I don't own Twilight. Any of it. *sigh*
Chapter 1:
The rain was pounding on the roof of Charlie's cruiser so loudly that it made talking nearly impossible, something that I was grateful for. Not that we probably would have been talking anyway, Charlie is a man of few words, but I really was not in the mood right now.
We passed the 'Welcome to Forks Population: 3,532' sign. I sighed. 3,533. There was no way that there were even that many people though. Not even if you counted the Quileute tribe nearby. A fact that I was not about to try and point out to my father, the Police Chief.
We pulled up to the house and Charlie helped me bring in my suitcase and a cardboard box, the only things that I brought with me from Phoenix. It was raining so hard that we could barely see a foot in front of us and were soaked by the time that we made it to the front door.
"It's really raining out there." I said as we stepped into the modest entryway.
"Yeah." Was all Charlie said.
My heart sank. It wasn't really raining out there. Not compared to what it usually does. This was going to take some getting used to.
"Your room is right up here." Charlie said, grabbing both the box and the suitcase and leading the way up some rickety steps. "I can't believe this is all that you brought with you."
Now it was my turn with the 'Yeah.'. Truth was, I had a lot more stuff; it just wasn't 'Forks-proof' as my mother put it. She took me out shopping (one of her favorite activities as of late) to get some clothes that would withstand the rain (a hard feat in Phoenix Arizona, I might add) and we didn't find much. We had to go to a specialty store just to get a rain-proof coat. It was big and fluffy and at the time I was sure that I was never going to wear it because I would stand out, but right now I was sending out a firm 'thank you' to my mother for making me buy it.
"Renee is sending another box of some things that she got me online, too. It should be here in about a week." I added.
Charlie huffed. "I don't know about this 'online shopping' stuff. What if it doesn't fit?"
"Then I'll send it back, Cha—Dad. No big deal." I looked down, hoping that he didn't notice my slip. I would need to get used to calling him 'Dad' again.
If he noticed, he didn't say anything. "This is your room. It's almost the same. I went up to Port Angeles to get you a bigger bed and stuff. I hope you like purple. I didn't know what to get so the sales lady picked it out…I thought it looked nice enough…" he finished awkwardly.
"You didn't have to go through this much trouble. It looks great Dad, thanks."
"Your computer is over there and I took down your drawings…we can get some posters and you can fill up the space a little. I would have done it but I don't know anything about who's "hot" right now. The sales lady suggested a few…Justin Beaver? But I didn't know what you liked though, so I thought that I'd just leave that up to you…"
"Dad, it's fine, really. Thank you. I don't like much on the walls anyways." And there was no way that I was going to get a Justin Bieber poster. "This looks great."
"Okay, well, I'll leave you to get unpacked then. Don't forget to let Renee know that you made it in, she'll be worried sick by now."
"Thanks Dad." The word was getting more familiar, easier to use.
Charlie walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
I shot my mom off a quick text, letting her know that I got into Portland safely and had made it the drive in the rain to Charlie's house, so stop worrying. Then I tossed my phone on the bed and looked around the room.
It was almost the same as I remembered it, except that Charlie had replaced my old twin bed with a queen-sized one and where the crib was now set a small desk. The walls were yellowing and in need of a serious coat of paint but it was clean. I walked over to the closet, running my hands against the wall and the dresser as I passed by. I grabbed the handle and threw open the door, unsure of what to expect.
Behind the door I found a modest-sized closet, nearly empty. I say 'nearly empty' because there were a few things hanging on the rack. I pulled out a yellow plastic-y raincoat—lightweight and very much the classic 'raincoat', a sweatshirt that said 'Forks High School' across the front, a black dress covered in sparkles that looked like it came from the 80s, poofy sleeves and all, and blue sweater. The sweater was actually pretty cute, I had to give Charlie props if he picked it out. It was simple and V neck and the perfect blend of blue and green. I threw it on and looked in the full-length mirror behind the closet door.
"No bad." I muttered to myself, twisting and turning to get a better look. Renee would be proud, it actually fit. Most of my clothes were at least a size too big. It made me uncomfortable to have anything too close to my skin and I really didn't like people looking at me.
