chapter one

It's warm when I step outside of my home in Phoenix. Despite the white tank top I was wearing over my red bikini top, and my cut offs, I was ridiculously hot. Sweat collected against the back of my neck, running down my back. I gave up trying to wipe it away days ago.

I was used to the heat, of course. You couldn't live in Arizona for seventeen years and not be used to it. It just didn't make it any less miserable.

Today was the last day I would be privileged to the heat, though. Tonight I leave for the airport, where I'll be taking a four-hour flight to Seattle, Washington. From there, a short one hour flight to Port Angeles, where I would be meeting my father, Charlie. We would then make the hour drive to Forks.

It was to Forks that I exiled myself now, the very same little town that my mother escaped with me when I was less than a year old. The town that I spent thirteen miserable summers in until I was fourteen, and insisted Charlie vacation with me in California instead for two weeks.

In Forks, there was hardly a moment without rain. The winters were harsh and icy, and the summers were more miserable than Arizona, because their summers were hot and humid, which was so much worse than hot and dry.

Forks, my own personal hell.

Why do I exile myself, you ask? For the sight I'm currently gazing at.

My mother is wading in the store bought pool that her fiancee, Phil, had bought and put up for us a week ago. Phil is leaning against the outside of it, sweat beaded on his bald head, but he doesn't seem to mind as Mom pushes her float against the water to get to him, kissing him lightly and laughing when the current from the filter pushes her away and his face splashes into the water. He laughs back, and then jumps over the side of the pool and splashes after her, and she shrieks in laughter as he flips her float, submerging her.

Mom met Phil last January, over a year ago. We'd been treated to a baseball game that neither of us were entirely interested in, but were sitting through out of politeness. It was good sitting, really, right next to the field. Phil had been playing that day, his last minor league game. He'd been running to catch the ball, but it had convinentely landed right in my mothers lap. Mom wasn't a baseball scholar, and honestly, has always lacked a little in the common sense department. She'd tossed the ball back to Phil. Phil had blinked in confusion, and then grinned, winking at her, and tossed it back. Mom had blushed deeply, and was dazed the rest of the game. Phil found her after the game, and asked her out to a movie.

Now, my Mom had been on dates before, lots of dates. But I'd never gone. I'd always had a babysitter or was sitting at home by myself. But Phil had seen me, and didn't think twice before saying, "I would love to take you and your daughter to a movie, if you would want to." Mom was so flattered and flustered, I'd accepted for the both of us. That weekend, we saw the new Daniel Radcliffe movie, What If. Phil insisted that he wouldn't mind me sitting with them, but I had insisted that I knew how my mother was with romcoms, and had opted to sit a few rows away from them.

After that, Phil had become a permanent fixture in our lives. He and Mom went out every weekend they could, and sometimes I went too if it was to somewhere like a movie or the one time they went to an amusement park. Every time I gave them their space, though they both insisted multiple times that they really, really wouldn't mind. I insisted that I really, really would mind.

And now, fast forward to Christmas last year. Phil approached me after Thanksgiving and asked me how I would feel about him proposing to my Mom. I'd been a little shocked. For one, I didn't think it mattered how I felt, it was between him and my mom. When I voiced this, he'd shook his head seriously, and told me that I was my Mom's whole world, and that if he were to marry her, that would make him my family. And that if I didn't like the idea, all I had to do was say so. He'd be disappointed, but would understand, and would work extra hard to prove to me that he was worthy of my mom. I thought he was being a little melodramatic, but had given my consent. I thought perhaps too was too soon, but I knew how happy they were. And with him entering major league this coming season, they were putting the wedding off until the year after next, which would be enough time, I figured, for them to either figure a way to make it work, or break it off.

Which brings me to why I'm going to Forks.

I love Phil, he's an amazing guy. But he's leaving next week for training and has offered Mom and I a spot on his bus to go with him. But I can't do that around school. Mom had been all for going, and I'd had to remind her that I was in the middle of my Junior year. She'd been heartbroken. Phil had offered tutors, but we both knew that right now, he didn't have the money. He wouldn't get the big bucks of major league until after his first game. So I came up with Forks as the solution.

