I own nothing but my own ideas.

Bella did in fact lose her 20 dollar bet to Paul but they both knew that before they shook on it and made it official. Sue made a large pot of stew and even if it all didn't get eaten tonight at dinner, which it probably won't, there was going to be leftovers for the week.

Bella and Paul were the last ones to come downstairs and it wasn't very hard for them to find the kitchen and the connecting dining room, as they sat down they noticed that while there were bowls placed in front of their designated chairs, the bowls were empty while everyone else's were filled up to point they were nearly overflowing.

Sue smiled at the two warmly, "I didn't know how hungry either you would be tonight, or if you were vegetarian. Just help yourselves."

"Oh, um, thanks Sue..." Bella said, smiling back at the woman politely. The dinner table was set up pretty nicely, if not a little overcrowded. Sue not only made stew but she made cornbread and a surprisingly beautifully decorated salad. Who eats salad and a stew was beyond Bella, but Paul was helping himself to all of the food including the salad while Bella just opted for the salad and popped a baby tomato in her mouth.

Everyone was eating quietly, well except Sue and Charlie who were seated at the head of either table and were discussing their day and plans for the weekend. Bella took the time to take in Seth and Leah. Seth had this adorable puppy like thing going for him, and Bella wouldn't be surprised if he actually did act like a puppy and made it hard for anyone to actually hate the kid. He looked so young and innocent...too bad they might corrupt him later on.

And well, Leah, she looked stern...like her mother. They were practically twins, and Bella was positive there was a 50/50 chance they would actually get along. Not because she simply thought it, but the subtle hard analyzing looks she was getting from the other teenager gave it away.

"It's Isabella right?"

Bella blinked and looked at Seth who was blushing a little bit, eyes shifting between her and Paul, but she was pretty sure she looked less intimidating than her brother. Though not by much.

"Yes, or Bella is fine. Either way. What's up?" if they were going to be stuck in hell for a year, she wasn't going to make things worse for herself by rocking the boat...well, rocking the boat at home at least.

Seth shrugged, relaxing a little bit, "Nice to officially meet you, I'm Seth and this is my sister Leah."

"I've gathered." Bella stated dryly, and Paul snorted next to her, but Bella immediately felt bad when she saw Seth drop his gaze and blush even more, damn this kid...I just met him and I'm already going soft for him. "So, what grade are you in Seth?"

"Oh, I'm a sophomore this year. And Leah's a senior, like you guys."

"If I wanted them to know my business, I would've told them." Leah hissed under her breath but loud enough for everyone to hear and Charlie cleared his throat, clearly telling Leah to cool it.

"Because we weren't going to figure that out eventually," Paul stated but stopped short when Bella elbowed him in the ribs gently.

Sue cleared her throat, smiling, "Are you guys excited to start the last year of high school?"

"Not really," Paul shrugged, not giving much away and Bella just remained silent choosing not to comment, their mom just went to prison...and she's asking if they're excited for stupid school? Paul looked towards Seth before the silence could become uncomfortable, "You play sports?"

Seth quickly shook his head, "Nah, I'm more into video games and hanging down by the beach with the local La Push guys. The sports team at Forks is pretty cool though, we have a hockey team here for both guys and girls, it's pretty awesome."

"Sounds cool," Bella contemplated checking out the athletic teams, it would do her mom proud if she continued up on her sports that she worked so hard for...Renee wouldn't want them to quit everything they loved because of her.

"You two got very lucky that you got here when you did. The start of a new school year is Monday and I know jumping right into a semester isn't easy. This weekend I plan on taking Leah and Seth shopping, so it's good that you're here now and not later so I can take you both too before everything gets too busy around here. Was there any-"

"What?" Paul cut in rudely, dropping his fork, "Lucky?"

"Oh..." Charlie winced at Sue's words, even though she didn't realize the severity of her words until it was too late.

Lucky? We got lucky? Bella scoffed, rolling her eyes at Sue, "Wow, well I'm really glad that our mom decided to go to prison at an opportune time for you, Sue. Real draw of the luck there. Maybe we will all get lucky again and she'll get death row after our graduation too so you don't have to plan around it with your busy schedule because there's so much to fucking do, in this middle of nowhere town!"

