Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. They belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.
"Isabella Swan, if you don't hurry your but up you're going to be late for the first day of your junior year. There's no excuse for being late on the first day." Charlie yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
He was right. I was about to begin my junior year at Forks high while my boyfriend Edward Cullen was starting his senior year. We had met when I was a freshman and he was a sophomore.
I should be more prepared for this day but I was nowhere prepared. I had only come back from my month vacation in the Hamptons in New York a week ago. I was visiting my mother and her most recent husband, Phil. They've been married for 5 years now, that's a record for her.
Phil owned a big company in New York City where they lived in a big penthouse apartment. I suppose when you live in one of the most famous cities in the world with all the money you could possibly dream of there wouldn't be much to disagree on.
After all, Renee loves shopping and she can never have enough of anything. She gets driven around the city in a brand new Bentley or limo every day. I don't think there's a max on any of her credit cards and there's an overflowing amount of money in her accounts anyway. She just loves being taken care of.
I'm happy she's seemed to have found someone who doesn't mind her crazy expensive habits. Phil seems to take care of her and for that I'm thankful. She's been married 2 other times since Charlie and they never seemed to work out.
When Renee left 12 years ago she tried taking me with her. It only lasted 2 years until she realized she couldn't take care of me on her own. Charlie was fighting for sole custody anyway because he knew exactly what she was doing. She'd date numerous men in hopes of getting married so she'd never have to work. He didn't like me being around so many strange men.
I'm grateful he was the responsible parent. We get along more than Renee and I.
I'm not as materialistic or selfish as my mother. I do dream of getting married one day, but not for the same reasons. I intend on having a successful career, I'm just not sure as to what that will be yet. I will be able to take care of myself though.
While I can be very uncoordinated and awkward, I'm motivated in terms of taking care of myself once I graduate.
For now, I gladly accept the gifts I'm given on my birthday and Christmas. Renee and Phil just send me a check for way too much money, but I've been saving it.
Charlie does well for himself too. 6 years ago he was promoted to Police commissioner. It's pretty much the same thing as Sheriff, but with a higher paycheck.
A year after we moved out of the house he had purchased for himself and Renee.
We now live in a 4 bedroom house, each with a bathroom plus another downstairs for guests. There are 3 stories, a 2 car garage and a pool with an attached hot tub. There's also a guest house.
I'm not sure what the need for such a big house was, but I'm hoping one day soon he'll get married to his fiancée Elena. She's been living with us for about 5 years and she's the closest thing to a mother I've ever had.
They originally met 7 years ago when Charlie escorted 2 car accident victims to the hospital in the middle of the night. Elena was the nurse who kept Charlie informed of their conditions.
A week later after some much needed encouragement from me, he asked her out on a date. They connected immediately and have been attached ever since.
Charlie works 5 days out of the week at the station while Elena works 4, 2 of them overnight.
Their crazy schedules are what have kept them from setting a date I guess. No one wants to talk about a wedding when they don't have much time together. They keep telling me they're going to after I graduate. It doesn't make much sense to me at all.
For the past 2 years, I've been too wrapped up with Edward to even care. He was the quarterback of our football team while I was a cheerleader. He had already been offered a scholarship at The University of Oregon which he committed to a week ago. He just couldn't get hurt during this season.
I still had a year to decide what I wanted to do. Maybe I would follow him there if they had whatever I decided upon for a major.
I was definitely worried about what would happen once Edward left for school next year. We had gone pretty far with each other. I mean, we haven't really past 2nd base but he understood I wasn't ready yet. At least I hoped so.
I hoped he would visit as much as possible. I'd go there if I had to.
He had already asked me to be his prom date, so I'd just enjoy this year with him as much as I could.
I only had 10 minutes to get to school, great.
I was speeding the entire drive to school in my new Jeep. When I had returned from my vacation a week ago, it was waiting in my driveway with a shiny new bow. Charlie and Renee and decided it was a good fit for a 16th birthday present which wasn't for another 9 days.
It was a pretty red, I really couldn't complain.
By the time I pulled into the parking lot, there was no one around. Obviously, I was a few minutes late.
I grabbed my bag and my books, getting out of my car as quickly as possible.
I was about to start running towards my class when I ran straight into someone, knocking my books all over the floor. I had been too busy looking at my schedule to even notice him.
He bent down in front of me, helping me gather my books.
"I'm so sorry. I wasn't even paying attention to where I was going." I apologized.
"Don't worry about it Bella, are you okay?" he said as he laughed.
I finally looked up to see a familiar face looking back at me. I knew who it was, but he looked much different from last year. His hair was now cut into a fade, short on the sides with a fohawk kind of style on top.
He must've grown 6 inches, and put on like 35 lbs of muscle. What was this kid eating over the summer?
I was speechless. He was breathtakingly beautiful. I couldn't help but notice his biceps practically busting out of his shirt as he handed me back my books.
"Are you sure you don't need to go to the nurse or something? You seem out of it." he asked.
I was practically drooling as I stared at him. How embarrassing. Edward would be furious if he had seen this.
"No I'm fine. I promise. Thanks Jake." I replied as I stood back up.
"Alright. I'll see you around."
I smiled and walked quickly to my class.
My first class was Forensics, followed by American History, Sports Physiology, Lunch, Gym, Math, English, and Economics.
After my first class I finally made it to my locker where Edward was waiting for me.
He put his arms around me and pulled me into a passionate kiss. This surprised me. We never made out in the hall ways at school. "I missed you this morning beautiful, where were you?"
"Late, as always. How was your first class?" I asked as I put all of my books except the ones for my next class in my locker.
