Hey guys, this is the official first chapter. Its mostly just information and you will soon see that I have taken liberties on their background. Please tell me what you think in a review and enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 1

My parents divorced when I was 1 year old, three months after my first birthday. My older sister was nearly three at the time and it had been hard on both of us, despite the fact that I couldn't remember any of the actual event itself or the years directly after it. However, I knew that Bella was just about old enough to remember what I didn't and even if neither of us had the memories of the years spanning 1990-1995, my mother sure complained about it enough for us to know what happened.

My mother left our house in Forks at 18:55 at night, with rain pattering at the windows and a running truck rumbling outside the window, packed full of bags and suitcases. She had quit her job that morning and had spent the day packing up mine, my sister's and her own belongings. She had waited until my father had come home before she left, whether out of a chance to spite him even more or because of the last strings of love she felt for the man that compelled her to tell the truth, I never found out. She had left the house in tears, holding my one year old self against one side and tugging on my sister's hand, not caring when the not-yet-three year old tripped at the fast pace.

My mother had left the house still shouting at Charlie, who had stood in the doorway with tears running down his face, shouting 'Why?!' after his wife as she left the house. Even after all these years, he had never quite gotten over it. And for that, I would never forgive my mother.

My mother, Renee Higginbotham, formerly Swan, never quite understood how close I was to my father, Charlie Swan and my sister Isabella 'Bella' Swan didn't either. My elder sister and mother were quite alike, despite major differences in personality and looks - they had similar views. My father, however, was a man content with what he has, happy in his small town as the Chief of Police. I loved spending whenever I could in Forks, although that could only happen as I got older. When I was younger, I could only go to Forks when Bella did, for one month in the summer holidays. That changed the year I turned eight - I went to Forks the day after the start of the summer holidays and spent the two month break in Forks with my Father, only returning to wherever we were currently living the day before I was once again due to start school. Half of this holiday was usually spent with Bella.

That once again changed the summer after I turned twelve. Bella, at fourteen years old, had put her foot down and insisted that instead of her travelling to wet, cold Forks during the summer, that Charlie and me could meet her in California for two weeks instead. For three years we stuck to that arrangement. Then it all changed completely.

Once we left Forks, we had started of in Idaho. We hadn't stayed there long, only renting an apartment for three months whilst my mother worked as much as she could in a local restaurant. We soon moved on - this time, across the country. We soon settled in Indiana. We stayed there until I was five and Bella was eight. We moved a week after Christmas - this time, to New York. We stayed in that state for three years before mom got tired of the weather. This time, she had decided, we were moving somewhere warm.

And that's what brought us to Phoenix, Arizona. After two weeks in Texas and a further month in Los Angeles, California, we were soon settled in one of the only low-income neighbourhoods included in the Paradise Valley district. My mother got her wish; it was a lot hotter then New York. Whilst I, personally, wasn't a huge fan of the dry heat, it was better then the humidity of New York summers and for that I was grateful. Not only that, but both my mom and Bella seemed to greatly enjoy the high temperature. Unlike them, I didn't like full-time heat and that helped me make my decision to spend all summer with Charlie, in the colder state of Washington - it was heaven to me. I had made plans to move to Forks to live with Charlie when I was fifteen, an age I knew I would be able to convince my mother to let me move across the country, although nobody knew of these plans.

These plans were dashed when Bella made the decision. I knew that it was coming.

Renee, mom, had married Phil Dwyer a little over a year ago. Phil was a minor league baseball player and travelled around a lot looking for work. Whilst he did this, mom stayed at home with me and Bella. It was a huge sacrifice on her part and both me and Bella knew it. This was what spurred my sister's decision to exile herself to the small town of Forks, with the highest rainfall percentage in the whole of the United States. She had convinced me to go with her - she wasn't surprised that it didn't take long. I was so happy that my plans had been moved forward by nearly a year. The only downside was that Bella was coming too - she was a good enough sister, always ready to help, but I knew that she didn't want to. She was much more happy getting absorbed in her classics. Not only that, but she had never hidden her distaste for Forks and I was always scared that my dad would take it as a distaste for him, or, even worse, that Bella's dislike was for Charlie. Living with him for at least two more years, I hoped that Bella learnt to love our dad for who he was.

The sun was beating down on us as we drove to the airport. It was really hot and I was becoming even more relived by the second that we would soon be away from this sun and under the near constant cloud-covered town of Forks. Me and Bella were sat in the back of the car, with Phil driving at just above the speed limit. Mom was sat in the passenger seat, twisting around to look at us worriedly every two minutes.

