Hi! This is my first Twilight story, as I'm not really a fan of the books, be as harsh as is humanly possible. If I need a kick, I need a kick and I'd rather know now than 20 chapters in. No pairings have been decided yet, so feel free to let me know if there's any you'd like.
Disclaimer: The original Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer. I own zip zally zilch.
Chapter 1
"You can come home whenever you want, okay? Izzy?"
The warm voice crackled down the phone, oozing into my veins like opium. I stood up slowly, the floorboards moaning beneath me. Anxious and excited, I pulled one of the drawers open, raising an eyebrow at the clothing with price tags still attatched; almost Amish skirts, a purple sweater, and a ruffled dress that would have been my favourite possesion had he given me it the last time I'd stayed over, a good twelve years before. At least Dad was trying to grease the gears a bit, make the move a bit easier. The thought was sweet, if misguided.
"I know Mom," The words dropped from my lips, heavier than lead. Did she think I would leave her on a whim? For the father I barely saw, the man I knew through the post and, if I was very lucky, a weekend in Forks every once in a million years? Ha!
"Are you sure? You sound..." The voice paused for a minute, as though trying to translate what her maternal instincts were shouting."Do you want me to say anything to Phil for you?" Letting the phone thud onto the pillow, I rested my elbows on my knees, my hands shoving their way through my hair and twisting strands around my fingers, half wanting to tear them from my scalp. Phil. They'd both been so good to me- mad, but brilliant at the same time, like a Picasso painting. If I hadn't wanted to give my mom and her husband a shred of time alone together, I'd almost have said I owed them.
It wasn't like I had lots of friends to leave behind. Wow, that's an understatement if ever there was one. Saying I wasn't liked was still being generous, not that I told Mom- why worry her? The small grains of friendship I had found at my old school hadn't been nurtured into pearls, probably because I was always reading, wasting time, hiding in my bubble or generally being that boring girl in the corner without any friends. It was a part I played well, so I'd just be another pedestrian they'd passed on the road to Heaven. In a way, I was free. Besides, any kind of drama would be welcome to me, I decided.
Picking the phone back up, I took a deep breath, scanning the blank bulletin board. I could put photos of them up. The room was almost alien compared to the last time I'd been there, which explained why my dad had been a bit more vocal last time we talked as opposed to his normal "nod and grunt". I had to admit he'd done a pretty good job of the room- I could still smell the fresh paint. The moonlight floated down through the window, wrapping my new bedroom in a gossamer glow. Stars glimmered in the indigo sky, clear and fixed as a blueprint for a machine. Without warning, a thought hit me like a floppy wet fish. The reason for all my problems in Phoenix was me; I had no friends because I wasn't friendly, I was bored because I let myself become boring, I was hopeless because I never hoped. I was my own stupid creation. Why stay that way?
Thinking about my life turned into the string leading out of the Minotaur's cave- every solution lead to a new solution. Didn't know anyone? The school had a couple hundred students, one was bound to like me at least a little bit. Possibility of getting lost? Ask someone for directions, perhaps it would begin a friendship. Worried about awkwardness at home? It wasn't like Charlie was a bad guy. There must have been something good about him for Mom to love him, even if it fell apart in the end. Frightened about exams? Studying wouldn't hurt me.
Stretching my face into a smile, I raised the phone to my ear again, hoping that now I'd managed to convince my face that everything was fine I could convince my mother.
"It's Forks Mom, not Venus. I'll be fine, honest."