The plane was packed with people, babies crying and mothers shushing them, people on their cell phones trying to get in a last few minutes of conversation before the flight attendant was to come over the loud speaker instructing people to turn off all electrical devices. I was sitting in the window seat of a three seat row with Charlie. I stared out the small window thinking about where I was going to live for the next three months. Charlie had said that it was directly across the street from the beach, he also said it was a really nice house with a lot of windows, two floors, 4 rooms, why we needed so many was still a mystery to me, one bathroom, a small kitchen, a dining room, and a living room. He also said that we were living next a family that had two kids my age. I never really bonded with anyone after moving back to Forks in the past year, I made one or two friends but we weren't that close, just people I could sit with at lunch. At that movement the captain came over the loud speaker announcing the length of the flight, and that there wouldn't be any turbulence, which I was thankful for. I didn't mind flying in the least bit, it was just the take off and landing that shook me up. After the captain finished up he handed it off to one of the flight attendants who informed the passengers about all of the safety regulations that they had undoubtedly heard before. I just shut my eyes and waited for sleep to come. I woke up three hours later to Charlie nudging me,
"Bells. Bella, wake up we're here." He said, I opened my eyes. I stretched my arms up bashing my fingers painfully into the roof of the plane, my first of the many summer injuries yet to come. My father just rolled his eyes, shook his head and laughed as he always did whenever I got hurt,
"Bella you really need to be careful, I would like to avoid trips to the hospital this vacation. Now come on." It took us a while to get off the plane and grab our bags from the baggage claim. But the car rental place was where we spent most of our time. By the time we were done it had taken two hours to get off the plane, through customs, and into a car, only to drive another three hours. There was a diner on a hill about a half a mile from the house we stopped at. I made a mental reminder to stop at the grocery store. From there it was easy to see the beach and our house. The beach was bay like only smaller, maybe a mile, and the tide must have been out all the way because it was maybe a half a mile from the shore. On each end of the beach was a set of caves that looked like they would be fun to explore had I not been so accident prone. The house was located on the main road facing the ocean, and was separated from the beach by only the road and rocks that had to be climbed down, Charlie hadn't been kidding.
"So, you excited for the next few months?" Charlie asked breaking into my thoughts of broken bones and hospital trips.
"Huh? Oh yeah, but is it just me or does it seem like there's not much to do around here?" I asked looking around the sparse establishment. We were here because Charlie and Billy had won a fishing competition to which the prize was an all travel expense paid trip to Cape St. Mary in Nova Scotia, which was supposed to have great fishing as well as great views. Billy had decided not to come because he wasn't one for leaving home, so Charlie decided that we should go.
"I'm sure there's something to do, we can take a drive later and find something to interest you." He suggested
"Alright, sounds good to me!" We then began to discuss what we were going to do for food and things. It was agreed that we would go into town tomorrow and pick up food for the week. Our food came and the conversation slowed as we ate. After we were done Charlie went to the counter to pay as I went to the car. The drive to the house took all of three minutes, while unloading was a different story. Once we got all the bags into the house we finally got the chance to look at it, and it was beautiful. There wasn't a hallway so the first room was the living room, which was painted a bright cheery yellow, and consisted of a wood stove in the far corner, a couch with a chest in front that doubled as a coffee table, and two chairs. The wall in front of the couch was fitted with 3 semi floor to ceiling windows overlooking the beach. Each window was framed with squares of stained glass in varying colors. The next room in was the dining room, which had a table and four chairs, a stereo, a cabinet holding the glasses and the snack food, and there were two windows. Off of the dining room was the kitchen, the bathroom, and one of the four rooms. This room was a rosy pink, it had one window next to the bed that had a partial view of the beach, and since it was west facing, a view of the sunrise. There was a bed with a bed side table, a dresser with a mirror, a rocking chair in the corner, and a closet, the room was beautiful. I immediately lay claim to it by dragging my heavy bags into it, I hadn't even bothered looking upstairs. However Charlie did and he found that the bedroom at the top of the stairs suited his liking. It also had window facing the water, but the hook for him was the 20 inch flat screen hanging in the corner. Once I had seen the rest of the house I started unpacking as Charlie brought his bags upstairs and did the same.
