Chapter 1: Scares

Courtney's Point of View
I was glad my friends had excepted me back so easily after the way I treated them when I was dating that asshole Chris. I can't even believed I dated him for so long. I shuttered at the thought. After the way he treated me I should've left after the first month, but I was truly scared he would follow through on his threats to kill himself without me.

My friends brought me to the movies to see some pointless sitcom. I had quickly agreed and thanked them many times. The phone in my pocket vibrated and I turned to see if anyone noticed. My closest friend Mandy was sitting next to me and she heard my phone buzz too.

I flipped it open and read the text from my sister Ash.

Ash: Courtney its Gran. She is sick. Something is wrong with her heart. A heart attack I think they said. It's not looking too good…

I gasped and looked down to reread that text. After I was sure I read it correctly I rushed a text back.

Me: okay tell dad to come and get me

I didn't have my license yet because I was only 15, my birthday was next month. I looked at my phone, it was 8:30 now. He should be here around 8:45…

I turned to Mandy. "I-I have to go." She nodded and watched as I rushed out of the movie theater. I paused in the main lobby of the theater and sat on a bench that looked out over the front of the building so I would see when my dad got here.

It was then that I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I turned around to see Mandy standing there. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding in.

She was worried. "Are you alright?"

I shrugged. "It's not me, its my grandma, she's sick." I trailed off at the end. "She might not make it…" I started crying then.

"Do you want me to stay out here with you?" She asked.

"No, no go have fun, enjoy the movie, I'll call you tomorrow."

"If you say so…" I watched her turn and walk back to our theater. I turned and faced the road to see if by chance dad was here. He wasn't. I sighed and checked the time once again. 8:35. 10 more minutes…

Once again I felt a hand close down on my shoulder. "Mandy it's really f-" I stopped short realizing that the hand was bigger then Mandy's. Internally I was kicking myself for not having Mandy stay with me. I turned around to see my worst nightmare standing right next to me. Chris.

"H-how d-did you f-find m-me?" I looked at him and started backing away.

He chuckled and stepped over the bench closing the gap between us.

"S-s-s-stay away from me." He just got closer. He put his arms on either side of my head and bent forward like he was about to kiss me. I did the only thing I could think of to do, I brought my knee up with as much force as possible, and it hit it's target. However small it may be. He fell to the ground crying.

"Baby! I missed you! Come over here and kiss me. Make me feel better." He whined. I shook my head.

"Never." I spat at him. I turned and grabbed my stuff from the bench and walked out into the night. I opened my cell phone to call my dad. "Dad? Hey it's me."

"Oh, hi Courtney. I'll be there in about 3 minutes okay?"

I nodded before realizing he wouldn't be able to hear that. "Yeah okay dad see you then." I hung up my phone. About a minute later I did a 180 to face the opening door behind me. Uh oh.

"Why'd you do that babe?" Apparently Chris had recovered from the blow I gave him. Shit.

"Don't call me that!" I nearly shouted at him. It looked to me like I had also recovered from the shock of him suddenly being there.

Great, now he was angry. "Why not?"

"Because we are THROUGH!" I didn't contain my yell that time. Chris picked up his pace and was nearly jogging to me. I saw headlights just a little ways down the street and I hoped that they belonged to my dad's 2000 Ford Mondeo Sedan. But with no luck it just passed. Chris was right on top of me now and grabbed my arm.

"Come with me baby." He started pulling me away but this time a car came, and it was my dad. I sighed in relief.

I watched my dad jump out of the car and walk over to us. "You let go of my daughter you scum. Leave her alone." Normally I would get angry at him for butting in but right now I was so thankful he was here. Dad brought me back to the car and I graciously climbed in. Once my dad was in he started speeding away muttering something about 'boys these days.'

I looked up at my dad after about 5 minutes and said. "Thank you."

He looked startled and replied with a " No problem sweetheart."

Turning my eyes to a loose string on my sweatshirt I asked. "How bad is she?"

Looking straight out into the road he said, "Pretty bad."

I gulped and leaned my head back against the seat. I never really got a chance to hang out with Gran since she lived all the way in Forks, while we were across the country in Maryland. The rest of the car ride was silent except for our breathing.

