Isabella Swan lives in busy New York with her mum, grandma, brother and sister. Since her fathers death, her life has been miserable. Then an angel enters her life, Edward Cullen. Can Edward teach Bella to smile and live again? Will Bella learn to appreciate her life? Will she fall in love with Edward? Or will he break her heart too?
AN: I don't own anything. :)
Chapter 1: Isabella Swan
I'm Isabella Swan, but I hate being called Isabella. Only my grandma and my mom can get away with it. I live in New York with my mum, my grandma, my little brother Emmet, and my little sister Alice. Seven years ago, my dad died. Before you ask, he didn't die in a car crash, or have a heart attack. He committed suicide. Why? I don't know. No one really knows. All we know is a few weeks after mom adopted Alice, dad was gone.
I miss him terribly. Mom and dad had married without my grandma's knowledge. Grandma was against it, she didn't approve of mom because mom was Catholic. Dad was Anglican. Although I had never really understood the big deal that grandma made of it, apparently it was a big deal. After they got married, after a few fights, dad finally agreed to move out of Forks. Grandma hadn't been happy.
Mom, dad and I all moved to New York. I was too young to know what was happening. All I know was that when I was almost 10, dad went and brought grandma home from Forks because she was sick. While dad was around, grandma and mom didn't hate each other much. It was known that grandma didn't like mom at all, but mom tried to be nice around grandma. At least, they tried to keep it a secret.
I was nearly 15 when Emmet was born. Dad always wanted a son, so he could teach baseball. Unfortunately, Emmet couldn't walk properly. He had a limp which stopped him from playing sport. All five of us lived in our small world, filled with happiness. We didn't know that our happiness was to be short lived.
5 years later, unannounced, mom walked in the door with a baby in her arms. I asked her who she was, but all mom said was that from now on Alice was her daughter. Dad had seemed stressed and worried about something. I had been old enough to understand what was going on, yet no one told me. About two weeks prior, tension between mom and dad had been high, much to the delight of my deranged grandma.
I had gone off to uni that day, Emmet at school, grandma had gone to church, and mom was at home with Alice. It wasn't until that afternoon when I arrived home did I realise that something was wrong. Dad was gone. He wasn't coming back. It was hard enough on mom to know that her husband had committed suicide, but with dad gone, the tension between mom and grandma increased.
Grandma blamed Alice for dad's death. Dad had left us with in det. It wasn't a large amount, but it was large enough for us to just meet ends meet. On top of that, mom had adopted Alice. Grandma thought that it was all Alice's fault, and by extension, mom's for bringing Alice home. Maybe that's why grandma never accepted Alice as her granddaughter.
Mom owns a cafe in down town New York. It isn't very popular, and with all of our loans, and debt, it seems that the cafe might close on us any day. Mom was always worried about it, but she never let us know of her worry.
"Mom!" I called as I walked in the door. I had gone out to fetch the mail. "Bills... bills... private and confidential?" I frowned.
"That's mine." Mom gently said, taking it from my hands. My eyes fell on the next letter, and I let out a frustrated sigh.
"Jess's mail! Again! When will our stupid mail man understand that we're Swan with a single a, and they are swan with a double 'a'. Mom just smiled at me, walking around the kitchen setting up breakfast. As I sat down at my spot on the table, Alice and Emmet came rushing down the stairs, taking their own spots. They were closely followed by Grandma who took her spot next to Emmet.
"Good morning Emmet!" Grandma greeted him with a hug.
"Good morning grandma." Alice said from across the table.
"Yes, yes." Grandma responded. Without even glancing at Alice, she continued to fawn over Emmet, who tried to get out of her grasp. As a 12 year old, he didn't want to be seen with his grandma. "You're up nice and early! Come on, get some food into your stomach. We want you to be big and strong! Don't we?"
I watched as Alice's face fell as she went back to eating her toast. Grandma's love for Emmet matched her hatred for Alice.
"It's so cold." Grandma complained. "Is the heater on?" Grandma asked mom as she placed a bowl of cereal in front of Emmet.
"You're always on aren't you?" Mom mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Bet?" Emmet leant across the table towards me.
