My mom was thirty minutes late to pick me up, per usual. The drizzly Washington climate dampened my habitually curling hair and slid off my yellow raincoat. My suitcase made a nice seat after I decided to forgo the cigarette butt covered bench that sat outside the bus station thirty minutes before when the bus had dropped me off in Port Angeles.
I checked my phone's clock for the thousandth time and brushed my hair out of my face for the millionth time and wondered where my mom was for the billionth time when she squealed into the parking lot. I barely had time to stand up before she came at me like a linebacker looking for a hug.
"My baby!" She yelled over the constant current of cold rain. "My beautiful baby, come here. Gracie, come give your mama a hug!"
She embraced me tightly, like she did a year ago for the last time when I left for Alaska. She used to hug me like that all the time when I was little, but then she stopped. I never figured out why she stopped. Mom always hugged my brother, Adam, like that.
"Well, get in," she ordered, pushing me towards the car and grabbing my suitcase with her other hand. My mother was a very petite woman, but she wielded great force by the sheer will of her personality. Sometimes I pretended that I had as big of a personality as her, but I don't think I would know what to do if I did.
The car ride to my childhood home was filled with the scent of rain and my mom's never ending stream of chatter. Adam always said that my first sentence was "Shut up," but that was neither confirmed nor denied.
I tuned back in when Mom mentioned college. "I know that you don't want to go to college your first year out of school, but there's just so many options out there for a smart girl like you. I picked out a few of them and they're laid out on the kitchen table. Now, there's no pressure for to pick right away, but Dan's going to finish moving in tomorrow morning, too, so you might have too—"
"Dan is moving in?" I interrupt her. Daniel Williams is Mom's brand new boyfriend, and he is as boring as his name. From the weekly phone calls Adam and I got from our mom in the past year, Daniel is a car insurance provider. That pretty much covers it.
"Yes, sweetheart, and you're going to love him. He's sweet and funny, nothing like your father," Mom cut herself off as soon as she mentioned my father. I could feel myself stiffen and I sighed heavily, imagining that all of problems would just whoosh out of my body like the carbon dioxide I was exhaling.
"Mom, I know that you love me and are really excited to see me, but please don't ever talk to me about Dad ever again," I told her as calmly as I could. When I saw her open her mouth to apologize, I held up my hand as said, "I mean it, Mom. Don't ever fucking say anything about that man to me ever again. He's dirt, Mom, and you should fucking hate him for what he did to us."
My mother was silent, stewing, for the rest of the way back to her house. When she pulled her big, bulky Buick into her driveway, she threw the car in park with ferocity. I went to open the door before she could say anything to me, but she locked the car from her side as I reached for the handle.
"Listen to me, Gracie Meredith Seeders. I understand that you think that you have some kind of independence after living away from home, but you don't. You don't get to talk to me like that when you live under my roof. Do you understand?" My mother snapped, shoving her short, stubby little mom fingers under my nose. I nodded reluctantly and she let me out of the car.
"Yeah, Mom," I mumbled, spilling out of the car and into the driveway in a rush to get away from her. Daniel opened the front door like he knew we were there the whole time and practically floated over to us like the fucking fairy he was. I dragged my suitcase out of the trunk while he placed a kiss on her lips. It grossed me out in a way that kisses in movies gross little kids out.
"Yikes, Seeders, I've never wanted to see your mom's tongue before now and I hope I never see it again," a voice behind me said. I turned at the unfamiliar bell-like voice and saw the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my whole life. She had long brown hair and light brown eyes, and she strutted over to me with the most grace I have ever witnessed someone use outside of a catwalk. The woman walked right up to me and smiled widely. She even smelled pretty, like a field of flowers.
"I'm sorry," I said, blinking out the stars from my eyes, "do we know each other?"
She frowned quickly, almost imperceptibly. Then the grin was back smeared across her face. "Um, yeah. It's me. Bella Swan. My dad and I used to live next year. We went to high school together, but you were a couple of years younger."
