"I'm so sorry this is happening to you Bella." Charlie spoke so roughly, as if he was near tears when he picked her up.
"I was planning to ask you if I could live with you this week." Bella gave him a weak smile, and his eyes showed a little surprise. "I thought maybe I'd move in over the summer or something. I'm not actually upset by what happened."
"Oh," He let out a breath and turned to face out the windshield. They'd just loaded her luggage in the back. She'd brought what she'd need for a week, and the rest was following soon. "That's good." He said as if it was a minor thing, but he squeezed her hand tightly for a moment, before letting it go.
They drove in silence for a while, and Bella stared out the window as they made their way along the one hour drive home. "Once I get settled, I'd like to look for a part time job."
"You do that." He said distractedly and Bella smiled, all while still staring out the window.
They were driving into Forks when he spoke up again. "Your mother is just overwhelmed, you know."
"Oh I know." Bella didn't add that it took nothing to overwhelm her.
"You didn't do anything wrong Bells." He looked at her as he took the turn off the main street, as if he was trying to implant that idea.
"Thanks." She muttered and looked out at the darkened streets.
"The kids around here don't have next week off, their spring break is the week after." She knew that because Emmett had acted like he'd pick her up after school all week, so clearly he was going to school.
"A short test run before time off, should be good." She sighed. "I need to do some shopping, get some warmer clothes, before I start up. I also need to buy some things for the room."
"I'll give you some money." He spoke slowly, "I could take you out to the mall if you need." He didn't sound thrilled to shop with her again and that brought a small hint of a smile to her lips.
"Thanks, but I thought I saw a second hand store in town. I could start there." He frowned, so she spoke up. "I don't mind some second hand things, so that I have more money for nice things to go with them. I honestly don't see the difference between cheap jeans and the expensive ones, my shirt will cover some of it anyhow. I'll get a pants, maybe a couple shirts, and I'll be good until we have time for the mall. I might even see if Emmett's willing to give me a ride later this week. He doesn't know any better yet." She smiled at him, but watched his jaw clench. "I haven't met his girlfriend and it will be a good chance to for us to do something together."
"Oh, well, that's good. It's good you already have friends at school." He gave her a half smile and they pulled into the driveway. Bella noticed, and wasn't surprised, that there was no rusted red truck waiting for her. She was far too early and there was no warning, so Charlie couldn't have bought her a vehicle. She was going to be riding to school in a cop car for a while. She was actually fine with that, it couldn't hurt to remind a few people she was the daughter of the sheriff. She didn't expect she'd get hit on constantly like the Twilight Bella did, she just wasn't the kind of person that inspired that kind of behavior, but why risk it?
She went up to unpack what she had and she would have called Emmett, to tell him about the change of plans, but Charlie was already a bit leery of him and Charlie was hanging out near the one phone in the house. She'd try and find a moment tomorrow to give him a heads up that she'd be at the school Monday. He was out 'camping' for the weekend, he said the whole family was. She didn't let herself think that they were hunting so they could be around her safely. She knew it; she just didn't let herself think about it.
There was no way she was going to walk onto the high school grounds without warning them she was coming. It seemed stupid to even consider that. If he were human, it would be fun to see his face, to surprise him, but it wasn't a good idea to surprise vampires.
"Bells, I'm gonna order some pizza!" Charlie yelled up.
"Do they have salad?" She called back, stepping out of her bedroom.
"I don't know." Charlie sounded puzzled. Bella shook her head and started for the stairs. She wasn't going to start a long term junk food diet. When she was visiting his eating habits weren't too bad to play along with, but now she had to come up with something that would work better.
"Maybe we can go grocery shopping tomorrow too." She told him as she made her way into the living room. "Am I in charge of grocery shopping?" She asked and he frowned.
"What all did you do at your mother's house for chores?" He asked and Bella sighed heavily. This was going to take a while to explain. Perhaps they should call and see if the pizza place had salad before she started.
He was mad, it was pretty clear he was mad, when he heard more about what living like Renee had been like. In his house she had the sweet deal of cleaning up after herself, dumping the garbage, and making the grocery list. Now, he tended to live in a little more mess than Renee's house was, but that was a choice and Bella accepted a certain level of more mess rather than become the housewife of this house. Besides, she was going to be able to get a paying job at some point here. Better not to build up his expectations too high and have to do it all.
