Hello everyone, here comes chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, oh how much I wish, it's all SM's. All I do is play around and write fanfics for you lovely readers.

Thank you for your comments, love you all.

Now I know this chapter took a few more days than promised, hehe.

Special thanks to this week's Beta's Lattecoug and Love of Escapism. You both are amazing and thank you^^

Also a special shout to EBS Writing Boot Camp for helping me finish this chapter. Ubergeekness and PA91 were my assigned betas and I love you both so much. They are great fun to be with.

Time to start the real thing now, hope you enjoy it.

Sound track- My Wish by Rascal Flatts

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CHAPTER 3- My Wish

I couldn't believe how fast the previous week flew by; I mean, it felt like yesterday that I had agreed to move to Chicago with Esme and Carlisle. The main priority was the house that Dad had given to me in his will. I wanted to keep the house as there were many years' worth of lovely memories that lived there. My Uncle told me that it would require maintenance and all, so I would have been better off selling it. Billy agreed with Carlisle.

The next in the list was to be done was to transfer the money to my account. I wanted to pay for my expenses, but Esme being, well, Esme, wanted nothing. She was the only relative I knew and I understood her. They did, however, agree to keep it as my college fund, including the money that came from the house. That way, I could at least pay my own college tuition.

Throughout the week, Esme helped me pack my things. She suggested I make separate boxes for different types of items. I had no idea what to do with my parent's belongings, so Esme suggested we ship their clothes over to Chicago in advance and she could donate them to her organization. This seemed like a solid plan, so I packed their clothes and sealed the box.

The other things in the house we gave to second-hand stores in Forks and Port Angeles. I would miss a few things, but I knew I didn't need them, so why bother taking them?

By the end of the week, my house was practically empty, and it felt weird. I didn't realize how big the house truly was and how small it looked when it was loaded with things. My seventeen years of memories were either packed or given away. I did feel a tear run down my cheek, but I didn't want anyone to see it, so I wiped it away. I knew Esme would feel sad all over again.

We had to wait until Monday for school to reopen. Uncle Carlisle went with me to school to get my leave from there. It wasn't a hard process, but to think I was actually leaving it behind saddened me. The toughest part was to say goodbye to my friends. I mean, I knew they understood the situation, but in reality, it was a lot harder than expected.

The last thing to be taken care off was my truck. I loved that piece of junk and asked Esme if we could take it with us. After a lot of discussion, I had to say goodbye to it, too. It would have cost them a lot to transfer my old truck, anyway. Esme told me she would buy me a car when we reached Chicago, but I really didn't want them doing such things either. So after dropping my truck off at the same junkyard I got it from, we were set to go.

I had never flown before in my life. I hadn't even seen an airport properly either, so I was awestruck when I entered the huge building. I couldn't imagine such a huge space anywhere. We could have fit half of Forks in there!

Uncle and Aunty were obviously used to traveling a lot, so they instructed me on how to check in the baggage. Mom wasn't joking back then when she told me how finicky they can get about weight limit, but thankfully with ours together it was okay. We had to wait for almost two hours before boarding.

If I thought the entrance was huge, then the waiting area was gigantic! I hadn't seen so many shops in a single place, apart from malls, ever before. Esme guided me towards a sitting area, whereas Carlisle went about checking a few things.

"How are you doing?" Esme asks me for the millionth time.

"How many times will you ask me that? I'm fine. You don't have to worry so much."

"Sweetie, I'm just concerned. I know things are tough for you right now."

Something told me she wasn't waiting for an answer, so I just shifted towards her and she draped her arm around my shoulder. It felt comforting.

Carlisle brought us back coffee, which was exactly what I needed. I hadn't told anyone I wasn't sleeping well, especially Esme. Since my parents death I practically survived on coffee, scared of what the night would bring. Even when Esme asked about my sleep, I'm guessing she noticed the large bags under my eyes, I had to lie. I didn't want my nightmares becoming hers too. My parent's accident was something I didn't like to think about, but when I was asleep, I was forced to face what had happened. I had no control over my thoughts then.

