This is my first story on this site and I'm extremely nervous. I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, if I did, I'm sure I'd be living it up in a mansion right now.
I left my parents at the gate, waving my last goodbyes before I boarded my plane hastily at Heathrow airport, suddenly feeling the anxiety and trepidation of the trip ahead of me. A ten hour flight was not something I was looking forward to. Although the destination couldn't help but put me in a better mood.
I was heading to the small, rainy, much like London climate of Forks, Washington. As an exchange student from one of the most prestigious college of arts in the country, I had a choice between two destinations in the United States; New York, Manhattan or Washington DC.
I knew if my surroundings changed drastically I'd get a lot more homesick than I intended, so I chose Washington. When the programmes head leaders explained to me that the town I would be staying in was a small, rainy excuse of a place, I couldn't feel any better.
I hated where I lived in London sometimes; it was far too crowded and loud. I barely had time to think about composing music, let alone play it surrounded by all that hustle and bustle.
I just turned eighteen yesterday and the few friends I had here from school took me out for a couple of drinks and it made me feel older and free. I hated that in America I had to wait until I was twenty one but I'd only be in the States for the school year. I hoped the family I stayed with would let me have a couple of beers on the weekends. I was legal here so…
That brings me to my next fear: the family I was staying with: The Cullen family.
Apparently, the father of the house was a God in the eyes of the school in Forks. He would be my composition teacher, ironically. I was excited to meet him, although scared that the sudden fame put on the small town got to his head and made him an arrogant son of a bitch. I don't think I could handle that. My brother sure couldn't when he was alive.
Mr. Edward Cullen and his wife Rosalie had a daughter around the same age as me. Her name was Alice. We'd be going to school together I assumed. I just hoped she reflected the good grades she received in school.
The flight to Boston was long and tough until we departed once more for Seatac airport in Seattle. It was a bumpy ride. I was completely terrified of planes but it never stopped me from travelling. I had been to five other countries in total over my younger years and hoped for more to come once school was finished.
I hated the fact that Forks was so small it didn't have an airport and that the Cullen's would have to drive three hours to get me. I didn't want to be such a bother on my first day in their care. It was Saturday so I had one more day to recuperate before school started. I hoped I'd get to know the Cullen's a little in that time also.
When the pilot gave us the go ahead to exit the plane, I did so carefully, knowing my body I'd fall right off the stairs exiting the plane.
I collected my baggage, struggling to carry that and my carryon bag whilst I headed for the gates exit, looking for some sort of face I'd recognise. I didn't know what Mr and Mrs Cullen looked like, but I emailed Alice a couple times over the summer and she sent me a picture of herself once. She was extremely pretty.
"Isabella!"
I turned towards the sound of my name and saw a tiny Alice bouncing for joy at the sight of me. She was standing next to a tall, curvy blond woman with stunning features. Her long hair shone in the lights of the airport and when I looked her over, I saw that she obviously must be a super model. No way had that woman popped out a kid. No fucking way.
After ogling her beauty, I saw she was holding a cardboard cut out of my name, an embarrassingly plain picture of me glued to the side of it. I felt my blush creep up onto my cheeks almost immediately.
I made my way over to Mrs Cullen, struggling to hold my things until I was in the arms of my new sister for the school year.
"Oh, Isabella, it's an honour to have you in our home!" Alice squealed in my ear. "We're going to be great friends, I can assure you! Is this all you brought with you? Holy shit Izzy, we need to take you shopping ASAP!"
"Alright, that's quite enough Alice," a man said from behind them both and I looked up to find Mr Cullen staring down at his daughter and I in both embarrassment and amusement for Alice' behaviour.
I gasped in shock at how young he was. He was a father? What was with this family and their fucking good looks? I was literally the ugly duckling in a pond full of swans. Great. Was this what I had to look forward to in Forks? Being frowned upon for my lack of beauty, clothes and style?
"Isabella?" Rosalie said my name and I blinked a couple of times to make myself look like I wasn't staring down her husband in lust.
"Yes?" I replied, not bothering to correct her on my name.
"It's lovely to meet you finally, Alice has been chomping at the bit to see you face to face. I'm Rosalie Cullen and this is my husband Edward."
Her words were short when she mentioned her husband but that thought soon exited my brain when I saw Edward extending a hand towards mine to shake. I took it in my tiny hand, feeling the hard skin and veins beneath his crisp white shirt. Did he always wear a suit?
I looked up at his face, unable to deny myself that simple pleasure and was met with a pair of beautiful emerald green eyes. He had a bit of a beard going on but not enough that you couldn't see his skin beneath it. His jawline was sharp and cut to the bit, almost like he was carved from stone.
His hair was a copper colour, windblown and so fucking sexy.
"It's nice to meet you, Isabella," my name rolled off Edward's lips like sex to me. It was like I was hearing my name for the first time in eighteen years.
"Bella," I cleared my throat, unable to tear my stare from his beautiful eyes. "Just Bella."
"Okay, just Bella, let's get you home!" Alice screeched, breaking me from the trance I was in with Mr Cullen.
I slowly took my hand out of his and when he cleared his throat and looked away immediately, I knew I must have scared him with my freakish staring. Fuck!
"Edward, could you get her bags?" Rosalie snapped, wrapping her arms around my shoulder and pulling me towards the exit.
"Sure," Edward said in a dull tone.
"I can carry them"-
"No, no, you're a guest!" Rosalie and Alice interrupted. "Let's just get you to the car and home. We've a long trip ahead of us!"
"Bitch," I heard Edward mutter and I didn't know if it was meant for me or his wife.
dt
The ride to Forks was filled with information on Seattle, Port Angeles and the family's hometown of Forks. Alice was a ball of energy that couldn't really be tamed and it was kind of adorable how her own parents couldn't even reign her in.
