CHAPTER SIX – HEROES AND VILLAINS

EDWARD POV

It was my last class of the day, because this was my first gym class I was allowed to sit out. Actually ill rephrase that Mr Bryans was almost finish with the health and fitness program and he said it was pointless me tiring to catch up being as we were staring a new project on Friday. I thought Emmett was the biggest guy in the whole town by fuck me I was so wrong. Mr Bryans towered over all of us and he actually made me feel quite intimidated. As he was teaching the lesson I kept noticing that every now and then he would look at me out the corner of his eye. What the fuck was up with that? It was more of a wary death stare than anything else. If looks could kill I would be a pile of ashes on the floor.

The bell rung and everybody ran to the changing room. I walked back and collected my jacket and headed out. I was the first one out because I didn't have to shower or change. I walked across the small field and headed back into the side access. A sea of students flooded the hallways all shoving each other to get out. I continued down the hallways and out the exit. I walked through the metal detector as the other students retrieved there weapons. I still had Emmett's car keys so I decided wait in the jeep. I walked through the parking lot then gunfire filled the air. I spun around and fleeing students coming down the steps fired into the air. They must have hated school as much as I did I thought and quietly laughed to myself. I walked past a silver Volvo and headed to the jeep. The Volvo was normal, it hadn't been modified like all our cars had been so I wondered who's car that would have been? I knew the answer right away it must have been hers.

I was actually proud of myself for walking away from her earlier. I didn't no how to stop talking to her, I tried to walk away but my feet were welded to the floor. It was her scent that did it for me, the thick sweet smell of strawberries was spellbinding, she smelled so good I just wanted to stand there and be devoured by it. That's why I knew I had to get the fuck out of there because she was so tempting I had the urge to pull her close to me and I refused to let myself even think how close I wanted to be with her because the image of her and Jacob came in my head and it made it worse when Jacob turned into myself. I felt sick and when I'm around Bella it's like I can't think straight. How the fuck can she have this much power over me? Maybe it's because I have been away from society and more importantly girls for a long time and she was the first one who I showed attention to. I knew that wasn't the case here because I only have to snap my fingers and I could easily get a girl if I wanted one.

"I called shotgun" Jasper whined climbing in the back.

"So, it's my jeep" Emmett laughed climbing in the passenger side.

"Did you enjoy your first day" Emmett smiled.

"Fuck you" I replied with a smirk.

"Can I have my smokes back I've been gasping all day thanks to you" Jasper whined in the back.

I handed them to him followed by his lighter then I started the jeep. Just then I sin Bella appear out the front gate, she quickly descended the steps and into the parking lot. She jumped when a few student were firing their guns. She looked so fragile and scared I felt the urge to somehow hold her and shield her away. Then I remembered that I forgot to ask her which side of the town she lived on. I don't even know why I even cared or why I was having these strange feelings and urges towards her. Everything was so complicated I felt like I was in a vicious circle. Fucking stupid parole I growled inwards at myself. I waited for her to get into her car then I slowly rolled the jeep forward and waited for her to reverse. I knew I couldn't associate with her but that didn't mean I couldn't observe from a distance. I would have to follow her for a while and see which direction she would turn. I waited in line for the students to flee the parking lot. Please turn left, please turn left I chanted to myself in my head. As if like magic she pulled out the parking lot and turned left.

"Why are you driving so slow?" Emmett asked.

I looked down at the speedometer and noticed I was doing a little under 30mph. Fuck me this was slow I never drove less than 60 maybe 50 at least. She must have been a carful driver I thought and slightly smirked to myself. I followed her up the main road for a while and then she turned onto a street. I was satisfied that she was far from the south side so I didn't follow her up the street. I put my foot down and carried on up the main road. I could have followed her all the way home but that could have landed me a big fat prison sentence and besides Emmett and Jasper were in the car and as far as I was aware she lived on the outskirts of town so I presumed nobody knew where she lived and I planned to keep it that way.

I continued north and turned off and on different roads until I turned onto my street. My street was filled with garbage and debris. There were make shift barriers that blocked off the end of the road and there were several rusty burnt out cars. There were about five houses on my street but as far as I was aware there were three people that occupied the houses including my family so the other two houses were abandoned. It's hard to believe that this neighbourhood used to look like something off a holiday postcard. There wasn't a scrap of litter or graffiti to be found. Jasper and I used to play in the front yard every day. We would push each other on the swings and pretend to be heroes and villains and fight crimes like our superheroes did in the movies.

