopped beating. Instinctively, I knew who it was, but it took me a moment to catch my breath and turn around. Edward Cullen was smiling at me. A real smile and I almost fainted right then and there. His crazy autumn hair sprouted every which way as he cocked a brow and leaned closer.

"Happy birthday, Bella," he whispered. "I have a present for you."

He leaned forward and touched his lips to my cheek. My heart stopped again and the next thing I knew I was alone and hyperventilating in the Mr. Banner's classroom. It suddenly felt like the best birthday ever.

Little did I know…

I finished the school day in ignorant bliss. Charlie invited Jake and Billy along to the Lodge for dinner and I didn't even mind so much when the waitress brought out a piece of pie with a candle stuck in it. My face was undoubtedly the color of a tomato, but I smiled broadly as they sang and even closed my eyes to blow out the candle. I made a wish, but it wouldn't mean anything. I'd never get my stupid wish. The world was about to change.

That night I went for a walk and learned life lesson number one. It was something that I definitely should have known sooner. I don't know if it would have changed anything, but I would at least know what to expect. I might have at least been able to save myself.