"Hey!" Charlie snapped but Isabella wasn't hearing none of it as she pushed her chair back, nearly tipping it over and left the kitchen with Paul right on her heels, refusing to be left alone but he did take a piece of cornbread with him. He knew that his sister had been calm in the past three weeks after their mom was taken away. Nothing but calm and the voice of reason to his own furious temper. But Paul knew his sister, he knew her temper was just as horrible as his but her fuse burned slower.

It had only been a matter of time before she blew up over something little.

Bella plopped back on her bed while Paul closed and locked the door. She stared up at the bottom of his bunk and sighed loudly...she knew that Sue didn't mean the words so callously but Bella was exhausted, she was scared and she was angry at everyone and everything. She felt Paul sit down by her legs and she sighed again.

"I blew up."

"Yeah, finally." He laughed, handing over half eaten cornbread but Bella wasn't in the mood to eat anymore. "Feelin' better?"

"Not really, no. I feel like an asshole."

"You gonna apologize?"

"I don't know...no? I just...ugh...I wanna go back to Texas, I miss mom, I miss our house and our horses and cows and that random little chicken that lived around the house...and the ducks...I know we can't ever go back to how things were but it's hard," Isabella hated how her voice cracked and how the area around her eyes and nose burned when her vision got blurry before the first few tears rolled down. "I don't know how to handle this, Paul."

Paul swallowed thickly, reaching over and took his sisters hand tightly, "We're in this together...you don't have to handle it alone. Y'know I always have your back, right?"

"I love you Paul."

"Who doesn't though?" he wiggled his eyebrows at his sister, and Bella promptly kicked him off her bed.

Bella was up early in the morning, and was fresh and dressed before 8 A.M. rolled around. She left her slumbering brother in their room. She managed to sneak down the stairs without making much of a noise, but she didn't really account for Charlie to be awake but she should've known better. The man was the Chief of Police, of course he was going to be awake.

Bella paused in the doorway of the kitchen as Charlie looked up from adjusting his belt. After a moment, he made a noise that sounded like a grunt, "Mornin'."

"Morning." Bella said back after a slight hesitation. After her explosion at dinner last night, she was expecting him to fuss at her or something but when it was clear that he wasn't going to bring it up, she decided that she wasn't going to either. "Uh, I'm gonna be outside. I'm expecting a...delivery."

Before Charlie could even ask, they both heard a loud hiss outside and a door closing rather loudly. Bella rushed to the front door with Charlie right behind her, and the sight that greeted them brought a wide smile to Bella's face. One that hasn't been seen since her mother went to prison.

"You Isabella Lahote?" the guy with the clipboard asked tiredly, coming down the driveway.

"Yeah, that's me." Bella nodded, eyes still glued to the vehicle sitting on the back of the transport truck. Her baby...her birthday present...her beast. While Paul wanted a bunch of tattoos for his birthday, Isabella wanted a car. A very specific car and Renee put a shit ton of stipulations around it too, birthday be damned. But Bella was determined, and she got it in the end.

Slowly being lowered by the other guy, was a blood red all carbon fiber Dodge Challenger Demon. The wheels were black as they could be along with the tinted windows, and it was straight off the showcase. One of a kind in it's fierceness. Behind her, Charlie whistled and whispered 'damn'.

"I need you to sign for it." Bella took the clip board and quickly signed for it and took both key fobs from the man. "Thank you."

He nodded and left to go help his partner. Charlie came to stand next to Bella, "That's one hell of a ride you got there."

"Mom got it for my 17th birthday."

Charlie frowned slightly, "Isn't that a little too...much for you? I mean...that's not a cheap car."

Bella smirked, eyes still glued to her beast, "4.0 GPA all year, Charlie. I earned it. Mom doesn't give away stuff for free. She said it makes us value stuff more if we worked for it. And if we didn't work for it, then we didn't want it bad enough."

Charlie seemed a little surprised that Renee wasn't spoiling them how he thought she was by just getting them whatever they wanted just because she could afford to do it. There was no doubt in his mind that she was indeed spoiling them but at least she was making them see value in it...somehow.

"How much are the car notes and insurance?"

Bella shrugged, "It's paid in full. And mom knows someone...insurance isn't a problem. I'm a good driver."

Charlie grunted, and sipped his coffee, "Didn't take you for a gear-head...Paul maybe."

"He's more into bikes."

"Well, look here...just because I'm the Chief around here doesn't give you leniency. I, or any of my Deputies, catch that thing tearing up my streets...your ass is grass, got it?"