"It was boring. Whoever decided Calculus was a good idea first thing in the morning is crazy." He replied.
"I agree. I better get going. See you at lunch?" I smiled and kissed him on the cheek. I didn't want another make out session in front of people.
"Yea, sure." He went from happy to annoyed within a minute.
I didn't even bother asking what was wrong, we had this conversation repeatedly. He didn't accept my reasons for why I was against so much pda. He didn't care who was watching and insisted I should feel the same way.
Whatever. I wasn't going to let that ruin my day. My next class was with my best friend Angela.
She was the only one I remained close with through the years. Originally Angela, Lauren, Jessica and I were all best friends. We tried out for the cheerleading squad together our freshman year. After I started dating Edward, Lauren got strangely jealous and barely spoke to me. By our sophomore year, Jessica sided with Lauren.
It was upsetting to see our friendships couldn't survive high school. We had been friends since kindergarten. Angela was the only one I truly ever got along with anyway.
We were all still on the same team, but they tended to avoid me.
Angela and I ended up having 4 classes together. American History, Sports Physiology, lunch and Math. Lunch wasn't really a class, but whatever.
Throughout the day we talked about what we did during our last month of summer vacation. I told her about the Hamptons and how beautiful it was.
She had spent the previous month with our friend Serena. They went to the beach everyday it didn't rain.
The one thing I did love about spending a month on Long Island, it didn't rain as much as it did in Forks. Renee and I were able to spend almost every day at the beach or walking around town as we shopped.
I was still curious about what Edward did while I was away. I knew he had 2 a days for football most days, but I had no idea what he did with the rest of his time.
After my last period ended, I had about a half hour before Cheer practice. I tried to find Edward before he also left for practice but I wasn't able to find him.
I decided to go to the vending machine and get a snack. Fritos and a Gatorade sounded good.
As I bent down to grab my food and drink I felt myself rub up against someone. I jumped and hit my head into the glass of the vending machine.
"Oww!" I screamed, standing up straight as I put my hand over my head.
"Whoa. I didn't mean to scare you again. I'm so sorry Bella."
I turned around and found myself face to face with Jacob Black again. Where did he even come from?
"You have a habit of sneaking up on people don't you?" I implied.
He laughed. "Just you sweetheart."
"Are you trying to tell me you're stalking me or something?" I asked.
"Not at all, let me see." He replied as he moved my hand.
"There's no blood, you'll just get a nasty bruise. Think you'll live princess?" he asked as he laughed at me.
"I'll be just fine if you stop scaring me like that." I grabbed my food, drink and walked away.
By the time I was changing for practice, my head was already bruising. Damn him for being right.
"Bella, what happened?!" Angela asked as we rolled out the mats for practice.
"Jacob Black, that's what happened." I replied.
"Are you trying to tell me he hit you?!" she gasped.
"No, no, no. He just surprised me and I hit my head." I rolled my eyes.
She laughed, taking a closer look at my bruise.
"Sounds about right. You're so uncoordinated Bella."
"Yeah. I suppose you're right." I laughed.
Practice went by pretty quickly. Our routine for homecoming wasn't all that hard. We still had 2 weeks to prepare and by then we'd have it down perfectly.
As I got changed I texted Edward.
Come over tonight?
He usually always came over after practice. I just wanted to make sure nothing was different.
I'll be over around 7:30. I'll have to be home at 9.
Since when? I was going to have a serious talk with him about these random changes in our routines.
As I got into my jeep I noticed Jacob getting onto his bike as well. I had to admit, it was pretty hot he drove one. He looked back at me and all I could do was smile.
I knew I was supposed to be mad at him for the bruise on my head, but it was impossible when he smiled at me like that.
I pulled up to an empty driveway. Charlie didn't have a set time to come home at, though it was never before 8. Elena must be out shopping or something. Her shift at the hospital didn't start till 6.
I decided I'd get started on the pile of homework I had been assigned that day. When I went into the kitchen to start, there was a note on the fridge.
Went out with your father for dinner, there's money on the table for you to get whatever you'd like. I'll see you in the morning.
So I'd be left alone for awhile, great.
Hours and numerous homework assignments later, Edward decided to show up. It was 8, a half hour later than he had said. He sat down next to me on the couch as I started a movie.
"Where have you been? Your practice ended the same time as mine." I asked.
"Coach kept us an hour later than usual. Sorry Bella." He replied.
But I knew that wasn't true. Jake was their starting wide receiver and he was leaving at the same time as me. Why would he lie?
"Oh. I just figured since I saw Jacob leaving the same time I did that you were probably just still showering or something."
"Well, we were going over different plays. We can never be too prepared for a game."
Who was I to question him anyway? While I was his girlfriend, I knew football was his life.
We didn't watch much of the movie. Edward practically jumped on me 10 minutes in and was on top of me until we heard Charlie's car pull up.
As soon as Charlie walked in the door Edward announced it was getting late and he needed to get home.
Of course Charlie agreed and pointed out that I should be getting some sleep too so I could get to school on time tomorrow.
I don't know what Charlie's problem with Edward was. He's never said he didn't like him, but his attitude toward him has never been all that friendly. When I asked about it, he always says the same thing.
"I'm sure he's a nice kid but you're in high school, do you really need to be in such a serious relationship? That kid is too wrapped up and in love with himself anyway."
I didn't agree with him at all. He wasn't self centered, not around me.
The next 2 weeks went by quickly. I managed to avoid any disastrous meetings with Jacob. We'd see each other in the hall and after practice. He'd smile at me and it was like a forced reaction to return one.
Angela and I already had our Homecoming dresses, but first we'd need to get through the big game. We were playing our rival high school and at half time the pressure and attention would be on us.