No copyright intended. I do not own any recognizable entities herein. This is an AU Twific. I hope you enjoy it.
RATED M FOR MATURE CONTENT. 18 ONLY PLEASE.
I read something similar to this once that was unfinished and I really liked how something like this could go. Hopefully you like my take on it.
Today was my first day of school in Forks, Washington. I was living with my father, Charlie for the first time in my life. I was almost eighteen years old, my birthday was only a couple weeks away and I was starting my senior year of high school. The last few weeks were spent adjusting to my new life in the wettest place in the continental U.S. and I was not eager to be the new student. I finished getting ready, putting on my shoes and stuffing a jacket into my backpack in case it rained later. Who was I kidding?
"Bells, hurry up! You're going to be late." Charlie shouted up the stairwell, his booming voice traveling through my open bedroom door easily. Glancing around my small, barely decorated bedroom one last time, I shouldered my purple backpack and gripped the strap tightly. I sighed as I closed the door on my way out, ignoring the portrait on the wall of Renee on my way to the stairs.
My footsteps alerted my father to my presence as I made my way down the worn blue painted stairs. He stood at the foot of the stairs waiting for me with an easy smile as he took in my attire. I did the same to him as I approached him slowly, willing myself not to trip. His navy police chief uniform was starched and ironed, buttoned and tucked. His side holster was equipped with his weapon on his left side and his baton was in another holder on his right. The gold colored badge gleamed in the weak sunlight that filtered through the open front door. When I finally made my descent and stood in front of him awkwardly, he pulled me in for a bear hug, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. I pressed my nose into his shoulder and breathed in the Brute aftershave he used every morning whether he shaved or not. This was familiar. I may have only spent a few weeks every summer with him and every other Christmas, but this was better than anything I had lived through my entire life. I wish he had found out sooner. This could have been my life instead. Tight, warm bear hugs, the sharp scent of aftershave, a loving smile.
He pulled back and ran his callused hands down my purple and gray plaid covered arms once before stepping back completely. "You look good, sweetheart." His eyes roamed over the way my hair was pulled tightly up into a high ponytail, tendrils had escaped but I didn't bother caring. He tugged on the ends of my hair gently. "Don't let these kids get to you. They don't have to understand in order to be nice."
I nodded uncomfortably before shifting on my feet. The converse squeaked on the floorboards and I glanced down, glaring at them for making the offending noise. The light denim bootcut jeans laid just over the tongue, not too long or too short. I hated when the hems got dirty and torn from walking on them. He turned and gestured to the open doorway, letting me pass before locking up the house. Clearing his throat, Charlie waited until I looked at him from the bottom of the porch steps.
"Here's a set of house keys. I used to keep one under the porch but now that you're here, I'd rather not leave the invitation for someone. It's different when no one's home if the place got robbed but you're too precious …" He broke off quickly, apparently uneasy with his rambling and he blushed. I smiled and took the keys from him, fingering the small silver swan that dangled on the keychain. My eyes lit up and I looked back up to my father with a toothy grin. He chuckled and pulled me in for another hug. "It was fitting. Okay, girl. Let's get this show on the road."
We loaded up into his police cruiser so he could drop me off at school. I hadn't been very comfortable with the idea of being driven everywhere by my father, and even less thrilled that he had sold his truck so I had to be seen in the cruiser, but it really wasn't so bad. I sat in the front seat and was more like his sidekick than a criminal trapped behind the cage in the back seat. Grabbing my bag from the floor in front of me when he pulled up to the curb at school, I set it on my lap and looked at Charlie, my small fingers on the door handle, ready to depart. His dark brown eyes met mine and crinkled in the corners as he smiled at me. It made me nostalgic again, wishing I had spent my formative years with him instead of…
"Here's a cell phone. And don't shake your head at me, Bells. You need this. It has unlimited texting and data so feel free to keep me informed about everything. I am encouraging you to. I need to know you're safe. Most of the kids here are good kids, but there are some yahoos that I don't want messing with you. I'll scare them off real good. You just let me know, okay?" Charlie said as he cut off my train of thought. I let him plop the rectangular phone into my hand and stared at it for a long minute, my eyes filling with tears at the fatherly gesture. His protectiveness was still so new to me. I swallowed around the thick lump in my throat and clutched the phone. Charlie watched me carefully with a fondness on his face, his mustache twitching as he tried not to smile too wide. I tried to salvage my small emotional breakdown with a roll of my eyes but he saw through my facade. He always had known me better than anyone else, most likely because I was more like him than anyone cared to guess.
