Bella starts at forks high, friends with the pack, over her first few weeks there the pack starts phasing and ditching her and the others who haven't phased.
Bella goes on a date with Edward to try to make Jake jealous, on the night that Jake phases. Bella and Jake have a fight and she runs to the Cullens for comfort.
Edward is head over heels in love with her, and she is adopted into the family as friend and sister and learns their secret, but her heart is still Jake's.
Edward tries everything he can to win her heart, but its not working.
Bella finds out that the pack is now a Pack which pisses her off. She gives in to Edward and things get REALLY steamy between them.
Some nomads come across the Cullens playing baseball and find Bella with them. They want her and attack. Bella barely survives.
Jake finds out that Bella knows what the Cullens really are and is sleeping with Edward anyway.
Bella and Jake get into a massive fight over it. Bella phases and she's a giant black panther.
Jake calls Renee and finally gets her to confess to a drunken one night stand with a random man after her and Charlie had a fight during their honeymoon in the Amazon.
that's it so far
Alright, in this story, Bella has spent every summer except the last two in La Push with Jake, so she doesn't 'forget' him when they drop off the car the afternoon that she gets home to live with Charlie. And the last two summers Charlie brought Jake with him to Phoenix to see Bella.
As a result, she already knows him and is friends with all the soon-to-be pack members, and already knows all of the tribal legends (since her and Charlie are considered family by most of the Quileute's) even tho they don't really believe them.
Jake is already in love with her.
I'm speeding up the phasing a lot too.
AND…
The biggest part is that Charlie and Renee know something about Bella that could change everything!
Chapter 1 - The Pack Comes Over for Dinner
The flight from Phoenix felt longer than the 4 hours it was supposed to be, and I was grateful for a breath of fresh air before jumping onto my connection to Port Angeles. Then came the hour long drive home with Charlie. We didn't talk much, but it was a comfortable silence.
After all that travelling, I was glad to dump my bag in my room and run to the shower.
Just as I was jumping out, I heard a beast of an engine turning into our driveway. I looked out to see this massive red rust-lined truck pulling up with a bunch of people jumping out of the tray. It was the Pack. We call ourselves that after the old tribal legends about the Quileute's being descended from wolves. None of us really believe that, but the name seems to suit us just fine. And even tho I'm not a native, I'm still an honorary member.
I quickly dried off and threw on the first clothes to touch my hands; a pair of ripped jeans and an old grey hooded sweat shirt with my ratty white and red runners. I may not care about fashion and shopping, but I do have some good clothes, but I only wear them for school or going out.. Hanging with the pack can get dirty, hence the rags.
I ran down the stairs, stumbling a few times, and fell into Jared.
"Damn! You look a lot more than a year older!" I exclaimed as Jacob helped untangle us.
"Yeah, talk about mega growth spurt," he joked.
"Where's Leah?" I asked as we made our way to the lounge room. There were seven of us in the Pack; Jared, Seth, Quil, Embry, Jacob, myself and Leah, but she wasn't always with us.
Seth looked slightly sickened as he answered, "Probably with her boyfriend Sam." And now it seems she'll be here even less.
"Hey, keeps the bitch out of our hair!" Embry cheered.
"Language," Charlie cautioned, as he walked past, hanging his gun belt next to the front door.
"You don't hear them when he sneaks over at night," Seth grumbled.
All of them shuddered at the thought of a naked Leah.
"Charlie!" Jacob called, "can we stay for dinner? We brought our own food."
"And a few movies," added Quil.
Charlie walked back in, "Um, sure. What've you got?" he asked. Charlie was a horrible cook and seemed eager to avoid that particular catastrophe tonight.
"A bunch of frozen pizzas and the X-Men Trilogy," Quil answered.
"Trilogy? I thought there were 4?" Charlie said, confused.
"There are, but I don't count the Origins one."
"I'll go grab the food out of the truck," Jared said.
I was just sitting there, enjoying the noise of the Pack, enjoying my view of Jake, damn he's filled out over this last year! Has he been working out of something?
"Dude! I just remembered! How are we getting home?" Seth called.
"You drove here," I pointed out.
"Yeah, but it's yours. Jake's been working his but off re-building the engine in time for your home-coming," Embry said.
I just looked at him, speechless. "Um.."
"Yeah, your dad bought it off my dad real cheap, so you could get around by yourself instead of him driving you everywhere in the cruiser," Jake said, and I shuddered at the thought of turning up for my first day of school tomorrow in the police cruiser.
They all saw it and laughed, but Jake looked hurt.
"Jake, its not the truck that's bad, it's the thought of getting out of the cruiser at school tomorrow in front of everyone. The truck is great! I defiantly need a beast of a car to survive in this town, you all know how accident-prone I am," I assured him. That earned another round of laughs from everyone, just as Jared walked back in with a ton of grocery bags full of frozen pizza and soda.
Our oven was only big enough to cook two pizzas at a time, and it seemed that the Pack's already huge appetite had gone into over-drive, as every slice was snatched up almost the second they came out. The boys had brought 20 pizzas!
10 lots of two at 20 minutes each was going to take forever, so we settled in to watch the movies as we waited for the rest of them to cook. Charlie joined us, and even with 6 others in the tiny lounge room he didn't have much trouble finding a seat.. We were all on the floor in one big twisted puppy pile.
