Thank you to everyone that reviewed and/or put this story on alert. It really means a lot and I'm excited to start updating this story!

This story is going to be very different from anything else I've written. There is going to be a lot of angst, as well as a lot of situations that some people may not be comfortable reading. There will be cheating, drug use, and alcohol abuse. This story is about a very imperfect Edward and Bella and their journey. I promise that they will end up together in the end, but it will be a bumpy ride.

Thank you so much to Christag Banner for helping me with this chapter!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. Only the plot is mine.

Chapter One – Nine Years Earlier

EPOV

I really wished that I had opted to go to college in a city other than the one where my parents still lived. I love Chicago, but it is way too easy for my parents to demand that I come see them when they think that I've done something wrong. Unfortunately for me, that is fairly often. I am definitely not the golden boy that they hoped for, so I always seem to be getting a call from my father so that he can talk with me about what it means to be a Cullen.

I walked into the house I had grown up in and into my father's office and prepared myself for the talk. It was the same talk that I had been getting for the past year, and it was really starting to get old. My father was a very famous heart surgeon. His father had been a very famous lawyer. His grandfather had been a very famous banker. We had a lot of money and our name had a lot of power. Unfortunately, my father didn't like that I wasn't doing everything I could to carry on that legacy.

"Edward, have a seat," my father said while he finished typing on his computer. I sat in one of the leather chairs across from his desk and glanced around his office. Not much had changed over the years. He still had the same gorgeous wood desk and leather chairs, and the same rug was still on the floor. The only thing that had changed was the pictures. Although there were still a few of me and my sister Alice as young children, the majority were much more recent, and most of them included my niece, Victoria. I was looking at the most recent picture of Victoria as she played in the backyard when my father snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Edward, I know you are tired of coming here and listening to me lecture to you," he told me, and I nodded. I was really fucking tired of him lecturing me.

"Well I'm tired of lecturing you, son. You're a Cullen. You know what that means. You were given every luxury possible growing up and all your mother and I ever expected in return was that you stay out of trouble and graduate from college. Yet neither of those seem to be something you are currently willing to do."

"I'm in college dad," I replied, exasperated. "I'm only a sophomore. Graduation is a little ways off for me."

My dad sighed and leaned back in his chair. "You're undeclared with a GPA so low that I'm not entirely sure how you are still in college. The kids you hang out with are not even close to being in your league. I know that you at least do pot, if not harder drugs, and you drink like a fish."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry my friends don't have the money we do and therefore don't meet your standards. And I'm not doing hardcore drugs. I will graduate when the time comes, but I'm only 19. I did nothing but study and take care of Victoria while I was in high school. Excuse me for wanting to have a life now that I'm in college."

"The reason that I disapprove of your friends has nothing to do with money, Edward. It's what they do and what you do when you are with them. I'm done having this discussion with you. Get your act together. I'm giving you until May to straighten up or your mother and I will cut you off. That's four months away. If you don't finish this semester with at least a B average then all of your money is gone. And I better not hear about you getting high again. Do not test me on this, son."

I stood up, pissed the fuck off at my father. "Whatever, dad. I will do what you want, but you can't control me forever. This is such fucking bullshit."

"Watch your language, Edward! This is still my house and you will still respect me here. I don't care if you don't like the conditions I'm giving you. You've given me no other choice. Now go tell your mother hello before you leave. She will enjoy seeing you."

I walked out of his office without responding. I was so over his fucking rules. So what if I got high every once in a while? And so what if I didn't know what I wanted to do for the rest of my damn life at the age of 19? I didn't need his bullshit ultimatums.

I did, however, go look for my mother. As much as my dad pissed me off, I couldn't bring myself to take it out on my mom. She was the greatest woman that I knew. She raised my sister and me without much help from my dad because he was always at the hospital. I loved my mom more than anything, and even though realistically I knew that she was just as much a part of the ultimatum as my dad, I also knew that it was because she loved me. I wasn't so sure of that when it came to my father. I knew that he loved me in his own way, but I also was fairly certain that he got at least a little joy out of trying to control me.