"Got it." Bella smirked. You, or your slow Deputies, won't catch me. Charlie seemed content with that answer and turned to go back in the house, and narrowly avoided being run over by 15 year old Seth who still had bedhead and was barefoot.

"Is that yours, Bella?! Holy crap!"

Charlie shook his head and closed the door behind him.

That's how Paul, Leah and Sue found Bella and Seth an hour and a half later in the garage with the hood of Bella's demon popped up. For nearly two hours, Bella had been showing Seth the specs of her car...what she added to it (herself, that is) what it was for and why. The younger teen was a baby gear head and Bella fully intended on converting him into a pro by the end of the year...she saw potential in his eager brown eyes and she was going to feed his curiosity.

It gave her something to do to keep her mind off of her homesickness and the stress of adapting to such extreme changes in very little time.

Bella's hands were covered in light grease and oil stains, as were Seth's not that either minded. Paul wasn't very much into cars like his sister, bikes being more his speed, and he was glad that she quickly found someone that could match her passion when it came to cars and she'd get lost in them for hours if not monitored closely. He knew she had been depressed lately even though she'd never really admit it.

So if corrupting the kid to the dark side gave her a good distraction, he wasn't going to let his slight jealously get in the way of his sisters happiness. No matter how small it was.

"So this is where you two have been hiding for the past two hours." Sue commented while Leah just scowled and mentally called her brother a traitor, and conveyed the message through eye contact that made Seth freeze up momentarily. "Charlie said you two were somewhere outside, probably joyriding."

Bella put down the socket wrench and wiped her hands on her already ruined shirt. She felt a little jittery when she saw Sue, knowing that she should apologize but she just couldn't bring herself to do so. Apologizing was never her strongest suit. She decided that she wasn't...she'd just be a little less..hostile. Or try to be.

Yeah. That.

Seth smiled at his mom, "Bella's gonna help me with shop class this year! Uh, do you mind if I hang with Bella today instead of shopping? Please?"

"Seth..."

"Please, c'mon I already have my supplies I just need a few shirts but I don't need them that bad."

Sue glanced at Isabella who was leaning up against the drivers side of her car looking on blankly, but she just wasn't so sure but she didn't want to squash Seth's excitement. The boys he hung out with at La Push were into cars too but Seth didn't get to see them nearly as much anymore since she and Charlie got married and she and her two kids moved further into town and off the native land.

Thankfully, Sue wasn't forced to be the bad guy when Bella spoke up.

"Maybe next time, Seth. Paul and I are going to town to do our own school shopping."

"And maybe find a job." Paul added, scoffing slightly. "Trust me, man, I know my sister...she's not done with the demon. You'll have plenty of time to help her make it nasty." Paul pretended to be oblivious to Sue's slight flinch at his poor wording and Seth's growing smile despite his disappointment.

"Well...thanks anyway, Bella. See ya at dinner then."

"Oh, right...since it's Saturday, we usually have dinner in town." Sue added with a polite but warm smile, "It's a little tradition of we like to keep every once in a while...if you two would like to join us?"

"Uh..."

Paul stepped in before his sister could get them in a situation neither really wanted to be in, "We'll call."

Leah glared at the two when her mom and Seth's faces fell a little with disappointment, "If you're not gonna show up then say so, asshats."

"Leah!" Sue called after her daughter, but the older girl was already storming back into the house. Seth rubbed the back of his neck as he followed after his sister in hopes to get her to chill out and Sue turned and smiled at Bella and Paul apologetically, "Just make sure you two are home before 10 tonight."

"Sure." "No promises."

When they were alone in the garage, Paul and Bella shared a light laugh. "Well that was interesting...but job hunting, seriously? You don't seriously think I'm going to get a job...do you?"

Paul shrugged, smirking, "Why not, sis? It could be fun...maybe get us out of the house. Who knows...maybe help us get around this bullshit curfew too."

Bella looked over at her brother strangely, assessing him, "You've been plotting."

"Yup. Stayed up late googling...there's a gym 10 miles out, privately owned and open 24 hours. Two open part time positions."

"That's..." Bella raised an eyebrow, "Oddly convenient. What are the perks?"

"Besides a good 10 bucks an hour? A free gym membership," Paul shrugged, "But I mean if that doesn't cut it, there's a bookstore that's hiring part time and the local car shop is hiring but it doesn't pay the best. Luckily for us...this is a small shitty town. Walking and asking for a job is your application."

