Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer. I also disclaim any unintentional plagiarism. The only thing I do own are characters Lillianne, Shana, Shianne, Sheridan, and Alison. I'd Like to thank my friend Sam who again as usually helps me in my writing.
Note: Since were are still at the very beginning, there will be chapters where Bella and or Lillianne depending on the POV, will be having a Flashback or Memory as I've done in this chapter. So please bear with me until we've meet the Cullen's.
Forks Washington. It'd been a while since we were last here, and in all honesty, I never thought we'd ever be back. Not for a long time anyways. As far as I could see, I can't really say much has changed. Everything was still cold and wet from the constant raining, something that wasn't going to change anytime soon if the heavy rain clouds looming overhead were any indication. Just looking at the clouds made me shiver; I hate the rain, I hated anything cold and wet, and that makes Forks the closest thing to a personal hell for me. Every part of me wanted to be anywhere else, but I couldn't think about my own comfort right now. I sighed, we'd been here all of thirty minutes and I was already miserable, but considering what we've been through in the last few months, I could handle a little wet weather. More importantly, we had to figure out where we were going to stay for the short time we'd be here.
Taking the meager bags that Lillianne and I had, we joined the line as we'd disembark the bus and another to be cleared by security. The man there smiled, welcoming us to enjoy our stay as he'd handed us our bags.
"Seventy-eight bucks," I said, pocketing a small wad of bills once we were situated. We didn't have enough for more than a few days in a hotel, and while we could try to sleep at the bus station, I didn't want to risk it. I wasn't sure how we were going to pull this off, but I wasn't going to give up after everything we've been through. "As long as we're here, we might as well have a look around," I didn't really mean it since the town probably had nothing to offer, but it was something to do while I worked out our next step.
Taking Lillianne's hand in mine, we stepped out of the station and took our first steps into Forks after so many years. We ended up wandering around for a good half-hour, and it felt as though we'd seen everything this town had to offer. There never was anything to do, and that hadn't changed since the last time we were here. There was no luck finding a place to stay either, between rents being too high or landlords being suspicious about us, we were always turned down. And when we'd looked into the few places we'd found offering rooms, it turned out to be a waste time because we only wanted to stay a week instead of signing a year-long lease. I didn't want to admit it out loud, but we were really screwed; When the hell were things going to go our way? How the hell were things going to get worst?
My stomach rumbled.
I stopped with a heavy sigh. Of course. This was just the perfect spice to add to this dish of misery and abuse. It had been at least two week since we had last 'eaten.' The last time had been a disaster. Still, we were pushing our luck, and it was really kicking our asses. I think I could manage a few more days even as hungry as I was, but Lillianne was the one who really needed something eat. Even if she doesn't show it, I know she's barely hanging on, and things would only get messy unless she had something to eat soon.
About an hour later, after confirming that the town had nothing to offer us, I spotted a small hamburger joint across the street and tugged Lillianne over. Once we got inside, I sat her down at a table and glanced down at the menu. I cringed a little at the prices before forcing myself to get the cheapest item, French Fries, to stave off the hunger. Almost immediately after taking my order, the waiter came back with a large plate of fries and two glasses of water, banging each of them down a little too roughly before leaving without a word.
"Hungry?" I asked, pushing the plate towards Lillianne. The blank look she'd given made me feel stupid for asking. Of course she was, we both were. Maybe I'd asked because a small part of me hoped she would break the silent treatment she'd been giving me lately. But instead, she nodded without a word before she took a few of our fries and nibbled on them. "You're going to have to start talking sooner or later. Trying to figure out what you mean from a few nods and head shakes is getting old, I'm not a mind reader," I said. I drank from the free glass of water as she looked up at me through her eyelashes. "I don't know how we're going to keep going without some sort of communication," I paused and took a breath. I was never good at speaking, not that the situation was helping any. I sighed. "Look, you have every right to be angry at me. I admit it, this is all my fault. Just… don't do this to me," I'd given her a pleading look while she stared back, dumbfounded.
"I-I'm not angry with you Bella… why would you even begin to think this was your fault?" she asked, her voice was a low whisper.
"You haven't spoken to me in weeks," I whispered back sullenly. Looking down at the fries between us; they didn't seem appetizing anymore. "I'm sorry Lilli, It's my fault we're in this mess…" I said. I didn't even dare to look at her. She didn't say anything, and that only made me feel worst, she knew it was true. With nothing else to do, I reluctantly popped another fry into my mouth; a quiet Lillianne wasn't such a bad thing anymore.
I sighed and I tried to clear my head, I needed to focus on what we needed now, not the things that I couldn't do anything about. That brought me back to problem number one, we needed a place to stay. I tilted my cup back to drink the last of my water, when a fuzzy blob caught my eye through the clear bottom. Lowering my hand, I realized the blob was the magnified newspaper at an elderly couple's table. Why didn't I think of it before? Classifieds, they might have cheap places listed and it'd save us a lot of searching.
"Hey, I'll be right back," I said. Lillianne nodded. Hoping for the best, I stood and made my way over to the chatting couple.
"Excuse me?" I asked softly, drawing their attention away from their conversation. The elderly woman looked up and had given me a kind smile, not a sadistic one, but one with genuine care. It had been so long since anyone had shown me any compassion, that it had left me speechless for a moment. The man was less friendly, but he was courteous as he waited for me to state my business.
"I was wondering if I could take a look at your paper. If you're finished with it?" I asked politely, the thought of them saying 'no' just occurring to me.
"By all means, go on and take it," said the woman as she cheerfully handed it to me. Taking it with relief, I gave her a small smile before retreating back to our table, where Lillianne had taken to staring out the window. I decided against asking if she were okay, and started flipping through the paper instead. It didn't take long too scan the ads, and what was there didn't make our situation any better. There were no rooms or apartments in our price range, and no jobs that I could take to change that. Frustrated, I repeatedly thumped my head against the table, as if it would make the problems go away.
"Bella… don't do that. You're going to bruise your forehead," Lillianne said softly, deciding to voice her opinion. I knew she was right and I could already feel the bruise forming, but the pain meant that I wasn't thinking about the shit situation we were in, and focused solely on my forming headache. When I didn't stop, I heard Lillianne sigh as she left me to it.
I tried to think about our situation, well, mainly I tried to think about how Alison or better, how Sheridan would have handled with the situations if she were here. Sheridan's a leader, though I don't think its by choice, its just always been that way since she took us in. But if she were here, we'd be fed, and well, I doubt vampires would get the better of her. Alison's told me stories about when she first met Sheridan, she's told me the things she can do, her strengths, but I've never seen her do any of it. I've seen her fight, she and Shianne would spend the weekends together training, for what I never knew, but occasionally Lillianne and I would tag along. Shianne was strong too, but I had a suspicion that Sheridan had been at it a lot longer. She was just… stronger. Sometimes, she would even take on both Alison and Shianne at once.
If James and Victoria had taken her, I doubt this game would have lasted longer then a week. Thinking about it now, I wish I hadn't declined her offer of lessons on fighting, it would have been useful, but I'm not a fighter… I never have been, I'm way too uncoordinated.