When there was a storm at night Jasper would sneak in my bed and we would hide under the covers with the nightlight. I grew up in this house and spent most of my childhood outside either behind out white picket fence or on the streets playing and having skateboarding competitions with Emmett and the other kids on the block. Jasper and I got into a fight on most occasions because we would argue who was the best either Superman or Batman. I always thought Superman was the best because he could fly. He could just fly away from any situation, see the world and escape to anywhere.

I remember one night when I was little. I had a nightmare and mom came in and told me that nightmares weren't real and the next time I had a nightmare, I was to closed my eyes and think about my favourite superhero Superman then he would come and take me away from all the monsters in my dreams and make me feel safe. When she had said that I had a dream the very same night of me and my hero flying around and I helped him save people. It was so amazing that every night after that, I slept with my superman cape on and I prayed that every night Superman would come back for me so I could fly with him again.

As the years passed our childhood became less fun. Before even the violence began to creep up on the town my mother became distant and unhappy. I would listen to her cry herself to sleep at nights. She had turned into a manic depressed woman who couldn't cope with the loss of her husband, my farther, and being a single mother of two kids. I wanted to fly away and escape, to take my family away and start again, but no matter how hard I prayed or how many times I wore my cape Superman never came back. He never came back for me or my family so I stopped believing in him along with everything else. The relationship between my mother, Jasper and I became very thin. When I was eleven years old the violence started in the high schools and it wasn't until five years later when the town became a free fire zone that my mother went completely off the rails.

I parked up outside of my house and I could only look on in horror as to what my adulthood had become. The white picket fence was gone and was replaced by a metal fence that had been kicked in. The white wood on the outside of the two story house was now a dirty charcoal colour which had graffiti and pictures of black hearts spray painted all over it. The downstairs windows were smashed and boarded up. Broken timber, smashed glass and tiles, even shattered house bricks how lay were our swing use to be. Every memory of my childhood was gone and it was replaced with nothing but hatred, hardship and betrayal.

"See you girls later" Emmett said bringing me back to reality.

I opened the driver side door and slid out the seat. Emmett scooted over and took the wheel as Jasper climbed out the back.

"Laters" I replied.

He spun the jeep around and sped off in the direction we just came. Jasper jumped over the broken fence and disappeared inside the house. I took in a deep breath and walked up the footpath and into the house. I stood in the doorway and examined the surrounding. Nothing had changed much it was still a dump. The living room was to the left and it had an archway that lead into the kitchen in the back. To my right was a dining room with also had an archway that led to the kitchen and in front of me was the stairs with a doorway next to them that led into the kitchen also. Two brown sofas, a coffee table and a TV set was all that was in the living room and in the dining room there was a huge family table with matching chairs. You could tell it hadn't been used in years and I couldn't even remember the last time we had a family dinner. The top of the table was covered in junk. Clothes, paperwork, needles, edge vials, cigarette ends you name it, it was there. You could tell the place hadn't been cleaned in god knows how long either.

That's one reason why I knew my mother was depressed all them years ago because my mother use to be a clean freak. She used to decorate the house every six months because she wanted to be apart of the latest fashion changes and colours, then one day she just stopped.

"Here" Jasper said throwing me a beer bottle.

It was a good job I had good reflexes. I caught it as Jasper trailed into the living room.

"Are you coming in or not?" He asked sitting down.

I closed the front door and walked into the living room and took a seat on the other free sofa. I considered drinking the beer but my mind was so fucked up at the moment beer would only make it worse. Jasper jumped back up and went into the kitchen.

"Give it me you little brat" I heard her voice for the first time.

Jasper ran in the living room and my mother Esme chased after him. She was dressed in her night clothes and her tiny frame was wrapped up in a bath robe. He face was pale and her cheeks had sunk into her face. I've seen corpses better looking than her. Her hair was thin and greasy that was cut unevenly. When I say cut I probably meant was ripped out. My mother always looked after self and her appearance. She used to have long luscious wavy brown hair with a bronze tint in and with her rosy cheeks and piecing green eyes she used to make all the men on the block want her and all the woman on the block envy her. This woman that stood before me was nothing but a broken, fragile, doomed, old woman.

"Give it here!" She screamed at Jasper.

She didn't even notice my presences. She tried to grab something out of Jaspers hand but he held it tightly against his chest.

"But I need it!" Jasper shouted.

"Give it here you fucking little shit!" my mother screamed.

She slapped him around the head and he let go of whatever it was. They both scrambled to the floor shouting at each other as they tried to find whatever it was. I stood up from the sofa and looked on the floor. I found out what it was straight away, it was a fucking vial of Edge. Jasper swiped it off the floor and stood up.

"Give it me!"Esme screamed.

"Look who's here mom" Jasper said back.

