This story is something I've been wanting to write for while. I thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if Edward didnt come back right away and Bella started an entirely different life without him. I would love some feedback, I don't know if I am going to continue with this story or not yet. Let me know what you think!
Bella Swan sat on her bed in her tiny room, absentmindedly staring out of her bedroom window. It had been a little more than two months since he left and nothing had gotten better. She woke up screaming almost every night and had to literally hold herself together whenever she thought about him (which was a lot) because it felt like there was a huge gaping hole in her chest. Bella knew Charlie worried about her so she put on a show, going to school, cooking every night, but she wasn't the same.
It was sunset and the room kept getting darker and darker, but Bella didn't care. She didn't move from her place on her bed until the fire alarm suddenly went off. She scrambled off the bed and to the door, managing to trip in the process. When she opened her bedroom door, she was greeted with the sight of smoke rising up from the downstairs. Her only concern at that point was Charlie. Bella thought about just running downstairs but figured with her luck, she would end up falling and would be useless. So she felt around for the banister before carefully making her way down the stairs, calling out for Charlie.
There was some muffled coughing before Charlie finally made his presence known, "It's all right Bells! I'm in the kitchen!" By now, Bella had safely made it down the stairs and rushed towards the kitchen, still not completely sure of what was going on. She would've sighed in relief when she heard Charlie's voice but she could barely breath as it was. The smoke was so dense Bella couldn't even see Charlie, but from his voice, he sounded only to be a few feet away from her.
"What happened?" Bella cried, fear evident in her voice. "Open the back door." Charlie ordered. Bella did as she was told and stumbled her way to the back door. When enough of the smoke cleared, Bella saw Charlie pull some unidentifiable food item from the oven and carry it out of the house. "You tried to cook?" Bella asked in disbelief. Charlie never cooked. Bella always cooked for them. She knew she had been slacking in that department recently, but if she had driven Charlie to try to cook for himself, it was obviously worse then Bella originally thought. Before Bella had a chance to apologize, Charlie spoke. "Come on kid, let's go out to eat while the house airs out." Wow. Either Charlie was really hungry, or something was up.
They road to the Charlie's favorite restaurant, The Lodge, in silence. As usual, the place was pretty much empty. The waitress seated them at their usual table and didn't even ask for their order, already knowing what they would eat. Charlie grabbed a newspaper from the next table over and started flipping through while Bella stared into space. When their food came, Charlie scarfed his food down while Bella just pushed her food around on the plate. Eventually, Charlie cleared his throat and spoke. "Bella..." Bella looked up at him, caught off guard by the authority in his voice. "I know you've been having a hard time with that Cullen kid leaving and all, and I left you alone like you asked, but I can't stand by doing nothing anymore. You're a shell of the person you used to be." A lump formed in Bella's throat when he said the name, Cullen. "I talked with Renee about it and we both think a change in scenery would do you good. So, I've enrolled you in St. Augustine. It's supposed to the top school in the country Bells. And you can get a fresh start." he suggested hopefully as he took a wrinkled brochure for the school out of his jacket pocket and slid it over to Bella.
Bella dropped her fork which made a loud clanking sound. The feeling of panic was trying to break through Bella's carefully constructed mask, making her panic even more. Almost everything in her life had changed within the last two months; Bella did not want to change schools too. Forks High School was one of the only remaining reminders that he had really been there. They had walked the halls together and sat together at lunch. She couldn't leave.
Charlie must've seen Bella's panicked expression because he started asking her to just take a look at the brochure before she decided anything. Bella reluctantly picked the school brochure up from the table and looked at it. Bella would never admit it but the school didn't sound half bad. They had proficient test scores, famous alumni, and state of the art facilities, though the part that really hooked Bella was the fact that they offered a ton of different writing classes. She closed the brochure and held it out for Charlie to take when something caught her attention. On the back of the brochure, there was all of St. Augustine's contact information. The address was in Connecticut.
