I'd been in England for an hour now, and already I hated it. I know that's a pretty quick judgement, but the past weeks had been terrible for me, so I really didn't care. I was going to go live with my sister, Alice. She was 24, seven years older than me. We got on pretty well, seeing as we were both grown up. But that had never been a problem anyway, Al had always looked out for me, and we were more like best friends than sisters.

'Bell?' She asked, as she patted my arm comfortingly. I had never liked my name but Al almost managed to make me like it sometimes.
I nodded my head to her, showing I understood. I looked out the window, we were home. Slowly I climbed out of the car, and landed on the gravel in the driveway with a crunch.

Her house looked small from the outside. The roof hung low, and a little cobblestone path led up to the doorway. The rest of the garden was FULL of flowers, not an inch uncovered by nature's touch. I noticed roses, but I'm not too big on flower names, I'd have to remember to ask Al later. There was a white painted wooden fence that surrounded the entire house. To the side there was a medium sized vegetable patch, which was definitely like Al. Strawberries had been planted there, and they were almost ready to eat. There were other fruit and vegetables growing there too, some I couldn't even identify by name. But I could see carrots, cabbage, tomato. Behind the patch was a bush, topped off with loads of delicious berries that Al was always raving about on her visits. As I walked down the path, I noticed the knocker on the front door. In gold was sculpted a vampire, and in its mouth was a little black metal basket. The basket held berries, most likely from the bush round the side. I ran my fingertips along it, feeling the metal coolness beneath my touch. It was unique, and had Al written all over it. She leaned in over my shoulder, and laughed. A nice loud laugh, one full of joy. It reminded me of a bell, which was strange because that was MY name, yet I was nothing like a bell. But Al was. She was graceful and everything.

'Jacob!' She yelled with delight. My eyes flashed open as I turned sharply, in time to see her jumping into someone's arms outside the gate. She looked so excited, it was contagious. I walked down the path, and leant on the fence, smiling as I waited for them to finish. The boy, who must have been Jacob, peered over Al's shoulder and stared straight into my eyes. His, grew wide for a second, and he whispered something to my sister.

Al looked pretty comfortable where she was, but she stepped away from Jacob, grinning as she did it. Jacob grinned back. She walked over to where I was standing, her eyes never leaving Jacob.
'This is Jacob.' She said to me. Like I didn't already know from the scream she'd let out a minute ago.
'And this, Jake, is my sister Bell.' She turned to face Jacob. 'Well, her real name's Isabella, but nobody EVER calls her that.' I was too busy scowling at her to notice that Jacob's hand was outstretched towards me. He coughed. I finally noticed him, and took a few moments to just look at him and take him in. I finally shook his hand.

'Nice to meet you Isabella, I've heard so much about you.'
'Likewise.' I said in my best posh voice. He laughed out loud.

'Are you staying?' I asked him. He looked at Al, and they seemed to exchange a look.
'I wish I could, but I've got to get home. I just came to make sure you both made it home okay.' Somehow we were now next to the front door, and Al was carrying my bags inside. When had that happened? Jacob looked at the door.
'And to leave a little something for Al.' She came out and just grinned at him.
'You put the berries there?' I asked, innocently.
'Yeah,' he laughed. It's a joke me and your sister have. You see coz the berries are red, and it's in the vamps mouth, it symbolises-'

'Jacob.' Al's tone was one of warning, and Jacob swallowed whatever he was about to say. No-one messed with Al when she was being serious. You just didn't.
'See ya later girls.' He said with a warm smile.
'See ya.' We said in unison as we watched him walk away.

My sister turned to me. Apparently we were going to visit my grandmother this afternoon. Al said I had to wear something nice. As in nice.
After her divorce, my grandmother remarried a really nice man named Lawrence. He was totally sweet. Lawrence had one son named Carlisle and also three grandsons, who were really nice too. Edward was the youngest, same age as me.

An accident caused Carlisle's death shortly after Edward's eighth birthday, and the family had never been the same. The boys' mother left and they all turned bitter for a time. The family had gradually come back to happy life, except Edward. His father was his whole world, and Edward has never quite got over Carlisle's death, or his mothers' departure.

I'd agreed to let Al dress me up tonight; I didn't want to embarrass myself. Edward already found enough things to pick on; I didn't want to give him any extra. Al had picked out a short, hot pink dress for me. I went to the bathroom and tried it on.

Okay so the dress wasn't SO short on me; it came down to my knees and the hot pink actually complimented my skin tone. The bottom was covered with little ruffles, and the material was the kind that just made the dress all floaty and nice. I opened the door and saw a pair of pink heels sitting outside. I slipped them on, and Al came in to do my hair. She always had great timing, she just seemed to know.