From a stranger's point of view it could look like a big pile of gay guys with a female friend, or like I'm a big slut and the guys are my harem, but that's SO not it. All the guys are perfectly straight, and I'm not involved with any of them (although I wouldn't mind Jake). Its just that we're all so comfortable with each other that we don't care, as long as hands stay away from 'personal' areas. All of us use each other as arm rests, pillows, foot rests, or whatever keeps us comfortable.
I laughed out loud as I remembered one time when we were waiting to watch a movie in Port Angeles. Quil and Embry had their arms around each other, faces real close, as they planned their next prank and an older couple walked past, just as they got to us Jake and I we could hear them whispering about the 'gay' guys and too much PDA. Jake and I had almost wet ourselves laughing.
Jake moved his arm tighter around me.. 'mmm' I thought, 'maybe I should tell him how I feel?" Nah! No way! Its only my first day back and I've got my first day at a new school tomorrow, enough stress for now.
"Whatcha laughin' at?" he whispered.
"Just the time the old fucks called Quil and Em gay." Having heard us, everyone but Charlie laughed too. Charlie just shook his head. "Kids," he mumbled and went to get the next lot of pizza.
Many hours later, the movies and pizzas were finished and Charlie was snoring loudly in his room.
I picked myself up and started collecting the mostly unused plates.
"Hey Bell," Jake said, "what time do you finish school tomorrow?"
"Um, 3:30 I think," I answered, "why?"
"We finish at 3, and its only a 15 minute drive, why don't we come pick you up?"
"Great idea!" agreed Seth.
"Yes please," I said. I'd almost forgotten about school. "Great welcome home present by the way," I added, "sending me to my first day at a new school with only.." I looked at my watch, "2 hours sleep."
"No problem," Quil answered, "Yeah, glad you like it," Embry added.
"Great," I mumbled to myself. "So I'll see you all at the end of school then?" They all said they'd be there, so I kicked them out, changed into my p-j's and settled into bed. But all I could think about was how the boys had to walk all the way home, and how they'd go at school tomorrow.
And how I hate meeting new people. You may not think it with the way the Pack and I are, but I'm really shy and easily embarrassed unless I'm with someone I've known all my life. And clumsy as hell, I hope I don't have to do anything in gym tomorrow, being my first day and all.
Chapter 2
My alarm woke me and I groaned as I rolled over, reaching to shove it off the nightstand. I heard Charlie call out a goodbye on his way out the door, probably hearing the alarm and knowing that I'm awake now.
I had a quick shower and changed into a plain dark green zip-up hoodie over a black t-shirt and my dark jeans with my plain black converse. I threw my hair up into a ponytail as I raced to the kitchen and grabbed a granola bar off the bench then headed out to my new truck.
I was right, it was a beast. And damn was it loud! And now that I'm moving, I'm glad I left early.. The Beast goes to a maximum of 55mph. Doesn't matter too much to me tho, I don't like going too fast.
It took about 5 minutes to find the school, and I pulled into the car park just in front of the building marked 'OFFICE'
I jumped out and had a look around, there were mostly just a bunch of standard hand-me-down cars that parents passed on to their kids when they got themselves a new one. But over in the far corner, there was two cars and a motorbike, that even I (who has no knowledge of cars despite Jake's attempted lessons) could tell were hugely expensive. A ginormous black and silver Jeep, a cherry-red convertible, and whatever the bike was, well, I was sure it would have Jake drooling.
I walked into the office and, blushing, introduced myself to the secretary, whose nameplate read "Ms Cope"
She handed me a schedule and a map, then with a highlighter, traced over the fastest routes between my classes. I thanked her and left, immediately bumping into a guy with black oily hair, bad complexion and olive skin.
"I'm Eric," he said, "you must be the new girl, Isabella Swan?"
"Bella" I corrected him, as I blushed and nodded. Great, everyone already knows I'm here, knows who I am. 'Thanks dad,' I thought.
"Which home room are you in?" he asked as he grabbed my schedule , "cool, same as mine." he started walking, and since it was supposedly the same room I was going I followed him. He started pointing out people and chattering about who they were and what they did. I wasn't really listening.
I sleepily tumbled my way through classes, not really paying any attention to anything, guided around school be a small group of friends who walked me to all my classes.
I was already in the lunch line before I realised I was in the cafeteria, (damn those boys!) and Jess was rattling on about something from last weekend. I looked at the pizza in front of me and nearly gagged, I'd had too much of that last night. I picked up the vegetarian lasagne next to it and paid.
"Vegetarian?" Jess asked with disgust.
"Yeah," I answered, I didn't bother to elaborate. I didn't need to anyway, coz Jess started on about some random thing again.
I looked around the cafeteria. A group of people sitting in the corner caught my attention, by the way they were dressed they were defiantly the owners of the expensive cars.
"Who are they?" I asked Jess.
"The Cullen's" she answered without even looking. "They don't really talk to anyone. Total snobs," she said, "The big one with his arm around the blonde beauty is Emmett, his girlfriend is Rosalie Hale, her twin Jasper. They're all seniors. The pixie is Alice and the other guy is Edward. He's single, but don't bother, no-one here is good enough for him." She said the last part in a sour tone, 'She's probably been turned down by him,' I thought with a smirk.
