AN: I do not own the characters... no matter how much I begged. I do, however, own this story.
CHAPTER 2
EPOV
I smiled at the goofiness of my soon-to-be brother in law. Jasper was usually very proper, but tonight was his last night as a free man. He was letting my best friend, Emmett, cheer him on as he took yet another shot.
Emmett and I were both his best men since he was unable to decide. I had suggested that his bachellor party take place in a more sophisticated location, but at that, Emmett slapped his huge hand on my shoulder and bellowed a loud laugh. "Eddie, darling, it's the man's last night of freedom! His last chance to get shit-faced and ogle at women who aren't his wife! We will be having it at a strip club." With that, we chose the only local strip club in Forks Washington, and we drank and laughed.
I was the designated driver, so I slowly enjoyed my only beer I would be allowing myself. I sat next to the drunk Jasper as he watched the stippers tease the men in there with their suggestive moves.
"You nervous for tomorrow?" I asked over the loud music. He shook his head, still watching the stippers.
"Alice and I are soulmates." He slurred. One girl bent down in front of him so he could place some cash in her shorts- if they could even qualify as that. He did it quicky and continued to answer my question with humor. "My perfect woman actually encouraged me to have this party. I didn't need to. But she insisted." Good for them. They deserve each other.
I was about to reply when a stripper in a blue wig and baseball cap wrapped her arms around Jasper and purred a question into his ear. He chuckled but shook his head, and then said something while pointing to me. She took a small wad of cash that he held up for her as she walked over to me.
She was gorgeous- well, all of them were. But there was something beauty sex appeal about this blue-haired stripper as she walked over to me. She was wearing a baseball uniform that was small enough to fit a child, and converse instead of heels. How odd. But it wasn't the uniform, the intruiging scars on her face, or her amazing figure that caught my attention, it was her piercing brown eyes that made direct eye contact with me.
"Hey, baby," she cooed, "you want a dance? It's on your friend back their." She was already beginning to stradle me, and I glimsped over her shoulder to see Jasper giving me a wink. I felt my face beginning to burn.
"Um- actually I can't." I panicked. It may have been stupid, but I felt wrong about it. She wasn't taking no for an answer as she began to rub herself against me.
"Don't be scared, kid." She was whispering throatily in my ear. Her words struck a cord and I began to remember why I knew those brown eyes so much.
-Flashback-
It was my first day at Forks Junior High School. Well, ours. My twin sister, Alice, and I walked out of the car as our mother called out to us. "Have a great day guys! Don't be nervous!"
With that, the traitor drove off.
Alice and I looked at each other, and then back at the towering brown doors, and my sister jumped on the balls of her feet. "Let's go make new friends!"
I stared at her as she skipped into the new school with so much confidence, and followed grudgingly behind. She made her way through the hallways as if she had known it all her life, and found the Front Office.
We approached the curly-haired secretary as she typed quickly on the computer. She glanced up at us from under her thick glasses. "How can I help you twp?"
"I'm Alice Cullen, and this is my brother, Edward. We are new students here. Can we have our schedules?" She chirped with a pleasant smile. It was infectious and the seretary's lips curled up into a smile.
"Ah, yes. The Cullens. Your mother called us to let us know you would be coming. Here you are. First period has already started." She said as she handed us each our new schedules and a school map. She circled our first periods, and explained that we would need to show our schedules to each teacher.
We had our first periods across the hall from each other, so we walked together and talked. Well, Alice talked about how excited and nervous she was, and I just nodded along to her continuous blabbering as I tried to control my heartbeat.
We stopped in front of our classrooms. Alice gave me a big hug, and despite the fact that I had managed to spike in height, now much taller than me, she managed to bring me down to her level and make me hug her back. "Don't worry about being the new kid, Edward. We are going to meet people who will greatly impact our lives." She said easily. With that, we both entered seperate classrooms.
I gave my first period teacher my schedule, and he confirmed that I had in fact gone to class. "There is an empty seat by Ms. Swan. Isabella, please raise your hand." He announced to the classroom. I looked to the two available seats, and one of them was next to a girl that had her hair covering pretty much all of her face. I heard snickers as I made my way to share the table with the Swan girl. As soon as I pulled my chair out and took my seat, she shied away from me and I never once got to hear her voice. She was wearing a big baggy black sweater and jeans that were torn and too big on her.
The rest of the day was fast-paced. I made new friends. Alice and I sat with a boy named Emmett, who had a humorously squeaky voice for a boy of his size. He was just as bouncy as Alice, and even asked if we wanted to come over to his house. Our parents asked us how school was, and if we made any friends. We had, quite a few. Being the new kids in such a small school had made us automatically the new toys that everyone wanted to play with.
The next day at school, the strange Swan girl wasn't there. Or the next. For two weeks, she wasn't there. I asked one of the girls who had asked for my number where she was.
"Ugh. Isa-Smella? She's a freak. She always skips school. Her dad is the sherriff so she never gets in trouble!" She sneered with envy. "Anyways, rumor has it that she is always missing school because she and her little sisters sell drugs. That's why she smells so bad." I had noticed that she did, in fact, smell bad.
Anyone that I asked had different reasons why the girl was absent. They only were consistant on two things; she was the daughter of the town's only sherriff, and she was the oldest sister.