I don't know when it happened, but suddenly the impacts of my head against the table had softened. The pain was dull and I wondered if I was getting used to having my head knocked around. Someone chuckled, and then I heard their voice.
"Better?" Said the voice. When I looked up, I saw a boy standing in front of our table, a wide smile spread across his face. "Hi there," he greeted cheerfully with a small wave. He looked like he could have been my age, well the age I looked like, and just as tall. He wore a long jacket, and his short blonde hair was spiked with too much gel. His face was baby-like and his light blue eyes seemed to glow as he waited for a response. He was really kind of cute, but the way he was looking at me made me suspicious.
"Thanks," I mumbled, resting my chin on the palm of my hand so I could keep an eye on him. He only smiled.
"Hi, I'm Mike, Mike Newton," he introduced himself, even though we hadn't asked. It didn't look like he was going to leave anytime soon. Great.
"Hello Mike. I'm Bella, and this is my sister Lillianne," I answered. I didn't want to come off as rude, so I said it as kindly as I could. He'd given Lillianne the same smile he'd given me and she managed a shy one back. I guess he took that as an invitation, because he sat himself down beside her. Lillianne shifted towards me uncomfortably and I found myself grinding my teeth warily. I wasn't sure what it was, but something about him rubbed me the wrong way, and that feeling only got worse when he got closer to my sister. I took another look at him, he seemed harmless; he was pale but not that I'm-dead-so-I-wanna-eat-you kind of pale, plus his eyes were blue which meant he wasn't that kind of pale.
"I've never seen you around here before, so you must be new," he said. I guess new people were a rare thing for this town. He wasn't the first one to stare, just the first to come out and say anything. "Are you here camping?" he tried again when I didn't answer. While it had been a nosy question, it'd made me think. I hated camping almost as much as I did the cold and wet weather. Also, it's dirty and required skills that I didn't have, like fishing, foraging, and setting up tents. Not to mention it was too far from other people.
'You make it sound like it's a bad thing to be TOO far from other people.' the little voice in the back of my head chimed as I mentally read off the list of why I didn't like camping.
I blinked. "Great not you too…" I mentally scowled. The voice just huffed.
'Camping… TOO far from other people… sure that's a terrible idea Bella… Being TOO far from people while Vampires want to hunt and kill you any day now…'
I sighed. You know, they say when you hear a voice in the back of your head, you've gone crazy. Maybe this whole situation was doing just that to me, if I was even considering… camping?
Ding! The little light bulb in my head flickered on and the voice snorted.
"Camping?" I asked. Lillianne's eyes widened. She realized where I was going with this.
"Yup, It's mostly around La Push area, but some of the locals here like to go up there too."
"La Push? Am I supposed to know what that is," I asked slightly confused.
"It's a small Indian reservation on the coast side," Mike answered. "There's a beach there, I'm kind of a surfer," He added. He flashed us that same smile again. I nodded, having placed him now. He was one of those types of guys, I should have realized it from the sports jacket alone.
I smiled back though, remembering the last time I'd even been to the beach;
It had been a summers weekend, a scorching day where the weather was just unbearably hot. It was a regular thing for us to spend the weekend together, so we were all at Shianne's and Allison's house, mostly because it was the biggest one between us all. I had been laying on the floor, with a fan blowing directly at my face just so I could stand the heat. When the question had been asked, I rolled over to make sure I'd heard right.
"The beach?" I'd never seen a real beach before, just what I'd read from books and seen in some movies. I guess that was my actual mother's, Renee's, fault since she'd never had the time to take me and Lillianne to places normal children went to, she was always too busy going out with men.
"Yes, I thought we could go down to San Diego, god knows the weather calls for it. Besides, we could use a little family vacation and this works out for everyone. The three of you are out of school and I can take some time off from work."
Alison's reply had come from the kitchen, where she was making lunch for all of us. Her outfit that day was clear in my mind: a blue tank top and exceedingly short shorts that left me staring at her legs all day. Her long legs looked just so… well, at least I could blame my furious blush on the heat.
"I wanna go, it'll be fun and ten times cooler then it is here…" Shana chimed, she and Lillianne had been in the middle of a game of chess, she cheating as always.
"In other words, you want to go so you can prance around, almost naked, and not be out of place?" Alison chuckled.
"Am I that obvious?" Shana teased back. "But I'm being serious. I think we should go… it's too damned hot and I don't like sweating."
"It has been a while since we've done anything as a famil- hey! Stop cheating… honestly, why do I play games with you?" I heard Lillianne huff. Shana giggled.
"Because you won't play with the only other person who knows how to play chess?" Shana answered, to which I heard Lillianne snort.
"I'd sooner die then do anything with her," she murmured. I knew she was referring to Sheridan, but I'd never understood why she disliked our eldest sister. Sheridan was fun to be around in general, if not a bit reckless.
"Funny, I never hear you complain when she's feeding you," Shana mused, and I could feel Lillianne's heated blush.
"You're mistaken. She's impulsive… rude… reckless and incredibly annoying. Not to mention she's a complete flirt. 'Oui Madame, allow me to 'elp you wiz your bags…' It's disgusting," the impression was a little insulting, even though it was spot-on.
"You say zat now, but when I am feeding you… you can not keep your 'ands off me," Sheridan purred teasingly as she walked into the room with only a bra and shorts on.
"Nonsense. Don't you have someone else to bother? Or perhaps you're out of women to sleep with?"
"You wound me Lillianne! You know zat you are ze only one I wish to take to bed. Per'aps you are jealous because I 'ave yet to do so when I 'ave so many oz'ers ?" I couldn't help but giggle at how red Lillianne turned at that comment, though my fun ended when Lillianne showed me what she thought of my laughing by bouncing a white rook off my head.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?" I growled, but she only glared back. Lillianne always denied it, but it was obvious what she felt towards Sheridan. Anyone could tell Sheridan liked her the same way, between the blunt hints and teasing it may as well have been on a neon sign.
"Play nice Lillianne…" Alison scolded, to which Lillianne complied, though she huffed extra loud to show how she felt about it. Reaching over and knocking her own king over, Lillianne silently forfeited and went over to the couch with an open book.
"We are taking a trip to ze beach zen?" Sheridan asked, chuckling at the way Lillianne pouted.
"It's up for question. But everyone's pretty much saying yes." Shana answered, reading minds was and ability she had, so she'd answered before anyone knew what they were going to say.
"Shana…" Alison warned, reminding her not to idly read people's minds since it violated their basest privacy.
"Sorry… " With anyone else, she'd have claimed that she couldn't control it, but Alison could see through her and she knew she'd been caught. Shana hadn't lied though, we all had wanted to go on some level.
Since it was pretty much agreed, we crowded around a map of San Diego to pick out the beach we wanted to go to. Eventually we'd settled on going to one of San Diego's Pacific beaches. Once it was decided, we all went our separates ways to pack. We met back up at the house once we were ready.
It was only a 6 hour drive from Phoenix to San Diego, give or take, and with all of us packed in Alison's Caravan, the drive was less than comfortable.
