AN: Hey guys, so this is my first venture into writing a fanfic all my own, and I'd love to thank angelnlove52 and VampPixyJAK for giving me the constant inspiration and arsenol of crazy thoughts and ideas to come up with this story. This prologue is short, I know, and I can promise the chapters will get a lot more fun and interesting, but this just seemed like an interesting way to set the stage of Bella's mind. It's actually more of a flashback than anything. I can't wait to get into the other chapters because that's where the fun begins! It's been fun writing it, so I hope people enjoy reading it too! And, ok, I'm shutting up now...on to the story...

Penthouse in Paradise Prologue

BPOV

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we'll be arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in approximately five minutes. The local time is now 3:25 p.m. and the weather is sunny and ninety-eight degrees. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened as we land and we are taxied to the gate," the flight attendant standing at the front of the plane said into the loudspeaker microphone. I suppose that was for the benefit of all the passengers in the back of the plane in Coach, because I could hear her just fine, considering I was seated in the second row of First Class.

I closed the book I was reading and slid open the window shade attempting to get my first view of this place my father, Charlie, called home. A burning stream of sunlight beamed in on me and was blinding momentarily. Wow, had I been reading that long? I gave my eyes a couple of seconds to adjust and peered back out the window, then noticing the sparse clouds scattered throughout the sky just below the plane. It looked like a beautiful day here and the weather would be amazing, albeit ninety-eight degrees was a lot hotter than what I was accustomed to. It would be perfect though if only I were anywhere near a beach.

As we neared the airport and were in the midst of landing, I noticed the outstretched sea of tall skyscrapers and buildings for miles, as far as I could see. I'm not sure what I expected Atlanta to be like, maybe cotton fields or cow crossings. Hell, even something more like Manchester, New Hampshire and what I'm used to would have been more expected. I knew Atlanta was a major city and I'd looked up all kinds of things about my new home online, but for some reason I still had a Dukes of Hazard type image in my mind.

The plane landed and the same flight attendant stood and spoke into the microphone again, "Thank you for choosing Delta Airlines. Please remove all carry-on baggage from the overhead compartments before exiting the plane. Enjoy your stay in Atlanta, and we hope you'll fly with us again."

I grabbed my laptop bag and my purse from underneath my seat and exited the plane as I dug through my purse looking for my cell phone. I pulled it out and powered it on while walking through the gateway to pick up my luggage. Immediately, I called my voicemail and listened to a message from Charlie instructing me that he was going to pick me up from the airport outside the baggage claim. DUH! Where else would he pick me up?! Although, I was actually just thankful that he actually remembered. Working as the police chief of Cobb County meant constant interruptions and calls and not much time allotted for family—which in my book, that was a blessing in most cases. I'm positive my mother thought that by sending me here to live, my dad would be able to instill some boundaries and guidance that my life in Manchester had been lacking. But I knew better than that. Sure, my dad could be somewhat of a hard-ass sometimes when he was around, but truthfully, I've always been a daddy's girl and getting my way wasn't difficult with him.

After my mother said her and Phil were moving in together, I knew I had to get out of there. It's not that he was a monster or a completely horrible guy; it's just that he wasn't my dad. And being around him and my mom could be sickening at times with all their blatant over-the-top PDA's, incessant I love you's, and pet nicknames. It was just disturbing to me how attached at the hip they were. I couldn't understand how my mother, or anyone for that matter, could stand to be around someone constantly. I have never been that way with any of my boyfriends or guys I've dated. Each one was great, but only in small doses; otherwise I'd get bored easily and move on before they got too clingy.

Although, I'd miss some of my friends in New Hampshire, it was nice to have a fresh start and be away from some of the drama that's been playing out all my life. Hopefully, I'd find some cool people to hang out with in Georgia to bide my time until I go away to college in a couple years, probably to the University of New Hampshire.

I waited rather impatiently at the designated baggage carousel for my luggage to come. I swear these things always took forever. I finally saw my luggage start to spill out, and I went and grabbed all the bags off the carousel and placed them onto my cart. As I attempted to steer the massively-packed cart through the doors outside, I might have ran into a few people. I said I was sorry, but truthfully, if you see a luggage cart with this much stuff on it, I would think that people would move the fuck out of the way…maybe Georgians didn't have that same common sense though.

When the doors slid open, I was instantly hit with a sticky sensation that caught my breath and made it difficult to breathe. I had never had to really endure humidity like this in New Hampshire, but hopefully, this wouldn't be an everyday occurrence here. It was rather uncomfortable, and undoubtedly would not be good for my hair…or my sweat glands.

"Wow, Bella, you'd think that all the things that were shipped to the house last week would be enough. I had no idea you would have this many bags with you too," Charlie responded. Yeah, nice to see you too, dad.

"Those were non-essentials. It's not easy to pack up everything you own and move 1,100 miles away. It's only five bags, dad," I replied bitterly.

"Right, I was just kidding, Bells. Come here and give your old man a hug," Charlie replied as he wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace.

"Glad to have you here, honey," he whispered.

"Me too," I responded curtly. I loved my dad, but lovey-dovey shows of affection were so not my thing.

Charlie put my luggage into the back of the Lincoln Navigator, as I climbed in the front and fiddled with the radio trying to find a good radio station to listen to.

"So Bella, I need to be back at the station at 9 o'clock tonight, but we can grab something to eat before then if you like. You'll be okay by yourself overnight, right?"

"Of course, dad. I'm fully capable of sleeping through the night without you there with me. Besides, I need to get unpacked and start making a shopping list of things I need to get before school starts next week."

"Oh, right. I keep forgetting you're not the same little Isabella that used to force me to play that 'Pretty Pretty Princess' game with her anymore. Now you're a sophomore in high school and independent just like your old man."

"Thanks for the flashback, but we can still play Pretty Pretty Princess if you want, dad," I laughed, as I watched him cringe without responding.

I stared out the window and wondered what school would be like next week and whether I'd fit in with any of the people here. I could only hope that there'd be a few people that would take interest in parties and having a good time in other ways than four-wheeling and cow-tippin'. Maybe I'd be pleasantly surprised in the same way I had been with the skyscrapers. Otherwise, it was going to be a long two years until college.

AN: OK....so let me know what you think so far and what you'd like to see in the coming chapters. Next chap skips ahead to last day of school before the girls are heading out to Panama City Beach, Florida....