Breaking Tides

4 February 2010

Sum: What if Edward wasn't the first vampire Bella met?

AN: If you haven't noticed already, I tend to re-title all of my work later on because at the time it sounded good, and later I thought of something much better or just really hated the original name. So for now it's Breaking Tides, I think it's ok, I wish I had something a little better. Oh and my readers for my other subjects, don't worry, I'm working on the stories you want as you read this.

AN2: Inspired by BlondieAKARobin and NoMoreThanUsual, but they wouldn't know it from what I've written. Lol. However, please bare with the first paragraph. It's a little OOC for Bella, but then again the entire story is completely out of context and my own version of the story if it were on crack. But no seriously, it is a serious fic, just a what-if. I had so many ideas running through my head when I read some of their fics, and this is what I came up with, hopefully it's a nice neutral territory for all those thoughts. Heehee... Please read on.

"Fuck!" Bella had turned around and slammed her shoulder into a very hard structure. That wasn't there before. She thought looking at what she had run into and her eyes widened. "Double Fuck!" Bella held up her hands and backed away from the confused looking pale faced male. "Stay back! Please for the love of god, just stay away from me. Please have a conscious and leave me alone!"

"What are you talking about?" He questioned taking a slow step forward, with his own hands raised in a calming notion.

"No!" Bella took a quick step back. "You've in a very public place and just don't move, just because I can't see you do it, doesn't mean that you'll get away with killing me."

The man's face scrunched up in confusion and stopped walking toward her, he looked completely confused. "I don't know what you're talking about, I have no intention of hurting you."

"That's what they all say. God, I can't get away from you guys!" Bella saw a door to her left and a crowd gathering around as the classes let out and people were heading to their next destination. She slipped bolted through it and was far away from the building as fast as her legs could take her.

The male still standing in the hallway ran a hand through his hair and a blond female came up to his side and looped her arm through his, looking up into his golden eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Some girl just freaked out when she ran into me just moments ago."

"We have to move again?"

"I don't know, we'll have to ask Edward and Alice what they have to offer." He rubbed his dark curly hair again. "Maybe she just freaked because of my size or memory of someone who'd hurt her before."

"Yeah, Edward will straighten the whole thing out." The girl sounded a little sarcastic.

"Come on Rosalie, he has his usefulness." Rosalie only shook her head in response, and Emmett laughed. "You're right, not very often."

Rosalie broke out into laughter and pulled him down the hall. "Wait 'till he reacts to that one."

Bella slipped into an empty classroom and tried to get her breathing back to a normal pace, and stop the heaving of her chest.

She took a deep breath through her nose and waited a moment before she let it slowly out of her mouth. That's it, deep breaths, just like you learned. She took awhile to collect herself and managed to convince herself that she was just delusional, there couldn't be another one here, that man in the hall was in all in her imagination.

She calmed down enough to open the door and peak out, there was no one out there looking for her, in fact there was no one in the halls at all, again. Besides, if he had wanted to get into the room, there was no way the door would have separated him from her, he would have easily gotten to her if she'd been correct. She must have just mistaken the signs.

She braced herself, this was what happened only ten minutes ago, so she moved quickly to find her class room, and knew she was already late, but as it was her first day of school, it didn't really matter, she'd be forgiven since she was new.

It was third period and she had Spanish. She opened the door cautiously, if the instructor was in the middle of speaking, she didn't want to make a big disruption, but it squeaked anyways and her slow movement caused it to be more drawn out than necessary. She winced at the noise. The whole class turned to her and stared and then chattered started at the new face, they all seemed to know who she was. She frowned, this wasn't good, why did she choose to come here? Did she think she'd be any more protected here than back in Arizona? Here there was only more time to be out in public. She could only hope that her secret wouldn't get out this small community to who she was avoiding.

She couldn't tell her mom the real reason she left, it would only put her in danger. Being unaware kept her safe and she had decided to move someplace even sunnier than Arizona, it was the best thing for her mom and Phil.

The Spanish teacher was still looking at her expectantly. Bella spieled something off in Spanish about how she was sorry she was late. The teacher motioned for her to sit down as she responded. It was all very first year stuff but the class looked impressed.

Bella refrained from rolling her eyes and sat down next to a curly black haired girl with the strands poking out in interesting angles. She placed her bag down on the table and rifled through it for her notebook and pen. The girl leaned over and nudged her on the shoulder. "That was pretty impressive stuff, are you sure your in the right year? I think that's at least third year around here."

