Every time he hits her, I cower farther and farther into the corner. Sympathetic for her, but glad that it isn't me.
Moving from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington was the biggest mistake of my life.
It didn't seem that bad when my mother presented the idea over dinner one night. We sat around the small, round table; all three of us. Renee, Phil and I. She told me that Phil was going off to Jacksonville to play minor league baseball, and she just couldn't leave him. Renee, being the erratic harebrain that she was, insisted that I do not tag along, and move up to Washington state to live with my father for a while.
I figured it wouldn't be bad. Some father-daughter bonding.
How wrong I was.
I dragged my feet down the stairs, my brown messenger bag slung across my shoulder. I tugged on the too-tight gray sweatshirt I wore, and adjusted it as I reached the bottom of the stairs. The smell of fresh bacon and scrambled eggs floated around me. Of course it wasn't for me, it was for Charlie. I held my nose as the aroma nauseated my weak stomach. I walked slowly into the kitchen and smiled warily at Esme who sat at the kitchen table, waiting for Charlie to wake up.
Esme was my soon to be step-mom. She and Charlie had begun dating loosely four months ago, and it had gone downhill from there. About a month into their relationship, he proposed to her, and threatened to kill her if she didn't accept. For the remaining time to the present, he beats and hits both Esme and I,
I walked over to where Esme was sitting and kissed her cheek lightly. Even though I'd only known her for a few months, I was growing really close to her. Not in the maternal sort of way, but more like the friendly aunt-niece sort of way.
"Morning, Bella-Boo," she said, her smile wide, but her eyes sad.
"Morning Esme," I replied. I opened the fridge and hastily took out an apple, knowing that if Charlie caught me with food, I'd be done for.
"Bye Ezz," I called, as I walked quickly out the front door. I felt guilty leaving her alone there with him but I couldn't risk both of us getting killed—that's what she'd always told me.
I arrived at school earlier than usual, due to the fact that I avoided the usual…'run-ins,' is you will. I parked my rusty, red truck in my usual parking spot, and walked up to the front office like everyday to greet the secretary, Ms. Madigan, the one who always wears something purple. I don't know why, but I just feel this strong bond and sense of trust in her.
"Morning, Ms. Madigan," I chirped. She looked up from the mass of papers on her desk and smiled up at me, her brown eyes shining through the glare of her eyeglasses.
"Good Morning, dear. How are you, today?" she asked, smiling. I shrugged.
"Same old, same old," wow. That's the understatement of the century.
"I'm glad to hear it," she replied. The cool wind of the door whipped through my hair, startling me. I whirled around, surprised to see four teenagers standing in the doorway.
But it wasn't the wind that initially scared me. It was the look of their faces. One of the girls was tall, with honey blond hair waving loosely to her back. Another boy was tall, very muscular, with short, curly hair. The second boy was a bit shorter than the first boy, but still tall, with honey golden hair that waved to about the middle of his ears. He was muscular, but not as much as the first boy. The third boy was tall, but not nearly as muscular as either of the boys, with messy bronze hair. They were all abnormally beautiful. Like they just stepped out of a fashion magazine or something.
They were all standing awkwardly near the doorway, yet so confident and nonchalant; as if they knew they were interrupting something, but didn't care.
I stepped aside as they walked passed me toward the desk where Ms. Madigan sat. I inhaled as they passed. They smelled almost sickeningly sweet, like sweet peas. But the thing that scared me the most was that I couldn't take my eyes off of the bronze haired boy. His face was so hard, yet so soft. So confident, yet so feeble. So mysterious, yet so readable.
"We're the Cullens," the tall, muscular one spoke, in a smooth voice. He spoke with much confidence—more than I could ever muster up. "I'm Emmett, that's Jasper, Edward, and Rosalie." I raised an eyebrow. Almost as if reading my thoughts, the bronze haired boy turned his head to look at me, his eyes boring into my head. I quickly sat down in a waiting chair, and flipped open a magazine. Out of the corner of my eye, I could swear I saw the bronze haired boy, now identified as Edward Cullen, smirk.
Ms. Madigan handed them each a small stack of papers, which each accepted gratefully. They turned all at once, almost as if it had been rehearsed, and glided swiftly out of the door. With a last glance from Edward Cullen, I was left sitting back in my chair, breathless.
"Bella, honey? Are you okay?" Ms. Madigan asked, snapping me out of my reverie.
"Wow, I mean, yeah, I'm fine. They're new?" I asked, standing up clumsily and walking back over to the desk.
"Yes. They're Dr. Cullen's foster kids, I think. At least that's what the ladies at the salon say," Ms. Madigan said, glancing up at the clock. "Bella, you oughta get to class." I glanced up at the clock and sighed. I gathered my things and headed off to first hour.
"Did you see them?" Alice, my best friend asked me at lunch that day. Mary-Alice Brandon had been my best friend since kindergarten when we first shared the snowman stencil. She was short and thin, with jet black hair that was in a pixie-like cut. She was bubbly and peppy, which made up for my dreariness, and was the only one that knew my secret. About Charlie.
"Who?" I asked, even though I already had a general idea of what she was talking about.
"Them. The new kids. I think their names are Cullen or something," she gushed, sneaking a glance over her shoulder at their table in the corner. They all sat silently, staring at their untouched food. Lunch was almost over. They'd better hurry up if they wanted to finish.
"Yeah, what about them?" I asked, playing dumb. I knew she was going to start going on about their looks. Because they were hauntingly beautiful. The kind of people that you can't help but compare yourself to.
"Just look at them! They're beautiful! Especially the blond boy!" she said excitedly. I nodded.
