Disclaimer: I do not own twilight, life and death, or any of its characters.
So... Hi :)
This is the first time I write anything that is not a school essay so I do ask for some patience. Now let's get to business: I really love 'Life and Death' and wanted to see more of Edythe, that's basically the major reason for me to write this fic. On it I insert Edythe and Beau to the regular world of Twilight, none other characters are gender swapped... yet (I am seriously considering using Jame's and Victoria's life and death versions, but it still hasn't been decided). So, Edythe is basically the same, some minor differences, most of it due to the fact that Edward exists, but Beau is most entirely different (not that I don't like the original, I just think it will be more interesting this way). I also plan to make their relation evolve a bit faster and will probably add more romance moments. My intention is to make this a full reimagined version of the series, or, at the very least, of the first book. I also want to make a chapter with Edythe's point of view every now and then (even if it turns out as a small one). The character and place descriptions are REALLY similar to the ones from the books because I wrote them with it opened by my side in order to get said descriptions right. Also, even if I have some situations (meetings, events – the first biology lab for example) equal, or at least similar, to the book (this is a fanfiction after all) it won't be all of them. Well... I guess that's it, here we go.
Chapter 1
The plane finally landed. Oh boy, I was tired. It was a thirteen-hour flight from São Paulo to Seattle and another hour on a small plane up to Port Angeles, and I still had an hour-long taxi trip on my near future. It was uncommon for a student to seek such a small town for his education, however, since my family owned a house in the city, it was cheaper and way easier than moving to a big city, and still gave me better chances at a good university than staying in São Paulo.
Already with my baggage claimed (a single carry-on bag as I didn't own that many clothes appropriate to the weather I would be facing here) I walked through the airport searching for where I could get a cab. Obviously, I ended up bumping into someone first.
"Ung, I'm so sorry miss" I grabbed the bag she had dropped and handed it
"Don't worry about it" the girl was very fair-skinned, with long, straight, dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her face was heart-shaped and she was about 5'4'', a little shorter than me, a 5'7'' dark brown haired, square jawed, 17-year-old guy.
"Are you okay, Bells? This was the second time since you arrived" said a man in police uniform I assumed was her father
"Yeah, dad. Not unusual for me"
"And you, young man? You seem a little lost" he turned to me
"I'm all right sir, thank you. Just looking for a taxi"
"A taxi, eh? Just go straight that way" he pointed
After thanking him and apologizing again for bumping into the girl I went where the man said and managed to get a cab. The hour-long trip was would be expensive as it is, but I also asked the driver to make a quick stop at a supermarket, although I would pay a little more, it was necessary once the house didn't have any food in it.
Finally, I arrived, paid the cab and walked in. The curiosity was big enough for me to gadder energy for a tour (despite my semi-conscious state). It wasn't anything extraordinary. A small living room with a tv, a three-seats couch, two chairs and an end table, two equally small bedrooms, each of them with a couple's bed and a closet. There was a single bathroom in the house, but it wasn't like I needed more. The kitchen, equipped with a microwave, a stove, an oven, a sink, a fridge, a freezer and some furniture, was a bit larger so to also make room for a small round dinner table. Last, the garage, where the washing machine and the drier were located, had most of its space filled by a car: a, surprisingly well preserved, silver 1975 Lt Camaro with two black stripes on top of it. It was love at first sight.
The whole house was actually in a pretty good condition, just a little dusty. It belonged to my grandparents, they lived in it for the first five years of their marriage, before they moved to Brazil and my father was born. They never sold it though, and my grandad traveled here every now and then to make some maintenance. It was in one of these trips that he bought the car, as, when he first left the country, he was nowhere near being financially able to afford it. Knowing that I was as much as a car fanatic as himself, he gave it to me as a parting gift (making me almost pass out on the airport). I took my bag and went to claim one of the bedrooms. The remaining of my energies were only enough for a shower before I went to bed 'sleep now, clean the place later'. Tomorrow would be my first day at the new school, I had already registered myself, just had to find it and it shouldn't be too difficult to do so.