In the book Twilight Bella had moved in and immediately taken on all the chores she'd had at her mother's house without even discussing it with Charlie. She really should have talked it out, because she might have saved herself some work. Living with a guy could either be more work or lowered expectations. It was really up to the person moving in.
…..
Esme POV
Esme tossed the laundry into the dryer. They hunt was a little more messy than normal with the boys. Emmett was still in celebration mode for having a human friend visiting. Esme smiled a little at that thought. She'd found a lovely recipe to try out when Bella came over to play.
"Family Meeting!" A masculine voice called out suddenly, sounding a bit odd, because he never called these.
"What is it Emmett?" Esme asked as she flashed into the living room.
Alice was staring out as if trying to force a vision. "I didn't even see her make up her mind." She muttered.
Jasper, Rosalie and Carlisle made it into the room. Edward was away for the week, visiting the Denalis in Alaska. Esme had agreed that it was better for him to just take an extended trip for this week Bella was here.
Emmett was normally rather happy, but something was definitely up. "Did something happen with Bella?" Esme asked, thinking perhaps the trip had been cancelled.
Emmett's shoulders slumped a little. "Bella's mother kicked her out. I can't believe her mother actually did that. Poor Bella Bear." He looked so sad, but Esme felt a flair of anger inside of her.
"Oh, so Bella didn't decide to do this." Alice sighed and Esme glanced at her. Alice looked around the room. "Bella's starting school with us tomorrow morning."
"Thank God Edward left, but what are we going to do?" Rosalie's voice was tense.
"I'm her only friend. I'm not leaving her to deal with bullies here too. Not after her mother threw her away." Emmett's eyes were darkening. Esme felt her own eyes darkening at his words. What kind of a mother could do that to their child, never mind a child who'd lost her entire life history like Bella had? Renee was selfish, Carlisle told her Bella said that, but this was beyond selfish. The only good thing about it was that they knew Bella had wanted to live with her father instead, but Rosalie was right. They now needed to figure out what to do, Emmett couldn't abandon the girl when she needed him and yet Edward belonged with his family as well, and he'd only left to avoid temptation for the week. Bella's trip was now permanent.
"Good idea Jasper." Alice spoke up and Esme turned her head to take in the radiant smile Alice gave her mate. Jasper hadn't said anything, so clearly it was a decision he'd considered that Alice saw would work. Alice turned to them. "We can send Edward things with Bella's scent, try to desensitize him a bit before he comes back. It'll be hard for him, but it is possible, if we make sure he doesn't have any classes with her or directly after her in the same room, and we don't invite her over too often to the house."
Jasper spoke up, "We might want to make sure that one of us is either with Edward or Bella all day at school, so they aren't both unsupervised at the same time."
"Basically, Edward's getting the full newborn experience all over again?" Emmett smirked. As Esme thought about it, it was a little like the training that many of them went through as they finished their newborn year and were going to start to try and interact with humans again, only all focused on one human.
Esme felt a bit of disappointment at not having Bella around more, because the girl needed a mother's love more than any of her own children, but of course they'd need to control how and when Edward interacted with her.
"She's probably going to need her schedule changed." Alice muttered. "Emmett and I can take care of that."
"What, are we going to break into the school and break into the computers?" Emmett's eyes seemed to light up.
"No, we're going to tell Bella to switch her classes." Alice spoke and Esme felt relieved at that 'mission impossible' being so simple. She was sure she'd end up bailing Emmett out of jail otherwise.
…
Bella had the foresight to ask Charlie when he showered, so they wouldn't compete for the room. She'd learned to do that in college, and she was fine showering at night and sleeping in in the morning. Still, with the bathroom not far from her bedroom, she was awake a little earlier than she'd prefer.
She got dressed in her room, and used a small mirror to help her do her hair. Once Charlie was out of the bathroom she rushed in to finish up getting ready and met him in the kitchen for his attempt at making breakfast. He proved he could make eggs, but he did warn her it was really all he'd ever learned to make well. Bella decided to teach that man to cook, just some simple things, maybe just four things. He needed to know how and that way he'd have to practice. That might reduce the number of pizzas that came into the house.