Mom had fought against it. Told me I shouldn't have to go and live with mg Dad just because she wanted to go on a training tour with her fiancee. That she would stay right there jn Phoenix with me. I'd put my foot down and told her it would do me good to go and see Charlie. That Charlie and I needed father-daughter bonding time before I became an adult. After a month of arguing with her and Phil about it, I finally broke them. I left tonight, they left next week.

"Bella, come on in the water!" Mom yelled. Phil grinned at me, and then sunk the both of them underwater again. I grinned, and went towards the pool.
*_*_*_*

"You're sure you have everything? You don't need anything else from your room?" Phil asked, loading my suitcases that he'd helped me buy into the back of his truck. I shook my head.

"I think I'm good."

"All right," He said, coming around the bed of the truck, and then looking towards the house. Mom hadn't come out yet. He turned to me. "I know you're doing this for your Mom and I, and I want you to know how much I appreciate it. You know I really wouldn't mind you coming with us, right?"

"I know," I nod. "But I also know that I need to finish school to get into a good college if I'm going to become a doctor. And while traveling would be incredibly fun, I also know that's not ideal for school work. And I think Charlie might feel neglected. It's a lot longer drive from Florida to California." Florida would be where Phil and my Mom would be during the two weeks Charlie and I normally vacationed in California. "Besides, I want to go. I..have a really good feeling about Forks. A really, really good feeling."

Phil smiled, and put his arm over my shoulders. "Do you, now?"

I gave a half smile, and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I really do." It was the only truth about Fork I'd told either of them since I came up with the idea of going.

"I'm ready!" Mom yelled, throwing the front door open and running out, letting it slam shut behind her. I only hoped she remembered to lock it. Phil was already two steps ahead of me, though.

"Let me run in and grab my phone charger," He said, turning to wink at me behind Moms back. As expected, she hadn't locked the door. Phil made sure to when he came back out. I breathed a little easier. I knew Phil would be able to care of my eccentric, hairbrained Mother, and in a way that wouldn't make her feel bad about herself. He was probably the best man for my Mom.

I packed myself into the truck, and in minutes, we were on the freeway to the airport.

I could barely see my mother out the airplane window. She was leaning against the window in the airport, Phil behind her. I knew she couldn't see me, not with the glare and the dark tint of the airplane windows. But she was waving as though she could, and I smiled slightly. She was waving three windows away from mine. Phil pointed me out, though. He'd paid attention to me seating number, and knew more about airplanes than Mom. She turned towards me and though I knew she still couldn't see me, I waved backed.

And then the airplane was in the air and the building my Mom was standing in was a speck among a million other specks and I put earbuds in and a sleeping mask and pretended I was asleep so the old lady beside me wouldn't start talking to me, as she looked ready to.

I slept the entire flight, and was awoken by a flight attendant. She gave me a sympathetic smile when I mumbled 'Mom?', before remembering where I was. She told me now was my last chance to get off the airplane. I hurriedly did so, and had to ask the lady at customer service if I had to get my luggage to be rechecked before boarding my flight to Port Angeles, or if it would be transferred without me. She looked at me like I was crazy, and I felt awkward asking. I'd never flown much before.

After thirty minutes, though, I finally managed to get my awkward, embarrassed self on the smaller plane, still cringing at the encounter with the customer service lady. Instead of three seats per row on this place, it was two, and that seats were far closer than on the other plane. The man beside me smelled awful, as though he'd just come from a morgue. I didn't know how I came to that conclusion, but I did. And as my IPod was now dead, I was forced to listen to him talk about trees and rain the entire flight. I never knew one could name off so many facts about trees and the weather in such a short amount of time, and I would have been glad not knowing that at all.

I was off the plane the moment they allowed me to be, leaving morgue man to himself.

I didn't see Charlie right away. For a moment I thought he had forgotten, then I remembered how excited he seemed that I was coming to live with him, and how he wasn't as forgetful as my Mom. So I wandered over to baggage claim to wait for my luggage, but that was where I found him, heaving the large blue, much too expensive suitcase that Phil had bought off the conveyer belt.

"I could've gotten it," I said, coming up behind him. He jumped, and I smiled slightly. He blinked for a moment, then grinned.

