A/N: Ok, so this is my first FanFic on this site. I know it doesn't seem like much yet but I promise it'll get much better really fast. Please read and review!! Thanks!
Standing in the dark wing of stage left, I took a painful breath to try and calm my pounding heart as the last chords of the music that was being played echoed off the walls. The temporarily invisible crowd erupted in cheers over the amateur band that had just finished their performance. The punk-like rockers exited the stage and the host of the contest grabbed a microphone and spoke one short sentence.
"And now for our final contestant of the night, Isabella Swan."
"Shit," I muttered to myself as I watched the man beckon me into the spotlight. I clutched my acoustic guitar in my left hand and slowly stepped forward, ignoring my desire to run the other way.
The blinding lights forced me to stop walking. I scrunched up my face and used my free hand to shield my eyes. The knot in my stomach twisted even tighter than it already was and I could hear my accelerated heart-rate throbbing in my ears.
What the fuck am I doing? I can't do this. I don't even have a chance at winning this thing, so why the hell should I put myself through this torture? I cannot do this. My thoughts were leading me towards a major freak-out.
But I need that money. That prize money could not only pay my way through my fast approaching college years but it could also get me out on my own and away from here. That's why I need to do this. I need to try.
My eyes scanned the crowd briefly and my heart nearly stopped when I saw her sitting in the third row. Fuck. What the hell is she doing here? She probably came to watch me make a fool out of myself and boo me off the stage. My gaze met hers for one brief moment. Oh yes, I definitely need to try.
Just as I stepped forward again, I tripped over my own feet. I fell face first on the hard stage, landing on top of my guitar. I heard the slight crunch of breaking wood and the dull tone of the vibrating chords. I sat myself up and peered down at the instrument in front of me.
There was a small crack radiating from the circular edge of the sound hole. But that wasn't what had the tears welling up in my eyes. Sure, I had no idea how much it would cost to get it fixed, although it was safe to assume that I wouldn't be able to afford it. But that's not why my eyes were stinging with moisture. It was the trill laughter coming from the audience that broke me.
The whole crowd was in hysterics. People were clutching their sides as the laughter shook their bodies. I was beyond mortified. But to make matters worse, the one voice I truly despised was suddenly louder and clearer than anything else.
"What are you gonna do, Bella? Cry? God, when are you ever gonna grow up? All you know how to fucking do is turn on the waterworks whenever something goes wrong. I told you this was a waste of time and now you know it. Go ahead and cry. Embarrass yourself even more. Give everyone another reason to laugh at you. Go on, cry!"
She stood directly in front of me, staring down at me. I reluctantly looked up at her from my crumpled position on the floor. As I stared back at the livid, amused face of my mother, my tears betrayed me and stained my scarlet cheeks. The pounding of my heart was almost frightening as it resounded in my ears. It was so loud, so fast and so…
…real.
I woke with a start, covered in a cold sweat, as my mother continued to pound on my bedroom door.
"Isabella Marie, if you don't get your ass out of that bed right now, you'll be grounded for two weeks. No phone, no computer, no friends. Do you hear me? You have a fucking alarm clock; I shouldn't have to give you a personal wake up call. I'm not your goddamn maid. And why the hell is this door locked? Open this door right now! ISABELLA!!" she screamed at me.
I jolted out of bed and over to the door. I unlocked the doorknob and opened it. "I'm up! And for your information, my alarm didn't even go off yet!" I screamed back, although my voice still thick with sleep. My anger was quite evident though.
"Oh, really? Well, what time did you expect to wake up then? Two minutes before you're supposed to be at school?"
Just then, the annoying as hell Miley Cyrus song Party in the U.S.A. filled my room as my clock radio, which was tuned to one of the few good radio stations the tiny dreary town of Forks, WA had to offer, turned itself on as the digital numbers changed to 6:30am.
She narrowed her eyes and sneered, "Get ready for school." She headed down the stairs and I heard the front door slam. Once I heard her car pull out of the driveway and take off down the street, I let out a gut wrenching scream.
I collapsed into a heap on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. What a wonderful way to start off the day. I was barely up for two minutes and I was already a fucking mess. Thanks, Mom.
