Today's Quote:
'Only dead fish go with the flow.'
When Bella finally arrived home, a solid half-hour after me, she began rambling and bursting my eardrums.
"It was like he hated me!" she kept saying, tugging at her hair.
"Mhmm," I said, not looking up from my book. I know, me, reading? But it was Hunger Games, and I liked the badassness of Katniss.
"Do I smell bad? No, I cant right? Not that bad, anyway, I washed my hair last night. Wait, did I? Morgana, do I smell bad?"
I rolled my eyes, but shook my head. She smelt fine.
"Just forget about it, Isabella."
"But I can't!" she moaned, dramatially falling on the couch. I huffed, and turned my back to her, hoping she'd get the idea. She didn't.
"Morgana!" she shouted. I turned to look at her. She had tear streaks running down her face, and a part of me wants to comfort her. The other, larger part, was disinterested, so I looked away again. "I think he wants to kill me!"
I stood up, grabbed an apple from the kitchen counter, and went up the stairs and into my room. I frowned. It was significantly colder than it should have been, and I was confused when I saw that the window was open.
Why would I open it?
Maybe Bella or Dad did? I wouldn't.
I walked over and closed it, still confused and cold. Maybe I should put a lock on it? Make sure they didn't do it again?
I dismissed that idea - I could just tell them later. It wasn't worth my effort.
The next day at school was… weird.
Edward wasn't there, and there was a lot of tension at our table. Rosalie ignored me, but I prefer that to her biting remarks.
"So what are you doing on the weekend?" Alice asked, tossing her apple in the air and catching it deftly. They never seemed to eat. I wondered if they had eating disorders.
"Sleeping," I said. "Why?"
"Cause there's a sale in Seattle, and I wanna go with you."
"Shopping?" I laughed. "No."
"Aww, come on, they have heaps of gothic stuff," she said, pouting. I resisted the urge to agree, and looked away.
"No, Pixie. I don't shop."
"Please?"
"No."
"C'mon on, Ana, be nice to Alice. She doesn't have many friends." Emmett said. I rolled my eyes, and I noticed Pixie did the same.
"No to shopping, and no to Ana. I've said that before." I glared at him, and felt the corners of my lips curl up when he shifted away slightly, leaning into Rosalie's hold. "C'mon," I said, as the bell rang. "Alice, I'll walk with you to building 5."
"Hi," said a brown haired kid as I walked into the Biology room.
I nodded my head at him, and tried to push past.
"So what, are you shy or something? Bella's like that too," he said, as if I didn't know that. I may not be best buddies with Bella, but I did know she was introverted, clumsy and an English brainiac. I did like her, if only because she was sweet to me even after I blew up at her.
I kept walking, shoving my shoulder against his.
"Like it rough, huh?"
"Fuck off," I hissed, glaring at him so hard he actually whimpered. Bella walked in that moment, and she gave me a disappointed look when she saw I was arguing with someone yet again.
"That's Mike," Angela said when I sat down.
"He's a dick," I spat, furiously scrawling the date in the margin of my book.
"Maybe..."
And that was that.
When the school day was done, Bella and I made plans to go shopping. I needed hair-dye, and she wanted to get food. Last night we had discovered Dad couldn't cook to save his life, so she decided she was taking matters into her own hands. Good for her, now if only she could channel that independence into being less of a push over, I might like her even more.
"Bella, help pull the tray down, will you?" I asked, as I wheeled my bike over. She did, and I began hoisting the bike up on to it with Bella's help. I jumped when I felt cold hands snake around my waist, resting on my exposed midriff.
'What the hell?" I asked in shock, twisting my head around to see Emmett laughing behind me.
"Calm down, Ava, it's just me." I rolled my eyes, and he released me. "Shove over."
I did, and he easily picked up the bike and lifted it onto the truck bed.
"Thanks, Muscles," I joked, as he swung me up into the truck with the bike, making me laugh, before I jumped down. "Hello, Rosalie."
She appeared behind Emmett, and unlike what I thought she might feel, she didn't look at all concerned or jealous at our easy friendship.
"Hello, Morgana," she said, giving me a small smile.
"Morgana, hurry up," Bella said, and I gave Emmett a fist-bump.
"See ya round, Muscles."
I pushed up the tray and walked over to the front, jumping up with ease.
It was only a few minutes before we reached Thriftway. It was just a few feet south, off the highway. Bella looked happy to be here, as if the Supermarket was the best spot on earth, after a library.
"What do we need?" I asked, pulling out the money from Dad's 'FOOD MONEY' jar, and passing it to her.
"Um, spaghetti, tomatoes, steak, potatoes, maybe some veggies," Bella rambled, thinking to herself.