"I wasn't going to try," I answered, looking over at them again. Edward was staring at me, it looked like he was concentrating on something. His eyes flicked to Emmett and he shrugged ever so slightly, then he looked to Jasper and tilted his head to the side a tiny bit.
"They're all adopted by Doc Cullen and his wife. Apparently she can't have kids so they adopted," Jess kept rambling.
The bell rang, and Mike came up to me, saying "Eric said you have bio next. I can walk you there if you want."
"Um, sure," I replied, and quietly followed him through the halls.
We got to the bio room door and Mike introduced me to the teacher.
"Just take the seat next to Mr Cullen, Isabella." He smiled and pointed to the only empty seat, right at the back of the room. I tripped twice on my way.
Just as I passed a fan, Edward suddenly stiffened, and the questioning look on his face turned murderous.
What had I done to receive such a look? I fumed and blushed madly as I sat down. Were all his family really that much of a stuck up snobby bunch that they wouldn't even sit with anyone else?
I tried my best to ignore the look in his eyes, and turned away from, him, wishing I'd left my hair down so I could hide.
At the end of class, he was up and out of the classroom almost the same second the bell rang.
Mike, looking and acting a lot like a golden retriever, came up to me.
"What was with Cullen?" he asked, "I know they don't talk to many people, but I've never seen him glare at anyone like that before." 'Great, so it was me," I thought.
"What do you have next?" he asked, as he once again grabbed my schedule. Everyone seems to be doing that today. I wonder how long the too-helpful welcoming committee routine will last?
"Gym, same as me again," he said as he handed it back. I groaned.
Thankfully I didn't have to do anything in gym coz it was a lecture on the rules of badminton. I was going to enjoy it while it lasted, coz tomorrow that teacher was going to give me a racket and place me in close proximity to other students. So not a good idea.
'FINALLY!' I thought as I walked out to the parking lot.
Just as promised, the Pack was waiting around the Beast, with Jared's usual car parked next to it. They were play fighting and getting a lot of weird looks. Thankfully it was obvious it was just play, but there were two teachers watching the proceedings anyway. Everyone was probably wondering why there were a bunch of Quileutes' at the school. They'll all see me greet them at my car and I'd get a bunch of questions from everyone tomorrow. Great, more attention I don't want.
They called out to me with our usual high pitched two-toned "HEY!" and I answered with the same sound.
I noticed the Cullens; watching us all. There was something familiar about their name.
I shrugged it off and joined the boys. Jake lifted me into the back of the Beast and the others stopped their play-fighting, grabbing sodas or crisps and jumping into the back with us.
"How was your first day?" Quil asked.
"Terrifying!" I answered.
Jake laughed and dragged me onto his lap. Putting his arms around me he teased me, "Shy little Bella, and the Chief proudly telling everyone that you were coming. Small town plus new kid is big news."
"I was mostly too tired to pay much attention to anything," I said as I shoved away from Jake. I stood and pointed at all of them, "and it was your fault too! Keeping me up all night!" I scolded them as tho I were their mother. They laughed at me.
"So, if you were too tired, how was it terrifying?" Embry asked.
"Some kid in my bio class was giving me death glares coz next to him was the last empty seat and I had to sit next to him," I answered quietly.
Jake jumped up, "Who is he? Where is he? No-one…" I grabbed his arm and pulled him back down, Don't worry about it Jake."
He started to speak again, but I stopped him, saying, "Don't worry about it."
"Fine," he said sullenly.
"We start badminton tomorrow," I almost whispered.
They all started laughing again, so hard that Seth actually fell off the side of the Beast. Embry and Quil jumped down to help him up and nearly fell over, laughing again. We looked over to see what was happening. When he fell, the back of his pants got caught on the gate.. They were shredded. And Seth'd decided to go commando that day. It didn't really matter to me, we all used to go skinny dipping together so it nothing I haven't seen before.
I looked around the parking lot, and thankfully it was empty. Except for the Cullens'. they were still standing by their cars, watching us. All except Edward.
Jared had a spare pair of sweats in his car. After Seth pulled them on, we piled into the two cars and headed back to my place.
Chapter 3
The next day as I left for school I tried to shake off the dread that crept up for both gym and certain injury, and bio with the glaring Edward.
I pulled up outside the school and shut off the Beast's engine. I wasn't so tired today, I kicked the boys out early.. Alright, it was nearly 11, but it was earlier than Sunday night. We talked and teased and just caught up to speed on the events in each other's lives.
I slowly made my way to my locker and then to home room, but I was early and got there before the first bell rang.
Eric started what was to become a long day full of too many questions about the Pack. I couldn't really understand everyone's fascination with them. Yes, they were natives. Yes, from La Push. Yes, they're all single and straight (Jess asked). Yes, I've known them my whole life…
I was glad when it came to lunch and the questions slowed down as everyone ate and realised I wasn't going to give any real details.
"The Cullens' are staring at you," Jess whispered to me.
I looked over, kind of happy to see that Edward wasn't with them, but at the same time a little upset about it. I was planning to ask him what his problem is when we got to bio.
"Huh.." I said.
"Well?" asked Jess, "why are they looking at you? They never pay any attention to anyone!"