"Surfing?" I asked from the middle row of seats, where I was idly playing with Sheridan's hair as she laid her head in my lap to sleep, and stave off her extreme motion sickness. At that point we'd been driving about 4 hours. During the trip Lillianne had gone through 2 books and started on a third, while Shana and Shianne held a light conversation
"Have you ever gone before, Bella?" Alison asked, glancing at me through the rear-view mirror.
"No, I'm not really… you know, coordinated for that," I'd told her, she giggled at my nervousness.
"I'll teach you, it's not that difficult," she said, flashing me a bright smile.
"Says the woman whose been surfing since she was six," Shianne murmured.
Those words were probably the most I'd ever heard her speak at one time. Shianne mostly kept to herself and would only really speak to Alison. Alison giggled, chiding her lover, but she couldn't really deny that. Even I'd known she'd had, had several years of practice. I wasn't all that confident about it, and I had hoped that she wouldn't actually try to teach me when we got to the beach.
After that, the conversations pretty much ended and the rest of the trip was deathly quite. I think it was because it was still so hot, and talking was just exhausting. Even the breaks and restroom stops were horrid, not only because of the heat, but with most of us getting date requests each time we stopped. Most of the requests went to Alison and Sheridan, but there'd even be the occasional guys who found me interesting or 'pretty'. What made the stops even worse, was Sheridan's own flirting, as she hounded after any girls that caught her eye, much to Lillianne's discomfort. I don't think Sheridan meant any harm, she just liked to know that somewhere inside, Lillianne cared about her. Either way we did our best to spend as little time as possible when we stopped, so we wouldn't have to deal with it too much.
When we were close to the beach, I was blown away with everything there. The descriptions from books didn't really do justice; there was a shoreline that went as far as I could see in either direction, rocks lined up along the shore to break the crashing waves and fence in the people, except for what I made out was the guarded swimming area. Which was crowded, even from where I had stood I could see them. There were families of all sizes and all kinds, hundreds of people from kids to adults, and even pets were everywhere; sunbathing, swimming, or running around. I didn't feel that comfortable about being around so many people, it had always been a problem with our family. And I had hoped we could find a more private place to spend the day when we got there.
Finding a parking spot was a nightmare, thinking back, I don't think I'd ever seen that many cars in one place, except maybe at hospitals. But somehow, Alison managed to claim a spot that wasn't too far from the water. It had still been a nightmare, because as soon as we'd stepped foot on to the beach, there were guys and girls trying to ask Alison, Sheridan, and Shianne out, we practically had to push our way through to find a clear spot on the sand. It was horrible, the waves of suitors got worse after the three of them changed into skin-tight swimsuits; the men went into a frenzy like sharks with blood at the sight of them. I couldn't really blame them! My god they were gorgeous! Sheridan had stood out the most. As beautiful as Shianne and Alison were, she couldn't even compare, and it was noticeable in the glazed eyes of men and woman. I stayed modest with my clothing: short shorts and a thin opened-neck shirt that covered my bikini top, so I didn't get same kind of attention that Alison, Shianne, and Sheridan did. That suited me fine, but Shana was more than a little put out that I'd decided not to wear the revealing swimsuit she'd picked out for me.
"Come on Bella please?" she had begged, shuffling behind me as Lillianne and I walked along the shoreline, enjoying the beach without being too close to the mass of families and pets that covered the main area. The temperature at the beach wasn't any cooler, but between the cool water and the soothing sand between my toes as I walked, it felt a lot better than it did in Phoenix.
"Oh leave her alone Shana…" murmured Lillianne; Shana just wouldn't let up about my or her swimsuit choice, she had been dressed the same as me.
"The both of you are no fun!" Shana huffed at us both, stopping and blowing a raspberry as we kept walking. It was almost comical. Her pouting didn't really last when a Golden Retriever raced past her and she promptly chased after it like a child, passing us but with no hope of keeping up with the dog.
Lillianne and I had taken advantage of Shana's distraction, and we took a walk along the rocks hand in hand, just chatting about any topic that came to mind. We used to be so close. I missed it.
We'd spent the rest of the day on the beach, doing normal activities, like watching Lillianne bury Shana in the sand up to her neck, watching as Shianne and Alison surf from a distance, or just relaxing to the sound of crashing waves against the water and beach. Sometime around evening, we were all laid out on blankets, except for Shianne and Sheridan who were in the water splashing each other. I'd even gone out to the water with Alison and Shianne, but I'd stayed near the sand out of fear of drowning. That's right. I couldn't swim. It'd been around there that Sheridan suddenly showed up Asking me to go into the water with her since Lillianne and begun reading again.
I tried to dodge the question when I refused, but Sheridan wouldn't just take my answers and leave. She had kept pushing, and Shana took pity on me.
"She can't swim." It had so simple for her exposed my embarrassing secret. No one except Lillianne had known and I dreaded what everyone's reactions would be when they'd found out.
"You, can not swim?" Sheridan asked, she stared at me like I'd just turned blue and sprouted wings. Even though no one else reacted like I thought they would, having Sheridan question me was just as bad.
"I never learned…" I remember that I had mumbled, unable to look her in the eye.
"Zen I will teach you!" She had declared happily, a broad smile on her face. I'd never seen her look so excited as she did then. Honestly, it made me feel really uneasy. Without waiting for my answer, she pulled me further out towards the water.
I guess she'd decided to start with treading water and keeping my head above the surface, because there were instructions about always kicking my legs and pushing myself out of the water. Before I'd knew I was up to my neck in sea water, Sputtering within seconds.
We were at that for least an hour. Sheridan giggled as I flailed wildly in hip-deep water, spurting seawater out of my mouth .
"Non Bella! You are not supposed to in 'ale when you turn your 'ead towards ze water," she said doubling over with laughter.
"Right, inhaling equals instant drowning… gotta remember that," I wheezed. She rubbed my back soothingly. "I told you, It's impossible to teach me how to swim."
"Oui… it seems so… zough I will not give up." She had grinned enthusiastic, but by the end of the day I wasn't any closer to swimming, though I could float well enough. It had been a good day…
I remembered everything so clearly that it could have just happened yesterday instead of it being nearly two years…
Someone nudged me, bringing me out of my memories and back to the present.
I blinked, only to find that Mike and my sister were both staring at me, they'd probably asked something, but I hadn't heard.
"Oh, sorry… I was…thinking about the last time I'd been to the beach. It's been a while," I said. Mike nodded in understanding.
"So, what's brings you to Forks?" he asked.
God, was he really doing this? Now? How the hell was I supposed to answer that?
'Oh nothing, my sister and I are being hunted by vampires, but we thought we'd go sight seeing in your back watered little town for a few days?' Right.
"We're just passing through," Lillianne answered softly, answering for me. Mike nodded again.
"That's cool… so you got a place to stay?" he asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Um, no not really," I said. "We're only here for a few days anyway."
"Do you have any family here?" he asked. I frowned. The questioning was starting to go a little to deep, and even Lillianne started to look nervous.
"Um, I'm not sure, like I said its been a while," I said truthfully, hoping he'd leave it at that. "I like the idea of camping though," I added, trying to steer his questions in a another direction. "You know any good places that sells camping gear?" I couldn't have chosen a better topic; Mike's face instantly lit up at the question.