After I got a hold of myself, I turned off the radio and ran to go take a shower. I turned the water up as hot as it would go and let it cascade down my body, scalding every inch of me. I stayed in there until it started to run cold. I wrapped a towel around me as I got out and went back to my room to get dressed.
Glancing at the clock, I saw that I'd spent a little too much time in the shower so I quickly grabbed a pair of dark washed jeans and a dark blue v-neck top and threw them on. Then I pulled a white hoodie sweatshirt over my head. I always wore a hoodie when I had a restless night. I needed to be comfortable and have something to snuggle in when I found myself failing to keep my eyes open in class due to the lack of sleep. I rubbed my hair in the towel and ran a brush through it, leaving it down. It was almost dry and already very wavy. I put on a pair of white Nike sneakers, grabbed my bag and my cell phone, ran down the stairs and out the door to my beat up old Chevy truck.
It wasn't much, but the old thing got me around. It was rusty red and quite slow, but I didn't mind. I got in and started it up. It had been a gift from my parents for my seventeenth birthday, which was almost a year ago. My eighteenth birthday was five days away. Actually, I really couldn't say that it was a gift from both of my parents because it was really from my dad; my mother was against me getting any kind of vehicle. In fact, she's against me having any kind of independence at all which is completely fucked up considering the kind of person she is--a hypocritical bitch.
I honestly try to avoid anything that has to do with my mother, Renee; especially thinking about all the ways she's tried to fuck up my life--and all the ways she's succeeded in fucking up my life. About a year and a half after I was born, she took off. Her and my dad Charlie married young. They were so in love, or at least Charlie was. Renee more or less wanted to see what all the hype was about. After a few mere months of marriage, it started to bore her but she got pregnant and figured she'd give the whole mother thing a try, too. Enter me.
Charlie always said I was a good baby, that I was hardly fussy at all. But Renee just didn't seem to take to motherhood all that well. Charlie mostly took care of me while she went out with friends and what not. She couldn't stand to be stuck in the house all day with a baby. One night, Charlie came home from work (he's the Police Chief, by the way) and found her packing, saying she just had to get out of this godforsaken shit hole of a town. Charlie asked her to stay but when she insisted that she couldn't stay anymore, he told her that there was no way in hell she was taking me with her. Little did he know, she never intended to. Renee gave me a kiss goodbye and left. From there on out, it was me and Charlie. I adored him as he did me. We became very close over the years. We had a wonderful father/daughter relationship… had.
Renee didn't fall off the face of the earth, though. She'd call Charlie from time to time to find out how I was. She always called and sent me gifts on my birthday and Christmas. She even came to see me on occasion. But I haven't really thought of her as my mother in many, many years. To me, a mother is someone who's around to love you and take care of you your whole life, not just at their convenience. No, in my eyes, I've never really had a mother at all.
Then, three years ago, she came back. I honestly don't know why she did. She just showed up one day and said she wanted to be a part of our lives again. Note the 'our' there. She played into my dad's only weakness. Charlie, for some stupid fucking reason, still harbored feelings for the woman who basically abandoned me and welcomed her back into the house. I haven't felt the same way about my father since that day.
And since that dreadful day, my 'mother' has pretty much tried to take over my life. For someone who couldn't be bothered enough to raise her daughter, she sure as shit had a lot to say about things such as what time my curfew should be, what kind of Sweet 16 party I should have and whether or not I should have my own car. Not to mention she feels the need to constantly pick an argument with me over bullshit. Like the whole alarm thing this morning. I swear, she just can't go five minutes without going psycho on me over something completely stupid. Charlie actually believes that she's here now to make up for lost time because she feels guilty for leaving. Ok, sure. You ever hear the expression "better late than never"? Yeah, fuck it.
I snapped out of the trance I'd apparently been in when I heard a fierce tapping on my window. Alice Brandon, my hyper, fashion crazy, pixie-like best friend was rapping away with a giddy smile on her face. Evidently, I'd driven to school because that's where I was: the school parking lot. Hmm, I didn't even notice. Nice. I hope I didn't do any damage out on the road. I grabbed my bag and got out of the truck.
