.

I tap my fingers clumsily on my grey, skinny jean covered legs as I watch the trees pass rapidly outside Emmett's red Jeep Wrangler on the way to school. Alice, Emmett, and I ride together since Dr. Cullen had to take the Porsche on a business trip. He said something about the Porsche getting him there faster and having more class, but I was caught up in my own little world of anxiety, fear, and angst to really even notice my surroundings.

Alice was right about having to do a lot of work on me and needing all the time she could get. We spent 2 hours in her bright purple bathroom doing my hair and makeup. Dealing with my hair was horrible since she tugged at it constantly to add volume. She put it in a messy up do with loads of bobby pins, which I was starting to feel the painful effects of fast. I was actually pleased with my makeup, though, since she kept it to a minimum. She applied black eyeliner to my top and bottom eyelashes, a little bit of silver and dark brown eye shadow, and three coats of mascara, all of which really made my eyes pop.

I decided to wear the third outfit that I tried on at the mall, even though I despised the grey leather jacket, sequined top, ripped skinny jeans, and bright hot pink Dr. Martens. I figured I'd give this outfit a try first and get it out the way, plus Emmett said I looked really good in it. That raised my confidence a little. I'm brought out of my thoughts when Alice screams at me from the passenger seat.

"Bella! Bella!"

I turn my head from its current position of looking out the window and look blankly at Alice.

"Hmm. . .Yeah?"

She stares at me with that knowing look in her eyes, like she somehow knows what I'm going to do next.

"You want to back out again," she states, rather than asks, with a sigh.

I adjust myself in my seat and bring my head up to lean against Alice's seat. I whimper, not really wanting to admit my near defeat.

"No. Just scared," I whisper, hoping maybe they, especially Emmett, didn't hear the "scared" part. I don't want him to think that I am a big baby and that I complain all the time. That's when the jeep stops abruptly, and I get slammed forcefully against the backseat, causing the seatbelt to lock me in for a second. I look outside both my window and the back window, figuring that Emmett must have hit something, but I see nothing. I look towards the front of the Jeep again, only to be met with Emmett staring at me from the rear view mirror. He looks really intense with his blonde, curly hair tousled from having his own window down. His blue eyes catch mine, forcing me to look at him. I've never noticed how much he looks like Dr. Cullen until this moment. He turns around to peer at me as I sneak a peek at Alice. She clearly has no idea what is going on either as she just shrugs her shoulders. Emmett lowers his head, shaking it and smiling. Then he brings his eyes back to mine. I immediately look away because his stare is much too intense for my liking.

"Bella, look at me," his voice is deep and sultry. I blush instantly and lift my head slowly to look at him.

He reaches out and touches my arm, which makes me shiver since I removed my leather jacket because I was starting to sweat from my nervousness.

"You. Are. Beautiful," he says as he slowly runs his fingertips along my arm. I gasp at the contact, having no idea why he is doing this to me right now, but it's making me feel good…like really good. I'm still staring into his eyes when he removes his hand. He turns back to look at the road and starts driving again. I gaze at his silhouette while trying to shake myself out the trance he just put me in and relax. I now realize I must have gone rigid while he was touching my arm. I glance at Alice to see her smug smile just as she turns around and increases the volume of the radio. I am more confused than I have ever been. He's never really done anything like that before. I realize once we pull into the school parking lot that he was just distracting me so I would forget about everything I had been feeling earlier. He puts the jeep in park, steps out, and swiftly makes his way to my door to open it for me.

"You're welcome," he whispers. He reaches over me to grab my over the shoulder bag as I unbuckle myself and carefully climb out of the jeep.

"Thanks, Em," I say to him, practically looking straight up since he is 6'2''.

I quickly glance around to see if anyone is looking at me yet but notice that Emmett has parked in the back of the school. People don't park in the back on the first day; they always use the front to make an entrance.

"Okay, Bella. You ready?" Alice smiles as she stands in front of me and places her hands on my shoulder.

"What are you wearing?" I ask, noticing her attire. It's just occured to me that she wasn't wearing something that she normally would.