Bella was sat beside me, fingering the short sleeve of her white, eyelet lace blouse; she had told me before we left the house that it was her farewell gesture to Phoenix and the sun. She also had on a pair of light blue jeans and a pair of black and white converse. She had her carry-on item, a parka, laying neatly across her lap. Her and mom had spent the last two weeks looking for winter clothing to bulk out Bella's scanty winter wardrobe. They hadn't been very successful, however, only able to buy Bella a few pairs of heavy jeans and thicker jumpers. I was very glad that my winter wardrobe was sufficient and already waiting for me in my room in Forks, thanks to my time spent there every summer. I was even more thankful for the fact that I only had on suitcase and my carry-on, which meant that I didn't have nearly as much luggage as my clumsy older sister.

My sister was a quiet, beautiful girl, even if she didn't acknowledge it. She had lovely mahogany hair that fell in gentle waves to the middle of her back, with chocolate brown eyes set in a pale, heart shaped face. She was thin and well-proportioned with a respectable height of 5'4, although I knew Bella thought she was inadequate, compared to the tan, blonde, sporty girls at our school in Phoenix. Looking at her from the corner of my eyes, I bit my lip to keep from laughing at the look on her face. I knew that she detested the thought of Forks, and would have much rather stayed in Phoenix, but was forcing herself to go to dad's for our mother's sake. I knew, however, that by July, she wouldn't ever want to leave Forks again. The look on her face, eerily similar to moms whenever she turned around, however, was almost too much for me to take - after living with these women for fifteen years, I was used to the dramatic way they reacted to change, even if Bella's reaction was much more subtle.

Unlike my sister, I hadn't bothered with a farewell gesture to the sun, nor Phoenix, as I knew that the flaming ball of gas would make an occasional appearance in Forks' skyline. However, like Bella, I had balanced my outfit to handle the heat of Phoenix and the cold of Washington. I was wearing black, knee-length leggings with a light blue jean skirt that came to just below my thighs. My short-sleeved, black, button-up blouse was not covered by anything yet, but I had stuffed my favourite burnt orange zip up hoodie into my bag ready for when I hit colder weather. My feet were clad in dark orange converse high tops. My blonde hair was pulled back into a fairly tight French braid, unlike Bella's loose hair, with only my fringe and a few wisps of hair falling down and around my face.

I was startled when the car shut off abruptly and two doors slammed shut. I caught site of Phil and mom moving around to the back of the car to get our luggage out. Looking over at Bella, I offered her a comforting smile as she took a deep breath before moving to get out of the car. I followed after, hiking my red leather satchel onto my shoulder and grasping my violin case carefully. I hadn't trusted the instruments safety in the boot with our suitcases. Getting out of the car, I followed the rest of my family around to the back of the car, grabbing my black suitcase quickly. I waited to the side as Bella's luggage were taken out of the car, reminded once again how happy I was that I didn't have that much luggage.

"Alright, girls." Phil said with a small smile. "I'll see you soon. Have a good time with your dad." He hugged me and Bella around the shoulders at the same time and I smiled up at him in farewell. Phil was a good guy who was madly in love with our mother and for that I was very grateful. Although he was seven years younger than mom, they got along very well. Mom was younger than her years and I knew Phil made her feel even younger. Mom made Phil happy and I was happy for both of them. They had gotten married at the end of September last year on the beaches of Hawaii. We had stayed there for two weeks, me and Bella staying in a separate room from them in the hotel whilst they celebrated their honeymoon - we hadn't seen much of them after the wedding.

I was once again snapped out of my thoughts when mom let out a sob. She had tears gathering in her eyes and I bit my lip against the guilt I felt for leaving her behind; I knew that Phil would take care of her, pay the bills, fill the fridge, make sure there was gas in the car. It was the jobs that Bella and I had been doing most of our lives. Despite the guilt, I was ready to leave my dependent mother behind - she had been depending on me and Bella for over fifteen years and it was time that we had some freedom and for that reason alone, even if ti wasn't the only one, I would always like Phil.

"You don't have to do this." Mom was saying as she stood in front of Bella, hands gripping my sister's shoulder tightly.

"Don't worry. I want to." All of us knew that Bella was lying, even if she had gotten better over the last month she had been saying this. It was almost believable now.

"Well, alright. You can come home any time you want to. Just call and I'll meet you there." She directed this at both of us and I could see the sacrifice in her eyes - she hated leaving us behind, but she was so happy to be free of the burden we presented to her travelling.

"We won't mom. We'll be fine." Bella said, giving a small, reassuring smile to our mom.

"Yeah mom, it'll be fun. And dad won't let anything happen to us." I interjected, still seeing the doubt on her face.

"Well," Mom started, and then sighed. "Say hello to Charlie for me, will you." She said in general to the both of us.

"We will, mom." I assured.

With one last sigh, she surged forward to give Bella a huge, farewell hug, whispering something in her ear that I couldn't hear. It took a few minutes for them to break apart, before mom came over and hugged me tightly around the shoulders. She kissed me on the temple before letting me go, quicker then she had Bella. She was more used to the idea of me going to Forks, what with my summer visits and I knew she had an incline as to my plans to move to Forks within the next year.