"Oh yeah, totally! My family owns a sporting goods store, I'm heading there now, want a lift?"
"Yeah dude, that would be great. I mean if you don't mind," I replied, getting swept along by some of his enthusiasm.
"No problem Bella, It'll be my pleasure," he answered, he then stood and gave a slight bow before leaving. Both Lillianne and I exchanged a look before we followed him outside. We caught up with him in the middle of the parking lot where, he had gone to retrieve his car.
"Your Chariot awaits." Mikes 'Chariot' was actually a Silver Chevrolet Suburban, it was a new model from this year, I think. Thanks to Shianne, I can say I know more about cars then I any girl my age should. I smiled as he carried on like a gentleman, he even opened the door for the both us. It was nice, if a not little odd. I sat passenger while Lillianne took the seat behind me. The inside of the car was cozy, custom-modified and expensive too.
"Nice car," I murmured as Mike slid into the driver's seat.
"Thanks," he said, he waited until we were buckled up before driving off. At least he was responsible.
As he drove, we were forced to listen to his entire life story; his favorite sports, his favorite cars, how popular he was at school, how much he could bench, his parents, and stuff like that. He grinned at every response, and laughed every time I humored him. But the only thing I really gathered was that he was a Junior at Forks High School, and apparently a really big hit with the girls, especially one named Jessica Stanley. From the way he told it, this Jessica was his on-off girlfriend or something. Mike seemed like the type of person who had many girlfriends, and I had had my hand with his type In the past. Disgusting. After telling us more than we really wanted to know, he turned the conversation towards us. I kept my answers simple, didn't mention our family, and stuck to the story that Lillianne and I were on vacation and were sightseeing until eventually, we pulled up in front of 'Newton's Olympic Outfitters', the store hid family owned. He'd said that it wasn't anything fancy or, as Mike had said on the way here; 'epically amazing,' and he hadn't lied. It looked just like an ordinary sporting goods store. Once again, he had been gentleman-like and opened the door for both of us as we got out and again as we made to go inside.
"Hey, I gotta time in, have a look around," he told us. He hopped over the counter and disappeared into the back. I figured he'd only done that to show off.
"He reminds me of a golden retriever," Lillianne murmured, browsing through the hiking gear.
I chuckled, "Yeah, I can almost imagine him with a long golden tail, wagging every time I say his name." I giggled. Lillianne rolled her eyes but she smiled.
"Were not really going to camp out are we?" she asked, her voice dropping a little. "I hate camping."
"You didn't mind it when we used to go with Alison and Sheridan, and it'd only be for a couple of days," I pointed out as I took two backpacks off their hooks.
"That's different…o-oh s-shut up…" Lillianne mumbled, it was almost too soft for me to hear. She shuffled off when I only smiled and resumed my task. The backpacks were 'buy one get one free' at just 30$. I considered them worth it since we could use them to carry food and clothes whenever we were lucky enough to have them, not to mention they each came with free water bottles and a utility knife. This was actually pretty lucky for us. Satisfied that the two I'd chosen didn't have frayed straps or damage, I found Lillianne in the tents section. As I got closer I could see that she was frowning. A bad sign.
"You ladies finding everything alright?" The soft voice of an older woman had come from behind me as I was trying to figure what Lillianne was looking at. When I turned, I found the female version of Mike staring at me. No doubt this woman was his mother, the resemblance was uncanny. It was some relief to see that she wasn't drooling over us like her son had been. Thank you lord. She did watched us though, like she was expecting us to steal something.
"Um, Yeah. What are your best tents?" I asked, ignoring her disbelieving look she'd given me. She paused for a moment, until I guess she was satisfied that we were customers, and motioned for us to follow her.
"We don't have a big selection of tents, a lot of them are built for two or three people and those are our best sells," she said, pointing out each of the brands like a realtor showing off a house.
"This is the Eureka Backcountry, a favorite for solo campers; though its able fit at least 3 people. It comes with only a single sleeping bag but it's easy to get in and out of. It's very simple to set up and completely airtight if you seal it all the way so you don't have to worry about cold or damp nights. The tent's muted green colors allow it to blend into any wooded area–"
"How much is it?" I asked, hearing all that I needed to hear about it.
"$169.97." She answered.
My face fell and Mike's Mother smirked. Of course she tried to hide her smugness, but it was a shit job. When the bell on the door rang, she excuses herself so that she could tend to another customer.
"Now what? We can't afford this." Lillianne whispered, "Can't we just see if he–" I held a finger to stop her current thought. I wasn't sure what we were going to do if we couldn't get a tent. We're in real trouble. We needed to be as far away from the people here as possible. It would only be a couple of days before James or Victoria tracked us down, if they hadn't already figured it out that we were no longer in Phoenix. And having people around us would just make it worse when they caught us.
"I have an idea…" I began slowly, my brain slowly comprehending what I was thinking. "You're not gonna like it either. But it might get us this tent." The light that flickered in her eyes told me she knew where I was going, she understood what I meant, and liked it even less than I did. She would do it all the same, it was wrong, but the most important thing was that we needed to be away from people so they'd be safe when the vampires came after us. The only thing I needed to put the plan in motion was Mike.
"Hey Bella, you two find anything?" His timing couldn't have been more perfect.
"Hey Mike," I said frowning, trying to make myself sound as disappointed as I felt.
"What's the matter?" he'd asked, taking a cautious look around. I guess his mother would probably have been suspicious if she found us talking to him; she'd already made it clear what she thought about us.
"You know, the usual, money issues. I don't think we can afford a tent here…" I said. Mike gave me a sympathetic look and placed his hand on my shoulder. I took a breath as I gently took his hand within my own, making him blush when I squeezed. "It's too bad, I kind of liked the idea of camping and staying a while…" I began, rubbing my thumb over the back of his hand. I heard him swallow as I made to let go of him. "Well, thanks anyway, Mike. We'll just take the backpacks and go–"
"No!" Mike cried a little too quickly. "I mean… well w-which one was it you were looking at?" he asked, he swallowed thickly.
"The Eureka Backcountry…" I said softly, pointing over to it before I turned back to him. I felt something warm passing over my fingers as I kept a hold of his hand. Mike didn't know it, but I was influencing him to give me what I wanted, and skin contact made the process easier. It was a talent I'd discovered in the last few weeks, sort of the same as Shana's mind-reading ability.
"O-oh, that one… it's one of our better sales, w-we have lot of them in stock back in storage…" he said, taking another cautious look around until he found his mother talking animatedly to a young couple, paying no attention to us. Without warning, Mike pulled me, and by extension Lillianne, into a back room.
At first I couldn't make out anything in the dark, but it was obvious we were in a storage room after Mike flipped on the lights. Boxes and crates were piled up nearly to the roof, some open and some still strapped down with plastic ties.
"Wow," I murmured, peering into an open box as Mike leaned over and looked in several crates.
"There's a lot of stuff in here…" I breathed out. The crate I was looking in was filled with sleeping bags.
"Yeah, well this is the time of year for hiking and Camping, so we get pretty stocked around this time… Ah ha! You Miss Bella, and Miss Lillianne, are in luck. You have yourselves a tent." Mike grinned as he held up an identical tent of the one from outside, only it had been boxed.
