Chapter 1 – Moving Day

Bella

I was enjoying a really good dream about a perfect sunny day. I was lying on my stomach on the grass, the sun beating down on me, my body impossibly warm, glowing. That was it, just me and the sun. This may not seem that exciting a dream to most people, but with the small amount of sun we get in Forks, WA, any sun was a dream come true. All too soon, I was disturbed by the feeling of something crawling across the back of my neck. I made a small noise of discontent and swatted gently at it. I settled back in, burrowing my face in the incredibly soft and cushiony grass. I had just started to relax when I felt the crawling across my neck again. My groan got louder; my swat got sharper. After the third time, I practically snarled and heard someone gently saying my name.

"Bell-bottom."

"Ugh," I responded, intelligently.

"Bell-bottom trousers, wake up." I felt the crawling across my neck again and shivered.

"Go away."

"Come on, sleepy head. It's a beautiful day. Come enjoy it."

"Fuck off."

"That's not very nice, Bella."

"Fine. Please fuck off." But I had started to grin a little.

"I see that smile, little one. I win." And I felt his hands pulling the elastic from the end of my braid and gently untwining it. I smiled wider, and when the braid was undone, and he simply ran his fingers through my hair softly, I hummed in contentment.

"I was having such a nice dream. I was lying outside, and the sun was shining and it was so warm. Hmmm."

"Open your eyes, doll face. It wasn't a dream." My eyes popped open, and I flipped my head over to look out the window, but immediately had to squint my eyes from the bright ray of sunshine blasting through my window. "Oh!" I exclaimed happily and looked up at Jasper staring down at me. His hair was damp and curling haphazardly around his face and his brilliant blue eyes were sparkling. Definitely bright-eyed and bushy tailed. He must have been up for awhile.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"A little after 7."

I popped up in the bed and glared at him. "What the fuck, Jazz! It's summer. There is absolutely no reason to be up at this ridiculous hour. Go away and come back in two hours." I flopped back down, only to pop back up onto my elbows and say, "Make that three hours." I let my head drop back down to the pillow and tried to ignore him. I felt him shift on the bed, and had a moment to hope that he might be leaving me alone before I felt him running his fingertips along the bottom of my feet.

"Absolutely not, hummingbird. We are going to enjoy this glorious day, starting now, because who knows how long it might last."

"You're wasting your time Jasper. You know my feet aren't ticklish. Admit defeat and go away."

"Well, had that been my only strategy, maybe." And I suddenly felt him suck the big toe of my left foot into his mouth.

"Ahhh!" I screamed as I jumped out of bed. "Grotesque, Jasper!" I furiously rubbed my toe on the carpet, trying to remove the feel of his tongue wrapped around it. I knew I looked as disgusted as I felt, because my mouth was puckered and my nose all wrinkled up. I was so not a foot fetish kind of girl. Feet are fine. I liked to look at them, especially well-shaped ones. But there's a reason why feet are way at the bottom of your body and mouths are way at the top. Even God knew those two body parts should never come in contact.

Jasper was looking up at me, smiling innocently. "Oh good, you're up. I'll go make you some toast. See you in a bit." And he popped up, planted a light peck on my forehead and sauntered out of the room.

I looked down longingly at my bed and groaned. In reality, I could deny Jasper nothing, but shit. I hate mornings. I love sleep. And there is nothing like sleeping in a ray of sun. I sighed. So much for that. If I was lucky, the sun would last into the afternoon and I could trick Jazz into taking a quick nap in the hammock out back. I made a quick trip into the bathroom to pee and run a quick brush through my hair, then pulled it back into a sloppy bun at the back on my neck. I went back into my room and pulled on a pair of cut-off jeans and a T-shirt I had stolen from Jasper long enough ago that it was now the perfect size for me. Come to think of it, as I looked down at my shorts, I realized I had stolen the jeans from Jazz too, before chopping off the legs. In my defense, I had waited until he outgrew them. I grinned and shook my head at myself, slipped on my flip-flops, and skipped down the stairs.

I actually made it to the second-to-the bottom stair before I stepped on the back of my right flip-flop with my left foot and ended up flying forward off the remaining steps and into the wall.

"You okay?" Jasper called from the kitchen, sounding fairly unconcerned. He'd been around me long enough to recognize a major catastrophe by sound alone.

"Fine, fine." I responded, as I righted myself and continued more cautiously into the kitchen.

Jasper was just putting butter on my toast. He set it in front of me as I sat down at the kitchen table, then filled a glass with OJ and gave that to me too.

"Ahh." I said as I took a long drink. "Just like drinking liquid sunshine. Thanks, Master Jasper."

"Your very welcome, my lady."

"So, what exactly is the plan, this fine early morning?"

"Well, I thought we could pick a nice spot in the front lawn where we could pretend to be reading while really spying on the new neighbors across the street."

"Ooh! Are they here?" And I jumped out of my seat, to peak out the kitchen window. I could see a moving van pulled into the driveway of the big house across the street, and some moving men working at the back. "What time did they show up?"

