I stared at my little angel as she softly sighed happily in her crib, finally asleep after an hour of various lullabies and rocking techniques on my part. I still found it hard to believe she was mine but as I watched her sleep the similarities between us were unmistakable. A mop of smooth brown hair lay on her head, she had a lot of hair for such a young baby. Whenever she didn't get her way or was about to cry her bottom lip puckered out much like mine had when I was younger. Even the shape of her face was much like mine, I was told. But what was really the most recognizable of my features in her was her eyes, she had deep brown eyes with little specks of gold sparkling throughout them when she smiled, almost exact replicas of mine yet they still held such a uniqueness.
I loved her so much, I wondered what my life would be like without her as I watched her chest rise and fall in her sleep, she was wrapped up warmly in a pink blanket with little elephants scattered throughout the pattern, covering her cute little one piece pyjama set. Even though she was unplanned and not brought into this world in the most favourable circumstances I loved her with all my heart, I dreaded being away from her tomorrow to go to school.
After Annabelle was born I moved from Phoenix where I lived with my mom, Renee, and my step dad , Phil, to live with my Dad, Charlie. Charlie lives in a little town named Forks in Washington State. It rains on this little town nearly all year and it is constantly under a thick layer of clouds making sure the town doesn't get any sunlight and casting a grey shadow over everything.. I hated it here. I had been forced to come visit Charlie for a month every Summer until I was fourteen, old enough to put my foot down. Since then he had vacationed with me and my Mom in Phoenix for a fortnight every Summer.
Annabelle and I had moved hear under the pretence of being sisters. My choice. I was not ashamed of the fact that I had gotten pregnant at seventeen and now at eighteen had a daughter 4 months old but it would be easier on Anna if the whole town wasn't gossiping about her having an irresponsible mother. And of course that would bring up the issue of who her father is, a subject which I do not particularly wish to discuss in the near future if at all possible. Of course when Anna grows older I will have to tell her about it but I don't want to think about that now.
The story was that Phil, being a baseball player, had to travel a lot with work and my Mom couldn't stand being away from him for so long so Charlie, wanting to get to know me little better had offered to take Anna and I in for the remainder of Phil's baseball season, which was to finish up shortly after I graduate from High school. My mom wasn't very fond of the idea of me leaving but she was less fond of the idea of staying home with Anna all day while I was in school and having all her friends continue to gossip about her behind her back. So I ended up here, in Forks not being able to sleep because I was dreading my first day of school tomorrow. To add to all the things a teenage girls detests about school I was a complete klutz. I dropped things, slammed into things also I find it hard to walk over a completely flat stable surface without finding something to trip over. Also, I was really dreading leaving Anna for the day, I don't think I've ever been away from her for that long before. I decided to try and get some sleep if I was going to be getting up early for school tomorrow.
I woke with a start at the sound of Anna crying, I looked at the clock it read 6:45, I was going to have to get up in ten minutes for school anyway. I got up and rushed over to Anna's crib, her little face was puckered up in obvious discomfort as she bawled her heart out. "Sshh, sshh Anna, mommy's here.", I cooed as I carefully lifted her from her crib and brought her to my chest, it still amazed me how fragile she was.
"Ssshh, it's okay Anna mommy's here, mommy's here, see it's okay.", I said, rocking her gently from side to side as she started to calm down.
"Bells? Are you o.k.?", I heard a soft knock on my door.
"Yeah, dad come in!" I replied.
"Anna just woke up and couldn't see me, it startled her but she's fine now.", I assured him, "listen can you take her for me and give her her bottle its in the fridge just nuke it till it's a bit warm, I have to get ready for school."
"Yeah, no problem Bella. You know I do know how how to feed my granddaughter.", he said, obviously amused at the fact that I was explaining how to give Anna her bottle, as I passed her to him. "Hey there Anna. Who's gonna be a good little girl for grandpa?"
I chuckled as he talked to her with a babyish voice as he left the room. I decided to go take shower.
