Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, all rights belong to Stephanie Myers.
"Isabella Marie Swan, you're going to be late!" I heard my mother bellow out. She was loud enough for all the neighbors to hear regardless on if she was yelling or not. My mother had a very good way of getting noticed just about everywhere she went. She is a baseball player's wife though. With a final sigh I looked myself over in the mirror, the last time I went to school in Forks Washington I was seven. I'd spent a few summers with Charlie but I hadn't been to Washington in years.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," I muttered back slinging my bag over my shoulder finally tearing myself away from my room. It's not like I was excited about moving back. I wasn't excited about leaving my friends in Arizona; I wasn't excited that I was a junior in new high school. I just wasn't excited about any of this. I lazily walked down the stairs watching my mom point at the watch on her wrist. I rolled my eyes but didn't dare stall any longer, like it or not, I was here to stay.
"Renee Swan?" A voice from outside, I could tell. Incoming on Forks parents having nothing better to do than gossip. "Well we haven't seen you in years." I could tell my mother was scrambling for something to say by the way her back suddenly got in an uptight stance.
"Hey, I'm going to be late if we don't hurry." I announced stepping into view. It was non-other than Esme Swan. That's if they're still married, knowing Charlie probably not. "Hey Esme," I greeted her coldly, not even bothering to look in her direction. Esme gave a quick smile before turning around. Esme and Charlie have been married almost 6 years. It wasn't even a year into their relationship when I got the wedding invite. I didn't speak to my dad much after the wedding.
"Bella if you want a ride my kids are in your grade. Alice Cullen, and Edward Masen, they can drive you to school." I didn't want my mom to drop me off in the first place. I was already the new kid; I didn't want to be the new kid that was holding mommy's hand. I bit my lip knowing that my mom's feelings were definitely going to be hurt. "Edward, you mind taking a stray?" Esme joked as Edward walked out.
I froze in place staring at the man walking out of her house. He was… Well he was... hot. When did a guy like that move to Forks? He had brown hair that was the perfect length, and I could tell even under his letterman jacket that he was built like a God. Edward turned to his mom walking straight towards us. Suddenly my throat went dry.
"Who is the stray?" He asked glancing me up and down.
"Formal introductions?" I joked back making him smile. He only nodded his head. "I'm Charlie's daughter." Edward shook his head.
"I see it, there are pictures of you all over the house," he shrugged his shoulders. God please tell me Edward was not Esmes' son. "I'm Esmes' step-son." I furrowed my eyebrows together. I knew Esme had a daughter, but I never knew she had a step-son? "About three years before she married Charlie, my dad died. My dad was married before Esme, my dad got custody of me, dad married Esme, dad died, and Esme got the privilege of adding me to the family." I only shook my head once.
"Right, so step-brother," I rolled my eyes. Edward gave a chuckle. "Not really, it's not like we live together, or know anything about each other. We're not even the same blood. Plus they got a divorce long before you got here, you're not cool enough to be my sister," He said it with definite anger in his voice.
"I didn't know they got divorced." Edward rolled his eyes. "You want a lift or not?" Edward stormed towards his car. I looked back at my mom and gave her a weak smile before running after Edward. I got in the passenger seat of his car.
"So before we get to school, do you me and your sister has a problem?" I addressed the elephant in the room. Edward only shrugged his shoulders glancing over at me.
"We shouldn't but we probably will," I raised an eyebrow at Edward. "Look all I'm saying is you are not my family. Charlie got sick after the divorce, my mom only stayed because he had no one. I get your mom not wanting to help, but she came to see him in the hospital, you never visited. Not once." I gritted my teeth. He was making rash decisions about something he wasn't around for.
"Look," I snapped as soon as he hit a red light. "I don't know what kind of man Charlie was with your family, but I know what he was like for mine. You know what that was?" I waited for a response I wasn't getting. "He had a lot of late nights in the office. He missed every important event in my life for years before that because he was fooling around with Esme. When they got married I didn't get a phone call anything, just an invite to the wedding. After that I didn't exist to him. So don't act like I'm an ungrateful bitch who has no reason to be angry." Finally the car came to a stop. "Thanks for the lift. I won't need one tomorrow." I hissed getting out of his car and slamming the door. I could feel eyes follow me as I made my way to the principal's office.
