“Hello Bella,” a cheerful looking boy with carefully gelled blond hair and eager blue eyes loped over to where I sat, trying not to attract attention to myself. Mr. Banner had just introduced me – as Bella, thankfully – but he had darted out of the classroom to close the door soon after. He looked expectant… This boy had jumped at the sudden chance to converse with me, though why I wasn’t sure. A strange yet beautiful boy had run out of my presence earlier this morning…

The blond boy was speaking again, introducing himself, “I’m Mike, Mike Newton.” He held out his hand, and I shook it gratefully. At least some people were willing to make my acquaintance… Stop thinking about him! I ordered myself.

“Pleased to meet you, Mike.” He sat down in the seat beside me, taking my gratuity as an invitation.

“Yeah, listen, maybe you can come to the movies with me and my friends sometime? Sound good?”

That was a shock. I sat there, with what I supposed was a look of surprise on my face, because Mike looked away from me awkwardly. I didn’t know what to say – his bluntness had me stunned. He was good looking though…

“Excuse me, Newton, but I believe your seat is anywhere but here.”

I knew without turning around just who had interrupted my deliberating, and I hung my head before I could whip it around and yell at him.

“Sorry Cullen,” Mike muttered, and through bunches of my hair I saw him get up and trudge back to his seat across the room and in the back. The way Cullen had spoken to him would have had me standing up and slapping him in the face… If I wasn’t shy, or the new girl.

He sat down in his seat with such abnormal grace that I had to look up in awe. He caught my gaze and held it steadily, and I finally had to force myself to look away. His golden eyes had an almost hypnotic quality to them, and they smoldered with emotion. It was a fascinating thing to be witness to.

“Hello,” he broke the bout of silence with a polite greeting, “My name is Edward Cullen. I’m terribly sorry to have run out on you earlier. Let’s start over, shall we? I don’t know what came over me before.” He extended a pale hand towards me and I took it hesitantly, aware now of the frigid temperature.