All These Lives

Summary: Unfortunate family circumstances bring six teenagers together. Each one with a past filled with pain and hurt. Soon they start causing trouble for their hometown of Forks, Washington. They are thrown together and have to overcome their past's and stick together.

Chapter One

Bella's POV

Hell. That is where I'm stuck. Not literally, but figuratively speaking, I am in hell. Along with five other people—or rather 'kids' my age. I can't believe my parents made me go to counseling. It's bullshit, utter bullshit, that I'm even here. Cringing, I watch as the shrink stands in front of us. At least everyone looks as pained as I do. I shove my ear buds in my ears to drown out the droning woman in front of us. I kick my legs out in front of me, as I slouch back into the hard plastic, ugly orange chair. I look from one person to the next, noticing certain features about each one.

Like the boy to my left has unruly bronze color hair, and emerald colored eyes. He's quite good-looking, and he looks bored out of his pretty little mind. I almost feel sorry for him, except I'm stuck in the same crappy situation. I tense as he turns and meets my gaze, smiling at me. I feel myself intake a breath, but I don't remember letting it out, which would be because I didn't. I take a couple of deep breaths trying to regulate my unsteady breathing. His smile is more breathtakingly beautiful than his face is. Slightly crooked, but amazing all the same. Flashing a set of teeth whiter than even I've ever seen. I can feel my cheeks flame red, as I hang my head, and turn my attention from the amazing boy beside me.

The boy on my right is the complete opposite of Mr. Perfect beside me. He has shaggy, curly blond hair, with brilliant blue eyes. He wasn't bad looking, but he was nothing in comparison to the bronze-haired beauty beside me. His hands are shoved into his pockets, and he looks rather uncomfortable. His blue eyes dart around the room, before settling on the woman droning on about god only knows what up front. Luckily, his eyes settled in on the woman in the front of the room, so I didn't have to worry about any embarrassment from him catching me gawking at him. I watched as his head turned only slightly toward the beautiful blond girl next to him. A small smile crossed his lips before he shoved his hands, which I could tell were balled up into fists, further into his pockets. Definitely uncomfortable.

The blond beauty next to him, looked a lot like the blond boy. Same facial and lip shape, and the same light color of blue eyes. I could tell they were related, probably brother and sister. She wore a low cut blouse, and a tight pair of jeans, that clung to her hips. She was so beautiful that it hurt my ego to even look at her. She was talking lightly to her 'brother,' not even giving him a chance to say anything in response, before she would say something else. She ran a hand through her thick blond hair, before her eyes darted in my direction. They were the opposite of friendly, and I could feel myself shudder from the death glare she shot me. My eyes quickly adverted from her eyes, to the floor. My cheeks flamed again, and I sighed softly.

I grabbed for my Ipod, and switched songs to something with a heavier beat. Something to help me drown out, Miss talks-a lot at the front who hadn't stopped running her mouth since she came into the small room.

I tilted my head slightly, trying to sneak a glance at the boy to my left without him knowing it. My plan quickly backfired as his emerald eyes were still glued to me, and I felt my cheeks flame yet again. I had never blushed so much at one particular time. I diverted my eyes, and caught a glance of the girl sitting next to him. Her hair was short, really short, and black in color. Her eyes were a lighter shade of green, a prettier shade of green, and from this angle, they looked friendly, unlike, Miss Personality to my right. I watched as she leaned to the side, and whispered to the bronzed beauty beside her, whose eyes, I could feel, were still trained on me.

Next to her was a huge—I couldn't really call him a boy. He was too large in size. Scarily large in size. His hair was short, a buzz cut, and was also black in color. His eyes were a bluish green color, even prettier than the girls. The large band of muscle on his arm, was as big as my head. His arms were folded tightly, almost to an uncomfortable manner, around his chest. His lips were set into what I would call a half frown, half smile. Almost like he was enjoying himself, but he was trying to pretend that he wasn't. He was very good-looking as well, but his shear size scared any thought of that nature from my mind.

I snapped my head around, as I saw the two blonds on my right stand up. Please god, tell me this nightmare is over. I pulled my ear buds from my ears, in just enough time to hear the words that would forever haunt me.