I looked back over. Emmett looked like a little kid in a lolly shop who was trying to hold in his excitement; Rosalie was glaring at me, but not as murderously as Edward's yesterday; Alice looked like she was about to bounce right out of her seat; and Jasper looked like he was in pain.
"I don't know," I answered, "I think I pissed off their brother yesterday." I shrugged and took another bite of my apple as the bell rang, so I got up and followed Mike to bio. Still no Edward.
Finally it was time for gym. Mike volunteered to be my partner, and after I hit him a few times he decided it would be a good idea to switch positions. We then won the next two games and I only fell once. Of course I didn't do anything except stay out of his way.
10 minutes before the end of class the coach came by and had us switch so I could serve. I hit the birdie right into the back of Mike's head and everyone laughed. My face burning and my eyes stinging with tears, I handed the racket to the coach and fled to the change rooms.
I dressed fast and was out before the rest of the girls came in and raced out to the Beast.
Jake was waiting by the Beast. "Jared dropped me off, he had to pick up some stuff for his mum. And Sam is missing, so your dad and half of La Push is out searching for him."
"Who's Sam?" I asked.
"Leah's boyfriend…"
"Oh no, poor Leah!" I exclaimed, "how is she handling it?" I asked.
"Not well. They had a fight Sunday night and he stormed out, he didn't come back yesterday and now everyone's panicking."
We climbed into the cab of the Beast and as I started the engine something fell into my lap.
"Thought you might want a souvenir from your first week of school," he said with a smirk, indicating the birdie he'd thrown at me. My face went red. "You saw that?" I asked meekly.
"I've seen much worse!" he laughed.
As we drove away from the school he pointed towards the Cullens' cars, "Dude, those are some sweet rides!" he said, "Who owns them?"
"Oh, um, the Cullens," I answered.
His eyes went wide. "Cullens? Like the bloodsuckers from the old stories?"
"HA! Knew I'd heard the name before! And the Cullens are a bunch of creepy snobs. But really!? Vampires and werewolves!?" I laughed.
Instead of going to my place, I drove us down to First Beach in La Push, and we walked over to our driftwood tree. Leah was there and I ran to her and squeezed her hard. She turned and cried into my shoulder. After a few minutes, she let go of me and dried her eyes.
"I'm sure he's fine," I tried to assure her.
"Oh he is! He came back this afternoon and the only one home was my cousin Emily. Apparently it was love at first sight! Emily phoned around and called off the search coz he'd returned, but as soon as I ran in and tried to hug him he turned away!" she seethed, she was really pissed. "He dumped me!"
She was pacing now, well, more like storming. "I'm going to go back there and give them both a piece of my mind!" She turned and started back up the beach. Jake and I ran after her, trying to calm her down. "Why don't you spend a few nights at my place," I suggested.
"You have school," Jake reminded me.
"Well, spend one night, we can guy-bash, you can have a night to calm down, then you cut his nuts off." Jake winced and Leah laughed, then her face went all sad again.
"Problem is… I've missed a period Bell. What if I'm pregnant?" She collapsed into my arms again, sobbing. Jake and I looked at each other shocked.
"It's ok, the rest of the pack will always be here for you," I assured her.
"Thanks," she mumbled as we dragged her to the Beast.
That night Leah and I had a real girl-night. We did each others hair and nails, hand and foot massages, and ate too much chocolate and ice cream. I'm not one for make-over's, but when the two of us do just a few simple things like this together its not to bad.
And I was right. Leah did need a girl's night. I even had a pregnancy test for her to use. Renee slipped one into my first aid kit ages ago and every time I take it out she puts it back. I have no idea why, I'm still a virgin and don't plan to change that any time soon. Unless Jake.. NO! not going there, not tonight, Leah needs me.
It came up negative, but Leah wasn't fully convinced it was right.
The rest of the week was divided between school and hanging with the Pack.
Edward still wasn't back, which I still had mixed feelings about. I still wanted to confront him, ask what his damn problem is; but I was also scared of that murderous glare, like he really would try to kill me if I made a wrong move.
The other Cullen kids kept watching me too, but not as noticeably. It was getting irritating.
Then on Sunday we had some more bad news.
"Jared joined the dark side," Jake sighed as he caught up to the rest of us.
"What?" asked Leah.
"Sam disappears for a few days, comes back and shatters Leah and suddenly the council loves him. Well Jared wasn't in school Friday, then last night I saw him with Sam. My dad just loves that the two of them are friends now," Jake seethed.
"Why the hell would he do that!?" Seth asked.
"Got me beat," Jake answered.
"Hey, that guy still giving you death glares Bells?" Embry asked.
"What guy?" Leah demanded.
"Just some guy in my bio class, and no, he wasn't there the rest of the week," I answered, "but the rest of them keep watching me."
"'Rest of them' who?" Quil asked.
"His brothers and sisters. Emmett, the Hale twins Rosalie and Jasper, Alice and Edward. They were adopted by Doc Cullen and his wife Esme," I explained.
"Cullen? Like the legends? The old stories?" Seth gasped.
I looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "Vampires and werewolves and spirit warriors? Do you really believe in all that stuff?" We all laughed and settled down to watch American Pie. I snuggled into Jacob and pulled his arms tighter around me as we all settled into our puppy pile on the floor.
Chapter 4
At lunch on Monday, Jess nudged me and whispered, "Edward Cullen is staring at you."
