Chapter 1: Remembering

I stood there in the pouring rain while Emmett drove away with the love of my life in the backseat. Tears were streaming down my face while I watched the car drive away. I had tried to run after it but I had stumbled and fallen, so I had stopped my feeble attempt. I don't know what happened between Edward and I, no I take that back I know exactly what happened. As I look back upon these last few months, I can remember every detail precisely……..

It was a crisp autumn day and I was just starting my first term at U of W (University of Washington). I climbed out of my car and shut the door. I went around to the trunk and started unloading all of my things that were going in my dorm room. My parents, Charlie and Renee, are divorced, thus, they couldn't be here together so I'm by myself. My parents had gotten married at an early age and from the first toast of their wedding it went south from there. In short, they hate each other's guts.

They hate to be around each other, they couldn't even look at each other to hand me off every summer. I spent a school term with my mom and then for the summer I would spend it with Charlie. I decided to go to UW because my mom got remarried to Phil. I hate Phil. He's a total player and half of my mom's age. Last year when she was out getting groceries Phil and I were left alone in the house. I had been lying on the couch watching T.V. when he had suddenly jumped on top of me. He had told me that my mom wouldn't have to know and that it could be our secret. Well you can pretty much guess what happened next.

I got raped. Phil threatened that if I told my mother he would beat me and her. It turns out he kept his promise. I never told my mother what happened because Phil would beat me when she was gone to ensure I wouldn't say anything. So every summer was the greatest getaway I could manage. My mom had no clue what had happened so she made me return every school year.

Now I'm nineteen and legally I can choose who I want to live with. Naturally, I chose Charlie. He's the best dad a girl could ask for. We both are a lot alike so we get along great. When I got to see him every summer it felt like I was being rescued from hell. So, here I am with no parents to help me get stuff up to my dorm. I have two other roommates, Jessica and Lauren. I've never met them before so hopefully we can be friends.

I pulled everything out of my trunk and lugged it all to the bottom of the stairs of my building. My dorm building was a light shade of gray with trees surrounding it on all sides. The trees were varying shades of red, orange, and yellow. It was very pretty, the trees not the building. I moved at a painstakingly slow pace but finally got everything up to my dorm. I dug around in my pocket for my key when the door suddenly swung open.

Standing in the doorway was a short blonde girl. She had on a bright pink sweater that showed off her stomach. She also had on jeans and bright pink heels. Her lips were covered in gooey lip gloss. Yuck. I hate wearing makeup; the only time I wear it is when I'm forced to. Her lips stretched into a wide smile and immediately my stomach unclenched. Maybe I would have a good life here.

"Hi! You must be Isabella! I'm Jessica but you can call me Jess. Lauren is already here so that's how I figured you must be Isabella!" she blabbered. I could already guess what type of girl she was. The gossipy, talkative, waayy too perky kind. Whatever. This was definitely better than a school term at my mom's house.

"Hey, actually I just like to go by Bella. Oh, and it's nice to meet you Jess," I said. She kept talking about random subjects but I tuned her out and followed her to the last available room. She opened the door and I walked in. I laid all my stuff on the bed and put some of my luggage in the closet. Jess just stood in the doorway and smiled this evil looking grin. I thanked her for getting me to my room and she closed the door and left.

I plopped down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. This was the turning point in my life. Everything is going to get better. I sat up and surveyed the room. The walls were a light shade of blue and the furniture was all a dark brown. I stood up and started unpacking all of my stuff. Within a half an hour all of my stuff was either the closet or a dresser. I was starving so I decided to go grocery shopping and check out all the fast food restaurants.

I opened the door to my room and walked out into the living room. There was a taller blonde sitting on the couch reading a seventeen magazine. She was wearing varying shades of purple, even her nails were a light purple. I guessed this must be Lauren. Great. Two blondies that are probably really perky and annoying. I just kept reminding myself that this was better than staying with mom and Phil. I walked at a brisk pace towards the door but I took a quick glance at Lauren's face to see what she looked like.

"What are you looking at freak?" she questioned me. Wow. Great. She was one of those girls. The reason she probably thought I was a freak was that I had the red streaks in my hair darkened and I was kind of dressed like a Goth. I had on skinny jeans and a black hoodie with the hood up. Plus, my fingernails were painted black, courteous of my friend back in Forks.

