EDITED, RE POSTED. JAN 22
Title: Twisted Twilight
Author: Midnight
Beta: Moonlite
Synopses: A different version of Twilight. What if Renee never married Phil, but John Reed, a local cop. John is actually an alcoholic, and is abusive to Bella and Renee. It's after a brutal attack, that Bella decides to go to Forks to live with her Father. As Bella's life experiences have changed, so has our beloved story. See how!
Rating: T
Chapter: Two
Chapter Title: Day One
Warning: Includes mention of violence, and rape.
Author Note: I'm attempting to stick close to SM twilight, especially in the beginning, but I'm changing some shit up. Sorry if it's a slow start, but bare with me. I think it's working out pretty well, all things considered. Some chapters in here, will be longer then in the book, others shorter. Some situations will be added, some just completely gone. But, the first day at school, no one really knows hey yet, so I couldn't change too much. Sorry about that.
To everyone who reviewed, or marked as fav. Story or what not, I just want to say thank you! You're all amazing. Keep reviewing! Lol. Let me know what you think. For those of you who didn't review, review!
Special Thanks: Candracar-Angel-101, DreamingofEdward, Bummer, Drama Kagome, Gothic Saku-chan, ferocious7, DobbyWobby, and xCharlotteCullen. If I missed anyone, I super sorry.
I never fit in with people, particularity ones my own age. My mom and I used to be really close, closer then anyone else on the planet I thought. But then she met John and everything changed.
From day one I didn't like him, didn't trust him. The way he looked at her like a toy, was sickening, and the particular way he looked at me, was terrifying. It made me wonder if she was blind. But as time went on, I realized a lot of people liked him. I had voiced my concerns numerous times, but she told it was all in my head.
One day we got into a huge argument about it; she told me that I was just being selfish because I didn't want a step dad. That I didn't want her to be happy. I was so hurt by her assumptions, I ran up to my room and locked the door. That's when I realized how brain washed she'd become, and I stopped trying to fight it.
Every since then I've wondered if I saw the world through my eyes differently then she did through hers. Differently then the rest of the world. I'd secretly always wondered if maybe there was some sort of glitch in my brain.
But the cause for my difference didn't matter. No, all that mattered was the effect it had. My body was a perfect example of that; it didn't matter what the reason for the brutality was, it was the dark purple marks left behind.
And tomorrow would just be another testament to my freakiness. Someone already knew what my darkest secret was, and with my luck he was popular too. People that good looking always are. So much for my second chance, and new beginning. I'd be lucky if the whole school didn't know. Just another thing to make me different from everyone.
But I had to attempt to accept that; if I was the problem, then the effects would always be the same. I would always be different, no matter what. I would never be accepted completely, or understood. Stupid glitch.
I rolled onto my side, facing away from the door, and started to cry.
Even after I was done crying, I didn't sleep well. The constant whooshing of the wind reminded me too much distant yelling, and the pounding of the rain on the roof and window was like thousands of glass shards exploding on the floor.
When I did fall asleep, it was little after midnight. But my sleep wasn't even peaceful; I had terrible nightmares. Images of my mother, John, and that Edward guy constantly ran through my mind. I kept waking up, moaning and in a cold sweat. I couldn't understand why the dreams frightened me so much, which made them even more frightening. Every time I woke up, I just feel back into the dream. At four, I refused to attempt to sleep any longer, and simply laid in my bed.
I finally got out of bed around six-thirty, and was welcomed by thick fog out my window. When I was younger, this place made me clausterphobic; you could never see the sky, like some sort of cage. But now it seemed oddly comforting, like a sanctuary. Funny how things change, isn't it?
Breakfast was quiet. Charlie told me that if I wasn't ready to go to school yet, I could stay home another day. I assured him numerous times that I was fine. Another day alone in this house and I was likely to snap. He finally let the subject drop as he was leaving, and wished me luck as he ran out the door to the station.
The station was probably a heaven to him right now; it was predictable, calm even. It had been his wife and kids since my mother and I left so many years ago.
After spending the last few days wandering around the house, I felt I could draw the place perfectly from memory; the white linoleum floor in the kitchen, the small living room with the cozy fire place. Above said fire place, a photo of Charlie and my mom in Las Vegas; their wedding photo. Along the hall where the generic school photos of me, like a kaleidoscope of me growing up.