Soon the speakers announced that our flight was ready to board. I was confused; they announced boarding for the first class passengers first, so why had Carlisle motioned for us to get up? I got my answer as soon as I entered. I wasn't only flying for the first time in a plane, but my first time was actually in first class. I had heard the seats were usually all crammed up, and people hardly get enough leg space, but the seating arrangement in front of me was much better than I imagined. One could actually sleep pretty well. After taking our seats, I realized they were so comfortable that I could feel my eyes drooping. To be honest, I didn't want to sleep, especially not in the plane with so many people around, but my eyes betrayed me, and before the plane could even start, I was fast asleep.

The nightmare that I anticipated was the same one as before. I was standing right outside my parent's car and there was blood everywhere. Nearby, there were a bunch of guys with beer bottles in their hands and they were laughing away as if they couldn't see what was in front of them. Then, suddenly, I felt a hand shake my shoulder and I was pulled out of my sleep. Esme had a concerned look in her eyes.

"Bella, why didn't you tell me that you were have nightmares? You were shivering, honey," she spoke .

I didn't know how to cover that up so I just went along and told her everything; how my nightmare starts and that it was the same every time. The look on her face became grave. She informed me that we were to land in about fifteen minutes, so if I wanted, I should use the restroom. I went quickly and washed my face. I was actually shocked to look in the mirror; my face looked horrible, my eyes were red and the bags were beginning to highlight the awfulness of them.

When I reached back to my seat, the buckle light was on, indicating that I was supposed to be strapped up in my seat. The landing wasn't so bad, and I could see the runway was pretty huge. I had missed the Seattle runway, but then again, it would have been the same.

While coming out, Esme informed me the airport was called O'Hare, and to be honest, it was far more beautiful than the one I saw in Seattle. I didn't know how, but it was definitely bigger, and I was surprised to see the size of the previous airport. This one had even more stores, but we didn't have much time to see it. Apparently, we didn't have to wait on anything in order to leave. Carlisle did the major work, then we collected our bags from the conveyor belt and we were off.

Carlisle had his car in the long-term parking lot, and their house wasn't too far from the airport. I saw him turning towards the outskirts and more towards a little forested area. Soon a huge palace was standing right in front of us, and if Esme hadn't said "Home Sweet Home", I wouldn't have guessed it was actually a house. It looked like a Victorian palace, but it had a modern touch. They had huge gardens, which got me thinking; Esme never mentioned whether they had any pets. Guess not. I couldn't ponder more on my surroundings, as Esme pushed me forward to finally enter their home. Their home, that would now be mine, too.

I followed Esme inside the house, and what I saw was beautiful. If I thought the outside was wonderful, this was a completely different world. We entered into a huge living area and one side of the wall had glass, just glass. I remembered Renee always liked such houses; she always told Dad that the house lacked enough sunlight. I even saw a grand piano settled in the corner.

"Esme, do you play?" I said looking at the piano.

She smiled and replied, "I used to, then Edward played for a couple of years. Now it's just sitting there gathering dust."

I heard the door open and shut again, and saw Carlisle had entered with my carry bag. From the stairs in front of me, I saw a girl come down. It had to be Alice. The description that Esme had given me suited her perfectly. She was short in height, probably a few inches shorter than me. She had dark spikey hair. As soon as she came down the stairs, she literally sprinted towards me and hugged me so tightly that my breath left my lungs in a rush. If I hadn't known Alice was adopted, I would have thought it was genetic.

"Oh Bella! You're finally here. I know we are going to be great friends," she said when we parted finally.

I just smiled at her friendliness.

I saw Esme and Alice communicate with only their eyes, and then Alice looked at me again and slowly said, "You're perfect."

I didn't know what she meant by that, but before i could even think of asking, she picked up my hand and pulled me towards a different room.

"When are the boys returning?" Esme shouted to Alice.

