SHUFFLE
Chapter One: Forks and Knives Do Not Belong in the Same Category
When I opened the wrapping paper of the gift Renee had given me the week before my departure, I was genuinely surprised to see a new iPod hidden beneath. After all, I'd never asked for such a luxury – I had a CD player that worked just fine up in my room. It was very much like Renee to get me something that she thought I needed, however, and I didn't want to hurt her feelings by turning it down, so I kept it.
I originally thought that this sort of going-away gift was supposed to be given closer to the actual going-away, but Renee quickly explained that she wanted to give me the chance to upload a good amount of music, since the plane ride to Forks was a long one. I supposed that I could appreciate this thought. After all, spending all day on a plane with music was better than spending all day on a plane without.
In addition to the iPod, my mother organized a little farewell party, set to take place the weekend before my flight. Knowing I hated parties, she used the excuse that we could instruct all guests to bring CDs so that I'd actually have music to put on my new device. I wasn't really jumping for joy at the thought of it, but my friends at least seemed excited, at least, so I did my best to stifle my killjoy attitude.
It didn't make any sense. Why should I be happy? I was going to have to leave everyone I loved for the entire summer – my supposed "break". Last January, my parents had gotten a divorce. It didn't come to me as a surprise to me, as I'd been able to see that something had been rather off about them for a while, now. It was a lot of Renee staring out of the window, a lot of Charlie staring at old photo albums, and a lot of the both of them sighing. I supposed I was relieved that it wasn't a messy divorce; the two of them seemed more awkward around each other than anything else. However, Charlie had managed to put as much distance between Renee and himself as possible, moving to the smallest corner of the country: Forks, Washington. It's the small town where all three of us were born, although we moved so long ago I can barely remember it. I do remember that Charlie didn't really want to move away from Forks, though. It was always Renee with the stars in her eyes – she wanted bigger, brighter, hotter. Drier. So we packed up and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where I spent the majority of my seventeen years, until my parents realized they didn't love each other anymore. It was as if they tore up some imaginary contract – once abolished, Charlie cut his ties to Phoenix and returned to his birthplace. It was then decided that I'd stay with him during all of summer vacation, and that if he wished, he was allowed to come down to Phoenix so that he could visit during Christmas break. I didn't understand that last part. What was the point in Charlie coming to visit if he couldn't even return to his own house?
Unsurprisingly enough, I spent the following Christmas only with Renee.
However, as much as I didn't want to leave all of my friends for the entirety of summer, I did want to see my father again, so I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to see Charlie over vacation. Besides, Forks was supposedly a small town. I'd probably meet plenty of new friends there, simply by running into the same people over and over again. Just because they weren't the group I'd grown up with didn't mean they weren't people.
And yet, I found myself dreading my farewell party more and more with every passing second.
A/N: Hullo, hullo, welcome to the fic. This is admittedly my first submission to - it's so confusing e_e I apologize if anything doesn't make sense or seems off because of it; I'm sure I'll get the handle of things soon. But for now, please excuse my noob-ish behavior, and merely focus on the story. 8D; Thank you for reading~
Also, many thanks to my Beta, Stripe, for making sure this story isn't full of fail.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, the setting, nor the general idea of Twilight. The AU's plot and the actual writing, however, are all mine.