As I was piling my clothes into their corresponding drawers there was a knock on the door, I stopped to see who it was. Standing in the doorway were two adults and two people about my age, maybe a little older, and both were unbelievably attractive. The guy was really tall and muscular, but still lean. He was wearing a pair of white swimming trunks paired with a loose green shirt and flip-flops, with a pair of reflective lensed aviators pushed into his golden blond hair. The girl looked to be the same age and was so beautiful that I wouldn't be surprised to hear that girls around the world were slitting their wrists to look like her. She was taller than me and looked perfect in her red thin strap halter one piece. It looked like something Marilyn Monroe would wear in one of her 1950s pinups. She was also wearing a pair of amber rimmed Ray Bans and a bored expression. The people I guessed were their parents introduced themselves as and Charles and Margaret Hale.
"It's nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Hale." I held out my hand to them.
"Oh dear, what am I old, call me Margaret and this is Charles," Margaret said as she shook my hand.
"And this is our daughter Rosalie and our son Jasper." Charles said waving a hand to each of her children. Rosalie just nodded as she looked me up and down, while Jasper smiled and said Hi.
"Jasper, Rose, why don't you take Bella down to the beach and introduce her to the Cullens?" Charles offered.
"Sure, do you have a suit?" Jasper asked turning to me.
"Yeah, I'll be right back." I went to my room and grabbed the dark blue one piece that was sitting on top of a pile of unpacked clothes. I threw that on with a pair of denim shorts and grabbed a towel. I was soon standing in front of everyone ready to go, and nervous as ever. I was always shy around new people, ask anyone, even back home I only had two friends, and they were just people to sit with at lunch.
"Can we go?" Rosalie asked seeming even more bored, I blushed.
"Yeah, sorry." I said, and the three of us walked out of the door, their parents stayed behind to continue their talk with Charlie.
"So Bella, where do you live?" Jasper asked as we crossed the street.
"Forks, Washington." I answered.
"I hear it's not too sunny up there in Washington." I nodded,
"Un-hun, you heard correct, always glum and rainy."
"No wonder your so pale." Rosalie said as she made her way down the rocks ahead of us.
"Ignore her, I beg you." He pleaded as if used to her behavior,
"Must be a nice change." He said gesturing at the sun, as he followed Rosalie onto the rocks. That's when I remembered how to get to the beach. Over rocks. Large rocks, or to me, death traps.
"Hey, ya coming?" Jasper's shout broke me from my state of fear and I nodded. I looked back to the rocks and realized there was no way I-clumsy Bella, who was capable of tripping over a flat surface- could possibly make it down those rocks and onto the beach alive.
"Here," Jasper said coming back up to me, "If you go this way it's easy, kind of like stairs."
"Maybe easy for you, but I'm really clumsy." I said with a laugh as I carefully stepped onto the first rock. Jasper pointed out the path and I saw it, it really was like steps. I made it down before him without once tripping, which shocked me, but of course as I went to take my first step on the sand, I tripped. I threw out my hands, squeezed my eyes shut, and waited for impact. But it never came. I felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist pulling me upright. I looked up to thank Jasper for catching me, only it wasn't him. The person holding me could only be described as a god in human form, he was gorgeous beyond belief. He was tall with tousled bronze hair, and when I looked at his eyes I couldn't look away. His eyes were emerald green, just green, no other colors mixed in likes most people's eyes. He couldn't seem to look away either and I felt myself beginning to blush. We both looked up when a beast of a guy came over and clapped his hand on the God's shoulder.
"Edward, Nice catch." Edward, so that was this Adonis's name. The guy standing next to Edward was a giant, he was at least 6' 7'' and completely ripped, one of his arms was the size of my thighs. He had jet black curly hair, and was extremely cute in a boyish way.
"And who did you catch now?" Edward and the giant both looked to me.
"Bella!" Jasper called after finally making it safely down the rocks, "Are you okay?" He asked. I just nodded as the giant asked,
"You know the flying hottie?" Jasper just laughed.
"Bella, this is Emmett," Jasper said pointing to the person who wasn't Edward, the one I had so aptly nick-named 'The Giant',
"Yeah," Emmett said cutting off Jasper,
"And the boy clinging to you would be Edward. Hey Edward, you planning on letting her go so she can introduce herself without Blondy's help?" Emmett asked with a laugh jerking his thumb at Jasper, I blushed and Edward dropped his arms, I have to admit I was quite disappointed when he let go. Emmett then picked me up into a hug that would be best described as a bear hug. Only putting me down when he realized I needed to breath,
"Nice to meet you Bella." Emmett said as he set me in the sand, it was then I realized that Emmett was just a big teddy bear. Edward held out his hand with a smile, as I took his hand I felt something in my fingers spark, not like a static shock, it felt deeper than that. Edward must have felt it too, because he looked at our hands, then back up at me, and he smiled.
