Legend – Alphas Rise
Chapter One
(Bella's POV)
Book One
Rated T
I made my way down the steps of the plane that took me from phoenix, one of the warmest places in America, where I lived with my mom and her second husband Phil, who is a minor league baseball player, to Seattle Washington, the first leg of my journey on my way to forks, Washington, a tiny place that is said to be under the constant threat of rain, hidden in fog and clouds.
As I make my way in and through the airport what my mom said to me as she held unto me for dear life at the airport there, 'you don't have to go you know, I can stay home with you, I can go with Phil another time,' Was tempting and was tempting me now to turn around and get back on that plane, but I know I couldn't, wouldn't do that to her, she has sacrificed so much of her happiness already for me. I declined and convinced her that this is what I wanted to do; it would give me the chance to get to know my dad a lot better.
Though I have seen him once or twice a year since my mom left him when I was five, I don't know him as well as I should.
The reason for her leaving was never made truly clear to me, the reason she gave of couldn't live in that small boring cold place a minute longer, always seemed flimsy to me, and I always felt she held something back. Maybe while I'm here I'll get the true answers to the question.
Why did she have to leave so suddenly in the middle of the night all those years ago?
As I walk through the airport, scanning for my dad my thoughts goes back to Phil, who is a minor league baseball player, he's always traveling and usually my mom stays home with me. I know my mom misses him when he is gone. Now he has a chance to play for a Florida team, he will be going there for tryouts and will be gone for a while, hence the reason I am here to stay with my dad, so she can go with him without worrying about me too much.
She will still worry of course and bombard me with emails and phone calls if a day goes by without her hearing from me.
I stop in the middle of the airport, with people bustling back and forth by me; looking around for my dad, Charlie, who is the chief of police for forks, I spot him scanning the crowd for me. I groan as the thought hit me that we will be traveling in his police car. One of the first things I plan on doing is buying a used car, because there is no way I wanted to be driven to school in his official vehicle.
I made my way over to him. "Hi dad." I said when I stood in front of him.
"Bella." He replied, pulling me into a hug. "Wow, you have grown into a beautiful woman." He told me when he pulled back to look me over. "I am truly glad you decided to come stay with me."
"I am too dad, I missed you." I replied, realizing that though I wasn't looking forward to being in forks, I was happy to be with my dad.
"Me too hun". He replied, pulling me into another hug "How is your mom?" He asked, letting go of me "I bet she had a hard time letting you go." He said with a small smile.
"She is fine." I replied. "She thought me coming was a good idea." I lied easily, not sure where that came from because I am a lousy liar.
He smiled and took my elbow. "Come on let's get your bags and get out of here."
Our drive to forks is quiet, not uncomfortable so, Charlie and I are alike in that sense, we're not big talkers and that's fine, I spent most of the trip looking at the scenery, which there is a lot of, woods and open spaces. And as predicted the weather is overcast and foggy.
Halfway through the trip, the silence was broken. "You looking forward to starting school tomorrow, making new friends?" He asked.
"Yes, I am." I tried to sound enthusiastic about the prospect but in truth I hated it, not only am I starting in the middle of a school year, my last high school year, but I will be the new kid, and the center of attention, which I am not looking forward to, I've always hated being the center of attention.
"I have a surprise for you." He informs me. I look over at him, he glances at me and gave a small smile, he seemed almost unsure and nervous.
"You didn't have to get me anything dad."
"Well, you're a senior now and I know you don't want me taking to school or errands in my work car, so I got you a truck."
I was surprised. "What?" I stared at him. "That's too much, you didn't have to. I had saved up enough from all my part time jobs to get a little used car."
"It's not much, think of it as a welcome game gift." He glances at me. "It's a truck that belonged to a friend of mine, Dr. Cullen. His son, Edward, went through a car phase, build it up from scratch, but lost interest and it's being sitting in their garage taking up space, when he heard I was looking for a car for you, he offered it at a good price. They're a very nice group of people. Dr. Cullen and his wife Esme couldn't have kids so they adopted five." He glanced sideways at me. "Maybe you and they will become friends."
I could argue about it, but what was the point, I needed a car, plus I had a feeling he wanted to make sure I was happy here and didn't ever want to leave. About us all becoming friends, well, we'll see.
"Thanks dad, you didn't have to, but I appreciate it."
His face broke into a smile of relief. "I'm sure you'll love it. Dr. Cullen said he would have it at the house by the time we got back."
The drive became silent again after that. At least now I will have more money for my college fund, or whatever.
When we reached his house, well mine now too, the same two story house he shared with my mom when they married, there was a black Mercedes parked in front of the house and an old dark blue pickup, probably made in the sixties parked in the drive way. I loved it on sight.