Yeah, I remembered. I remember Bella Swan, and she had been a pretty girl. She wasn't knockout gorgeous, and she fell down almost every time she took a step. And I don't remember her eyes being the color that the woman's were either. I remember Bella Swan, but this lady was not the same Bella Swan I knew.
But my goal was to embrace the weirdness that Forks had to offer, so I returned her smile. "Bella," I exclaimed, "yeah, I'm sorry. How are you?"
"I'm good, actually. Really good. I got married and had a kid, and I love it," Bella gushed, her smile becoming more sincere. I nodded and tried to look pleased, but in my head I was doing the mental math. She got married while I was gone, and had a kid, and had apparently lost all of the baby weight all in a year? Was she a fucking supermodel? She was only like two years older than me, too. It freaked me the fuck out that she already had like a family and shit.
"That's so great. We should catch up, for real. I'm available whenever, I have nothing to do until my job at the law firm starts next week. I'm going to be a secretary," I babble while I back away towards my front door, grabbing the suitcase from Daniel's hand as he tries to futilely lug it up the two stairs leading to our front porch.
"Actually, my sister-in-law is hosting this big party out on First Beach tonight if you want to come. I heard a bunch of people from high school are going to be there, so if you want to catch up with everyone that might be the best way to do it," Bella calls. I drop my suitcase on my foot in surprise at her offer. We really hadn't been that close, even before she turned into a supermodel and I left for a year. I couldn't believe that she already wanted to hang out with me.
Mom was calling my name inside and my foot was throbbing after the suitcase was dropped on it, and I was frozen as I debated the offer. I hadn't talked to hardly any of my Forks friends in Alaska. Still it would be nice to talk to someone other than my mom or Daniel for a few hours. I could already tell this was going to be the worst summer ever.
"Yeah," I said after a beat, "yeah that'd be great."
"Awesome," she trilled, hunching over to dig out her phone and rapidly type out a few texts. "I'll pick you up around 7. Sound good?"
Seeing the phone in her dainty little hand was weird. It was like it didn't belong, like she wasn't a part of this era. I shook my head and dragged my suitcase all the way inside, leaning my head back out the door to shout, "Perfect, I'll see you then."
Mom stood in the hallway with her arms crossed over her chest. "I don't trust that Bella Swan. She disappeared for months after she married that Cullen boy and now Charlie Swan says she's got a baby that no one in this whole town has ever seen. Plus, she's too pretty. It's weird," Mom gossiped.
I rolled my eyes and shrugged as I continued my trek up the stairs with my suitcase. Daniel appeared right in the middle if the staircase, but I just cringed away from him and shut the door to my room decisively.
My room was nearly exactly the same as it was a year ago. A little more clean, and a little more barren too. It had lost its innocence the same way I had lost mine.
I wish I were back in Alaska with Adam.
The suitcases lay abandoned in the middle of my room, where they would probably remain until my mom bugged me enough to unpack them. I flopped down on the bed and closed my eyes for a second. The last thought I remember having before I drifted off to sleep was that it would be nice to have what Bella had. Not just the supermodel looks, but like a family. A happy life. I didn't need a kid, not now, but I wanted something to depend on, something I could look forward to at the end of the day.
I woke up suddenly at the sound of knocking on my door. I didn't know how long I slept or even what day it was anymore. It was that awful feeling that happens when you take a nap and you were super tired. Mom would be pissed if she came in to my room and saw that I had taken a nap instead of trying to unpack, so I rolled off the bed with a thump and starting throwing clothes from my suitcase into random drawers. The knocking came again and I remembered why I had been woken up in the first place.
"Um," I said, my voice cracking a little from sleep, "what is it?"
"Your friend Bella is here," Daniel said from behind the door, sounding too cheerful. Just his voice made me scrunch up my nose at the sheer awkwardness of him. "She says you have plans."
"Yeah," I called, remembering that I was going to go to a party on the Rez with a bunch of people that I wasn't even friends with anymore and I hadn't even brushed my hair yet. "I'll be down in a minute."
