Bella slipped on some ice, as a cold front and rain blew its way through Washington overnight. I  laughed, though I knew that I wasn't supposed to, and helped my sister up, grinning. 

"That's embarrassing," she finally commented. 

"It's fine," I reassured her. "No one else saw it but me." 

Bella offered me a tight-lipped smile and then turned towards her red 60s Chevy truck. I waited  patiently for Billy Black to come and bring me my car. And it didn't take long. Shortly after Bella had left for Forks High School, Billy had arrived in her blue truck. 

I grinned at the sight of it. The truck was exactly like my sister's but in a calming shade of blue. Billy got out of the car before getting his wheelchair from the back car. Once he got his wheelchair situated, he wheeled himself over towards me, still grinning. I walked over to meet him.

"There she is," he said brightly, patting the hood of the car. "As promised. Of course, Jacob has also fixed the engine to it as well. It should run until after Senior year." 

When I had parked into the school's parking lot, Bella was already waiting for me, looking uncomfortable and squeamish. I didn't blame her. I smirked, knowing that social events weren't exactly her thing and that she'd rather be alone. 

"Hey," I greeted as I approached my sister. 

She turned to face me, looking relieved. "Hey. You found your way to the school okay, I'm guessing?" 

I rolled my eyes playfully at her, nudging my sister playfully in the shoulder with a light laugh. "What do you think Sis?" 

Bella grinned, embarrassed. 

"Right. Sorry. Now, let's go and get our schedules and get to class before we get a tardy on our first day, yeah?" 

I grinned and walked next to my sister. We collected our schedules and the map to the school before we began to walk towards our first class of the day. As we did, a boy about our age came forward, looking eager, and getting a bit too close. 

"You two are Isabella and Elizabeth, right? The new girls? Hi, my name's Eric. I'm the eyes and ears of this place. Anything you need, I'll get it for you. Tour guide, lunch date, and shoulder to cry on . . . ."  

I blushed, embarrassed. "Erm, I'd rather be called Liz, if you don't mind." 

"And call me Bella, please," my sister added, giving him a somewhat flat smile. "And I'm more of a suffer-in-silence kind of type." 

Eric hissed through his mouth, snapping his fingers knowingly. "Good headline for your feature. I'm on the paper, you're on the paper. And you're the news, girls. Front page." 

Bella and I gave each other looks of disbelief as he continued to ramble. Finally, Bella had the guts to shut him up. 

"We — no, We're not news. We're not seriously —"

"Whoa!" said Eric. "Chillax. No feature." 

My sister's shoulders visibly relaxed and she finally smiled a real smile. Something that I haven't seen in a while. Not since the news that Phil and Renee were travelling together. That was the day we decided that it would be best if we moved in with Charlie to stay out of the newly-married couple's way. 

"Would you mind, please, tell me where Mr. Varner's class is?" I asked, making sure to be polite." 

Eric grinned. "Absolutely! As I've said before, I'm the 'eyes and ears of this place'." As they walked along, he continued to ramble. "You've missed a lot the last semester. But I can tutor you two if you need it. Cliff notes, medical excuses . . . ." 

He trailed off as we reached Mr. Varner's classroom. And good thing, too. His rambling was about to drive me off the wall. And I could tell that Bella was getting a bit annoyed, too, but she was too polite to say anything. 

After Mr. Varner's class was over, we had gym. I cringed, knowing that I wasn't the best gym-er ever. Not at all athletic, as you'd expect all Arizonan residents to be. Everything was going fine until Bella accidentally sent the volleyball flying into the back of another boy's head. 

"Ow!" the boy whined, clutching the back of his neck where the ball had hit him. 

Bella immediately went over to apologize. "I am so sorry! I told them to not let me and my sister play, as we're new here." 

The boy turned to face us, only smiled reassuringly, much to my relief. "It's only a head wound. No worries. Hey, you're Isabella and Elizabeth Swan, aren't you?" 

I suddenly got embarrassed. "Just Liz, please. If you don't mind." 

"And I prefer to go by Bella, please," Bella added. 

The boy stuck his hand out, grinning at the twins. "I'm Mike. Mike Newton." 

I politely shook his hand, still embarrassed. He held onto my hand for a little too long, making me suspicious. A girl who was also around my age stepped forward, grabbing Mike by the arm. I took a step back, alarmed by her possessiveness. 

"She had  great shot over there, didn't she?" she gushed, pointing to the girl she had been cheering on just seconds before I had accidentally hit Mike in the back of the head. She finally noticed me and Bella, giving us obvious fake smiles. "So you two are from Arizona, right?"

Bella finally offered her a smile. "That's right." 

"Aren't people there supposed to be pretty tan?" 

"I suppose so," I answered, embarrassed. My mother was part-Albino, hence mine and my sister's naturally-lighter skin. "I suppose that's why they kicked us out." 

I hadn't meant for the joke to sound so lame. But Mike laughed genuinely, clearly amused. Jessica's, however, sounded more forced as she tried to match Mike's laughter. 

"That's good," he praised. "That's a good joke." 

"So funny," Jessica added forcefully. She gave Mike one last look before scurrying away. 

