Chapter 2: Sorry it's been a little bit, I've had a few chapters written but editing and changing things have taken time and I'm in the middle of midterms so I'm stressed.
Bit of a build up still and some background information.
Waking up the next morning she spent a considerable time in her bed just lying there. She wasn't sure at that point if she had actually fallen asleep, or simply closed her eyes but she had a blank mind and listened to the quiet surrounding the home. She assumed Charlie wasn't here since it was quiet, but she wasn't sure about his work. His schedule seemed to always be busy with shifts, which she understood because he was the chief, and she also knew what it was like being a workaholic, especially when there isn't anything else to fill the time with, and Charlie had been alone for so long.
She took a shower to wake her up further before retreating back to her room and getting dressed for the day. She was brushing through her hair when she heard the sound of vehicles coming from the window. She felt nervous at first, not being able to recall when Edward had starting sneaking into Bella's bedroom, but attaching a bell to the window was good enough for now. Other than for the fact that any wind would chime the bell and scare the crap out of her and she took it down.
Charlie hollered for her a few seconds later while she was brushing her hair and she peaked outside first. She wasn't sure why looking out the window was her first thought, but she was glad she did. Seeing Charlie heading back out to chat with a man in a wheelchair, and a younger boy she was glad she didn't just head down her in comfy tee and jeans. She threw on a sweater as she headed down and met the two.
After a brief introduction to the father and son duo, though she had no idea who they actually were, she concluded that the boy was her childhood friend and his father was a family friend. Not her childhood friend of course, but rather someone Isabella should have known and she seemed to get away with it as it had been a few years. She listened half-heartedly as Charlie and Billy jokes and talked while Jacob seemed to just stand around, although a bit awkwardly she assumed it was due to meeting after so long again.
She got the truck as a gift and was only a bit surprised, though she remembered a little bit about this being her main ride. Jacob showed her how to start it, and the little tricks it needed before they talked about school. He would go to the reservation school where most of the La Push kids were, and the rest of Forks would be at the Forks high school. She was a bit disappointed, though she wasn't sure why.
She knew that Isabella would be a new kid, trying to get through her day alone at first and that Jacob was a sort of side character in the first movie, but at the same time she had hoped he would actually be around, at least to lessen the burden of trying to be the new kid, and also getting away with not really knowing anything. So far things were going well, but she also knew it was due to Charlie being a little more chill, and not pressing for answers, or long conversations in general.
She assumed he was at work this morning, so when he told her he was heading to work she simply nodded. Billy and Jacob were off with Charlie and Bella's thanks, and Charlie got ready for work. "Any plans?" Bella shrugged.
"Maybe I'll head to the grocery store, or look around town." Charlie nodded while throwing on his jacket.
"Take the money from the food jar, for now, I'll see you later, call if you need something."
"Stay safe," Bella called, leaning on the wall.
"Always am!" He called back before the door shut behind him. She watched from her spot, through the open window, as Charlie pulled away with his cruiser with a wave of his hand in a random direction as he drove off. She waved her hand back to him, not being sure if he could see her, and waited until he was gone.
She was mulling over what to do as she pulled some money from the food jar. She was used to debit and credit cards more than cash but appreciated it none the less. Especially because she wasn't sure Isabella had money to her name, or even what her situation was like. She wished she had access to her own money, she worked hard for the money she had, but at the same time, no student debt. She smiled at her own thoughts as she went back upstairs. She didn't much but still put the money in her wallet.
The truck was relatively easy to drive, she learned how to drive with a truck, but it was still a bit rough. No doubt from the age and she knew Jacob had fixed it up but to what extent, she didn't know.
It didn't take her long to find the grocery store, it was a small town after all. Although there was no bookstore as far as she could tell, or maybe she just didn't know what to look for, which could very much be the case either way. So, she simply wandered around the grocery store.