"Max five minutes, I'm showing Bella around," Alice replied and then we entered the kitchen. Everything about their house, even their kitchen was amazing. It was huge, unlike the one we had back home. This one was fully equipped with all the modern settings, I could see everything well in place, separated according to their uses. Mom never cared about what thing went where, she would just stuff everything wherever she could find a place.

"This is the kitchen, as you can obviously see. It's like Mom's sacred place," Alice told me with a hint of humor in her voice. I could imagine this being her sacred place; I would love to cook in here if she allowed.

Alice went towards the refrigerator, removed a bottle of water, and then picked up a glass and placed both items on the table in front of me. I looked at her puzzled. Had she forgotten that it was winter time?

"Alice! Cold water? I'll prefer regular if you don't mind."

"Oh, sorry, my bad. I'm used to drinking cold water no matter what the season."

So she simply picked up the bottle and returned it to the fridge, before handing me a glass of regular water. I thanked her, and before we could think of going back into the living room, I heard the door open and slam shut. I was worried that the door became unhinged.

"That would be Emmett. Come on, time to meet the rest."

We entered the room and I saw Emmett and Edward standing there looking in my direction. It was the first time I had seen any of them in person. Alice was still fine, but I never expected Emmett to be like this. The photographs didn't show his real personality.

He gave me a huge smile that stretched from ear to ear and then approached me. I smiled back and said, "Hello." The next thing he did was completely unexpected. He gave me a literal bear hug and I didn't know whether I was imagining it or not, but I couldn't feel the ground under my legs for a second. Alice and Emmett both were friendly people.

Wish I could say the same about Edward. He seemed...pissed? For some reason, he was just staring at me and when Esme told him to greet me, he simply said a, "Hello," and then asked if he could be excused. Esme looked at him worriedly, but then gave him permission. He quickly headed upstairs to god knows where. What was his problem?.

"Never mind Eddie," Emmett said. "He's been like that the whole week. Who knows what pissed off insect bit him. He'll be fine in a few days." Even though Emmett had a smile on his face, I could easily see the concern in his eyes, too.

In order to thin some of the tension in the atmosphere, Esme suggested Alice to show me the rest of the house while Carlisle and Emmett took out the suitcases from the car.

Alice led me towards the staircase, which Edward had gone up. When we had reached the first floor, she said, "Bedroom to the left is Esme and Carlisle's and to the right is mine and Emmett's room. You'll be on the second floor. The design is similar, and the room above Mom and Dad's belongs to Edward. Come, I'll show you yours."

I followed her to the second floor and then she turned right. There were two rooms facing each other, and she opened one of them.

"This one's yours. Hope you like purple. I asked Rosalie if she could help decorate it, and she picked purple."

"Yeah, purple is my favorite color, thanks."

I stepped inside the room and it was huge. By now I should have been used to the fact that everything in the house was huge, but I just wasn't. It was almost twice the size of the room I had back in Forks. Cherry on the cake, I had an attached bathroom. Alice opened the cupboard, oh no that wasn't a cupboard, it was a walk in closet! She had a mischievous smile on her face.

"I can't wait to fill this up for you," she said pointing towards it. She was not the kind of sister I wanted.

After the tour, we went back downstairs and I saw Esme was in the kitchen, cooking dinner. I asked Alice if she would need help and Alice replied by saying that she loved cooking on her own.

I didn't really have anything to do at that time; to be honest, back home I never thought I'd get free time like this, so I simply entered the kitchen and asked Esme if she needed any help anyway.

"Oh dear, I'm good here. Why don't you go sit with Alice and watch some T.V."

I gave her a serious look and she just chuckled. She got what I wanted to say; I hardly watch television.

"So, how did you find the house?"

"It's beautiful! I love it."

"How's your room?"

"Big. Yeah, definitely big," I said chuckling.

And after that we fell silent. Esme continued cooking and I just sat there on a stool.

"You know, Mom always wanted windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling in her house," I said in barely a whisper.

