It's a Love Story…
Chapter One- We were both young…
"I'll be right back, Daddy!" ten-year-old Isabella Swan called to her dad, Charlie. She was so excited to be at her favorite place in her hometown of Forks, Washington. The park. Her father was watching her every step, making sure she didn't fall or hurt herself, which was an everyday occurrence.
"Alright, Bells! But don't go too far!" He called after her. He saw where she was going. The swings, of course. As she sat down on the swing, she started a conversation with another girl her age. Short, black hair, pixie-like. Charlie was happy to see she had made a friend. Within ten minutes, Bella came back to tell her father about her new friend.
"That's my new friend, Alice, Dad! She is so nice! I just found out she goes to my school! I can't believe I never met her! We are going to be best friends, Dad!" Charlie chuckled to himself, amazed at her enthusiasm. Bella went back to her friend Alice. By the end of the day, Bella and her new "best friend" had set up a play-date. This didn't surprise Charlie a bit.
"Let me just go meet her parents, Bells," Charlie said, not going to let his daughter go to a strangers house.
"Okay, come on!" Bella pulled her dad to Alice's dad. As soon as Charlie saw him, he was shocked.
"Carlisle?" Charlie said, barely able to force the name out of his mouth.
"Charlie!" Carlisle said, a smile on his face, the smile being a bit smug. Charlie did not return the smile. Instead he turned to his daughter.
"Bella, we have to go," Charlie said, sternly. Bella threw a fit. Eventually, Charlie was able to calm her down. He was about to drag her away when Carlisle stopped him.
"Charlie, it doesn't have to be like this. We could be friends! For our children's new friendship?" Carlisle bargained. Charlie didn't budge.
"At this point, I'm sorry, I don't think that's possible," Charlie almost spat. He had a look of anger, with a glint of pain and sadness.
"But our children have seemed to have formed a friendship. Why would you take that away from your own daughter? Look at how upset she is!" Carlisle pursued even further. "At least be civil, Charlie," Carlisle tried. Charlie softened, just the tiniest bit.
"Civil…that sounds alright. Okay, Carlisle. Civil. Bella will be at your house after school tomorrow," Charlie said, reluctantly.
"Nonsense! We will pick her up and take her to our house," Carlisle offered.
"Alright, then," Charlie agreed. He walked off, Bella following. She gave a small wave to Alice, which was returned.
Later that night, Charlie and Renee, Bella's mother, had an argument. Well, a bit more than that.
"I can't take this anymore, Renee! Seeing him threw a dagger at my heart!" Charlie cried. Renee looked not even the least bit sympathetic.
"Don't be so melodramatic, Charlie. This will all be over soon. You won't have to deal with it, soon enough," Renee said, with no uncertainty. Her eyes were cold and heartless.
"Every day that Bella is with that disgusting Cullen family I will have to deal with it! Get that through your head, Renee!" Charlie shouted. Bella crept around the corner, horrified at the situation before her. Her eyes were puffy, she had obviously been crying. Renee swept her daughter in her arms, ignoring Charlie.
"Momma, I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it," A single tear fell from both of their eyes.
"Sweetie, I'm going to have to leave, but I promise I'll come back soon," Renee said. Although she was sad, she had no regret in her voice. "But I won't be here all the time," she continued.
"Why? Why Mom?!" Bella cried. There was a long pause.
"Because, I don't love Daddy anymore," She finally admitted. Bella had heard of her friend's parents getting a divorce, but didn't think about it much. She was in shock. The words that came out of Renee's mouth hurt Charlie more than anything else had.
Bella ran into her room, crying. Mommy didn't love Daddy? She thought. It all seemed impossible. There was only so much a ten-year-old could handle. She cried herself to sleep, the only thing to look forward to was seeing her new best friend, Alice Cullen. Charlie had other ideas.
"She should go with you," Charlie decided. "Do you know where you are planning on going? You and…him?" Charlie asked, horrified at the thought.
"That's not a good idea Charlie. You saw, I just told her I would be leaving. That's what I said, and I'm sticking to it. I don't want to expose her to me being with someone besides you," Renee argued.
"I guess you're right. She'll stay with me. You've got visit often for the first few years, you know," Renee was shocked.
"Years? Charlie you can't expect me to come out hear once a month every month for years? Can you?" Renee shouted.
"This is just like you, Renee! Always thinking of yourself!" Charlie yelled at her. He was fuming. The nerve! "You will visit as often as humanly possible. That's settled," Charlie decided for her.
"And you wonder why I'm leaving, Charlie?" That hit Charlie pretty hard. He refused to think about it, though. His first priority was Bella feeling alright, then his pending divorce.
Charlie went upstairs to talk to Bella, only to find her already asleep. He tucked her inside her bed, then put a little present by her bed. "Happy Birthday, Bells," he whispered. Poor kid. Some birthday, he thought. He kissed his daughter's forehead, and left the room.
Bella woke up and found the gift immediately. She opened it with caution, not sure who it was from. Charlie had already given her all his gifts. "Mom," She whispered. It killed her yesterday that her mom didn't say a word about her birthday. Bella had convinced herself that Renee was just stressed out. When Bella saw the car, she set the present down. She was thrilled to read Renee's handwriting. It simply stated "Happy Birthday, Isabella." She continued to open the gift. It was a locket that said "Forever." Bella scoffed at the irony, being very intelligent for an fifth grader. Yet, she put the locket on anyway, and got ready for school.