Bella shook her head furiously. "No!" Charlie wanted to send her away. Bella was now on the brink of hysteria. "Bella, please. I'm trying to help you!" Charlie pleaded. Bella kept shaking her head. "No you aren't, you just don't want to deal with me. I promise I can do better. Please dad, give me another chance." Bella pleaded back. "Bells, you're breakin' my heart." Charlie responded. "I'm just trying to do the best thing for you. You haven't been eating," Charlie looked down pointedly at Bella's full plate. "You don't go out, you have gone catatonic."
"So you're solution is to send me away? You can't do that! This is my home!" Charlie sighed before rubbing his hand over his face. He looked exhausted. "It's not like you have left me a lot of choices here, Bells. Your mom wants you to go live with her and I think I heard her say something about trying hypnosis. I had to negotiate for the school as it is." Nothing more was said and they ended up just taking the rest of their food home, nobody in the mood to eat anymore.
When they got back to their house, Bella went to put the leftovers in the refrigerator and Charlie went to watch television in the family room. Bella had been thinking about St. Augustine the whole night. If nothing else, she would be away from Charlie and he could finally stop worrying about her. And he deserved peace of mind. Not to mention she only had one more year of school to complete. Plus, why was she so hell bent on staying at a mediocre school anyway? Her only reason was him, but he was gone now. Before she could change her mind, Bella marched into the family room, stood in front of Charlie, and declared, "Fine. I'll go."
-NB-
Mismatching suitcases were scattered all throughout Bella's small bedroom. Bella was supposed to be packing because she needed to be on a plane to Connecticut the next day, but not much packing had been done. Every time she would pick something to pack, she would get distracted, thinking about him. Bella didn't realize how hard packing would be. Everything Bella owned seemed to have some sort of link to him, making Bella relive the pain of realizing that he was gone with every article of clothing she tried to pack.
Eventually Bella gave up trying to pack neatly with everything folded and started throwing things in the suitcase, just wanting to be done with the packing. As Bella went to go get another handful of clothes from her closet, there was a knock at the front door. Bella didn't pay much attention to it, figuring Charlie would take care of whoever was at the door. She went back to carelessly throwing clothes into her suitcase when she heard the distinct sound of high heels clamping up the stairs. Bella turned to look just in time to see Renee climbing up the stairs. "Bella! Baby!" Renee ran towards Bella and enveloped her in a huge hug. Bella returned the hug and asked, "What are you doing here mom?"
"Well, When Charlie called and told me that you were going to St. Augustine, I knew I just had to come see you before you left." Bella looked over Renee's shoulder to Charlie, who had made a more quiet entrance into Bella's room behind Renee. He just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders with a confused look on his face so Bella figured Renee's little visit was just as surprising to Charlie as it was to me.
Bella quickly turned her attention back to Renee who was now looking Bella over. She started shaking her head and made a 'tsk, tsk' noise before coming out with, "Oh dear Bella, darling. I leave you with your father for a year and this is what happens to you?" Renee wasn't a mean person but she didn't have a filter and some of the things she said were hurtful. That was when Charlie chimed in on my behalf. "Don't be too hard on her Renee, she's had a rough year." Renee rolled her eyes like a teenager would and grabbed my hand. "Regardless, It's obvious that she has no female influence in her life here so I'm going to make up for that. We're going out for a day of pampering." she declared. Uh oh, Bella knew where this was going. Renee had taken Bella on one of these 'pampering sessions' before and Bella wasn't interested. Hair, nails, clothes, waxing. That seemed more traumatic then anything else. Unfortunately Renee had made her mind up and it wasn't going to change. Charlie knew Bella didn't like all that girly stuff so, bless his heart, he tried one last attempt to get her out of it. "Bella still has to pack, Renee." He gestured to all the empty suitcases in Bella's room. Renee just waved it off. "Oh please, do you not know me at all? I just so happen to be a master packer. Once we're done with our day of pampering, I'll come back and help finish packing." With that, Renee confidently walked out of the room, dragging Bella along with her.
