Starting fresh with this one too - breaking the first chapter a little bit as well so we establish some better character development and detail :)

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything Twilight.

Eleven years old…

Forks, Washington was a small town with an even smaller population of people. So, everyone knew everyone. It had its ups and downs, but Forks would always be home to me.

Mom and I were on our way to Forks for the first time that I could remember, the reason for our move being her need to repair her relationship with my father. My father who she'd left when I was three and walking out on. A father who I had never met in my entire life, and really had no idea about until my mother came to me a day before we left, telling me we were leaving. Leaving my friends, my school, everything – my entire life was in Phoenix. As any typical 11 year old, I was beyond annoyed. But in her opinion, this was for the best. I didn't really understand why we needed to move – I thought we were doing kind of okay with just the two of us.

So, harboring my feelings and sucking it up, I went along with my mother. It was possibly the first time in my life that I'd seen her act so responsible. Her carelessness and mid-life crisis had me really matured for my age. At 11, I felt as mature as girls years beyond my age. Being the only reason why our house was clean, that there was food in the fridge, covering for her when she would be gone for days on end – all reasons why I was used to fending for myself and on my own for most of my 11 years. I wished I could just be like any normal 11 year old, but it was never like that. And I knew it never would be like that.

Before I knew it, we were parked into the driveway of my father's home. Well, it'd probably be better to call it my new home, but it didn't feel like that yet. I'd give it time, but I wasn't all that sure. I looked up to my mom, seeing her fingers flex on the steering wheel, her usual reaction when she was was extremely nervous, as she took a deep breath before opening her door and stepping out of the car. Sighing, I opened mine and saw a tall man walk down the steps. He looked familiar, but I assumed as much. I was young when I'd last seen him, but not young enough to completely forgot about him. He walked up to me as I put my backpack around me and closed the car door, his dark moustache twitching as he was clearly unsure of what to even say to me.

Grownups.

I rolled my eyes and stuck out my hand. "Hi, I'm Isabella Swan. But you can call me Bella."

His eyes widened and jaw dropped a bit when he didn't get what he expected, and nervously chuckled as he stuck out his hand to shake mine. "I'm, uh, Charlie. Nice to see you again, kiddo."

"I'm not a kid," I huffed, placing my hands on my hips. Just because I was young, didn't mean I was a child. Hello, I did say I was mature for my age.

"Isabella, enough!" My mom snapped at me, and I instantly stood up straight. Even though I did take care of my mother most of the time, she still terrified me. The constant drinking always had her angry, and I was almost always the target of her lashing. The only comforting thing about moving in with my father was the fact that maybe I would've been a bit safer from her this way. I wouldn't out her to my father, which was why I wore long sleeves and pants even in the hot summer heat. That way, no one would see the marks on my body. I would be safe.

I hope.

"Renee." My father looked directly at my mom, the angry look in his eyes mimicking just as hers had been with me. When she looked back at him, her eyes softened and she grinned at him.

"Charlie! You haven't changed one bit," She teased, trying to soften him up a bit with being her charming self, but for once, it had no effect on this man. Men would usually grovel at her feet, what with her beautiful olive skin and golden brown hair, cheekbones fit for a model and bright brown eyes. But this man, my father, was apparently immune to it.

"Go on inside. I'll grab your bags," He dismissed her, walking by to the trunk of our Jeep and pulling out the few bags that we had. Well, more like the few bags that my mother had. All of my belongings fit in my backpack. I was never treated like her child, but rather an extra weight on her life, so she did barely anything for me. That included feeding me, dressing me, and taking care of me at all.

I walked up to the house quickly, admittedly a little excited to see how everything looked like. My eyes darted around to the living room, kitchen and dining room, the warm feeling of a real home already getting to me. And all too soon, I felt a strong hand grab my shoulder and whip me back to the ground. I landed on my butt, wincing at the pain that went through my body. I was about to stand back up before my mother's hand pushed me back to the ground and held me there.

"Are you just plain stupid, or have you completely forgotten how you were raised, Isabella?" She growled, her fingers digging into my shoulder. I bit my lip to hold myself from crying in front of her, which would only make her hurt me even more. "Don't you even think that you can do whatever the fuck you want just because your daddy is here. You know what'll happen then. Do you understand me?"

I nodded my head quickly, wanting her to take her hand off of me before she left another bruise. Her eyes narrowed before she pulled away and walked into the kitchen. As I was getting up, rubbing my shoulder to get rid of some of the pain, I heard footsteps coming into the house.

"Hey kid, you alright?" Charlie walked over and helped me up, looking at me worriedly as he looked me over to see if I was alright. I began to panic, hoping he wouldn't see any of my skin that I was trying to cover from him.

My mother walked out of the kitchen, narrowing her eyes at me once more before looking to my father. "The kid's clumsy. She can walk it out."

He asked again if I was alright and I nodded my head slowly, knowing full well that I had to convince him quickly for my own sake. I had already screwed up twice in the last five minutes, and look where it'd got me. I had to be more careful.

Charlie had ordered pizza for us, explaining that he couldn't cook for the life of him. His was the Chief of Police in Forks, so he was working a lot. But he assured me that, now that I was here, he was going to spend as much time with me as he could. And as hard as it was for me to get used to everything here, I started to really like him. He always smiled at me, complimented me when I would say something, and seemed to really want to get to know me.