"I don't know, I guess I'll have to see how different it is before I can make that decision. I am a little behind because of the transfer."

The girl nodded, though she seemed to care less with every word. "My name's Jessica and you have to be Isabella Swan."

"I actually just go by Bella." She corrected.

"Aren't you from Arizona?" Bella sighed at the question, she couldn't hide her history, she'd come to live with her father, and because of that she wasn't anonymous.

"Yes."

"Shouldn't you be tan?" Jessica looked confused.

Bella couldn't completely stop her eyes from rolling so she tried to hide it by looking down at her notes. "I don't tan so well, I probably fit in better up here than there."

"I get tanner than you do by March." Jessica laughed. "I do know some people you'd fit in with better than the rest of us in paleness."

Bella took it that Jessica didn't mean offense, and nodded along. "Want to point them out?"

"Yeah, but the only problem is that they're very exclusive. They only talk to each other and it's like they're together, it's weird."

Bella didn't quite understand it yet, but she was sure she would if Jessica had the chance to further explain. The Spanish teacher cleared her throat and continued on with the lesson, calling Jessica out to answer a question and in very faulty Spanish responded to the question.

When class ended, Jessica just started chattering incessantly and Bella was appreciative of being with someone but she tuned the girl out. They headed towards lunch where they were met up with several other students. She set her bag down on the ground and it must have spilt open for the blond kid that Jessica was making goggle eyes at, swooped down and picked it all up. "Hey, what's this?" He pulled out a sheet of paper and before Bella could see what he had, he laughed. "Looks like we have a few classes together Isabella!"

"Oh? Any with me?" Eric tried to look around Mike's shoulder to look at the schedule but Mike held it out of reach and they wrestled for it. Bella let them please themselves with boy things. Tyler, who was taller than both of them, which wasn't quite a challenge, snatched it out of Mike's hands.

"Aw, Isabella, you don't have any with me!"

'Isabella' grabbed the paper back. "Well, I'm glad that Isabella's schedule is of such great interest for you guys, but I Bella am the one who has to go attend those classes."

"Oh, sorry." Eric rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess we didn't get the memo."

Bella waved it off. "Don't worry about it, I'm new and I just met you."

"So, do you have plans for the weekend? We're thinking of a trip to Port Angeles." Mike switched subjects.

"We are?" Jessica's eyes lit up. "I didn't think that was a go."

"Yeah, want to catch a movie?" Eric asked warming up to the subject, and Tyler was nodding as well. All three guys were looking at her for an answer.

"Um... sure." Bella agreed reluctantly. The girl on the other side of the table shared a smile with her that Bella appreciated, at least she found the humor in the situation. Bella was used to being invisible for the most part, so to come here and be instantly popular was a little unnerving and it scared her a little as well for reasons she couldn't share with the group. She wished her father lived in another big city somewhere far away from Phoenix, and not this small town, but it's how it happened to work out, and she'd just have to deal with it.

From what she knew, Port Angeles was pretty small as well. It was a pretty safe bet that it too would not be well-known to anyone outside the area. She could only hope that this was now over that she was out of Phoenix and he was more interested in harassing those in the area, he should no longer be interested in her. She escaped, that should be enough.

They started discussing the finer details but Bella tuned out, she was surveying the cafeteria when through the windows she saw a large group of people heading for the doors. She didn't get a clear view of them until they entered the room and when they did, two at a time, she froze in her seat. It was the young man she had run into earlier and at his side was a statuesque blond. They were both pale, paler than she was, which was difficult, as Jessica had kindly pointed out earlier. She knew the signs, even if the others didn't, and being a couple didn't surprise her either, she'd learn a lot about their kind over the last year, having five of them in one room, full of humans, and ignoring them, did surprise her.

From what she knew of their nature, the true nature, was that they shouldn't be hesitating to kill everyone in sight. However, that might spring warning bells throughout the nation and in Italy and then they too would be dead, which is exactly what they didn't want to happen. What took her completely by surprise was that there were five of them, and they were laughing and enjoying each other's company, not attempting to tear each other's throats out. The largest number she'd ever seen together was three, and except for the Volturi, she'd never heard of any large group that didn't have in-fighting.

Someone was saying her name, and it wasn't until a hand dropped on her shoulder, scaring her half to death did she realize that someone was talking to her. "Wha- what?"

"We were wondering what time you'd like to be picked up?"

"Ah, any time would be fine, I don't have any plans at all, I haven't thought that far ahead yet."

