Beau ran downstairs and greeted her father with a small smile, she felt like a mess after the small conversation with James, but that would have to be ignored for the moment.
"Hey" she greeted with a small smile as Charlie came in the front door.
"Hey Bell's, have a good first day?" he asked as he walked to the kitchen.
"Yeah it was cool" she nodded slightly.
Awkward... he's your dad you can do better at this.
"Well we can talk more about it over dinner" Charlie opened the fridge and huffed a bit "how about we go out for dinner tonight?" he asked.
"Yeah sure, sounds good, just let me get my sweater," Beau said before rushing up the stairs and grabbing her favourite sweater, throwing it over her as she walked down the stairs.
Beau didn't fight with her mom often, in fact, it was rare the two even raised an octave to one another, but whenever Beau would wear this sweater her mother would always ask her to 'please change'. Beau liked the sweater, she felt like she could hide in it, it was a size too big for her, making it cover up her figure.
if it weren't for my long hair you'd probably think I was a...
Beau stopped her thoughts and shook her head, James just stuck that in your head, don't freak out in front of Charlie.
"Nice Sweater... ready?" Charlie asked grabbing his keys from his pocket.
Beau smiled slightly, she may like staying with Charlie a bit more than she thought. She nodded her head and they got on their way. The drive was silent, not even the radio could save it, though every few moments or so, some cops chatting of the RC line would come through for them to listen too, though not much but small town banter.
The dinner was small, like everything in else in the town, no doubt a truck stop diner, but anything with some good food would work for Beau, there wasn't much to cook around the house from what she saw. They were seated and the waitress - who of course recognized Beau - took their orders and promised her a slice of pie lemon pie that she use to get when she was younger.
"Do you come here all the time?" Beau asked wondering how her father got along on his own.
"I would cook for myself but long hours at work and other things to deal with I don't really have time," Charlie said "don't worry about me" he added "healthy as a horse"
"Humans aren't supposed to be healthy as horses" she couldn't help but tease him.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him smile a bit, he knew how much it meant to him for her to be here, even if it wasn't her ideal situation she knew she couldn't avoid her father forever, so maybe coming here would help them bond... or at least not be so awkward around one another.
"I can cook, I cooked a lot for mom back home, heaven knows she helpless in the kitchen," Beau said.
"You can say that again... but I don't really have time to shop-"
"I can do that too," Beau said, "Might as well have something to do on boring days" she shrugged.
There was a pause in the conversation before Charlie sighed "Okay... you have yourself a deal, but no vegan crap" he said.
"Okay" Beau laughed "but we have to have healthy meals once in a while" she added.
Their food came while Beau was looking out the window thinking, they had stayed in silence for quite a while, but... Beau almost loved that, she liked being able to just sit with her father and not worry about making conversation. The awkward silence was slowly getting more comfortable with Charlie, maybe they weren't hopeless after all.
"Make friends?" Charlie said taking a bite of the burger he ordered while Beau picked at her fries.
"Um yeah... I met Jessica, and Angela and Mike," Beau said finally shoving a few fries into her mouth.
"Newton, his father owns the sporting centre down the block, he works there... Angela's a good girl, her family's nice, Never had much trouble from Jessica" Charlie gave a small rundown on the possible friends Beau might have now, he was pleased it wasn't any of the troublemakers in town.
"Um... Do you know anything about the Cullens?" Beau asked.
Charlie paused his eating as if Beau has brought up something they shouldn't be talking about, he looked at her and sighed.
"Yeah, why those students talking bad about them?" Charlie asked.
"Just said they were weird is all," Beau said suddenly more interested in eating now, shoving fry after fry into her mouth trying to make sure she couldn't answer any more questions.
"Don't listen to them, Carlisle Cullen - their father - is the best damn doctor we could of hoped for he could be working for triple his pay here in some other hospital but he chooses to stay here, and those kids you never hear a peep out of them, which is more than I can say for half of those students in that school" Charlie said his hand clenching his burger a little too hard.
Beau realized quickly that she struck a chord in her father and need to quickly mend it before anything else happened.
"There attractive" was the only thing she could think of...after all Edward didn't make much of good impression.
"Yeah, they are," Charlie said before pausing and looking at Beau slightly wide-eyed possibly not wanting to admit he thought so to he cleared his throat "if he wasn't married those nurses would never get any work done I mean" he added before continuing to eat.
So much for comfortable silence... at least I did some damage control. The rest of there eating was in silence, which was probably best, her father needed to calm down from defending the Cullen's like that. Beau hadn't been around a lot, but she had never seen her dad get worked up like that, he was usually pretty calm.
They got back home and Beau excused herself upstairs and shut her door, she sat down at her computer and turned it on, after the long process of waiting for it to turn on, logging on to the computer and getting the internet to actually load up - internet explorer of all things, she clicked on the history and went back to the article, she read it this time.
I'm just curious about the topic is all, I can read this without it being weird. Beau felt her chest get tight as she went through the article, learning about gender dysphoria, and things that typically came with being trans. She felt overwhelmed and quickly clicked out of theatrical and was met with the Google home screen again. It felt like her fingers moved themselves as she typed in the search bar 'How to know if your transgender' she opened a few links, some articles and other things, reading further into subject, she closed them then quickly typed in another search 'FtM Quizzes' another few more links opened as she took quiz after quiz, almost hoping for different outcomes, clicking on other quizzes recommended for that like 'guess my gender quizzes' and other things like that, even a few videos of trans men talking about their experiences. Beau didn't know how long she stayed in front of her computer, reading taking quizzes and watching youtube videos, but she probably would have stayed longer if not for the sound of Charlie finally making his way up to bed made her quickly shut down the computer. She got out of the chair and threw herself into bed and under the covers, still fully dressed she pretended to be asleep.
Charlie opened the door and tell Beau maybe it was time to go to bed but when he saw her passed out on the bed all he did was walk in and turn off the bedside lamp.
"Night Bell's," Charlie said softly before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.
Once Beau was sure he was gone she got up and actually got dressed for bed, before crawling back in. Her mind buzzing with questions, and hurt from all the information she took in. I don't need to deal with this along with being in a new school, but its also a part of myself I can deny... I had never been comfortable in my own skin, especially after puberty... the first day I got my period I had a panic attack and almost screamed at my mom for suggesting I had gotten it... being pushed into dresses by my mother... and being referred to as Isabella or even Bella made my skin crawl and stomach lurch. Beau turned in her bed and looked out the window, she couldn't think about this now... something else, she needed to get her mind off of this before she threw up. Edward... for a moment she could almost picture him, those pitch black eyes, his pale skin, the look he gave her that asshole, I'm going to march right up to him tomorrow and demand to know what his problem is, I've done nothing to him to him, we hadn't even talked to one another and he already decided I wasn't worth his time. Who gave him the right? Just because he is unbelievably handsome doesn't give him the right to judge me without even talk to me! He can fuck off if he thinks he can just go that, I'm a Swan, and no one gets away with that!
Just like that, her mind was off the transgender thing, and she was determined to confront Edward tomorrow, with an idea in her head she managed to get some sleep.
The next day Beau got dressed and went to school more determined than she ever had been, however when she never saw Edward... the next day came and she didn't see him again. When a few days went by she figured he just changed schools. Did he really hate me that much that the very thought of being with me every day made him leave? Beau huffed slightly, next to her; Mike in a really good mood, and babbling on about some tv show he watched.
"You should really watch it!" Mike finished.
But Beau wasn't listening as he walked into Biology class Edward Cullen sat in the seat next to hers making her freeze and her stomach twist into knots. She suddenly stopped making Eric who was trailing behind run into her. What was he doing here now?