My first fic, be nice!
All characters belong to the talented Stephenie Meyer and are not mine!
Bella Swan was in deep trouble
I, Bella Swan, am in deep trouble. There was no denying the problem that towered before me and I had to face it. I was moving.
Renee, the absentee mother that I always longed would finally pay attention to me was finally calling it quits. Throughout my life, Renee had always considered having fun as top priority, mothering a very distant second. Ever since I was five years old, I had learned to take care of myself – when my mother was around and I was hungry, I learned to cook to feed myself, when I needed help on my homework, I would stay late after school and get help from my teacher, when I needed more school supplies, I made sure that I knew where my mother's wallet was and I would find some friend to take my shopping. As I grew older, I even started paying the bills when my mom forgot and making sure household chores got done. When money was tight, I pulled myself up and got a job.
Fact was, I had learned to take care of myself and get things done. And as I matured, I learned to get used to being neglected. True, it still hurt when my mom blew me off every parent-teacher conference, or at any school function, true it hurt when my mother stayed out late partying then came stumbling home, drunk, with some random one-night stand that she wouldn't remember in the morning – and every night I was kept awake by their noise, and every morning when my mother would sleep in, moaning and crying over her hangover, the random guy stumbling out of the house – or getting thrown out by myself after he'd try to come on to me.
It hurt – but then, I thought, life hurt. I had gotten used to pain and disappointment, and I never saw it any other way. Now, though, my whole world was changing. My mother had been reported to child services.
So now I was being put into the custody of a father I had never known existed – to a city I had never even heard of way up in Washington: Forks. I was given a few days to pack my things and then I would be hitching a ride on the next plane to Seattle where I would meet my father, Charlie, for the first time. Needless to say, I was extremely nervous.
I had never expected things to be different. Although I didn't have any close friends here and though my mother had never really shown any signs of affection towards me, I still felt some attachment to Phoenix – my home – and every time I thought about this new home that I would be leaving for, this father that I'd never known before.
And it's not like my mother had told me I had no father, it's just that she had never mentioned him and I had learned to live without one. For all I knew, my father had been dead a long time.
As I packed my last pair of jeans and shut the case, I thought about my mother. Despite how many nights I had spent, crying into my pillow because my mother never showed me any love, I still felt love for her – all I ever wanted was for Renee to acknowledge me in some way, to love me and, no matter what, I could never hate her, could never blame her for what she did.
Sighing, I walked towards the door where my social worker, Miranda, was waiting for me.
"You all ready?" she asked.
"Yes," I sighed again, and followed Miranda out to the waiting car.
The ride to the airport was silent – I was left to my own thoughts. I wonder if he'll like me, I thought, as the car sped down the highway. I wonder what my new school will be like – oh! Now I began to worry about being the only new student and having to take classes with complete strangers and be stared at for the rest of the school year! Oh! Oh! Oh! Now I had more "wonderful things" to look forward to. This was going to be a long flight.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you are now free to leave the plane in an orderly fashion. Luggage can be reclaimed at Luggage Return 4, thank you for flying Air Washington!"
I stretched and got up from my seat. I had managed to sleep through the whole flight so I didn't have to worry myself the whole time about school and new town business. But as soon as I stood, I felt my stomach clench with nervous fluttering. I was about to me my biological father. What if I didn't like him? What if he was mean? What if he didn't like me?
Stop it! I told myself and followed the line that lead to the exit of the plane. When I was out, I could see him, standing in a sea of other people waiting for friends or family – somehow I knew it was him. I could see little bits of myself in his face: my eyes, my nose. He was craning his neck, trying to find me – so I sucked in a breath and made my way towards him.
"H-hi, Charlie," I stuttered, sticking out my hand. "I'm Bella." He looked at me and smiled the biggest smile it lit up his whole face and he moved past my hand to pull me into a strong hug. And the thing was, although I was nervous as hell, I…liked it. Renee had never hugged me, not even when she was sober. I even felt the urge to hug him back, though I didn't. It felt too awkward for me.