"What got you so distracted?" Jessica asked with a smirk, as if she knew something and probably figured it was a boy.

"I was just wondering who those people were that just walking in the door?"

"Oh!" Jessica exclaimed, and leaned forward. "So they did show up to lunch today, often times I think they skip out and go eat better food in town or their parent's cooking somewhere else." She laughed. "Those are the people I told you about. They're like super-rich, their dad is a doctor and they just showed up here about a year ago. They're all adopted, either their adopted mother couldn't have children, or more likely she didn't want to ruin her perfect shape." Jessica supplied.

"I think it's the first." Angela interrupted. "She has a motherly nature, I think she probably could have a sometime and it didn't work out."

"Anyways." Jessica waved off Angela's accurate assumption. "The really weird part is that they're all together, like together together." Bella already knew that, but she needed names so she knew exactly who to avoid. "I think it's illegal."

"But they're not actually related." Angela injected again. "Only Rosalie and Jasper are."

"Yeah, their last names still go by Hale, but they associate to the Cullen name just like the rest of them. Emmett too has a different name, but they're still part of the 'Cullen' clan." Jessica waved at the group. "So the big guy is Emmett, he's super scary. Rosalie is the blond that is totally unreachable and perfect, but she's so stuck up, more so than the rest of them, somehow they're together, I guess it might just be a status thing."

So Emmett was the name of the guy she had run into in the hallway, he seemed so much at ease both then and now, but then knowing he could crush the skulls of everyone in this room with just two fingers might help with that attitude. He leaned back and laughed at something one of his siblings had said and the loud noise carried over to their table. It was a nice laugh as all their voices had to be, but there was something infectious about it as well. It almost seemed genuine and friendly.

She had to shake herself away from these thoughts, its exactly what they all wanted from the humans, to put them at ease before they striked, so no one would be the wiser. She steeled herself against it, anything they said to anyone would just be a lure. She didn't know their particular angle, she had met another with a strange angle, but the others she'd heard about usually only invited people in long enough to subdue them and then strike, so as not to gain attention by others nearby, others wanted the chase and thrill of a fight that was anything but equal, and the latter two examples usually only took minutes before the kill was complete.

Why was she cursed to be surrounded by ones that had such a devastating angle? It was kinder to kill quickly and without deception. If she was going to end up going from any of the ones that she had become in contact with, she'd do everything in her after life to destroy any of their future plans. She'd prefer to be taken down by one she hadn't met that would do it quickly and wouldn't mess with her if her end did come that way.

"The small brunette, is Alice, she's very weird, if she does talk to someone, it's usually a warning or a knowing comment. It's difficult to understand her and she's strange in other ways as well." Nobody had anything to say to contradict her this time, they all seemed in accordance. "The guy next to her, is Jasper, anytime a person goes near him he freaks out and backs away. He and Alice seem like a support group to each other." Jessica rolled her eyes in disgust. "They're both just odd, though Jasper is hot, if they'd break up, I'd be the first one in line to be his next girlfriend."

The smile on Jessica's face was a little disconcerting but Bella was more interested in looking closely at the other two, the ones she hadn't had any sort of contact with. Alice seemed perky, it was odd to see them from a distance and know what they were, she speculated on what they were like as humans, most of the ones she'd learned about hadn't had spectacular upbringing or moral code when they were living, and it translated into their personalities now. Jasper had to be military, she could just see it in his 'relaxed' position, a line of tension and alertness not necessarily associated with their nature. They often didn't care what was going on around them, they were completely invincible.

"The last one, Edward, is single, I think he's just waiting for his parents to adopt him a girlfriend, he ignores everyone else around here. I know I've attempted to catch his eye, and have gotten no-where."

Bella silently laughed at that, and could see the last one as well laugh at the same time. She froze, that was a little strange, and it was hard to be coincidental, he could either overhear their conversation, which was likely, or had some other means on spying on the members around the room. She glanced serpentinely around the room, but she had no idea if there was anything he was using or any other means, his super-hearing and the others must have just picked up on the comment. It was a funny comment too, it was a clear back off if you ever have an interest and a I'm such an amazing catch and if he doesn't want me, he must be in the closet and not know it.

Bella turned her attention to actually looking at the details of the last one at the table and her breath caught. It was a shame that they were all so gorgeous, and this one was particularly so, they didn't need it. He turned his gaze to her and she could feel them searching, memorizing and taking in her image. It was too late, she was found again, and was given attention to, again, and she might not live past the day. His face turned confused as he searched and then furrowed in frustration and the eyes narrowed, as if trying to read her own face from so far away, as if by looking hard enough, he could tap into her thoughts. He didn't need it, her face was an open book.