"Hey, Bells," He said, wrapping his arms around me. It was a little awkward to hug him, as I hadn't seen since June last year, and because I had my little carry-on suitcase in my hand, and purse slung over my shoulder. There was a parka thrown over my arm as well. But he didn't seem bothered by my inability to hug him back, and instead took the carry-on from me, insisting to pull it along with the big blue suitcase and the smaller blue one. Mom and I had pooled all out resources in order to buy me a whole winter wardrobe, with a little help from Phil. As Arizona wasn't exactly a winter state, we'd had to order it all online and have it shipped to Charlie's house. The suitcases were filled with books I couldn't let go of, my laptop and chargers, makeup, CDs, and pictures. I knew my room at Charlies was set up only minimally, and if I was going to spend the next two years there, it needed to look like my room in Phoenix as much as possible.

The bigger suitcase wouldn't fit in the trunk of Charlie's cruiser-he was the chief of police in Forks-so the bags went in the backseat. He joked that as long as he didn't have to arrest me, it would be fine. I'd laughed only slightly.

The hour flight from Seattle to Port Angeles was less of a torture that the drive to Forks with Charlie. Neither Charlie nor I were exactly keen on small talk, or any kind of talk. While this would make for excellent living arrangments-We would probably mostly communicate through notes on the fridge or voicemails, compared to Renee, who had to speak every little thing-it made for an awkward ride home. What do you say to the man you're about to live with for the next two years, that you barely know at all?

The drive was made longer by the fact of him being a cop, therefore slowing down traffic. This was the main reason I was hoping to get a job as soon as possible and save up for a car. I couldn't dip into my college savings, so I would be walking to school until I could afford a car. I figured that might be a good opening to talk to Charlie.

"So, uh," I stammered. "Do you know of anywhere around Forks that I could possibly get a job at?"

He grunted a little. "A job?" He said, then hm'd. "Well, the Newtons have an camping and outdoors supply store. Hunting and camping stuff mostly. Mr. Newton died a few years back, and I know they've been struggling to get back on their feet. Miss Newton's been caught up with the fiancials, and that's left poor Mike to unload trucks and stocking and the register all by himself. They've been hiring for I don't know how long. No one wants to take the job. Miss Newton's always been pretty strict, and most of the high school kids are a little frightened of her, I think. But I know it would pay good. Other than that, there's the diner, they always need extra hands. Then there's this bookstore by the bank, but I don't know it they've filled that spot yet. Why the need for a job?"

"Keep me busy," I shrugged. "And I want to buy a car."

Charlie grunted again. "Well, I've kind of already taken care of that."

I turned to him, eyebrows raised. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Renee, when she called to try and talk me out of you coming-"

"She what?"

Charlie rubbed at his head. "Didn't think you knew," He sighed. "Well, when she called, she said something along the lines of how she 'wouldn't have her daughter driving that awful cruiser', and I said that you couldn't anyway, not legally. And she said that you'd need a car of your own with the way my hours are, and that you wouldn't be able to buy one for yourself for months, not without dipping into your college funds. So I said consider it done, and hung up on her. Then I went down to the reserve, you remember, where old Billy Black lives, with Jacob?" At my nod, he continued. "Well, he's in a wheelchair now, and his old truck's been sitting in their garage for I don't know how long. Jacob's fixed it up nicely, gave it a new paint job and completely rebuilt the engine. I had a buddy of mine, a mechanic, take a look at it, just to be sure, and he said that Jacob did a better job that most dealerships. Even offered Jacob a job. I bought it off Billy that day, as a sort of welcoming present for you."

I blinked a few times, then opened my mouth, then closed it again. I couldn't think of a good argument. He'd already slashed through the problem of it not running properly, and my building argument of not being able to afford it. How was I supposed to decline?

"How much?" I asked. He rubbed his head again.

"I've already bought it, Bells," He said. I pinched my lips together. That sounded a lot like 'free' to me.

"I was going to pay you back," I said, pushing. "I know it had to have taken some of your savings."

"Really, Bells, it's no problem," He insisted. "Nothing I won't make back in a couple of months."

I closed my eyes, and sarcastically thought 'more like days'. But I let it go. A free car was a free car, and maybe it would at least get me around until I could buy something better.

But I found upon my arrival at Charlie house, that I loved the beast outside his house. It was an older truck, and rusted even with the paint job Jacob had put on it, which made it look a little funny. But I was in love.

"Dad, this is great," I said. He grinned, as though he knew I'd love it once I saw it. "Thank you."