I didn't know if I was ready for what I was about to walk into. I knew my mom would be devastated, and Ashley, and Dustin would most likely be too.

A frown spread across my face as I stepped out into the garage. Last time we had gone to see Gran It was over the summer but I was to preoccupied texting my *cringe* boyfriend. I tried to pull it up a smile but I wasn't sure how it would look to an outsider. I looked in a mirror. No good, this smile would cause them to worry more.

As soon as I walked into the living room I was bombarded with people. All 3 of them were hugging me.

"I-I'm so sorry mom." I managed to whisper out. "What happened?"

"shedhtatck!" I couldn't make out a work she said. I turned to Ash asking for help.

Ash translated for me. "She had a heart attack."

"Oh my god! Is she okay?" I was freaking out. I had really hoped that Ash was lying when she texted me.

"Mom wants to head to Forks to be with her parents." It was dad who spoke. "Alyssa are you sure you want to go alone." She nodded.

"Can I go with you?" I didn't even know where the question came from. I didn't know either my grandfather or grandmother from Forks very well and my dad's parents lived in Texas so we didn't see them either. I didn't want to not know them anymore. I would go with my mom and I would pay attention to my family.

Before either of my parents could answer Dustin and Ashley were pouncing on them too. "Can I go?" "Please Ma can I go too?"

I saw my mom thinking about the situation. She turned to my dad. "Jeff can I talk to you in the other room?" Dad nodded and followed my mom into their bedroom.

I being the oldest of the kids ran up to the door and quietly pressed my ear against it.

"Maybe we should move there?"

There was silence for a minute.

"Maybe." My dad agreed. "We should be close to them."

My mom probably nodded her head. "We should move soon. How about next weekend?" I heard footsteps then my dad answered.

"Let's ask the kids first." I didn't expect to hear his voice so close, and then he opened the door. We all tumbled in and I ended up being on top of my 2 younger siblings.

"Sorry!" I murmured before hopping off them. I glared up at my dad. "You wanted us?"

"Well you guys know the question. What's your answer?" We all thought about it for a moment then I replied first.

"I think that's probably the best idea." Not to mention it would put distance between me and Chris, I added in my head. I looked over to see doubt playing across my 2 siblings faces.

Mom cut in here. "You guys will make new friends easily! It should be as easy as saying yes and we will move there to be with our family!"

Ash nodded and Dustin bounced up into mom's arms. "Okay mommy."

We all smiled and my dad went to the computer with my mother to arrange flights to Seattle so we could get to Forks.

I grabbed one of our family suitcases and I packed away some of my stuff. It was around 10 that I decided to send a text to all my friends.

Everyone: I'm moving to Forks next weekend, so if I don't see any of you this week outside of school it's because I'm packing. I'll miss you guys

I double-checked to make sure I didn't send the message to Chris before I hit the send bottom.

Within 5 minutes I got about 10 text messages.

Mandy: No! I'm gunna miss you so much!

Christine: Sorry to hear that! Bye girl

Laura: Aww no!!

Pepper: Bummer!

Gina: :( I'll miss you!

Casey: boo!!!

Keara: Noooo!! Ahh don't leave!!

Kathryn: oh okay :(

Trisha: thanks for letting me know…

Mea: that sucks

It made me feel very loved to know so many friends would be thinking about me. I sighed and fell back onto my bed.

My sister, only 2 years younger than I am, came running in so I sat up and looked at her. "What's wrong Ash?"

She came and crawled into my lap. "Do you think she's gonna make it?"

I looked her in the eyes but soon I turned away. "I… I don't know…"

I brought her head to my pillow and we both lay on my bed. We stayed that way for a while until she thought I was asleep, then she quietly got up and left the room. On her way out she whispered. "I love you."

I was to out of it to reply but it didn't matter because I didn't even know if I heard it right. After a short amount of time I found myself drifting into a dream about the cold and rainy place we'd be moving to.

A/N: Alright i dont know how good this chapter is but i really think it will get better. Reviews would be nice.... stick with me dont give up on the story yet.