It wasn't until I was out of the car and walking towards the truck did I notice the two people standing by it. They were both very pale, with gold eyes and shadow under them, one wore a suit with very pale blond hair, the other had dirty blond hair, and wore a black button down shirt with black slacks. They seemed strange to me, and they're skin under closer inspection seemed to be made from marble, too perfect.
"These are the Cullen's." My father introduced, breaking me out of my thoughts. Pointing to the one that seemed older. "This is Dr. Cullen and his son Edward."
"Hello." Dr. Cullen greeted. "Your father have spoken a lot about you, he was very happy you decided to come stay with him. My daughter Alice wanted to come, but she is a little hyper, we didn't want you to get frightened off before you got to know us." He smiled, but only his mouth moved when he did, not like when a regular person smiles and their whole face move with it. "But she cannot wait to meet you."
"They have five kids." My dad interrupted. "I'm sure you will get along with them all and his wife Esme is a wonderful woman and great cook, they have took pity on me and invited me to dinner on a number of occasions."
"She is definitely looking forward to having you over." Dr Cullen informs me.
"So how do you like the truck?" Edward ask before I could comment
My dad and Dr. Cullen talked as I looked over the truck with Edward.
I walked closer to the truck and ran my hand over it. "It's great. I love it." I told him. "I can't believe you're giving it up."
"It was just taking up space." He said and shrugged.
"My dad told me you build it from scratch, almost." I told him
"Yeah, but as my dad would tell you, nothing holds my interest for long, I'm now onto pianos." He shrugs again
"Do you go to Forks high?" I asked
"No." He replied, sounding almost disappointed. "We're home schooled."
"Oh." I would have asked why, but I figured it would be prying for someone they just met; besides as innocent and non threatening he may seem, there was some instinct telling me that the Cullens weren't all they seem.
"Edward let's go, I'm sure Bella is tired from her long trip and want to settle in and rest." Dr. Cullen called out, stopping any more conversation. Then he turns to me. "You're welcome to come over anytime; your dad knows where we live."
"See you around Bella." Edward says before they both got in the Mercedes and left.
After they left my dad walks over to me carrying my luggage. "So you like it?"
"I love it, thanks dad." I replied smiling.
"Good, let's get in and get you settled." He said with a smile of his own.
He let us in and we went straight up to my room, a room I hadn't seen in two years, but nothing had changed in it, the same pale yellow walls and olive green bed set and curtain on the one window facing the street, the only difference was the computer. He walked in and placed my suitcase and bags on the bed, walking in behind him I noticed the rocking chair was still there, the one my mom use to rock me in when I was a baby.
"Welcome home Bella." My dad told me, pulling me into a hug. "I hope you'll be happy here."
"I'm sure I will." I said, stepping back.
He looked around once, nodded, and then left the room, closing the door behind him. When he was gone, I began unpacking, putting things around the room such as pictures of my mom, to really make the room feel like mine again.
An hour later I was done and feeling a little hungry, I decided to go down and see if there was anything for me to eat, maybe I'll fix something for both of us if my dad wanted.
A look through the cupboards and refrigerator shows there wasn't much. I was about to go and find my dad when he came walking in the kitchen.
"Sorry about that." Realizing there wasn't anything in the house to eat. "I ordered pizza, tomorrow I will do some shopping after work."
"I can do that." I volunteered. "In fact I can do the cooking from now on; I can imagine how busy you must be."
"You don't have to hun. You're not here to be my maid." He informs me, guiltily.
"I don't mind, I want to. I have been doing most of the cooking." I grinned. "You know how mom is in the kitchen."
He grinned back. "Yeah, I remember." It was quiet for minute. "Well if you're sure, I'll leave some money. Thanks Bella."
"It's no problem."
About an hour and a half later, the pizza had been delivered; we ate and cleaned up our mess. I sat with him while he watched some football game, though I paid no attention, I wasn't into sports at all. Instead my mind was on school tomorrow. I felt myself falling asleep and decided it was time for me to turn in.
I stood. "I'm going to get cleaned up and get to bed." I said behind a yawn. "Goodnight dad." And began making my way upstairs.
"Goodnight Bella and good luck in school tomorrow."
It didn't take me long to go through my nightly ritual and was practically asleep before my head hit the pillow, I felt worn out.
It seemed as though I had just gotten to sleep when I was being grabbed from sleep by the sound of the alarm, which happened just at a strange part of a dream I was having began. Sitting up I reached over and shut off the alarm, then thought back to my dream.
I had found myself in the woods, not knowing how, it was very dark and foggy, except for a light I could see way off in the distance. I heard sounds coming from a bush in front of me. With my hands stretched out in front of me, I began to make my way towards it. Just as I reached it and started to move it aside, I heard a very deep, almost growl whisper.