"Shut up." I responded, reading through my notes for class today. "Don't irritate me."
"Chicken, It's only $1." Emmet quieted as mom returned to the table.
"What's for breakfast?" Grandma asked no one in particular.
"Cereal." Mom murmured from her place across grandma. I could tell that Emmet would win his bet.
"The serial has started? The bold and the beautiful?" Grandma asked, causing Alice to laugh lightly.
"Not the TV serial, the eating cearal." Emmet explained.
"That's nothing new. My wonderful daughter-in-law can't cook anything else." Grandma huffed, before turning to me. I didn't like where this was going. "You know Isabella, last night I had a wonderful dream. In my dream, I was eating mouth watering pancakes and waffles. It reminded me of Forks."
"If you miss Forks so much, why don't you go back? What do you think Bella?" Mom innocently asked me, but you could tell the sour tone that was dripping from her mouth.
"I'm not going anywhere!" Grandma suddenly said. I could see Emmet smirking, the glee of winning his dollar written all over his face. "If I leave, who'll take care of Emmet?" She said as she tapped him on the back.
Mom's eyes became small as she walked around the table, hugging Alice in her arms. "I care only about the kids."
"Yes of course." Grandma sarcastically said. "Why would you care about me? Who am I to you? If my son was alive today-"
"If he was." Mom sourly said. I couldn't take it any more.
"STOP IT!" I yelled, standing up. I leant over to Emmet, wanting to wipe his smile off for being so happy about them fighting. "Here is your stupid one dollar. You won. As usual. Happy?" I flung the money on the table, before turning back to look at mom and grandma. "And both of you... just forget it." I sighed, grabbing my coat and walking out of the house.
Every morning was the same. Mom and grandma would fight, I'd leave upset, and then I'd listen to my stupid neighbour Jessica's stupid idiotic chatter. I reached starbucks, tapping Jessica on the back to let her know that I had arrived.
"Hi!" She said to me before turning back to the cashier. "Make that two glazed donuts, 2 blueberry muffins and two chocolate frapachinos." She turned to me. "And what will you have?" That's Jessica for you. She's my neighbour and unfortunately best friend. She has two big issues in her life. The weight that she never loses and she doesn't realise it at all.
"One double espresso please." I said to the cashier. We grabbed our coffee and continued our walk. "Here's your mail. It arrived at our house again." I told her, passing her the letter. She glanced at it and almost started hyperventilating.
"Wow Bella! It's my blind date application!"
"What application?" I asked confused and already not interested. Anything with the word date in it couldn't be good.
"It's a really cool service. It's really popular these days. You just fill out a form describing the guy of your choice. You write a bit about yourself. They'll match the details and bingo, you've got the guy."
"Wow, and what did you write about yourself?" I sarcastically asked. Unfortunately, Jess had never been someone to understand sarcasm.
"See, whatever I wrote was the truth." She said confidently, however I was not convinced.
"What did you write?"
"That from afar I look like Angelina Jole-"
"And from up-close you look like her house." I finished for her. Before Jess could respond, someone based into me, causing me to spill my coffee on myself, squealing slightly at the heat."Oh my god! Just look at me!" I complained.
"Oh my god!" I felt a bit better. For once, Jess was being sympathetic. "Just look at him Bella. He's so cute!" I looked to where she was pointing, and a weird guy stood there listening to his Ipod.
"Jess! Jess! Look at me!" I told her.
Jess momentarily turned to look at me. "I see you every day! He's so cute!" She went on and on. I starred at her in disbelief, forgetting about the hot coffee on my clothes.
"Shut up!" I told her rudely. "Shut. Up!" I grabbed her wrists to stop her from bouncing in excitement. "Boy, boys, boys! That's all you're interested in. What do you think is going to happen?" I was going on a rant. I could feel it, but there was no way to stop myself. Of that I was sure. "You'll get the guy you want, you'll fall in love with him, marry him, have kids with him. And then?"
I paused to look at her confused face before continuing. "Then one day, he'll leave you all and go away. What will you do then? What will you do?" I asked her.
She was silent for a moment, obviously thinking of a reply. "I'll get married again. What else can I do?" She shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I sighed, deeply frustrated.