"Hello." He said.
"Hi, and thanks for the save by they way." I said.
"Anytime." He said with a crooked smile that made my heart skip a beat. We stood there for a few seconds, our hands still clasped, and staring into each other's eyes. Until Emmett wrapped his arms around our shoulders and pulled us in close.
"Alright lovebirds," I blushed and Edward just laughed, while Jasper playfully smacked Emmett on the back of his head.
"What?!" Emmett asked, "I'm just stating the obvious, no need to get testy. Now let's get going, you know before Alice thinks were holding the new girl hostage, you know how he likes new people, and I don't want to know what she'd do if she thought we were keeping one from her." The boys all shuddered. We began walking toward a blanket in the sand where Rosalie was standing with another girl I guessed was Alice. She was tiny, barely five feet, with short spiky jet black hair, wearing a black bikini. She reminded me of a pixie, and unlike Rosalie, she was as pale as me.
"Yo!" Emmett shouted, "Alice!" She turned and saw us, then she skipped over with a big smile. She stopped and hugged Jasper then she saw me,
"Oooh New people!" She squealed, as she came over and hugged me, knocking the wind right out of me, which was surprising for someone of her size. The boys laughed,
"Alice, Bella." Emmett said, "Bella, annoying little pixie," We all laughed at that as Alice smacked Emmett on the arm, the highest part she could reach.
"Hi Alice, nice to meet you," I said holding out my hand, she took it.
"You too Bella, I have a feeling we are going to be great friends!" She said as she pulled me toward the blanket, I had a feeling she was right, I really liked this energetic little pixie.
"Alice, try not pulling her arm out of the socket please!" Emmett called from behind us, Alice turned and stuck her tongue out at him, I laughed. When we finally reached the blanket she sat down next to Rosalie and patted a space in the sand for me to sit in, she then proceeded to grill me on my life's story.
"So, where do you live?" She asked first.
"Forks. Washington." I answered for the second time that day.
"What grade are you in?"
"I just finished junior year." I answered.
"Oooh me too, same with Edward!" She squealed.
"So Bella, I see your arm is still intact, hows your sanity doing?" Emmett asked as he and the rest of the boys approached the blanket.
"Bella doesn't mind," She said quickly to Emmett then she turned to me,
"Right?" She asked, I saw the look in her eyes, she looked sad and a little hurt,
"No, not at all." I answered not wanting to break her spirits.
"See." She spat at Emmett who was sitting down across from Rosalie, Jasper took a seat behind Alice pulling her into his lap, Edward came and sat down next to me, my heart thumped at his close proximity.
"See what? That Bella is just as scared as the rest of us when it comes to disappointing you?" Emmett said with another laugh.
"Oh leave Alice alone she's just excited Em." Jasper said, then he kissed the top of her head.
"Thank you Jasper." Alice said turning her face up too meet his, their lips met and they began kissing, I looked away not wanting to intrude.
"Guys, come on, your scaring Bella." Emmett said, the two pulled apart and everyone laughed.
"Oh Emmett your one to talk, we've all seen you and Rose, and you two are scary!" Edward said, then he threw a smile my way, and I realized he was changing the topic for my benefit, I mouthed my thanks and he winked at me, my heart nearly burst.
"Yeah, you two are gross." Alice said with a laugh, Rosalie just smiled.
"Thank you, I try, I try." Emmett said proudly.
"So I take it you guys are together." I inferred.
"Of course, where have you been silly Bella?" Alice asked with a smile, "Me and Jas, and Rose and Em. And then you have loner Edward who has all the girls at our school throwing themselves at him left, right, and center, and who ignores them all." She said folding her arms.
"Hey, it's not my fault the girls at our school are pretty much incompetent ditzes who only care about themselves. And you know I'm right Alice." Edward said with a smile. My heart lifted a little when I realized I thankfully didn't posses those qualities, but I still knew he was way out of my league.
"Hey! I resent that," Alice said with mock severity, "I go to your school, and last time I checked, I was a member of the female population there and I am definitely not an incompetent ditz who only cares about myself."
"Yeah, me too Edward!" Rosalie said, the first words she had spoken since I sat down.
"Uh Rose," Emmett said looking at her, she looked at him, "You are totally and completely a person who cares about nothing but them self." He smiled. I thought she was going to get mad at him, yell at him, or do something, instead she said,
"Yeah, that's true, but I'm no incompetent ditz."