Lunch time rolled around the corner rather quickly, to my surprise. Bella and I had already made a few friends, along with a frenemy — Jessica. Eric had managed to squeeze himself against me and Bella, causing me to scoot back a bit for my own space, feeling awkward. 

"Ah!" said Eric once he caught sight of Mike. "Mike, I see that you've met my home girls, Bella and Liz?" 

Mike only scoffed, looking jealous. "Your home girl? C'mon, Eric. You know that we can share." 

Jessica laughed forcefully once again, as the three girls watched the boys bicker over me and Bella. It was weird to be in the center of attention, since Bella and I weren't exactly popular back at home. 

"It's like you're in first grade again, and they're arguing over a particular toy," Jessica tried to tease in a somewhat friendly manner. I only gave her a weak, tight smile in return. 

"Say 'cheese'!" a new voice unexpectedly. A flash of bright light blinded me momentarily, causing me to jump. When my eyes adjusted, I could see a girl in front of me, sitting down. She grinned shyly. "Sorry. I should have warned you beforehand." 

"What's the camera for?" I asked politely. 

"Needed a candid for the feature —"

"The feature's dead, Angela," Eric snapped. "Don't bring it up again." He turned towards us again and said in a low voice, "I've got your backs, girls." 

He patted my shoulder playfully. Mike had suddenly creeped over behind Eric and had taken the burrito he had gotten from the lunch ladies. Eric let out an exclaim of disbelief and rushed after Mike, who howled with laughter, waving the aluminum-wrapped burrito in the air tauntingly. 

"Boys," Jessica muttered under her breath. 

Angela sighed, looking rather disappointed. "I guess that I'll run another editorial on teenage drinking, then."

"You could always do one on eating disorders," I suggested awkwardly, unsure if i was helping at all. 

"Or Speedo paddings on the swim team," Bella added, also unhelpfully. I was sure of it. 

Angela brightened up, much to my surprise. "Wait a minute! Those are actually good ideas!" 

She continued rambling on her ideas as I began to stare into space. That is, until Bella had nudged me in the ribs to get my attention. I turned to look at her, slightly annoyed that she had interrupted my train of thoughts. 

"What?" 

She nodded in the direction of the door. I caught sight of the double doors opening, revealing a family of oddly devastatingly-beautiful teens. Two boys and two girls. Each had chalky-pale skin with dark circles under their eyes as though they had not slept in God knows how long. 

I was about to ask who they were, but Bella had beaten me to it. So I kept my mouth shut, observing the family silently. 

"Who are they?" she asked. 

Angela and Jessica's gaze followed ours. Angela turned to face us, smiling slightly. But she shrugged indifferently. 

"The Cullens." 

I turned and blinked at her, confused. 

"Who?" 

It seemed to be a bit obvious that I had never heard of this family. And that was fine. I haven't been in Forks since I was fifteen. Jessica leaned towards me and my sister, ready to tell us about this mysterious family. 

"The Cullens," Jessica repeated in a mysterious voice. "They moved here from Alaska about a couple of years ago for unknown reasons. They're the adoptive children of Dr. Cullen and his wife, Esme. Lovely couple." 

"They kinda keep to themselves," Angela added kindly.

Jessica, however, did not seem to like this. "Yeah, but . . . . they're always together. And I mean like, together-together. Now. The girl with the blonde, wavy hair? That's Rosalie. And that big guy over there, is Emmett. And apparently, the duo are a thing. Y'know, like, in a relationship. I'm not even sure if that's legal or not." 

"Jess. They're not actually related to each other," Angela chided gently. 

"But they live together. It's weird. And that other girl with the pixie cut? That's Alice. She's really weird. She's with the blonde vampire, Jasper. The one who looks like he's in pain and wants to vomit? I mean, Dr. Cullen is like this foster father-slash-match maker, if you ask me." 

Angela looked rather hopeful. "Maybe they'll be willing to adopt me. They seem like a pleasant family." 

My eyes continued to stay on the oddly-beautiful family before my eyes fell on the door again. Two boys came in this time. My breath got caught in my throat as I watched one boy in particular. He had an unusually straight posture, topaz eyes that fascinated me, and a mop of dark-brown hair. Some of his hair seemed to fall effortlessly onto his forehead. It looked extremely flattering. 

Bella seemed to know what I was looking at. But she wasn't staring at the boy I was currently transfixed on. She was staring at the boy who had unkempt, light-brown hair.

"Who are those two?" I finally asked, motioning towards the dark-haired and light-haired boys. 

Jessica shrugged. "Dante and Edward Cullen. I get it. They're both gorgeous. But don't get your hopes up about it. None of the girls here are interesting enough for him. Like I care." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, don't waste your time with them. No one is going to get them." 

My eyes continued to stray on the dark-haired boy as he sat down next to Edward. At sync, they both turned their gaze towards me and my sister. Dante, whom I supposed was the dark-haired boy, looked rather alarmed as he seemed to eye me up and down. Edward, however, looked confused. Both turned away and began to whisper to each other. They occasionally let their eyes flicker towards me and Bella. 

And I had a sneaking suspicion that they were talking about me and my sister.