"Well hummingbird, I noticed a couple of cars parked over there this morning when I woke up to see the sunrise during my run at 0600. You may not be familiar with either of those terms, as you have never experienced either in a semi-conscious state." I tossed a bit of crust at him, which he didn't even bother to dodge, since it missed him by at least three feet. "The moving van didn't show up until right before I headed over here to see your beautiful, smiling face."

"First of all, I have experienced both sunrise as well as 0600 multiple times, which you should know since all of them have been with you. However, they have all been after we've been up all night. Sunrise and early morning hours are fine if they occur before you've been asleep. Should sleeping commence prior to that time, it should continue until at least late morning or early afternoon during summer break. Secondly, my face is never beautiful, no matter the time, but it is certainly not beautiful or smiling before I've even managed to empty my nighttime bladder."

"Oh Beauty. How you underestimate yourself. Now, do you think we'll be too obvious just reading on the front lawn at 7 a.m.?"

"Probably. But, there's never sun here. We can put on our swimsuits and ogle the newbies under the guise of sunbathing."

"Lovely plan, oh pale one. However, make sure you grab the SPF 50. I don't want to be up all night rubbing aloe on you and blowing across your skin while you piss and moan. Again."

"Shut up." I popped the last bit of toast in my mouth and downed the last gulp of orange juice. "I'll bring the water bottles and blanket. You bring the music. We'll meat on the lawn in 5 minutes." I got up, put my dishes in the sink and hurried out of the room.

"Slow down Bella!" Jasper hollered from the kitchen, just as my foot slid out from under me and I barely managed to keep myself from landing on my ass. "It'll be hard to spy on the neighbors from the E.R. Although, come to think of it, we might get more scoop there. Momma heard that the distinguished gentleman from across the street is the new E.R. supervisor."

"Really?" I looked back to see him leaning in the kitchen doorway looking lanky and entirely too gorgeous, his tall frame dwarfing the opening. "We'll be getting to know him really well, then."

He grinned. "My thoughts exactly, hummingbird."

"Go away. I promise to make it up to my room and back without suffering serious injury."

"Good luck with that." He winked and smirked when I flipped him off, then sauntered out the door. Jasper was the king of sauntering. It was a combination of his long, graceful limbs and his calm, laid back manner. I liked to say it was the natural cowboy in him. Jasper's family had moved to Forks from Texas when we were seven years old, and we'd been closer than best friends since the moment we met. He was literally the boy next door, which was convenient, if a little cliché. His step-sister, Rosalie, was the same age as us, and we were friendly, but not like Jazz and I. Something between us just clicked. He was like a part of myself I hadn't realized was missing until the first time I heard his gently drawled, "Howdy" on the playground of the elementary school.

I shook my head and continued on upstairs, feeling real excitement. It wasn't often that anything changed in Forks. This was the first new family to move into town since the Whitlock-Hale bunch had shown up next door 9 years ago. I was eager to catch my first glimpse of the family, especially now that I knew he was the new E.R. doc. I grinned as I stumbled on the way up the stairs. I hadn't been exaggerating when I said I'd get to know him really well.

An hour later found us camped out on the lawn in front of my house. I had on a bikini that Rose had bought for me. It was quite modest, for a bikini, especially one picked out by Rose, but it still left me feeling exposed. I came out with a shirt over it that reached my knees and didn't remove it until I was down on the blanket and as invisible as I was going to get. I was thankful that living in Forks had kept me from ever having to make up an excuse for Rosalie as to why I never wore it in public.

Jasper was sprawled out on his stomach, propped up on his elbows, a book lying open in front of him. I was sitting up, my sketchbook lying on top of the knees I had pulled up to my chest. I was absentmindedly working on a sketch of Jasper's feet, which he had displayed up in the air above his back.

I saw movement to the left out of the corner of my eye and glanced up to see Rose coming towards us. If Jasper saunters, Rosalie struts. She was decked out in an itty bitty white bikini that wasn't more than four triangular scraps of material attached by strings. She had thong sandals on with a 2 inch heel, and big Jackie Kennedy-Onassis glasses covering her eyes. Her hair was swept up on the top of her head in a knot that managed to look both perfect and effortless. She looked amazing, as usual.

She was truly poetry in motion. Her hips swayed gently from side to side in a way that forced your eyes to the center of her body so you couldn't help but notice her hourglass shape. My breasts are good size. Not huge by any means, but a respectable C-cup, anyway. But sitting next to Rose makes me look prepubescent. The swell of those shapely globes then give way to the impossibly tiny pinch of her waist, only to swell back out into rounded hips. Once you focused on her hips, your eyes were pulled down the long expanse of her bare legs, the calves perfectly displayed by the heels of her shoes. Rose is 5'11" plus whatever size heels she chooses for the day. Jasper is about 6'2". Walking along next to them makes me feel like a damn midget at 5'3". It was obvious from childhood that they would be long and lean and I would not be, though until recently I had held onto hope for a late growth spurt. Their nickname of "little one" for me developed long before they had any right to assume that I'd be a shrimp, if you ask me.