We were just finishing up before the doorbell rang, Charlie getting up to open it. I turned around to look at the door, seeing an older brunette woman standing there with a small little girl beside her. She looked like she was my age, but I thought her hair was weird. I mean, weren't girls supposed to have long hair? That's what I thought, but hers was super short, just reaching her chin and her bangs pinned to the side. It looked a little boyish, other than the pin, but she was one of the prettiest girls I had seen. None of my friends from Phoenix looked like her. The girl saw me looking at her, her eyes shining and lips widening in her biggest smile and waved at me. I didn't want to be rude, so I half-waved back. I was trying to listen to what Charlie was saying to them before I felt a sharp pain in my arm.

"I've had enough of your fuck ups, Isabella. Sit properly and ignore the bitch and kid at the door. No one addressed you, so you don't do the same. Got it?" My mother was furious, glaring at me with her nostrils flared. I was scared, opening my mouth to apologize but no sound would come out. She reached up and pulled my hair, making my head twitch to the side as she pulled harshly. "Answer me when I'm talking to you."

I nodded my head quickly, as well as I could with her still gripping my hair. "Yes. Yes, I understand. I'm sorry."

Charlie walked in before my mother could say anything else and she immediately pulled her hand away, smiling largely at him. "Bella, I'd like you to meet Esme Cullen. She used to be friends with your mom back when you were still a baby. And this is her daughter, Alice."

Alice looked straight at me, still smiling and waved again. "Hi! Wanna be best friends?"

I shifted uncomfortably, still recovering from my mother and wondering how to react to this girl. I didn't want my mom to hurt me again, but I knew if I kept quiet that would make her mad too. "I, uhm – "

"Alice Brandon Cullen, what have I told you about being so forward? Give her time, you're scaring the poor thing," Esme scolded her daughter, but unlike my mother, there was still warmth in it. She was just teasing. Esme turned to me, a soft smile lighting up her face. "Hello, sweetheart. You've grown up to be a beautiful, young girl."

"Um, thank you," I said softly, trying to smile. I saw something flash behind her eyes already, but it was expected. But what was I supposed to do? I was doing my best to stop shaking and calm my nerves as quick as I could without anyone else noticing.

"Mom, can me and Bella be best friends now?" Alice whined from beside her, making me smile for real this time. No, she was nothing like my Phoenix friends, but I liked her already.

"Bella and I, sweetheart. And as long as her parents are fine with it, you two can go play on your swing set."

I looked to my frowning mother, who was about to open her mouth and say no before my father said it was fine. She snapped her head at him, but he shut her up quickly. "Esme and her family live right across the street Renee, it's fine. And it'll give us time to talk alone." My mother plastered on a fake smile at Esme, agreeing weakly.

Alice grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door. We walked a few blocks hand in hand as she spurted off her life story to me. Apparently we were the same age and would be going to the same school the week after, which I was definitely happy about. She walked up to her house, which was a bit bigger than Charlie's, and went around the backyard. Her backyard, on the other hand, was bigger than our house in Phoenix. It looked like a playground. There were slides and a trampoline, making me excited already just looking at it. She saw me staring at the trampoline and gripped my hand again, helping me up as we jumped on it over and over again.

Alice had me in hysterics, falling on her butt when I'd land hard on the trampoline. We'd fall down at the same time to see who would be pushed back up the highest. We were on our sides, doubling up in laughter after I almost fell off of the trampoline when a boy's voice boomed at us.

"Alice! What did mom tell you about going on the trampoline by yourself? Oh, hi."

I looked up to the boy in front of me. He was pretty big, and definitely much older than I was. He had short, dark curly hair and he had his arms crossed around his chest. I shyly smiled at him and waved, about to introduce myself before Alice interrupted.

"This is Bella Swan. She's Charlie's daughter, and she just moved back to Forks. She's from Phoenix, and she's really pretty. And funny. She's my best friend," Alice rambled off in one breath. I turned back to look at her with a dazed expression before looking back at the boy and started laughing again when I saw that he looked just like I was.

"Slow down, Al," He chuckled and waved back at me. "What's up? I'm Emmett. Alice's brother. Nice to meet you Bella."

"Um, nice to meet you too Emmett." I smiled back at him, and sat up on the trampoline with Alice doing the same. "So, are we all going to the same school next week?"

"Nope. I'm in high school. Ninth grade," He puffed his chest out a bit, obviously trying to look impressive.

Boys and grownups. Two groups that I'll never understand.

"Big deal, don't gotta act so macho about it." I slapped my hand on my mouth quickly, realizing how rude that must've sounded. Emmett's jaw dropped, but the side of his mouth started to twitch up in a smirk before we were interrupted by another boy's voice.

"Whoa! Better watch out with that one, Emmett." I leaned my body over to the direction of the voice, this time my own jaw dropping when the boy walked towards us. If I had said anything about not being all that interested in boys before, I totally change my mind. He looked like an angel, copper hair messed around like he rolled around in the grass, but it looked perfect. His eyes were green, like his siblings, but much brighter. He looked about my age, but there was just something about him. He waved at me and smiled lopsidedly, making my heart do back flips like an NFL cheerleader.

"H, I'm Edward. The macho guys brother." His voice was just… perfect, making me gulp loudly. I was still gaping at him when his brows furrowed and he let his hand fall back to his side before stepping closer to me. "Hey, are you alright?"

I shook my head and blinked hard a few times. "I'm Bella, and yeah, I'm fine."

If only I knew how completely wrong I was. But at that moment, I knew that there was more to Edward than what I had seen at our first meeting. If I didn't know any better, I would say that was the moment I fell in love with Edward Cullen.