"I almost dropped my tray and looked around, spotting him back in his usual seat with his family. They were all watching me again, but Edward's stare was really obvious.
"Great, just what I need," I grumbled, "the lab partner with a dead skunk up his ass."
"What?" Jess asked, surprised, "does he have bad B-O or something?"
"No, but his attitude sure stinks." Jasper gave a small smile, Alice giggled and Emmett laughed loudly. If I didn't know better, I'd swear they heard me.
By now we were at our table and Mike looked up, "You mean Cullen? Yeah, what was up with those death glares last week?" he asked.
"No clue," I said. I easily directed the rest of the lunch conversation to much safer topics, like shopping, that I didn't have to participate in and silently finished my salad, sneaking glances toward the Cullen table every now and then, but I couldn't catch them watching me again. 'Am I just getting paranoid?' I wondered to myself. I snuck another look. 'Hm, maybe.'
As I made my way into the bio lab I looked over to my table, it was empty. He wasn't here yet.
I sat down and pulled out my text book and found the chapter we were supposed to be studying this week.
'Great!' I thought sarcastically. I'd already done this last year.
Edward made it through the door just as the bell rang and silently slipped into the seat next to me.
I was trying to ignore him, but I couldn't help taking one quick peek.
He smiled at me, "Hello. I'm Edward Cullen," he said tentatively, "You must be Bella."
I blushed and our eyes met for a second. I blushed deeper as his smile grew.
I looked into his near black eyes again. 'Weren't his eyes just golden?' I thought.
My confusion must have shown on my face because he asked, "What?"
"Nothing, just my eyes playing tricks on me," I answered. It was his turn to look confused so I explained, "I thought your eyes changed colour.." He turned away, but not before I caught a flash of panic on his face.
We didn't talk again for most of the rest of class, my mind racing with confused guesses as to why he would be panicked about me mentioning his eyes.
My train of thought just kept getting longer and weirder as we sat there, filling out worksheets on basic gene patterns for rabbits, and soon I was comparing the Cullen kids to the Cold Ones in the old Quileute legends.
-I hadn't seen them in the sun yet, so I wasn't sure about the glittering skin, but the perfect pale whiteness of it matched.
-The gold eyes and eerie similarities between them when only two were supposed to be related was another match.
-They never really ate at lunch, tho they did have food in front of them.
'I wonder if he's cold?' I thought. I 'accidentally' dropped my pen so it rolled towards his side of the desk, just as expected he passed it back to me. He seemed to be trying to avoid contact, but I made sure my fingers brushed his as he handed it to me. They were ice cold. He drew back immediately and turned back to his already finished paper.
I studied him for the rest of the lesson, he barely moved and if he was breathing I couldn't see it. He was like a marble statue.
Gym was horrible. This week we've moved on to volleyball and every member of the opposing team aimed right for me, knowing I was the weakest player.
Halfway through class, the little pixie-Cullen, Alice came in with a message for the teacher. As she passed me she smiled and waved, earning a heap of confused glances in my direction. 'Um.. WTF!?' I thought.
On her way back out she called out a cheery, "Bye Bella," which further confused me.
Jacob and Seth met me outside in the parking lot. "We need a lift home," Seth told me.
"Yeah, Leah dropped us off on her way to the hospital, she's picking up one of her other friends, the one that 'fell out of a tree.'" Jake said. She didn't really fall out of a tree, she was cliff diving with some friends, but the adults don't like it, so we don't let them know (if we can help it).
Jake snagged my keys and threw my bag into the Beast's cab, then almost threw me into the back before climbing in himself.
"So, are you coming tonight?" Seth asked.
"Yeah! I wouldn't miss a legends bonfire for the world!" I exclaimed. "You remember the last one I came to?" I asked, laughing.
"YEAH!" Seth called out, "Paul started shit about you not being Quileute, and even after Billy said that you and Charlie are as close to them as family and have been 'adopted' into the tribe he kept going.."
Jake interrupted, "So you beat the crap out of him.."
"And Leah helped me throw him over the cliff!" I finished. We all cracked up.
No-one in the Pack liked Paul. He was a hot-head and an ass-hole.
"Hey, guess who Sam and Jared's new friend is?" Jake muttered, with a disgusted look on his face, "Paul."
"Huh!?" I asked.
"Yeah, and even dad and the Council listen to him too. Ever since Sam came back, the Elders have been acting weird, and Sam keeps watching me," Jake complained.
I shivered, "Time to go," I told them.
As we climbed out of the back.. well, I climbed out, the boys flipped off the roof of the cab.. I noticed that the Cullens' were still in the lot. "This is getting weird," I muttered, "the car park is usually cleared out 10 minutes after the last bell, except for us, and for some reason the Cullens' keep hanging 'round too. They're always watching me." As I spoke, they jumped into their cars and started to pull away. "And the one giving me death glares last week is back, he was nice to me in class.. Until I mentioned his eyes anyway. And his sister waved at me and smiled while I was in gym."
Seth and Jake just laughed at me.
At the bonfire that night, we all ate, then sat down to listen to the old stories.
The Pack and I sat near the back and I cuddled into Seth for warmth.
After the fire started dying down and the legends and food were finished, everyone just sat around talking or playing tag or soccer.
