IsabellaPOV
Charlie was waiting for me with the cruiser outside the airport. This was expected. I could only pray that I would find a car fast enough so I would not have to walk to school or have Charlie drive me in… that.
He gave me an awkward one-armed hug as I gave him a bear like one.
"It´s good to see you, Bells", he greeted me, "How´s Renée?"
"Mother is… well. It is good to see you, too, father", I acknowledged with a heartwarming smile.
Without wasting any time Charlie insisted on helping me with my bags. Because let me tell you; they were not small.
The energy radiating from Charlie´s chest was tangible, nearly sizzling with awkwardness in the small space of the car. Charlie was not what you would call verbose; he was never one to say the wrong thing. He rarely ever spoke, lest it was necessary to be heard.
"I found a good car for you, real cheap, too", Charlie announced, turning out from the parking lot onto the highway. In what should have been an illegally slow pace, I might add.
"How thoughtful of you, father, I sincerely appreciate that, but I can afford buying myself a car of my own."
Charlie looked as if he was taken aback by being called 'father', and not used to my way of speaking. He will soon accustom, I thought merrily.
"I know that! But… I, kind of… already got it for you", he confessed, mumbling the last part with the hint of a blush coloring his cheeks.
"I see," I said, with a nod of acceptation. "How cheap is 'cheap'?"
"Do you remember Billy Black?"
"No."
"He´s in a wheelchair now and offered to sell me his car since he won't be using it anytime soon", Charlie clarified with a heart filled laughter.
"It was free, was it not?"
Silence.
"Well, yeah. You´ll love it, though. I hope", he said in a small voice.
I pray.
30 minutes later we had pulled up on the driveway of the white house my father calls 'home' and I had immediately fallen in love with the white Volkswagen beetle cabriolet that stood there, waiting for me.
"Father?"
"…Yes?"
"I am head over heels in love with this car."
I loved it. And I bet Frey will, too. I wonder how she is going to get here. Oh well, she will find her way.
FreyPOV
Ugh. So hot. So many people. So annoying.
IsabellaPOV
During my years of absence, Charlie had only done minor changes to my room. As I grew he had replaced the crib for a bed and added a desk. The desk held a second hand computer, with the phone line for the modem stapled along the floor to the nearest phone jack. The rocking chair in the corner remained though, and so did the colors.
Charlie let me unpack my bags in solitude. As I did so I thought about the new school and wondered how my new life here would turn out. Not that I had ever cared, but I was hoping that the people here would be more accepting than they had been in Phoenix. For Charlie's sake.
I was nowhere near done unpacking and putting my things in the right places but it was getting late and I could as well get everything done tomorrow.
Before going to bed though I went outside to the back of the house and was blown away.
"How could I not have felt this before?" I whispered to myself
The forest, the earth, the trees were casting a protective and powerful bubble of energy around the house and its yard. It pulsated in pure nature energy so great I had to catch my breath. This earth was the healthiest I had been in contact with in a long time.
I walked out on the grass with nothing covering my feet but my own skin. I could feel her under me. The woman that has given life to our world, she whom lets us walk and live on her back, she whom carries us through the universe we know nothing of.
When I came to the row of trees that made a fine line between my father's backyard and the one of another's - the living creatures of the forest I knelt down slowly and put my palm gently on the earth. When I did so the small strands of grass that surrounded the area turned to me and the trees branches hovered over me as if they were trying to hear what I was about to say.
I pushed my fingers into the wet soil and could now hear a peaceful hum from the ground. I could feel my fire of life from the bottom of my abdomen start to burn more playfully, as if it could feel that mother earth was near. Or as I like to call her – Nerthus.
"It is too late to greet thou tonight, but so I shall, when I am settled in this new home of mine." I reached up to the top of my head and pulled out a strand of hair. "But so that thou shall recognize and accept me I give to thou a small gift to show that I am willing to follow thy command in exchange for a few favors now and then."
I dropped the straw on the earth and as it touched the ground a small patch of grass closed around it and then opened to unveil that it was gone and the trees sighed in content. She had accepted.
"Alright – time to sleep."
EdwardPOV
"Hello dear brother" Alice beamed as she jumped onto my back and wrapped her legs around my waist, "How was class? Did you learn anything?"
"Are you honestly asking me that, Alice?" I asked her skeptically with a raised eyebrow as I put her down. She pouted and I laughed, as went our usual routine before lunch.
"Party pooper" She muttered and went to Jasper for consolation.
"Eddie boy!" Emmett boomed and slung an arm around my shoulders, drawing much unwanted attention from the hunger crazed students filling the halls. Why do I always feel small around this guy? "Be nice to the little one! You´re a big boy, you´re supposed to be a good example to the kids!"
"She´s older than you are!"
"Shh! Keep it down, will you?" Rosalie lectured.
We walked the rest of the way to the cafeteria in silence.
After we had gathered our props, or as on human terms food, we headed to our usual table and sat down.
Everything was going in its usual order – students leaving and entering, sitting in their usual places with their usual company and gossiping about their usual insignificant things. After a few minutes of staring at the table and trying not listen in on other people's conversations the room blew up with the sound of familiar voices. Their thoughts filled my conscience, tormenting my mind with their sudden outbursts of loud comments and images around one subject, and one subject only: Isabella Swan.
Or, as others like to think of her, Bella.
The explosion of thoughts was so overwhelming that I had to catch my breath for second. My brothers and sisters frowned with worry as they asked if I were I okay. Alice though was staring off into space as she mused "It became so quiet…"
"Are you kidding me?" I exclaimed, trying to overpower the humongous noise in my head. The images were even worse. They were all blurry but showed a fairly pretty girl with long dark waves and a long knitted coat that looked like a blanket with a hood. Then we had the more sexual images that showed her with less than that. Much less than that.