When I was finished my shower, I quickly dressed in a pair of jeans, a long sleeved blue shirt, my grey jacket and my black cons and dried my hair. When I was done I stared in the bathroom mirror and decided to put on a little mascara. My skin was pale, almost translucent and I had big brown eyes. My dark brown hair was long and naturally wavy. I was always slender, but I just never really wore anything to accentuate my figure, I didn't have much of a social life back in Phoenix so I really didn't bother getting dressed up. I sighed as I put the top back on the mascara, grabbed my bag and headed downstairs.
I could hear Anna crying as I descended the stairs, Charlie was in the kitchen struggling to get Anna to take her bottle.
"Did you heat it up dad?"
"Yes Bells, of course I heated it up, she just doesn't seem to like the stuff." he replied sounding annoyed that he couldn't get Anna to take her bottle. I sighed, I knew what she wanted. Ever since that first day she was born she refused to take a bottle first thing in the morning, the nurses had insisted I try breast feeding so I did and since then she wouldn't have anything else in the morning, the rest of the day she was fine. I sighed again.
"Give her to me dad, I know what she wants."
"Fine, maybe you can get her to take it, but hurry up because your gonna be late for school at this rate.", he said as he passed Annabelle to me and then held out the bottle. "I don't need it, I'll just be sec" I replied as I headed into the living room, I glanced back and I saw Charlie had figured out what I was going to do, he quickly started staring at the floor as he saw me looking.
"Alright come on miss fussy, lets get you fed" I whispered to Anna as she looked up at me, her brown eyes shining so innocently. I let out an amused laugh as I glanced at her expression, she looked completely satisfied she was going to get what she wanted yet still so innocent, she had her mothers stubbornness.
When I was done feeding Anna, I walked balk to the kitchen. Charlie was sitting reading yesterdays newspaper while sipping a cup of coffee. He looked up when he heard me and Annabelle coming, she was making little gurgling noises with her mouth and she looked so cute!
"Oh, hey uh Bells, so is she…", He trailed off obviously finding the subject of breastfeeding awkward. Men. I decided to help him, being the generous person I am.
" Yeah Dad she's fine now, she's just fussy in the mornings but you'll have no problem giving her a bottle during the day."
"Oh o.k. then , oh! Bells I forgot to tell you, I won't be able to look after her today. But don't worry I've found someone perfectly able to do so until we can find a childcare place for her.", he added, seeing my expression at the thought of having no babysitter for Annabelle, I mean I could hardly take her to school with me.
"So who is she? This new minder?", I asked as I transferred Anna to my other shoulder as she was starting to get restless.
"Do you remember Billy Black, up in La Push? No? Well his daughter Rachel is 25 now and she has two kids of her own so when I was up there the other day she offered to take Anna until we found someone else, she said it was no problem."
"Oh, I guess that's o.k." I said.
"Yes, she'll be fine, you don't have to worry, now we really should get going."
"O.k., can you grab Anna's bag and my backpack from the end of the stairs as I get her settled in the car seat?", I asked as I grabbed the keys to the cruiser of the kitchen counter and headed towards the door. Charlie had gotten Anna dressed while I was in the shower and she was now wearing cute little jeans from baby Gap and a red jacket, a necessity here in the rainy town of Forks. I settled Anna down in the car seat in the backseat of Charlie's cruiser, Charlie was Police Chief Swan of Forks so I was going to have to be driven around in his police cruiser for the remainder of my stay unless I bought my own car. Ugh, nothing slows down traffic like a cop! Charlie got into the car then and I started telling him what Anna will need throughout the day and when she should nap and her favourite toys as we headed towards the high school. We came to a red light as I was telling him the best way to get her to sleep.
"She doesn't like being rocked up and down so tell Rachel not to do that because she will just get cranky and trust me you won't like her when she's cranky! Also singing sometimes helps but not always so what I find is-"
"Bells", Charlie interrupted my little rant. We were pulling into the school parking lot.
"What?"
"I'm, well, I'm really proud of you Bells, you seem to be really taken to being a mom and I know most girls your age wouldn't be coping half so well if they had had to deal with what youwent through."