I smiled and threw my arms around him in a tight hug.
"You're the best Mike!" I said, motioning to Lillianne where he couldn't see. "I don't know how I can ever thank you for this." When I pulled back, Mike had a look of accomplishment on his face as he grinned at me. He was sweating slightly and I could hear his heart rate increase, his eyes had a hungry look in them. I shifted slightly as his hands were suddenly on my hips, any other time I would have slugged him for even trying, but that wouldn't get us anywhere. I had no choice but to grin and bear it, If anything it helped my advantage. Lillianne had moved over to his other side, pressing herself against him where I couldn't see what she was doing. I had to keep telling myself that this was for his own safety.
Mike chuckled, taking his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. I inhaled and felt the deep rumble inside my stomach. Shit… he smelled so good… "It's kind of hot in here…" he murmured, his voice shaky. "Do you… need anything else?"
My stomach growled as he asked, it was really tempting but what was I going to say? 'Sure Mike since your offering, do you mind feeding us while we have you trapped here?'That'd go really well. I shifted myself to get a better view of what Lillianne was doing, and froze seeing that her eyes were starting to glaze over. We had to wrap this up before it got too out of hand.
"No, I think Lillianne and I should be goin-" I began, but I stopped when I realized Mike's mother would be suspicious if she saw us leaving with the tent. "Hey Mike, your mom… won't she notice you gave us a free tent?"
"I-I'll pay for it…she'll never know," he panted, his round face was redder by the second, his scent grew stronger as his sweat increased. My god did he smell good!
I nodded and tried my hand at an 'alluring' smile, it wasn't as cute as Lillianne's smiles but it seemed to be working.
"Thank you Mike, You don't know how much this means to me," I said, doing what I had to, to keep up the act. I leaned in to kiss his cheek, but at that moment, he turned his head, and I kissed him full on lips. To my horror, a jolt went through my stomach, hitting so hard that it felt like, when you drink cold water too fast with an empty stomach. The pain didn't bother me long though, because it was replaced with a warmth that filled my body. It was an amazing feeling. It tasted amazing. Like apples? Or maybe it was a pear? No matter. It was delicious.
'I need more. I'm so hungry, Lillianne can have what's left. Just a little more.' I moaned. The scent of cherries mixed with apples and pears. Mmm, I love cherries. I licked my lips and pressed harder.
Someone groaned.
That was odd. Sheridan never groaned when she fed us.
I felt a struggle. She never struggled either…
"Bella stop…" I heard a voice whisper faintly. Whose voice was that? I had to slow my pace to remember. "Bella!"
I blinked. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Lillianne. That's right, I was with her… and… Mike? Mike Newton… he…
'Oh shit!'
I heard a gasp. I wasn't sure who it had come from, but when I looked down I found Mike pinned under me, when the hell had that happen? He was pale and gasping huge breaths of air like a fish on land.
"Shit! Mike say something!" I almost shouted, forcibly shaking him by his shoulders. I could feel the panic building, and I even went as far as to slap him across the cheeks when he didn't respond. "How long was I out?!" I cried looking at my sister.
"O-only a couple of minutes, I tried to stop you!" she whispered nervously. "You wouldn't listen!" Oh shit, oh shit! How much more fucked were we going to be if he died here and now?!
'For the love of god Mike! Don't die!' The voice in my shouted, and for once we were on the same page. I could feel the tears stinging the back of my eyes as I slapped his cheeks bit harder. Is this what happened whenever someone helps us? I go and suck the life out of them?
I heard myself whimper.
"Bella…" I almost cried at the voice. It was strained, but it was there. He as still there. I let out a relieved breath and I could feel my tears spill over.
"Mike… are you alright? Talk to me." I whispered, holding his face between my hands. He'd mumbled something, but I couldn't really make it out. My god, we were lucky he was only exhausted. I hope that when we leave, he won't remember anything when he fully comes too later. I guess, if anything, there was one upside to nearly killing Mike. And that was Food.
I turned to my sister.
"Come here, let me feed you… " I told her, and she closed the distance between us in seconds, pressing her own lips against mine. It was different with Lillianne, softer, sweeter I couldn't describe it, but she tasted far better than Mike had. And it's not to say that we have some kind of incestuous relationship, because we don't. We'd only found out that we could feed each other weeks after this whole mess started. It wasn't as good as each of us feeding separately, but it meant less people left around like Mike, or worse.
When Lillianne moaned, she pulled back a moment later, her face showing a little more color already. If we'd had been human, it would have been suspicious that a kiss would have that much of an effect on us, but the sudden change was normal for what we were.
"Whoa…." Mike breathed, smiling dumbly at the both of us, he'd probably gotten a big enough rush seeing that to get most of his strength back. Lillianne frowned at that, a little peeved, probably since she'd never liked being watched when 'eating.' She moved to lean over him and stared into his eyes, not blinking or moving until his eyes glazed over under the intense glow of her own.
As I waited for Lillianne to finish, I noticed there was a backdoor to the room. Crawling over quickly, I peeked through and found that it let out into the alley behind the store. Another stroke of luck. We could get away without paying after all. Of course, Lillianne wasn't going to like it, but we didn't have another choice with Mike off his ass. Dragging the tent and bags across the, thankfully, freshly waxed floor, I tossed them outside where we'd get them later.
"Um… we really should get going." I said. I hated to eat and run, especially since Mike had been so kind, but we couldn't stay without things getting worse. Lillianne nodded as she finished with what she had been doing. Taking an arm each, we half carried, half dragged him back towards the door back to the storefront, where we had been greeted harshly.
"What do you think you're doing?" snapped Mike's mother the second emerged from the back, where she'd apparently been looking for us. "That room is off limits to custom- Mike?!" Whatever else she'd wanted to say was lost as it registered that it was her son we held between us.
"I don't think Mike is feeling very well," began Lillianne, as Mikes mother rushed over and replaced her at his side. "We were only going to thank him for the ride over and found him like this." Lillianne is a better liar then I was, so I just stayed quiet and nodded. "He did mention earlier that he wasn't feeling so well…that it was something he ate." she added as his mother checked for fever and pulse. It was a believable lie since Mike was a lot paler then he was earlier; at least she seemed to buy it.
'It's time to wrap this up…' the voice grumbled. And again we had been on same page. After helping Mike into a chair, we wished him a final get well, and we left. Or at least we tried to leave, the second I made it outside the door, I'd collided with someone and they'd fallen right on their rear-end with a startled squeak.
"Ugh, hey!" huffed a voice. I frowned.
"Oh, um sorry," I apologized holding my hand out. Turns out it was a girl. She giggled when she looked up at me, before she took and pulled herself back up.
"No, no it's alright! I'm just totally clumsy you know?" she said, not the least bit upset even though it had been entirely my fault. "Oh! You're new around here aren't you?" she asked, her eyes widening. I really found it hard to believe that new people were so rare that we could be spotted right away.
"Oh, um we're just here for a couple of days…" I answered, hoping this wouldn't become like it had with Mike. She nodded, although I couldn't be sure if she were really paying attention. She looked me up and down a couple of time before she frowned.
"You're like.. really pretty you know?" she said.