Bella's school day went by fairly quickly, for she was so excited to go to Alice's house.
"Bella!" she heard her friend call. "Come on! Are you ready to go?" Bella nodded, excited. She walked up to the car, thanking who she assumed was Mrs. Cullen. Mrs. Cullen looked rather sad, but was able to cover it well.
Once they pulled up to the beautiful white house that was the Cullen's, Bella hopped out of the car. As she walked into the house, she looked around and noticed it was very pretty. Her gaze was averted when Alice pulled her up the stairs.
"We're going to play makeover, Bella!" Alice was extremely enthusiastic. Bella, however, wasn't so much. When they were about to head in Alice's room, a boy caught Bella's eye. She recognized him. He was in her class. The boy that sat in the back, by the window. Alice groaned.
"Bella, this is my brother, Edward. Edward, Bella," Alice explained quickly. Edward smiled at Bella and she returned it. Bella suddenly felt something that she couldn't put her finger on.
The boy was beautiful. He had bronze hair that was different than anything Bella had seen. Of course, at only ten, Bella didn't really notice a lot of boys. She was taken from her train of thought as Alice pushed her into her room.
The makeover was worse than anything Bella had ever sat through, but at the same time, she was having the best time ever! She and Alice got along great. Their different personalities made them the best friends. Alice had finally finshed her "masterpiece" and let Bella look in the mirror. Bella was astonished to see how pretty she looked. Alice had a gift, even at age ten. Suddenly she jumped up and called out her brother's name.
"Alice! What are you doing?" Bella yelled. She was so embarrassed at the thought of Edward seeing her. But kind of anxious at the same time. He walked in with an annoyed look on his face.
"What, Alice?" he said, in a voice that made Bella melt.
"Doesn't Bella look pretty?" she asked. Bella immediately turned red, and so did Edward.
"Sure, Alice," Edward said, looking at his feet.
"Thank you!" And Alice shooed him out of her room. "Let's try some more outfits, okay?" Bella groaned and Alice clapped. They did this for another hour and then it was time to go home.
Bella was taken home to a stressed out Charlie. Although he never let it get to him like Renee would have, his face was easy to read. He greeted Bella with a hug and she went to her room to do homework. She could hear faint sobs coming from the kitchen.
With Carlisle and Renee gone, Alice and Bella were able to be each other's support system. Nothing tore them apart. Sure, Charlie didn't like Alice and Esme didn't like Bella, but that never stopped them from being best friends. They did everything together. Alice even got Bella to go shopping a few times! Through all of this though, they both knew that they were missing something. That was their parents. They stopped talking about the situation after about a year. It was just too much to handle. It was the only thing they didn't talk about. But that was alright with them. Then something happened that brought back all of those horrible feelings…
"Bella! Get the door please!" Charlie yelled from his room. Bella raced to the door, in hopes of it being her best friend Alice Cullen. She opened the door, shocked at the woman who claimed she was her mother. The "mother" who called 3 times and visited once in the past two years.
"Hi, Mom!" Bella exclaimed, although it felt forced. She gave her mother a hug and called her father down. Renee seemed really upset. A part of Bella was concerned. Another was almost…happy that her mother was sad. Maybe she would feel the pain that Bella had felt the last 2 years.
"Isabella, I have to talk to your father," Could she ever find it in her heart to call Bella by her nickname? Bella went upstairs, still listening to what was going on downstairs.
"What brings you here, Renee?" Charlie said coldly. "Back to hurt your daughter and me more?"
"No, Charlie, I came to apologize. Carlisle and Esme worked things out and Carlisle left me," She barely whispered the last part and Charlie chuckled to himself.
"That doesn't surprise me one bit, Renee," Charlie said, almost full out laughing now.
"Charlie, I was thinking that we should try to work things out as well, for Bella…" Renee started. Charlie cut her off.
"I knew you were going to go there, Renee. You have no right whatsoever to come back trying to make things better. You need to leave. I can't believe you, Renee! I don't think you understand the damage! Bella cried every night for six months!"
"And I feel awful about it! I made a mistake, Charlie! A mistake! Can't you forgive me? Please! Let me back in!" Renee pleaded. She was so obviously desperate.
"I'm too afraid that you'll make the mistake again. I can't risk that for Bella. And if this really is for Bella, then you can visit as often as you'd like," Charlie explained, calmly. That was enough for Renee. She turned and walked out. Charlie and Bella wouldn't hear from her again…
Bella was happy that things worked out for Alice, but couldn't help feeling incredibly jealous. Why couldn't she have that same happiness? Why couldn't Renee and Charlie work things out? She didn't understand how things could be so horribly wrong for her.
(A/N) So how was it? Should I continue? I know there wasn't much Edward, but he's coming! Just be patient. I promise to update at least every other day, since I already finished some of the chapters. But I get impatient, so probably everyday hahahaha. On weekends possibly twice a day. I have a horrible tendency to keep posting chapters. Hehehe. Thanks for reading!
DaniLovesTwilight