A/N: Hey guys! Okay so here's the first chapter of my new story, that you guys voted for on my profile. This chapters a little jumpy at times, but it gets better I promise. So I'll have the second chapter out in a couple of days, it's already written so don't worry, I have that chapter and the third one done. So, welcome to the first chapter of Stranger…
Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer, sadly. Although it would be nice to be her…
Chapter One
Best Friends
BPOV (8 years Old)
Today is my first day of fourth grade. I'm really nervous. What if the kids don't like me? Who will I sit with at lunch? Play with on the playground? I've been going to Forks Elementary School since first grade, but I could never find any real friends in my class. I was too shy. There are some girls that I liked, like Angela, but she's not in my class this year, she's in Mr. Mason's class. I'm in Mr. Banner's.
I walked down the hallway with my backpack on, my lunch box in my right hand and my eyes wide. I had never been to the fourth and fifth grade wing before. It was so big! A bunch of fifth graders passed me and giggled. I blushed and looked down. I was wearing my favorite white shirt with flowers down the center and jean shorts. It didn't look funny to me. I had just bought it. My mommy took me shopping. I didn't want to go but she said that I needed a new shirt for a new grade. I thought my clothes from last year were okay, but I guess my mommy knows best.
I walked into my classroom, biting my bottom lip. I did that a lot. I don't know why. I guess I just do it cause I'm nervous. Really nervous. I found my desk. It had a label on it that said ISABELLA SWAN. Ew, I don't like my full name. I like just Bella better. Isabella is too long and grown up. Maybe if I scribble out the ISA, it would work. Hm, but then it would be ugly. I decided just to leave it. I put my backpack down and sat in the chair. Some kids were playing over in the corner but I didn't want to join them. If they ask me, then I will, but I won't go over by myself.
I was sitting in my chair playing with my dark brown curly hair when I heard the chair next to me move. I didn't notice before, but I was sitting at a table with four desks. I looked next to me and saw a girl that couldn't be a fourth grader. She was so tiny! She had spikey black hair, green eyes (I don't know if Alice actually has green eyes, but she does in this story) and was wearing a shirt that said, "Shopping is my Life". She sat down and smiled at me.
"HI! My name is Alice Cullen. What's yours?" She asked me. I looked down and blushed. I didn't remember ever seeing her before. Maybe she just moved here.
"Bella." I said quietly. I looked back up and she was smiling.
"Ohhh! Let's be best friends!" She squealed. I wasn't so sure.
"But, we just met?"
"That's okay! You'll be my new best friend. And it's okay not to know a lot about a new best friend because if you already knew stuff about them, then they wouldn't be new. Duh!" I smiled. I liked her, she seemed really nice. "Oh! We have to go see my brother. He needs to meet my new best friend!"
"Your brother? What grade is he in?" I asked. I didn't have any brothers or sisters. It was just me, mommy and daddy at home. And sometimes a fish, but not usually. They always died on me.
"He's in our class silly! He's my twin" She said with another smile. She grabbed my hand and took me out to the cubbies trying to look for her brother. Her hand on my wrist hurt a little bit, but I was happy that I made a new friend already.
"Edward!" Alice yelled to a boy who was bent over, looking for something in his backpack. He turned around and smiled at her. He had really messy hair. He needed to brush it, it looked really knotty. That wouldn't be fun for him later. My hair was really knotty once and it took mommy a really long time to get it unknotty. His hair was a weird color. It wasn't really red, but it wasn't really brown. I didn't really think Alice was telling the truth when she said that they were twins until I looked at his eyes, they were the same bright green as Alice's.
"Hi Alice. Who's your friend?" He looked directly at me. All of a sudden, I couldn't speak. I wasn't sure why, I mean I know I'm shy. But this is different.
"Edward, this is Bella, my new best friend" I don't know how her smile got bigger, but it did. "And Bella, this is my annoying twin brother, Edward."
"Hi, Bella" Edward said. I smiled and blushed. I didn't get why I was acting like this I mean, he was a boy, why would I act like this around a boy?
"S-so why haven't I ever seen you guys before?" I stuttered, stupid Bella!
"Well, we just moved here from Chicago, our daddy's a doctor!"
"That's so cool! My daddy's the police chief" I said, smiling. All the kids really liked my daddy's job.
"Really? Does he ever shoot people?" Edward asked. I looked at him weird
"Of course not! Why would he want to shoot someone?"
"He would want to shoot the bad guys, duh" Edward answered.
"But there aren't any bad guys in Forks silly!" I said with a laugh.
Edward looked me in the eyes and smiled. Then he started laughing with me. I was right. There weren't any bad guys in Forks, I mean it was Forks.
And from that day on, Edward and Alice were my best friends. A lot of the time I liked hanging out with Edward more, because Alice usually liked to play Barbie on me. Edward just let me be myself while we played.
Through fourth and fifth grade I was at the Cullen's whenever I could. If we couldn't play at their house, they would come over at my house. During the summer we would have sleepovers and play all night.