"Bella," he sighed into my hair, then pulled back. "Let me get a look at you – ah, you have your mother's face, but my eyes…you look beautiful." I felt myself blush – I'd never been described as beautiful before, I'd never even been commented on by anybody in terms of my looks. So much attention – I wasn't used to it.
"Hey, Charlie, we've got to get Bella's things from Luggage Return." I looked towards this new, booming, voice and saw it was a large…well man. He could have been my age, but he was huge! His arms were so muscular that I swore he could have been mistaken for a body builder. He towered not just over me, but also over Charlie. He looked very well built.
"Oh," Charlie exclaimed, releasing me from his hug and turning me towards the towering man. "Bella, I would like you to meet your brother, Emmett – Emmett, this is Bella!" I felt my mouth drop open – brother?!
"Hey there, kiddo!" Emmett boomed, and leaned forward to pull me up into what can only be described as the monstrous bear hug in the history of the world. I felt my breath quickly leave my lungs as he squeezed his gigantic arms around me.
"Emmett, let her go or you'll strangle her!" Charlie scolded and Emmett huffed, releasing me.
"Sorry," he told me sincerely, bowing his head – he looked like a little boy, incredibly enough. I felt a strange sense of kinsman-ship towards him – and hey, why not, he's my brother!
"It's alright, it's just…nobody told me anything about having a brother…" I trailed off, looking at my shoes.
"Oh, Bella, I'm sorry," Charlie exclaimed, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I thought the social worker told you! Emmett and you are only half-brother and sister. I remarried your mother after my wife, Julia, died giving birth to Emmett. Emmett was only one when you were born and then Renee and I were having problems, so we got divorced and I took Emmett with me and let your mom keep you. It's what we decided…"
He bowed his head and I looked towards Emmett – he was looking at Charlie with a sad face. I tried not to cry thinking again about my mother – now all alone, on her own for the first time after so long. I wondered if she missed me….No! I thought, I mustn't think about mom now – I don't want to make myself depressed in front of Charlie and Emmett.
"I would have told you about Emmett, but I had no idea they hadn't told you." Charlie looked back at me and gave me a weak smile. I tried to smile back, but I couldn't manage. Well, not only was I now with a new family, but I had a brother! This was all starting to get a little overwhelming, but I was swallowing it down for later – I didn't want to break down in front of them – they didn't deserve it and I always had a tendency to keep my emotions to myself.
"It's okay…It's great, I've always kinda wanted a brother…" I told them, peaking up at Emmett.
"And I've always wanted a little sister!!" Emmett yelled, causing many heads to turn in our direction, but Emmett didn't care, and he swooped me up into another bear hug.
"Alright, alright, guys, let's go get Bella's stuff." Charlie stared ushering us to the end of the terminal and towards baggage claim. Emmett let me go and walked beside me, holding my hand in his large one. It felt nice and I could feel myself starting to warm up to him…I kind of liked having a brother. It was like he was my big protector. I felt marginally safer now in this new town. I knew that they probably were just being overly nice to me since I had just arrived, but part of me was waiting for when they would show the beginnings of dislike. I knew they couldn't possible enjoy having me here – I was probably just an intrusion to them that they would have to get used to. I sighed and we headed off.
"So, Bella, what would you like for dinner?" Charlie asked after I had gotten all of my things settled in my room and came back downstairs.
The house was small, just two stories: three bedrooms, two bathrooms (thank goodness I could have my own and not have to share with the guys), and a small kitchenette and living room. I didn't live in a big house with my mother, in fact it was way smaller than this house, and so Charlie's home seemed like a palace to me. The kitchen itself was wonderful. I could really cook in there, with room and pantries and cabinets to spare.
"Well, I could cook you guys something – I'll just see what you have." I started to head towards the kitchen, but Charlie stopped me.