I woke up the next morning and, after a shower, a few minutes of clothe-choosing (most of them got messy inside my bag and I didn't want to make SUCH a bad first impression), a cup of coffee and some donuts, I was ready. The car didn't have much gas, but it was enough to get to the station that I had seen yesterday on the way here. Once there I also asked for the directions to the school. It was pretty easy to find, being just off the highway. It looked like a collection of matching houses, but the sign 'Forks High School' gave it away.
I parked in front of the first building (which had a small sign indicating it to be the front office) by the side of an old truck, a faded red Chevy, which was the only car there, meaning I probably wasn't supposed to park here. Oh well, I would move it if I had to. I got out of the Camaro and stepped inside. It was brightly lit and warm. The office was small and cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with baskets full of papers. There were three desks behind the counter, one of which manned by a large red-haired woman wearing glasses. She was talking to a student with long brown hair, I could only see her back, as she was facing the woman.
"I have your schedule right here, and a map of the school, I hope you like Forks Isabella" the red haired said, then looked at me over the girl's shoulder "Can I help you?"
"Hello, I'm Beauford Stark" I informed her
"Oh, right, here, I have your schedule and map as well" As I got them, the girl turned to me
"Hey, you are the guy from the airport" I them realized she was the girl I had bumped into the previous day
"Oh! Yes! Hi! Sorry about that. Hum... Isabella, was that it?"
"Bella" she corrected
I smiled and shook her hand "Beau"
"Nice to meet you Beau. So, you are new here too. At least I'm not alone"
"Yes, I know what you mean"
We chatted a little before moving our cars (as it turns out, she was the old Chevy's owner) to where all the other students were parking and them headed to our respective classes, deciding to meet again at lunch. My first class was Trigonometry with Mr. Varner, I didn't have anything against his subject, not my favorite, but I liked it. What I did not enjoy was that he made me stand in front of the class and introduce myself. I wasn't shy, but that didn't mean I liked attention, and everyone kept staring at the 'new guy'.
During the last class before lunch break T met a tall girl named Angela that lead me to the cafeteria and to a table with her friends. I was surprised to see Bella was already there talking to a short girl with wildly curly black hair. T sat at her side and introduced myself to the others.
It was there the first time I saw them.
They were sitting in the opposite corner of the cafeteria. There were six of them. Each one had. Each one had an untouched tray of food in front of them. They weren't speaking, nor did they showed any attempt to enjoy the meal currently on the table. None of them were gawking at me or Bella (like all the other students seemed to be).
They didn't look alike, not as a group at least, two of them seemed to be siblings, the ones that appeared to be the youngest, both had a bronze-colored hair that I had never seen before, the boy was lanky and bulky (though not as much as the rest of the guys at his table), the girl was the shortest of the group, probably 5'4''. Of the two guys left, one was big, muscled (very muscled), with a dark curly hair. The second was a bit taller, leaner, but still muscular, and honey blond.
Of the remaining girls, the tall one had a beautiful figure (very cheer-leader-like) and her hair was golden blond. The shorter one (about 5'6'') was very skinny and had her deep black hair cropped short and pointing in every direction.
And yet, they were all exactly alike. Every one having the palest skin around, very dark eyes, shadows under those eyes – purplish, bruise-like shadows- and their features were straight, perfect, angular.
Gorgeous. All of them. Devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. The kind you only see in movies, after the actors had gone through makeover done by an entire team of professionals. Actually, they were even better than that. I concluded that the bronze-haired girl was the prettiest, the female students might argue, saying it was the guy that seemed to be her brother, but they would be wrong. All of them were gorgeous, but that girl... she was simply perfect.
"Who are they?" Bella asked the girl that had introduced herself as Jessica, echoing my thoughts
As she looked to see who Bella meant, the boyish one, turned his head to us, as if someone had called his name, but looked away shortly after.