I found my mom in the kitchen, baking. I walked up behind her and snagged a chocolate chip cookie that was cooling on a baking sheet.

"Edward!" She exclaimed, batting my hand away from her cookies. "Those are for my book club. Don't eat the cookies!"

I laughed and grabbed another one, knowing that she didn't mean it. My mom loved feeding me.

"So, another book club meeting, huh?" I asked. "You seem to have those a lot."

My mom laughed and shook her head at me. "Most people read more than one book a lifetime sweetheart. I have a meeting here once a month. You should join me sometime."

"I would really love to, but I probably have better things to do than hang out with a bunch of old woman and discuss romance novels," I said teasingly.

She arched an eyebrow at me. "Are you calling me old, Edward?"

Shit, I stuck my foot in my mouth there. My mom had recently turned 45 and was very sensitive about her age. I loved my mom, and truthfully she was kind of old, but I didn't want to actually tell her that. Luckily the doorbell sounded before I was forced to reply.

"Oh, will you please answer that, Edward? I need to take out this last batch of cookies really fast. Just show whoever it is to the front parlor and tell them I will be there in just a minute."

I nodded at my mom and went to answer the door. I was expecting it to be one of my mom's friends, but I was pleasantly surprised. When I opened the door I came face to face with a gorgeous brunette. A young, gorgeous brunette.

I leaned against the door frame and smiled lazily at the brunette, intending to lay on the Cullen charm that I knew drove girls crazy. Before I could though I saw her look me up and down, but she didn't seem amused. She crossed her arms over her chest and started tapping her foot up and down.

"It's rude to open a door and then just ogle the person standing on the other side," the brunette said to me. She was a feisty little thing.

"It's not often that cute little girls ring this doorbell. I'm guessing you're lost, but I would be more than willing to help you out," I replied. I was used to girls throwing themselves at me. Sometimes it was because of my last name or my trust fund, but even when they didn't know about those things they would still do it because of my looks. I knew that I was good looking and I had no problem using it when it helped me.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Esme told me she had a son, but when she said he was a sweetheart I believed her. I'm starting to see now that her 'little sweetheart' is definitely not the accurate term for you. I'm here for your mother, so I would appreciate you letting me in and letting her know that I'm here."

And the brunette officially went from gorgeous to bitchy in less than a minute. Well, she was still gorgeous. But the bitchy outweighed it and I had no desire to deal with a bitch that thought she knew me after meeting me for all of 30 seconds.

I scowled at her and stepped back so she could walk through the front door.

"My mother is in the kitchen. You can go in the parlor or go find her in the kitchen. I really don't give a shit," I told her and then walked out of the house. I glanced back at her once to see her glaring at me before she walked in the house. As I got in my car I noticed that there was a brand new Acura NSX sitting in our driveway that I assumed was hers. Great, she wasn't just a bitch but a rich bitch. Thank god I wouldn't ever have to see her again.

A week later I had all but forgotten about the brunette. I had actually gone to class that week, since it was the first week of classes. I was still pissed about my dad giving me the ultimatum, but I also was smart enough to know that he meant it and would not have any problem cutting me off if I fucked up this semester. So I went to class. But I also kept partying when I wanted to and kept hanging out the friends that he found unacceptable.

The Friday night after the first week of classes, I went to a party with my friend James. I'm not sure how he found out about the party, because when we showed up I realized really fast that these weren't the normal people we hung out with at all. There were Greek letters painted across one wall of the apartment, indicating that the owner of the house was in a fraternity. I didn't really have anything against frat guys, but James always talked shit about them. I found it odd that he was now willingly at one of their parties.

James saw me eyeing the guys at the party and he laughed. "Dude, I know. I still don't like most frat guys. But Eric and Ben are in one of my classes and they aren't terrible. Plus they said that there was going to be plenty of alcohol and girls at this party. I figured it was worth it to be around some of the douche frat guys to get free alcohol and hopefully some hot chicks."

I shrugged, not really caring why we were there. The free alcohol was nice, but I had plenty of money at the moment and wasn't really concerned with the cost of liquor. While hot girls were nice to look at and flirt with, I had no intention of sleeping with one. I liked girls. I liked looking at girls, I liked kissing girls, and I liked messing around with girls. But I had yet to sleep with a girl. After the unplanned birth of Victoria, I was way too cautious. I had spent too many of my high school years taking care of a baby, and it effectively scared me into celibacy for the time being.

