Author's Note:
So, I wrote this story when I was younger but I deleted it and it had always been in the back of my head because I liked the idea. Mind you, I wrote this story when I was a teenager lol so please go easy on me.
Also I haven't written in years ... me writing again is me taking a part of myself back so this is important to me.
If you like this story or just want to say what's up feel free to leave me a review. I read them all.
~The Other Brother ~
CHAPTER ONE
It was a frigid, dry winter when the Cullen family moved into the infamous old house that sat up on the hill.
The property had been there for as long as anyone in Forks could remember. It had always been the subject of many odd rumors; its antiquated gothic style inspiring supernatural tales and taunts. The design of the home caused it to loom over the other houses aligning the street. Aluminum gates surrounded the perimeter of the home, keeping the yard secluded from the access of meddling neighbors, not that anyone would chance snooping around the eerie estate.
The roofing, bricks, wood, and railings that made up the home were all painted jet black. The only decorated ornament upon the entire structure was the enormous, gold doorknocker that hung upon the huge front door. It was crafted into the shape of a roaring lion; its howling face evoked the opposite feeling of a warm welcome. Everything about the architecture and the way in which it presented itself to the public screamed 'warning'.
The home had been vacant for most of Bella Swan's life, so when she witnessed the moving trucks pulling up to the estate during her morning ride to school, something inside of her stirred with fascination. It was exciting to witness something new and out of the ordinary. Forks was a small town and everyone who lived there had been there for generations.
She felt a sense of excitement leading her trek as she meandered through the hallways of Forks High, searching for her friends to tell them about the thrilling news before the gossip began to spread around the school.
The enthused teenager found her duo of friends standing beside the locker they shared, which conveniently happened to be right beside the locker that was assigned to Bella Swan. This certainly made their morning meetups more accommodating. She approached the blonde-haired twins with a warm smile.
Rosalie and Jasper Hale were easily the most beautiful students to grace the halls of Forks High. Rosalie's cascading golden waves and striking violet eyes were enough to intimidate her female classmates into silently envying her. She was beautiful in a way that caused people who were looking at her to stumble on their words or go completely blank in their mind. She was aware of her appeal too, having been complimented about her looks more than anything else she possessed.
Jasper looked remarkably similar to his twin. He too had golden tresses but his was sculpted and curled to perfection, laying long over the front of his forehead and shorter on the sides and back. His eyes were the same color as Rosalie's but a different shape. Hers were slender and defined, whereas his were wider and alert. He was always paying attention to everything that went on around him, but not in a way that suggested that he was interested. Forks was the least interesting place the Hale Twins had ever lived.
They came from a wealthy family and had the pleasure of living in many different countries. It was a burden they carried heavily to be dumped in such a boring, uneventful place. In fact, they were once the shiny new toys of Forks High. Freshman year they pulled into the parking lot with a sleek, black BMW convertible and everyone decided that they were the people to befriend. However, the students of Forks High learned quickly that Rosalie and Jasper Hale had absolutely no interest in befriending or even interacting with any of them. They stayed to themselves and kept their social circle between their genetic duo. Bella Swan was only lucky enough to become their friend after being paired with Rosalie for a biology project Sophomore year. They both had shared a similar distaste for other female classmates like Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory, which resulted in a rare form of bonding, and the three had been friends ever since.
"I have news." Bella said, gauging their level of intrigue as she twisted the dial to unlock her locker.
Rosalie briefly looked up from the cellular device she clasped between her manicured fingers. The expression on her face told Bella that she was only acknowledging her out of respect, not because she wanted to hear what Bella had to say. There were very few things that Rosalie considered "news" and nothing that ever happened in Forks was enough to fit that criteria.
Bella switched her eyes to Jasper, seeing if he was more willing to be interested in what she wanted to tell them. His violet eyes were on hers, giving her his attention. He waited with a patience his twin did not have, but his reaction was still out of respect. He was her friend because Rosalie was her friend. The three of them had accepted that and they were okay with that, but it did not escape Bella's awareness that somehow, they felt like they were doing her a favor by extending their friendship to her, as if it were some highly coveted feat.
Still, Bella was grateful that she had people to spend her time with. She had spent much of her life in Forks as a loner, never truly fitting in with the way people felt things were supposed to work around this town. She found the whole design of small-town life to be very trite and pretentious, but like the twins, she too had been dropped in this town by a parent.
Her mother Renee, who was most certainly living her best life, had exchanged parenting rights with Bella's father the year before she started high school.
It was a rough transition moving from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks. Bella had detested life until the Hale Twins came around and provided her with suitable companions to complain with.
"What's up, Bella?" Jasper asked curiously, his voice vacant of emotion.
"What could possibly be up ... here?" Rosalie answered her brother's question with a rhetorical scoff, swiping her long thick hair over her right shoulder. She turned to face Bella fully, lifting an arched eyebrow. "Tell us Bella ... what's this exciting news?"
Bella smirked at her friend's sarcasm, fully relating to her cynical teen outlook. She glanced at Rosalie over her shoulder, shoving battered textbooks into the small, rectangular space that was left amongst the paraphernalia that filled her locker. Rosalie would never admit it but she did want to hear what Bella had to say now that she had successfully gathered their attention.
"Well, this might not be as big of news to you as it is to me but..." Bella shut her locker to look the Hale Twin's into their enchanting, violet eyes. "You know that old, gothic mansion down the street from my house?"
Rosalie nodded her head, scrunching her brows as she failed to understand how this news could be significant to her. "Yeah, the ugly old house with the rain-rotted windows and vines and shit growing across the bricks like fungus?"
Bella laughed at the accuracy of the description, nodding her head. "Yeah, that's the one. When I was on my way to school today, I saw moving trucks pulling into the driveway."
"What?" Jasper asked incredulously. "That's crazy as fuck."
"Like, what kind of people would move into a place like that?" Rosalie asked with judgment already written across her expression. "They have to be freaks."
"Do they have kids?" Jasper asked, hoping these newcomers would finally take the spotlight away from him and his sister.
Bella closed her locker and lifted her shoulders into a shrug, answering his question with her body language before answering with her words. "I don't know, Jazz. I rode past pretty quickly, just in time to see the moving trucks."
"Well." Rosalie said dryly, rolling her eyes at the shrill sound of the morning bells going off throughout the halls. "We'll know by the end of the day if they have kids ... nothing in this town stays quiet for long."
She did not give her brown-haired friend a chance to respond before starting off down the hall in the direction of her first period class. Jasper at least offered Bella a brisk goodbye, and then followed in the direction of his sister. She pulled the straps of her backpack tighter around her torso, feeling the weight of Rosalie's words resting right at the center of her chest.
She had to agree. Nothing stayed quiet in Forks.
Sirens were always blasting.
