I squirmed as my mother made to hug me again. I didn't want her to see how hard I was actually taking this. I wanted her to be happy, even if it was going to make me miserable. The smile on my face probably wasn't the most convincing and my habit of looking around conspicuously while lying didn't help my predicament. She was still trying to get me to stay. I just smiled a little wider and make sure to look right at her forehead as she spoke. Hopefully, that would pass and she would stop begging me to "stop with this foolishness".

The last call for my flight from Phoenix to Forks sounded over the intercom and I kissed my mothers cheek one last time before clamoring onto the plane. I tried in vain to convince myself that this wasn't going to be the end of my world; it was simply a new beginning.

I could see the sun out of the tiny plane window and said a silent goodbye to it. I knew that it would be the last of it I saw for several months. Forks was the single rainiest town in the United States and here I was, voluntarily moving from my sunny haven to was sure to be my downfall.

I wasn't worried in the least about leaving friends behind in Arizona, just my eccentric mother and her eclectic taste for hobbies. She was always joining new clubs or taking up new pastimes. Sometimes they were perfectly innocent, like learning to play the piano or taking up yoga, and other times they're more destructive. Like skydiving. Or competitive bull riding. Whatever it was she thought she wanted to pursue, she found a class for it. More times than not, I would join her. Not because I found what she was doing particularly interesting, but so if I needed to, I could talk her out of it.

Her most recent decision was to marry Phil. Phil was nice and encouraging of my mothers' lifestyle and seemed to love her like no other. He played baseball trying to make it big, and was constantly on the move. My mother had to stay home with me considering I was still in school and had no friends to keep me company. I could tell she desperately missed Phil and thus decided to put her out of her misery.

I was able to convince her for the time being that I really just wanted to spend some time with my father, Charlie, and I would be fine for a year or two in Forks to finish off my high school career. Eventually, I had told the lie so many times that I was able to delude myself into thinking that this was want I wanted to do and stopped questioning whether or not I should actually go through with it.

Charlie was more than willing to have me come and stay with him, considering he had no other family up there with him and was thankful for the company he would be getting. He was one of the only reasons I was even remotely looking forward to moving there.

The other reason was simple and I had an easier time telling this to my mother. My one and only best friend lived in Forks, Alice Cullen. We met when we were born, basically, because our mothers were best friends. Every year I would spend days at a time at her house during the summer where we would gossip about our lives and this and that. I always missed Alice, it was like having a small part of me missing whenever we were apart. She was outgoing and vivacious and I was timid and awkward. We completed each other in a way. When I had called Alice about me moving to Forks for the rest of high school, I was pretty sure everyone across the state of Washington and within a 2-mile radius of me, who was on the phone, could hear the scream that burst forth from her.

I had been so immersed in my thoughts that I hadn't even realized that the plane was landing and it was time for me to transfer. This flight was to be about an hour long, until I reached Port Angeles, where it was an hour drive to where I would be living. As I settled into my seat on the small plane, my thoughts drifted back to Alice. And her brother. I'd known Edward as long as I'd known Alice. He was about a year and a half older than we were, but only in the next grade up. This year, he was a senior. And he was a douche. We've never gotten along, and frankly, we hated each other. It was no secret. We always bullied each other, but he had the upper hand. Always. He always said something that broke me, before I could break him. There wasn't ever an explanation for the way things turned out, they just did. Every summer we'd fight, and learn new ways to aggravate each other. Now that me living there was permanent, I was a little scared. But I figured I'd get over it. I'd always held my own against Edward. I could do it for a year before he went away for college. Piece of cake.

I snapped out of my reverie as the captain announced we were landing in 5 minutes. Soon, we were on the ground and I was grabbing my luggage. I spotted Charlie a ways off and waved to him as I made my way over. I hadn't even seen the thing bouncing up and down next to him in until it slammed right into me and nearly knocked me over if it hadn't been for the wall to my right. I smiled down at Alice and hugged her back with just as much force. Her grip loosened, and with that she started to talk. Nonstop. She bulldozed me with 101 questions about anything and everything. I was glad that I was spending the night at her house instead of at Charlie's, she and I had a lot of catching up to do.

I rushed over to Charlie and gave him a hug, not wanting to make him feel left out. We got my stuff into the car and headed for Forks. After the drive and shoving my suitcase into my room except for a change of clothes, we had dinner. Charlie had grabbed takeout and we were currently sitting at the round table in the middle of the kitchen, surrounded by the painted yellow cabinets. It was my mother's attempt at brightening up the place when she lived here. Needless to say, it didn't help very much because approximately a year later she ran away with me. When we finished eating, I said a quick goodbye to Charlie and headed off to the Cullens' house.

I was excited to stay there and to be able to see Alice and her parents. Esme and Carlisle were like a second set of parents to me and I loved them dearly. They always treated me like their second daughter. I greeted Esme with a hug and kiss on the cheek, and make some small talk. Carlisle made his way down from the study and welcomed me with a large, warm hug. Gosh, I love their family.

Alice and I made our way upstairs, her incessant talking filling my ears and rendering my thoughts temporarily disabled. She talked a lot. So, when I ran straight into the love of my life, I could hardly utter a word. But, I didn't know that yet.

He was gorgeous, but the face I had always been used to punching at grew up over the last 9 months. And now, he was breath-taking. But I would never admit it. I hated him. His bronze hair fell messily into his face, the red tints glowing in the light. His jaw was chiseled, with a small bit of stubble that was deliciously tempting. Can you say 5-o'clock shadow? Who knew that was sexy?

And now, he would be even worse. If that was possible. Beautiful, and torturous.

"Hey Bella," he said with a smirk. I scowled at him.