"Not surprising." Bella pushed off her car and shut the hood, "I'll go get changed then."

The demon rumbled and growled through town catching the attention of everyone who had eyes and ears until they were both heading out town going 30 miles over the limit. Bella wasn't worried about losing traction on the road despite the drizzle and how slick the roads looked, she had the best tires on the after market.

They got to the gym in no time and were currently sitting in the parking lot of Olympic Fitness. The building wasn't all that big but it was big enough. Bella parked next to a very nice, very modern snow white BMW. It was a far cry from the old age cars that as literally littering the streets of Forks. Paul scoffed and shook his head.

Bella rolled her eyes at her brother and followed him inside of the gym. It was like any other typical gym, a lot more cleaner and modern than either of them were expecting but nice like. Paul mumbled something about checking out the free weights while Bella opted just going to the empty front desk that was near the front doors and overlooked the entire gym, and the parking lot.

There weren't a lot of people there working out, maybe some kids her age that probably went to Forks High and older people but other than the atmosphere was very—

"Good afternoon, dear, may I help you?"

Bella turned around and found herself staring into the oddest pair of eyes she's ever seen in her entire life. They were brown, I think, but like a liquid gold kind of brown. The kind of brown that would burn into someone's soul sort of brown...but they were warm, like honey...the authentic thick kind of honey. Not the Walmart brand. They belonged to a woman who was an inch or two taller than her own 5'6'', and considerably older than Bella. She gave off this sweet and motherly aura, though Bella's instincts were telling her to be very cautious around this woman.

"Erm...I think so. Are you hiring?"

The woman blinked and smiled brightly, "As of two days ago, yes, we currently have two openings available. Why don't we step into my office so that we may talk?"

"Uh..." Bella looked over her shoulder for her brother but Paul was too busy chatting up some chick that was hanging off of his every word then back to the beautiful woman who was still smiling and looking at her. A bit creepy, but Bella would roll with it. "Sure. I'm Isabella Lahote, by the way."

The woman reached out and shook Bella's hand. Despite her paleness, her hand was very much warm. "Esme Cullen."

Elsewhere on the other side of the country...

Renee Lahote was sitting in a mandatory anger management class with 10 other female inmates, handcuffed by her wrists and ankles wearing the most unflattering orange jumpsuit with white slip on shoes. She was mildly surprised that they didn't find it necessary to put a muzzle on her.

The therapist looked over the group before her eyes settled on Renee. "Lahote...you haven't said a word since you've been here. Anything you'd like to add?"

"I'm on death row, not much to say."

"I've read your file, Lahote. What you've done...what you're capable of, how...imaginative you are. I'm sure you have plenty to say."

Renee hated this woman. Everything about her from her condescending smile and tone to her smug posture. It was a wonder no one tried to kill her yet. Perhaps they did...that's why they had everyone shackled like Fort Knox around the woman during an anger management session.

Renee thought back to the most recent letter she'd received from a trusted friend on the outside. The friend who was keeping an eye on the two of the most important people in her life. Renee was aware that they were coming of age very soon and that no one could help either of them but her. So even though she was set to be executed...it just wasn't really an option. Not until she knew Isabella and Paul would be okay without her.

"I don't have anything to say because I'm not yet done on this planet. My kids still need me, and until they don't...I will not be going anywhere."

The doctor scoffed, rolling her eyes slightly while a few other inmates chuckled along with the guards that were always in the room, "Your kids don't need you, Renee. You've done enough to them already...how can you sit there and say that, knowing that there was piles and piles and piles of human ashes in your basement...not to mention the bodies you left behind all over the world. Spare those poor kids."

"Those weren't human ashes."

Renee sighed heavily and sat back in her chair, and smiled. Though it wasn't a smile that reached her cold greenish blue eyes, it was a secretive one that made everyone in the room uncomfortable and she refused to elaborate further. She'd already said too much. Renee tuned out the doctor's voice and thought back to the letter that Victoria had sent to her.

Her babies were fine...for now, despite Charlie's less than...hospitable welcoming. It wasn't Renee's first choice to send them with him...but it was safer...normal. She wanted them to have that for as long as they possibly could.

Thanks for the favs and follows. I know it's a slow start, might be a little boring at first but eh...most stories have a slow start too, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Peace.