"Have you ever been to the States before Bella?" Rosalie asked from the front seat.
"Um, no, it's my first time in this country. It's lovely," I stumbled to find the right words. She just made me feel so anxious!
"Oh, your accent is to die for, Bella!" Alice fawned over me and I giggled, not able to help myself.
"I think I'd rather have yours, Alice," I smirked.
"But everything you say just sounds so much smarter!" She said, tapping out the beat of the song playing on the radio on the fabric of her dress.
"Are you musical? Like your father?" I asked Alice, suddenly curious. Were they all composers or musical?
"No way, I don't have the patience to sit and learn like that. I need to be up and moving. I'm a cheerleader but I'm a state champion at gymnastics."
"Oh, I can't even do a tumble, let alone the stunts gymnasts do," I shuddered, remembering the one too many accidents I had growing up. I was a klutz.
Rosalie laughed softly up front at my comment and of course, I blushed.
"Are you musical Mrs Cullen?" I wondered.
"Please, call me Rosalie. And no, I played the flute in high school but that was only because I had to take an extra class to keep my grades up."
"That's where she met my dad," Alice whispered to me, smiling.
"So it's just you then, Mr Cullen."
"Just me," Mr Cullen smiled at me in the rear view mirror kindly and I hoped nothing was weird between us over my teenage hormones. Why couldn't I have acted my adult age of eighteen in the airport?
"What do you play, Bella?" Edward asked, keeping the conversation going.
"Oh, um, piano mostly. I can play guitar but it doesn't appeal to me as much as the keys do."
I saw him nod in the seat before me and ducked my head, feeling embarrassed for speaking so highly of the piano. "W-what do you play?"
"Oh, same as you but the flute is in my heart also. I fell in love with that in high school. Piano was my first instrument though."
"Me too."
"Mom is the reason you liked the flute so much, isn't it dad?" Alice winked at him although I'm not sure he even saw.
When no one answered I turned to look at the scenery out the window. Something was obviously up between Mr and Mrs Cullen but I would be a gracious guest and keep my mouth closed. I won't say a word. Like my mother always said "don't tell and don't yell what you see. Better yet, don't speak the business not meant for you."
My mother was weird, I know but anytime anything happened that caught anyone's attention she'd say it. It wasn't my business to know. Case closed.
When we reached the town of Forks, I grew more and more excited.
We drove past a church, a few gas stations and the centre of town containing its shopping malls, as American's liked to call them. Shopping centres would be my range of vocabulary.
"This is where we'll be going to school!" Alice pointed out the high school we would be attending. It was empty of course, considering it was a Saturday but it was so small I wondered how many students studied there.
We drove a couple more minutes until we reached the biggest house I saw so far in the small town. It was crisp white with mahogany double doors at its entrance. It had an old fashioned tint to it with the porch that went around the entire house but I could see the modern side of it almost immediately with the large glass windows and sliding doors that opened up to a balcony. It was truly extraordinary.
"This is incredible," I uttered to myself.
"Come on, Bella!" Alice ushered me inside whilst Edward and Rosalie carried in my poor excuse of luggage.
The interior design was even more stunning and my eyes immediately caught sight of the grand piano sitting in the corner of the foyer, right beneath the grand staircase. I stepped closer to it until I was lifting the lid and gliding my hand softly along the keys. I had my own piano at home but nothing compared to this.
Alice had disappeared into the kitchen long before she had time to watch me. I didn't bother pulling out the bench, knowing I would be far too shy to play for the family I just met three hours ago.
As I stretched out one finger to press down on the ivory keys, a voice from behind startled me.
"Don't touch that."
Edward was storming towards me and before I had time to stop him, the lid was shut down over the keys and I was met with a look of anger and sheer pain.
"I'm s-sorry, I just… It was beautiful and"-
"Well don't touch it, that's not mine," he whispered. His breath fawned over my face and I only now took notice of how close he was standing to me. My breath hitched and the look in his eyes was both intriguing and terrifying.
I heard footsteps coming from both the kitchen and the front steps and it was enough to snap both Edward and I back into reality as we took a voluntary step away from one another.
"I thought you were the only one who played?" I whispered to Edward.
"I am now," he said brokenly until he turned and walked up the staircase, just in time for Alice to skip around the corner and Rosalie to stumble through the front door.
"A little help here, Alice!" Rosalie barked out.
I took one of my bags and carried them up the stairs, catching glimpses of pictures and art that confused me to no end.
The girls left me to recuperate in my new room that was bare of anything except essentials. I lay on my bed to gather my thoughts and found that a few things didn't add up.
First, Edward was ridiculously handsome and there was no way I could handle living in the same house as him. Second, Rosalie and Edward clearly had some issues and if my hypothesis' were right, I knew the reason why was clearly my third thought: the Cullen's had lost a member of the family, either to distance in a country or to death. The pictures on the wall stated this was once a family of four. They had a son.
But where was he now? And was he the one who owned the piano in the foyer? Was this his old bedroom? I suddenly felt sick and told my new family that I wouldn't be present for dinner as I was seriously jet lagged. I hoped they didn't think I was being rude, I just couldn't face Edward knowing he had lost someone so near and dear to him and also… I wouldn't be able to keep my hands and eyes off him at all.
How was I going to survive here?
Okay, so that was the first chapter of Don't Tell. I hope you liked it. I'm not sure of the schedule on this story, but I hope to update every Saturday or maybe even Fridays. Let me know what you thought in reviews, favourite this story too if you'd like. It lets me know if you enjoyed.
Once again, thank you very much for reading and I'll see you next week,
Meg.