"So, they're like a family?" She asked slowly.

"Yeah, closer than a lot of families I've seen." Angela supplied. "They're very tight-knit, always having each other's backs."

That was an oddity that Bella couldn't quite put her finger on, and she could only hope as she saw the five get up to leave that she would not have any classes with any of them. Alice stopped in the open doorway and tilted her head to the side, two of them males stopped to watch her and paid particular attention. The one that she learned was Edward, frowned deeply, clearly not liking whatever they were talking about and then they all left without a backwards glance into the room.

She took a deep breath of relief to be away from more of them. If they didn't pay any attention to anyone and there was no whispers of disappearances, maybe they hunted elsewhere and left the population of people here alone, it was wise, and a few did so. So that wasn't so surprising to Bella. If that was the case, maybe she'd be left alone too. God she hoped so.

The group disbanded and Mike tagged along her side. "I have class with you, remember?" She had forgotten that and so she walked with Mike to her biology class.

Walking in, Mike disappeared to his assigned seat and without the teacher's repetitive announcement, she could clearly see that the only seat left was the only seat she did not want to take. It was clear the other humans were averse to sitting too close to him without knowing why and yet they all wanted to be part of them. She cursed her luck as she came closer and then it was her turn to be alarmed, he visibly reacted and slid his seat far away, one hand reaching under the table and his whole body tensed and he turned his head away, she knew he wasn't even pretending to breath for the rest of the class any longer, and when he turned his eyes back on her, he glared furiously.

She knew what he was capable of and she stopped moving, he didn't attack outright and she had to move, and with tentative steps came closer to her chair. He pushed it out with his foot and it slid to the aisle. Bella thankful of the small distance, even though she knew it wouldn't do any good if he got it in his head to kill her, it still made her feel infinitely better.

She looked at his eyes and was surprised that everyone in the room was still in an upright position, they were completely black. The only thing that was odd about this scene, besides the whole thing itself, was that he was so intensely furious with her, she'd never suffered so much anger in her direction before, not even by the other one that she'd encountered.

Bella knew not to make any sudden movement that would send her sent in his direction, even if he wasn't breathing it in. So she only took one moment to angle herself in such a way that she could take notes and 'pay attention' to the teacher while always watching him, not that she'd see any movement he made if he didn't do it at a human pace, but it might give her a better chance, however unlikely.

Before the bell rang after class, he pushed away and was out the door, and Bella felt herself begin to melt, that was the most intense fifty minutes she'd ever suffer through. She couldn't move for awhile, and when she finally got back to her feet, she was was shaking. She was glad no one was there to see her, it was bad enough that she was going to be known as the klutz on campus pretty soon, she didn't need to be known as the scaredy-cat as well.

Speaking of her klutz attacks, she ran into the table as she rounded the corner to head out the door. "Ow!" She complained, rubbing her hip from the edge of the table, that was going to leave a bruise. She continued through the rest of her day on tense nerves, she sat at the edge of her seat through of her classes and a nervous tapping of her foot as she waited for the day to end and she could go home.

When class finally ended for the day she had one last stop to make and headed for the office to turn in her attendance form. After she entered it, she caught sight of Edward and pushed herself up against the wall, he hadn't seemed to notice her, and he hoped that would continue to be the case.

He was arguing with the secretary about switching out of Biology and Bella straightened, hoping he'd get his wish, but the secretary argued that there was no other place that they could put him, not even in upper division classes.

"Hey Bella." Eric greeted, he was turning in his articles for paper, and had just come out of the photocopy room.

Edward spun around and took a step back, he must not have smelt her, probably still not breathing properly. He grabbed his papers viciously. "Fine, guess I will just have to endure!" He avoided her completely as he could as he brushed out the door and away from the room.

Bella sighed deeply, she didn't understand what his deal was, and if he was human she should have been offended, and since he wasn't, she should be completely relieved that he was reviled by her. It meant that she might have a chance after all today.

Eric started talking to Bella as they headed out of the building to the parking lot. The lot was practically empty and Bella said goodbye to Eric, and got into her car, as she headed down the long strip of road back to her house, she dreaded the next day. Edward Cullen was going to be in her class for the next semester, he'd eventually kill her in his dislike, and wouldn't even bother to use her death to feed off of her. Maybe it was for the best, at least it would be quick.