Even in those photo's I was easy to read. They each reflected a time in my life, the eyes a living tribute. In my grade nine photo you could see the anger- that was the year my mother met John, and got married three months later. In grade ten you could see the fear on my face, the year he started drinking heavily. The first time he yelled at me. In my photo from this past September, I wasn't even looking at the camera. I had tilted my head just enough to hide the bad cover up job on my face. My eyes where dull, blank even. My body was completely ridged, but my eyebrows where creased slightly. I looked down at the floor as my eyes began to burn. No wonder Charlie had called me the day he got the photo. I had just written the call of as a 'thank you' call, but he must have known something up. He just didn't know how to ask.
I walked toward the door, and decided that I would have to ask Charlie if he could put the photo's somewhere else- at least while I was living here.
I didn't want to be too early for school, but I couldn't stand being alone in the house any longer. So I grabbed my bag which Charlie had picked up for me yesterday with some school supplies, and pulled on my coat. The thing crinkled as I moved, like a bio-hazard suit, but I was certainly wasn't leaving without it.
With a deep breath, I walked out into the rain. I didn't bother locking the door, even though I knew where the key was 'hidden'; under the eaves by the door, where it always was. I didn't want to stand in the rain, and I assumed that no one was stupid enough to break into the chief of police's house in this town.
I opened the driver's side door, threw my bag in, and quickly followed. I slammed the door shut, and turned the ignition. The civic quietly purred to life as always, and I took a minute to scan for a radio station. I put the car in first, and began my journey to the school.
The school was off the high way, like everything else. It lacked the usual large institutional feeling, with nothing but a small sign to mark it. It was a collection of matching burgundy bricked houses, covered and hidden by a collection of shrubs and trees.
I pulled up to the first building, clearly marked: FRONT OFFICE. I reversed into one of the empty spaces, and ignored the posted: TEACHERS PARKING ONLY sign. I'd be moving in a minute, any ways.
As I walked towards the building, I instinctively pulled out my cell phone- something we used to have to do for the metal detectors back in Arizona, and laughed at myself. Forks High was not going to cameras, let alone detectors.
Once I entered the room, I became nervous. The small room was well lit, and surprisingly warm. It was split in half by a large counter littered with wire baskets, memos, and piles of the school news paper. On one half was a small waiting room, with flooding padding chairs, and ugly orange carpet. Potted plants seemed to clam every corner or free space; as if there wasn't enough greenery outside.
On the other side of the counter, was three desks. Two of which where empty, the third was manned by a large red-haired woman with a purple t-shirt and jeans on. At my old school students weren't allowed to wear jeans, let a lone teachers.
I tripped walking and caught myself on the counter. The red-haired woman looked up, startled, "You alright, dear?" I blushed a deep shade of red and nodded.
"Yea- just a little klutzy." I mumbled, correcting myself. "I'm Isabella Swan."
"Of course," she said, her eyes lighting up. Surely I was a topic of discussion all around the school by now; the chief's daughter who mysteriously showed up in the middle of the night. "I have your schedule right here, and a map of the school. I know we gave your dad a copy, but we had to switch you're 3rd period Bio to 5th." She brought several sheets over to me.
I pretended to listen carefully as she showed me the fastest routes to each class on the map, even though she had already highlighted and colour coated them, so to avoid me getting my routes mixed up. I didn't mention that my class back home had a larger population then this school.
"Now, I need you to bring back these papers at the end of the day with your teachers signatures on them."
"No problem." I smiled as convincingly as I could. She wished me luck as I escaped back out the door; was it bad luck to have a lot of people wish you luck? Surely it was shadowing something- that was my luck any ways.
When I pulled out of the teachers lot, a line of student traffic had entered. I joined in the procession to avoid circling like an idiot. More of the cars where fairly old, which didn't surprise me. It was a nice change though- back in Phoenix, it wasn't uncommon to see new Porsche's in the parking lot.
The civic seemed to stand out compared to some of the cars, so I parked near the back. I needed all the help I could get blending in. As I walked towards the school, I noticed a shiny Volvo which seemed to stand out. I was secretly pleased; it was flashier then my car any ways. The driver obviously didn't care either, as they parked near the front of the lot.