"Forget it... just-"
"Bella. You know, my sister is right. You need help." Jess told me.
"You and your sister." I sighed, continuing on our way. Jessica lived with her older sister, Lauren in the house next door. Unfortunately for me, Lauren was also mom's best friend and business partner. She has her own problems too. Youth that she's desperately holding on to, and age that she is refusing to accept. Provided that Lauren wasn't as old as mom, she wasn't much younger either. Five or six year max.
Mom and Lauren were facing big problems. Mom especially. Lauren and Jess's parents had left them some money when they had died. But with us, mom was the only one working. I did some part time work at the local grocery store, but mom didn't want me to work. She wanted me to concentrate on my studies. She didn't know that I still worked there in secret and was saving up the money in case mom wasn't able to repay the bank loans to save the cafe.
I said bye to Jess at the front of the university, where I normally waited for my friend, Jacob. Jacob Black was the son of wealthy business owners, Billy and Sarah Black. Jacob lived alone in New York, and for the past three years had made no progress in terms of work. I met Jacob at my MBA evening classes. At first I hated him. I couldn't understand how he could be so happy and content with his life. But now, he's my best friend. I couldn't imagine life without him.
"BELLA!" Came Jake's loud scream as he appeared next to me. "Sorry I'm late."
"Walk." I said as we walked together towards the building. Jacob began to rub his neck.
"What happened?" I asked curiously, although I had a good idea. Jacob thought he was really cool and a ladies man. Unfortunately, this often landed him in trouble. He wasn't as cool as he thought he was.
"Nothing." He defensively said. "I was coming down the lift and-"
"Oh I got it. The girls name?"
"I don't know." He admitted.
"Did the husband hit you? Or boyfriend?"
"Husband."
"Husband's name?" I was on a role. I was enjoying this in some weird crazy way.
"Mr Ian Phillip Orange Smith. How do I know? Husband's name." He mocked.
"I feel really bad for you Jake." I sympathetically said.
"It's ok."
"He should have hit you more."
"Thanks." Jake sarcastically responded. "How was you're weekend?"
"Fantastic. I went to London and Paris." I joked. Yet, it wasn't the humerous joking. I wasn't smiling, or laughing.
"It shows. Well, my weekend was rocking. Lily and I... In the same room.... on the same bed... all weekend." He smirked. "You know what I mean."
"Oh please!" Lily is Jacob's pet dog. And before anyone's mind gets even more disturbing, Jacob and Lily slept in bed watching TV all weekend. Nothing more. We entered the classroom, and took our usual seats, Jacob obviously sliding in next to me.
"Thank god you're not like New Yorks other girls." He randomly said to me. I smiled, thinking he meant it in a nice way. "You're not sexy. You're not beautiful, and you always have time for me. I like you."
"Thank you Jake. If it wasn't for you, I would have died." I sarcastically responded. "Jerk." A few seconds later Jake tapped my shoulder, and I started responded to his hand gestures.
"Leah Clearwater. New girl. Today's her first day. Divorced. For god's sake leave her alone." I begged him as he gave me a thumbs up.
"Hi." Jacob said as she walked past us. Leah stopped, and turned to Jacob.
"Hi."
"Please, have a seat." Jacob told her. Leah looked around, and at that moment, Jake realised that there were only two seats in our row. One where he was, and one where I was. Bad luck.
"Where?"
"I'd say in my heart, but for now, you are welcome to sit behind me."
"Sure." She smiled at him. I wasn't sure if she was flirting back or just being nice. But I was going to settle on the latter that she was flirting. As the presentation began, I glanced behind me, and noticed that instead of Leah, a lady who looked a bit younger than my grandma sat there. As pay back, I choose not to tell Jake.
He smirked at me, handing a piece of paper behind him. It said:
Dinner at 8.
The lady responded with sure. When Jake glanced behind him, I smirked at his expression, giving him a thumbs up. Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out a black diary.