I placed the fingers of my right hand to my lips and smiled as I brought them away and down. He nodded and brushed a strand of hair away from my cheek, tucking it behind my ear. "You're welcome, sweety. Go on and head to the office. I'll be here at ten after two to pick you up. Maybe we'll have pizza for dinner…" My shaking head cut off his offer and I quickly signed out that I wanted to make something. Charlie raised his eyebrow at me and I told him quickly that I wanted to make him chicken alfredo. Both eyebrows raised as he read what I had signed to him and he licked his lips.
"That sounds real good. Much better than pizza!" He said enthusiastically and I shook my shoulders as if I were laughing with a big smile on my face. "Okay, okay really go on now." He playfully shoved my shoulder as I stepped out of the cruiser and I waved at him as he drove off.
Walking through the parking lot and up the concrete steps to the small side building and glass entry doors that said 'Main Office' on them, I struggled to keep my head held high. I was so used to staring at my feet as I walked but I refused to start my new life being the shy, timid girl I had always been. I had a long way to go before I would be over what I had been through, but I could always start small, like Charlie had guided. School may seem like a big step to some people, but to me, it was the smallest step. Warm air fluttered over me from above as I entered the office and headed toward the chest high maroon counter. Metal baskets filled with paperwork, fliers, folders, and leaflets were strewn around the top of the counter. There was a large ficus tree in the corner by a set of uncomfortable looking chairs to the left. I approached the secretary and gave her an envelope and a smile by way of greeting.
"Hello dear. Oh! What's this?" The elderly gray haired woman opened the envelope as she side eyed me. She read through the contents and her eyes lit with sympathy. No one was to know what was in that envelope except her, the principal, and the guidance counselor. A separate paper was to be copied and given to each of my teachers so there would be no confusion as to why I wasn't speaking. The school was informed that I did not need to be signed to, as I could hear, but that they would need to brush up on their ASL in order to understand me. Charlie had assured me that this wouldn't be an issue as the school had previously had a deaf child enrolled a few years ago and all of the teachers had had to learn in order to teach him.
The secretary bustled off to the door furthest to the right of the office and knocked, slipping the envelope into the mail slot on the principal's door. She hurried back over, her large rump making her almost waddle, and settled back into her comfy looking computer chair. She handed me a thick folder that, after a brief glance, I saw had my map, schedule, list of teachers, and some welcome packet that no one ever looked over. I signed 'Thank you', earning a returning smile before turning and heading back outside. Forks High was a smattering of four buildings. Maths and Sciences were in one building, Athletics, the cafeteria, and the auditorium was in another, English and History in the third, and the fourth was where the electives were taught like Art, Home Economics and the like. I followed the nicely landscaped sidewalk from the Main Office to the first building I needed. According to my schedule, that I maneuvered while I walked, I would be attending Algebra first period. Mr. Knox, a tall heavy man with graying brown hair, was happy to meet me and was very in depth with American Sign Language, having a niece that was severely hard of hearing as he animatedly explained with both his hands and his mouth, earning himself a few chuckles around the classroom.