"It's you…."
That's when I was woken up by the alarm, before I could even voice the question I wanted to ask. It wasn't a long a dream, or even amazing, but it still felt strange. I shrugged and shook it off, telling myself that dream was about the anxiety of starting a new school, going into the unknown. Deciding I better get ready for school. I didn't want to be late my first day, I stretched and got up and spread my bed, then went around gathering everything I needed to get ready for school.
After quickly running through my morning ritual, wearing stone washed jeans, long sleeve v-neck t-shirt under a heavy hoody and white sneakers, I headed downstairs where I ate a bowl of cereal, about the only ateable thing in the house. Then grabbing my keys and the money for the grocery, where my dad left them on the dining table. I left.
I reached forks high school quicker than I thought I would, but then it wasn't too hard to find, it's located straight off the same freeway my dad took to bring us home yesterday.
The school wasn't what I expected, no, it wasn't as big as the one I attended in phoenix, but it wasn't that small either. It was made up of a few buildings that seem to have letters written on them. I pulled into the parking lot, parked turned off the engine and sat for a minute, building up the courage to get out.
Well there is nothing to do, but do it. I grabbed my bag and got out, just as I did, a big black escalade pulled into the space across from me. Just as I was about to turn and go about my business, I noticed the driver side opened and a huge Indian boy exited, he had jet black hair that was cut in a shaggy style, about 6'2", dressed in a white t-shirt, and black jeans, in a word he was gorgeous, and for some reason, I felt a connection to him as if I knew him from somewhere, I couldn't pull my eyes away. The sound of other doors slamming shut broke me out of my trance, that's when I noticed the other people with him. They were all of Indian heritage, three boys and one girl.
They were all handsome, but not as handsome as the driver, the girl was beautiful, with black silky hair to her waist. They were all dressed similarly except the girl wore boots and a thick sweater.
"They're something aren't they? They live in La Push on the Ouellette Indian reservation and started coming here about a year ago, they stick to themselves mostly." Someone said from behind me, I turned and saw a blond girl, a little shorter than me smiling. "Hello, I'm Jessica." She introduced herself.
"Hi, I'm Bella." I replied, smiling tentatively.
"Yeah, I know, you're chief swan's daughter; we've all been expecting you." She informed me. I looked confused by this. "Your dad told anyone who would listen that you were coming to stay with him. He's very happy about it."
"Oh." I said simply. Just then the sound of laughter brought our attention back to the people at the escalade. "Who are they?" I asked curiously.
"They're from the, Ouellette Indian Reservation in La Push." She answered. " The two joking around is Embry and Quil. The ones with their arms around each other is Jared and his girlfriend Kim and the one that was driving is Jacob black. He is completely gorgeous of course, but don't get your hopes up, it seems none of the girls here is good enough for him."
Just as she said that he looked over at me and our eyes connected and the connection I felt before felt even stronger, his face went through a slew of emotions, before settling on shock, then anger. That anger seems to be directed at me. But why? I was confused. He hasn't even met me, but the sight of me makes him angry? I started feeling angry myself which finally gave me the strength to look away and hurry into the building, forgetting about Jessica. I don't know what happened back there but the strength of the feelings that coursed through me, scared me. I have never in my life felt anything close to that for anyone, especially someone who seems to hate me on sight.
Putting the incident aside, I rushed into the office where a grey haired lady, who introduced herself as Mrs. Dinah Gardener, stood behind the counter. "May I help you?" she asked, smiling brightly.
"I'm Isabella swan. I need my schedule."
"Oh yes, I have your schedule and a map right here." She handed them to me. "Welcome to Forks High."
"Thank you." I replied, taking the items from her.
"You're welcome dear, have a good day." She said sincerely. "If there is anything you need or need help with, don't hesitate to ask."
"You too and thank you." I told her as I left the office.
I stood outside the office and looked at my schedule, my first class was science. I opened the map to see where it was located when I felt someone walk up and stood beside me. It was a girl about my height with long black hair and wore glasses.
"Hi, I'm Angela, you're Isabella swan right?" She greeted with a cheery smile. At my confused look. "Your dad has been very excited about you coming." She explains.
Öh, well its Bella." I corrected.
"What?" She asked confused
"I prefer to be called Bella."
"Okay, well Bella, do you need help finding your first class?" She offered.
"Sure." I replied showing her my schedule.
"Hey, we have the same class this period." She says as we began walking towards it. "The teacher's name is Miss Wilson, she's very nice …"
As we walked she told me all about the class and a little about the school. So began m first day at Forks High.