"Wait, there, you aren't cooking anything for us! We couldn't ask that of you, you just got here, you've had a long flight."
"It's okay, Charlie," I reassured him, "I like to cook, it's something I enjoy doing and I think I'm pretty good at it. Please, it's the least I can do for you, after you take me in and let me stay with you." Charlie sighed and pulled me into another hug. I half hugged him back. It felt weird to be hugged all the time. Charlie didn't have to pretend so hard.
"Bella," he sighed into my hair, "you have no reason to thank me. I should have brought you here a long time ago. Letting you stay with Renee…well that was a mistake and now I'm going to try everything I can to make that up to you. You don't need to feel you are a burden. I love you and I'm glad you're here. Hell, Emmett's done nothing but talk about how excited he is you were coming to stay here.
"He was a bit surprised when I told him," Charlie continued, pulling back, "but I think he's really taken with the idea of having a little sister to take care of and protect. I think that's just his natural instinct. He's really very friendly. I think he'll be happy to have someone he can hang out with now, besides me." He laughed. I laughed to – the image of Emmett bouncing around, getting excited about having a baby sister was priceless. Still, it seemed strange that he'd be excited, that either of them would be excited to have me here. I was nothing special. They didn't really even know me.
Charlie told me he loved me, which was not something that I was used to hearing, so I kind of suspected his motives behind saying that. I guess I'd just have to get used to hearing it, despite how much I mistrusted the truth behind those words. Why would Charlie love me?
"Well, thank you, Charlie… It's – you don't know how good it is to hear that. I really am glad I'm here." Charlie smiled and rubbed my shoulder.
"I love you, sweetie. And, to show my love, I will relinquish my kitchen to you're capable hands. Do what you can with it." He stepped aside and held his arm out, motioning me to the kitchen. I giggled and headed in. Okay then.
The first step was to riffle through the cabinets and find out what was here before I could decide what to make. There wasn't much. I was surprised that Charlie and Emmett could live off of what they had in here – Emmett alone looked like he could eat a whole chicken. It looked like I was going to have to go grocery shopping soon.
I scrounged up what I could – pork chops that looked like they were about to expire – and some pasta on the side. I didn't think the puny pork chops would be enough to fuel Emmett so I figured he could use something with a bit more carbs.
When dinner was served, Emmett began shoveling the pasta into his mouth. I looked at him, bewildered, and then at Charlie, but he was calmly cutting up his pork chop and didn't seem bothered. I guess that's just how Emmett ate. I quietly ate my own pork chop and pasta without giving Emmett's animal-like eating habits any more thought.
I went off to sleep early after dinner. Charlie was watching the game and he had invited me to stay and watch with him, but I told him I was tired and I needed to rest. Emmett was there with him, but texting away to his girlfriend, Rosalie, whom he had told me about after he was cleaning his plate of all its food. He was excited to introduce me to her tomorrow at school and I was sort of excited to see her…at least I would have some people to hang out with who wouldn't be complete strangers.
After I'd finished getting ready for bed, dressing in a pair of flannel, plaid pajama bottoms – my favorites – and a holey, old t-shirt, I climbed into my new bed, in my new room, curling my legs up to my chest and hugging them with my arms.
My room was nice, bigger than the one I had back in Phoenix, with an old computer and a dresser for my clothes. It even had a desk – next a small window that looked out to the backyard. A tree was just outside it and I could look at the forest that grew a couple of yards away from the house. Forks was a cold, small, place and I could feel the homesickness bubbling up in my stomach.
I pretty much cried myself to sleep – thinking about Renee, my old him, my school…it's like I couldn't shut my brain off. All I wanted to do was go back there – and yet I didn't. It was like a tug-of-war was taking place inside myself. My heart was begging for two things at once: it wanted my mother, my home, but it also wanted Charlie and Emmett and to be loved…let's just say it ended up being a very, very long night. I could only hope that school would not be as bad as I felt it would be.
But really, I was dreading it.
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