I stopped him there not wanting to continue this conversation for fear it would wind up with him talking about her father so I interrupted him. "Thanks Dad, I appreciate it but I really have to get going.", I could hear the first bell going off from the school and there was only two students left in the parking lot at the moment, I didn't really want to be any later than I already was.
"Sure, Bells.", he turned to Anna who was resting comfortably, drooling in her seat, "Are you gonna be a good girl today for Rachel? Say goodbye to mommy now.", he said.
I chuckled as I stretched back to kiss Anna, he really seemed to like being a grandfather. "Bye sweetie, be a good girl today o.k.?", She smiled up at me and I almost didn't leave but I had to, so resignedly I grabbed my bag, said goodbye to Charlie and got out of the car.
"Bye bells, I'll pick you up at four."
I sighed as I watched him drive away with my baby. It's only a couple of hours, I told myself, I shouldn't be making this big a deal out of it. Then surprise, surprise it started raining, I put my hood up and walked quickly to one of them many small red brick buildings scattered throughout the school grounds. The one I entered had OFFICE written above the door. I glanced swiftly around the room, it was small and decorated with warm colours contrasting the dull greys and greens outside. To the right there was a large desk cluttered with papers and stationary, I walked over to it and the woman behind it looked up questioningly.
"Hi, I'm Isabella Swan I'm new today, just moved here and I was hoping you could help me."
Recognition flickered throughout her face at the mention of my name, figures, I thought wryly to myself. In a town as small as this my arrival would be common knowledge. I was probably the subject of gossip all over town, the chiefs flighty ex-wife's daughter returns.
"Of course dear, if you could just sign this form here and I'll get your schedule", she smiled kindly at me and started rummaging through one of the many filling cabinets to the left of the desk. "Ah, here we are, now here's your map and your schedule of all your classes and if you need any help finding them don't hesitate to ask a member of staff or one of the students, we don't bite", she laughed, seeming pleased by her attempt at a joke as she handed me my map and schedule. I thanked her and made my way out into the rain once again.
On my way to building 3, where my schedule said my first class, English, was being held, I stepped in a rather large puddle causing my cons to fill with water and make an embarrassing noise somewhere between a squeak and a squelch every time I took a step. Great, I thought to myself wryly. I made it to English, soaked through, and knocked on the boring brown classroom door and made my way inside. As soon as I entered all heads turned towards me, giving me curious looks and various whispers of "new girl", and "This must be her", filtered through the room. The teacher, a Mr. Bennington was standing at the top of the class writing up a list of this years assigned reading, he turned when he heard the door opening and the whispers starting.
" Hush class, settle down! Hello, you must be Miss Swan?" , he said looking at me. He was wearing dark jeans with a tweed coat, very stereotypical teacher clothes, he had black hair which was thinning out in the front and greying slightly, he looked somewhere in his mid forties.
"Yes, my name is Bella Swan."
"Great, well we shall over look your tardiness seeing as it's your first day but if you wouldn't mind being on time from now on?"
"Of course, I'm sorry."
"Now would you care to come and introduce yourself to the class? Then we may proceed with our lesson." I hate him already.
On my way to the front of the class I tripped over someone's backpack and caught myself just before falling to the ground, but not before slamming my side into the edge of a table. Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark. Many people snickered and I felt my cheeks grow red with embarrassment. I quickly introduced myself….the usual, Isabella Swan…call me Bella, my sister and I moved here to live with my dad, who is the chief policeman here in Forks.
"Great now that that's clear can we please move on with our lesson?", what is this guys problem?? " Miss Swan please take a seat at the back of the class next to Miss Bennett."
I made my way to the back of the class miraculously without falling and sat next to a blonde girl who I assumed was Miss Bennett. She seemed nice as she smiled and said hi. I smiled back and opened my books shivering as I felt a drop of rain from my hair run down my back causing me to get goose bumps and shudder slightly. God I hate the cold! I pulled my jacket around me and sighed knowing that this was only the beginning of a what would be a very long day.