Chapter 1

I woke up to an unpleasant banging against the metal door. My head was painfully pounding and my mouth tasted like a small animal had crawled in there and died. I really shouldn't have had that much to drink last night. But I'd have thought that by now I'd have a higher immunity to the effects.

I slowly sat up and stretched my aching muscles, looking at the grey walls of the cell I was incarcerated in. It wasn't my first time in jail, but it was the first time I'd been busted for street racing.

Replaying the events of last night, I remembered that a bunch of us had headed down to our favourite racing spot outside the reservoir. I recall winning against Jasper, then James and Laurent before stopping to just drink and watch by the sidelines, and that's as far as my throbbing brain could remember. But judging by how crap I was feeling right now, I know I must have drank my body weight in vodka, beer, whisky and whatever other shit there was available. And now to top it all off, I've been arrested and will probably have my license suspended or a huge fine. But if I'm being honest, I really couldn't give a damn. Last night was totally worth it. You can't imagine the rush you get when you're speeding down that long stretch of road, with the wind whipping your face and seeing, from the corner of your eye, your opponents car trying to outdo you. Feeling the adrenalin coursing through your veins as the needle on that little metre hits 200mph is fucking insane. It matches the effect of any type of drug or alcohol I've ever tried. Once you start you just want to do it again and again.

Another series of banging started, rousing me from my silent reverie, "Rise and shine Cullen, your ride is here and you're free to go."

I groaned aloud as I recognised that voice. Chief Swan. The police chief in this small town, who I swear goes to great lengths to personally be the one to put me behind bars. Every single arrest I've ever had has been by him, it's like he has some sort of tracking device on me, calculating my every move.

I got off the uncomfortable bed to wait beside the door, hearing the click of the door as it unlocked before it finally swung open, revealing my oppressor.

"Sleep well did we?"

I chose to ignore him and walked straight past him into the waiting area, where Carlisle, my dad, was sitting. He was a generally calm man, but today he wore that look on his face - the face I was becoming more and more familiar with - which told me the obvious: that he was furious and I was in trouble. I knew I needed to quickly go home to avoid the embarrassment of a public reprimanding I was sure to receive. I heard the chief approaching us and this just added to my want to leave.

"Can we just get the hell out of here?"

Carlisle just looked at me and then turned to the chief.

"I'm so sorry about all of this Chief Swan."

"Please, forget this Chief business, call me Charlie. And it's fine, there were many more kids there at the time, it was just that Edward was the unlucky one who got caught."

I swivelled around to look at him in disbelief. The unlucky one who got caught? Was he on something? Where was the frown? The disdain in his eyes? He was actually smiling. In all my 'visits' to the station, not once have I seen even a twitch from that moustached mouth, and here he was, grinning. With teeth and all. It was unnerving. What the fuck was he planning?

Carlisle was obviously as shocked as I was with the absence of hatred, which usually laced the chief's words whenever he had to deal with me, because he stood gaping at the chief's beaming face for a good three minutes before answering.

"O-K... Um thank you, Charlie."

"No problem," he replied, whilst checking his watch. "Right so you've been through this before so you know the call right? Edward will have to go to court and what not and he'll probably get his licence temporarily suspended, nothing too heavy. Look I'm really sorry for rushing you, I would take the time to explain a bit more but I've got to get to the airport, my daughter's arriving in 20 minutes and I haven't seen her in four years so I really want to be there when she lands. But if you have any questions you could call me or pop in to the station and I'll be happy to answer anything." He was nearly out of the door when he stopped and added, " Oh and your belongings are just in that blue tray over there, just ask Max at the desk for them and he'll give them to you. I really must run now, I'm sure I'll see you again soon. Bye"

His unusual cheerfulness suddenly all made sense. The Swan girl was coming back. How could I have forgotten? In the past few months, the return of the beloved daughter had been the favourite topic of Forks – when you live in a small, hell-hole like Forks, everyone knows everyone's business. I bet that as I was standing here right now, some old woman was informing a cashier somewhere that Edward Cullen had been arrested for speeding and by noon, everyone would know about it.

I think I only ever met the chief's daughter once. As Carlisle collected my things and signed some paperwork, my mind travelled back to that summers day, nine years ago. I remember going to the park with my older brother Emmett when I was eight and seeing this skinny little girl with loose pigtails and muddy jeans swinging on the solitary swing. Emmett had gone to look for wood to build our secret den and I knew I should have been helping, but I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from the girl. She kept swinging higher and higher, with her eyes shut and her pale face turned upwards; towards the sky. I was so sure she would fall but she never did. Then suddenly a small tanned boy with dark, long hair came running out from the trees calling her name. Bella. This caught her attention and she snapped her wide eyes open, noticing me standing next to the see-saw. The boy beckoned her again and she hastily dragged her feet along the dusty ground to stop swinging. She jumped off and turned to wave goodbye to me before skipping after the boy. That was the first and last time I met Isabella Swan.

Although I soon learned - through small town gossip - that she was the only daughter of Chief of police, Charlie Swan. I was told that when she was just six months old, her parents divorced and Bella's mother moved to Phoenix, Arizona, taking Bella with her. Every year, Bella would return to Forks, to spend the summer with her father, but for some unknown reason, she stopped visiting just before her 14th birthday and she hasn't been back since.

Now she was moving to Forks. And you can just imagine how wild Forks is going with the fresh news. Just the other day, Esme had said that she felt sorry for the poor girl, moving to a town full of new people who have already made up their own version of her life story.

Just then, Carlisle walked towards me and handed me a plastic bag containing my wristwatch, wallet and mobile phone. "Right we're done here, let's go home."

Home.

My still slightly intoxicated brain slowly processed what this meant.

Esme's disappointment. Alice's scornfulness. Emmett's mocking.

Somehow, leaving the station didn't seem like such an appealing idea any more.