"Isabella Swan," The secretary greeted me as soon as I walked in the office. "Your student guide should be here any minute; he'll be the one to show you around the school. Take you to classes; show how things operate around here." I shook my head grabbing the paperwork from her. "There he is now," she pointed to the only familiar face in the group of people.
"Hey Mrs. Stanley," Edward greeted with a big smile motioning his head. "Let me show you around hell, sorry I mean heaven." He laughed as I walked in front of him. "You know I figured it would be funny to let you storm off cause you're stuck with me the rest of the day Newbie." His tone was light, joking, almost sort of apologetic. "Look, I came off as a dick. I just don't understand someone abandoning family, and I know that sounds like another dick thing to say. I'm not good at apologize cause I don't ever apologize. This time I'll apologize." I couldn't help but laugh. His apologize were definitely terrible.
"So the guy who never apologizes, apologizes to me?" I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Yeah I guess," He smiled glancing at my class schedule. "We've got, first, fourth, and seventh together which means we also have the same lunch. You're still not cool enough to be my sister, but you're cool enough to meet my friends," he stuck a lollipop in his mouth walking forward making me have to almost jog to keep up with him.
"Dude," I grabbed his shoulder making him slow down. "You've got long legs, not all of us got that blessed." He gave a laugh shrugging his shoulders going right back to the same pace.
"Today you have to keep up with me," I tilted my head. "If you keep up I'll go your speed tomorrow." I shook my head keeping up with him while he walked up to one of the larger groups in the hallway. In Arizona the hallway was much wider than this one, and it was always packed with different groups of people. Arizona was a much bigger high school. Edward carried on with the conversation while I looked around the small high school wondering if this high school was going to be different than the one in Arizona.
"So you're the Newbie," One of the men nodded his head to me catching my attention. He was taller than any boy in the group, he was also the biggest. He was not the kind of guy you wanted to piss off. That much I could tell.
"Bella," I answered without missing a beat. The man half-smiled.
"Yeah, everyone knows your name Newbie," he gave a humorless laugh making me roll my eyes.
"And what else does everyone else know?" I knew in a small town like this the rumor mill turns, and turns, and turns, until no one knows what the real truth is. Everyone gets bits and pieces of the truth, but they always seem to spin things to make them worse than they really are. The man looked me up and down like he was debating if he was going to tell me.
"Got kicked out of Arizona, the reason is still unclear, most of the kids are saying you slept with one of your teachers, the other half says you got into one too many fist fights. At any rate you came back to spend time with dear old dad before things get worse and because you're mother wanted you to come back to a familiar place." The man laughed and shook his head. "I'm Emmett, how did I do?" Three other strangers gathered around the group.
"I didn't get kicked out. I left," I answered with a shrug off my shoulders. "I didn't leave to spend time with dead old dad though I'm forced to do that," I glanced over seeing none other than Alice Cullen. Emmett raised his eyebrow at me but didn't say a word on either subject. Alice was staring at me, and the entire hallway felt like it was empty. No one made a peep.
"It doesn't really matter why she left, does it?" Alice piped up walking right towards me. She had shoulder length sleek black hair, burning blue eyes, and she was easily one of the prettiest girls here. No doubt she was a cheerleader too. "She's here to stay so that's all that matters," Alice slung her arm around my shoulder like we were best friends. "You're in my first period, walk with me," she tugged me to go along with her.
"Thanks for that," I stammered walking out of her grasp.
"Yeah," she stopped at a locker I assumed was hers. "Here's the thing Bella. I don't have an issue with you. I know our parents have a lot of drama but in my eyes that's their issue. I'm sure Edward was a complete asshole to you because he doesn't understand what it's like to be in the situation you were in. My mom and dad got divorced when I was three for the same reasons. Short end of the story, keep the drama between our parents not between us." I gave her a light smile. I relaxed my stance slightly shaking my head.