"No, that you're not baby." Emmett agreed, Rosalie then got up and kissed him, only they were much worse than Jasper and Alice.
"See," Edward said jerking his thumb at Emmett and Rosalie, Jasper cleared his throat.
"Oh come on that was nothing!" Emmett complained and pouted like child because his kissed had ended early.
"Anyway," Edward continued, "While that's true you and Alice aren't ditzes, it's you two. And there is no way I'm dating my sister," He looked at Alice, before turning to Rosalie, "And Rose, if I even tried to date you-not that I want to, cause you might as well be my sister- that lump of muscle," He pointed at Emmett, "Would beat me to a bloody pulp." He finished.
"Damn Skippy." Emmett said wrapping his arms protectively around Rosalie.
"Emmett, I'm not going to." Edward said when Emmett didn't realize that Edward had no intention of stealing Emmett's girlfriend. Everyone including Rosalie laughed at Emmett, while he sat there trying to understand the situation.
"Edward does make a good point Alice, the girls at our school, aren't exactly playing with a full deck." Jasper said.
"Yeah, yeah, but I still think you need a girlfriend." Alice said then I saw an idea spark in her eyes and she turned to me,
"Bella wh-" She was cut off when Edward jumped up and asked if I wanted to go for a walk. Knowing what Alice was going to say I nodded quickly. He held out his hand and I took it, he helped me up. We walked towards the water which was still a ways out.
"For the third time today, thank you." I said.
"No problem," he said slightly shaking his head making some of his hair fall into his eyes, he pushed them back by running his fingers through his hair, making my heart skip yet another beat.
"The way I figure it, I just saved us both a world of embarrassment." He said.
"Yeah, most likely, I mean I've only known Alice for a couple of minutes but I have a feeling that she's a very blunt and straightforward person, and is not in the least bit shy."
"Yep, you've just pinned down our Alice, but annoying as she is we still love her, I think. Well at least Jasper does." He joked.
"Well hey, I can see why. She seems to have the best interest at heart." He laughed at that.
"You're quite surprising Bella, not many people see that side of Alice's bombarding questions and over-helpfulness." He looked at me and smiled, I looked back at him then out to the water, trying hard not to get caught up in his eye, again.
"That's me, always surprising Bella!" I joked.
"So where is the always surprising Bella from?" He asked conversationally.
"Forks. Forks, Washington." I responded glumly, he picked up on that.
"You don't sound to happy about that." He said with a furrowed brow and another smile.
"It's all cloudy and very rainy, and cold too. Not much fun, plus I moved there from Arizona, so it was a very rude awakening."
"Why did you leave Arizona then?" He asked politely.
"Well, my parents got divorced when I was little and my mom took me to live with her. Which was an experience let me tell you, I think I raised her instead of the other way around, not that I minded though, but every once in a while it would have been nice if she stepped up." I was surprise at the ease with which I told him. It wasn't that my parents were a touchy subject, but I didn't normally talk so easily about it, especially with members of the opposite sex.
"So how did you end up in Forks?" He asked, genuinely interested.
"My mom met a baseball player named Phil, and they got married, so I figured they might like to be on their own for a while, you know, have their space, so I moved in with Charlie at the beginning of junior year." I finished.
"That was nice of you." He seemed a little surprised.
"I guess so." By then we had reached the water and decided to go back, hoping that Alice had forgotten her unfinished question.
"So Edward Cullen, what's your story?" I asked conversationally.
"Well my parents died when I was little so I was-" He stopped when he heard my gasp and saw me stop where I was standing,
"Edward, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up your parents." I said quickly. He laughed softly,
"It's alright Bella, I don't remember them much, Esme and Carlisle have been my parents for so long. Plus you asked for my life story, so I can't very well start from the middle" He took my hand, which seemed effortless for him, but still made my heart stutter, and we continued walking.
"Anyway, Carlisle and Esme adopted me when I was six, and maybe a year later they adopted Emmett, after that they realized that a girl was needed in their family so we went to a church run orphanage near our house to see if there were any girls my age. When we got there a pint sized Alice came sprinting over to us, hugged Esme, and said, 'You're going to take me home. Did you know that?' In that instant everyone of us fell in love with Alice, so Carlisle and Esme signed the paper work, and we took her home with us. Then when Alice and I turned ten, Carlisle got an amazing offer at the hospital here and we decided to move, but since the house the hospital had showed us was 'unsuitable for a family our size' as Esme called it, we moved out here. To that house over there." He pointed to a house that rest on the top of the cliffs on one end of the beach. It wasn't really a house but more along the lines of a mansion.