"Well, now," He said, ducking his head and dragging my bags out of the cruiser. Clearly he wasn't good at the 'feelings' thing, either. That meant less heart to hearts with him than there had been with Renee. Forks was already looking up.

Charlie left me alone after he brought my bags upstairs. He'd changed the old twin sized bed to a full, and the little shelf that used to hold toys was now replaced with a desk. The wardrobe was still in the same corner it had always been, but there was now a large circular mirror in above it. The rocking chair from when I was a baby had disappeared.

Charlie had already put away all my clothes, but I rearranged it a little and hung shirts up in the closet instead of in the drawers. I tried it all on as I did this, and it did all fit, thank God. Afterwards I pinned pictures to the wall above my desk and laid Christmas lights over the headboard of my bed. I stacked books on the desk and CDs on the windowsill. In a matter of an hour or two, my things were completely unpacked, and the suitcases living in the back of my closet.

I sat on the bed, and looked around the room. A sense of disappointed acceptance fell over me, and I thought, this is my life now.

I laid down, and I cried.

The next day wasn't any less depressing than the one before it, but it also wasn't anymore. Charlie was already gone when I woke up, so I had the house to myself for thirty minutes. I glanced in the mirror above the wardrobe, and decided my hair looked decent, so I didn't bother to shower. Instead I swept the hair to the side and frenchbraided it from the bottom over to the side and let the braid fall against my chest. My mother wore her unruly curls like this often. My heart gave a thum-twa, a slight ache in missing her, which startled me. I'd never heard my heart actually beat before, and it certainly hadn't ever ached in missing someone. I blinked a few times in confusion, then went back to readying myself.

I dotted on eyeliner in a thin line, and then pulled on jeans. I didn't even have to move from my spot to reach into the closet and pull on an emerald green t-shirt. I threw a fake gold colored necklace on, and yanked on brown boots, before trudging down the stairs.

I hadn't looked at the house much last night, having gotten in as late as I did, and then unpacking everything. It wasn't much to look at, though. It hadn't changed a bit since the last time I was here, which was almost three years ago now. Charlie had added pictures from my 8th, 9th, and 10th grades, and there were two spots for the 11th and 12th grade photos too. But the real kicker, was that there were still photos up of him and Renee on their wedding day, and with baby me at the Forks Memorial after I was born. Charlie had always been in love with my Mom, according the Grandma Swan, who was living a little outside of town now in a little house by a lack. He'd never gotten over her, and Grandma Swan didn't think he ever would. I grimaced, and didn't look back at the picture. I didn't want anyone to ever be that hung up on me, to not remarry almost eighteen years after our divorce. It was one of the main reasons I was against marriage.

I went into the kitchen, which was still the same striking, ugly yellow-Renee's attempt at having a little sunshine in Forks, no doubt-and looked through the cabinets, which were all empty except for plates and cups. There was a canister of coffee on the counter, so I made a pot, and then looked into the fridge. Completely bare accept for a little sandwich meat and a gallon of milk, a case of beers, and exactly two and a half bottles of water.

Clearly Charlie hadn't thought about shopping for more than the bare necessities when it was just him here. I'd have to stop by the station after school and get a little cash off him to get some real food.

I found a go cup in the back of the little cabinet above the sink, and rinsed it out before putting the coffee in it. It was more bitter than I was used to, but I adjusted fairly quickly. Which only that to go on until lunch, I drank it sparingly while setting up my laptop. There was a phone line stabled along the floor by the desk, the excess reaching up to it. I clicked my tongue, but made it work. That would be something I would insist upon. Wifi. Even if I had to pay the bill myself.

I would also be going to the bookstore after school. Hopefully they hadn't already filled the position. If they had, I'd settle for the Newtons store. Hopefully that Mike guy wasn't awful.

I still had thirty minutes to get to school, but I figured I'd go on and leave. Who knew how long it would take to get any information I needed squared away.

So I grabbed what was left of my coffee and my purse, and I headed out to the truck. I'd gotten all the way in the cab when I realized I didn't have the key for it, or the house to get back into.

I sighed, and rubbed my forehead, and thank God someone had invented cell phones. I called Charlie.

He didn't pick up, and I figured I'd have to walk to school in the mud and rain on my first day. But lucky for me, as I was sitting then internally hating life, Charlie called back.