"Yeah sounds fair to me." Alice linked her arm through mine leading me to class. "This is your seat. Trust me it's the one you want to take, or we will all be hearing Edward and Tanya argue the entire year," I raised an eyebrow and Alice gave a laugh. "I'll tell you about it when we're not at school. You're cool enough to be my friend for now," Alice winked at me as I set my stuff down and Edward walked in followed by a group of boys. Emmett took a seat next to Alice, and Edward set his stuff down next to me without a word.
"My spot Newbie," her words were as cold as ice.
"Funny, doesn't have your name on it," I replied without looking even slightly in her direction. I heard Edward give a fake cough to suppress his laugh. I could still see the girl out of the corner of my eye. "It's a desk. Don't be so melodramatic, there's another one right over there." I pointed to the empty chair in the back of the class. The classroom was dead silent just like out in the hallway.
"Ok, Newbie I'll give you one more chance. I would like to sit next to my boyfriend. Move before I have him move you." Finally I looked up to see her shit brown eyes glaring down on me with the fakest smile plastered on her face.
"My name is Bella, actually, and if you can't handle having your boyfriend sit next to another girl maybe you should have him move with you." I gave her the same fake smile she was giving me.
"Not your boyfriend," Edward sounded more than a little annoyed. "Tanya just go take the seat. Seriously, I don't need another week's worth of after school detention just because you're crazy," he snapped leveling his eyes with hers. She licked her lips and glared at me the whole way to her seat. Edward looked back seeing her finally sitting in the empty seat. "Sorry, she's my ex." Edward muttered as the teacher stood in front of the class.
"Introductions will be short, we have a new student, Isabella Swan," the teacher motioned to me making everyone turn to face me. "Isabella we are currently reading Romeo and Juliet today is group discussion, try to keep up." I shook my head. "Alright let's start group discussion with a debate, raise of hands, how many people loved the story of Romeo and Juliet?" Half of the class raised their hands. "Alice enlighten me with your reasoning."
"While many people love the story of Romeo and Juliet because of the forbidden love aspects I love it because Romeo and Juliet are only kids trying to figure themselves out, because they have no clue that they are. They fight to make their own decisions in a time where that was unacceptable. In my eyes, it took a great tragedy for those families to start listening to their kids, and by the time they finally did it was too late." Alice explained making the teacher shake his head.
"Isabella, you are one of the only females that did not raise their hand, enlighten me." I took deep breath.
"Women tend to love forbidden love stories because it shows that a man can change. Romeo was this older bad boy that Juliet was fascinated by just like many women are attracted to trouble makers. Personally I do not like the story because it was portrayed as a toxic relationship. Relationships between a fourteen and seventeen year old should not be romanticized in today's world. Besides, if they were madly in love, they should have been able to come up with a solution other than death." Edward scoffed a little bit making the teacher motion towards him giving him the floor.
"The point isn't that they killed themselves. The point is what drove them to take it to that extreme?"
"Teenage hormones maybe," I shot off before he finished his sentence. Edward took a deep breath glaring at me.
"Passion should never be ignored. Passion drives people to do some of the best things they can do. You cannot reprimand people because they are following something that makes them want to live. Without passion there is no point in living. Romeo was Juliet's passion, and vice-versa. Besides it's a three year difference, not that big of a deal." I furrowed my eyebrows.
"It is when she is fourteen," I defended without a second thought. "At seventeen you are much different than you are at fourteen. No offense intended but what is one thing on a seventeen year olds mind?" The question hung in the air. "Okay no one wants to say it, sex. Sex is the one thing on a teenage boys mind whether they are in love or not. Hormones are so out of whack when we are this young. A fourteen year old should not be rushing into sex let alone marriage. Since in that time it was a sin to have sex before marriage you can make an assumption to as why they were getting married, but if you get married just because your hormones are out of whack you're going to end up making a mistake." Edward rolled his eyes.