I relayed this news to my parents. To which they said with a sigh, "Poor dear. Kids can be so cruel, Edward. Never let the nasty things they say about this little girl affect the way you treat her. She probably has a hard time making friends since she is the sherriff's daughter. She would probably love a friend."
I decided that night that I would befriend that poor Swan girl next time I saw her.
I didn't expect to see her the next morning in first period, as a matter fact I was hoping I wouldn't, but there she was, wearing the same black sweater and jeans.
I slid into the seat next to her and opened my mouth to say something to her, but the teacher cut me off. "Okay, class, now I want you to pull out your microscopes and study the inside of your cheek tissue. One person from each table come up to get a toothpick per person, the worksheets, and a glass side."
Isabella began to move to get it, but I assured her that I would get it for us. She kept her face shielded in her hair and sat back down. She was gazing out the window when I returned. I placed the tray of supplies down noisily so I could let her know my presence was known. She flinched, but did not turn to me.
"Could you help me set up?" I asked politely, hoping it would get her to unveil herself. She obliged and began to set up on her side of the table, still keeping herself distanced from me. When done, she pushed the only microscope we had to the middle with her hand covered by her sweater. "Here you go." I said cheerfully as I held up a toothpick for her. She looked up at me to take it from me with beautiful brown eyes. I had planned to smile at her and try to break the ice with a joke, but I froze at how mesmorizing her eyes were.
She tucked the chunk that covered her face from the world behind her ear and was about to insert the toothpick into her mouth until she realized I was staring. Like an idiot, I might add.
I closed my mouth as her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. That is when I noticed the bruise on her chin, the scars on her eyebrow and across her left cheekbone, and a barely scabbing cut close to her ear.
I immediatly felt the need to heal those.
Red began to creep onto her cheeks and she allowed the hair to drape her face yet again.
"Um... sorry." I said, being able to talk now that those eyes no longer held me prisoner. "Um... I'm Edward. Edward Cullen. I'm new here." She gave me a quick nod in acknowledgement. "Anyways, so what's your name?"
When she didn't reply, I said, "It's Isabella Swan, isn't it? I think, since we're lab partners, we should be better acquanted." She turned her head so she was facing me, and despite and the hair, I could see her disbelief. It was working.
"Look, Edward is talking to the weirdo." A boy said in a stage-whisper to the class. The teacher called a warning but did nothing about it. I shot the boy, Mike, I believe his name is, a warning. He sank back in his seat and the giggles of the classmates died.
When I looked back at Isabella, she had pulled her hood over her head and slouched in defeat.
I tried again. "So, Isabella, are you going to go to Forks High School after this? I heard there are others close by. Like La Push High- but I'm going to Forks and it'd be cool if we got to hang..." I never got to finish my invitation though. Because that was when she moved her hood down and moved her hair to the side so she could scratch her neck. That was when I saw the bruising hand prints on the side of her neck.
She looked at me, maybe to see why I had stopped talking. I don't know. But she had noticed that I was staring at her neck.
All those injuries... The bruises... The cuts... Is Isabella... being abused at home? I thought to myself, eyes wide, and became frozen. I didn't know how to handle this! I thought she was just picked on for having a father with authority! I didn't- I never suspected- What the hell am I supposed to do?!
Isabella quickly covered herself back up and moved out of her seat. "Shit happens." I heard her say quietly as she started to walk. She added in an even lower voice, "Don't be scared, kid." With that, she ran out of the class.
"Miss Swan?!" Our teacher asked, and that made everyone look at me. They began to whisper amongst eachother, creating lies as to how I managed to upset the crazy Swan girl. I didn't pay much attention because I started after her.
I had to help.
"Oh no, Mister Culler. You won't be going anywhere." My pudgy teacher blocked the door. I stopped but began to plea.
"She-"
"No, no, no. You will stay right here until the bell rings, just as all the other students do. Just because Miss Swan left doesn't mean everyone call leave whenever they want. Rest assured, Isabella will get punished. Would you like to as well?" I looked down glumly and trudged back to my table. I need to tell someone- but who?
I had never been put in such a situation, so after the bell rang, I fled from the class and left campus, going to the only people I knew would help. My parents.
I explained to them what I saw and they called the police. Since Charlie Swan, as my parents called him, was the Sherriff, the cops arrested him but released him the next night. I never saw the Swan girl again.
"You did the right thing, telling us." My parents assured me after I spent a long night awake in the kitchen.
"But, mom! That guy is still free! And Isabella and her sisters are gone. I should have ran after her-" I grieved.
"Son, you did everything you could have. And we are so proud of you for it. You couldn't have done anything else." Carlisle, my father, soothed. But their reassuring words did not help. Instead, it fired me up. I left them in the kitchen and I went for a run through the rain that night.
I should have chased her. I should have tried to keep her there! I entered the meadow by myself, cursing myself for my lack of involvement. Because of me that poor girl- GAH! I exclaimed to the sky and fell down onto my knees.
"'Don't be afraid, kid'." Was the last thing I heard that Swan girl say.
It was the last thing we said... Until today. Her eyebrows scrunched together as she sat on my lap, staring into my eyes with confusion and hesitance.
"Isabella?" I asked, my voice thick with emotion. Her eyes widened as she jumped off my lap.
AN: So, that was my chapter to my first story! Please review, I really do appreciate it!