"Hey, Bells," He said. "Sorry about that. I was in a meeting. Some hikers found a body in the woods, we're fixin' to head out there and check it out. But I wanted to call you back right quick. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, well, no. I don't have a key to the truck yet, or the house," I said, picking at the peeling leather interior. Charlie swore.

"I've got a spare key to the house above the door for this afternoon, and I'll have a copy made for you after my shift ends. Your truck keys are on the table by the door," He said. "Sorry about that, I meant to tell you last night."

"It's okay, I should've asked," I tell him. "Be careful in the woods."

"Always am," He said. "Love you, Bells."

"Love you, too."

He hung up, and I jumped out of the truck and ran up on the porch. It took me a moment to find the key on doorframe, but I did. It was caked in dust and I had to wipe it off on the jeans before I unlocked the door. My keys were sitting there on the table as promised, and I grabbed them up quickly, locking the door back again before run back to the truck. The rain had picked up.

It wasn't hard to find the school. Like most things in Forks, it was just off the main road, and was announced by the large FORKS HIGH SCHOOL sign. There weren't many people there yet, in fact, the school bus was just leaving to go pick up the few kids that still rode it. I shuddered. I never imagined I'd live in a town that only needed one school bus.

The lady behind the front desk was very helpful, and had already taken care of everything that needed taking care of. She gave me a thick packet and told me everything I needed was in there. I thanked her, taking the packet from her and almost dropping it. She went to grab it at the same time I did, and our hands brushed.

It felt like I was being electrocuted, like that time when I was seven and had been plugging my TV in without Renee knowing and had accidently brushed the metal prongs that weren't all the way in the plug yet. My entire arms vibrated then, and they did the same now, and I got a horrible image of the sweet Miss Cook lying on a bed with her neck ripped out, reaching a hand to me and whispering a word a couldn't make out over and over again.

I yanked my hand back, and the packet fell to the floor.

"Are you okay, dear?" Miss Cook asked. I shook my head, rubbing my arms.

"'m sorry," I mumbled, grabbing the packet. "I-um. I need to go."

"But are you-"

"I'm okay," I said, almost running out the door and back to my truck. Once I was safely in the cab, I threw my purse and packet to the other seat and rubbed my arms, scratching down them and leaving angry red marks.

I couldn't get the image of Miss Cook lying there out of my head, she'd looked so…gruesome, so awful. I willed the image away, but it refused to, and I gripped my arms tighter and banged my head against the steering wheel and I wailed.

It felt like hours later that I stopped screaming, that I picked my head up from the steering wheel. I felt disoriented, like I'd been asleep for a long time. I looked at my arms, and they were perfectly fine, no angry red marks. My head didn't hurt from banging it on the steering wheel, and there weren't any marks from it. There was a low hum around me, and I looked out the windshield, and noticed that the parking lot had filled around me.

I gulped, and grabbed my purse and the packet. I reached into the yellow envelope, and took out the map of the school and my class schedule only. Then I sighed, gripped the handle, and let myself out of the truck. I put the entire matter with Miss Cook from my mind, and the image of her bloodied body faded to the back of my mind. I went to my first period History class, and suffered through.

When making the decision to move form wild and wonderful Phoenix to quaint and quite Forks, I had anticipated a massive culture shock. I'd figured the guys would be more into hunting than becoming models, the girls a little less giggly and more simple. Upon my first hour in Forks High, I quickly learned that teenagers in all parts were teenagers, and while the guys were more outdoorsy and the girls a little less prone to throwing themselves about, it changed nothing in the ego only a seventeen year old boy could have, nor did it change to silliness of the girls, and I was quickly drowning in it.

In Phoenix, I could distance myself from it. I could hide out in the library and read books or put earbuds in and not listen to the simpering of the girls who claimed to be my friends, but secretly dissed me when they thought I wasn't listening, or wasn't around. In Forks, it was another matter altogether.

There was no large school library in Forks, and my IPod hadn't been put on charge last night, therefore it wasn't an option, and I was forced to hear every last little detail about Forks and the kids that we went to school with from a girl named Jessica that had found me in History and had somehow managed to stay attatched to me hip until my Biology class before lunch.