Second period brought me to Building Three where I was thrust into the world of Shakespeare for ninety minutes. Thankfully, I didn't have to leave the building and made my way to History, my last class before lunch. I had received the few odd stares and heard the whispers. Most people didn't know that I wasn't actually deaf and didn't bother to lower their voices at all, earning scowls and glares from the teachers that overheard them, as they were about the only ones who did know my secret. One frizzy haired girl, who sat beside me in English, didn't bother filtering her tongue and almost earned herself a thwack in the head with my laptop. She should be thankful that I decided my laptop was more worthy than her head. Purposely keeping my eyes on my work on the desk in front of me, I ignored her the best I could, pretending that I was indeed deaf. It was the story we had come up with anyway between the school and Charlie, agreeing that no one would understand or comprehend the real reason why I never spoke. It wasn't anyone's business. I refused to let that hurt me or hinder me. Whatever these kids said about me would be on their own conscious if they ever found out that I could actually hear them.
During lunch, I shouldered my backpack and trudged through the slow moving line. I decided I would bring my own lunch from now on. I would rather be sitting under the awning outside the cafeteria, reading my book and munching on carrot sticks, than waiting in this line with all the kids talking about me so rudely. Even if I was deaf, their stares and large way they spoke easily let me read their lips and I narrowed my eyes at a few people. Jessica Stanley, the girl who sat beside me in English, was gushing to her friend about how weird I was. I wasn't aware I had done anything yet to warrant that label, but this was high school after all. Surprisingly, as I grabbed a tray and filled it with a turkey pita sandwich and a small fruit cup, the blonde she was talking to shushed Jessica and gave her a glare. Jessica waved her hand dismissively and rolled her eyes before running along to find someone else to gossip to. Turning my full attention to the tray of food in front of me, I paid for my lunch and headed toward the doors of the cafeteria. Someone held the door open for me and I barely spared them a glance as I nodded my head. I couldn't very well sign 'Thank you' while I held my tray. No one else joined me outside since it was misting and chilly but the air didn't bother me. I loved being cold. Under the protective cover of the awning, I ate my lunch at a picnic table and read from my novel. I always kept a book with me wherever I went. Reading was better than dealing with people and deaf, mute, or not, no one bothered someone who was reading.
Most of the time.
I had finished my sandwich and most of my fruit cup, taking a sip of water from my own travel cup, when someone sat down across from me. I raised my eyes to their shoulder, enough to let them know I had acknowledged them, and gave a little wave before going back to my reading. A small, french manicured fingernail tapped on the wood of the picnic table's top.
Click-click-click
I heaved a big sigh and forked a piece of banana into my mouth, chewing obnoxiously, hoping to deter the person from trying to make conversation. Thankfully the clicking stopped but a small journal was thrust under my nose rudely, now resting on the book I had open already. I huffed and glanced up, clutching the journal instinctively so it wouldn't fall. I'm pretty sure I swallowed my tongue. The person who sat across from me was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her long flaxen hair shined, even though the sun had long ago been covered by thick clouds. Large golden eyes surrounded by thick dark lashes stared at me innocently, a hint of a smirk on her plump red lips. Her skin was the lightest shade of cream, not a blemish in sight. I was a pretty girl, but this woman stole my breath with curves to die for and the face of innocent purity that a model would kill for. I blushed at that thought and looked back down at the journal. She had elegant, stroking handwriting. It was the first thing I had noticed. The next thing I noticed was what she wrote.
"I know your secret."
I gasped and looked up but she was gone. Looking back down at my hands, I realized she had somehow taken the journal with her. I scrambled up to my feet and tripped backwards over the bench seat of the picnic table pinwheeling my arms to keep my balance but it didn't help. I fell down onto my ass in the thick grass. Thankfully no one was out here to see that. Wasting no time in picking myself back up, I wiped my butt off with my palms and gathered my tray and trash as I kept darting my eyes around, looking for the golden haired beauty. The words on the white lined page swirled around and around in my head. She knew. Someone knew my secret. How did she find out and why would she tell me about it? Would she become my new bully? Use my secrets against me the way they had? Images of my old bullies rose unbidden in my head. Or worse, become the new tormentor? I wasn't sure I could handle another tormentor. Charlie and Jake had fought too hard to bring me back from the brink for me to get shoved back down. I had to tell Charlie.