She put my hair up, but left some small strands of hair out to fall on my face. In my hair I wore a bright pink hair pin that Al had leant me. Her hair was wrapped up in a bun, and she wore a long blue dress with black heels. She also had on a black jacket, and some blue earrings.

'You look gorgeous!' She squealed. She gave me one of her pink jackets that she'd found, and told me to put it on. She put on a little make-up, ignoring my constant complaining. I started to feel really self-conscious; the dress was way too short. What was I thinking? I started to panic, and Al turned towards me. She grabbed hold of my shoulders, firmly but gently.
'Stop trying to hide your body, show yourself. You're beautiful. Believe me. '
'You're a great sister, Al.' Her eyes lit up.
'Of course I am.' She grinned. I couldn't help but return it.

'So Edward's 17 now. And boy, did he get hot.' She whispered with a wink.
It was so like Al to know all about who was hot and who was not. I wasn't interested in Edward. We always used to visit at Christmas, but I hated it. Al didn't mind so much, she was always sneaking off with the eldest of the brothers, Jasper. Which left me alone with Edward most of the time.

We got in the car and drove the short ride there. As we pulled up, I gasped. I'd forgotten just how big the house was- if you could even call it that. It was huge. Way too big for three teenage boys and an elderly couple, I thought. Al rang the doorbell and we waited. We heard voices inside, and then the door was pulled open and there stood 3 smiling faces.

Al immediately looked to Jasper, who looked like he was eager to drag her off. Lawrence noticed this, and he said, 'Off you go then, you two,' with a tut. 'And don't do anything I wouldn't!' He called after them. Gran sighed and playfully hit him. Then she looked to me.

'Come along now, Isabella. We don't want to be standing on the doorstep the whole day now, do we?' She was as polite as ever. She'd always wanted a rich, posh lifestyle- and then she'd met Lawrence, who made her dreams come true. Something my granddad never seemed to manage.
I shook my head. 'Hello Gran. Lawrence.' I smiled at them both, and Lawrence pulled me in for a hug as Gran shut the door.

'It's been too long, Izzy.' He whispered in my ear. He was the fun granddad, the kind you loved visiting because he took you out to theme parks and gave you lots of money and let you eat all the junk you wanted. Even at seventeen, Lawrence could still make me excited about going to the water park and getting sweets. He was that kind of person.

We went out back and sat at the poolside. Their pool was massive, but I supposed that everything had to be big to fit in with the huge house.
'Did you bring your swimming costume Izzy?' Lawrence asked. I loved his nickname for me; it made me feel accepted, like I was part of the family. Plus, it was different. Everyone had always called me Bella, or Bells, or Bell. But no-one ever took notice of the 'Is' part.
'Um, no. I didn't realise-'
'Don't worry, I packed it sis.' Came Al's voice from behind me. I turned and smiled. I hadn't even heard her come outside.
'I guess that's a yes, after all.' They laughed.
'Go change. Let's get this party started.' Said Gran. This time I laughed. It didn't seem right coming out of an old lady's mouth. I grabbed the bag from Al, who whispered 'Not so bad this time is it? No Edward thankfully.'

I walked through the house and stopped as I got to the second floor. There were so many rooms on this floor, I couldn't remember which was which anymore.
At least I knew none of these were bedrooms anyway.

I walked along, I began to hear soft music from the other side of the wall, and pressed my ear up against a door. This must be the music room, I thought. I didn't know anyone could play piano here. I put my hand on the doorknob, and was about to turn the handle when a voice said, 'I wouldn't do that if I were you.'

I looked around surprised. It was dark up here, there was a small quantity of windows and no lights were on. In the shadows was a figure. I squinted, trying to get a better look but he stayed where he was. Then I recognised the voice. Emmett. In an instant, he was gone. I didn't even see him move. But he was definitely gone.

I turned back to the door, and gripped the handle.
Emmett said not to, the voice in the back of my mind said.
Who cares what Emmett said? I answered back.
I twisted, and open the door just a crack.
'Go away!' Someone shouted.

'Edward?' I asked, sounding surprised. I pushed the door open further, and stopped.
A dark shape flew into me and sent me falling backwards, so that I crashed into the wall opposite. He pushed me hard against the wall, crushing me. I heard a rip, and recognised the familiar tearing of fabric when I tried to lift my leg to struggle. Al would kill me. I felt cold air on my newly open thigh, and I shivered, causing him to shake too. He lifted his face to mine, and stared hard into my eyes. His glare was so icy and menacing; it made me think of the cold air on my leg as hot.
His hands were holding mine in place either side of my head, and when I tried to move he only tightened his grip.

'Don't try to get away,' he whispered in my ear. 'You wouldn't live to regret it.'