Jessica giggled
"Those are Edward, Edythe, Emmet and Alice Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife" she answered
"Nice names. Different. But beautiful" I commented
"Quite strange if you asked me" she replied
"Which ones are the Cullens?" Bella asked "They don't look related..."
"Oh, they are not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales – the blonds – and Edward and Edythe – the ones with that odd hair color – are siblings indeed. Twins. The Hales are foster children and Edward and Edythe were adopted together when they were little"
"They seem a bit old for foster children" said Bella
"They are now. Jasper and Rosalie are eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight She's their aunt or something like that"
"That's really nice – for them to take care of all those kids when they're so young and everything"
"I guess so" Jessica reluctantly admitted. It seemed like she didn't want to say anything nice about the family. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have kids, though". She said it as it made their actions less notable.
"Have they always lived in Forks?" asked Bella
"No, they just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska"
So, newcomers as well. Like me and Bella (more like me, since, as I learned, her father already lived here and was the chief of police).
As I examined them, the two younger twins looked back, their eyes went from Bella to me with what seemed like frustration. I looked away, embarrassed for being caught staring.
Jessica giggled again
"Yeah. Those two are actually the only ones that are single. All the others are dating. Cullens with Hales two by two, they might not be related, but is still weird. Don't waste your time thought. Those two don't show interest for anyone. It's like no one is good enough"
After a few minutes, the six of them left the cafeteria. They were noticeably graceful – even the big brawny one.
We left shortly after. I would still see Bella on the gym for the last period, so I said a quick 'see ya' as she headed for the biology lab and got to my own class, government.
The following hour passed by fast enough and I soon saw myself heading for the biology lab. Once there, the teacher instructed me to sit on the only place available, at the table with a girl I recognized immediately as Edythe Cullen. I walked to her and introduced myself.
"Hello, my name is Beau, looks like we are going to be partners for this semester"
But when she looked at me her face showed only anger. Rage, in a way I had never seen before. She stared at me with that murderous look on her deep, obsidian-like, dark eyes for what seemed to be hours, before turning towards the front of the class, the whole body tensed up, as far away from me as possible, one hand holding on the edge of the desk, the other over her nose like she was smelling something horrible. Not knowing what else to do I pulled my chair away from her (as much as I could on the space-limited table) trying to give her more space, and slowly sat down while discretely smelling myself – I smelled like soap and deodorant, how could that be so repulsive?
The class took ages, I wasn't sure if it was because I hated biology, or because I was waiting for her to relax. She didn't. She barely moved one muscle, I even had my doubts to if she was at least breathing. When the bell finally rang she got up and exited with a speed that was almost unnatural.
I went to the gym pretty shaken and the P.E. only added up to my misery, as I knew it would. You see, I'm not the sports guy. I could play basketball a bit better since, despite my height, I was pretty fast and agile. But volley, handball, and most surprisingly, soccer? Not a chance. I know, a brazilian who does not play soccer is a bit non-stereotypical. But what can I do? Never enjoyed watching it either. Never played baseball or football, but didn't expect to excel in either of them. We would be playing volley for the next couple of months, so I had plenty of time to embarrass myself. At least Bella was even worse than me, so we could make each other feel better.
After that I took some time to leave the locker room, as a result, by the time I reached the parking lot most of the students had already left. Even so, as I entered the office, there was someone at the counter. That someone was Edythe Cullen. As soon as I stepped inside she tensed up, turned around and glared at me with the same hatred she had earlier. That moment, as I looked to her impossibly beautiful face, I felt a thrill of genuine fear. Like she would jump at me with a knife. My rational side said it was stupid, but still... 'If a glare could kill'.
The whole thing probably lasted two seconds before she turned back to the woman behind the counter and said a quick "Never mind" and left the office.
I walked robotically to the desk and handed the woman the signed slip.
"Did your firs day go well, dear?"
I was to shacked to do anything but nod and leave. Once reaching my Camaro, I took a moment to calm down. The reaction Edythe was having couldn't have anything to do with me. The only thing I did was to introduce myself, how could that be offensive? I turned the key and headed home.