I sat back on my heels when I heard his footsteps retreating back down the stairs. My room was messier than before buy it wasn't a disaster. At least it looked like I had tried.
When I glanced in the mirror, however, I told a different story. "Jesus H. Christ," I murmured to myself as I pulled at the dark bags under my eyes and poked at the rats in my curly blonde hair. My wrinkled t-shirt was beyond help, especially due to the mustard stain on the neckline that I didn't remember having when I left Alaska yesterday night. All I could do was throw my hair up into a messy bun and call it an outfit before I threw open my door and trudged down the stairs.
Bella and my mother were having a deep conversation in low tones, but stopped immediately when they noticed I came into the room. I got that feeling you get when you know someone is talking about you because they stop as soon as they see you. Mom clucked her tongue when she saw my outfit, and I gave her a thin smile as I sidestepped her.
Bella just blinked at me with her odd eyes and then gave me a sweet smile. "Are you ready to go?" She asked, already heading to the door.
I didn't say anything but followed compliantly, which was followed shortly by practically sprinting to Bella's shiny BMW so I could pretend that I didn't hear my mom ask what time I was going to be home. If I could just avoid Mom forever, maybe she would give up trying to talk to me about what happened.
The inside of Bella's car was dark and cold and filled with a thousand shiny buttons that all had their own purpose. I had barely buckled my seat when we were rocketing down the road. This was a far cry from the Bella that had driven me to school after Adam graduated in her ancient truck that could barely reach fifty miles per hour.
My back was pressed tightly against the seat and I felt completely out of control. My hands curled tightly over my thigh and the Oh Shit handle respectively. I closed my eyes so I didn't have to see my quiet town whizzing by at a hundred miles per hour. Bella seemed unaffected. Wasn't her dad a cop? This should be at the top of the list of things not to do when your dad was a cop.
"Edward got me this car," she chattered, covering up the silent, anxious air I was quickly breathing in and out. "It goes fast and its pretty eco friendly. You remember Edward Cullen, when he was my boyfriend? He's my husband now, I guess. It's weird to have to explain it someone, everyone else was at the wedding."
I forgot myself for a second and actually pitied her despite her desire to shift the car into warp speed. Did she want me at her wedding? Did she miss me when I wasn't here? I never thought we were that close, but maybe to her we were.
Instead of asking her that, I kept my mouth shut. I didn't know if I'd spew vomit or curse words, but it wouldn't end well for me in either situation.
We made it to First Beach (in five minutes instead of twenty), and parked close to where the bonfire was roaring and the people milled about. The sun had set, so I could only see the silhouettes of people, but there seemed to be a lot. As soon as we stepped out of the car, Bella's name was called from all different directions.
"Bella!"
"Bella, you're late!"
"Who is that, Bella?"
"Hey, Bella," a hulking guy said as he approached. I was only able to see him when he was a couple of feet in front of us, and he was a giant. Like, super huge guy. He was really cute, too, and totally my type. "I'm glad you're here."
"Thanks, Jake," Bella whispered, reaching up to hug him around the neck. "Um, this is Charlie's next door neighbor, Gracie Seeders. Gracie, this is Jacob Black. Gracie lived in Alaska for the past year, so she's really missed a lot."
She and Jake shared a knowing look before he reached out one of his giant hands to shake. "Nice to meet you, Gracie," he rumbled.
I smiled politely and intoned, "Nice to meet you, Jacob."
A tiny figure danced up to us and threw her arms around me, squeezing me tight. I knew her immediately from her light laughter. Alice Cullen had always been weird in high school but she had never bothered with me much. She knew me through Bella, but only because Bella drove me to school my junior year. And only sometimes did she even do that. To say I was shocked at Alice Cullen hugging me tightly was no joke.
"Alice," Bella hissed between her teeth as she hauled the small Cullen off of me, "please act normal."