It was calming, slightly therapeutic and a good way to kill time. She wandered around slowly, picking up items, reading labels and prices before deciding if she wanted them. She would calculate the price of things in her head to figure out what the total might end up being, something she did when shopping as a broke college student, and more so just to not spend a crap ton of money on things she didn't need. She was pretty much-done shopping/looking before heading into the snack aisle. She had calculated a rough estimate and knew she had enough for snacks, more than enough.
She was placing family sized chips into her cart when she saw them. The aisle had a clear view of the front of the store and the large windows showing the parking lot. They stood out even just walking across the lot towards the door, and something in her gut was telling her to gtfo. Two women, a tall blonde with a caramel haired woman who seemed of equal height. She couldn't see their features all too clearly, the hair colour naturally being apparent and she didn't stick around to see.
She headed to the checkout quickly and got through without looking elsewhere. She kept her attention on her things and the cashier. She glanced around the lot after she hopped into her truck and seeing nothing of importance she drove home.
Putting everything away, grabbing clothes for a load of laundry, and cleaning her room took up the rest of her time for the day. That and getting acquainted with her body more when she learned, it was clumsier than she knew. She was never one to bruise easily, that being said she wasn't very clumsy anyways, but that was defiantly going to change. She would end up with a bruise on her shin, hip and arm the next morning after a series of falls, tumbles and slips which she was not prepared for.
When Charlie got home with pizza for dinner, she was excited and starving. Cleaning had taken a toll on her and as a break, she had been lying on the couch with the tv as background noise.
"You start Monday, that okay with you?" Charlie asked over dinner.
"Yeah, that's great, thanks dad." Thankfully it was only Thursday, so she had a full three-day weekend to relax and figure out some things before she was thrown into the hell hole known as school. She remembered Bella started school almost immediately and she was glad she had talked to Charlie about having a few extra days to settle in, which he had been happy with.
After dinner, it was back to cleaning her room. She was sorting through clothes when Charlie found her later that night.
A simple but solid 2 knocks on the door from Charlie and a 'yeah' hollered out from the girl half buried in her closet prompted the man to step past the threshold instead of just his face an inch in. "You not going to sleep Bells?" Only her head was out of the closet, and Charlie could only see half of her head from his standpoint.
"Just cleaning, sorting out my clothes." Charlie nodded as he looked around the piles of older clothing and piles of clothing he hadn't seen before.
"You need to go shopping right? Renee said you didn't have many winter clothes."
"Probably." She responded not focusing on him but simply the ceiling, which had her attention the last few minutes anyway.
"Have you emailed or called Renee yet?" Bella glanced at him when he said that.
"I forgot." She said simply. "I'll do it before going to bed." She wasn't sure what she would have to say to a woman she doesn't really know but Charlie seemed happy with the answer.
"Alright, I got an early shift tomorrow. But I'll be back before 4, dinner at the diner good?" Bella agreed before Charlie left for his own bedroom.
She wiggled out from her clothes and simply stood to stare at the mess before heading to the desk where her computer was still in the bag. She opened the zips and pulled out a MacBook which she felt oddly excited and strange about. She was expecting an older computer but when she opened the lid, she was even more surprised.
"Is this my computer?" She asked no one before walking quickly to the side table beside her bed. She saw the phone had died the night she arrived and simply placed it on the table not really sure about going through someone else's phone, even if she were in their body. But she searched for the charger before plugging in the phone and watching it turn it.
The phone was defiantly hers. The social media apps, the apps from when she was a student that she had yet to delete, and the weird little games she downloaded to kill time. She quickly tapped the phone icon and with no hesitation tried to call her mom. It didn't go through, no dial tones, or ringing or a busy tone. It just failed. She tried to call everyone in her contact list, some were friends, a handful were acquaintances from work, she even tried to call her favourite Chinese takeout place. The results were the same. She was disappointed until she caught sight of a small 1 on her messaging app. She clicked the button seeing a message from an unknown person. There were a bunch of zeros' in place of the phone number.