Edward.
I turned my head to the right, as I thought I heard my name being called. I was met by the eyes of Jessica Stanley but quickly turned them away from her and instead looked to girl sitting next to her. She was the most gorgeous creature I had ever seen.
What I first noticed was her eyes. They were deep brown with green specks playing across the surface of her radiating irises. Suddenly, as I numbly awed at them, her pupils dilated although there was no change of the light. And as they did, the green color of her eyes began to dominate, shifting around and looking as if it swallowed the brown. That's odd, green eyes are recessive to brown ones.
Second, I took in the sight of her skin - milky, almost as pale as my own. It complemented her slightly parted lips, the upper almost unnoticeably too big in proportion to her bottom. My eyes traveled downwards and inevitably stopped at her neck. Oh, and that neck – might I die and burn in the depths of hells flames if my lips were to never even graze the ethereal skin of her neck.
I looked away. I, who am no longer the keeper of a soul, can ever touch such a pure being as she. If I were to have one, I believe that I would now have found my soul mate. But a man with no soul has none and is condemned to a life where no such thing as love is the ruler, but loathing and self destruction is that man's goal should he be brave enough to pursuit it.
But that does not mean I cannot still dream of it, so yet again I glanced her way. This time I wanted to hear her. I wanted to see through her eyes – how did this woman look at and think of me? I focused on her, tuned out all the other voices and concentrated on finding hers.
I could hear nothing - her mind was as silent as a dead man's grave as she stared into my wondering eyes with the same curiosity in her own. I tried harder to push myself into her mind, but did so in vain as my struggle only caused me frustration and a slight headache. Then I heard it. Three words dominated my senses, a voice so clear, yet deep and unfamiliar it completely threw me off.
It is you.
IsabellaPOV
He had been trying to get inside of my head. Literally.
As I had stepped foot into the cafeteria together with a girl named Jessica, whom I had met during the hour of my Spanish lesson, my sight had instantly zeroed in on a group of beautiful beings. They were seated by a circular table near the window at the back of the room, as far away from me as possible.
I could not tear my eyes away from them because not only were they stunning, but they radiated an energy that mocked all others. It pulsated, like a giant heart of compact heat, glowing brighter than any I had ever looked upon, or felt.
There were five of them, all different, yet exactly the same. A blond young woman, tall, gorgeous face, features that females all over the world would think of as perfect. On either side of her there were two men – one, big and muscular with dark short and curly hair, and the other was blond, tall and lean. The dark haired boy looked to be dangerous, but his soul was pure and playful. He had an arm slung around the back of the blond woman's chair.
The blond boy had a small girl in his lap. She was also beautiful with spiky black hair and a small frame. Next to them was a bronze haired boy. He looked to be younger than the rest, but just as gorgeous, if you could call a man that.
They were all very pale and had golden eyes that reminded me of Frey, my cat.
"Who are they?"
Jessica, the girl whom I had asked the curious question snapped her attentive eyes to me, and followed my gaze. As she did so the bronze haired boy looked at her, as if she had called his name, but quickly looked away to me instead. I could only catch a glint of his eyes before he looked away again.
"Oh, them?" Jessica piped up with a barely noticeable sourness to her voice. "The blond girl's name is Rosalie Hale, and the blond boy is her brother, Jasper. The big guys name is Emmet, the little one in Jaspers knees´ name is Alice and then we have Edward…" and so, she started talking about how hot he was.
As he sat there I noticed how his long, slender fingers played around with the food on his plate. A musician, I thought. Suddenly, he looked at me again, and I could not tear my eyes away from him. His gaze roamed over my body but lingered mostly on my neck and face. When he met my eyes again his brows furrowed in confusion. Then I felt it.
A presence – something, or someone, was trying to get inside of my head. It was strong, a feeling of someone consciously digging their way into my senses, trying to unlock the secrets that hide behind the gate of my psyche. When looking around I could not find anyone concentrating enough to be the source of it, until I saw Edward Cullen.
With his bronze brows knitted together, his perfectly shaped lips pressed together in a straight line, and with the most sensual, concentrated face I had ever looked upon I had found my intruder.
I opened my mind for him just far enough to reveal one single thought – It is you. Then I closed it again. His face showed an expression of shock, he looked baffled. But then, just a second later, he looked intrigued. As was I. Huh, I thought, I have never met a mind reader before… This should be interesting.
"…But apparently nobody here is good looking enough for him." Jessica finished, with a lot of frustration in her voice she did not care to hide.
"Tell me…" I started, still gawking at Edward who had looked away again,"When did he turn you down?"
The table went quiet but that I did not acknowledge. Instead, I noticed how the corner of Edwards's mouth turned up. Was he laughing? Oh, I wanted to hear his laughter. If I had to guess, I would say it sounds like a symphony.
And his voice. I wanted to hear that, too. I would have to think of it as, while I have not yet heard him speak, the voice of the lead character in the movie setting of the Phantom of the Opera. Deep. Manly. Simply a joy to listen to, even if you have no idea what he is saying… listening, hearing, will make you want him to say more.
What made me disappointed about all this was the fact that I was only attracted to him. Again, like all the times before this I am, like all others, in love with the idea of love.
After I realized that I was not about to be given an answer I rose from my seat and left the cafeteria, a table full of stunned teenagers at my observant comment and an interesting subject who would be the heart and soul of what was about to happen in my years to come.