My mother turned and looked straight at me. I couldn't escape the isolation that was in her eyes. Nothing was there, no love, no life, and no hope. There was nothing, nothing but emptiness. She turned back to jasper and snatched the vial out his hand and brought it to her nose and inhaled deeply.

"No, I need it!" Jasper shouted at her.

"Well, it's good to be back home" I snarled "Your both fucking pathetic!" I growled throwing my bottle of beer at the wall.

The bottle smashed off the wall and both Esme and Jasper flinched. I stormed through the archway and into the kitchen. I opened the back door and went into the backward.

"Fuck!" I shouted out in frustration.

I wrapped my hands around the back of my head and bend down to my knees. I rocked back and forth on the heels of my feet as I dropped my hands to my lap. I scanned the backyard which was just as worse as the front yard. There was a shed that had caved in and a chain linked fence that surrounded half the garden. In the corner of the garden was a grey plastic sheet that was covering something.

I stood back up and ran back inside the house and quickly made my way through the kitchen, into the hallway and up the stairs. I walked down the hallway and walked into the far room on the right hand side. My bedroom was exactly how I left it. A bed, wardrobe, TV unit and a bench press with weights occupied it. I ran to the corner of my room and ripped the rug up and clawed my way at my floorboards. They lifted up with ease and was relieved to find the stash of money hadn't being found. I gathered the rolls of money up and put them in my pocket along with my bike keys. There was a bag of Edge as well but I left it there in case I ever need to exchange it for more cash or anything. I replaced the floorboards and put the rug back. I left my room and quickly went down the hallway and down the stairs. I was moving that fast I didn't notice Esme or Jasper at all. I stalked back into the kitchen and out the backyard. I walked over to the corner and threw the plastic sheet off revealing my black Kawasaki dirt bike. It was nothing special but at least it was fast and it was my favourite colour.

I flicked the stand up and rolled it out the backyard and around the side of the house. I jumped on it and put the key in. After a couple of splutters it roared to life. I took off down my street and turned onto another street and headed to the make shift convenient store. I pulled up outside a little tin shack and climbed off my bike leaving it running.

"On my god it's you" The girl behind the counter grinned.

"Alright Jan" I greeted her.

"When did you get out?"

"Today"

She ran this shop with her boyfriend Frank both of them were black heart members.

"Finally" she smiled "Anyway what can I get you?"

"Smokes and a lighter"

"Which brand?"

"Any"

She handed me my items and I passed her a twenty.

"Keep the change" I said walking off.

"Thanks" She squealed.

I climbed back on my bike spinning it back around and headed back in the direction I came from. I knew exactly where I was going so I was glad my bike could drive off road. I headed down the streets avoiding the rubble on the road. I came out on the main road and did full throttle on my bike as I charged it towards the tree line. I swerved up the hill and over the rocky terrain. After a few minuets I climbed off my bike and walked it the rest of the way up. I followed a dirt trail around to an opening. I had this path remembered in my head like a map. One day when Emmett and I were little we planned to be explorers for a day, Jasper was sick so he couldn't come with us. We trekked all the way up the hills and we sort of found this place out of luck. Emmett and I fell in love with the place, so we made dams and tied rope to the trees and made swings. We came here to play on several occasions but after the years Emmett stopped coming and then I didn't come to play anymore I came here to escape.

I followed the pillar of trees and stood my bike up as I entered the meadow. Most of the colourful wild flowers had withered away but still some little baby flowers poked through the ground. I loved it here because this was the one placed that was not touched by violence. I climbed up onto a pile of rocks and sat on top of the highest one. You could see near enough the whole town from here. I pulled out my smokes and lit one up. I inhaled deeply and blew the smoke out.

I watched the town below as the sun was setting. I heard gunfire in the distance which sounded like little thuds from here. Black smoke left trails into the air from the fires that burned below. Then I heard something I have never heard before, howling.

"What the fuck" I whispered to myself.

I balanced my cigarette in my mouth and climbed down the rocks and onto the grass. I listened carefully to the noise, it sounded far away but I was pretty sure it was howling. I wasn't sure what wildlife lived in these woods and I stopped believing in werewolves a long time ago. The noise was coming from the right hand side of the tree line. I inhaled once more on my smoke and threw it to the ground. Time to be an explorer again I thought to myself.

I ran over to my bike and pushed it towards the sound. As I continued walking into the tree line the howling stopped but I continued in the direction where the noise was coming from. I was about to give up and turn back but then a house came into my view.

It was a huge two story house with dark wooden panelling on the outside. The downstairs had huge glass windows but the curtains were shut so I couldn't see who occupied it. Why had I never noticed this place before? And more importantly who had this kind of money to live in it?