'Greetings Gabriella. Or should I say, Isabella. I understand you must be confused as to where and why you are here. Those are things I cannot answer but I can say that it was my pleasure to bring you here. There is a role for you to fill, though it is not up to me to decide what it is. I have given you a little gift, a cheat if you will, your phone and computer will serve to help you navigate this world. Enjoy this life as if it's your own. I wish you luck.'
She read the message again and again. Clearly, she was right in her thoughts, this was her phone and her computer. As she placed the phone in her lap just to think for a moment, it vibrated in her hand. She looked down at the phone before seeing another message from the unknown number.
"I've taken it upon myself to make this easier for you." She was confused before the lock screen changed instantly. It changed from a watercolour background to a solid sage green colour before going off receiving multiple calls and text messages.
The times stated it was clearly over the span of the last 2 days, though she was just receiving them now. They came in under mom – Renee and her heart nearly stopped after reading the first word. It was strange to read messages and listen to voice mails from someone who you didn't know, their voice not familiar at all, especially when they kept referring to themselves as your mother. But Gabriella couldn't forget her mother's smiling face, and she didn't doubt this 'mother' could replace hers.
She headed back to her computer where she logged in again. She pressed the mail application before seeing it open to 2 accounts. Her usual account which she was thankful to have due to the emails she liked to save, but the other was apparently Isabella's email.
It was easy from there to navigate sending a new email to Renee.
"Hey mom," She started the email and stared blankly at the screen.
"Sorry I missed your calls and mail, just settling in. Everything is fine over here. Don't worry about me. Stay safe."
She pondered over signing the email with Isabella but figured she didn't need to. Simple and to the point, which seemed great. She shut the computer off after deciding that even if she were to investigate if everything were the same as her phone it would just be a waste of time. And most likely trigger some memories, and she really didn't want to start crying. So, she instead left her bedroom to wash up in the bathroom. She was in her bed, lights turned off and asleep 15 minutes later.
The rest of the weekend went by quickly, between hanging out with Charlie, and having fun dinners trying to bond with him more between his erratic schedule as chief. She was mostly trying to ignore her computer and phone, though she kept them charged. She was doing what she was told. Trying to enjoy this new life that she seemed to have been pulled into. Don't get her wrong. She was still very confused, she had more questions than answers but no matter how many times she tried to text back to the unknown sender, it just came back as failed, just like her other dozen messages she tried sending to her mom and friends. So that being said, she was really relying on Charlie to hang out with her and eating junk food when he wasn't around.
She didn't know how much she had craved that father-daughter bond until she came to this world and Charlie and her hit it off pretty well it seemed. She was sure that Charlie was meant to become her dad somehow, and maybe it was a blessing in some way. She used to cry wanting to meet her dad as a kid until she hit her 10th birthday and things started to become a little clearer. She stopped after that, much to her mother's confusion and she was glad she did.
On Sunday, the last day of freedom, Charlie was away on a fishing trip with Billy. He apologized and even offered to cancel but she knew he probably planned this a while ago. And she felt bad that he wouldn't be able to hang out with his friends. Though he did ask her if she wanted to go, and she declined, she had no idea what to do or what she would do on that small little boat. So, although she wasn't sure what the appeal of waiting forever for fish to bite was, especially after learning they weren't very good at fishing anyways. She couldn't understand the appeal at all, aside from the drinking part, she could understand the fun in drinking.
So, she was alone for her last day of freedom. Charlie had given her some money, especially since she needed some new clothes. She had finished organizing her clothes into 3 piles, keep, donate and trash. There were more in the trash and donate pile than the keep pile.
She grabbed her keys before hopping into her truck. Forks had the essentials for living in the small town but Port Angeles, the closest town an hour's drive, had an actual mall. Perfect for what she wanted.