"Jasper Cullen?" I asked, to clarify.
"You know him?" she asked me, shocked.
"Oh, no. He was just in my trig class. He wasn't really that talkative. Actually, he looked like he was in pain the whole time," I recalled. "Mr. Abbel made him introduce himself to the class," I told her. She nodded and looked over at them again.
"Did he say where he was from?" she asked, keeping her eyes on their table.
"I think he said they just moved down from somewhere in Alaska."
"Are they all related? Because it doesn't really look like it," she asked, not even acknowledging my previous answer.
"No, they're foster kids."
"They're really pale. And they're eyes are a weird color," she observed. This caught my attention. I looked around my friend and over to the table of newcomers. It was true. They were all extremely pale, sickly almost, and their eyes were all a strange ocher, a gold. A shade I'd never seen before.
"Maybe contacts like that were in Alaska or something," I suggested, trying to dismiss the wild thoughts that I knew were going on in my best friend's head. Alice had always had a wild imagination. Sometimes her ideas had been so farfetched that I'd have to go through her locker to make sure there weren't any drugs. And just for the record, there never were.
"Maybe," she agreed, still analyzing the group. The bell rang shrilly, and we both hurried off to our next class, still curious about the background of our new classmates.
I walked into building four, shaking the rain from my hair. I took it off my shoulder and hung it on the hook like usual. I pulled the sleeves of my white long sleeved t-shirt down, better hiding the many bruises I'd acquired. I walked to the back of the room and took a seat at my counter. I didn't have a partner this term, since we'd picked. Alice wasn't in this class, and she was the only friend I really had. So I'd been the odd one out. It didn't really bother me, I actually enjoyed the solitude.
My gaze snapped up as I heard a familiar velvet voice echo from across the room. It was soft, but I could still hear it, for my ears had been alert for the sound all day.
"Class," Mr. Banner said loudly. No one listened. "Class," he said again, a little louder. Still, no one settled. I knew what was coming. "CLASS!" he yelled loudly. Everyone hushed.
"We have a new student. This is Edward Cullen," snickers at the name, and sighs at his beauty, "tell everyone where you moved from, please."
"Alaska," he said, in the same velvet voice I heard before.
"Interesting. Well, you can take a seat in the back next to Ms. Swan." Oh no. Not me. He couldn't be coming over to sit next to me. But he was. And he did.
"Hello," he said, after Mr. Banner started talking.
"Um, hi." I replied timidly.
"I'm Edward," he said, still looking at me. He seemed to be analyzing my face.
"Bella," I replied, the corner of my mouth turning up slightly. Wow. This was getting awkward.
"Bella Swan. Is Chief Swan your father?" he asked. Oh gosh, why did we have to talk about Charlie? I nodded.
"Yeah, um, how do you know him?" I asked. I tried not to let the pain of thinking about my father show in my face.
"My father Carlisle works with him a lot," he said, opening his Biology book.
"Really? What's your father do?" I asked, changing the subject from me to him.
"He's a doctor. A real good one, in fact," he explained. I thought for moment.
"He must be new then. Because I've been to the hospital so many times, I've got pretty close bonds with all of the doctors, and I don't remember ever meeting any Dr. Cullen."
"Oh, no. We just moved down to Forks. From Alaska. Denali to be exact," he said. He looked back down at his book, and just like that, stopped talking to me. First he's telling me about his family, and we seem to be getting along, but then he just shuts up and stops talking to me.
Class dragged on as usual, but the strange boy beside me kept me from falling asleep. He had girls fawning all over him, yet he didn't seem interested in any of them.
The bell rang shrilly, and at once Edward was out of his seat, gathering his things. I caught sight of him about to leave, but was stopped by Jessica Stanley. Jessica was pretty to some standard, nothing compared to Rosalie Cullen, and really popular. She used to be my friend, but then she found out I was friends with Alice, and ditched me.
"You're Edward, right?" she asked, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously. I saw Edward bite back a chuckle.
"Yeah," he said, sounding really uninterested.
"I'm Jessica Stanley. But you can call me Jess. Or Ca. Or Stanley, or Stan, or whatever you want," she said the last part, trying to sound seductive. Edward raised his eyebrows.
"Excuse me, Jessica Stanley, but I should be going. I have to get to next hour," Edward said, pushing past her. I giggled at him using her full name.
"Wait!" Jessica said, grabbing onto his hand. Edward turned around, annoyed.
Jessica took out a pen and scribbled something on his hand. She winked at him, turning slightly.
"Call me," she purred, walking in a way that wiggled her hips even more than she usually did. Edward looked at his hand, dumbfounded. Then, he looked up at me.
"Is she usually like that?"
"She used to be, but now she's dating Mike Newton. The guy with the pinch face who was sitting behind us. You must be pretty damn appealing if she's gonna distance herself from her 'baby cakes' like that." I used air quotes. I turned quickly to walk out, when he said something in his velvet voice that caught me off guard.
"Do you think I'm appealing?"
I turned slowly, my cheeks turning a scarlet color. "Well, I, um, I…" I stuttered. I replayed the conversation in my mind, and came to the conclusion that my statement had come out completely wrong.
"I didn't really mean it…uh…I mean…I did but…you're appealing but…I don't think you are…I mean…what I meant was…" I struggled to form a sentence. Luckily, my old friend Angela Weber walked up to me, requesting to copy my history notes. I obliged, grateful that she had interrupted the awkward conversation.
Well, there you have it. The first chapter of my first ever Twilight fanfic. WA HOO! So I'm kind of new at this, so I'd really appreciate it if you guys would review and tell me how I did? I'll give you a virtual cookie!