AN: This is my first try at writing a story; hopefully it gives you some kind of entertainment. I must apologize upfront; English is not my first language, so, sorry. Parts of this story will touch on religion/deportation/Immigration/Poverty/Inequality/Injustice…if this isn't your jam, that's okay, we all have our own views, and I just ask we be respectful of each other. Overall, I hope we all take something from this story. All things Twilight belong to SM.

Chapter 1

For as long as I can remember, my grandmother, Renata Cisne, always told me: "Nada se mueve sin la voluntad de Dios."

Nothing moves without the will of God.

At times, I know this to be true, but other times…not so much.

"Maria Isabella Cisne, if you don't get down here right this minute young lady, vas a ver!" my Mom yells from the parking port downstairs.

I look around the small apartment one last time before closing the door behind me.

"Okay!" I hurry down the wobbly stairs, "I'm coming." I try to take in as much as I can, I know I will never see this place again; and although it's not the nicest area, or the safest, we had so many great memories here. Mr. Molina, the landlord, tried to brighten up the apartments by painting murals on the cinder block walls outlining the property. Bright yellow and purple flowers, rainbows and sunshine covered the walls…unfortunately; the local gang members thought it was a good idea to tag all over it.

The noise from the 10, Santa Monica freeway two blocks from the apartments, is something I want to commit to memory. It might not be something mom or my sister would like to remember, but it reminds me of dad and my brother playing soccer out in the street with the neighborhood team. The teams were made up of miss-match boys and girls, soccer enthusiast that try and make the best of their circumstances. Husbands, wives, grandparents, children and friends cheering on, sharing food and drinks, music blaring and a lot of laughter, that's what I want to remember.

"Maria," my mom wraps her arm around my shoulder, "this move will be good for us."

We look around the neighborhood together, the chain-link front yard gates, the once beautiful Victorian home that are now all converted to apartments, and the corner market the Lee family owns.

"Let's go already!" My younger sister, Alicia complains from the back seat of Mrs. Molina's old Astro van, "I can't wait to get on the airplane! I've never been on a plane before."

"Come on," mom guides me to the van, "he knows where we're going, I gave him the address last week when he called. If Marcos sends a letter before he gets ours, Mr. Molina will forward it to our new place."

I nod and get in the van.

"Okay muchachas!" Mom signs, "do we have everything?"

"Yes, yes, yes, let's gooooo," my sister flops back on the seat.

Mom smiles and tells Mrs. Molina, "Let's go."

I look out the window, watching Los Angeles fly by, "I wish Dad was coming with us."

Clearing her throat, Mom says, "Me too baby."

I know better than to bring up Dad, especially since Mom had such a difficult time coming to this decision on her own, but I miss Dad so much, I couldn't help it.

"How do you think they're treating him?" my eyes sting at the thought of him being hurt or scared, "Do you think those things on the news are true?"

Alicia huffs behind us, "If Dad would have just done things the right way, none of this would have happened. It's embarrassing."

"Alicia!" Mom yells, "You will not talk down your father, do you hear me?" I turn to look at Alicia and see her rolling her eyes before turning to the window. "Tu Papa, he did what he had to do to give his children better opportunities, better than we had back home. And yes, we wanted to do things the right way, both of us...but hiring lawyers, court fees, those cost a lot of money, more than we had. We work hard, but it's difficult."

"You got your papers-," Alicia started.

"Because your Dad thought it was better for you kids to be with your Mom in case this very thing happened, "Mom cut Alicia off, "He felt you girls would need me more. So, yes, I got my papers first but we were working on his," she whispered to herself, "we were working on his."

Mrs. Molina reaches over to Mom and pats her hand in support.

I look at my sister but speak to mom, "We know that Mom, we know you both are trying your best. It will be okay, we'll be okay."

"Yeah," Alicia crosses her arms and sinks further into the back seat.

Soon we are pulling up to the departures section of LAX.

Mom looks back at Alicia, "Ready for that airplane ride?"

"Yes!" Alicia has the biggest smile I've seen yet.

Mom laughs.

"Girls," Mom's smile is so big, she hasn't smiled like that since Dad was taken from us, "I know you don't believe me now, but this will be good for us."

The Welcome to Forks sign comes, both, as a relief and dread.

Relief because we will soon end this long day of travel and all I want to do is sleep and forget this day ever happened.

Dread because it makes this move real. We left our school, friends and life behind.

Mom and Alicia are chatting quietly next to me while I take in our surrounding; beautifully gloomy, lush green forest…an alien land to me.

"What do you think, Maria?" Mom asks.

"I'm sorry," I turn away from all the green and look at Mom and Alicia, "I wasn't paying attention."

"Mom's new boss is nosy," Alicia said under her breath.

Mom quickly looks at the driver before frowning at Alicia, "Mrs. Cullen wants to get to know us, over dinner, we are going to be living on her property after all."

Mom has been a cook for as long as I can remember, she enjoys her job and she's been lucky enough to work for kind, generous families. Mrs. Meyer, Mom's last employer, referred Mom to Mrs. Cullen, it meant relocating but the pay and benefits were substantial…and we would live rent free in one of their 'Employee Quarters'; this will allow Mom to save money for Dad's legal process.

"I think that's a good idea," I agreed, "We can get the awkward greeting and questions out of the way."

We pull into a driveway and stop in front of a huge, black rod iron gate. The driver rolls down his window and enters a code before the gates smoothly open, and we're off driving down a cobble stone road. We drive five minutes before an impressive mansion, sitting proudly in the middle of an elaborate garden, comes to view.

"Wow," Alicia exhaled.

The driver clears his throat and says, "The Cullen Estate is modeled after the Volturi Villa in Italy. The estate took five years to build, start to finish. The majority of the material used was imported from Italy, as well as the interior décor; furnishing, painting, drapes, windows…Mr. Volturi spared no expense on his wedding gift to Mr. and Mrs. Cullen."

"This was a wedding gift?" Mom asked in amazement.

"Yes, Ma'am," he says as we round the large circular drive, "Mr. and Mrs. Volturi want their grandchildren to have a deep seeded connection to their Italian roots. And Mrs. Volturi is gifted in the fine arts; she oversaw every detail that went into this project."

"Old money," Alicia said.

"From both sides of the family," The driver says as we come to a stop, "Please follow me, the butlers will take the suitcases to your quarters." He gets out of the car and opens Mom's door, "The name is Phil, welcome to the Cullen Estate."

AN: Like I said, there will be issues some don't want to read about, I understand and respect your decision to drop this story from your reading list. If I peaked your interest, then I will "see" you next chapter.

I respect constructive criticism...I welcome it, it gives me a chance to improve my writing. But for those that just want to be mean and hateful, please don't expel any engery in something I will delete and block...I don't allow negativity in my real life and I won't allow it in my "fiction" life. I am doing this for the fun, to telling a story...not to feed hate.

Side note: I have no beta, no pre-readers, nada. All mistakes are my own.

- Luz ;)