"Don't." He said, opening up his diary to write. I wondered wheat Jacob wrote in his diary. I never asked him. He's completely mad. Jacob is basically a nice guy, and I can vouch for it because that night he didn't cancel his date. Jacob Black. As soon as I meet him, I forget all about all my problems at home. When it came to leaving him at night, I almost never wanted to leave. Unfortunately, my delusion of happiness never lasted long, and sure enough as soon as I stepped into the door that night, I was met with the sound of a loud slap.
I watched in horror as grandma slapped Alice. Emmet was fallen on the floor, his walking stick a few meters away. Obviously, he had tripped. Grandma helped him up.
"Are you alright dear? You're not hurt are you?"
"Sorry grandma." Alice's little voice said through her tears.
Grandma turned on her, grabbing her by her shoulders. "What good is sorry? What if my Emmet had gotten hurt? Then what?" Before I could step in, mom rushed to Alice, pulling her away from Grandma.
"What are you doing? She's just a child!" Mom told grandma, hugging Alice to her.
"A child? You've spoilt her!" Grandma said. "It's her job to watch out for her brother."
"And it's your job to forgive her! Not slap her!" Mom responded. The arguing had started again, and I had barely stepped inside the house.
"I haven't forgive you yet! How should I forgive her?!" Grandma turned to walked away.
"Me?" Mom incredulously said. "What have I done?"
"Forget it!"
"No tell me! What have I done!?" Mom demanded.
"Keep quiet."
"You say the same thing every day. Just tell me what on earth I've done wrong!"
"Don't make me say it!"
"Just say it!"
"It's because of you that my son-"
"Grandma!" I cut her off. Everyone turned to me. "Enough." The fact that was known in this house, but was never spoken of was mentioned today. As I hung my coat up, mom helped Alice and Emmet up the stairs.
"The truth is always bitter." Grandma bitterly said.
"No one knows the truth. Not even you." Mom simply responded before climbing up the stairs with me not far behind. We all entered the nursery. Alice and Emmet shared the nursery. The house wasn't too big. There was just enough space for all of us. Mom and I had our own rooms upstairs, and Alice and Emmet shared the nursery. Grandma had a small room upstairs which barely fitted a bed in it, which she used to keep her things, and a larger room downstairs. On most occasions, grandma would use the downstairs bedroom. Upstairs felt like a sanctuary, free of the yelling that happened between mom and grandma.
Mom sat down on Emmet's bed, Emmet crying on one side of her, Alice sitting on her lap, tearing pouring down her face.
"Don't cry Alice." Mom wiped away Alice's tears and Alice sniffled.
"She hates me." Alice wept.
"No darling. She doesn't hate you." Mom lied.
"She hates you." Emmet added, and mom put an arm around him.
"Don't say that dear. She's angry at the moment. Everything will be alright."
"When will it be alright mom?" Emmet said as mom ran her fingers through his hair.
"You know, when I was little," I noticed that mom was crying as she responded. "I use to cry over little things. Then my mom told me that Jesus sends his angel to all of us to wipe our tears."
"Angel?" Alice asked, sniffing, and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Yes darling, Angel." She stroked Alice's hair. "Our angel will come and wipe our tears away and fill our lives with happiness, and he'll take all our sorrows somewhere far away."
"When will our angel come mom?" Alice asked softly.
"Let's do one thing. Tonight in our prayers, let's ask Jesus for our angel, OK?" Alice and Emmet nodded in response. They slid off the bed, and knelt on the side, folding their arms and closing their eyes. I gently sat down beside them too, praying for happiness to come into our lives. I no longer believed in angels, I wasn't a child any more. But still, I prayed for a change. I didn't want to live the sad and upsetting life any more. I wanted the house to be full of happiness, laughter. I didn't want grandma to hate mom and Alice any more. I wanted my dad back, but that wouldn't happen either. I just wanted... to be happy. Dear god, if you're listening, please bring some light into these dark times, a little light.
And suddenly, the seasons changed. It stopped raining, and the gloomy weather outside changed. The sun started shinning on us, and it felt like maybe... just maybe everything might be alright.
A/N: How was it? Unlike my other story, I like this one, so I will continue to update. Please review and tell me what you think. I promise that any confusions will clear up, and it is a good story. Do keep reading. Oh, and it's not all sad and depressing, its gets happy and cheerful next chapter. Please review!!