Everything went well; there was always someone to help me if I got lost. There were no embarrassing incidents, well except for when I first entered a class room. It seems as though the day just flew by and now I was on my way to lunch with the girl I met in the parking lot this morning she is in my math class, the class before lunch. She has blond her, blue eyes and a little shorter than me. She talked a mile a minute and seems to know everything about almost everyone. She invited me to sit with her and a few friends at lunch.
We entered the cafeteria, got in line and brought our lunches; they didn't have a big selection, but what they had seem really good. I settled on cheese pizza and cola. When we reached the table there was already five people sitting there, except for Angela, the others introduced themselves.
There was Mike, whose family owned the hardware store in town, Ben, Eric and Lauren.
After question of, how I liked the wheatear here compared to phoenix and other curious questions, there was mainly small talk, which I am not very good at so I looked around curiously as I ate, that's when I saw them again, the ones from this morning. They were laughing and talking. They were all very good looking, but my gaze became glued to the one whose name is Jacob. Wow, he was gorgeous, even looking angry, but when he smiled or laughed, it was like seeing the sun for the first time.
I knew I should look away before he caught me staring, but …
"What are you staring at Bella?" Jessica broke me out of my thoughts. "Oh," she exclaimed when she saw where I was looking. "Yeah he is gorgeous, but like I said earlier, don't waste your time none of the girls here seems good enough for him."
He looked straight at me when she said that, almost as if he heard her, he had a slight grin on his face, and then seem to think better of it when the same angry look covered his face, that's when I quickly looked away and was relieved when the bell rang for our next class.
"What class do you have next?" Mike asked as we got up to leave.
"Biology." I replied.
"Cool, me too, I'll walk you." He said excitedly
We said bye to everyone else then left. When we reached, mike said he'd see me later and went to his seat; the only empty seat was up front by the teacher. 'Just great.' I thought as I walked up and handed my schedule to the teacher.
"Welcome Isabella," I didn't bother to correct her. "Just find any available seat," she continued. "I'll get this back to you after class.
I went and sat down; I had just pulled my textbook from my bag when I heard the chair beside me scrape against the floor and heard someone sit down. I cautiously looked sideways without moving my head, and then with surprise looked fully when I realized it was the boy, Jacob. He didn't look at me and I tried not to be insulted when he moved his chair as far away from mine as he could get. His nose turned up as if he smelled something bad. I knew it wasn't me. So what was his problem?
Through class, he didn't look at me once, but I kept giving him sideways glances. How can anyone be mad at someone they have never even spoken to? That question kept repeating in my mind.
When the bell rang he quickly got up and practically ran from the room. I just sat there stunned. "What's his problem?" Mike asked.
The question made me jump. I was so deep in thought; I didn't notice him walk over.
"I have no idea." I replied with a shrug. If Jacob decided to hate me on sight there was nothing I could do about, so why worry.
I retrieved my schedule from the teacher and found mike is also in my next class, P.E.
Whoopee, have I mentioned how much I love gym and how coordinated I am? I didn't? Well, I'm not, not really, if there is a team sport and you want to win, your best bet is to put me on the other team. Walking to gym, my main thoughts were, I hope I don't hurt anyone and hoping the nurses' office is near the gymnasium class.
Yep, PE. Was as bad as I feared. We got a volley ball game going and mike chose me for his team, bad idea, first my elbow said hello to his nose, then his shoulders. I was so relieved when the bell rang for end of class, which also ends my first day of school.
I quickly dressed in my regular clothes then made my way to the office to turn in my schedule, that done I escaped to my truck. As I got in and started the engine, I noticed the Indian kids getting in their truck. I didn't make the mistake of staring this time. With a shake of my head, I pulled out and went to do my shopping.
After doing two weeks worth of shopping, I went home and after putting everything away, I began dinner, which will consist of steak, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus with a peppered white sauce. I dreaded having to go back to school tomorrow but for now I got lost in preparing dinner for me and my dad.
I put the steaks to marinate then put some finger link potatoes to boil in salted, I took this time to go freshen up and check my email. There was one from my mom asking about my first day of school. I replied then went back down to finish dinner.
Dad came home just as I was finished setting everything on the table. "Hey Bella, something smells good." He said walking into the kitchen.
It's steak and masked potatoes with asparagus." I told him
"Great." I'll go wash up.
As we ate he asked about my first day at school and if I made any friends. I gave the general answers, but was tempted to ask him about the Ouellettes but didn't.
"That was really good." He told me as he got up and put his plate in the dink. "Thanks Bella." He kissed the top of my head before he left, probably to catch a game on T.V.
You're welcome dad."
I quickly cleaned up the kitchen and after saying good night to my dad. I went upstairs and did the little homework I had for English lit. When done I went through my nightly ritual and went to bed, falling asleep wondering how Jacob black would react tomorrow and how someone could hate someone they didn't know, that seem to be the theme of my thoughts before drifting to sleep.