"I want to see the six of you back here same time tomorrow. I think you all need a lot of work to be the young adults that I know you can be. Your parents have all sent you here for a reason. I will make sure that you are all taken care of--" she paused before her eyes trained on me.

This was the first time I took the time to really look at her. She was a short woman, and quite round in size. Her hair was a fiery red color, and was drawn up into a bun. She wore a power suit that clung to her hips in an unflattering type of a way. She wasn't necessarily unattractive, she just was not working with what she had in a way to make herself more appealing. It wasn't until she started speaking again, did I realize that she was directing her words toward me.

"And you, no more Ipod's. No cell phones. Nothing of that sort. In fact, all personal items will be left at the door. You will be paying attention."

I hated her now. Drawing unneeded attention toward me. Now everyone, not just the hateful blond and the bronzed beauty were looking at me, but everyone. I cringed, and wanted to crawl inside myself and disappear.

"Sorry." I muttered, not very loudly, but by the amused crooked smile on his face told me that the object of my dreams had heard me.

"You're all here for the same reason, whether you want to admit it," she paused, looking at the three people to my left, and by the way they huddled together, I would assume they too were related. "Or not." Her eyes now shifted to the beautiful blonds to my right, and my eyes followed and noticed that Miss evil, was staring—or rather glaring at me. Like I had committed a murder right in front of her. I wanted to crawl back inside my shell and never come back out. I hated my life right now. Parents did nothing but ruin their children's lives. That was the case for me. My parents are ruining my life. I'm only seventeen years old, and my life was ruined. Yeah, I know, a little over dramatic, but that's me.

"Your free to go, but like I said, I want to see each and everyone of you here tomorrow. I have your parent's numbers."

I knew that was a threat, and a warning, all at once. I knew that the red-headed patron of my nightmare would indeed call my parents if I was a no-show tomorrow. So I guess this is it. I guess I'm stuck in hell until further notice. Great. Welcome to my life.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I shifted uncomfortably on my bed, as I eyed the paper in front of me. It would do, but it wouldn't do well. It was my paper for English. A class I usually tried to excel in. A class that I usually did my best work. I loved English, especially since reading was one of my favorite things in the world. Such a great distraction from life. This, however, was not my best work. I didn't even read the book, didn't have the want to read the book. So, you might ask, how did I write a paper on a book I didn't even read? Well that's easy. That is why there are cliff notes. I smiled softly to myself, before I realized that I've never once had to use cliff notes to write a paper. I've never even read cliff notes. Never had a need to until now.

Sighing and giving up on the paper for now, I sit my notebook aside, and lay down on my stomach, before shoving my ear buds back into my ears. I shuffled through my Ipod for a minute until I found my favorite song, and set it on repeat. I closed my eyes, trying to envision the singer singing words that really spoke to my soul. Slowly I swayed my head in time with the slow beat, as a smile crossed my lips. At a time like this, in ones life, music is the best gift given. It can bring a smile to ones lips, or tears to another's eyes. I love music so much, especially if it's beautifully written, and can speak to me in a way that no one else understands.

All my friends at school think I've lost my mind, and what I've had to deal with in recent months---or years, I wouldn't doubt that fact. I, haven't, however, lost my mind. I am quite sane, despite popular opinions. No one understands why I listen to the music I listen to. Music that most people can't find using typical downloading sites. Music that is very difficult to find, and even more difficult to understand. I never was one for the popular thing. The popular music. When boy bands were in, I was jamming out to hard rock, and heavy metal. Now that soft rock and pop are in, I'm listening to even softer, underground rock that no one else would give the time of day.

"Bella."

I hear my dad call from the stairs, I know what he's going to say. Sighing, I turn off my Ipod before standing from my bed. I stretch slowly for a moment, feeling the stiffness from sitting cross-legged on the bed for far too long. I glide—or well stumble toward the door, and open it.

"What dad?"

"It's time for bed, lights out."

Oh perfect, I have an inside curfew. How sad. I grimace at his words, trying to bite back the sarcasm that wanted to flow out.

"Yeah sure."

I sighed before shutting my door, and turning off the light. It was going to be a long week—or months, however long my parents saw fit to torture me.