She told me every detail about her friend Lauren's nights and who she had and hadn't been with, and if she had been with someone, that person was generally off limits unless he wasn't good, but if she hadn't been, then they were definitely off limits until she'd determined whether he was good or not. I figured only in a small town could a single girl know how all the guys were in bed and it not be thought weird. Jessica coughed when I said this, and I thought perhaps she was hiding a laugh, because Lauren had been walking in front of us.

I didn't make a friend out of Lauren, and somehow, I figured that was a good thing.

I also learned about Mike Newton and how Jessica Did Not have a crush on him, and I took that to me that she Really Did, and mentally decided to distance myself from him, as somehow, Jessica was already seeming jealous of me and the attention I was getting from being the new girl, and as Jessica was the only one that was talking to me and not staring, I figured I'd keep her. Even if her gossip could get dreadfully dull and boring.

She just started talking about a group of foster kids when I reached my Biology class and the bell rang and she ran off because her French class was on the other end of the school. I shook my head, and went into Biology.

Mr. Banner and I were going to get on just fine, I'd decided, as he didn't introduce me to the class like every other teacher had. Perhaps it was because he was my third teacher that day, and therefore I'd already met everyone in the Junior class in my last two classes, but he didn't, and I was incredibly grateful. He sat me in the only open seat in the back of the class, beside and Edward Cullen. Edward gave me a polite nod and a half smile that made the girl sitting at the lab across the aisle swoon. I just gave him a polite smile back as Mr. Banner started the lab.

Edward didn't talk much. He introduced himself, and I introduced myself, and the only other words spoken between us was about the lab, and I was quite fine with that. Back in Phoenix, my lab partner had been a chatty girl and every less she messed it up because she was more focused on talking to me. I thought I saw Edward smile as I thought of this, but I didn't let myself think about it. It wasn't like he could read my mind or anything.

I thought privately that he was quite handsome, and absentmindedly wondered if this was the 'Eddy' Jessica had been referring to, the 'totally hot and unattainable Eddy who simply won't give me the time of day, and I'm totally over it, totally' Eddy. He was good looking, I thought, and I wondered idly why he hadn't dropped out to become a model. He certainly had a better shot than the three guys that had dropped out in my high school in Phoenix did the week before I left.

Edward coughed, and I gave him a strange look, before going back to the lab in silence, and when the bell rang, Edward and I only gave each other polite nods before going out separate ways, and I decided that he was the only person I would be forced to socialize with that I could tolerate.

At lunch, I didn't immediately spot Jessica, and I felt wave after wave of panic. Where was I supposed to go, without Jessica there? In such a small town, everyone had their groups, and they all sat together at lunch, and there wasn't one completely empty table.

I spent the entire lunch line panicking, and then, blessedly, Jessica came running into the lunch room and glued herself to my side before I was finished paying. She didn't get a tray, and she was talking ninety to nothing.

"OhmyfuckingGodIdidn'tknowEddywouldbeyourlabpartnerholyshitholyshityoudidn'ttellhimwhatIsaiddidyou!?" She hissed in my ear as she led me to a partially empty table. I blinked at her, and handed her my water.

"What the fuck did you just say," I deadpanned. She gulped down the water, and then said, thankfully in a much calmer voice:

"I had no idea Eddy was going to be your lab partner, you didn't say anything about what I said about him, did you?" She said, setting my water on the table and stealing a fry off my tray. Jessica was not a girl prone to personal space and boundaries, I realized.

"I barely spoke two words to him, and they were 'I'm Bella'," I assured her. She sighed, her shoulders slumping.

"Thank God," She said. "But how in the hell could you not talk to him!? I mean, I would've totally blubbered my way through talking to him, but come on! You didn't say one thing?"

"Not really," I shrugged, sinking my nails into my apple, since I had no intentions of eating it. "He was rather unremarkable, if you ask me."

Her mouth dropped, and I smiled slightly.

"Are you serious? He's like, a Calvin Klein model!"

"I didn't say he wasn't," I said. "I said he was unremarkable. And what I mean by that, is that to be remarkable, I feel you should have the model looks, and a brain to match, and that include being able to hold a conversation."

"So by that logic, you're not remarkable?" She said. I raised an eyebrow at her, and her eyes widened. "I didn't mean it like that! I meant, you don't talk much, either. You're very beautiful, I'm incredibly jealous."

I shrugged. "You shouldn't be jealous," I tell her, picking at her curls and making it bounce. "You could be a Victoria Secrets model if you wanted." Jessica blushed pink.