"I thought I'd drop you off on my way in to work." Charlie grimaced, "but you might need the school bus to get home."
"I think I might be going over to Emmett's house after school. That was our plan before all this happened." Bella watched his mustache twitch a bit unhappily. "He told me I better be hungry too, because Esme wanted to cook something special, so I might miss dinner."
"That's okay Bells." Charlie sighed. "You go play your 'games' and have fun. God knows you deserve it." He barely whispered the last words and Bella decided to not reply. "Just keep up on your homework." He realized he should say something parental apparently and Bella smirked at him, before getting up to grab her school supplies.
The school had a few cars peppered around the place, but Bella noticed that the cluster in one area was the teachers, and the scattering of other cars were probably students with zero hour. She'd love to finish school faster, but she couldn't make herself even consider zero hour.
"Well, here we are." Charlie said while stopping the car in front of the main office doors. "Did you need me to go in with you?"
"No, I think I can pick up papers and a map easy enough." She smiled at him, even as he was glancing around for other students. There weren't many and they were looking, she could tell that much. "Thanks for the ride."
"Sure, see you tonight. If anyone gives you any trouble, you let me know." He stared into her eyes and she just nodded. That was sweet, but hopefully this time not necessary.
As she was getting out of the front of the cop car, she ignored the few eyes that were on her. She waved at Charlie when he waved at her, and then stood there for a moment while he pulled away.
Mrs. Cope smiled at her only after Bella told her who she was, instead of when she noticed a student was in front of the counter. "I have your schedule around here somewhere." The woman muttered as she looked through a stack of papers on her desk. "Your father came in Friday to get you all set up."
"Did you get my information from Phoenix?" Bella asked as she watched the woman finally appear to find something on that desk.
"Oh yes dear." Mrs. Cope even sounded distracted as she looked at the papers she'd found and then pulled out a few more sheets from her desk to add to it.
The door opened and Bella glanced at it, not expecting to find she knew the man standing in it. "Emmett." Bella smiled when she noticed he looked happy, was grinning from ear to ear actually, to see her. She'd been a little worried about that, once she'd left the message telling him she was living here now.
"Bella Bear." His voice was a little too loud for the small office and Mrs. Cope did frown at him. Bella took a step away from the counter as the woman was apparently just had to answer the phone. "Coming to dreary old Forks are you?" He moved to stand in front of her and once he'd moved his huge body Bella realized that there was another vampire behind him. It had to be Alice, she was just perfect for an Alice. Her hair was wild and untamed, but still perfect. She was short, and standing next to Emmett she looked shorter still. Even though Bella was taller than the vampire there was no mistaking Alice for a child, the pale skinned dark haired vampire wore her clothes as if she were a runway model. It made Bella a little self-conscience about what she was wearing, and that was really hard to do. She normally didn't care too much. She hadn't cared too much since she found herself a teenager again.
"It's nice to meet you Bella, I'm Alice. Emmett's sister." Bella smiled weakly at the psychic vampire and wondered if there was a problem. Alice was the Cullen problem solver after all.
"Hi." Bella's voice squeaked embarrassingly and she cleared her throat. She glanced at Mrs. Cope, who was taking a message, so Bella was still not getting that schedule. Good thing she asked Charlie to take her in early today. Her eyes moved back to Alice. "It's nice to meet you."
"I'm sure we'll be great friends." Alice smiled at her and it was a touch of déjà vu, didn't Alice say that to Twilight Bella? "Maybe you'll even have a few classes with me. Emmett tells me you're a sophomore as well."
"Yep," Bella sighed heavily, yes, she was a sophomore, again. That meant two more years after this and then she had to redo her entire college education. She was picking a cheaper school this time, and definitely not building up such a pack of loans that she couldn't afford a house for years with the size of her student loan payments.