"It's beautiful Edward." I said looking at it.
"Yes it is." He said, but when I looked at him he was staring at me, not the house. We stayed like that locked in each others eyes for the second time that day, then he broke it by turning and walking back to the group hand still in mine.
"And that's my story." He said.
"I like it." He smiled down at me once again.
"Good I'm glad." By then we nearing the blanket.
"Now that you two love birds are back can we play a game of three on three football!" Emmett shouted holding up a football, the idea of running on the sand made me quiver, and I was about to ask to sit out when Alice came to my rescue.
"Two to a team," Alice piped up, "Bella and I will be sitting out!" Then she turned to me and shouted, "Please?"
"Are you sure your ready?" Edward asked in my ear, I froze at his close proximity.
"I can handle it." I said breathlessly, he stopped, I turned to look at him, he was staring at me with amazement,
"What?" I asked with a smile. He seemed to break out of his trance.
"Nothing, come on." We began walking to the blanket. When we got there Emmett wrapped his arm around Edward's shoulder as he address the rest of us.
"Okay, so I say, Rose and Jasper against Edward and I. And Alice and Bella can sit out." He proposed. There was a chorus of okays as I plopped down next to Alice, watching them set up their game 100 feet in front of us. She and I sat for a while watching the boys and Rosalie play football, Emmett seem to enjoy pinning Rosalie to the ground a little too much.
"So," Alice said nudging my shoulder with hers, "You," she dragged out the 'you', "Like my brother."
"Yes, Emmett's a very attractive man." I said as a joke hoping to deter the conversation to a less embarrassing subject.
"No, not Emmett silly, wait you think Emmett's hot?" She asked calling me on what I said, I rolled my eyes.
"Careful what you say! Just so you're clear, I meant Edward. You have a crush on him." She said poking me in the shoulder with her finger. There was no hiding from Alice so I didn't bother.
"I don't know, Alice. Maybe. But mind you I've only known him for an hour so I really don't know." I admitted.
"Yes, you do like him," She cut off my protests with, "And he likes you." This made me stop dead, the thought of him, Adonis, liking plain old me was a little unreasonable, but a girl can hope.
"Really?" I asked excitedly.
"Oh so we are interested, I knew it, I knew it, I KNEW it! Oh and this is so perfect! You like him and he likes you! Bella you have to come out with us tonight! We can get ready at my house! Oh this is so exciting!" She squealed.
"What is?" Edward asked smiling and sitting next to me.
"What happened to your game?" I asked before Alice could say anything that I would regret.
"Emmett tackled Rosalie to the ground, only they didn't get up." He said laughing and pointing to a spot in the sand where their makeshift football field had been. I heard Alice laugh beside me, sure enough Emmett was on top of Rosalie. They were glued together at the lips, as well as everywhere else. Jasper was walking toward us, he shouted playfully over his shoulder,
"Dude that's my sister!" All we could hear was Emmett's laughter as he flipped Jasper off behind his back, we all burst out laughing, except for Jasper who hadn't seen. He flopped down, back up on the blanket next to Alice. Edward turned to face us,
"What are you excited about now Alice?" Edward asked.
"I invited Bella to join us tonight." She said, and to my utter surprise and enjoyment, Edward wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me, Alice gave me a knowing glance. My heart nearly stopped.
"Thank God." Edward said as he let me go.
"Oh Edward, stop being such a whiny pansy!" Alice spat.
"If I had to do one more night out with you guys on my own I just might go crazy." Edward said.
"Um, this is making me a little nervous, Edward. What could they possibly do that is that bad?" I asked, honestly not knowing. Edward jerked his thumb toward Emmett and Rosalie still making out in the sand as Alice said,
"Oh, please Edward, we certainly don't do that! Now calm down, Bella will be there, get happy already!" Alice said condescendingly, Edward just rolled his eyes.
We stayed at the beach until Alice declared it was time to get ready.
"Alice you said we were going out at 8, it's only four o'clock, we still have 4 hours don't we?" Everyone began laughing as I asked this. Except Alice who was smiling at me as if I had so much to learn about the important things in life,
"Oh Honey, you still have so much to learn." Alice said, I smiled, but on the inside I felt very, very scared.