This is my very first chapter of my very first story! Enjoy!
Her life was dull. She knew that. She had the same routine for some time now. Get up, go to school, make dinner, do homework, go to bed. Then begin the routine again. As for the weekends, one would assume that a 17 year old girl would go a little bit crazy. Not Bella. Her routine was almost the same, replace school with work, and there it was, her life in a nutshell. She wasn't a loner. She had good friends, friends she could rely on, that she'd known all her life. It was just that there wasn't an awful lot to do in a town so small. It was the kind of place that everyone knew everyone's business. Bella was content with her monotonous routine, she was grateful that she had something to get up for in the morning, but knew that there was more for her, something just waiting around the corner, waiting to change her life.
It was a Saturday morning, and the usual crowds were in the caf , milling over what to have for breakfast, even though she could probably predict all of their orders given the chance.
"Busy this morning, isn't it, B? Hello? Bella ? " Rosalie said as she was putting on her apron. She looked at her best friend, who was so obviously in a world of her own this morning. "Hello? Anybody home?" When she was dissatisfied with no response, she slapped her across the back of the head with her ordering pad.
"Hey! What was that for?" Bella asked, grumpy now. She could feel the bruise starting already.
"I was just waking you up, we get paid to take orders, not sit around dreaming about some knight in shining armour rescuing us from Humdrumville."
"Ha ha, so funny. Did anyone ever tell you you should become a comedienne, Rosie? Personally, I think you would be perfect for the job" Bella replied, with not a hint of amusement on her face. "Anyway, let's get to work, before Mr Workaholic docks our wages, again, for standing around."
The two of them walked out onto the caf floor. Wow, they really were busy. Not one empty table, groups of old ladies, clearly not happy with the fact they had to sit around the counter, were gossiping about something or other. Nothing got in the way of the elderly ladies and their gossiping about the townspeople, and their strictly personal matters. Why people even bothered to keep secrets in this town always seemed to amaze Bella, because somehow this group of 5 women knew. She used to think that they went through the garbage bins at night when everybody was asleep.
"Well, I suppose we should crack on then?" Bella commented, and turned to her best friend to discover she had gone. Her boyfriend was sitting in the furthest table away from the counter. Great, she thought, guess I'm working solo today. It wasn't that she disliked Emmett, he was one of the best guys in town, and treated Rosie like a princess, but she knew that she would really need a hand today, trying to get everybody organised, and out of here, as fast as possible.
3 and a half hours later, the crowds had all left and there was just a few people left behind. These were the people that ordered one cup of coffee at 11a.m. and stayed till about 5p.m. so she knew there was no point in bothering them. Rosie had started work 10 minutes after Bella. Emmett had to go into the city to get his parents an anniversary present. Bella was grateful; she knew she couldn't handle the crowds herself. She was seriously going to have to speak to the boss, Ted, and see if he was planning to hire another waitress. Even with the two of them, it was a stretch to make sure every customer was happy, minus the customers who always managed to find something to complain about.
"Did you hear?" Rosie asked, while they were doing their best to look busy, while actually doing nothing. This was their favourite part of the day, when the breakfast rush was over, and it was the lull before the dinner rush. Not a lot of people in this town liked to cook on a Saturday night. And they didn't have many options. There were only two caf s in town, and only the one restaurant, which was mostly geared towards couples.
"Hear what, R?" Bella replied, taking her time refilling the salt and pepper shakers.
"The new family, moving into the old Sawyer house on Mill Street? C'mon." She said when Bella just looked at her, "Seriously, you haven't heard anything? Where have you been all day, under a rock? Everyone was talking about them."
"Nope, didn't hear a thing." She knew she wouldn't have to wait long until Rose would spill the beans. She couldn't keep a secret if her life depended on it.
"Well" There it was, she never had to press Rosalie for information. "I heard from Mrs Miller, that it's a doctor, who just got a start at the hospital, his wife and their children. Twins. A boy and a girl. 17, just about to turn 18, so I was thinking that they'll probably have a party, to make themselves known." , she said, and her face lit up. Rosalie lived and breathed for parties. She was there if she was invited, and she was there if she wasn't. Wild horses couldn't keep her away if there was a party within a 20 mile radius.
"And they're starting school on Monday, so make sure you look good, not that you don't look good anyway." she said as she rolled her eyes. Rosalie had always envied her best friends ability to just crawl out of bed and look amazing, while she had to spend at least 30 minutes getting ready every morning. It wasn't that Rosalie wasn't beautiful, she just felt more confident when she was glammed up. Even if it was just for class.
"Girls, you can head on home now if you want. Danielle and Aubrey are coming in shortly to do the late shift. I'll hold down the fort till they arrive." Ted said, as he came out of his office. He wasn't an awful boss, they knew they could do a lot worse. He just wasn't very sociable; why he opened a cafe was always a mystery to them.