"Hey, Bella!" Alice screeched in her chipper voice. "Holy shit! What the fuck did you do last night? You look like death."
"Gee, Alice. I hadn't noticed. You can thank her majesty for my appearance."
"You had the dream again, didn't you?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah," I sighed. "Then she all but broke down my goddamn door this morning."
"Well, don't worry. I'll fix you up during second period. Mrs. Masters isn't in today and we have Mr. Mandia as a sub. So we'll basically have the period free," she rambled on.
"I doubt you'll be able to do anything to fix this, Ali," I replied, gesturing to myself.
"Please, this isn't even a challenge," she scoffed.
We walked over towards her car, a canary yellow Porsche 911 Turbo. Her parents made a very hefty sum in the stock market. They spent pocket change on that car. Standing by the Porsche was the rest of our group. First there was Jasper Whitlock, Alice's blonde-haired hazel-eyed boyfriend. He was from Texas and had a slight southern twang to his voice. He was a sweetheart. Then there was Emmett McCarty. Emmett was like the big brother I never had. He was huge, really buff and the star of the Forks High football team. But, he also had a really tender side and gave the tighest yet softest hugs. He reminded me of a giant teddy bear. Finally there was his girlfriend, Rosalie Hale. Rose was, well, more gorgeous than a fucking supermodel. Her long blonde hair was always perfect, her skin was completely flawless and she had the most amazing body. She had all the guys drooling over her and all the girls wanting to kill her for being so hott.
Unfortunately, I was the odd-man-out in our group. I didn't have a boyfriend. I went on a couple of dates back in 9th grade but that was it. It's not like anyone was really interested in me anyway. I wasn't anything great to look at. I had long brown hair and dark chocolate brown eyes. I was a size 4 and didn't really care about putting on makeup. That's it. I was nothing special. Whatever. I didn't need a boyfriend. But still… I couldn't help but be a little jealous of the way Emmett would wrap his arm around Rosalie's shoulder as they walked through the halls at school or they way Jasper held Alice's hand while he was driving. Is it really that wrong of me to want someone, too?
I shook my head to clear it as Alice and I approached the others, but I couldn't help but feel just a tiny pain in my heart as she slid herself into Jasper's waiting arms. I had to stop this train of thought.
"Hey, guys. Whatcha doing?" I asked.
"We were actually just talking about the new kid. He's starting today. This should be interesting," Emmett said.
With Forks being the tiny town that it is, word travels very quickly. So the news of the new surgeon at Forks University Hospital moving here with his wife and teenage son spread like wildfire. This new kid was apparently a Senior like the rest of us.
"Do you think he's good looking?" Alice asked.
"Why? You shopping around for a new man?" Jasper cocked an eyebrow at her.
Alice giggled, "Of course not. But maybe he'd be good for Bella."
"Alice, don't you dare even start," I warned. "I'm serious. I don't want a boyfriend." Liar.
"We'll see, Bells."
The warning bell rang, leaving us with five minutes to get to our first class. I went to put my cell on vibrate but I couldn't find it in my bag. The others started walking towards the building. They all turned around when I didn't follow.
"You guys go ahead. I think my phone fell out in my truck. I'll see you later."
I went back to my truck and opened the driver's side door. I leaned in and looked on the seat. I didn't see my phone. As I bent down to look for it on the floor, I heard a car pull into the parking lot and a car door slam. I saw my phone under the seat and pulled it out. As I started to straighten up, I saw a shiny silver Volvo parked next to my ratty old truck through the passenger side window. Who at this school drives a friggin Volvo? It took me a second to realize that no one did, which could only mean one thing: the new guy.
I completely forgot that I was still leaning in the doorway of my truck and stood up really quickly, almost succeeding in not hitting my head but of course being the klutz that I am, not succeeding after all. And boy, did I hit it hard. As I felt the sudden sting and throbbing pain on the top of my head, everything started spinning. I knew I was going to pass out and I just prayed that I didn't hit another part of my body as I went down; I bruise quite easily. I felt myself falling. The last thing I saw before the darkness surrounded me were flashes of the most gorgeous colors of bronze and green I'd ever seen.