I kept quiet, taking in the sights. It may just be a supermarket, but I rarely got to go into them.
I was busy looking at the cahiers, noticing how much they hated their jobs, to realise I was about to crash into someone.
"I'm so sorry," they said, in a musical voice. I looked up from my new position on the floor and saw a woman who had long brown hair and a perfect figure. "I'm Esme, are you okay?"
She held a hand out to me, but I didn't bother with it, pushing myself up from the ground.
"Cullen?" I asked, recognising the name from Angela explaining who Alice's adoptive parents were. "I'm Morgana."
"I know," she said, and I looked at her in confusion, before twirling my hair in understanding. There weren't many (or any) in Forks with coloured hair. That, and today my eyes were a vivid red, and I was wearing a strappy crop top, denim mini-skirt, and I had choker on. Not to mention my right ear had a full piercing with a chain hanging from the top of my ear and off the bottom. "And yes, Cullen."
"Right. Alice talks about you a lot."
"Yes, my niece can be much like that."
"Niece?" I asked, before backtracking. "Sorry, that was rude."
"It's okay. My brother, Carlisle, has all the adoption files, so they're his children, legally."
"Oh, that makes sense."
"Morgana!" Bella a yelled from the other end of the aisle.
"Coming!" I said, before awkwardly saying goodbye. "Um, nice to meet you. And, um, sorry about bumping into you."
"My fault,' she said simply, give me a warm smile that made me feel giddy inside. I could see how she was a mother - she looked like she was cut out for it. "Lovely to meet you too, dear."
When we got home, Bella started making dinner, and I helped put away the groceries. When I finished, I went up to my room, closed the window (I seriously needed to tell Charlie to stop opening it, cause Bella swore it wasn't her), and opened up my laptop.
I had several unread emails, and I got started with them. The first was from my dorm mate from my last school, Lili, and I was happy to see she still remembered me. I mean, I wouldn't be too mad if she didn't.
She had this thing where she forgets people, like not their name, but the entire person just drops from her head. It makes her really mad, and she tends to get really aggressive when it happens. Hence, she went to the same type of schools I went to.
"Hey girl," It read. "Guess who got kicked out of Edge-Woods! Uh-huh, I finally did it! I mixed some chemicals together and kaboom! No more science lab! Okay, have fun in Spoonsville, love ya, don't kill anyone, byee!
I groaned. As if Lili's parents needed anymore reason to kick her out. She was officially insane. I didn't get why she hated Edge-Woods. It was like a regular boarding school, only it was for people who had a lot of anger issues, and reacted badly to arguments and whatever.
My next email was from my mother, informing me that she was pleased I was behaving, asking if I needed any meds, and would I like to see her for the Summer?
I sent her a curt emailing saying No, no, and yes, I was fine, thanks for asking.
I hated her.
My went to my very first psycho school when I was seven. I was there for four years, and they, being the medieval people they were, used shock-treatments. One day I blew up the school in anger, and mum never believed me when I told her what happened. Bella tried to stay neutral, her only being 12 at the time, but she was leaning into mum's beliefs, hence my mild dislike of my older sister.
My last three emails weren't half as interesting. Just spam and a letter telling me I needed to get my bike looked over in 6 months. '
"Bella? Ana?" Dad yelled from downstairs, breaking my reverie. I went down to greet him, and laughed at his shocked face. He still wasn't used to my clothes.
"Hey, Dad, welcome home," Bella said, walking down the hall. She gave me a little wave, and I gave her a half smile. I would make this work. I may not like the school, but I did want a relationship with my sister.
"Thanks." He hung up his gun belt and stepped out of his boots as Bella bustled about the kitchen. He took a quick look at the gun and me, and decided I could apparently be trusted with it around. I rolled my eyes "What's for dinner?" he asked, coming over to kiss my forehead. I let him, but retreated to the kitchen with Bella after. Father or not, I still didn't know this man.
"Steak and potatoes," Bella answered, and he looked relieved. He seemed to feel awkward standing in the doorway doing nothing; he lumbered into the living room to watch TV while she worked. We were all more comfortable that way.
I made a salad while Bella cooked the steaks and set the table. She called him in when dinner was ready, and he sniffed appreciatively as he walked into the room.
"Smells good, Bell." I coughed at him pointedly. "Thanks for the salad, Ana."
"It's fine."
We ate in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable. None of us were bothered by the quiet. In some ways, we were well suited for living together.
"So, how did you like school? Have you made any friends?" he asked as he was taking seconds.
"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica. I sit with her friends at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice."
"Stay away from him, Isabella," I said, getting up to wash my plate. "He's bad news."
"He's nice," Bella insisted, giving me a glare, although it wasn't very scary.