Esme's hand stopped as she said, "I know." Then, resuming whatever she was doing, she spoke, "Our mother was fascinated with that actually. She loved the outside world and thought with windows, she could always be close to nature. Renee couldn't get her dream house, but she learnt a lot more from mother than I could. When Carlisle wanted me to design the house, all I thought was windows. Of course he thinks I overdid it, but I like our living area. Doesn't it feel like you are sitting outside in the open?"

I could see Esme was deep in thought, so I didn't really bother disturbing her memories. When she looked at me, I just nodded.

"How are you feeling Bella? I know you aren't sleeping well these days."

"I'm fine Esme, you don't need to worry so much about me. I'll be fine; just need a little more time."

"No one is pressuring you, sweetie. Take as much time as you want. Just take care of yourself."

"I will. I think I'll go sit with Alice and let you continue."

And with that I left the kitchen. I couldn't handle such a serious and intense atmosphere. Looking at Esme's sad face, I knew if I had stayed in there for even five minutes more, I couldn't have contained my tears from bursting out.

I joined Alice in the living room and sat beside her. She was randomly clicking channels, trying to find something worth watching.

"How are you, Bella?" Alice asked. There was a hint of sadness in her voice. She definitely knew what was going on and to be honest, I didn't like it. I thought I'd start new, but obviously the past would always be there with me. I don't want to forget the past actually, just a small incident in it, that's all.

"Average," I replied, looking directly at the television.

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Dinner at the Cullens' was, for lack of word, different. There was not a dull moment. Everyone was talking about their day; there was a big soccer game for Emmett and Edward coming up and they were practicing for it. Throughout dinner, the only thing that bothered me was that Edward hardly said anything. From Esme's descriptions and all, he seemed like a chatty person, but there he sat, with the same pissed off expression he had before and only spoke whenever there was a direct question asked to him. They never brought up any personal questions about me either. I was glad for that.

After dinner, Esme and Alice came up to my room and helped me unpack. I still had a weekend before school started here, but I just wanted to get it over with. I wanted to settle in as soon as possible.

In between my unpacking, Alice's phone rang and she went of the room to receive it. I didn't really mind her talking in here, but then again, she would have wanted her privacy too.

Alice then entered my room with a huge smile on her face. Her expression told me it was bad news for me.

"Now Bella, I know you just arrived, but it'll be good for you," she said.

"What are you talking about?"

"There is this back to school winter party at Jasper's place. He's my boyfriend, and we all were going, so I wanted to know if you want to come with us?"

"Umm…I'm not the party kind Alice. I'll be fine staying here, you all should go."

"Oh no, you should come. Our whole class will be there and you can get to know them. C'mon, it's this Saturday." Before this, I had no idea how persistent Alice could be, but when she put on her puppy face and begged me, I just had to give in. Even Esme said it would be a good idea to go.

"Perfect! Now let's see what you can wear." Alice went into the closet and came out within two minutes shaking her head.

"I'm so taking you shopping soon. You have nothing to wear!"

"Excuse me," I said gaping at her, "My cupboard is full, and I'll say I have way too many clothes."

"According to you, but for this party…Oh wait," she said and ran out of the room. I gave a puzzled look to Esme, but she probably knew, so just smiled back. Oh boy, I'm in so much trouble now.

Alice reentered my room after fifteen minutes and dumped a beige overcoat and matching boot on my bed. "This will so go with your skinny jeans. I'm allowing you to wear your clothes just this time, that's where the overcoat will come." I couldn't believe she was implying my clothes weren't worth showing off, excuse me for having a bad taste in fashion. But obviously I didn't say anything and let her way. I knew I wouldn't have won anyway.

After placing the coat and boots in my closet, she and Esme said good night and finally left the room. Suddenly everything went silent and it felt kind of weird. The silence just bubbled up the emotions again, and I missed the company.

Officially, my first day in Chicago hadn't even ended and I could feel my life would be very different here. In such times, I hoped my routine had stayed intact.

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That's all folks!

How was it? *nervous* Good, bad, pathetic? I wanna know!

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I'll be honest and say next chapter will take some time, I'm still in the middle of completing it. I'm working on my contest entry and other fic too. I'm completely neglecting my photoshop too. Bad me!

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