Chapter Three

Bella

Moving to Forks seemed a good thing at first especially as I found myself in love with Edward Cullen. He was handsome, charming, polite and romantic. Of course I should have known there would be a catch, nothing had been that easy in my life. My mum and dad broke up when I was a toddler and I spent the next fifteen years or so being pulled from place to place by my slightly eccentric and scatterbrained mother who was looking for something but I never really understood what. The older I got the more she confused me. A grown woman who was looking for a Prince Charming, hadn't she realised they only existed in fairy tales? In the meantime my dad who she seemed to view as an ogre came into my life once a year for two weeks in the summer. Two weeks of hell in Forks which might be mistaken for a rain forest, it certainly had the rainfall to qualify! Only when I was old enough to throw a really good tantrum did that misery finally end and he came to visit me wherever we were residing, we never actually lived anywhere.

I got taken to Disneyland and Sea World, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center to mention but a few. All the cool places that mum couldn't afford on her wages as whatever she was into at the time, Book Store Assistant, Coffee Shop assistant, Jewellery Making Assistant. Whatever she did she was always the assistant although she was clever enough to have a career. Mum enjoyed travelling far too much and as a result I was an expert on the seedier side of most cities in the US South West. We'd even lived in motels at times and while it was exciting when I was little, as I grew up I longed for some stability and the chance to make friends, put down roots, that kind of thing. I even suggested living with my dad for a while which went down like a lead balloon with Renee. I learned to keep my mouth shut on that particular subject very quickly.

When she finally found Prince Charming he turned out to be a minor league baseball player who was only fair at his profession but to Renee he was the one and after they got married I soon realised I was the third wheel. Not from Phil in fairness, he was really good to me, but mum was acting like a young bride and wanted time alone with her new bridegroom so at last I got my kind of wish for a couple of years in one place, I went to live with my dad in Forks. Even the rain looked good so you can understand how desperate I was! Of course my dad was over the moon and pulled out all the stops to make me feel welcome. A newly decorated bedroom, a laptop, admittedly not new but I'd never owned one before, and as a welcome home present an old truck, it sounded like a tank and drank gas like a thirsty elephant but it was my first real taste freedom and I loved it.

Of course I was the new girl and a novelty but that soon wore off and I made some real friends for the first time, friends who included me in their social life as one of the gang, and of course there was Jacob Black, my one time childhood friend. The trouble was I always associated him with the negatives. He'd been with me when I fell in a patch of poison ivy, fell out of a tree and broke my arm, and almost drowned when he pushed me too hard and I fell out of his dads fishing boat. Even so, if Edward Cullen hadn't been there Jake and I might have made a nice couple. But he was, charming, handsome and deadly serious about me. I was taken to dinner, he bought me flowers, chocolates, and took me out in his shiny silver Volvo. I, like every other girl in Forks, was swept of my feet so Jake didn't stand a chance.

Of course Charlie thought this was great, his daughter going out with the great Dr Cullen's son. He might not have been quite so keen had he known the Cullens dirty little secret as I did. All my friends were either envious, the girls, or annoyed, the guys. Edward was no more handsome or charming than his foster brothers but he was the only available Cullen so the fact he homed in on me upset most of the other students at Forks High. Edward was all the things a girl could ask for. Loving, attentive, and very desirable but I found out his secret.

All these things were in the nature of the beast. The beast being in this case a vampire, yes a vampire. I admit this knowledge didn't shock me as much as it probably should of. I wasn't scared of him which I think upset him a little, after all what girl hadn't either read or seen Dracula, the poor girl, blood sucked from her innocent body until finally she died only to be resurrected as an addition to the vampire world. Edward was a vegetarian vampire which made me laugh. I'd had a pen pal in England for a little while when I was young and she told me about her favourite TV program, "Count Duckula". He was a crazy vampire duck who preferred vegetables to blood. I could visualise Edward as the duck complete with cloak and fanged bill. Of course he found that offensive but hey, what's a girl supposed to think when her boyfriend admits to being a vegetarian vampire!

We were a talking point in the school for some time although that was true of all the Cullens. The guys were equally gorgeous although out of reach, Emmett the huge man mountain because he was involved with Rosalie Hale, his foster-sister known around Forks as the Ice Maiden for her habit of totally blanking everyone outside her family. As for Jasper Hale, her brother and Edwards foster-brother he was the one the girls all loved but daren't approach, the typical lure of the bad boy. He had that air of menace that thrilled us all but he had eyes for only one girl, Alice Cullen his other foster-sister. Alice became a good friend although she did tend to treat me like a Barbie doll sometimes, a poor unsophisticated girl who needed teaching all about fashion and make up. It really wasn't me but it made her happy so occasionally I let her win the fight.

Edwards parents Esme and Carlisle were very friendly and seemed happy that Edward had finally found his soul mate. One thing I did notice was that they tended to defer to his wishes, if Edward wanted to do something that was fine, if he disliked something then that was fine too. He had no guidance, no parental guidance anyway, although both Alice and Rosalie treated him as an imbecile some times. I think this lack of any limits was probably the cause of all the trouble. Although I idolised Edward I did like to see Jake my Quileute friend sometimes but it seemed it was never the right time. If I made arrangements to go to the Res, either with Charlie or alone, Edward had something else planed. If I was going out with my friends for an evening he had something else planned or sulked because I preferred their company to his. I made excuses for him but both Charlie and Renee remarked on it.

"Are you ready for the barbecue tonight?

"Oh, I'm not going Mum."

"Why? I thought you were looking forward to seeing Jake."

"Edward didn't like the idea."

"He never does it strikes me. Isn't Edward a little controlling Bella? He never wants you to go anywhere without him and that's not healthy in a relationship."

I argued his corner against Renee but it was harder with Charlie because he saw it day after day. In the end he insisted I have some Edward free time and it got to the point where I was relieved that I could blame this on my dad and guiltily enjoy my few hours of freedom. I shouldn't feel this way I knew but at the time I refused to listen to my head, only my heart.