She's wearing a bright, floral skirt with lace leggings underneath, a button down shirt that is tucked into the skirt with a cardigan over it, and purple Dr. Martens. Usually, her outfits are a bit more pretty and frilly; not so grungy.

"Since you were brave enough to try something different, I wanted to do the same. So now, if some bitches happen to mess with you, we will be on the same boat." She loops her arm through mine, and we begin walking towards the entrance. Emmett says goodbye to us since his first period is gym and it's in a different part of the school. I have first period Spanish with Jessica Stanley, which I'm not too worried about since she is slightly on the dumb side and probably won't even recognize me.

Before even entering the school, my hand is nervously gripping the backdoor handle, and I slowly slide my arm out of Ali's. I grip the handle more firmly for leverage as I stand on my tip-toes and try to sneak a peek through the small square window on the door. I gasp as soon as I'm able to see inside. There are more people than I was hoping there would be surrounding the hallway. Everyone is standing near the lockers, leaving the walkway clear. I shudder, imagining being the center of attention and everyone noticing me. I squint to get a better look at everyone, since my new contacts were starting to itch, blurring my vision slightly. I rub my eye for a second but stop when I spot 'The Bitch Squad' at the end of the hall, right next to my Spanish class.

"Great," I say out loud to no one in particular.

"What?" Alice yells right by my face. She has such a big mouth sometimes.

"Alice, seriously. Shh. . ." I whisper at her.

I hear a lot of laughing and hollering, so I turn my face back once more to the window and see Angela Webber on the floor with all of her books and papers scattered in disarray around her. 'The Bitch Squad' just stand there in their perfect, little mini skirts and high-heels, looking down at her and laughing. Immediately, my nervousness and anxiety are replaced with hate and spite for them. I stand back down and look at Alice with a sly smile playing on my lips.

"Lets go," I say as I swing the doors open, causing everyone to quiet down at the sound. I stop.Shit. I really should've thought that part out a little better. I stand there for a good three minutes, listening to people whisper about me.

I could hear most of the girls questioning if I was new and who I was, while the guys were making statements, such as that they were going to "get on that" and "she's hot".

I release a nervous, little cough just to clear the air, but no one makes a move or a sound. So I pull my bag a little closer to my side, hoping to maybe shield myself from the awkwardness that fills the air. I start walking briskly down the hallway and hear Alice running to catch up to me. This only makes the situation more embarrassing. I finally reach my destination, which puts me face to face with 'The Bitch Squad'. They are even more evil and bitchy looking up close. Tanya is on the left, just staring at me with a 'why the hell are you here' look as she chomps annoyingly on her bubble gum. She is what I would consider the lion of the group. She waits around for the helpless and pounces almost immediately, eating them up. Victoria is standing in the middle as she twirls a piece of her bright red hair around her finger and tries to give me the bitch brow. She fails, and it just looks like she has a twitch. She is the Devil, not only because of her fiery red hair, but also because she is mischievously clever. She alone will make your life hell. Then there is Jessica; my personal favorite. She has absolutely no idea what is going on and just stares at me, confused since she obviously can't recognize me. She is the spider. She can take one small rumor, make it into a big web of lies, then carry it across the entire school. I continue to glare at them, and then I glance at Angela, who is still on her hands and knees trying to pick up all of her things. I join her on the ground, attempting to hurry up and grab everything when I hear a demented laugh above me.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Tanya demands as she places her hands on her not-so-there hips.

I wasn't really looking forward to a confrontation, but it had to be done. I stand up with Angela's papers in my hand.

"Obviously, I'm helping Angela pick up her papers since you're useless and can't help her yourself."

Most had gone to class already or simply weren't paying attention, but the few people around us gasped at my words.

"What did you just say?" she asked sharply.

"Why do you keep asking questions that you already know the answer to?" I snap back, getting really irritated.

I begin to help Angela off of the ground and hand her the papers. She thanked me quickly and headed inside Spanish. Tanya started to take a step closer to me until her face was inches from mine. She is still significantly taller, considering the fact that she is wearing high-heels.

"You better watch your back, good girl, or I will personally make your life a living hell," she seethed at me.