"Sorry just trying to see who I'm rooming with," I apologized lamely. Why couldn't I be a hard-ass bitch? Oh well, it's probably because I wasn't raised that way. I just kept to myself and had one friend.

I walked out of the apartment and down the stairs to my car. I unlocked my car door and drove into town. I found the nearest McDonalds and parked. Then, I walked slowly to the door and up to the cash register. A tall, very skinny guy turned around and gave me a huge smile.

He had acne all over his face and he had dark brown hair. It was spiked in various places and he had a small tattoo on his forearm. It was of Mario. Wow.

"Hey, welcome to McDonalds can I take your order?" he asked me in an over friendly tone.

"Uh, yeah, I'll take a number one with a chocolate shake instead of a coke," I told him.

"Okay that'll be five seventy five. Are you new in town?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I just got here today. I'm a student at U of W," I said.

"That's cool, I am too. I just work here part-time, gotta earn that tuition money right?"

"Um, yeah I guess," I said nervously. Great this guy lives somewhere near me, that's not good. From the way he was looking at me he was just going to be a pain.

"Hey can I have your cell number? Maybe we can rendezvous sometime," he said. He held out his hand palm up. I reluctantly pulled out my cell phone and he handed me his. I put my number in his phone and hit the save button. We switched back and I looked at my phone.

"Bella. That's a cool name, I like it," he told me.

"Thanks," I checked my phone, "Mike." I gave him a smile and he handed me my food. I pulled out a ten dollar bill but he waved it away and said it was on the house. Oh great. Yeah this guy was going to be a big pain.

I walked away from Mike and sat down at the farthest table away from him. At a table across from me was a big guy. Not like fat big, but muscular big. He was huge! I unwrapped my burger and started to take my first bite.

After the first five bites I looked up and saw the big guy sitting across from me. I jumped halfway out of my seat and started choking. My mouth had been full of burger and he had scared me so bad I started gasping for air. My eyes were watering and no matter how many drinks I took it didn't help. He reached over and thumped me on the back twice. Hard. I swallowed one more time and looked up.

The guy was staring at me and he had HUGE muscles. His hair was dark brown and he had on a tight fitting t-shirt. It showed off his muscles magnificently which was probably the intention. He gave me a smile and then he just busted out laughing. My face turned bright red and I mumbled an apology. I grabbed my tray and tried to make my escape out the door.

He was very nimble for a muscular guy because he caught up with me and pulled me back over to my table. He and I sat down and he just smiled at me again.

"Hey I'm Emmett," he told me, "sorry to have scared you earlier but I wanted to talk to you."

"It's alright, so why did you want to talk to me?" I questioned him.

"Well I know this is kinda forward but do you see that guy at the register?" I looked up and over and saw Mike standing there just staring at me. He quickly looked away and pretended to busy himself. I looked back at Emmett to see where he was going with this.

"Yeah, I think his name's Mike," I told him, "why?"

"Well see, he's been in one of my classes every year at school and he's really weird. I saw you and him exchange numbers and I just wanted to warn you. He just goes out with girls to get laid but they usually dump him before then," he explained. He chuckled a little bit.

"Don't worry, there is no way on this green planet I would ever go out with that kid. He seems like a pushy, overexcited, little freak. Although coming from me that probably sounds kind of odd, right?"

"Naw, you seem normal enough. Plus, I dig the whole Goth look you have going on. Mike's just an odd person to everyone, I guess."

"You really don't think I'm a freak? Well that's definitely a first. Oh, and it's not really a Goth look. I have clothes for every look. I can be preppy, skater, Goth, or even nerd when I want to be. Yeah and my name's Bella."

"Nice to meet you Bella. Hey, I don't want to be like old Mikey-poo over there but can I have your digits? You seem like a pretty normal person, and I'd like to hang out with you sometime."

"Sure." I handed him my phone and held out my hand for his. I typed my number into his phone and we exchanged phones again. I put my phone back in my pocket and looked back up at Emmett. We talked for hours about our likes and dislikes. I think he's going to be a good friend.