Rose sank down beside me on the blanket in a move so smooth it seemed unreal. One moment she was standing there, and the next second she had melted down into a pose worthy of any swimsuit model, her elbows behind her, propping up her chest and displaying her "assets," one leg stretched out in front and the other bent at the knee. It was easy to see why girls hated Rosalie, but in her defense, she didn't do it on purpose. She wasn't unaware of her beauty or it's affect on others, but she didn't consciously exploit it in her movements. Her grace and sexuality came as natural to her as my inability to make it three feet without stumbling came to me.

"So," she said, tilting her glasses down and peering at me over the top of them, "What scoop have you two oh-so-nonchalant spies been able to gather so far?"

I looked at her innocently and responded, predictably, "I have no idea to what you are referring. We are simply enjoying the sun. However, while doing so, we couldn't help but notice the new family moving in across the street."

"Uh-huh. And?"

"Well, so far, we seem to have a family of 5. We saw the mother first. She seems nice. And beautiful. And poised. She popped out for awhile earlier to oversee the movers. Then we saw what we thought was her husband."

"What you thought was her husband?"

"Yeah. Giant of a man. I mean, giant. At least 6'4". Built like a linebacker. Short dark hair, either really thick or he's trying to control some serious curl with the short cut."

"And how did you deduce that he wasn't the father?"

"Well, the next guy who came out actually put his arms around Mom and planted a really non-PG smooch on her. Goliath responded with a horrible retching sound and ran from them. Could only be a son, with that reaction. I mean that kiss was actually very sweet, regardless of the participants being over 30 and using tongue."

"So that accounts for mamma, papa, and bouncing baby boy. Who are the other two?"

"Well, there's also baby sister. Tiny little thing with spiky hair as dark as Goliath's. She looks maybe 12, 13 at the most. And she bounced around like she suffers from ADHD and is in serious need of medication. She was jabbering and flailing her arms and barking orders at the movers like a little general. It was actually pretty funny. Then there's Ted."

"Ted?"

"The other brother."

"You learned his name already? Bella, I'm surprised by you. Maybe there's a chance of you coming out of that catatonic anti-social disorder of yours yet."

I stuck my tongue out at her and Jasper glanced up from his book to join the conversation. "Don't be ridiculous, Rosebud. Bella has not introduced herself to perfect strangers. No need to fear Armageddon just yet."

At that I slapped him hard on his ass. He just chuckled and ignored me. "She means 'Ted' as in Ted Bundy."

Rose gave me a look that clearly said "explain."

"It's just something about him. He seems all dark and brooding, even from a distance. He looks about our age, normal enough appearance, I guess." And with that I shrugged, not really sure I could explain what I meant.

"If he looks normal, why pattern him after a serial killer? Lots of kids our age are dark and brooding. I mean have I ever told you the story about a pot and a kettle, little one?"

"Piss off Rose. I'm not dark and brooding. I'm quiet and introspective. There's a difference. Anyway, it was more his body language, I guess. When they were all out on the lawn, and Ma and Pa were kissing, Goliath was mock-ralphing and ADHD on crack was dancing around giggling like a maniac. It was weird, but also very family-unit. But Ted was standing well away from them, hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched, glaring out from his hair. It's hard to describe. He just seemed separate from them, like he was on his own little planet, and it wasn't a happy place." I shrugged and felt a little embarrassed. I was a people-watching addict. Jazz likes to say it is my way of being part of society without actually participating. I observe and deduct. I don't participate. But I don't usually share my deductions with anyone other than Jazz.

Rose looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Huh." Then her face cleared and she glanced over at me. "Are we still baking today?"

"Sure," I said, smiling. Baking was something Rose and I could actually do together. I wasn't a fan of much girly shit and she wasn't a fan of much that I found worthwhile. But we both loved to bake.

"Good. I'm sure Mamma will be bringing over a dish to welcome the neighbors properly and all that."

"Oh. Do we need to make an extra batch for her?"

"No, not for her." She said stressing the pronoun significantly. I just raised my eyebrow at her in confusion. "6'4" and built like a linebacker? A boy that size needs nourishment, Bella. And it would only be neighborly to join Mamma in welcoming them to the neighborhood." And she gave me such an evil grin that I actually winced a little.

"You're not going over in the bikini, right?" I asked, only half-joking.

She gave me another innocent look. The same look the snake had when he was handing over the apple and saying "Eat up, Eve. It won't hurt you."

"Think it would be too much?" she asked.

"No, Rose. Not too much at all. But, maybe too little," I deadpanned. She giggled, glancing over at the now quiet house across the street. I shook my head. Watch out, Goliath. David's coming for you with cookies and a teeny-weeny-bikini, I thought. That poor giant didn't stand a chance.