Now it was the summer going into sixth grade. We were moving up to Forks Junior High. As usual, I was over at the Cullen's and it was sunny out, a very rare thing in Forks.
"So, what do you guys want to do?" I asked them. I was playing outside with Edward and Alice. Esme wanted us out of the house because she was cleaning.
"I don't know." Said Edward.
"Oh! I know! Lets—"
"No shopping Alice!" Edward and I cut her off in unison. That's what Alice always wanted to do.
"I wasn't going to say that I was going to say lets do—"
"No makeovers Alice!" Edward and I cut her off again.
Alice huffed. "Again, I wasn't going to say that. I was going to say… again that we should play dodgeball"
"Dodgeball?" I asked confused. Usually Alice was against any kind of sport, unless it was baseball. The whole family had this weird thing for baseball.
"Yes, dodgeball. You and me against poor little Eddie over there." Alice said with a smile. Edward frowned. He hated it when she called him Eddie.
Next thing I knew we were playing dodgeball in the backyard and Alice and I were kicking butt. We got Edward about 10 times and he only got us 3 times each. I was running to get the ball when I noticed Edward was following closely behind me, so I sped up. I picked up the ball with my back towards Edward. What I didn't notice was that Edward had sped up and was now right behind me. And I really mean right behind me.
"Gotcha!" He whispered in my ear. And I felt his arms wrap around me to try to get the ball. I felt a sort of electricity surge through me when his arms enclosed me. I froze for a moment, why did I feel this way? Why was my heart beating so fast? I was running, that's why. It has nothing to do with the fact that I have Edward's arms wrapped around me.
"Alice!" I was finally able to yell out. I couldn't move, Edward was really strong. I don't know how he got so strong I mean he's only 12 years old! Alice ran around me and I tossed the ball to her and Edward let me go. I shouldn't have felt like a part of me had gone missing when he let go of me.
At noon, Esme called us in for lunch, announcing that we could now play in the house. This was a good thing because, being in Forks, the nice weather didn't last, and it started to rain.
We ended up watching movies the rest of the day and I slept over again.
In the morning my mommy picked me up for a doctors appointment. A couple months ago, I fell on the playground and split my chin open, today I was getting my stitches out. Mommy promised that I could go back over to the Cullen's as soon as I was done. Esme was making me a cake to celebrate my stitches coming out.
I got back to the Cullen's with a bandage on my chin, just so no icky germs got in my cut before it healed completely. Alice and Edward greeted me at the door with excited looks on their faces.
"Bella guess what!" Alice yelled. She ran over to me and started jumping.
"What Alice?"
"We're going on VACATION! TO THE CARIBBEAN!" Alice yelled.
"Oh my gosh that's so exciting! When are you guys going? Cause I'm going to have to figure out what to do!" Alice giggled. They were leaving in a week and were staying for 2 weeks. I guess I would have to catch up on my summer reading while they were gone because then I'd have nothing to do.
After the Cullen's went on vacation, I found myself very bored. I really did play with them all the time. The 2 weeks went by extremely slow and I was counting down the days till they returned.
For the majority of their vacation, I played over at the Black's house with Jacob. He was a couple years younger but he seemed okay. He had hung out with me and Alice and Edward sometimes during the summer sometimes. Alice and Edward didn't like him too much, but they were nice enough to him. We usually just played games in his garage and when Billy wasn't looking, we'd sneak some warm sodas. Billy caught us a couple of times, but we did it anyway. I wasn't sure why we did, we knew we'd get caught. I liked the thrill of possibly getting caught by Billy.
I think that was why Alice and Edward didn't like Jacob. I was always doing no so good things when I was with him.
"So, the Cullens are coming back tomorrow?" Jake asked the day before the Cullens came back.
"Yeah, I can't wait. It's been a whole two weeks since I've seen them" I said excitedly.
"You know Edward has a crush on you right?" Jake said, trying to get me to be less excited. Wait, what? No, Edward couldn't have a crush on me… could he?
"What are you talking about? Edward's like, my best friend Jake! He doesn't have a crush on me!" I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Jake just shook his head.
The next day, the Cullens came back and I was really excited. But what Jake said kept coming back to me. Did Edward like me?
I waited by the phone, because Alice said she'd call me when they got back from their vacation. My mommy kept telling me that waiting by the phone wouldn't make them call faster; it would only make it come slower. I didn't care though; I sat by the phone in a chair. Even at dinner, I didn't move. I brought my dinner to the chair and ate by the phone. Every time it would ring, I'd get all excited. But it every time, it was someone for one of my parents or it was a telemarketer. I wonder if you can stop all calls except for one house, cause that would make everything so easy.
I started to fall asleep and I felt my daddy take me up to my bed. I wanted to tell him to bring me back to the phone, Alice might call, but I was too tired. I fell asleep quickly.
"BELLA!" I heard someone scream my name. I was confused.
"BELLA!" they screamed again, and I felt someone jump on my bed. I rubbed my eyes, opened them, and saw a pixie on my bed. Wait, it was only Alice…. ALICE!
"YOU'RE HOME!" I yelled and she tackled me. We were laughing and talking for a while, me still in my pajamas. She told me all about their vacation, I wish I could have been there.