"So, the Creepy Cullens' still watching you at school?" Leah asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the Elders, Sam, Jared & Paul tensed and started watching us.
"Yeah. And the pixie one, Alice, said 'hi' to me in gym. The one glaring at me last week is back, too, but he was nice today." The Elders looked worried, and the new trio started looking pissed.
"He got kinda weird when I asked him about his eyes and when I dropped my pen he passed it back and his hand was ice cold," I told them. I thought I saw Paul start shaking, and Sam placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Mm, Doc Cullen was the one who re-set Kara's arm today," Leah said, "Talk about yummy. And he only looks about 25, not too far from my age range!" exclaimed the 20 year old.
"Finally getting over Sam?" Embry asked tentatively. Leah looked hurt for a second, then braced herself and nodded. Sam's expression turned pained for a second before he turned away and started whispering with the Council.
"I wonder if Paul remembers last time I was here?" I thought out loud. The rest of the pack laughed, and I even saw Billy and Old Quil crack a smile.
"Then why don't you?" Embry called towards the other group.
"Huh?" I asked.
"Just heard Paul say 'Dare you to try again' and something about being able to take you now.. Didn't you guys hear him?" he said.
"No." we all answered. Sam's expression changed once again. He was looking at Embry with an almost hopeful look, that somehow managed to seem regretful at the same time. Embry just shook his head and we all got up and headed into the woods.
"How 'bout a game of wolf tag?" I suggested. Everyone liked the idea, and Leah volunteered to start, so we all scattered.
10 minutes later I came across a hiding Quil, "Leah find anyone yet?" I asked.
"Yeah," he answered, then lunged and tackled me to the ground, "Me! Now you're it," he laughed, and took off.
After about an hour of play we realised that Embry had disappeared. We stopped to look for him, but couldn't find him anywhere. We went back to the bonfire and told the Elders. The trio got up saying they'll take over the search and the Elders told us to go home.
"If the boys haven't found him by morning, we'll send out a bigger search party," Old Quil said.
We grumbled about it, but went home anyway.
Chapter 5
My second day, of my second week at Forks High, was just like all the rest. Same boring group of 'friends' with gossiping girls, boys trying to flirt with me, the Cullens' watching me, work I did last year in my advanced classes in Phoenix..
As Jess and I walked into the cafeteria she looked around, then asked, "Wonder why Edward's sitting alone today?"
I looked over where she was facing, to see Edward sitting by himself at the opposite end of the room to his siblings. As I exited the lunch line with my tray, he beckoned to me, indicating to the seat across from him. I looked to Jess, confused, and she shoved me in his direction. "Go get him, bitch," she teased, and winked, but it could tell it was forced. She was jealous as all hell!
I watched her walk off to our usual table, Mike giving her a questioning look as he asked her something. It must've been about the new seating arrangements coz he shot Edward a dark look. Edward's gaze flickered to Mike as he grinned, before returning to me. His gaze softened, and I thought I even saw a hint of fear there, but I made my way over and sat down across from him. I was very aware of everyone staring at us and I blushed at the attention.
"I'm sorry for last week, I was pissed off at my brother, I hope you didn't take it personally," he started.
I blushed again at the reminder of the deadly looks he'd given me on my first day here. "No problem," I mumbled.
"I, um.." he stumbled over his words, "Look, you shouldn't really be near me. Its not.."
I interrupted him, "I shouldn't what?" I asked, stunned, "if I shouldn't be near you, why did you invite me over here?" This was really confusing. And it didn't help that I could see the rest of his family. Emmett was smiling, but when Rosalie saw it she smacked him over the head and glared at me; Jasper seemed wary; and Alice looked like she was going to bounce right out of her seat again. When she saw me looking she waved, so I gave a tiny wave back.
Edward turned and scowled at them all.
"So, what did you want?" I asked nervously. He didn't answer, his eyes travelled from my lips to my cheek and down my neck, and back up. I blushed scarlet and gulped. I could see the effort it took him to move his eyes away from my red face and look me in the eyes. Another thing to add to growing list of weird, most guys usually stare at your chest.
His gaze travelled again and I cleared my throat. He smiled at me apologetically.
"What did you want?" I asked him again.
"Sorry," he almost whispered, "I want.." he faltered, "I wanted to know if you'd like to go out some time? Like a date maybe?" He looked seriously nervous. "Or even just as friends," he added. I could hear Emmett's laughter across the large room. He's probably enjoying watching Edward squirm. I let out a short giggle at that thought, and Edward looked hurt.
"I'm sorry!" I rushed, "I wasn't laughing you, I'd love to go out some time. I was just laughing at a random thought." Emmett laughed even harder. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he could hear us.
Edward tensed and turned around. Emmett shut up and looked away, trying to pretend he hadn't done anything, and I giggled again. Edward gave me quizzical look, but before he could say anything the bell rang and I rushed out of there.. Only to realise that I'd be sitting right next to him for the next hour again anyway.
I was lost in my own world through the rest of school, and Edward seemed to notice, coz he didn't talk much in bio, but he kept shooting me little smiles all lesson. I got to sit out in gym coz someone was sick and the team numbers weren't even, so I lay on the bleachers doing homework and daydreaming.
Finally the last bell rang and I went out to the Beast.
As usual, the Pack was there, but before I made it all the way over, Edward intercepted me.