I changed back into my t-shirt and grabbed the pair of holey sweats that doubled as my pajamas. For good measure, I threw on the sweatshirt that Charlie had gotten me and put my clothes away. It didn't take too long.
I grabbed my coat and walked over to the desk, draping the coat over the back of the folding chair that was sitting in front of it. There was a box on the desk, something that I'd missed earlier. I picked it up. It was a laptop. 'You really didn't have to do all this, Charlie!' I thought as I took the box over to the bed.
On top of the box was a note. It read: I don't have a computer at the house, I just use the one at work if I need to, so I figured that you would need one for homework and stuff. I hope this works.
Leave it up to Charlie to have an eighty inch plasma HDTV but not a computer. I sighed as I opened the box and started setting up the computer. There was a knock on the door.
"Dinner's ready, Bells." I heard from the hallway.
"I'll be down in a minute." I called back.
I put in the installation CD and headed downstairs to eat.
Charlie wasn't the best cook and didn't like to "try anything fancy" as he put it so we had a dinner of hamburger helper and canned green beans. It was good. Something that we would eat on a quick night back home.
My breath caught a little in my throat. 'Back home.' This is my home now. This is my home now. I kept repeating that to myself until I thought I might burst into tears.
Clearing my throat I said, "Thanks for the sweatshirt. And the laptop. And everything else." I thought about the dress and suppressed a laugh "I love it all. You really didn't have to do that though. I could have gotten a laptop and stuff myself, I have a little money saved up..."
"I know, but I wanted to get you something special. A little 'welcome home' gift, if you will." He said, awkwardly. Neither Charlie or I was much one for showing our emotions. "I'm just really glad that you're here, Bells." He finished.
"Me too." I lied. "So, listen. Why don't I go shopping tomorrow after school and cook us up something real nice for dinner?"
"Oh, you don't have to do that, Bells. I—"
I cut him off. "I cooked all the time back—in Phoenix. You know Renee, she's helpless in the kitchen."
We both laughed. Charlie wasn't skilled as far as cooking went, but Renee was utterly helpless. If she had tried to make this hamburger helper, it would have turned out black and the beans would have exploded in the can as soon as she'd picked them up.
"Well I guess so, if you want to."
"I do, Dad. It will help me feel more at-home." We finished dinner in a comfortable silence.
When I was done eating, I put my dishes in the sink and excused myself back up to my room. Charlie said something about watching the game and went into the living room. Sure enough, before I'd even made it halfway up the stairs I heard the sounds of a cheering crowd from the living room.
I shut the door behind me and stared at the computer on my bed. Suddenly I didn't want it anymore. Any of it. I knew that it was my choice to be here but I wanted to take it all back. A big, cosmic, 'Just kidding!' 'takesies-backsies' feeling overwhelmed me.
Renee wanted to travel with her new husband, Phil. I knew that, (He played minor league baseball.) and she couldn't do that with me because I was in school. She said that she was fine staying home with me while he was gone for months at a time but I could see that it made her uneasy. Phil was one of the first things in a long time that had really made her happy, and I was getting in the way of that. So about a month ago, I told her that at the end of the semester, I was moving to Forks to live with Charlie and she was going to travel around with Phil.
At first, she had told me that there was no way that was going to happen, but I had insisted. There was a lot of resistance, but I had put my foot down and told her that there was no way that she was going to stop me; this was something that I wanted to do. A blatant lie, of course, but I was tired of seeing her mope, knowing that I was the cause and that I could fix it. She was torn, but started warming up to the idea—eventually.
Charlie was shocked when I called him out of the blue. We hadn't talked in a few months and he was doubly shocked when I asked him if I could come live with him. He asked about twenty times if everything was okay, didn't believe me when I answered 'yes, I just want a change in scenery' but agreed to let me come stay. I didn't even consider what I'd do if he'd said no, that wasn't even a possibility. He enrolled me in Forks High School for the following semester the very next day, according to the records request we received about a week later.
My laptop was asking for the second CD but I didn't want to deal with it anymore. I put it back on my desk, plugged in my phone—ignoring a text from Renee—and crawled under the blankets. The rain was beating on the roof and all I could think was 'This is my home now. This is my home now. This is my home now.'.
I waited for tears that never came, and somewhere between 'This is my home now.' and 'This is my home now.', I slipped into an uneasy, restless sleep.