"Hey… Alice?" I asked. I wanted to know if Jake was right, but I didn't exactly know how.
"Yeah?" Alice said.
"Um… does…. Edward like me?" I asked before I hid my face. I can't believe I just asked her that! That is so embarrassing! "Cause I was talking to Jake and he said he did." I tried to save my embarrassment.
"Well… I don't know if I should tell you… but you're my best friend so I guess I can. Yeah, I'm like, almost positive he does."
I thought after Alice confirmed that Edward liked me, it would be really weird around him, but it wasn't. It was just like before they left to go on vacation. I wasn't sure why but it was.
Edward was still the one I came to when I had problems, like when my parents started fighting. Their house wasn't all that far away, so when I heard the yells from downstairs, I'd climb out of my window and onto the roof part underneath my window and down the house. For a really clumsy person, I never once fell while doing it. I would run to their house and Edward knew what was wrong. I would cry in his arms for hours before I would run back to my house and back into my room. My parents never knew I was gone. They were to busy fighting.
School started in September and I was really nervous, like usual. But this was a little different. It was junior high. I was in sixth grade now. Alice and Edward were in a couple of my classes and we all had lunch together. The first day wasn't too bad but I couldn't wait to get to lunch.
"So, Bella, how's your first day so far?" Edward asked me when I sat down with my lunch. I gave him a look that explained it all. "Come on, it can't be that bad." I sighed. He was right, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was.
We went through the same schedule everyday, and I ate with them everyday. It wasn't until October that things started to go bad. My parents were fighting a lot more than usual and I was getting worried. But one day when I was over at the Cullen's, everything got a lot worse.
I walked up to the house and rang the doorbell. It took a couple of minutes for them to answer and when Alice answered the door, she wasn't her perky self. It was confusing, but she wouldn't tell me. We went upstairs into the guest bedroom and Alice went to go get some movie choices. When she came back, Edward was with her, and had the same sad expression on his face.
"Okay will someone please tell me what's going on and why you're so sad?" I asked finally. They looked at each other and then Edward looked at me. He walked over to me and sat next to me on the bed. He sighed.
"Bella… we're…" He stopped. He took a deep breath and started again. "We're moving." He whispered. I froze. This couldn't be happening. They were my best friends, they couldn't be moving!
"What! Wh-when? Why?" I stuttered. I was so confused. Why were they leaving me, they can't leave me!
"My dad got a job in California. He couldn't turn it down." Edward looked so beat, it was almost killing me. "We're leaving in three weeks" Three weeks, that's all I had left with my best friends.
"But… we'll try and visit often. We promise" Alice finally spoke up and came over and hugged me. I saw her look up at Edward and I followed her gaze. He was getting something out of his pocket.
"Bella, we bought you this when we went to the Caribbean but, we kind of forgot to give it to you until now." He said as he handed me a package. I opened it and found inside was a gold locket with a pretty cursive "B" on the front. I smiled and thanked them as I put it in my pocket. The rest of the day was boring, we watched movies all day, and it rained.
The next few weeks flew by a lot faster than I wanted them to. Before I knew it, I was standing outside of the Cullen house, getting ready to say goodbye.
Carlisle and Edward packed up the car, the moving van had already left, and Esme was talking to my parents. Alice and I were just standing there, looking at each other, both with looks of sadness. When the car was finally packed, Alice tackled me in a tear filled hug and held on until Esme pulled her off. I was crying too and Edward came to say goodbye. He gave me a hug and looked into my eyes. Then he got into the car. Carlisle and Esme each gave me a hug, said their goodbyes and drove off. I kept crying even when we got back to the house.
I was very boring in school for the next couple of days, Angela and Jessica kept asking me if I was okay, and I kept telling them I was. Since the day they left, I wore the locket they gave me. When I wore it, I felt like they were with me, as stupid as that was.
Alice called a week after they left and we talked for a while.
"Bella, I gotta go" I could hear the sadness in her voice. I frowned.
"Okay, but I'll talk to you soon?"
"Definitely! We'll keep in touch, Bells"
We didn't keep in touch. That time was the only time I had spoken to them since they moved. I tried to call her and Edward, but they were always out or busy with something when I called. And when Esme and Carlisle told me they'd call back, they never did. I finally stopped calling them.
In January, my parents finally got divorced. It wasn't much of a surprise to me; I had learned to deal with it. My mom wanted to get out of Forks and it wasn't until then that I realized that I wanted to as well. I moved with my mom to Phoenix and restarted my life, trying to forget about the two best friends that forgot about me.
A/N: Ahh! First chapter!! Hehe. Now, this was a little hard to write because I tried to make it sound like they were younger, so sorry if it doesn't sound like that. Okay so Bella, Alice and Edward's shirts from the first day of school are on a link on my profile, if you care to see them. I found this way is much easier to make sure everyone can see the pictures… or at least I hope they can. Someone tell me if they can't so that I can figure out a solution. So please review! Because that makes me want to give my next chapter out =]
~Dancerx11