"Oh… um… thank you?" I mumbled awkwardly, what was it with people and calling me pretty? Were they seeing something I couldn't? Lillianne was pretty, I'm just average.
"I'm Jessica by the way," she said, reaching out her hand as she'd introduced herself. "Jessica Stanly, Mike's girlfriend. He works here," I nodded. I wonder how well she would take it if she found out I made a meal out of her boyfriend, and nearly sucked the life out of him.
'No more then any other high school girl Bella…' I grinned inwardly at the voice this time. A real jokester it was.
"I'm Bella, and this is my sister Lillianne," I said, once again introducing us to someone, who for all we knew, was a threat. From the way she looked, I really doubted it though. Jessica was kind of small, much shorter than me, she's bounced back and forth, turning her head between me and Lillianne, her long curly hair following her movements; she was more cute than deadly. The final proof was her hazel eyes, this girl was obviously human.
"How can you be twins, your eyes aren't even the same color. Oh may-" I blinked, realizing that she hadn't stopped talking the whole time. Luckily Lillianne had been paying attention, and nodded her agreement to whatever she'd asked. As much as I wanted listen to Jessica talk all day; we needed to wrap it up and get the hell out of this town and into the woods so we could plan our next move.
"Um, sorry, but we really have to go, you know before our parents totally freak out or something." I cut in as I took Lillianne's hand, the way Jessica frowned, I was nervous she'd call my lie. Luckily Mike's mother started yelling at us for loitering while her son needed her and she wasn't there to care for him because she was yelling at us. Hearing Mike's name seemed to spark Jessica into a hasty goodbye before she rushed inside.
Lillianne apologized to Mike's mother, to which the older woman immediately softened to. That was just another thing about Lillianne, she had some kind of voice of power or something. Men swooned whenever she spoke, and woman wanted to be her best friend, or more sometimes. The only problem was that she was more of a quiet person, and her voice tended to bring attention to herself. So of course she hated it like I hated the rain and cold, and almost never used it.
And despite the fact that her voice charming had been extremely helpful in our times of need, it also made a lot of issues for us too. Like now, Mike's mother had gone from crabby and chummy as she laughed and went on about how she and her husband got into the sporting business, and about what an amazing child Mike had been. Lillianne humored her, giggling with her when appropriate and nodding when needed; even if she'd have rather been doing anything else. When she finally finished telling Lillianne enough to do a biography on their family, she and Mike's mother exchanged goodbyes and we took our leave. We'd walked an entire block before we doubled back around and into an alley across the street from Mikes store. I didn't want to go to the back of the shop just yet, it was still early and I couldn't risk someone spotting us, so we waited and began to plan our next step.
There wasn't really anything to discuss, it was simple. Get our stuff and head into the woods. We decided we would wait a couple of days, get everything sorted out and somehow catch another flight to anywhere but here. The only problem was that neither of us knew the anything about the woods. We'd only camped a couple of times in the past, but that was with Shianne and Sheridan.
"Mrs. Newton says just north of here is a path hikers take. Its about a Mile out of town." Lillianne said after an Hour an hour of just sitting and planning.
"Mike's mother said that?" I ask and she nodded. She then spent fifteen minutes retelling what Mike's mother had told her. Apparently during her conversation with Mike's mother, she had found out which places were the most popular camping grounds this time of year. It sounded like a lot of people like camping around this la push area, east of the woods, there was a beach there. That was good to know, since we were avoiding people. After we got our stuff, we could head out. Though I hated the idea of having to walk a mile or so.
'What I wouldn't do to have a car again…' I muttered silently.
'You could always steal one Bella… charm you way into getting one.' Offered the voice. I snorted, and otherwise ignored it. If the time ever came to that… then.. Hell I'd sell my body if I had too.
"Bella?" Lillianne's voice was barely a whisper yet I had managed to hear it. I braced myself, I knew what was coming, because she used the tone she used when she was about ask about sensitive subjects, and there was only one she usually used this tone with.
"Lillianne… I swear… if you mention who I think you are…"
"But why not?! He's here and you know it!" Lillianne hissed. "I don't see why we can't just see him and explain things to him."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, he so wanted anything to do with us when we were growing up. What makes you think he'll start caring now? Especially if he found out vampires are hunting us?" I snapped back harder than I really meant. The way she seemed to deflate left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I hated to see her like that, the look of utter defeat and sadness. She knew I hated to talk about that man, but she seemed to cling on to something that I didn't see. It didn't make any sense, even when we were little and he was still married to our mother he was never around, so it wasn't like there was anything to miss about seeing him regularly. When he finally made the divorce official he left, he kind of just faded from our lives instead of leaving a gap.
In all honestly, I had actually forgotten he had lived here, until Lillianne had mentio…
I blinked.
"Wait… is that why you suggested we come here?" I asked, connecting all the little dots. She flinched. "Is that why you insisted on getting here by plane?" I asked louder, despite the fact that she hadn't answered my first question. She was looking more and more defeated, as if I were scolding her.
"I… I didn't know what else to do. We couldn't stay at home. I just thought, it'll take a couple of days for them to catch on to us you know that… and I thought maybe Charlie could help, he's our father…"
"Yeah, well 'daddy' has years of allowance to make up for before I go to him for anything." I snapped. Standing, I slowly peeked around the corners of the alley. I figured that we'd waited long enough that I could chance getting the camping supplies from behind the shop, unless someone had already taken them. I prayed that no one had. I took a deep breath and exhaled. Making sure no one was watching, we ran across the street quickly and into the alley next to the Sports Shop. I told Lillianne to keep watch while I went to get our stuff. I almost cried, feeling the giant wave of relief when I rounded the corner and saw the backpacks and tent were still where I'd tossed them. Taking another look around, I tried stuffing the tent into one of the packs so that we wouldn't have to carry it in the open. Discarding it from be box, I'd gotten it to fit without sticking out awkwardly, when I'd heard Lillianne gasp behind me.
Hastily I gathered the packs together and rushed to her side in case she needed help. When I saw her standing there alone, I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at her for scaring me like that.
"What wrong?" I asked, noticing that she was staring at Mike's car.
"Our stuff is in his car…" she whispered urgently.
I blinked. "What? Oh shit…" I cursed feeling around my pockets. ALL our stuff was in Mike's car, including our passports.
'Fantastic Bella…' I groaned inwardly as the voice in my head sneered. This was great…
Hoping that our luck held, I walked slowly to the car, I grabbed the handle for the passengers side and pulled, feeling my heart drop when there was no click.
"Damn it!" I hissed, cursing the bad luck that always seemed to follow us. If the Passengers side was locked, then the whole thing was. "Okay… Okay… I can fix this… Lillianne, you tell me if anyone's coming. I need a little time…" I told her, she'd given me her reluctant nod but said nothing. I'd crouched down and crept to the drivers door, trying to keep my frustration out of my voice. I searched my jeans, sighing happily as I found a long-forgotten hair clip in one of the back pockets. Making sure no one was looking before I started, I bent the clip until the halves snapped and inserted them into the lock and started pushing at the bits inside until it turned. I knew that I was hidden from anyone inside the shop and the odds of anyone walking the on the street were slim, but I was still nervous. And with my luck, this would be the day something like a parade came through or even better, the entire police department decides to go on a walk. I had Shianne to think for this, she had shown me how when I had accidentally locked my car keys in the car and she was with me, Alison disapproved of her teaching me how to break into cars, and made me swear I'd never do it again. I'll apologize if I ever see her again, and thank Shianne as well.