I tossed my trash into a bin on my way back through the cafeteria and placed the tray on the counter as I walked quickly toward the auditorium down the hall. Pulling my cell phone from the side pocket in my backpack, I powered it on and waited impatiently for everything to load. Why couldn't Charlie just have gotten me a tiny little flip phone? These new fangled things take forever to load and this was important! Just as I was typing out my text to my father, I felt a presence beside me, the person's shoulder was so close their shirt was rubbing against mine with each breath. I slowly closed my phone using the power button so what I was writing couldn't be read and dropped my hand to my side as I looked up to my left.
How many times would my breath leave me today? This man was more gorgeous than the woman by far. Soft looking creamy white skin, dancing golden eyes surrounded in thicker lashes than even the woman who had sat with me at lunch, a long straight nose, trim clean shaven jaw. I swooned. His red gold hair was artfully spastic, sticking up and out as if he had been running his fingers through it all day. Fingers, I noticed as he did indeed run them through his hair, were long and perfect for playing the piano. The corner of his mouth hitched up in a crooked type of smile, revealing straight white teeth under full kissable lips. My eyes shot to the floor in embarrassment. Were my hormones just late to the game? I had never been so blatant with my staring or so descriptive about people before in my life.
I signed that I was sorry and pushed off the wall I was leaning against, ready to dart into the nearest restroom. I still had to message Charlie. A cool hand touched my forearm and I turned my face to the handsome man attached to it. What he did next made my jaw drop.
He started signing, almost too fast for me to comprehend. "I'm sorry for my sister, Rosalie. She doesn't know boundaries and my other sister tried to stop her but she was determined to make a friend in you. I know it seems as if she is going about it the wrong way but she didn't want you to freak out if she just started talking to you and you ignored her because everyone here thinks you're deaf. She also didn't want you to end up responding to her voice and then everyone here would know you're not deaf. I'm rambling. I'll stop rambling now." His face was so expressive as he signed and I breathed a laugh, hitching my shoulders and tossing my head back. I laid a hand on his forearm and smiled at him, my eyes dancing. His nervousness was endearing.
I signed back at him, just as animated. It had been such a long time since I had been able to sign with someone who knew the language so well. Charlie learned ASL but he wasn't very good at it and while Jake tried to learn, he was struggling more than Charlie. They knew my secrets so they usually spoke while I signed or wrote. I almost collapsed in relief that Rosalie didn't know my actual secrets. This little Forks High secret was nothing compared to what I was running away from. "She really should have just said that. She disappeared so fast that I was sure I was in for some massive bullying later." I signed to him, my facial expression depicting how frightened that thought made me. His arm moved forward before it fell back to his side and I was sure he was about to comfort me. It was a shame he didn't. I probably would have embarrassed myself further by actually cuddling into him and sniffing him. I bet he smelled heavenly.
"She really didn't mean to scare you. She's a bit awkward sometimes. You would be her first friend here." He signed at me, huffing a bit in exasperation and I wondered at why I would only be her first. I didn't think on it long as he changed the subject.
"I'm Edward, by the way. Edward Cullen. You're Bella?" He signed, as he stepped a little closer. I felt at ease with him in a way I'd never felt at ease with anyone else.
I nodded. "Yes, Bella is what I prefer to be called. Isabella Swan at your service." I rolled my eyes at myself and made a face. "Sorry, I'm a little bit of a dork."
The smile that crossed Edward's face was so large that I smiled with him. "I think you're adorable." He signed and I blushed. I signed 'Thank you' then started to back away. The bell would be ringing for the next period I was sure and I had to go to Building Four for Art class. His eyes dimmed and his beautiful smile faded as he saw me retreat.
I was quick to reassure him. "I just have to get to Art. Maybe we can meet up after school before my dad picks me up?" I knew I was being a bit brazen by asking, he was only apologizing for his sister's actions earlier after all.
How about an Edward POV next? Drop a review and let me know what you think?