Renee ended up taking Charlie's cruiser without asking for permission because she refused to be seen riding around in Bella's old truck. She drove to Port Angeles, speeding all the way there, only slowing down once they were in front of a small boutique. Bella reluctantly got out of the car and followed her mother into the boutique. They ended up spending almost four hours there. Renee picked out what seemed to be the skimpiest outfits for Bella. When Renee ventured over to the intimates section, that was when Bella drew the line. She refused to look for lingerie with her mom. "Mom, let's go." Bella said, trying to be as tactful as possible. "But Bella! These are so cute for you!" She squealed, holding up a sexy white bra and panty set that frightened Bella. Eventually Bella managed to convince Renee to leave. "Go wait in the car if you are so against this, I'll go check out." She offered. Bella took her up on it, wanting to get as far away from the underwear section as possible. Just being around that kind of stuff was embarrassing. Bella waited in the car for about five minutes before Renee came out with both arms weighed down with bags. It looked like she had bought everything in the store.
After the shopping trip from her nightmares, Renee drove Bella to a beauty salon. Bella figured things couldn't get any worse. Unfortunately, Bella was wrong. As soon as they stepped in, Bella felt like she was on another planet. Renee however, seemed to be in her zone. Probably because when Bella was about fourteen, Renee decided she wanted to be a beautician and even went to cosmetology school for two weeks. The receptionist at the front desk greeted Renee and Bella and asked what they wanted. "The whole deal. "Hair nails, waxing. Bella is going to a new school soon so she needs to look fabulous." Renee said without discussing it with Bella. Bella just wanted to sink into the floor.
"Well, the waxing should probably be done first so I'll take you to the private rooms in the back for that." The receptionist led Bella and her mom to the back where all the 'personal grooming' was done. Bella and Renee were put in two separate rooms and told to wait. A lady in her mid-thirties came into Bella's room and told her to sit still. She did and the lady waxed her eyebrows and legs. Bella had never been waxed and it hurt a whole lot more then she thought it would. Now she was sitting in the chair and wondering why on Earth other women voluntarily did this on a regular basis. "Get undressed." The waxing lady ordered in her thick Dutch accent. Now Bella was confused. Get undressed? For what? "Bikini wax." the lady said before Bella could ask any questions. Bella started shaking her head but undressed anyway. The Dutch lady scared her and she didn't want to upset her. Bella lay down on the table once again, this time though; she was naked from the waist down. Bella tried to cover herself with her hands to preserve some of her modesty, but the lady just swatted them away before applying the wax. When the lady started pulling the strips off, Bella yelped.
When Bella walked out of the room, she looked like she had seen a ghost. Renee was waiting right outside and before she could go back into the front of the salon, Bella pulled her aside. "What was that?" she whisper yelled. "A wax." Renee replied matter-of-factly. Bella was still in shock about what just happened. "I didn't know I was getting that kind of wax!" Bella almost shrieked. "What do you mean?" Renee asked, confused and worried. Renee was going to make Bella say it. "I didn't know you signed us up for...bikini waxes." She whispered, her face turning red. "Oh honey, it's fine. You're seventeen; you're allowed to get a bikini wax." Bella couldn't understand how her mother could be so calm about her daughter getting a bikini wax, against her will! "Come on Bella, let's get our hair done. I think you would look really good with highlights." Renee grabbed Bella's hand again and led her out to the front of the salon. Bella was not done discussing the waxing, but she was not going to talk about it in front of other people, so she dropped the subject.
By the time Renee and Bella walked out of the salon, Bella look completely different. Her hair had been trimmed and highlights had been put in. She was waxed, her nails were polished, and she even had makeup on. The only way you could tell it was her was by her clothes. Bella still wore her favorite jeans, a plain purple tee shirt, and her trusty beat up Converse.
