A shoulder to cry on
1. Invitation
Bella's point of view
I began to carry the big brown boxes which held the stuff from my room into the unfamiliar house.
"Nice house."
I turned to see who had complimented my house and found myself staring at a guy with green eyes and bronze hair.
"Who are you?" I asked
"My name is Edward Cullen, um, I live next door."
"Oh. Hi."
"You going to Forks High?"
Great. A new neighbor and a new school mate. How could this get any worse than it already was, what with me having to move from wonderful sunny Arizona to, well, here. Wasn't exactly what I would call home. Forks, Washington were the rainiest place in America. It was full of cold and wet rain and almost never got any sun. I got so lost in my train of thought that I forgot to answer Edward's question.
"Oh, um, sorry. Yeah, I am."
"Alright. By the way do you happen to want someone to, you know, show you the ropes?"
He saw the confused look on my face and abruptly explained, "It means show you around."
Hm, if I had been forced to live here, I might as well make the best of it. I nodded. At that moment, Charlie and Renée stepped into the house.
"Bella, you didn't tell us you had a friend here," Charlie said, raising his eyebrows suggestively, "Charlie Swan, Bella's father." Charlie held out his hand for Edward. Edward shook my father's hand and introduced himself as our neighbor and "the guy who's going to be showing Bella around". Charlie turned to Renée and raised his eyebrows again. God, why did he always have to do that? It was so annoying. Edward saw the annoyed look on my face and decided to leave us to our moving.
That night we had a micro waved dinner while my parents talked about world economy. After dinner, I went up to my room to unpack some of my stuff from the brown boxes and to get a good night's rest.
The next day was uneventful, with the exception of the Cullens' invitation to dinner that night. Other than that, the day was devoted to packing. I went up to my room and forced open the first box which had been labeled 'Bella's books'. I took out all my favorites: Wuthering Heights, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice etc. Then I came across a black file that had the words 'Jacob Black's Letters' scribbled across it in gold marker pen. I'd seen it when I was packing my stuff in the old house but I hadn't opened it yet.
I pulled out the first letter I saw in the file. It said:
Dear Isabella,
My name is Jacob Black. I am so happy to be your pen pal. I hope we can be friends for a very long time. I live at the La Push Reservation near Forks, Washington. Could you tell me where you live? If I live nearby, maybe I can come visit you sometime soon.
Your pen pal and friend,
Jacob Black
Hm, he lived at La Push. I checked the map of Forks. Yep, it was about a fifteen minute drive from here to there. I might visit him sometime. But right now, I was busy. I slipped the letter back into the file and continued with the rest of my stuff, textbooks, notes, laptop etc.
At five o'clock, Renée stepped into my room and told me to get dressed for dinner at the Cullens' house.
"But I am dressed." I said.
"I mean dressed properly." She said, emphasizing the "properly" part.
"Fine." I said reluctantly.
My mom left the room to give me some privacy. I changed into a lavender dress and a mini- jacket. Why did we have to dress up anyway? It was pointless. I stepped out of the room and walked behind my parents to the front door of the Cullens' house.
"Welcome to our humble home," a woman with caramel colored hair said," my name is Esme. I'm Edward's mother. This is my husband, Carlisle." She gestured towards the blond man standing next to her.
"Pleasure to meet you." Carlisle said, holding out his hand.
My dad took it and introduced himself," Charlie Swan, and this is my wife Renée," my mom shook his hand," and my daughter, Isabella."
She introduced us to her other children, Rosalie, the blond female; Emmett, the big, bear- sized guy; jasper, the blond guy and Alice, the girl with a pixie cut.
"Would you like a tour of the house?" Esme asked
"Mom, why don't I show Bella around." Edward said. His mother nodded. He ran up a flight of stairs and indicated that I should follow. I did.
When we reached his room, he closed the door behind us.
"So, what do you think?"
There was a golden carpet on the floor and a black couch leaning against the south wall. His bed was white and grey and there were so many CDs in his shelves.
"It's……nice."
After that, there was a horrible awkward silence, and as the silence grew louder, the adult's chatter grew more and more audible. They were making small talk, talking about the weather and such.
"Hey, um, do you need a lift to school tomorrow?" he asked.
"Yeah. I haven't bought a car yet."
"I could take you."
"Sure, thanks."
"Hey, um, how far is the La Push Reservation from here?"
He took out a street directory from his shelves, flipped open to a page, then patted the space next to him on his black couch. I sat down and he explained the route to me.
"Why do you want to go there?"
"Oh, an old friend lives there."
"I could take you there some time you know."
"Really? Thanks."
"How about tomorrow after school?"
"Sorry. I have some more packing to do. How about Thursday after school?"
"Sure thing. Hey, do you need any help in packing?"
"I don't want to trouble you."
"No trouble at all."
Then, we were called down for dinner.