"So, um, when do you want to go out?" he asked, "sometime this week? Or the weekend?"
"Uh, Sat'day night? There's a movie showing in Port Angeles that I've been waiting for, it starts at 7?"
"Sure," he agreed, "sounds great. Um, I'll see you tomorrow." I laughed quietly at how nervous he was.
"Who was that?" Jake asked as I reached the Beast.
"Edward Cullen," I replied, "He, uh, he asked me out."
Quil howled with laughter and shoved Jake over the edge of the truck, "Aw! Look at Jake-y! He's all jealous!"
Seth and Leah joined in laughing and I looked around. "Hey, where's Embry?" I asked.
They all stopped laughing and Jake looked pissed.
He kicked a rock that was by his feet before he jumped back up to join us again. "I guess he decided that his 'saviours' last night are better than us," he spat.
"He joined Sam?" I yelled, shocked, "Why the hell would he do that?"
"It doesn't matter," sulked, then with a very obvious change of topic he asked, "So what's this date you got?"
"Edward Cullen, movies, Saturday," I answered.
"Hey, did you hear your dad's new 'rule'?" Leah asked Jake. She turned to me and continued, not even giving Jake a chance to answer, "After he heard the name 'Cullen' last night he said no-one from the tribe is allowed to come to Forks Hospital!"
"That's ridiculous!" I fumed, "That superstitious bastard! I could Google the name 'Cullen' and show him 10 other families with the same surname!"
"Yeah," Seth agreed, "the Tribal legends are just stories. Even IF vampires and werewolves were real, and these were the same ones, you'd think that someone with heightened senses and blinding speed would be a better doctor than a normal human anyway."
I laughed at that, "Yeah! that's true. Besides," I turned to Jake, "I love your dad, but he can such a dick sometimes." Everyone agreed with that.
It started to rain, so we parted ways, Seth jumped into Leah's car and they sped out as Quil, Jake and I climbed into the Beast's cab.
As we drove out of the school parking lot, I thought I saw a white flash in the trees by the road.
I was wet and freezing by the time we got back to my place, but that happens when you have the windows all the way down in the rain. Jake had complained about being too hot. I think he did it just to annoy me, he knows how much I hate this kind of weather.
"Can I have a shower?" Quil asked. he was shivering a bit, but I was too cold to wait.
He looked at cold, wet, shivering me, "Race you!" he called as he took off. Jake stood beside me laughing.
I shrugged and ran after Quil, yelling "Leave your boxers on, dick-weed!" as I pulled out my key and shouldered past him to unlock the door. The second the lock clicked he was off again and disappeared around the corner at the top of the stairs before I was all the way in the house.
I started stripping off my wet shirt and jumper, kicked off my shoes on the way up. Jake was still laughing at me, so I threw my dripping clothes at him, "Put these in the dryer.. and these too," I added as I threw Quil's clothes at him too.
"You better have your boxers on," I called through the door before I walked in wearing my undies and bra still. We'd all seen each other naked too many times to count, but indoors, in close proximity, with limited numbers, we maintained some standards.
After our shower we made our way downstairs, wrapped only in towels, when there was a knock at the door. Jake opened the door just as I hit the bottom of the steps, and Quil didn't see me stop, so he ploughed right into me and we tumbled into view, to see a very shocked Edward and Alice staring at us.
"Um, hey Bella?" The way Alice greeted me sounded almost like a question. I didn't realise someone could blush all-over until that moment.
Edward looked pissed. I felt I could almost read his mind; I just agreed to go out with him and then I'm in the shower with someone else.
I smiled sheepishly.
"Dude, don't look so pissed," Quil said, "we're just friends." It didn't help.
Alice decided to play dumb and ignored the scene before her. "Edward says the two of you have a date on Saturday, so I'm here to make sure your outfits match," she said false-cheerily.
"Sorry, Alice is a fashion freak and mega shopaholic," Edward mumbled.
"Um, sure, let me get dressed first," I turned and walked back up the stairs and Alice followed me.
I felt really bad for Edward. "I'm sorry, I know what it looked like," I started to say.
"It's alright Bella," Alice said.
"No, um, we are just friends. It's just, the Pack and I grew up together, we've been skinny dipping together, we're super comfortable with each other. There's nothing sexual about it. We still had underwear on, we were just freezing and needed a hot shower to warm up. I mean, I'm still a virgin." I realised I was babbling when the last one slipped out.
"No, really, its ok Bella. Now lets look in your wardrobe."
Chapter 6
The weekend came up fast. And at 10 in the morning, Alice turned up on my doorstep.
"We're going shopping!" she exclaimed, "Grab your purse."
"Um, what?" I stammered.
"Edward doesn't have anything descent to wear tonight, and I thought you could come with me!" she said cheerily.
Charlie came up behind me and handed me my purse, laughing. "Good luck, Bella hates shopping more than I do," he teased. Alice gave me a dirty look.
"How can anyone NOT like shopping?" She seemed horrified by the idea. Her eyes glazed over for a second, and when she snapped out of it she was said excitedly, "OH! I know exactly where to get you the perfect outfit for tonight!"
She grabbed my arm and half dragged me out the door to a beautiful dark silver Aston Martin Vanquish. I only knew it coz it was Jake's dream car.