Mrs. Cope hung up the phone and continued to the counter, so Bella stepped up to it again. "I have your schedule, and these forms are for you to give the teachers, so they can sign them. You need to bring me your forms at the end of the day." Seemed simple enough, a stupid wasteful step, but simple. Of course she'd be in class today, did they think that she was plotting to get her schedule and then, since the teachers were none the wiser, just never go?
Bella could feel that Alice had stepped closer to her and was looking at her schedule as she was, but it was odd, because the heat of someone standing too close wasn't there. She'd never even thought about that heat before, but it was clashing to miss it. They both read what Bella had.
Bella found one obvious problem right away. "Um, Music?" She muttered and then Alice leaned into her side even more. Bella tenses as she noticed how the small vampire seemed to inhale deeply before speaking.
"If you don't want Music, you could try and take drawing with me." Alice offered. Bella found her schedule slowly taken from her hands as Alice studied it. Alice spoke more quietly, as if to keep Mrs. Cope from hearing it even though the woman was standing in front of them a little impatiently. "And I don't know that you want…" Alice proceeded to take a pen off the counter and start to mark up the schedule and Bella stood back and stared at her as she did it. Clearly there was a problem with her schedule if Alice was going to this extreme.
As Alice worked Bella focused on how she could respond to this. It was odd and normally she'd never let someone else just take over like this, but there had to be a reason. She looked up at Emmett as Alice actually started to try and charm Mrs. Cope into some changes.
"It'll be nice to have someone to sit next to in some classes." She smiled, as if this was all about making sure she had friends.
"Bella." Mrs. Cope tugged her attention away from Emmett and Bella turned to face her. "Do you really want to redo your entire schedule?" It sounded like Mrs. Cope wanted her to say no.
Bella looked down at the schedule that Alice was trying to talk them all into and it had switched three classes around, not the entire thing. It looked okay to her, but other than the music class, the last one looked okay too. She looked up to see Alice giving her cute pleading eyes, an Alice trademark if the books were to be believed.
Bella looked up and stared into Mrs. Cope's eyes. "Can we do this?" She tapped the marked up schedule.
"Well that's not the point," Mrs. Cope started and Bella's face became more serious.
"No, that is the point. I'm going to be the weird kid that suddenly had to move in with her dad. It would be nice to have a friend in a class or two." She stared into the woman's eyes, "Have you ever been the last one picked, all the time, for partners?" It wasn't only in this re-run of high school that Bella experienced that joy, and she could see in Mrs. Cope's eyes the woman understood. Something about the woman made Bella suspect that she would know what Bella was talking about. There was no more arguing, the woman just sat down at the computer and reworked the schedule.
"Wow, Bella Bear, you sure have a scary stare." Emmett muttered as they waited for the new schedule to appear. "Bella Bear, with the scary stare."
"Let it go Dr. Seuss." Alice mumbled, before sliding a little closer to where Bella was leaning against the counter. "Don't worry, you won't have a problem with partners here." Alice gave her a small hint of a smile.
When they got the new schedule, Alice took it again and this time she wrote in which classes she'd be sharing with her or one of her family. Bella was a little confused when one of her class changes hadn't resulted in a Cullen in her class, but she said nothing, as if she didn't know which classes had been added or subtracted.
"Bella, if you sit with us during lunch you'll probably never make other friends." Emmett told her quietly as they made their way toward the main doors. "Maybe for this week at least you should see if there are people you can sit with."
Someone at the Cullen table didn't want her around, Bella had no trouble reading between those lines. She just nodded, and while she wasn't looking forward to Mike and his crew, she resigned herself to it if they offered.
"After school you're coming over and I'll kick your butt on the PlayStation." He said with a smile and they stood still for a moment. "My class is this way." He pointed in different direction than Bella was heading.
"I'll walk with you to class Bella." Alice offered softly and Bella waved to Emmett before following Alice down the right hall. "What do you do for fun? Well, other than computer games?" Bella resisted the urge to say she wasn't actually all that obsessed with games, it was just something she had somewhat in common with Emmett and he bought her the game.
The halls were a little more crowded, there were people milling around and watching them, but they still had a good ten minutes before class would start. Bella frowned as she considered the question. What did she do for fun? "I read." She managed to say, but Alice didn't look any more impressed than Bella was with that one.