I stood my bike up against a tree then looked towards the driveway. There were two cars parked there, one was a black Mercedes and the other was,

"A silver Volvo" I whispered my own thoughts.

This must be Bella's house, I told myself. The other car must have belonged to her farther or her mother. Actually thinking back Bella never even mentioned her mother, she had said that she moved here with her dad so I presumed that she just lived with him. I will have to ask her about that next time I speak to her.

Hello! You're not going to speak to her anymore remember I told myself. I groaned inwards then thought about what I had said earlier. Even thought I couldn't speak to her I could observe from a distance, there was no harm in that but if her father found me lurking outside his house like an obsessive stalker then I'd be a dead man. I swallowed my pride and crouched down. I quickly moved my feet keeping my head low and pressed myself up against the wall. I peered in the glass window and from the crack in the curtain I could see a sofa so I presumed it was a living room. I crept around the back of the house and hugged the wall.

"How was your day?" I heard Bella speak.

I froze in place she sounded like she was standing right next to me.

"Good" A deep masculine voice answered.

I presumed that must have been her farther. I ducked under a small window and continued to listen.

"Did anything exciting happen?" she asked.

"Nope"

I slowly lifted my head and peered inside. I couldn't see her farther but Bella was standing by a stove stirring something.

"Did you enjoy your day" her farther asked.

I watched as a smile crept on her face.

"Yeah I did" she smiled.

How could she possible enjoy a single day in that shithole?

"Good, did you make any new friends?" He asked.

"Don't be silly" she snorted "But I did talk to someone new today"

Oh no, was she talking about me? She was going to rat me out to her farther?

"Who's that then?" He asked.

"I don't know who he is. I've never seen him before, I think his new" she replied.

Ok this answer confused me, why was she lying she did know who I was?

"Ah, Mr Cullen" he said.

Great so they were talking about me, this should be interesting.

"Why were you talking to him?" He asked a bit too forcefully.

"Oh, um, I just helped him with his schedule and told him where his next class was"

She had lied again but what for? Was it so she wouldn't get into trouble or was it to keep me out of trouble?

"Oh right, I heard a lot of things about that boy and I suggest that you stay away from him" He told her.

"Why" she asked a bit too eagerly.

Yeah why Principle Swan what fucking things have you heard because I would like to know as well! I snarled in my head.

"His just been released from prison and his on parole. From what I was told he was the leader of the Black Hearts before he landed himself in jail for selling drugs to an undercover cop" He told her.

Ok, so I already knew all of them things, but Bella didn't have to know them she probably thinks I'm some sort of fucking psycho like the rest of them, but wait was that a good or a bad thing? I watched her face go from shock to surprised then to disbelief in the matter of seconds. Shocked and surprised I could understand but why disbelief? Did she not believe him or something?

"What his name?" she asked.

"Edward"

There was disappointment on her face and I could see that she was debating about something to herself.

"Bella are we planning have burnt sauce with our dinner" Her dad said.

I watched as she finished up making dinner then she disappeared out of my view.

"Looks great Bells" Her farther said again.

Bells? No I didn't like it or Isabella, so I would just stick with Bella.

There was silence so I just presumed they were eating. If she hadn't had told her farther about me to get either myself or her in trouble then she must have asked about me because she was intrigued by me therefore she must have wanted to find out stuff about me. Hearing this assumption brought a smile to my face. Maybe she actually wanted to talk to me as much as I wanted to talk to her. But still her father told her to keep away from me so it was not like she was going to be inviting me over for coffee any time soon.

If Bella wanted to speak to me then I would be all ears because of two reasons one, her father didn't technically tell her to stay away from me he just suggested that she did and two, we were in the same class together we were lab partners for fuck sake so we had to speak to each other. I should really go over my schedule again and check hers as well to see if we had any more lessons together. She had lied to her farther, why I didn't know but her lie seemed to have saved both our asses. It saved her from a 'stay away from gang guy's' speech and me from a 'stay away from my daughter' speech, so for that I was grateful and I owed her for it.

"That was lovely Bells thank you" Her farther said.

I waited a few seconds then I slowly peered back in the window and was now looking at her farther. I have never sin him before he was a tall well built man. He had short brown hair with a moustache. I couldn't see the colour of his eyes because he was facing the other way. He turned around and I quickly ducked my head before he sin me. I heard running water but I didn't stick around to find out what he was doing. I quickly bolted around the side of the house and crouched running back into the tree line.

I turned my bike around and walked it back into the woods. I made sure I was a good ten minutes away before I started the bike up not wanting either Bella or her farther to hear it. I climbed on my bike and lit a smoke up before I began the journey back home.