Building three was the first one of my right, which was also conveniently my first class. I joined the group of students walking in, glad my black rain coat didn't stand out. I paused for a moment outside of the door, and fought off the on coming hyperventilation. What if he was in this class? Would he laugh? Would be ignore me? Surely he'd told everyone.
For a split second, I debated turning around and marching right back to my car. But a bump from a passing student broke my dismal thoughts. I inhaled deeply, and lied to myself. I can do this, I can do this.
The classroom was small, but warm. I added my coat to the long row of hooks at the back, and quickly glanced around. No one seemed to take notice to me yet. I kept my head down as I marched up the isle, sneaking peaks here and there. Most of the girls where as pale as I was, which was nice. I had really gotten sick of being surrounded by tan girls all the time.
When I reached the teachers desk, a small name plate identified him as Mr. Mason. He gawked at me when he saw my name- not an encouraging response– and then sent me to an empty desk at the back of the room.
You'd think it would be hard to stair at someone at the back of the room, and pretend to pay attention, but someone how my new class managed. I spent the entire period blushing, with my head down. I glanced over the reading list once he began to drone on. I'd read everything on their before. Silently I cursed myself for not saving some old essays to a disk; mind you, how was I supposed to know?
I doodled on my paper for the remained of class, completely lost in my thoughts. When the bell finally rang it's awful nasal like ring, I jumped about a foot in the air. Just as I started to put my books into my bag, a lanky boy with acne and oily hair leaned over from across the isle to introduce himself. I moaned inwardly, knowing that this was just the beginning.
"You're Isabella Swan, right?"
"Bella." I corrected. Everyone around us paused, like I was growing a third head.
"I'm Eric." I shock his hand, and returned to putting books in my bag.
"What's your next class?" he asked.
"Government with Jefferson, in building six." I glanced around the room again; some people had started moving, but most just kept staring. I felt like the 'shiny new toy' to the kindergarten class.
"I'm in building four, right next to six, so I'll show you the way." He raised his hand to place on my shoulder, but I flinched back. I closed my eyes, embarrassed and blushing. Eric, presumably feeling just as awkward, turned and lead the way out the door. I pulled on my coat, and fallowed. At least I didn't need the map.
"So, who can't count?" I asked mocking in an attempt to break the silence. Sure, he was the awkward, AV club, overly helpful type, but he meant well, and I didn't want to kill my first possible friendship.
"What?" He looked confused. Apparently humor wasn't easily understood here.
"Building five should be between them." I pointed out, blankly. I looked over my shoulder to see about six people where walking just enough behind us to ease drop. Either that or I was becoming paranoid.
Or both.
"So you're from Arizona right?"
"Technically I'm from here. I moved to with my mom when I was very young, to Phoenix. Now I'm back."
"Must be a lot different here, huh?" he asked.
"Very. It rains only three or four times a year there, not a day." Eric laughed unnecessarily loud, presumably to make up for his lack of laughter earlier. I ignored him.
We walked back around the cafeteria, to the south buildings by the gym. Eric walked me right to the door, even though it was clearly marked.
"Thanks." I smiled vaguely as he wished me luck, and sighed in relief as soon as the door closed behind me.
The rest of the morning passed in the same fashion. Mr. Varner, my Trig teacher, was the only one who made me introduced myself in front of the class; as if I didn't have enough reason to hate him because of the class he taught.
After two classes, I began to recognize people though. Only girl sat beside me in Trig and Spanish, was very- talkative. She droned on about everything and nothing at the same time, like it was some strange talent. I didn't attempt to keep up, realizing I wouldn't know the names for at least a week any ways. She did however give a nice cover every time I walked into a room, or around a corner. Each time I felt my heart start to race, panicked that Edward Cullen would show up, and ruin everything. I could picture his honey eyes, staring in disgust. Disappointment. Rage.
I visibly shuttered as his face suddenly morphed into John's in my minds eye. The unexplainable anger seemed to connect them, yet they where different.
"You cold?" She asked, when we walked into the café. She was shorter then I was by, but he dark curly hair seemed to make it up.