The drive was painfully boring. She made sure to start taking her phone with her, especially now that she knew it was hers, and Charlie tried calling her to tell her to tell her he was going to be late, but she was washing her truck outside and didn't bring the phone. But she was especially excited when she realized all her music was still there. Although there was no way to connect it to this truck's radio, she was still glad to have it at full volume to jam to on her drive. Maybe she would try to find a way to connect it some other time.
The mall wasn't empty, but it also wasn't crowded. Charlie had given her money and although she knew how to budget, she received an A in her lifestyle management class, she wasn't sure if she could get everything she needed and have the money for it. She thought about how to use the money, what would be the most important thing to purchase first, and how she would need a part-time job at least if she wanted some freedom. She had been working since she was 16, so she would defiantly try to do the same. Though it was a pain having to start from zero again.
Her back pocket vibrated and she saw the text from Charlie asking if she were okay. She smiled at the fact he was texting her. He was still getting used to it, but she appreciated the effort none the less. She sent a simple A-OK with a smiley face waited for his response. A small thumbs up and she smiled. As she pressed the home button, she realized she still had her bank app.
She nearly started screaming in the middle of the mall when it opened and she saw all her money. She figured a way to access it through her apple pay and although she did wonder if it would work, she was glad to have some access. She would probably cry if she could see her money but not actually access it. She was good at investing and saving and was glad it might give her a little help in this world where she had no money.
She was browsing through some sweaters when she spotted the dark navy-blue winter coat that seemed perfect for the fast-approaching cold weather. She found her size quickly before pulling it on to make sure it fit. She was glad it worked even over the sweater she was wearing and deemed it a great fit. Although a bit on the pricey side, it was an investment, especially since it was cold more than it was warm. And she desperately needed a winter jacket.
Her apple pay worked, and no one seemed to question it, she would defiantly have to try and see if she could get a replacement. So, she had spent a good amount of money, she felt a little more guilt-free since it was her money, especially since she wouldn't need to pay rent or her student loans. And seeing as money hadn't left her account from her last payment of student loans, she was glad to assume that she would have all her money and it wouldn't disappear. For now.
She just finished putting her things into the passenger side, rounding around the back of the truck to get into her driver seat when her body suddenly didn't agree with her. It was still weird for her, especially because she wasn't normally clumsy, and although it seemed to help a bit, in the way that she wasn't clumsy in this body 100%, it was still the odd 20% here and there. And the odd 20% of clumsiness randomly acted up in the strangest times causing confusion, anger and pain.
So, when her foot caught on something, she tripped and flailed her arms to no avail. But thankfully before she could fall on her face, something caught her around her midsection and saved her from a busted face. She released the breath she was holding in her fear of falling and glanced up at whoever saved her.
"Don't worry, I got you." He said with a big grin.
"Thanks. I uh, appreciate it but would you mind putting me down?" He grinned, even bigger than before.
"Sure thing." Getting placed on the ground, both feet on the solid ground before she was finally able to look at the guy properly. Though with how close they were, she still had to look up at him. Thankfully there was barely any sun, which meant she didn't have to awkwardly squint trying to see him.
"Thanks again." She noticed the golden eyes, and she realized who it was.
"No problem. Name's Emmett." She smiled none the less when he stuck his hand out to her. She shook his hand, hers getting dwarfed in size compared to his large one, and she ignored the cold. She could relate to being cold.
"Nice to meet you, Emmett. I'm Bella."
"Glad you're okay little buddy." She resisted the urge to laugh, before he waved the wallet in his other hand. "Forgot my wallet and left my girl hanging." Bella waved him off as he jogged away with his arm still waving back and forth. She was almost jealous he could do that without falling. And she also wondered if some plane was about to use the lot as a landing spot as she saw Emmett still waving. She hopped into her truck and headed home. At least she wouldn't start school with a busted face.
-HASHTAG BODY SNATCHING-
Midterms are kicking my butt. Hopefully will have another chapter up this week or at least by next. Hopefully.