Chapter 7

Bella was standing by the window, peering outside to see if there was a car approaching, although it wasn't even 5 pm yet. Edward had been waiting for her by her locker this morning and they'd agreed upon that he'd come over at 5 pm. Charlie had looked a bit awkward and confounded when she'd told him the night before that Edward was coming over so they could work on their assignment, as if he hadn't know his place in the matter.

"Um… So do I...?", Charlie started on looking quizically at Bella. "No, I'm not saying you have to stay clear of the house or anything, but I'd appreciate it if we could have the living room to ourselves so that we can work on the assignment". "Um… yeah. I might just stay a couple of extra hours at the office, I have a bit of paper work that I have to finish", Charlie mumbled and regained focus on his plate. Bella knew this was a lie, seeing as Fork wasn't actually the murder capital of the country, nor a place where anything ever happened, but she let it slip.

Though now she was getting a bit nervous at the prospect of being alone with Edward and didn't quite frown up the thought of having Charlie at home as much as she had earlier. Even if it entailed Charlie sitting by the kitchen table cleaning his rifles like nobodies business or telling fishing tales 'til you'd get seasick.

Suddenly she saw the car coming down the road and she instinctively backed away from the window. "Act casual", she thought to herself and gave the living room one last look over before she walked over to the front door to let him in. The door bell rang and after she'd waited 5 seconds she opened the door.

As soon as he saw her, Edward lit up in a big smile. "Hey", he said, looking a bit awkward too. Maybe he also was a bit nervous? "Hey", she said and stepped aside so that he could enter,"Come on in." He stepped inside and took of his shoes. "Is Chief Swan home?", Edward asked casually. "No, he had a lot of paper work to do so he won't be home for a couple of hours I think", Bella said and Edward looked at her with a mysterious smile. Maybe he too knew that this wasn't true? "Anyhow, I thought we could hang out in the living room", Bella said and showed him the way. They settled on the couch and started working on their assignment. She could tell learning came easy to Edward and she cherished the thought of getting to do a group assignment with someone who actually pulled their own weight. Back in Phoenix she'd ended up doing most of the work herself when in group assignments, since she valued her grades more than sharing the work effort equally…

"So… Do you like living in Forks so far?", Edward suddenly said, looking at her curiously. "Um…Yeah, I do actually", Bella said as she'd pondered the thought for a brief moment," Sure, there are things that I miss. My mom. The city." "The sun?", Edward said. "Yeah, the sun too of course", Bella said and laughed,"It's not like the weather is all that up here. But all in all I kinda like it here. I like the stability and the routine of living with Charlie, you know what you get. And I like the nature too. And the people have all been pretty nice so far." Edward looked content. "Do you miss your friends?", he asked, trying to sound casual but an undertone of curiosity was to be interpreted. "I actually didn't have that many close friends in Phoenix. I'm not what you'd call a people person", Bella said, suddenly thinking of Dan and she could feel how her mood sank like a rock.

But screw it, right? She hadn't had any friends in Phoenix besides Dan, and maybe a lot because she'd spent all her time and effort on Dan, ignoring the rest of her peers. And where had it gotten her? Nowhere. Maybe Forks could be a new start? Maybe she could make friends her(and get her mind of her old one). It would be nice to have a couple of friends to hang out with and she imagined she'd adjust faster to living here in Forks if she didn't only have Charlie's company to rely on.

"Well anyhow, I like it here", she said and tried to smile sincerely at him, "Once I get to know some of the people at school I think I'll feel right at home here." Edward smiled at me brightly. "Yeah, about that. I don't know if you'd be up for it, but me and my siblings were planning on going to Port Angeles to catch a movie and some dinner on Saturday, if you're keen?", Edward said, suddenly looking a bit insecure,"It's not a big deal or anything, but we like to go there ever so often. Catch a bit of the big city vibes." "Sure, that sounds great", Bella said and smiled comforting towards him, "I'd love to. I haven't been in Port Angeles and even though Forks is nice I've missed the city lights. I just have to ask Charlie first, but I'm sure he's fine with it." Edward looked as he relaxed a bit and he smiled even bigger.

And as if he'd reacted upon hearing his name, Charlie suddenly came barging in the front door. "Hey Bells, I'm home", he announced with a loud voice and went into the kitchen unloading a couple of bags on the kitchen table. "Hey, Charlie!", I called back. "Good evening, Chief Swan", Edward said and stood up as Charlie entered the living room. "Oh good, you're still here", Charlie said and smiled brightly at us,"I figured you kids would be hungry after such a long study session so I loaded up on some burgers and fries on the way home. Nothing sparks the brain activity like a couple of burgers, am I right? Edward, say you'll be staying for dinner?" Apparently spending a couple of hours at the office had helped Charlie settle on the matter of what his role was supposed to be, that being the burger provider… "Yes, of course, sir", Edward said, though looking the slightest bit uncomfortable and I understood him. Who in the whole world enjoys having to interact with someone's parents?

Writer's note

I'm really sorry for the long delay with this chapter, I've been way too busy with school and work to have time too write. I'll be quicker with my updates from now on, thank you all for your patience!