AN:Hi! This here is my first fanfic, I'm not much of a writer but I'd been looking through Seth's imprint stories and failed to find any that had my favorite type of female lead: Sweet and shy but with an unexpected stregth. I guess I based my main character, Elli, on kind of a mix of Tohru (fruits basket) and Hiyorin (Hiyokoi) (I also kinda picture her looking like Hiyorin). I'm writing this because I thougt it would be an interesting and cute love story, I hope you enjoy it :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the twilight series

Chapter 1

Elli's POV

The silence in the class was broken by a curt knock on the door. Mrs. Laurie walked over quickly and opened it. She and whoever was at the door discussed briefly before she turned to glance at me, her eyes full of pity. I got a sinking in my stomach and started to shake. Sensing my discomfort, Will glanced up just as our teacher was nearing our desks.

"Elli, you're being called to the office, please gather your things for the rest of the day." She said quietly, as if she were afraid anyone else would hear, or care for that matter.

Predictably, not one of my classmates looked up from their work as I walked out of the class. Well, except for Will. He followed me out of the class and my earlier fears were confirmed when our teacher didn't protest.

My mother was dead.

I stopped at my locker and opened it mechanically, retrieving my worn out schoolbag, not bothering to put my books in with care as usual. I closed the locker just as Will picked up the bag, taking my hand in his as we made our way silently to the front of the school. We probably looked like a couple just then, but we'd never been anything but best friends for the fourteen years we'd known each other. The holding hands thing was out of habit, he used to hold my hand wherever we went so I wouldn't get lost but we hadn't done it for years before that day. I guess he had felt me slipping away; he was making sure he didn't lose me. Will was always doing that, taking care of me like I was his sister, like I was family.

We entered the principal's office after Will having convinced the secretary to let him in too. I wouldn't have been able to go in without him then, that's how much I depended on him. I noticed a woman sitting in the corner watching me attentively as I walked by her.

"Hello William, Elli," the Principal said politely when we reached his desk. "Please take a seat."

He took a deep breath and looked at me sadly before continuing.

"Elli, I'm afraid I have some terrible news concerning your mother. She passed away this morning at 10:46 after falling from the rooftop of your apartment building. She committed suicide."

He stopped, waiting for my reaction. I didn't say anything, I couldn't. I had already known the moment the teacher looked at me in class. In truth, I had known this would happen ever since my mother got the message of my dad died in a car crash two years before, when I was thirteen. She started disappearing then; eventually she became only an empty shell of her once beautiful, joyful self. After the funeral she stopped talking to most of her family and friends, and then later she stopped working. We had a reasonable amount of money saved up at that point but eventually it ran out and we started getting into dept. Our house was repossessed and we moved into a tiny apartment with the money left over. I wouldn't have been able to stay in my private school I had been going to all my life if they hadn't decided to support me, being one of the top students. With that, I kept living relatively normally but my mother wasn't getting any better. It got to the point where I was basically living alone; she stopped talking to me almost entirely and only drifted around our tiny living space. Obviously I was aware there was something severely wrong with her but she forbade me from telling anyone, telling me they would separate us and that I couldn't do that to her. She said they couldn't help her anyway, she was broken.

So that was my life, taking care of her and myself, well, at least keeping us alive. I ignored the unpaid bills that piled up and the phone calls. I did everything around the house and concentrated on my studies so as to not disappoint the principal that had let me stay. At school, I relied on Will in such a way that it was unhealthy because I couldn't talk properly to anyone, I was so afraid I would let something slip about my mother. He knew something was wrong but never pushed me. I lived with it, my whole life threatening to fall apart at any moment and I fought for it, even if I knew it would never last. And then it was over, and I just didn't know what I was going to do with myself.

"She talked to me this morning," I say in a tiny voice, looking down "she said 'I'm so lucky I have you, I love you, I'm sorry.' I should've known then, I should've stopped her. All this is my fault..." I can feel tears falling onto my lap.

The principal tries to reassure me; "Now, Elli, you know that isn't-"

"Sir," Will interrupts "may we have a moment, please?"

The lady and the principal obliged and left the office, he lifted me into a hug and we did nothing but stand there for what seemed like a long time. I cried for real then, sobs ripping through my chest as the reality of it all. Mom was gone. It didn't matter if she hadn't been there entirely; I would take that before this hole that she left in me. Eventually I calmed down enough for Will to call them back in and discussions resumed about what would happen now. Adoption was the main solution though it would mean I'd most likely need to leave Vancouver and it would take time, the lady told us. It was decided that I would stay at Will's house for the next few weeks while everything got sorted out and so I could finish the school year. I was glad for this because I knew I wouldn't be able to survive all the stuff coming up without him.

The next month blurred by too quickly for me. Mother's funeral came and went, family members I had never met came and told me how sorry they were for my loss. Not theirs because Mother hadn't existed to them, not really. I met up with a lot of specialists for child services who tried to see how messed up I was. They decided I would go see a psychiatrist regularly once I'd moved into my new home to help me deal with my past and my communication issues. The search for my guardians lasted a few weeks, until a young couple from Forks, Washington took interest in me.

I was planned to arrive near the beginning of summer so I would have time to adjust before school started, meaning I didn't burden Will's family for too long. The only thing was that I hadn't been sure I'd be OK without him. Whenever I would wake up crying or was in need of anything whatsoever he was there. The amount of help that I needed from him was an eye-opener and I decided when I would live with those who were kind enough to take me in I would do my best not to weigh them down too much with my burdens. The amount of luck I had to be starting over hadn't been apparent to me at the beginning, when the future didn't seem to exist, but as the month sped by I had found myself more and more exited for it. Of course, I was still terribly sad about the loss of my mother and leaving my city, and I still had a lot of mending to do, but I was thankful for my fortune as well and counting on making the best of it.

That's how, June 30th, after everything was settled and exams were done, Will's family and I drove to the airport for my trip "home". I thanked his parents repeatedly for their hospitality, I had grown to be able to somewhat talk to them, and after I said goodbye to them, Will took me aside for his goodbye. I felt tears stinging my eyes even before he started talking.

"You've got everything?"

"Yes,"

"You know who you're looking for once you get there?"

"The Wardens,"

"You know my home phone number just in case?"

"I've known by heart it since I was four,"

He hugged me then, and I realized all at once how worried he was for me.

"I'm going to be fine," I said, my voice muffled by his shirt.

"Yeah," he answered a few moments later "yeah, I know."

We broke apart then, I stood on tippy toe to kiss him lightly on the cheek before giving him a last smile, a single tear rolling down my cheek.

"Bye, Will," I whispered.

"Bye, Elli," I heard him choke as I turned to walk away.

AN: So that was the first chapter, I know the shift in mood is quite sudden but I'm trying to show Elli's new hope for her life, perhaps it doesn't really work? Let me know, Review please!

Thanks for reading!

pepper-rabbit