"Come on.. Come on…" I grumbled. Though, unlike Shianne, I didn't have patience for this, and when the lock turned, I almost jumped for joy and set myself back entirely.
As I opened the door, something had caught my ear and out of instinct I froze, expecting to be caught.
"It's a cat…" Lillianne assured me, "It's just run across the alley…" she said distractedly, while I let out the breath relief I'd been holding. I looked just out of curiosity, It had been so far away that I could barely see it, there's no way anyone down there would have seen us, if there was anyone down there at all.
I opened the door the rest of the way, grabbed our things from the backseat, and closed it as gently as I could. I put on my jacket first, and counted what cash we had left just to double-check.
"Now, if I were Mr. Newton, I would want to know why a face I'd never seen before was snooping around my car." the voice startled me and made me drop the cash; whoever it was they'd sounded close enough that they had to be right behind me.
"Thanks for the head's up Lillianne…" I thought to myself as I turned and saw the blue uniform. It was an officer. I glanced around quickly for Lillianne since she had been supposed to be my lookout, but I saw why she hadn't warned me. She was in the company of another officer, a woman. Lillianne probably hadn't said anything in case they hadn't seen me, since she looked suspicious enough standing there alone.
'Come on Bella… lie… and make it quick!' the inner voice ordered.
"I dropped my wallet." I lied, hoping he would buy it. It was a common enough thing.
"Where are you from? Never seen you around here before. Just what brings you into our little town?"
"We arrived here just this morning. We're camping." I told him with my best innocent tone, but the way he was staring was making me really uneasy.
"Whatcha snooping around the car for?"
"I wasn't. I was looking at it, it's a nice model. There aren't that many of these where I live, and like I said, I dropped my wallet." he finally gave me a light nod as he looked up over the top of my head.
"I take it that's your sister?" he asked, motioned over towards his partner and Lillianne. I nodded and he looked somewhat satisfied.
"Can I see your I.D ma'am?" he asked. I nodded again, not that I really wanted to, but I didn't really have a choice at this point. I reached into my pocket gave him the little plastic card.
"Isabella Swan?" he muttered as he read through my information, though it had come out more like a question. "Chief of Police, Charlie's Isabella?" he asked, flicking his eyes to at me. Crap… he could not have been serious. Charlie talked about us? And he was Chief of Police? Oh, what fresh hell was this going to lead to? No.. I could pull this off as an odd coincidence.
"Hey Roy, I think we have the chief's daughters here. One of 'em is named Lillianne right? One of his twins?" The woman cop called over the one with my ID, and I watched all my plans of not involving HIM shattering as they confirmed it between themselves.
"Seems so, Meredith," the Officer, Roy, answered before turning back to me. "Does Charlie know you're here?" he asked. I shook my head. It didn't matter now, after this he was just a radio call away from knowing. Looks like Lillianne was going to get what she wanted.
"Actually, I wasn't sure if he was still living here. Since I guess he does, maybe we'll surprise him with a visit." I had to force a smile, because even the thought of seeing him made me sick.
"Well, he's got the day off today, but why don't we go and see him now? Roy offered, gesturing to a squad car. I barely had time to scoop up the money I'd dropped much less object as Roy started almost forcibly ushering me towards his cruiser. Lillianne was being guided into another one close by. I guess they weren't partners and had just happened to be nearby if they were driving separately. After both of us were in the back, each of the officers took the camping gear we were carrying and loaded it into the trunk of their cruisers, and we were on our way to Charlie's.
The drive was pretty much quiet, except for Roy going on about my dad and how he was going to be excited to get a surprise visit from us. I spent most of it staring out the window or into his rear view mirrors to make sure Lillianne was still behind us.
"So… you've gotten pretty big...and pretty. You look like your mom." Roy said, glancing at me as if he'd sensed my nervousness." I looked at him.
"Sorry, I can't say that I remember you…" I replied honestly.
"Well that's alright, you were fairly young, and we only met once, maybe twice." he continued. "How is your mother?"
"Mom's fine," I said lightly shrugging. " She married a minor league baseball player named Phil Dwyer. She seems happy at least."
"You make it sound like you really don't know…?" Roy half questioned.
"Lillianne and I live in an apartment while she travels around with him so… You do the math." I answered sarcastically before looking back out the window. I never really liked talking about my mother and he seemed to pick up on that. There were a few more attempts at conversation that died quick. He tried commenting on the weather, which was wet and made me miserable, so that ended fast. He then asked about Lillianne, where I stayed as careful as ever when answering any questions about her. He eventually gave up and I went back to looking at the passing scenery and making sure of Lillianne behind us. The part of Forks we'd gone into was different than any other part I'd seen: it was undeniably beautiful. For a moment, I thought back to our little family and how if Sheridan saw this, she'd have instantly fallen in love with it: everything was green, even the tree trunks and the overhanging branches, which were all covered with moss, and the floor was covered with ferns and other plants. Sheridan probably would have known what kind they were, but I had no clue.
Eventually we made it to what I assumed was Charlie's place, but I couldn't say that any of it looked familiar. It was a small home that didn't look like it could have had more than two rooms inside, it was old with peeling paint and cracked windows covered with plastic wrap. Then again, what did I care if it needed a little fixing up and maybe a paint job? As soon as Roy and Meredith were gone so were we. It couldn't hurt to look though, and my attention was soon fixed to the faded red truck parked just in front of the house. As I looked at it something clicked in my mind and I was out of the cruiser, and jogging over to inspect it before I realized what I was doing. The truck was a beautiful creation, with big rounded fenders and a bulbous cab, obviously a 1953 Chevy. It was gorgeous! I had to blame Shianne for introducing me to the world of vehicles, and as much as I liked the truck in front of me, she'd have loved it even more. I'd learned enough from her to appreciate what I was looking at; sure it couldn't dream of ever being as fast as a new truck, but it had one of those solid iron affairs that would never get damaged, even in the worst crash possible. I'd have given anything to have something like this, especially a month ago.
"What I wouldn't give for something like this," I murmured, apparently it was louder than I thought because Lillianne responded as she came up beside me.
"I'll never understand your obsession with cars."
"And I'll never understand your obsession with cleaning, studying or cooking. No… scratch that, I like when you cook." I teased back. She rolled her eyes.
"Ah, I guess Billy and Jacob are here then." Meredith said, the way she looked at the car made it obvious that she didn't appreciate what she saw, and for some reason that made me mad.
"Come on girls." she said, ushering the both of us back towards the house where Roy waited with a grin, his hand raised to knock on the door. As he lowered his hand to do so, the door swung opened and he ended up knocking on air.