"I'm fine." I assured her, "just a random chill, probably from the rain."
"Oh, okay." And just like that she was back to her mindless, endless, babbling.
She lead the way to one of the full table, with several people I now recognized. Understandable given the size of the school. She introduced every person around the table, but I forgot the names as soon as she said them.
Everyone seemed to ask the same questions; How was school so far? Did I like it here? And, surprisingly the most common question, why was I so pale if I came from Arizona. I blamed genetics.
I started poking at my bagel, while constantly scanning the room. I was searching for him, and his group of friends. I could picture it in my head, a group of them sitting around a table, all of them 'good looking', loud and laughing. Popular people where always the same. My hands shock in apprehension.
I was definitely getting paranoid.
When I did find him, my breath caught in my chest. He was sitting with a group of people, who although were inhumanly beautiful, they weren't laughing, or loud. They didn't even look happy. They where sitting in the far corner of the cafeteria, far from where anyone else was sitting. None of them were talking or even eating. And thankfully, none of them where gawking at me. I wondered if Edward had kept his mouth shut, like Dr. Cullen had said- wouldn't that be a surprise.
The group was made up of two girls, and three boys including Edward. All of them looked completely different, yet similar. Most distinguished, was their pale skin- it was paler then mine. They all looked tired, like they hadn't slept in weeks. The one girl was tall, with blonde hair which waved slightly, and had a body of a model. She was the kind of girl who made every other female within a twenty feet radius, feel inferior.
The other girl was small, and extremely thin. Everything about her seemed tiny, from her features to her height. She had a certain pixie like nature, which was almost playful. Short black hair was cropped short, and sticking out in every direction.
The large of the two unknown males sat with his arm around the blonde girl. He was extremely muscular, with dark curly hair. The other male was sitting neck to the small girl, looking very uncomfortable, and had a stressed expression. He was still muscular, but not as much as the other. He had messy honey brown hair, yet dark eyes that seemed to stand out, even at this distance.
The third male, was of course Edward Cullen. He looked less muscular next to the other two, more boyish in nature. His bronze hair reflected the flourescent lights, and almost shimmered. His hair was obviously very healthy.
What struck me right away from their posture, was that they weren't popular. Each one of them looked away- away from each other, away from anything in particularly, like they'd been outcasted from the school. It seemed unusual to me; normal people clung to the pretty people, and praised them like gods, why was Forks any different?
The short pixie like girl stood up, taking her tray with an unopened soda, and unbitten apple, and walked away like a graceful ballet dancer. She dumped her tray, and vanished through the back doors. I had tried that, I'd probably fall flat on my face.
The others remained unchanging however, as if they didn't even notice their friends disappearance. Suddenly Edward looked up, right to me left, and then to me. We held eye contact for a moment, I felt my heart race. Images from yesterday flooded my mind; the look on his face, the dark colour of his eyes, how he clutched the wheel chair, how Dr. Cullen had told him to leave. I felt myself creeping towards hyperventilation when he finally looked down.
"The Cullen's." The girl from my Spanish and Trig class said, answering my unvoiced question. She giggled slightly, too, which I didn't really feel fit the situation. "Technically Hales, too. They all live with Dr. Cullen and his wife. The big guy is Emmett Cullen, and his hand is around Rosalie Hale. The other girl, the one who just left, was Alice Cullen. And the boy who looks like he's in pain, is Jasper Hale. Him and Rosalie are twins or something. The youngest of them is Edward, he's in our grade. He's extremely good looking, of course, but apparently none of the girls here are good enough for him." Her voice was snide, and judgement- I wondered if this was a case of sour grapes. Edward seemed to smile slightly to himself, like he had heard what she'd said.
"And the other's are all together, too. As if you didn't already guess that by the way they just, hang off each other. I swear it must be illegal or something."
"They're not really related, Jess. They're just foster kids. Expect the Hales, Mrs. Cullen's their aunt or something." A quite girl from the table said.
"But they all live together, it's weird." Jess continued to rant, but I toned her out. They had strange, unpopular names. I took a bite of my bagel, and sip of my apple juice. The kind of names that grandparents had. But maybe that was normal in small towns? I thought about the girl sitting next to me- that one girl had called her Jess, obviously short for Jessica. A perfectly common name; back in my old History class there were two Jessica's.