I stared at it, speechless, and heard a quiet 'holy crap' from Charlie.
"It's Edward's, he's letting us borrow it for our shopping trip," she explained, "Well, not knowingly. He went hiking with Emmett and Jasper to settle his nerves about tonight," she laughed. "C'mon, jump in."
After a very tense, very fast drive to Port Angeles, we hopped out of the car. So many people were staring at us that I turned red, but Alice didn't seem to notice. I guess she was used to it, I did see some of the other family cars.
She dragged me into one of the few clothing stores in the town and started going through everything. She passed me an arm full of clothes, "Try these on," she ordered.
"I don't really like dresses," I said. She looked at me like I was possessed, then switched tactics and gave me the sweetest puppy dog eyes I'd ever seen. "Edward really like dresses," she tried.
"No. I don't wear dresses," I said again, as I started putting some of them back.
"Fine," she huffed, and headed off scouring through more racks or clothes. "Try these too," she said, handing me another arm load.
Everything fit perfectly, and even if I didn't really like some of them, they all looked pretty good when I had them on.
An hour later she decreed that there was nothing else in the store for us to bother looking at and grabbed the pile of clothes that she'd had me try on. She took them straight up to the counter and the check out girl started ringing them up.
I panicked, I didn't have enough to pay for all of those! But I had to finish getting my own clothes back on before I could get out there and stop her.
Just as I got to the register I saw Alice pull out a shiny black card. Other than her name and a line of numbers in silver, there were no other markings on it at all. She didn't even wait for the total before she swiped it, signed and grabbed the bags, dancing out of the store and back towards the car.
I followed, stunned. Alice was buying me a bunch of clothes?
As I walked up to the car she closed the back door and pulled me along to the next store, where we went through the whole process again. And then again at the next store.
"Only one left," she said sadly, "Maybe we could go to Seattle next weekend?" She looked so hopeful that I couldn't say no, and instantly regretted it as she jumped and squealed and hugged me. She started gushing about all the stores we could visit. "And we're defiantly going to Victoria's Secret, your underwear drawer needs a major update!" she informed me. I went bright red just thinking about it.
"Ooh! Here it is!" she squealed as we walked into the store. She instantly ran up to a rack of tops until she found the one she was after, a light blue baby doll with silver beaded patterns around the straps and bottom. "This was the one I told you about! You can wear this one on your date tonight! Along with the black jeans and flats we just bought. And I can do your hair, and make up, and oh god! Look at the time! Its almost 3! We have to get you back and ready for your date!"
"But I'm already here, why can't I just get changed and hang 'round here and wait for him?" I asked.
'Poor Alice,' I thought, she looked horrified again. "You will do no such thing!" she scolded me, "You will go home, get changed, have your hair and make up done and wait for Edward to pick you up!" I bit my lip and nodded.
"Good girl."
As we pulled into my place, Leah pulled up with Quil and Seth. Alice looked disappointed , but quickly hid it and reached for the bags in the back. "I'll put these in your room," she said as she walked past.
"Need any help?" Seth asked.
"If you want," Alice answered, "There's more in the trunk."
"You look fucked!" Leah exclaimed.
"Mmm.. Too.. Much.. Shopping.. Need coffee.." I mumbled.
Quil helped me into the kitchen and set about making my coffee for me.
"Have fun today?" Leah asked. I glared at her and she laughed.
"We're supposed to go shopping in Seattle next weekend. I don't know why I agreed to more shopping." Quil was trying not laugh and Leah hugged me, trying to hide her grin.
"But you don't understand.. She threatened me with.. V-vi-vi.." I stumbled, "Victoria's Secret," I mumbled.
Quil dropped my coffee and fled the room to look for a towel to clean it up. I could hear him laughing from the other end of the house. And Leah had turned bright red, holding her breath. As soon as I looked up at her she let slip a giggle, then another, then just couldn't stop laughing.
"What are you all laughing at?" Seth asked as he and Alice entered the kitchen.
"This one in lingerie!" Leah exclaimed, elbowing me. Seth had to lean against the doorframe to stay upright. I glared at them.
"Sorry Bell. you know you got a smoking' bod, and you'd look fantastic in something sexy, but it just ain't your style. You're a tomboy," he explained, "One'a the pack."
After a few more laughs at my expense, Alice shooed the others out. "I have to do her hair and make up," she told them, "Out!"
"But I don't have any make up," I said.
"Oh, I know. I saw the other day. That's why I picked this up while you went to the bathroom." she produced a mega make up pack and I groaned.
She spent almost two hours on me, and by the time she finished, I'd been transformed! I looked amazing, and felt so uncomfortable.
"Edward's going to pick you up in about 10 minutes, take you to dinner before the movie," she told me.
That's news to me. I thought we were just going to see a movie!? Mmm, too late to back out now.
Ten minutes later, there was a knock at the front door. Alice jumped up to answer it. Of course, it was Edward.
"She's all ready!" she exclaimed proudly.
"Alice, you didn't have to.." he started.
"But I wanted to!" she interrupted, "and she let me. And just look how wonderful she looks!" I blushed.
For a few seconds it seemed there was almost a whole other conversation going on that I couldn't hear, but I shook it off, 'nerves' I thought.
Alice shoved me out the door, "Have fun!" she called, "I'll lock up for you."