We had been at the party for a couple of hours when I decided to walk outside to smoke. I had been trying to quit for the past few months because it really was a nasty habit, but I was bored. The free alcohol was nice, but the girls at the party were more interested in talking to each other about their clothes than anything else. The guys just kept challenging each other to chugging contests, which gets old to watch after a while. I needed a break.

I stepped out on the back porch and lit up a cigarette. I had only been out there a few seconds when I heard someone speak next to me.

"Well if it isn't the little sweetheart. Your mother would be heartbroken to see you standing out here with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other."

I whipped my head around and saw the rich bitch from the past weekend leaning against the porch railing. She was standing by herself in a corner, so I hadn't seen her when I walked out. If I had I definitely would have turned around and walked right back inside.

I took another drag of my cigarette before saying "Well if it isn't the halfway gorgeous brunette who thinks she knows me just because Esme Cullen took an interest in her."

She rolled her eyes but then she smiled. "So you think I'm halfway gorgeous, huh? Why only halfway?"

I stared at her, unable to speak for a second. I expected her to be pissed at what I said, not smile and ask why I thought she was gorgeous. But I decided to answer her anyway, because despite what I wanted to think about her, the girl was intriguing.

"I thought you were completely gorgeous when I first saw you the other day. But then you opened your smart mouth and were downgraded to only halfway."

I expected that to piss her off, but again she surprised me. She threw her head back and laughed, and even though I would never admit it out loud, that laugh completely upgraded her back to completely gorgeous. I was mesmerized by her in that moment.

"Oh Edward, you definitely aren't the first person to have a problem with my smart mouth," she said, still smiling as she took a drink of her beer. I caught myself smiling back at her.

"I'm guessing my mother told you my name, so it's only fair that you tell me yours. Or I could keep calling you some of the not so pleasant names that have run through my head when I have thought of you," I told her, really hoping that she would tell me. For some reason I felt the need to know more about this girl.

"You've thought of me? That's really sweet. All good, I'm sure," she smirked at me before continuing. "I'm Bella."

"Well, Bella, I guess the polite thing for me to do would be to tell you that all things I thought about you were nice. But I think we both know that would be a lie after our not so nice meeting the other day. So instead of lying and trying to be polite, I will ask you a question. What were you doing at my house last weekend?"

"I'm in your mother's book club," she answered, shocking me once again. I thought that the only people in that club were my mother's older friends. Perhaps I should have checked out some of the meetings much sooner. My mom hadn't told me that she was bringing pretty girls over.

We talked a couple of more minutes before I noticed that she was shivering. She had on a jacket, but it was winter in Chicago, so the weather wasn't really friendly for spending a lot of time outdoors, especially at night. I looked at my watch and realized that we had been standing outside talking for quite some time. I suggested that we go in to warm up, and Bella followed back inside.

I expected her to go back to her friends or whoever she had come here with, and I was surprised at the disappointment that coursed through me when I thought about it. But again Bella did the unexpected. She spent the rest of the evening hanging out with me. We drank beer, played a few rounds of drinking games with James and a few other people, and we actually had a good time. When James was ready to leave at about two in the morning, I realized that I wasn't ready to leave Bella. Of course, I had ridden with him so I didn't really have a choice. I turned and told her goodbye before begrudgingly getting up and following James to his car.

Just as I was getting into the passenger seat, I saw the front door open and Bella came running out. "Edward!" She yelled and I immediately walked to her. She tilted her head up to smile at me and grabbed my hand. The next thing I knew I had a phone number written on my palm in black marker.

"Call me sometime," she said before turning and walking back inside. I stood there dumbfounded for a minute, trying to wrap my head around the fact that the girl I had been calling 'rich bitch' had just given me her number. Then I stood there for another minute trying to wrap my head around why I was so happy. As I walked back to James' car I quickly pulled out my phone and typed Bella's number into my contacts. There was no way I wanted to lose that number.