I looked sideways to the table, and watched as Edward picked his bagel apart. His lips moved impossibly fast, like he was speaking, but the other's didn't seem to notice. Perhaps he was muttering to himself? I'd been known to talk to myself from time to time.
I really was going crazy.
"They look old to be foster children." I pointed out, bluntly.
"They are now, yeah. Rosalie ,Jasper and Emmett are all eighteen. Dr. Cullen's really young, late twenties, maybe early thirties or so." Jessica said, like it was obvious.
"That's really nice of them, to take in all those Foster kids." I said, mostly to myself. Edward has secrets of his own, Dr. Cullen's voice echoed through my mind. I wondered if he'd had a dark past before he was taken in by the Cullen's?
"Yeah, I guess." Jessica shrugged, "But I don't think Mrs. Cullen can have kids." As if that lessened the kindness. Quite frankly, I'm some what of the opinion that if you can adopt, you should.
"Have they always lived in Forks?" I asked, surely I would have noticed them on my summer's when I was younger. All of them continued to stare blankly in different directions.
"No," she said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska." I felt a surge of pity and relief. Pity, because they didn't fit it, even though they where beautiful, and relief because I wasn't the only new kid. And I certainly wasn't the most interesting one by any means. But why was I so welcomed, and they where seen as outcast's? Was it because my father lived here, so I was just coming home, and they where just plain new? Edward looked up at me, exasperated. I looked away as fast as I could, even though I could feel my face starting to burn.
They all stood up at the same time, and left. All of them where extremely graceful, just like Alice had been. Even that Emmet guy. It was almost creepy. Edward didn't look at me again.
I laughed at myself; I couldn't remember the names of people sitting at the same table as me, but something told me I wasn't going to forget the Cullen's.
We all left for class much later then I would have, if I was sitting on my own. As we got up, the quite one introduced herself as Angela, and seemed pleased that we had Biology II together. She walked me to class, neither or us saying much
When we walked int the door, she went and sat down next to her lab partner. Everyone was sitting at black lab stations, just like the ones I was used to. I looked around and realized that everyone already had a partner; everyone expect the last person I wanted to speak to.
He was sitting next to the center aisle, his unusual hair was what caught my attention, and next to him was the only empty seat. Good luck sure had a way to avoid me. I groaned inwardly, and marched up to the front of the room to get my slip signed. Just as I walked past him, he became rigid in his seat. I looked up, surprised, and was suddenly drawn in my eyes glare. His whole body language screamed hostile. His eyes where coal black- much different then the other day, when they had been honey brown.
I looked away as quickly as I could, and turned beat red again. I stumbled over a bag in walkway, and had to catch myself on the edge of the table. The girl sitting there giggled. "Could you please put your bag at the back like everyone else?" I snapped, surprising myself.
"Sorry." I mumbled, her expression suddenly sobered. The voice in my head was screaming at me to run, get out of the room, GO GO GO GO. I shuttered, but repressed the voice. Just because he was an unexplainably angry male, did not make him John. This time I was going to fight, not go into flight.
Mr. Banner signed my slip, and handed my a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we where going to get along just fine. I took a deep breath, and pulled my chin up. I wasn't going to back down to this guy I didn't even know. I kept my eyes narrowed, and up as I marched back over towards him.
I slammed my books down, and sat with confidence. Then I proceeded to stair at the black board, and avoid giving this Edward guy the time of day. His posture changed, I noticed from the corner of my eye. He leaned away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad. Inconspicuously, I sniffed my hair. It smelt like strawberries, the scent of my favorite shampoo.
My body was tense for the entire class, waiting to be attacked at any moment, but refusing to back down. Sure, this kid had seen in my rough shape, but this was a completely rude and inexcusable response. What a jerk, I thought. But at the same time, a part of me felt like there was more to it then that. Something I was missing.
He gripped the edge of the table with one hand, and kept the other in the fist. The class was something I already learned, and seemed to drag on far longer then an hour. When the bell finally rang, Edward rose from his seat with the same grace as the others- he was taller then I expected- with her back to me, and was already out the door before anyone else had fully gotten out of their seat. Weird.