I smile, still unsure of where all this confidence suddenly came from. It probably was from an adrenaline rush. I step closer, not caring if this was going to cost me later.

"Fuck. Off. Bitch."

I grab Alice by the arm and drag her toward the bathroom, knowing that I need to calm down a little bit before the first period bell rings.

"Oh my God, Bella! What was that?" Alice says as we enter the bathroom and check the stalls, making sure no one is in here with us. Luckily, we're alone.

"I have no idea! I just panicked, I think. Adrenaline rush maybe?" I was panicking now for sure. I had no idea what that was. Everything just spilled out of my mouth like vomit.

"That was amazing! Did you see the look on Tanya's face? Fucking priceless!" Alice is yelling now and bouncing on her tippy toes.

"Shhh. . .Ali, I don't know what to do. Maybe we should ditch. Yeah, ditch. Come on." I start pulling Alice by her cardigan, only to be yanked back when she stops abruptly.

"No way, Bella!" she starts to say as the bell finally rings. I grunt because I know we can't ditch on the first day. It's just pointless.

I go to the paper towels and rip one off to put water on it. I dab at my skin a bit since my face was red and hot. I throw the paper towel toward the trash, missing it completely, but I'm in too much of a rush to really care. I say goodbye to Ali, telling her that I'll meet her at lunch. I start speed-walking toward Spanish because I really don't want to be tardy on my first day. I look down at my feet as I charge the hall just to make sure I'm don't fall in my haste. That's when I suddenly face plant into something hard. I immediately fall backwards with a thud as my bag flies through the air, along with all of its contents. Everything lands right beside my head. I moan louder than I hoped because whatever I hit felt rock solid.

"Whoa. Are you okay?" a deep voice asks. "I'm really sorry. I didn't even see you."

I sit up and lean on my elbows, still hurting from the blow. I look up towards the voice, and I'm shocked by the deep brown eyes staring back at me. It was Jacob Black. He has been my ultimate crush, even beating out Emmett. He is a senior, though, and totally gorgeous with russet colored skin, deep brown eyes, and black short hair. He's never noticed me before, so I doubt he even knows my name or who I am. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's one of the guys that yelled "virgin" to me before.

"Bella? Right?" he questions, and I'm astounded that he does actually know me.

"Uhh. . .uhh. Yes. Bella. Right," I sputter out. I'm totally embarrassed by my inability to speak. He reaches out for my hand, which I take gratefully, and helps me off of the ground.

"Again, I'm really sorry about that," he starts to say as he bends down to pick up all of my things in one swift movement, then hands them to me.

"Thanks, and its okay. This probably would've happened anyways. I'm clumsy."

Great. He probably thinks I'm a total idiot.

"Okay." He smiles at me, and I almost fall back again from the gleam of the beautiful white teeth that shine at me. "What class do you have?"

"Spanish with Mr. Gutierrez. Right there," I say as I point to the door about 5 feet away.

"I'll walk you."

We walk together, while some passersby stare at us in shock. They are probably wondering why I, Bella Swan, am walking with Jacob Black.

We arrive at my class just as the tardy bell rings. He leans against the wall across from the classroom door. I start walking in, but before I get very far, he calls out to me.

"Hey, Bella. I'll see you later." He then winks at me then starts off in the other direction.

The rest of the period was too long for my liking. Jessica kept asking me questions in Spanish. They mainly consisted of who I was and if I was new here. I just ignored her as I was not really in the mood to deal with her. I sat by Angela and told her that I was sorry about what happened. Apparently, she fell because 'The Bitch Squad' tripped the poor girl. My other classes were a bore since it was the first day, which meant all the teachers did was hand out the books and ask what we did over the summer. When the lunch bell rings, I excitedly dart towards the cafeteria where I see Alice and Emmett waiting in line to get lunch. I wave at them and walk casually to our table, grabbing my pretzels from my bag. I'm not very hungry, so I just sit down on the very uncomfortable, blue, squeaky chair.

After a few minutes, Alice sits down with me, while Emmett joins his friends at their table. I glance around and notice Jacob Black staring intensely at me. Alice notices too when her head whips in the direction that my eyes are focused at.