"Don't lie to me, Bella," She said. I smiled.

"I'm not," I tell her. She smiled back at me, and then steam rolled back into Edward.

"But like I was saying, Edward is one of the foster children I was talking about earlier," She said. "His brother Emmett is just as hot as he is, and their sister Alice is tiny, but she got a really subtle beauty, you know? Like she knows she's beautiful, but she won't do much about it. I wouldn't say Victoria Secret, but she could like, a nameless model that dating that famous guy in a rock band, you know?" I nodded. "And then there's the Hales, Rosalie and Jasper. Rosalie really is a Victoria Secret model, she's stunning. I swear to God, if I was closeted and she wasn't with Emmett, I'd be with her in a heart…beat."

Her eyes got really big and she blushed bright pink, looking anywhere but at me. I was confused at first, but then realized she hadn't meant to come out to me. I tapped her shoulder, and she looked at me.

"I won't tell anyone," I tell her. "I swear. If I do, you can tell the whole school that I've got an STD or something equally as awful."

Jessica laughed, and hugged me tightly, and whispered a thank you, but that she wouldn't tell people I had an STD. Maybe that I wore granny panties, but not that I had an STD. I laughed with her, and she went back into a full rant about the Cullens and the Hales.

"But you know what's really weird?" She said.

"What?" I asked around a bite of potatoes. She scoffed at me, and I flicked her.

"Rosalie and Emmett are together. Like, together together. They live under the same roof, and they're together."

I raise my eyebrow up at her, and ask, "So what?"

"Well, it's just weird," She said. "I mean, I know they're not actually related, but it's weird, you know?"

"I don't really think so," I tell her honestly.

"You don't?"

"Well, look at it like this. They're not related, not by blood. They might've been adopted by the same people and probably should had traditionally seen each other as siblings, but they found love in each other, and I think it's kind of nice. The foster system can be horrid, Jessica. Don't you think it's kind of…Poetic? That they were ripped away from their own families, their old lives, and probably tossed around in the foster system for years before being adopted by the same people, and finding each other?"

Jessica looked a little ashamed. "I guess you're right. But it'd be awkward as hell if they broke up."

"I don't think they would," I say. "That's them, isn't it?" I say, nodding to a Victoria Secret model worthy girl, and a large brute of a guy who were wrapped up in each other with heart eyes and gooey smiles. Jessica sighed wistfully.

"Yeah," She said. "That's them."

"And the other two are Jasper and Alice?" Jessica nodded.

"Jasper looks different though," She said, resting her head on her hand as she openly stared. I looked at them too, because it was kind of hard to look away. They were all unearthly beautiful, it almost hurt to look at. "He normally looks like he's in pain. Today… Not so much."

Her voice sounded far away, and I cocked my head to the side as I listened, studying him. He was teasing Rosalie and Emmett, and Alice was laughing beside him. Edward was smirking, and he seemed very carefree, almost angelic. As I thought this, Edward said something that made the other four smirk, and Jasper to look quite embarrassed, and tuck his head towards his chest. I thought for a moment he was looking at me, but I didn't let that thought go anywhere. He wouldn't have been, anyway.

He wasn't built like Edward, who was more lanky than his brother and adoptive brother. Edward was more boyish, and Emmett was large, like a wrestler on steroids. The term all brawn no brain came to mind, but it also didn't seem to entirely fit to Emmett, either, for some reason. Jasper, on the other hand, had a more subtle strength, with rippling muscles under her shirt and blonde hair that was pulled back into a knot at the base of his neck, and a sort of rugged handsomeness. He wasn't the type of handsome that you'd expect from a man in a suit, and he wasn't exactly a model, though he could certainly pass for one. He was like, a rock star, someone who would party his nights away and could get a million girls, but didn't. He had a rugged handsome, and it was striking to me.

Jessica was still talking, but I was no longer listening. I was startled by my sudden attraction to Jasper. I'd never gone for the rugged features and 'bad boy' persona before. For Christ sake, Edward was more my type that anything. Bookish, boyish. But something about Jasper, I didn't know what it was, but I was attracted, and I didn't think it would be going away anytime soon.

