Black Swan Chapter One
Chapter One- Desert Sky
The Phoenix night was warm as Bella rode around on her Mac Ruby motorcycle, a gift from her step-dad, Phil. The hint of a chill made itself known as she sped through the streets feeling carefree and alive. She shifted gears, feeling the vibrations of the rebuilt engine as she gained speed, reeling in the feel of the wind on her face, and knotting her hair as it whipped around behind her. Her Black Flag t-shirt clung to her front and flared out behind her, cut-off Daisy Dukes molded to her like a second skin. Her pride and joy pair of over-the-knee boots completed the 'I-don't-give-a-rat's-ass' look. Nothing could make this late night cruise seem like anything less than wonderful… nothing, that is, except for red and blue flashing lights that lit up from behind the billboard that served as a hiding spot for Troopers and Phoenix PD alike.
"Shit," she muttered to herself as she downshifted and pulled over to the shoulder.
After checking her plate number, the officer stepped out of his car and approached his target.
"Ma'am, do you know how fast I clocked you going?" the officer asked.
"Last time I checked, I was at 95, sir," Bella replied off-handedly.
"Yes, well, the posted speed limit around here is 75. Did you know that in the state of Arizona, penalties for speeding include a ticket not to exceed two-thousand dollars and/or time in jail?"
"Yes, sir, I think I did hear that somewhere," Bella drawled, not bothering to feign interest.
"I'll need to see your license, Miss," the officer, who was used to getting fear or respect from his traffic stop encounters, was becoming more and more frustrated by the second.
After a quick scan of Bella's license through the database computer in his Tahoe, the officer sped through Bella's steadily growing rap sheet before heading back out to issue her punishment.
" Well, well, Miss Swan, it seems you have quite the list of offenses," the officer said upon his approach of her vintage motorcycle. "Speeding, Minor in Consumption, Public Nudity, Disturbing of the Peace… just to name a few."
"Can't blame a girl for partying…" Bella mumbled.
"How's about you slip these pretty little bracelets on," he said, his face smug, as he lifted up the handcuffs from their holster on his belt. "We'll see how snarky you are after some time locked up."
Renee's going to kill me for this one… Bella thought as she was escorted into the back of the police vehicle. "Straw that broke the camel's back…"
"Isabella Marie Swan!" Renee yelled through the Phoenix Police Department.
"Cool it, Mom," Bella seethed, teeth clenched, massaging her wrists where the cuffs had just been removed.
"I will not 'cool it,' young lady!" Renee continued. "You're supposed to be in your room- grounded no less- and I get woken up at 2:45 in the morning because of a phone call from an Officer Huerta telling me my minor is in jail for going twenty miles an hour over the speed limit on the bike she's not even supposed to be driving! Have I missed anything yet?"
Bella gave her mother a hard look and said nothing.
"And I'm the one who has to come post your bail!" Renee continued. "Thirty-five hundred dollars, Bella? Really? I swear: I don't know what to do with you anymore! You don't go to school, won't listen to me or your step-father… You got a tattoo less than a month ago, for Christ's sake!"
"In my defense, Mom, how do you live in Phoenix for close to eighteen years without getting a tattoo in commemoration?" Bella asked, fingering the dark silhouette of the eternal bird on the back of her neck.
"I can't control you!" her mother concluded. "I'm not exactly a follow-everything-by-the-book kind of person, Bella, but this is so far beyond anything normal, rational… I can't keep living like this. I refuse."
"So what," Bella laughed, "Are you going to throw me out on the street now? 'Let's scrap this one, hopefully the bun I have in the oven right now will turn out better?' I'm your daughter; you're my parent. You're stuck with me."
"No," Renee began again, her voice lower and calmer, though sounding more threatening than before when she was yelling. "You're going to live with your father. I will not bring another child into the world in such a stressful environment. Hopefully Charlie will have better luck at dealing with you."
Bella sat there in shock. Surely Renee was bluffing: sending her only daughter to live with a man she barely knew? Hell, Charlie hadn't even met Bella until she was almost three-years-old. Renee had run off eight and a half months up the spout and that was that. Bella had visited Charlie two weeks every summer and for Thanksgiving from ages three to twelve, but that had stopped once Renee got remarried five years ago. Bella knew practically nothing about her father, other than that he was the Chief of Police in some Podunk town in Washington and that he liked to fish.
Her shock made her practically catatonic. She didn't register that Renee had put her into the passenger side of her truck, nor did she feel the bounce of the suspension when her motorcycle was loaded into the truck bed from the impound lot. She didn't really even acknowledge the fact that she was packing her scarce belongings into an Army-style duffle bag and back pack as Renee and Phil watched on. It wasn't until she stood at the gate, boarding pass in hand, that Bella snapped out of the funk she was in and started pleading with Renee. It fell on deaf ears, though. At 7:45, Christmas Eve morning, Isabella Marie Swan said goodbye to the only home she ever knew and headed to uncertainty in Forks, Washington.