"Have a good time girls. Don't get into any trouble, work hard at school and most importantly, have fun."

She finished her little order just in time for the overhead speaker to buzz on, an automated female voice saying "Sign in desks 2-5 for flight AR637 to Seattle have opened. Sign in desks 2-5 for flight AR637 to Seattle are now open."

"Alright, go on girls. Your flight leaves in two hours. You need to go sign in." She sniffed again, bringing up her hand to swipe under her eyes.

"Oh mom. We'll be fine." Bella said, going in for one last hug. "I'll email you as soon as I can."

I smiled at mom I agreement, although I knew that it would take me at least a week before I remembered to email her and I knew that she knew it too.

"I'll see you soon. I love you." She said, smiling at them sadly. Wanting to get away from all the feelings, I smiled as brightly as I could at her before grasping the handle of my suitcase and taking off towards the sign in desk. I didn't look back to see if Bella was following me, although I knew she did.

It was a four hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle and then a further hour in a small plane from Seattle to Port Angeles. From there, it was an hour's drive to Forks. I knew that Bella was dreading the car ride the most. Bella and dad were very alike in personality, both quiet and awkward. Neither were good conversationalists and I knew that this would have made for an awkward car ride - if I wasn't there. I was more talkative then either of them and even when silent, I preferred to fill the quiet with loud music. Dad and Bella were both too worried about what the other would think to turn the radio on and I knew this from experience. But we weren't at that point yet, still on the plane to Port Angeles. I just knew Bella was worrying about it.

Bella hadn't said much too me on the plane, only asking me if I was alright a few times. I was surprised, then, when she started conversation about halfway through the journey.

"Are you worried about this?" I blinked in surprise and turned my head away from the window to look at her. Her eyebrows were furrowed worriedly and I could feel the concern flood through me.

"Not really. We know some people around town and its just school. Beside, we won't even be here for two years, will we." I told her. Like my sister, I was a junior, despite my younger age. I had skipped two grades during Elementary school and I was glad for it now - I knew my sister would have a harder time without having the possibility of having me in some of her classes, what with how shy she was.

"Its a really small school, though and all the kids there grew up together and their parents and grandparents probably grew up together and we'll be the kids of the Chief of police and his flighty ex-wife." She was rambling and I realised then how worried she was. She never rambled.

"But that's the beauty of it! We don't have to worry about family feuds or prejudice because of what our great-grandparent's did, or something. And we can manipulate the attention to our liking." I said the last part jokingly, rubbing my hands together and letting out a fake evil laugh all for my sister's sake. I knew it would cheer her up and I was happy when she laughed loudly, before slapping a hand over her mouth when people turned to look at us.

"I suppose so." She murmured from behind her hand. Grinning brightly at her one more time, I turned back to face the window.

We landed soon enough and made our way immediately to the baggage claim. We were there for longer than we had anticipated but were on our way soon enough. I watched, amused, as Bella struggled to pull along both her suitcases and carry all her bags.

"Want me to help with that?" I offered.

"Yeah, please." Bella sighed in relief, passing me one of her duffle bags, freeing up her hands to be able to pull her suitcases easier. We walked through the terminal, looking around for dad. Finding a rare clear space near the wall, i pushed myself up on my tiptoes to try and peek over everyone else's heads.

"Bella! Nettie!"

I heard the shout even over the hustle and bustle of the airport and quickly pushed my way through the crow towards the noise. I quickly found dad standing nearer the exit, leaning against the wall. He wasn't wearing his police uniform, instead wearing loose jeans, a blue and brown plaid shirt left open over a white undershirt. His hair was messy and I could feel my heart warm at the sight of him.

"Dad!" I shouted, dropping my suitcase behind me as I ran at him and jump hugged him. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed a kiss into my hair, holding me up off the ground for a minute before he let me down.

"I missed you, Net. I'm glad your here."

I beamed up at him as I moved to the side slightly, smiling at his painfully awkward reunion with Bella. Standing next to each other, I once again admired how alike they looked - they had very similar colouring. Smiling to myself at this thought, I noticed that they had moved away from each other and Bella was pushing a lock of hair behind her ear in an uncomfortable manner. I knew this was my cue.

"Hey ho, hey ho, off to home we go!" I sang loudly, purposely out of tune. Not waiting for either of them I once again pushed my way through the crowd and out the exit, moving in a random direction until dad caught up to me and steered me towards his police cruiser. Putting my suitcase in the boot, I moved happily to the back seat, easily relinquishing the front seat to Bella, if only for the entertainment the awkward conversation between Bella and dad would give me. Grinning as they got into the car, I settled in for the show; it was sure to be brilliant.