During the car ride home, Renee wouldn't stop talking about how much attention she would get at St. Augustine, which only made Bella nervous. As soon as Renee pulled into Charlie's driveway, Bella shot out of the car and went straight into the house. Charlie was sitting on the couch watching a football game. When he saw Bella, he had to do a double take. "Wow, Bells, you look...beautiful." he said, rising from the couch. Bella thanked him and sunk down onto the couch where Charlie had just been sitting. She must've been exhausted because as soon as she sat down, she fell asleep.
-NB-
The next morning, Bella woke up early. She got up and stretched, sore from sleeping on the couch. The clock on the wall read six o'clock. When Bella walked upstairs to her room, she was surprised to find Renee asleep in her bed and all the suitcases packed. Renee must've stayed over and packed her suitcases for her last night after Bella fell asleep. Bella had been upset with Renee because of yesterday but knowing that she had stayed up all night just to make sure Bella was packed, restored Bella's faith in her completely.
Bella tucked Renee in, kissed her on the forehead and headed back down stairs. Charlie was now up and making coffee. "Hey kiddo," he said when he saw Bella. "Your plane leaves at nine so we should leave here in about an hour." Bella nodded and made her way back upstairs to get ready.
Bella crept into her room, trying not to wake Renee up, and went to the closet to find something to wear, hoping Renee hadn't packed everything. Bella opened her closet and was shocked. Almost everything she owned was still in there, which made Bella wonder what was in her suitcases. She went over to the first one she saw and unzipped it. What she found in there was horrifying. It was all the clothes her mother had picked out yesterday and on top of everything was the dreaded matching white bra and panty set. Bella had less than an hour to get ready so she didn't have time to repack which meant she was stuck with that stuff. She tried to push the clothing dilemma out of her mind because she had to get ready now so she headed to the bathroom to take a shower.
The airport was pretty busy but Bella and her family managed to get checked in and through security in record time. An automatic voice on the loudspeaker informed them that Bella's flight was boarding so they all started saying their goodbyes. Charlie cleared his throat and said, "I'm going to miss your cooking, kid... I love you." followed by an awkward hug. Renee just started crying. Once she composed herself, she held Bella in a tight hug. "You're going to do great. This is a fresh start, nothing to hold you back. You can be anyone you want to be. I love you Bella."
After a few minutes of doing nothing but hug Renee, Charlie interjected. "Uh, Renee? Bella needs to board the plane. They just called the final boarding call." Renee was hysterical as Bella gently pushed her away. "I'm just going to miss her so much!" Bella started walking to the gate when she heard Charlie respond to Renee by saying, "You can't miss someone if you don't let them go." With one final wave to her parents, Bella boarding the plane.
Once Bella was seated on the plane, she couldn't help but start thinking about him. Bella wondered if he was out there somewhere, going to high school yet again. She wondered if his family was with him. Probably. She wondered if he thought about her as much as she did him. Probably not. He didn't want her anymore, that was what he said, it didn't get much clearer than that. But, if he obviously didn't want her anymore, why was she still holding out hope for him? She had been depressed for the last two months because of him and it was becoming increasingly more apparent each day that he was never going to come back. "It will be like a never existed." were his exact words. They were the words that haunted Bella so many of her sleepless nights. Now the question she was asking herself was why was she still giving everything she had to him even after he left her? She just kept giving more and more of herself away and had yet to get anything back.
As the plane took off, Bella's mind wandered to all the things her parents had said to her, there were two things in particular that she kept going back to. She thought about how when Charlie was trying to convince her to go to St. Augustine, "...you can get a fresh start." he said. She also thought about when Renee was saying goodbye, she said, "You can be anyone you want to be." Turns out, they were both right. This was a new start for her and she could be anyone she wanted. Nobody knew her or what she had been through. She didn't have to be Bella Swan, the weird albino loner girl from Phoenix. To be frank, Bella was pretty sick of her. Not to mention being plain old Bella Swan obviously hadn't worked out so well for her. Her boyfriend, best friend, and what she thought to be a second family all just left her.
Bella made up her mind right there. She never again would be Bella Swan, the weird albino loner girl. She would be Isabella Swan, the mysterious girl from Washington.