The Arrival:
Moving to Forks, deciding to move in with Charlie was a hard decision. I'd be lying to myself if I said I was excited. But I knew my mother I knew her neurotic need to travel, her longing to go with her new husband Phil and spend as much time with him as she wanted while they were on the road.
So, I said yes, and this will be a good thing, I think.
"You'll call, every day, right?" my mother hugged me tight as I stood in front of the boarding gate.
Flight 286 is now boarding please have your tickets ready.
I heard the booming voice over the sound speaker and slung my violin case over my shoulder preparing to board. The security wanted me to leave the bag with the workers to load, but after fighting with them for about 20 minutes my mother convinced them it would fit in the carry on and that it was too expensive of an item to go through baggage claim.
"Of course, mom, everyday." I smiled at her trying to make sure my face looked reassuring.
I could feel the slight burn sting behind the back of my eyes as I swallowed a lump in my throat forcing myself not to cry.
If I cried I knew she wouldn't let me go, and that's not what she wanted, not what I wanted for her.
"All right, I love you honey!"
"Love you too mom." I shyly looked down at my feet as I walked through the gates not even daring myself to look back at her.
It wasn't long before I was seated with my violin case in the overhead above me. I was stuck in the middle seat between a sweet older lady and a middle-aged man. He was dressed in an expensive looking suit no doubt on his way to some fancy business meeting located in Seattle.
The flight wasn't a bad one only about 3 hours.
"Headed to Washington, are you?" The older lady leaned over and smiled at me.
"Um, yes I am." I stuttered.
"Me too I'm visiting my daughter she just had my grandchild, oh I can't wait to meet her"
"Congratulations." I smiled at her. She was a nice woman, and I enjoyed the talking it helped keep me less nervous and more distracted during takeoff.
"I'm Irene." She said lightly touching my hand, whether it was for her comfot or my own I wasn't sure.
"I'm Isabella," I said squeezing her hand back.
"But you can just call me Bella."
"Well Bella I noticed you came on with a rather interesting shaped carry-on luggage." She raised her eyebrow quizzically at me.
"Do you play the guitar?" she asked me.
I giggled. Everyone always thought it was a tiny guitar.
Truth was I played the Violin. My mother had started me with piano lessons when I was three but I immediately became bored with it. One day we were early to one of our lessons and a young girl had left her violin sitting out while she was speaking with the teacher.
Next thing I knew like a moth being drawn to a flame I snatched her violin up and had begun trying to play it like a little guitar.
Eventually after a torrential amount of begging, and pleading with my mother she allowed me to take lessons.
"It's actually a violin." I laughed lightly at Irene's shocked face.
"My word! Well now I cannot wait to tell my Shannon I sat right next to a famous musician on my flight, she will be very impressed!" she feigned a shocked expression. The crow's feet lining her eyes perked up as an exasperated breath left her aging lips.
"I'm certainly not famous." I laughed shyly at her reaction.
"Little lady one day just you wait, you're going to shock the world with your playing, and I have no doubt in my mind that when you do only the most deserving ones will be listening to you." she winked at me.
"Thank you. That means a lot to me." I smiled back at her this time more sincerely.
The rest of the ride was quietly filled with the soft snoring coming from the middle-aged man to the left of me, and the soft clinking of wood on wood to my right as I watched Irene knit a baby blue wool sweater for her granddaughter.
Leaving me alone with my thoughts didn't seem like the best idea at the moment, fearing I would think of my mother and become even more restless and homesick. So, I decided to listen to some music.
I choose "On the Nature of Daylight." By Max Richter. One of my favorites.
Before long I realized the plane was landing and we had reached our destination when I felt Irene reach over for my hand squeezing her frail grip in mine tightly.
Stepping into the airport I began searching for Charlie. I made my way towards baggage claim and collected the rest of my bags before spotting Charlie towards the exit.
Making my way towards him I smiled awakrdly as we hugged each other.
"Bella." He smiled at me.
"Dad." "How was the flight?" he asked me picking up my suitcase for me and walking towards the exit.
"It wasn't too bad a short flight." I said hiking my violin further up my shoulder.
"Still plucking the old heartstrings huh?" he asked me.
"Yeah." I laughed lightly.
"Forks has a music program, right?" I asked. I knew they didn't have quite the program I was used to at my old school. But I'd hoped they at least had some sort of music centered classes at my new school.
"Yeah they do maybe you can teach those yahoos a little something." He smiled back at me.
The drive home was pretty quiet and it wasn't long before we reached the town of forks.
As we were driving down the road, Charlie looked over at me no doubt trying to break some of the silence between us.
"Your hair looks longer since last time I saw you." He huffed out.
Leave it to Charlie to try to start small talk. Sometimes we were almost too eerily similar. I was okay with silence found comfort in it even. I knew Charlie did too but it felt like he needed to feel things out make sure that was okay with me too.
"I cut it since last I saw you." I stated looking down and playing with my ends.
"Well." he awkwardly cleared his throat.
"It looks good on you." He stated matter of factly.
"Thanks Dad." I smiled back at him.
It wasn't long after that before he pulled into the driveway of an old white house.
I hadn't seen the house in years ever since mom left. Everything seemed different then it had since last time I'd been here.
Charlie helped me bring my bags inside and up the stairs to my new bedroom for the next little while.
"Sale's lady picked out the comforter, you like purple, right?" he asked.
"Purples good." I said shaking my head up and down as I sat down on my bed propping my violin case up next to me.
"Alright then I'll let you get settled in." he stated before walking out.
Best thing about Charlie? He doesn't hover.
Sighing out a large breath I collapsed back onto the bed letting the day's events wash over me.
I was definitely not looking forward to my first day of school tomorrow.
It was March which meant it was the middle of the semester, not to mention my junior year.
Tomorrow would definitely be a tough day.
Getting up I walked towards the window before hearing someone call my name.
"Bella!"
"Come down here a sec!". I heard Charlie yell faintly from downstairs before hearing the sound of a roaring engine kicking up gravel as it pulled into our driveway.
As I walked out the door I saw a huge old busted faded red truck sitting in the driveway most likely the cause of the booming noise.
"I walked over to my dad noticing two people standing next to him I smiled at them sheepishly.
"Bella, you remember Billy and his son Jacob Black, right?" he spoke pointing at the two.
"Of course." I spoke.
"We used to make mud pies when we were younger right?" I asked Jacob.
He nodded at me smiling.
We conversed for a while before Charlie looked at me slapping his hand on the bed of the old rusted truck.
"So, what do you think?" he asked me.
"About what?" I responded with.
"Your homecoming present, just bought it off Billy here." He smiled at me.
"What? This is, this is perfect." I stuttered out excited.
I had never had my own car before so I was definitely excited.
"Thank you so much!" I smiled up at Charlie eagerly.
I was tempted to run and give him a hug but was still too unsure so instead I settled for a giant smile and hoped into the truck to get a better look at it.
Jacob helped me figure out the gear shifts as well as any other important aspects of the trucks inner workings I should know about.
Shortly after Billy and Jacob left Charlie ordered us a pizza and I went to bed.
Sleep was completely out of the question as I tossed and turned virtually all night restless of the day to come at my first day of school.
I settled for running through violin pieces by Chopin and Vivaldi in my head before tiring my brain out and succumbing to sleep.