"Sorry," Alice laughed around her smile, "I get a little excited around new blood."
"Alice!" Bella shrieked, loud enough for a tall, blonde guy to slink out of the shadows and grab her hand to lead her away from us. Jasper Hale was just as awkward up close as he always seemed to be from afar.
Bella shook her head and gave me a sideways smile. "I'm sorry, I know you probably want to go find your friends. Alice just gets a little lost sometimes. She's actually an awesome person," Bella apologized for her friend. Sister-in-law. Whatever.
Jacob Black snorted, and Bella gave him a dirty look.
"I'm not in a rush to see anybody," I told her quickly, probably a little too quickly. I was desperate for friends, for the support system in Forks that I had in Alaska with Adam. Bella seemed to like me well enough, and she was turning out to a little intriguing fun too.
Bella seemed satisfied with my answer and led me through the crowd of people, stopping a few times to say hello or give me a quick introduction if we hadn't gone to school together. It was weird, I had been gone a year but I had lived in Forks my whole life. These people should be welcoming me back like family, not like was a new kid. I had gone to the same school as them for years, minus the Quileute kids.
All the same, I hadn't been around this many people in a long time. At least since I had moved to Alaska. My throat felt tight and my head felt like it had been pumped full of helium. I couldn't see straight, so I plopped myself down on the nearest piece of driftwood and let my forehead fall into my hands. The nervousness would subside, after a while. It always did. My own heartbeat was too loud in my own ears, which is probably why I fell off my log when someone laid a tentative hand on my shoulder.
"Jesus," a deep voice said with surprise, "are you okay?"
It wasn't Jacob Black, and it wasn't any of the other huge boys that I had met either. He looked like he had just gotten there, which I had presumed from the mechanics jumpsuit he wore that was covered in oil and other various car greases.
My face was flaming hot, and I was way too embarrassed to even look in his direction as I picked myself up off of the damp sand. I rested on my knees to wipe the sand off my hands and said, "I can't say that was really my finest moment, but I'm alright. The funny part is that I haven't even been diagnosed as a crazy person yet."
"Um, okay," the guy said, and then set his red solo cup on the piece of driftwood to offer me his hand. "Here— let me help you up."
I strongly considered ignoring his hand and getting up on my own and then running back to Forks myself. This was pure mortification. Instead, I reached my hand up to fit nicely into his hot one.
And by his hand being "hot," I don't mean it in a sexual term. I mean it in a way that describes when you've stayed by the fire too long and now it feels like you're running a fever. Temperature wise.
My eyes snapped up to his face in surprise at the sudden temperature change. The guy had a bright smile on his face that quickly melted off, and his dark eyes widened dramatically. He had this super intense look on his face like he was trying to figure out the answer to the world's hardest calculus problem. And then he started to shake.
No, shaking is too tame. This guy started to vibrate.
I tried to yank my hand out of his after a couple of seconds of shock, but his grip was so tight that it was beginning to hurt. "Hey," I gritted out through the pain as I tugged on my arm, "let go of me. That fucking hurts."
He just kept on vibrating and getting incrementally getting temperature-hotter until I really couldn't see him except for a general shape. His lines were all blurred and shiny and I felt like crying. I had been back in Forks for a day and I was going to die at the hands, literally, of a mysterious, vibrating boy.
"Seth," a bunch of Quileute guys that I had met earlier all started calling out as they ran at us head first, dead sprint. All of these massive guys were by our side in seconds, ripping the guy off of me and dragging him into the woods. His eyes stared at me even when I couldn't see him anymore, and a shiver went down my spine.
"So fuckin' weird," I muttered to myself, clutching my hand tightly too my chest. I would have bruises tomorrow, but I wonder if maybe some burns too. When I turned back to the bonfire, I noticed that everyone at the party was now staring at me with varying displays of judgment.
I couldn't take it anymore. I just turned around and left.
Obviously only first chapter, but I feel good stuff about this one. Let me know what you guys think.
Also, I don't own Twilight.