"Awesome." They replied in unison, as they untied their aprons. They were not about to question their boss temporary loss of sanity. It had been a long time since they had a Saturday off together. They chatted about what to do with their evening, as they left the back entrance of work and walked down Mill Street, just round the corner from the caf .
They both stopped at the same time as they watched the scene in front unravel before their eyes. A vehicle pulled up outside the old Sawyer house, joining the other car already parked in the driveway.
"Must be them." Bella whispered.
"You don't say," Rosalie replied, with just a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "Why are you whispering?" She turned to look at Bella, who was staring at the Volvo that had pulled into the driveway.
"Whoa, he is, like, forty different kinds of hot." Bella blurted out, without even thinking. Immediately, she blushed the colour of a cherry, realising what she said. Rosie laughed, she never heard her best friend speak like that about anybody. She turned around to look, and had to admit, Bella was right. She thought she was going to have to pick her jaw up off the ground. He looked like he just stepped off the pages of Vogue, except he didn't have that whole pretentious look about him, that she hated about models.
He walked to the bottom of the driveway, and stood with his parents; while his sister got out of the passenger side of the car, and skipped down to meet her family. She, too, looked like a supermodel, except smaller, like a fairy.
"Good genes in that family." Rosie said.
"I guess some people have all the luck." Bella said, she could feel the crimson leaving her cheeks.
They continued walking down the street; they would have felt a bit idiotic if they had to turn around and walk the other way, especially knowing that they would have to walk for double the time to get home the other way.
"Hi" a voice said, as they were making their way down the street. They turned to see the doctor smiling at them from the other side of the street. "We're new to the neighbourhood and thought we would introduce ourselves. I'm Dr Cullen, Carlisle, and this is my wife Esme." He said as he slipped an arm around her waist. "And these are our children, Alice and Edward."
"Hello, I'm Bella, and this is Rosalie. We were just on our way home from work; we weren't spying on you or anything. There's nobody around here like that, well at least I hope not. Not that you wouldn't be worth watching. I don't mean it like that, like you're strange or something. I'm sure you're perfectly normal." Rosalie glared at Bella, who so obviously suffered from permanent foot-in-mouth syndrome, while Bella replayed what she had said in her head, and began to blush again.
"Ha, Bella, you are so funny." Rosalie said, trying to cover up for her friend's foolishness, as the family looked at her as if she had escaped from the local loony bin. They began to laugh, as the girls began laughing, a nervous laugh on Bella's part. "So what made you move to Forks then?", Rosie continued, "Was it the crazy nightlife scene you've heard so much about?"
"We've just wanted to live somewhere quiet for so long," Esme said. "Living in New York can stress you out, we just need to relax." As they chatted about the advantages and disadvantages of living in New York, Bella stayed quiet. She didn't need to make a fool of herself yet again in front of the family she met 5 minutes ago. As she listened in to the conversation, she realised that she wasn't the only one not participating in the discussion. She was yet to hear the voice of their son, Edward. She looked up and noticed him staring at her, with a smile on his face. Whoa, she thought. Then as she stared back at him, she noticed that she couldn't exactly think anymore, she wasn't sure if she could spell her name, if asked. The sounds of the conversation started to all merge together, like a buzzing in the background.
It was the sound of Rosalie's cell that brought her out of, what she felt like was hypnosis by staring into his eyes. She immediately snapped out of it, so did Edward it seemed. It appeared he was standing a little bit straighter now.
"Sorry, I have to take this."Rosalie said, as she flipped open her cell, and crossed the street.
"So, Bella, you go to school here then?" Esme asked her.
"Umm, yeah, we're juniors." She had to think about it, she still felt sort of dazed. Wait, what? Since when did a boy make her feel like this? Never. Never had she felt like this before.
"That's good. At least Alice and Edward will know a few people when they start on Monday." Carlisle said, "Are you okay, Bella, you look a little bit shaken up."
"No, I'm good." Again, she had to think about it. She didn't dare look at the bronze coloured haired boy standing opposite her, even though she could feel his gaze on her face.
"Sorry about that," Rosalie said as she rejoined the group, "Bella, that was my mom, she's made some food for us. She went to Ted's and he told her he'd given us the night off. So, she thought we'd be hungry."
"Okay, we'd better go then." Bella replied, after a few second delay. She still didn't feel right. The Cullens would think she had mental problems of some sort.
As they said their goodbyes, both the girls, and the Cullens turned in the opposite direction.
"Bye Rosalie, Bye Bella," Alice chimed after them.
"See you Monday, Bella." Edward said after them.
Bella turned around to see that it was just him standing at the bottom of the driveway, staring after her. When their eyes met, he smiled and turned and made his way into the house.
Oh yes, she thought, her life was about to get a little bit more exciting.
There we go! Chappie 1! :) Let me know what you think!