I pressed my head against the cold table, and attempted to breath. Why was he so mean? It didn't make any sense. I pulled my head up, and gathered up my books. I attempted to block out the anger I was feeling towards Edward, attempting to rationalize his reaction. I also knew if I let myself get angry, I'd start crying- for some reason my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. It was a humiliating tendency.
"Aren't you Isabella Swan?" a male voice asked.
I looked up to see a cute, baby-faced boy, his pale blonde hair carefully gelled into orderly spikes, smiling at me in a friendly way. He obviously didn't think I smelt bad.
"Bella." I corrected him, with a smile.
"I'm Mike."
"Hi, Mike."
"Do you need help finding your next class?"
"I'm, unfortunately, heading towards the gym, actually. I think I can find it." The big sign saying: GYM that I'd walked but, and the other little signs pointing to where pretty helpful.
"That's my next class, too." He seemed thrilled, though is wasn't a big coincidence in a school this small. So not only was I going to have to suffer through gym, but co-ed gym at that. If I wasn't surrounded by people, I would have probably screamed in frustration.
Mike walked me to class, much like a golden retriever on a walk with his owner. He chatted on, and on, about something, but I didn't really listen. I kept thinking back to Edward, the mystery around him growing. I hate not knowing thing.
I did manage to pick up a few points, like he lived in California until he was ten, so he knew how I felt about the sun. He was also in my English class, so if I needed any help, I should feel free to ask. Ha, I'd come from AP classes, this place a joke to me. But I thanked him for the offer, any ways. All things considered, he was probably the nicest person I met today.
"So, did you stab Cullen with a pencil or what? I've never seen im act like that before. He looked like he was in pain." Mike asked, as we walked into the gym.
"I wish I had, then it'd make sense." I sighed, defeated. "I feel like I've broken some sacred rule, that I don't know about, so he hates me or something."
"He's a weird guy, any ways. I wouldn't worry about it. If I was lucky enough to be your lab partner, I would have talked to you." I gave him the same vague smile I gave Eric this morning and vanished into the girls locker room. He was nice, and charming- but it just wasn't enough to ease my irritation.
The gym teacher, Coach Clapp, found me a uniform, but didn't make me dress down for today's class. Thank god for little mercy's I guess. They where playing volleyball, one of my wort sports. And that was saying something. I had a bad habit of inflicting, and receiving the strangest injuries in volleyball. One year I took out the teachers tooth. I don't even know how it happened.
When the bell finally rang, I gathered up my bags, and took my paper work to the office. The rain had stopped, but the wind was cold. I wrapped my coat around myself and ran across the yard, into the office. And almost walked right back out.
Edward Cullen stood at the desk in front of me. He, thankfully, didn't seem to notice my entrance, so I pressed myself against the back wall, hoping to blend in. Edward argued with the receptionist in low, attractive voice, about trying to change his Bio class. I felt sick. This could not be because of me, there was no way.
Surely there was something I was missing. He had to be upset before I got there, and what ever made him angry, was why he wanted out. It could not be because of me.
Then the door opened. A girl drooped something in a basket and walked back out. The cold wind whooshed my hair around. Edward's back became stiff. Slowly he turned around to look at me; is look was a mixture of anger, shock, fear, and hate. My knees gave out, and I feel into a clump on the floor, fear chilling me right to bone. I closed my eyes, my hands flying up to my ears.
But it was too late. The voice started yelling. John. The look he gave me when I came home early, and another girl was in the house, in bed- with him. The look- hate, anger, shock. But John didn't show fear- oh no, I showed enough for both of us.
I cold hand caused me to jump back into reality. Edward Cullen's jaw was locked, his chest no moving, but he looked absolutely worried. His eyebrows furrowed in concern, the same look my mother used to give me when I was young.
"Is she alright?" The receptionist asked.
"I think so." He sounded winded. Edward's eyes where still black, but seemed to be lightening. He squinted his eyes shut, and I could see the muscles in his throat tighten.
"Yeah, I'm fine." So did I, for that matter. Some instinct told me not to breath, not to make any sudden movements. The receptionist was around the desk in a flash, and Edward was gone.