"No, Isabella, he's not."
"Morgana, let her be," Dad interrupted. I felt my hands warm, and clenched them to stop the flame rising in my palms.
"Fine," I said, haughtily. "I'll let her make her own stupid mistakes."
I sat down on the couch and curled up, reading my book while keeping an ear out for this conversation.
"Do you know the Cullen family?" Bella asked hesitantly.
"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."
"They… the kids… are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school."
"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," he continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him — lucky that his sister wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature — I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should — camping trips every other weekend… Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."
It was the longest speech I'd ever heard Charlie make. He must feel strongly about whatever people were saying. Bella backpedaled, and I smirked. Suits her right for insulting the Cullens. "They seemed nice enough to me. I just noticed they kept to themselves. They're all very attractive," she added, trying to be more complimentary.
"You should see the doctor," Charlie said, laughing. "A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around."
My first weekend in Forks passed without incident. Charlie, unused to spending time in the usually empty house, worked most of the weekend. Bella cleaned the house, got ahead on her homework, and tried to visit the library, but came home empty handed.
I went on a hike around the woods, and drive up to Port Angeles to see if I could find a decent coffee shop. It was a waste of my time, because it all tasted like crap, and I came home very disappointed. I did manage to buy a pair of leather gloves though, and I hoped that would help.
The rain stayed soft over the weekend, quiet, so I was able to sleep well. People greeted me warily in the parking lot Monday morning. I glared at most of them, giving a small smile to Angela, and a bigger one to the Cullen kids.
It was cold this morning, so I wore my winter coat, which made Emmett laugh when he saw me. I had my hair hiked up in a big blue bun, and my nails painted black, and I had this long red coat on instead of a biker jacket. He found it very amusing. He told me I was 'embracing my inner girl'. I politely asked him to fuck off.
In English, we had a pop quiz on Wuthering Heights. It was straightforward, very easy. Bella had made me quiz her on it on Sunday, and it was fresh in my mind. All in all, I was feeling a lot more comfortable than I had thought I would feel by this point. More comfortable than I had ever expected to feel here.
When we walked out of class, the air was full of swirling bits of white. I could hear people shouting excitedly to each other. The wind bit at my cheeks, my nose.
"Wow," Mike said to Bella excitedly. I frowned at their causal interaction - did Bella realise what a perv he was? "It's snowing."
I looked at the little cotton fluffs that were building up along the sidewalk and swirling erratically past my face.
"Ew," Bella sniffed.
I, however, was in pure bliss. Snow was great for me. The cold weather meant it was harder for things to catch fire, and it was easier to get away with gloves.
Mike looked surprised. "Don't you like snow?"
"No. That means it's too cold for rain. Besides, I thought it was supposed to come down in flakes — you know, each one unique and all that. These just look like the ends of Q-tips."
I snorted, making Bella whip her head around and give me a half-hearted glare.
"Haven't you ever seen snow fall before?" he asked incredulously.
"Sure I have." She paused. "On TV."
Mike laughed. And then a big, squishy ball of dripping snow smacked into the back of his head. Bella and Mike both turned to see where it came from.
I had my suspicions about Eric, who was walking away, his back toward us — in the wrong direction for his next class. Mike apparently had the same notion. He bent over and began scraping together a pile of the white mush.
"I'll see you at lunch, okay?"
Bella kept walking as she spoke. "Once people start throwing wet stuff, I go inside."
He just nodded, his eyes on Eric's retreating figure.
I frowned, pulling my jacket closer. I swear to god, if someone-
I froze. A cold ball of snow dripped down my neck, trickling into my shirt.
"Score!" laughed a loud voice. I turned, hatred etched on my face.
"Emmett Mccarty Cullen," I began, walking slowly towards him. "You best hope you have a good excuse for that."
"Cheer up, buttercup," he laughed, palming another snowball.
"You wouldn't."
"I would."
I glared at him, and for a second I thought it was working, until a well aimed snowball splashed against my face, most likely ruining my gothic makeup I had worked so hard on this morning.
"Emmett," I said.
"Yeah, buttercup?"
"Run."
Okay, I just wanted to say a couple things.
Thank you to all my lovely reviewers - you all make me so happy!
Feel free to tell me when you love or hate something I do - it makes it easier to produce something that you all like.
Yes, this was a filler chapter - the real stuff happens around Bella's accident.
I wanted to introduce Esme to make sure you all understand how that works within the non-canon and canon relationships.
Yes, Morgana is going to be a scary-ass bitch, but she's going to love the Cullens and eventually Bella. She won't know why, but we will! She's practically destined to be with them!
Again, filler chapter. I'm really just setting the scene and introducing people.