"Bella, Bella? Bella," Jessica said, waving her hand in front of my face and then turning my chair to direct my attention away from the Cullens. She had a knowing look to her. "You would look go together," She said. "You and Jasper."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I say, going back to sinking my nails in my apple. Jessica scoffed.

"Of course you don't," She said teasingly. "But, and I don't mean this in a mean way, don't get your hopes up. The Cullens and the Hales keep to themselves, they don't talk to anyone much. After they first got here, Edward, Jasper and Alice all turned down every single person in this school that was brave enough to ask them out. They're simply not interested."

I was a little disheartened by that, and maybe a little relieved. If Jasper wasn't interested in dating, I could force the silly attraction that had slammed into me like a train from my mind.

"Their egos are probably explosive," I said, "With those looks."

Jessica laughed, and nodded. "Probably! Not at all bae material."

"Not at all," I agreed, and I forced myself not to look back at the adoptive siblings.

I went by the station after school to see if Charlie could give me grocery money, but one of his deputies told me he was still out in the woods looking for that body. Apparently the hikers hadn't stayed with it and when Charlie got there, the body had been dragged off. Probably by animals, Deputy Mark said. I frowned, and asked if I could go into his office. Mark nodded, and let me in.

Charlie had a picture of me on his desk, from a few years ago, and there was picture of him and Billy Black in a boat as well. I smile, and sat at his desk. I didn't know how Charlie would feel about me looking through his things for any spare cash, but all my money had gone to clothes for up here, and I didn't have any to buy much needed groceries with.

As I expected, Charlie didn't have any cash lying about. I figured I'd just have to play the waiting game, and see if he'd just order a pizza for tonights dinner and then leave some money behind for me tomorrow. In the meantime, I left his office and asked Mark where the bookshop and Newtons was.

"Looking for a job?" The deputy said, nodding. "I wouldn't bother with the bookshop, my brothers son got hired there a few days ago. But Newtons is about five miles down this road, you can't miss it."

I thanked him, and he said 'happy to help' before going back to his computer. Mark was an older man, a little older than Charlie, and very kind. I smiled at him before I left. And he was right, I didn't miss Newtons at all. I went in nervously, and Mike, who I'd met briefly, light up.

"Bella!" He said. "What're you doing here?"

"Well, I was actually here to see if you were still hiring? Char-My dad mentioned you had been, but I didn't know if you still were," I said, picking at my purse. Mike nodded.

"Yeah, we totally are. Thank God, I thought no one was going to apply. Mom's been freaking out about it, and I can't handle all the stocking and stuff myself. Here, let me get my mom, and see what she says."

He ran off before I could reply, and I was left standing awkwardly by the counter he'd just abandoned. Thankfully, he and a lady who must've been his mom came back just a few minutes later.

"Bella, was it?" She said, reaching out her hand. I took it, and nodded. Mike was a ball of energy behind her. "My names Karin. I have to say, I'm very relieved you're here." I didn't know how to reply, so I just smiled. "To be honest, I'd be willing to hire you today, but I can't run a business like that. If you'll fill out this form and leave it with me, I'll contact you in a few days if everything checks out, okay?"

She handed me a form and a pen, and told me I could sit behind the counter unless a customer came up. Mike left me alone while I filled it out, and then took my place by the register when I was through. He pointed me in the direction of his moms office, and I knocked once. She let me in, and took the form, and thanked me several times before I left. I was rather optimistic about it, feeling sure that I would get hired, considering that I was the only person that applied.

Charlie came home late, and by the time he did, I was close to starving. I was laying on the couch when I heard the door open, and I rolled off it and look up at him, watching him take his gun belt off and his boots.

"I'm starving and there's no food," I tell him. He raised his head to look at me sheepishly.

"I knew I was forgetting something," He said. "I'll order a pizza?"

I nodded. "Extra cheese, no peppers."

"Got it."

"And if you'll give me the money, I'll go by the store tomorrow and pick up a few essentials that'll last us until you get paid again. And hopefully Miss Newton will hire me, too."

"So you applied, then?" He asked, dialing already. I nodded, but didn't say anything as he placed his order. "It look promising?" He asked after he hung up.

"Considering I'm the only one that's applied? Of course," I snarked. He chuckled.

"If you come by the station tomorrow after school, I'll give you my credit card," He tells me. "If I'm not there, it'll be under the phone." I nod, and go upstairs to shower while waiting on the pizza to get there.