"Alright let's hear from,"
"No," Edward cut off the teacher. "It's a friendly debate, right Bella?" I shook my head as he nodded towards Emmett.
"Well since you're a little girlish I'll give you an opinion from a man," Emmett gave Edward a cocky smile letting him know that he was making light of the tension. "Romeo and Juliet is a terrible love story. They did everything out of rebellion. I'm all for rebellion man, but I wouldn't go marry someone I dated to get back at my parents. I think that's what it boils down to." The teacher leaned back on his desk listening to where the conversation was going.
"Come on, Romeo and Juliet is one of the most epic love stories to date," Tanya of course stuck with whatever Edward said. I only chuckled. "It is," She glared over at me.
"Everyone else gave a reason why," I shot off before she could say another word.
"She is right, what's your reasoning?" Alice chimed in. Tanya rolled her eyes.
"Passion of course," She smiled directly at Edward making him roll his eyes. "That kind of love when you can't go two seconds without thinking of them, that's passion." I shook my head disagreeing with her, she only raised her eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, that's not passion to me. If it's passion for a thought to cross my mind when I think about a million different things a day is not passion. Passion wants something or someone so badly you don't think you can live without it. Passion is when you're willing to give something 100% all the time, and you're willing to give 150% when it's hard. Passion is being strong enough to fight your way through every obstacle, and make it out alive. Romeo and Juliet were passionate, but they were not the epitome of passion." Edward gave a smile looking back to Tanya waiting for her rebuttal.
"They were the epitome of love. They loved each other so much they were willing to die for each other. In my opinion that's the bravest thing a person can do." This time it was Emmett that laughed.
"Some people call it brave. Smart people call it stupid." Emmett announced making almost everyone in the room laugh. Emmett only bowed his head and gave a cocky smile my way.
"Alright everyone calm down," the teacher finally stopped the discussion. "Homework for the night will be to write an essay, at least one page, explaining everything you think you learned. I want you to take away the good and the bad so write on both. Isabella I'm assuming you've read the book?" I only shook my head. "Good. Last fifteen minutes is free time to talk, finish your homework, whatever it may be. Keep the volume down."
"A girl with a mind of her own, Forks high might freeze over." Edward joked bumping my arm. "It's going to be fun having you around. You are a force to be reckoned with." Emmett and Alice walked to our desks; Alice sat on the top of my desk.
"So you officially have to be friends with us," Alice announced with a smile slapped across her face. "Cause I can tell you one thing for sure, Tanya wants to rip your eyes out. Everyone in her circle is going to try and make your life a living hell." Turns out, high school is the same all around. There will always be a Tanya no matter where you go.
"That's alright with me. A girl who doesn't blindly follow whatever someone else says is cool is always welcome around me." Emmett announced giving me a fist bump. "I got your back." I couldn't help but smile. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like I was making friendships that were going to last a life time. I also knew I was making a friendship with two people my mother was going to hate with a passion.
"Do you want to come over and bounce ideas off of after school?" Edward asked. Alice only raised her eyebrow at him. "I mean I know it's awkward given the situation but if we have to write about good and bad I'm going to need help finding the bad, and you and Emmett could need help finding the good." Emmett only shook his head and grabbed Edwards shoulder.
"I'm down. I can't afford to flunk this class." Alice glanced back at me waiting for me to say something.
"I mean, Charlie lives with you though?" Edward shrugged his shoulders.
"Yes. Esme wanted us to invite you and your family to dinner tonight. Alice was supposed to ask, because apparently I'm not as nice as Alice." Alice shook her head confirming his story.
"She does know that's going to get messy, yeah?" Edward only shook his head with Alice. "Like blow up screaming match messy?" Alice shook her head.
"It's just better to do it now than wait it out. You guys are here for good and it's a small town. Mom wants to try and squash shit so it doesn't make things weird for us. Small high school and all," Alice explained.
"I'll tell my mom." That was going to be a fun conversation
A/N: Keep in mind this is an unedited first draft. Let me know what you think of my story. Until next chapter.