"Why is Jacob Black staring at you?" Alice questions.

"I ran into him in the hall as I was leaving the bathroom. Literally."

"No way!" she laughs. "That sounds like something you would do."

"Thanks, Ali," I reply sarcastically.

I take a bite of my pretzel and sneak a peek to see if Jacob is still looking at me. He's not, but Emmett is and so is some guy with light brown hair. I think his name is Jasper, but I can't remember. They look at me with concern as they glance between me and Jacob. I turn away and eat some more pretzels as Alice starts talking about that guy, Jasper. That's where I heard that name before! Alice has such a huge crush on him that it's border-line obsessive. He lives a few houses down from me, so Alice would try to catch a glimpse of him as we stalked him during bike rides.

I drown her voice out as I start thinking about Jacob Black. I think about how warm his hand felt against my skin and how I could feel his muscular body right through his dark blue, striped, v-neck t-shirt. I recall how his dark wash jeans fit flawlessly against his body. I sigh when I suddenly remember seeing him hang all over Tanya in the past, and I wonder if they are still an item. I am brought out of my thoughts by the sound of the bell ringing and Alice's voice berating me for not listening to her.

"Didn't you hear anything I said?" she asks with irritation.

"I heard a little bit," I said defensively.

"No you didn't. Liar," she shot back.

I was lying, and I honestly had no idea what she was talking about.

The rest of the day flew by with only one distraction. Mike Newton. We have English together, and he wouldn't leave me alone during the entire period. He kept asking me for my number and telling me how good I looked. I noticed he had his braces off, but he still had a nasty, pimply face. I was happy to hear the final bell of the day, so I could be free of him and everyone else. I met up with Alice and Emmett by the jeep, along with Jasper Hale, who was talking with Alice. I glance at Emmett, who still has that concerned look in his eyes.

"What, Emmett? You've been looking at me like that since lunch," I ask him, wondering if I've done something to upset him.

"It's nothing. Well. . .it's something. I just don't know. . ."

"Just spit it out."

"I think you should stay away from Jacob Black. He's not good for you, Bells." I looked at him quizzically, not understanding why he would feel that way about him since they are friends. I decide to just ignore him and walk to the other side of his jeep. I freeze when I hear someone yelling my name. I turn around and notice Jacob making his way quickly across the parking lot.

"Hey, Bella! Wait!" he shouts.

I glance at Emmett, who I can tell isn't happy at all. I ignore him again and turn back at Jacob.

"Yeah?" I smile.

Jacob stops in front of me, shoves his hands inside his pockets, and looks at me look through his dark lashes.

"Can I have your number?"

Initially, I'm shocked. I don't know why he, of all people, would want my number. I thought these kinds of things were supposed to happen after getting to know someone, but I guess not. Of course, I'd rather give my number to him than Mike Newton any day.

"Yeah, sure. Do you have a pen or something?" I ask as I rummage through my bag.

"No but here. Just program your number in," he says as he pulls out his phone from his front pocket of his pants and hands it to me.

I take it and program my number in as fast as I can since Alice and Emmett are now inside the Jeep. I hand the phone back to him with a smile, then I climb into the backseat. Emmett starts the engine without a word, but I can sense that he is upset with me for giving Jacob my number. Alice seems oblivious to what had just happened because she is still on her high from talking to Jasper Hale. They drop me off at home, and I thank them for the ride. I head inside and notice a note on the kitchen table from Renee, letting me know that she wasn't going to be home again. Figures; she never really was anymore. I look around the house, and my eyes immediately fall on my father's pictures that sits on the fireplace. I feel instantly uncomfortable at the sight of it. He's wearing his police uniform and has a huge grin on his face. I miss him dearly. I quickly head upstairs to avoid becoming emotional since it's been a long time since he died. I turn on my light, throw my bag on my bed, and take off my boots. I was about to head for the shower when I heard my phone start to vibrate, signaling a text message.

I liked when you bumped into me today. -Jacob.

I giggle lightly, the sound almost resembling a snort, and set my phone down on my nightstand. I make my way toward the shower with overwhelming thoughts of Jacob Black.