Hello everyone! I hope you will like this story
Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer, I am just borrowing her characters.
BellaPOV
I, Isabella Swan was a failure…I had come to that conclusion has I blew the candle on the birthday cupcake my best friend Angela had brought with her to our girls night as per tradition. I had known her all my life, our parents had gone to school together.
Charlie, my dad, had once been the brilliant quarterback and captain of the Spartans, the town's high school football team. His future was promising there were talks of full scholarship thanks to his prowess on the field and dreamed of going pro but it all came crashing dawn when his girlfriend, Renée, who had wanted in on his bright future decided to stop taking the Pill.
At 18, my father did what honorable men do and proposed to his pregnant girlfriend, hence becoming part of the shotgun wedding statistics. the newlyweds and their parents decided that Renée would study from home while dad would go on with high school. Everything went according to Renée's plans, until a rainy September morning when I decided to join the world.
Upon laying his eyes on me for the first time my dad's world had shifted (or so he liked to say), his new priority was to see to his family's needs and as he informed my mom, he had every intentions to look for a steady job straight out of high school. My mother who envisioned herself as the wife of a famous football player was furious and tried and pleaded with my father who wouldn't relent. Two weeks later, Renée left town, leaving me behind along with divorce papers and legal papers stating she was relinquishing all parental rights to my father.
With my grandparents' support, dad finished high school with a 2.67 GPA and went on to work at Newton's Sport Equipment Store. Three month into the job, the chief of police who was a family friend told my dad he could do better than working at the store and hinted that he was thinking of retiring which meant the Forks police would need fresh blood. Five month later after a series of tests, my dad was entering WSP Training Academy for a 26-weeks basic training course followed by 8 weeks of practical instructions. It was the start of his career as a police officer that culminated fifteen years later when he became Chief of Police.
I loved Charlie but being the Chief of Police's only daughter was an impediment to my social life in school and boys tended to avoid asking me out on the principle that my dad had a gun and knew how to use it. Angela being the eldest child of Mr. Weber, the pastor of our community, knew what it was not to fit in with the crowd. We were both shy and awkward so we decided to stick together all the way to college in Seattle.
With my passion for literature and creative writing, I would major in literature and English knowing that the job opportunities were few but I wanted to be a writer. I had my future planned, I would find nine-to-five desk job to pay the bills while using my free time to write my manuscript, which would be an instant success.
Presumptuous…here I was four years later, working as a telemarketer trying to sell insurances… I had written several manuscripts sent them to different publishers, all were sent back with rejection letters. Some of them had little notes attached ''while the original idea is interesting enough your characters lack in personality'' , ''you don't develop the plot enough to keep the reader's attention'' , little by little those rejections had discouraged me to the point I had hit a major writer's block. I had not had a creative idea in month.
Maybe it was time to give up on my dream…
'Bella? I've been talking to you for five minutes and all you've done is nod and huff.' Angela was still holding the cupcake in front of my face, visibly impatient.
'Sorry …it's just…I've been wondering if…I should just give up on my writing. It's been months and I'm still looking at a blank page, no idea, nothing, nada, zilch. Maybe the person who wrote the last rejection letter was right, you can't write about what you don't know.'
'The Bella I know and like wouldn't give up so easily, maybe writing a novel isn't for you but it could be or you could be destined to write something else…'
'Like what 'user manual' no thanks…'
'No, what I'd like is for you to read this little article on the Internet the other day.' She fished a stack of paper out of her purse. 'You should read this and decide if you want to give up'
It was an ad from a serious newspaper but it seemed really out-of-place considering it was about Hollywood.
'Twilight Entertainment is organizing a writing contest: the company's spokesperson announced that their CEO and founder, Aro Volturi, has decided to organize a national writing contest to find as he says the 'next screenwriter'
The rest of the papers were a list of requirements to enter the contest and inscription forms to complete and return to Twilight Entertainment's office in Hollywood.
'You are completely crazy if you think I'm about to enter…it's…do you know how many people are going to enter? The winner is probably already decided and it's a giant publicity stunt!'
'It could be real! All those rejection letters said the same things, you have good ideas the problem is you can't seem to develop the story all that well but a screenplay is about the dialogue and context, there's a little description here and there on facial expressions, body language and such but you don't go into details. I'm sure you can do it. At least try…'
'You seem to forget on thing…the last letter…don't write about what you don't know…'
'So? You've never been in love; don't write about love. You've always been great with suspense, write a thriller! God knows growing up with Charlie you've develop a fascination for criminal investigations'
Angela had a point and for the first time in months I didn't want to give up…