"You were right Charlie! We have company." I was almost surprised that the voice had been a woman's. But I guess Charlie would have moved on at some point. "Hello Roy, what are you doing here? Come to watch the game re-runs?" the woman asked cheerfully, to which Roy shook his head before whispering into her ear. Despite the fact that we were at an distance, I could still hear what he said whether he whispered it or not. Our hearing was much better now that we'd eaten. He had told her who Lillianne and I were, and her eyes widened as she fixed her gaze on the both of us. She frowned. I knew this wasn't going to go well, she stared at us for a moment more before she disappeared back into the house.
"Uh oh, that wasn't a really pleasant look." Meredith says softly, she looks at the two of us while Roy stayed at the door. "Charlie's remarried, with a step-daughter and son. One of them is around your age."
"Oh, fantastic, Charlie's decided to completely cut us out of his life and start a new family. And darn.. Here I was hoping for those lost Christmas presents and allowances," I snapped sarcastically. I didn't feel as angry as I thought I'd be finding out something like this.
'Now's our chance, take one of the cruisers and go!' the voice yelled. Obviously it was a lot more upset than I was at the situation.
"Oh yeah great plan… just what we need, Forks' police force after us, plus the Vampires… brilliant." I argued back silently. Before the voice could argue anything else though there was another voice from the house, this one belonged to a man.
"What's the matter honey?" the voice asked, I guess it was Charlie since he called her honey. He had sounded concerned and surprised, and then there was the sound of him probably getting up.
"Your, other daughters are here." She forced out each word bitterly. Oh, so he's mentioned us to his new family, lovely.
"What? Both of them? They're here now?"
"Yes. What do they want? Money? To live here? I won't have it Charlie!" I heard her hiss, already almost into hysterics. I heard Charlie sigh, and then I heard his footsteps before he actually came into view.
"Bella? Lils?" he called. His voice was gruff and his words a little slurred. I acknowledged him with a brief wave, catching a glimpse of a boy peering out from the uncovered crack of a window, watching us. Charlie, our father walked further out and stopped halfway across the unevenly mowed lawn, giving me a better look at him. He had black, unevenly cut hair with strands of gray throughout it, the jagged haircut made worse with one side of his hair sticking out at odd places while the other side was matted tightly to his head. He stared at us with eyes, the same eyes that I'd inherited from him but darker and colder.
"Well this is a pleasant surprise!" he called cheerfully, smiling underneath his small mustache, the action deepening the light wrinkles in his face more. The way he looked, I briefly wondered what kind of life our mother had left him with after they'd divorced. I looked over at Lillianne for her reaction and she met my gaze with an shrugged. I could see the hurt in her eyes, this wasn't anywhere close to what she'd hoped for.
"Don't be shy! Come on over!" he motioned, I felt Lillianne take my hand and wait for my lead. She was nervous, not only because it was the first time seeing him in a long time, but because this woman and two more people were part of the picture."
"Oh…" Lillianne gasped, her breath quickening. "This is bad time…" she murmured, but it wasn't soft enough because Charlie kept up with the encouragements.
"Nonsense! My god… look how you two have grown!" he said, crossing the rest of the way over with a slight stagger, hugging the both of us when he got close enough. I crinkled my nose as he did, he stank of alcohol. "Sue, come here!" he called over his shoulder after he managed to stand again. She sighed loudly and dramatically.
"Lils, you look just like your mother. The both of you do, but you got her eyes." Charlie gushed. Lillianne gave a nervous smile as he stared at her.
"T-thank you…" she muttered.
"And Bella, um.. .longer hair than I remember…" he tapered off, obviously unable to think of any praise for me. I only stared at him, flicking my eyes to the woman as she approached and stood at his side.
"You remarried," I said. Charlie nodded nervously even though it hadn't been a question.
"Yeah… so uh, right…this is Sue Clearwater."
"Hi…" I said. She didn't say anything back, only narrowed her eyes at me.
"Hello…" Lillianne greeted her softly, and she turned her glare on her in response. What the hell was her problem? I wondered with a frown, feeling an urge to show her what I thought of her with a sound slap.
"Hello Isabella, Lillianne." She finally said, though it was nowhere near friendly. Charlie chuckled, trying to make the awkward situation easier before he kissed her.
Gross.
"I'm sorry, we're interrupting aren't we?" Lillianne murmured, I rubber her back slowly and wondered if she still wanted to explain the situation.
"Nah, it's just boring re-runs" Someone said from behind the woman, the person in question was peeking out from behind her. "Hi I'm Seth!" He greeted with a huge, genuine grin. He looked probably 13 maybe 14 and was obviously his mother's son except he'd learned to smile. He had a boyish face that really made his brown eyes noticeable, russet colored skin and black hair. He seemed friendly enough, so I smiled back at him.
"Hi Seth, I'm be-"
"Isabella!" he cut me off, unable to hold back, "I never thought I'd ever meet you! And you're Lillianne!" he continued, almost bouncing around in his excitement.
Lillianne smiled shyly at his eagerness. "Hello."
"You're.. really skinny." he gave comment, and I felt the both of us blush deeply. Sue's gaze shot back and forth between us with a look of concern after Seth pointed that out, and even Charlie's look seemed a bit off-put about it. I didn't want to do this. I didn't need his pity or his new wife's.
"We run a lot, for school." I half-lied, we definitely weren't part of any school-based sport, but they didn't need to know that detail. Charlie nodded.
"You uh… want something to eat?"
"No… I mean, we can't stay long.. We're supposed to meet up with some camping buddies a bit further on… but Officer Roy insisted we come see you." I told him.
Charlie frowned, almost as if he were sad.
"Come on Bells… its been a while…"
"That's for damn sure."
"I um… don't really like crowded places and this is a little too much for me." I said. Lillianne nodding her agreement, apologized for both of us to a disappointed Seth.
"Stay the hour at least." Charlie insisted, "I wanna talk to you, the both of you." he added. His tone made it sound as if something was worrying him. I was firmly set on declining, but as luck would have it my stomach growled. This time hungry for real food.
"Shit…" I muttered and Lillianne gave me a questioning look. "Fine whatever…" I sighed. Immediately, Seth pulled Lillianne away and chattered on about whatever came to his mind while Sue smiled stiffly at me before turning to follow her son. As she walked away, I saw another girl trailing behind her; she must have been hiding perfectly behind her this entire time. Sue and the girl, who I assumed was her daughter, disappeared into the house behind my sister and Seth, leaving me standing there with Charlie.
"Everything alright?" Roy called, having gone back to his squad car at some point. "Meredith and I need to get back on patrol." he explained, thought I guess that this was just too awkward for both of them to keep watching. He and Meredith unpacked our camping stuff and Charlie gestured to an empty lawn chair for them to pile it all on before waving his goodbyes to them. I crossed my arms as the two cruisers disappeared down the street.
I knew what was coming. Once the two officers were completely out of sight, Charlie turned to me with an entirely different attitude. He frowned, and his eyes narrowed.
"What are you doing here Bella? And you had better have a damn good explanation too."
Just an update
Updated 1/10/2015
Whew… My gosh this was way over due, but when I was writing it I realized…. I need a beta whose more… in tune with Twilight, so it was difficult getting this chapter written. But anyway, I hope you liked the Chapter. Please rate and review, I love positive feed back. Please excuse any mistake I may have down when in writing and I'll see you soon.